the finer dandy

I have been watching…

My 90210 obsession is alive and well. I have managed to watch seasons two and three of this show in the past two and a half weeks! Sometimes it pays to be unemployed.

Anyways, these two seasons are PACKED with the greatest shows this series have to offer: Brenda and Donna go to Paris where Brenda does a hellacious French accent to impress Dean Cain, Dylan and Kelly hook up, David becomes cool, Andrea gets hit by a car, Steve gets the ‘Legacy Key’, Brandon helps a homeless man, Kelly gets addicted to diet pills, ‘Donna Martin graduates’, Color Me Badd, electric slide dance parties, camping…there is just TOO much! This is why the new spin-off will not live up to the original. This show is crack. I need to get the fourth season to feed my addiction.

Why the hell did I buy this movie? It was so gloriously bad that it was good. If you have two hours to kill, watch Scott Baio combine his telekinesis with T&A and teenage angst. It’s the best.

It was better than I thought. If you watch it for one thing, watch it for Robert Downey Jr.’s performance. Hilarious. And this movie could possibly make us like Tom Cruise again…Matthew Mcconaughey- not so much.

I have been reading…

I have this affinity for short stories. I also have an affinity for film. Put them together and what do you get? This great book of short stories that are destined to be movies. One that really stood out to me was called “Some Pig,” by Nancy Davidson. It’s about a budding chef turned food critic who fights the urge to review his rival’s restaurant. When he finally does muster up the courage to review the place, he gets obsessed. Another good one was called “Waltzing Matilda” by Russell Bittner - well, it was quite fucked up. It’s about a girl who gets hijacked in her own car and its described in the book as “Natural Born Killers” meets the “Hitchhiker.” That should tell you how fucked up it is.

Yeah, I’m reading selections from this again. I just can’t get enough of Augusten.

I have been writing…

Actually, I have been trying to finish this novel that I started earlier this year…and I just have extreme anxiety every time I approach the blank page. I think I just need a break.

Also, for the first time, I am going to share an excerpt from the book. Don’t you feel special?

I always wondered to myself if college was a waste of my time and my parents’ money. Going to a university didn’t seem like a choice.

To my parents, I was to go to kindergarten, spill over into elementary school with ease and make straight A’s (which I managed to do), go through the awkward pain of puberty-infused junior high and then seal the deal with a 8 x 10 piece of paper that proved I was full of John Hughes angst like every other high schooler.

From there, I would go on to please my parents at a university that had a familiar name that would impress their friends.

I would imagine my parents at Filipino dinner parties dining over a lechon and sugary confections like bibingka. They would participate in understated discussions about their child’s higher education. In reality, these conversations were battles with other parents on whose kid was better.

The winner of the battle took home the satisfaction of knowing that their kid was the shiniest trophy on their imaginary boasting mantle.

“My son goes to UT and studies business,” one Tita would say.

“Oh, my daughter is attending Baylor and is going to nursing school,” another one would say with a mouthful of kunchinta.

Another one would interject and throw in an out of state college which would always garner praise, “My son is attending NYU.”

The eyebrows started to rise with doubt when the same Tita would add, “He’s studying acting.”

That was a Filipino no-no. It is a cardinal sin for a Filipino offspring to even attempt any liberal art – especially one that involves creativity.

Then my mom, always a nonchalant boaster, would throw her hat in, “My son is going to Texas Tech University and he’s taking courses for medical school.”

Game. Set. Match. Pre-med always trumped everything. No exceptions.

I was always expected to go into the field of medicine and I was happy to oblige. I was good at science and a pro at math (even though I blew off my Calculus class my senior year of high school). My parents were happy that I filled in that Pre-med bubble when I turned in that application.