NaNoWriMo

I just signed up on NaNoWriMo this morning of November 1, 2009. I have heard about this National Novel Writing Month before. I have never taken an interest in this thing where you have to write a novel within one month. Just thinking about what I think is a very daunting task turns me off. Like who has the time to do that?

Well, I know that there are many people who participate in this, but probably not a very busy working mom like me. But then again, I have always wanted to write a book. Well, probably not always, but about six years ago, I started fantasizing about writing a book, a memoir. And so I thought, if I take on this challenge now, I could finally realize that fantasy. I know, it sounds like an ambitious dream. But I did say fantasize, didn’t I?

I haven’t even been thinking about this NaNoWriMo. I received an email with a link, or did I come across something on a website? I can’t remember now. Just this morning of November 1, 2009. And today is the first day to start writing. So this is probably a sign from up there, or anywhere, I don’t know where exactly. At first, I thought that I’d just take on this challenge upon myself. I’ll write my memoir in a month. I won’t sign up, because NaNoWriMo wants fiction. And I’m not really into writing fiction.

But I thought I’d just check out the website. So I clicked on the About page. It says there that you have to write a novel of 50,000 words by midnight of November 30, 2009. The quality doesn’t matter. You can revise later. What matters now is the quantity. Okay, so I thought, maybe I can pull this off. I’d turn my story into a novel. I can write about myself in the third person. Or in the first person. I’ve read novels that are written in the first person. I’d just make a few things up, and also change my family members and friends and people I interact with into fictional characters, maybe combine two people in one character and I can make them do things the way I wanted them to. Ha ha. That would be fun. Then I’d actually be writing a novel, right?

Now that I’ve written about it here, maybe it will motivate me to stick with it. I’m already excited. I was telling my 11-year old son about it this morning. I asked him if he thinks I can do it, he said, “I don’t think so, mommy.” And I was like, “I’ll prove to you that I can.” And when I kept going on about it at lunch, he said, “You talk too much mommy.” I said, “So you see, if I just put into writing what I talk about, I think I could do it. After all, that’s only 1,667 words a day.” I think that’s how I should approach it. And maybe in a month’s time, I’d actually have written a draft of a novel. Or a draft of my memoir, which wouldn’t qualify as a novel, but that’s fine. That’s what I want to do in the first place, anyway. Or maybe this will just be one more thing that I started and didn’t finish. We’ll see.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

My girl friend raved about Confessions of a Shopaholic and the others in the series a few years ago when she first read them. But I wasn’t interested in chick-lit back then so she wasn’t able to convince me to read them. Then they made a movie based on the book and I thought that it must be really good. So I thought I’d give it a try. Also, the book just came out in pocket size and it was on sale at Superstore. Besides, I thought that I could probably relate to the main character. Well, I’m not really a shopaholic, but Rebecca (Becky) Bloomwood was deep in debt, and so was I.

I have had a love-hate relationship with this series.

That’s probably because I sometimes see myself in Becky. First of all, she is a financial journalist. She tells people how to organize their money but there she is, accumulating all these Visa bills, unable to pay them, and she’s always trying to avoid her bank manager who has been constantly trying to get an appointment with her to settle her bank overdraft. How can I relate to that? Well, here I am with an accounting degree. Yes, I do know how to balance my bank accounts. And I’m supposed to be able to analyze my financial status. Well, I’m able to do that, too. I know how to analyze my financial status. And my analysis is that- it was in a bad state. I was deep in debt, I was barely making the minimum monthly payments, I didn’t know how to get out of the hole and I was so stressed out. But that will be another post. Today, we’re talking about the Shopaholic series.

The first book in the series, Confessions of a Shopaholic, introduces us to Rebecca (Becky) Bloomwood. It starts with a letter from Endwich Bank in London (that’s where Becky lives) congratulating her from recently graduating from university and offering her an overdraft account of 2,000 pounds. Now, shouldn’t one be offered such an account only after they get their first job, when they are already earning money? But, sadly to say, this is the reality that faces young people today. They don’t know any better and these bank companies are taking advantage of that. The second letter from Endwich Bank, which is dated two months later, informs Becky that she has exceeded her limit and her balance stands at over 3,000 pounds. In the third letter, we learn that Becky wasn’t able to get to the bank to discuss her financial situation because “she had broken her leg.” The reader will realize that that is just an excuse.

In Confessions of a Shopaholic, we are reading Becky’s thoughts. One thing that I like about it is that her thoughts are candid and honest and a lot of times funny. How many times have I also thought about something or someone that I dare not say out loud for fear of offending the other person or sounding rude? But if you just say it to yourself, it sounds funny. What I don’t like about Becky, and I know she means well, is that when she finds herself in a sticky situation, she tries to pretend she knows what she’s talking about instead of just fessing up. And then there’s also her debt situation. She’s accumulating these huge Visa bills, but she still keeps on shopping. She ignores her bills, hides them in her drawers and even throws out her letters from her bank and credit card companies. But of course, she couldn’t help it. She’s a shopaholic and she even describes what it feels like when she enters a shop. She lusts for things and she experiences a high, an exhilarating feeling, when she goes shopping. As I have mentioned a few times, I also experience some kind of high when I do my grocery shopping.

And so the reader is transported to Becky’s world as she tries to reason out her spending. Like how she thinks a bottle of wine is essential, or how buying a suit that was on sale – 30% off – is actually saving money. She did try to CB (cut back) and MMM (make more money), but when her efforts fail, she finds comfort in – shopping. And the cycle goes on and on.

Then a big story arises and the break that Becky’s waiting for finally comes. Becky realizes that there are people who think that she’s a joke and now she’s going to try her best to prove them wrong. She feels guilty about giving her neighbours a neglectful advice. She does a journalistic investigation and writes an explosive article.

But just when I thought that she had learned her lesson, there she is at the end of the story ordering sunglasses on TV. I was turned off by that.

I wasn’t so sure if I’d like to continue on reading the Shopaholic series and so I read different book. I really liked A Thousand Splendid Suns, but it has such a serious and heavy theme and I thought that I needed something easy and light to read next. So I went on ahead and read the next Shopaholic book.

In Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Becky goes to New York with her now boyfriend Luke Brandon. She had a few mishaps there but in the end, she sort of redeemed herself. So I like how this one ended. And I probably should have stopped with this book.

But I went on reading the next book, Shopaholic Ties the Knot. What can I say? I sort of fell in love with Luke Brandon. Okay he’s a workaholic but I like the way he makes Becky feel. She feels so secured with him. But then again I realized that Becky’s addiction to shopping isn’t being cured by being with Luke. He’s wealthy, you know. He has his own PR company and Becky’s getting away with her shopping addiction because Luke’s got money.

I started to get impatient with Becky again but somehow, I just felt that I wanted to know what happens to Becky and Luke next. Now that Becky and Luke are married, I wanted to find out how a joint bank account will work. With Becky’s shopping, how will Luke react to all these expenses that will show up in their bank account? Also, I read in the back cover that in Shopaholic & Sister, Becky has found a long lost sister, but her sister hates shopping. But does having a thifty sister help Becky stop shopping? No need to tell you the answer.

Because there is a fifth book called, Shopaholic & Baby. And this is probably not much of a spoiler and a surprise, but Becky still loves shopping. And now, she’s not just shopping for herself, but for the baby as well. This is where I got really disappointed after reading the fifth book. Becky’s shopping addiction hasn’t been resolved. Unless, the author, Sophie Kinsella, is planning to write a final book where Becky will really finally wake up. And then it will be an inspiration to those shopaholics who are deep in debt and don’t have a wealthy spouse who can bail them out. Although, I wouldn’t need that book to inspire me because I have finally got out of debt, well, sort of. Maybe I will write about that to inspire others. Well, anyway, back to the book. The only redeeming part that I found in the fifth book (or final maybe?) is Luke’s answer to Venetia when she asked him why he married Becky, “this mindless consumer little girlie … All she cares about is her shopping, her clothes, and her girlfriends.”

Luke said, “The first time I ever saw Becky Bloomwood, she was asking a bank marketing department why they didn’t produce checkbook covers in different colors. The next year, they did produce checkbook covers in different colors. Becky’s instincts match no one else’s…. Her mind goes to places no one else’s does…Yes, she shops. Yes, she does crazy things. But she makes me laugh. She makes me enjoy life. And I love her more than anything else in the world.”

And then I realized those are exactly the reasons why I kept reading the Shopaholic books. I got sucked into Becky’s crazy world and she made me laugh. It was a great escape from my own crazy world.

Now, let’s talk about the movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic.

I had a huge problem when I watched the movie the first time. I shook my head a lot. They squished the first two books into one movie. There are a lot of changes and it seems at times like a totally different story that was just loosely based on the Shopaholic Series. First of all, Luke is the only one who’s British in this movie. Then the movie was totally set entirely in America, mostly in New York. For the most part of the movie, Luke is working at a company called Dantay-West and then she hires Rebecca Bloomwood as a journalist. In the book, Luke has owned his own PR company, Brandon Communications, since the beginning and Rebecca is working as a financial journalist in a different company, Successful Savings, not working for him.

I also had a problem with the casting. I think Isla Fisher fits the character of Becky Bloomwood, but other than that . . . Hugh Dancy is of course, British, so that was a plus. But I pictured Luke Brandon to be a much taller guy and someone who exudes confidence, and at the same time, charm. Yeah, there are a few scenes where I found Hugh Dancy charming. Let’s not take that away from him. And then, Becky’s parents – I think both John Goodman and Joan Cusack look much too young to be Becky’s parents. I have pictured them to be a lot older. They are both retired after all.

Elinor Sherman, Luke’s mother, was mentioned but didn’t appear in the movie. And what about Janice and Martin Webster? They are missing in the movie. They are very important characters in the first book. When Becky realized that they were tricked out of their investment, Becky investigated and exposed their bank. I also missed Becky and Luke’s debate on Good Morning Coffee. These are my two favourite parts in the first book and they didn’t make it to the movie.

Some of the changes that appeared in the movie:

Becky joins a Shopaholic Anonymous group. It doesn’t seem realistic. There’s no such thing, is there? But then again, maybe the producers included this in the movie in an attempt to solve Becky’s shopping addiction. But it didn’t work on Becky. Instead, she sort of influenced the people in the group to go shopping again, which was kind of funny, really.

Becky assumes the pseudonym of The Girl in the Green Scarf. I sort of like the idea, but why green scarf? It is some kind of blue in the book, and she fantasizes about herself as the Girl in the Denny & George Scarf, not the Girl in the Green Scarf. Why did they change it? Green doesn’t really go with most of the colors. I think they should have stuck with blue, which would easily match better with the other colors. I think.

Derek Smeath is portrayed as a mean guy. Okay, Becky’s told her parents that he was a stalker, but that was a lie. She actually got to know him personally and found him to be a nice person. She even referred to him as Sweetie Smeathie in the end.

I read the first book, Confessions of a Shopaholic a second time and also rented the movie a second time, because I wanted to write/finish these reviews. I now realize why the series became a bestseller. It’s smartly written and it’s funny and I think everybody, even those who are not shopaholics, can relate to Becky. And after watching the movie a second time, I realize it’s not that bad. But I still think they should have included Janice and Martin’s story there and made Derek Smeath a nicer guy.

I’ve read that the movie received mostly negative reviews. It came out at a time when the economy is down and there’s financial crisis everywhere. Not a good time to release a movie about shopping and wasting money.

On Buttons, Last Chances and Barcelona

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

“That’s sad,” said my 11-year old boy after we watched the 167 minute-long movie. I was surprised that he sat through the whole thing. My two older boys joined us only after the first few minutes. It’s a good family rated-PG movie. I enjoyed watching it with the boys, lots of life lessons to learn from.

Benjamin narrated at the beginning:

My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everyone else was agin’, I was gettin’ younger… all alone.

The key word there is alone. I guess anybody has experienced that feeling of being alone at least a few times in their life. It’s not a good feeling. Although the movie has a sad ending, there are a few funny parts in between. The boys like especially when Mr. Daws would tell Benjamin, “Did I ever tell you I’ve been struck by lightning seven times?” And there would be a clip of how he was struck by lightning.

It was pretty cool to watch the earlier parts of the film when Brad Pitts’ character was old. We are so used to CGI Images now, how they make actors look older. Make-up artists do a pretty good job, too. But what I found amazing is how they made Pitt look like a young 23-year old. I don’t know, somehow, I find it freaky. Not the way he looked, but just knowing that he doesn’t really look like that now. It’s like they took that image from one of his older movies.

Last Chance Harvey

It’s a charming love story, not the mushy kind. It’s about two older people having a late chance at love. Harvey is a divorced American who went to London to attend his daughter’s wedding. Kate works at the Heathrow airport. When they first met, he was rude to her. But on their second meeting, they warmed up to each other. They spent the next few days together and their quick friendship might lead to a possible romance. I was touched by Harvey’s speech at his daughter’s wedding. I can relate to what he said about how it must have been tough for his daughter to come from a broken home. It was a very moving speech.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

This movie reminded me of Closer, but only this one is lighter. And unlike Closer, this one is not really about the lies. Relationships and emotions already tend to be complicated so why do people still get involved with people who are already involved with somebody else? In this movie, two women friends who have different views on love fall for the same guy. Vicky has a more conservative approach to love. She looks for a realistic and stable relationship. On the other hand, Cristina is willing to risk her feelings to find passion.

I find the narration weird. It sounded like the narrator is reading from a book, without any feelings at all. So unlike the narration from Desperate Housewives. Although Mary Alice doesn’t seem to tell the story with feelings either, there are changes in her intonation. But then again, Woody Allen must have intended for the narrator of this movie to tell the story like that.

I’m also wondering why the actress who played Vicky (Rebecca Hall) didn’t get, I think, a fair billing. After all the title is Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and the story is about Vicky and Cristina in Barcelona. If you see the billing, you’d think that it was Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson who play the title characters.

The what system?

I saw a lot of the speed limit signs on the highway on my recent trip to Minnesota. I knew that the U.S. doesn’t use the Metric system, as we do here in Canada. But when I first saw the “Speed Limit 55″ signs, I had to take a second look. I’m so used to seeing 100 or 120 on the speed limit signs on the highways here in Canada. It took my little brain a couple of seconds to realize that of course, it has to be 55 mph and not 55 kph. When I told Uncle Sparkie about this, I added, “That’s why it took us so long to get here in Minnesota.” And we both had a laugh. Well, if you’ve read my previous post, the road trip I took with my mother took a while longer than expected because there was a problem at the U.S./Canada Border with one of the bus passengers.

Then I asked Uncle, “If we use the Metric system in Canada, what do you call your system of measurement here in America?” I remember studying about this in school but I forgot what it’s called.

Uncle answered, “I don’t know, the American system?”

And we both laughed again.

I don’t remember it being called the American system. I knew it has to be like a standard system, or something close to that.

And of course, I had to know. When I got back home, I googled it. I found out on Wikipedia that it is now called the U.S. customary unit or the American system. So Uncle was right. But this must be something new. I don’t remember it being called like that when I was still in school. And back home in the Philippines, when I was still studying, we also used inches and pounds, instead of centimetres and kilograms. And we had to learn how to convert inches and pounds and miles to the metric units.

Upon further googling, I found this website where it calls it the Standard System of Measurement. So I guess I’m also right.

Lake Superior and Gooseberry Falls

After Duluth, our next destination was Two Harbors. At first I thought that we were going to two different harbors. But not. Two Harbors is the name of a city in Minnesota. We took the scenic route and we drove along the shore of Lake Superior and I thought that was cool. There I was looking at Lake Superior. I felt bad that the boys were missing this.

Once there, we went to this place, I forgot to ask Uncle what it’s called. It has a hike trail and also a pier and a lighthouse. And we were standing right in front of Lake Superior, the largest of the Five Great Lakes.

That brownish mound there beside the ship is a heap of iron ore pellets, which Uncle said is used to make steel. And doesn’t that ship remind you of the Presque Isle in Duluth?

You can view my Two Harbors album here.

Next we went to Gooseberry Falls. It’s just a short drive from Two Harbors. We continued driving on the highway and we still had a nice view of Lake Superior.

Gooseberry Falls is a state park and it has three waterfalls, The Lower, Middle and Upper Falls. It’s just too bad that the waterfalls have sort of dried up a bit. There was a poster of what it used to look like, when there was more water. It was gorgeous. And Uncle also said that it looks really neat when the water is frozen in the winter. There are hiking trails at the park and there are steps like these so you could make your way to the three different levels of the falls. There are also camping sites in the park, but we didn’t go there to go camping.

After visiting the three falls and noticing that the two grandmas were getting tired, we decided to head back home. But first, Uncle brought us to the Black Bear Casino to have supper. And maybe, he said, he’d give me a bit of bad influence – gambling in the casino. We first went to the buffet. And lucky for us, Thursday is seafood buffet. We filled our plates with all kinds of seafood including shrimp, scallops, crab, lobster, etc. Yum yum!

After supper, both Uncle and Auntie went to the slot machines. Mama and I just watched Auntie and when we lost her as she looked for her favourite slot machine, Mama sat down in one of the slot machines and won about 20 bucks. But we didn’t really enjoy playing and we were bothered by the smoking, so we just waited in the lounge area. And when Uncle and Auntie were done playing, we headed back to their place. We retired early since we had to get up at three the next morning when we had to go back to Winnipeg.

I know I’ve mentioned a few times how I missed the kids and wished they were with me on this trip. But I had a really good time. I was the kid in this trip. I was with my mother, aunt and uncle. And there were times I felt like a kid. I sometimes caught myself skipping and hopping as we went to these places that we visited. But I also remembered that when you are the kid and you are with adults, there are constant reminders. Don’t touch this and don’t touch that. Don’t go there and don’t do that. But I am an adult now, and I know what I’m doing, right? Why wouldn’t I watch my steps and take extra care while I shoot those pictures at the water falls, right? Well, anyway, it has been really nice to get away. Looking now at my pictures, I don’t think that I would have posed like that or smiled like that with TH around. So it was really nice to have a break. It was a great stress reliever.

You can view my Gooseberry Falls album here.