There and Back Again

Uh, so I decided to move back to Blogger again. Please don't all pummel me at once. I do realize that I've got to seriously stop this moving back and forth thing. If only I'd known that Blogger was going to add all these cool perks while I was away, I never would have moved (back) to Xanga in the first place. Now not only does Blogger have cool pop-up comments and back-posting, but you can also do expandable entries a la LiveJournal and TypePad (which is really useful for long-blog-entry whores like me). I'm going to start the process of slowly moving all my old Xanga entries here, as well as adding links and all that good stuff. Hopefully this will be my last move ever. (*Hangs head in shame*)

I'm currently holed away in Korat after a lovely Songkran holiday in Hua Hin and Cha-Am. During the holiday, I finally received The Revision Letter from my agent. In regards to editing, it's really different this time around because I have a fresh pair of expert eyes to look over the story and point out all the loose ends. It's like having someone pull up the shades; I see all these holes in terms of characterization etc. that I never saw before. Two months ago, however, after toiling and finally finishing the manuscript, I was so burned out, I NEVER WANTED TO CAST EYES UPON IT AGAIN. But because I haven't touched it for a while now, I've actually been enjoying the whole revising process thus far and am only now remembering all the scenes and bits I like best about the story. The only problem is that I could probably spend the whole day obsessing over one single page. It's not like I'm a perfectionist or anything (my desk/personal living space/anything I set my paws on can clearly attest to that), but the thought that this will eventually be in the hands of editors at some of NYC's biggest publishing houses has me scared shitless. Eep.

I'm also working on a YA novel. It's been so much fun to write so far (maybe even more so than the adult chick lit one). I guess it's because, mentally speaking, I'm still stuck somewhere between tenth grade, high school crushes, and the first season of Charmed. Sure it was a trying time full of emotional teenage angst and all that jazz, but gosh, was it a fun time, too.

Anyways, since I knew I was going to be holed away in Korat for the rest of the week, I brought a notebook along with me to brainstorm. The morning we left Bangkok, I grabbed a random notebook from my bookshelf and realized later that it was my old notebook from eighth grade. EIGHTH GRADE. Only four pages had been used (Advisement period was useless, me thinks), and guess what I found tucked and hidden away in the middle of it?

Old letters from middle school!

Exhibit #1:

Hey Lynn,

What do you mean you're the unluckiest person in the world?! You're sitting next to ORANGE [Note from Lynn: "Orange" was the name a bunch of my friends and I dubbed our then crush (yes, all four of us actually had a yen for the same guy)]. You have no idea how lucky you are. I mean, what are the odds Mr. Curran would sit YOU right next to HIM? God, it's probably destiny, or something. So don't you go around saying you're the unluckiest person in the world -- YOU'RE SITTING NEXT TO THE HOTTEST FRUIT IN THE EIGHTH GRADE!

Okay, so maybe it's kind of hard to concentrate on what Mr. Curran is saying in class because, you know, Orange is sitting right next to you. And maybe you might forget to breathe, like, for a few minutes, or something. But really, that's such a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. (Maybe, if you forget to breathe long enough, he can perform CPR on you.)

Like Ms. Aloha said in English Lit last week: Carpe diem. OPPORTUNITIES LIKE THESE DON'T COME BY EVERYDAY.

Amen. Live and learn, baby.


Exhibit #2:

Dear Lynn,
Let's call the fille bete le vache, so elle will not connais or sais that nous are talking about elle. Well, le vache est tres arrogant, like your stupid Orange (sorry, but he IS!). Still, Orange is probably not as bad as le vache, though. Le vache talks tres much about les garcons tous les jeurs, et elle est tres bossy. OH MOI GOD. JE CANNOT STAND LE VACHE!

Write Back,
*****

Don't worry if you can't speak French. Even if you could, I don't think you would be able to decipher said note. Should any native Frenchmen or Francophones happen to stumble across this, you have my sincerest apologies for my then 14-year old friend's appalling command at French. I guess it doesn't help to say that my French back then was MUCH WORSE than hers... (By the way, le vache is French for COW. And no, le vache was not as bad as ***** painted her up to be. In fact, le vache is now one of my bestest of friends. ***** and I were just really mean bitches, I guess.)


Exhibit #3:

LYNNNN!

Oh my God. On the way to World History class today, Eddie and I stopped and leaned back against the wall because of some oncoming traffic. When I looked up, guess who I saw? Him! He touched my shirt! HE TOUCHED MY SHIRT! And I touched his! But guess what? Later, after World History, I was in a rush to leave, and just as I flung open the door, I went and totally BASHED THE DOOR INTO HIM. Like right in his FACE! I didn't know he was standing there! I was sooo mortified.

THEN -- get this -- later, after lunch, as I was going up the stairs to Science, I saw him a couple of steps ahead of me (I wasn't stalking him, I SWEAR), and he had a POST-IT stuck on his back. Some asshole stuck a post-it on his back! I felt so bad for him! So I was gonna be nice and all, and tell him about it. I tried calling him, but he couldn't hear me, so I hurried ahead and decided to pull it off myself. JUST as I was reaching out, STUPID ******* came by and shoved me into HIM! I SWEAR ******* TOTALLY DID THAT ON PURPOSE! I was sooo embarrassed! Now it looked like I was groping him, or something! I hope he doesn't think I was going to, like, assault him, or something!

I don't know about you, but that little stroll down memory lane left me in stitches. I was laughing so hard, I was crying. It's so easy to laugh at our teenage selves, but back then, those dilemmas were seriously traumatizing.

Man, what I wouldn't give to be fourteen again!


Currently Playing: Boulevard of Broken Dreams By Green Day

Currently Reading: The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold