Faithchick

Pride and Prejudice

Camy here. Most of you know that I’m a pretty die-hard Jane Austen fan. But I had heard so many negative reviews of the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice that I put off watching it for a while.

Well, my Tivo has a Wishlist search for Pride and Prejudice and recorded it, so I figured I might as well watch it since it’s taking up memory space on my Tivo and I don’t have to waste a Netflix space on it.

My opinion: It’s not bad. But it’s not as good as the 1995 version with Colin Firth.

However, there are a few things in its favor.

Some of the non-Austen dialogue is really quite funny and witty.

The scene of Mr. Collins dancing with Lizzie is HYSTERICAL! I was hooting and laughing. The actor who played Mr. Collins, Tom Hollander, is phenomenal, but my only complaint is that he made Mr. Collins very sympathetic and likable rather than prosy and ridiculous like he is in the book.

The scene of Bingley pacing before he proposes is cute.

Mr. Darcy coming through the morning mist is very romantic. Matthew Macfadyen is a handsomer and more passionate Darcy than Colin Firth, besides being younger, but I did think he made Mr. Darcy softer and less austere than Colin Firth did. Colin’s portrayal is closer to the book, in my opinion, but Matthew is a teeny bit more pleasant to look at.

Keira Knightley is good, which didn’t surprise me since I think she’s a rather good actress, although she played Lizzie with more fire and not quite as much wit as she is portrayed in the book.

Judi Dench made Lady Catherine more elegant rather than ridiculous as she is in the book. I don’t think Judi Dench could be ridiculous if she tried, she has that magnanimous air that lends elegance to whatever she plays. Still, Lady Catherine lost that humorous edge and was more dramatic instead.

Donald Sutherland was quite good, which surprised me a little, since I couldn’t quite see him playing Mr. Bennet at first, but he pulled it off really well. My only complaint (and this might have been the script) is that in the movie, Mr. Bennet lost the humor and wit he had in the book.

I liked that the actors for various characters were as attractive as they were in the book, like Wickham and Jane Bennet.

There were some inconsistencies with Regency time periods—Lizzie’s hair being down, Caroline Bingley in a sleeveless dress, no gloves on half the people at the ball, men and women. Things like that. They kind of jarred me out of the story a bit. And what was up with Lady Catherine visiting in the middle of the night???

Overall, I liked the actors in this version better, I think, with the exception of Julia Sawalha and Alison Steadman from the 1995 version. But the script for the 1995 version and the direction is still my favorite. Was this entertaining? Yes. Would I buy the DVD for this version? No.

What did you guys think?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, is out now, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, releases in July. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Spending money

Camy here, a little depressed after itemizing our expenses over the past five months.

Okay, let me start off by saying that I don’t normally do that. Itemize, that is. I’m doing it in order to get a better idea of monthly expenses for our financial advisor.

But the amount of money spent is just a tad alarming.

No, actually, it’s not our spending that’s alarming. What’s alarming is that I thought we were spending so much less per month than we were. Delusion is a funny thing, that way ...

Now, the good news is that we’re not exceeding our monthly income. But could we cut a few expenses here and there? Sure.

I need to:

(a) stop buying so much yarn. Actually, I bought a whole bunch at Stitches West, which thankfully only happens once a year. Also, a lot of the yarn I buy is for gifts as opposed to myself (although much of the Stitches West yarn was for moi, I will confess. There is no way I’m giving away an $85 Qiviut scarf. I’d have to love the receiver a LOT. And they’d have to be a yarn connoisseur who would appreciate the yarn.)

(b) stop eating. Well, no, not really, but we seem to spend an awful lot at Safeway. I need to pay closer attention to how much we throw away, and stop wasting food.

Luckily, my itemization shows that we’re not eating out more than once a month, and half the time that’s lunch at someplace like Kirk’s Steakburgers (yum!) which is rather cheap.

Also, since the time period is from December 2008 through April 2009, some of our expenses include our gifts for relatives and friends during the holidays.

Now, while I won’t send you screaming from your computer by suggesting you itemize your expenses, how about you pay a little closer attention to your expenses this month and see how you do?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, is out now, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, releases in July. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Detours

Camy here. Some of you may have heard me whine talk about my weight loss this year. I’ve been active on SparkPeople.com since December last year, and I completed the Couch to 5K running training program (C25K).

The problem with my exercise is I keep going on detours.

I finished the C25K program in March sometime, but right after that wonderful week of accomplishment, I had a writer’s conference, and only ran once. Then I was on deadline, and only ran once or twice. Then I went to visit my parents, and only ran once. Then I got sick, and didn’t run at all.

Now I’m almost recovered from bronchitis, but my running stamina sucks!

:(

The detours were my own fault (well, except for the getting sick part). I could have exerted myself to be more diligent about running.

Detours are my biggest problem with anything. I am not disciplined enough, I think. And I’m not sure how to change that aside from just try, try again.

So now, I’m redoing the C25K program at week 5. I can tell my lungs are still a little weak, and when I ran today, my legs were a little sore, too.

BUT AT LEAST I’M RUNNING!

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, is out now, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, releases in July. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Homemade cough syrups

Camy here, and yes, you read that blog post title right.

Why homemade cough syrups? Why not blog about the spiritual state of the nation or a mother’s love or something serious?

Because I don’t want to.

Plus I’m sick.

I have found as I get older that certain drugs/medicines impact me more than they used to. Over the counter cough syrup is one of them. Where before I would down Robitussin like bad-tasting juice, now, one dose makes me feel WEIRD. And I don’t like feeling WEIRD.

(Okay, well, I already AM weird, but that’s beside the point. You don’t want me high on something that makes me WEIRDER.)

So a friend on an online writer’s loop gave me a recipe from her grandmother for homemade cough syrup: 2 parts whiskey, 1 part lemon juice, 1 part honey. Take a tablespoon every hour or as needed.

WHOA MOMMA THAT STUFF IS POTENT!

But it WORKS.

It doesn’t last for hours at a time. I usually need a dose every 2-3 hours, so sleeping is not so good—I end up coughing myself awake after 3 hours, and I’ll get up, dose myself, and go back to sleep.

But 3 uninterrupted sleep hours is better than 8-10 hours of coughing, coughing, coughing.

Oh, and did I mention I smell like a distillery?

My mom also suggested Vick’s Vapor Rub on the soles of your feet, then putting on socks, and going to bed to prevent coughing at night. I tried it last night, but I still woke up coughing. So I’m not totally convinced about that. But Mom swears it works for her. Anybody else try that? Did it work for you?

In mentioning my homemade cough syrup on Twitter, a couple people gave their own recipes. Most are incredibly nasty looking. I’m not sure if I have the courage to try them, especially since the whiskey one is good for 2-3 hours at a stretch.

Any favorite homemade cough syrup recipes you want to share? And you also have to tell us if they worked or not!

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her latest Asian chick lit novel, Single Sashimi, is out now. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!

He’s a jerk

Camy here, asking the question, “What do you look for in a hero?”

Tall, dark and handsome?

Suave and charming?

A little geeky, a little endearing?

Or how about, a nice guy?

I thought nice guy was rather boring, so I wrote my hero as flawed, tormented, wounded.

But my critique partners said, “He’s a jerk.”

Camy: “What do you mean, he’s a jerk? He’s not a jerk.”

“He’s a jerk.”

“He’s imperfect. He’s flawed.”

“He’s a jerk.”

“He improves by chapter twenty.”

“He’s a jerk. Fix him!”

So that’s what I’m doing now.

I guess, when you think about it, you wouldn’t want to marry a guy who’s a jerk. So why would you pair your heroine with a jerk?

I guess nice guys do win.

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her latest Asian chick lit novel, Single Sashimi, is out now. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!

Will Power

Camy here, playing off my title from my last blog post. Haha. Except this post isn’t very serious!

Here is the million dollar question: they sell everything else on eBay—why not will power, too????

So most of you know I’m on a weight loss kick. I joined SparkPeople.com and I’ve been steadily (albeit SLOWLY) losing weight. I just completed the Couch to 5K running program (Yayayayay!), but I’m still a bit frustrated.

Because my eating is still waaaaaay out of control.

I’ve been going way over my calorie count each day. Some days will be good days, but I have more overage days than underage days.

I tried eating carrot sticks instead of potato chips when I get the night time munchies. It wasn’t that helpful—I ate large quantities of both. Who knew that a pound of carrots is almost 200 calories? Although I guess that beats the number of calories in a teeny tiny ounce of potato chips. (Not that I only ate a teeny tiny ounce...)

My problem is that I DON’T HAVE A SWEET TOOTH. I’m serious. I usually crave salty foods over sweet foods. So lots of people have suggested things like sugar free hot chocolate and sugar free lollypops and fruit and sugar free sugar (just kidding) and all kinds of substitutes for sugar, but it just doesn’t help me when I want popcorn, potato chips, and salt.

I tried keeping my hands busy by knitting, but my cravings overcame my desire to finish that sock.

The only thing going for me right now is that I’m finding it easy to exercise. I know everyone is different—some people have no problem controlling how much food they eat or what they eat, but they have problems exercising. Me, I need to duct tape my mouth closed, but I can go out for a jog or get on the exercise bike, no problem. I even like it! (gasp!)

Anyway, I’m just venting a bit. I haven’t lost any weight in the past month and before you ask, no, my measurements haven’t changed, either. I guess status quo is better than gaining, but I’d really like to lose more weight than 5 pounds in three months. And before you ask, yes I checked with a doctor and he said I should aim to get my weight within my safe BMI range. And I’m definitely not there yet.

Is there any substitute for Lays???

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her latest Asian chick lit novel, Single Sashimi, is out now. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!

Not my will

Camy here.

Now, I know I am not a bad Christian. I read my Bible (almost) everyday, and I really love reading it. I’m going through the entire Bible for the fourth time (I’m a bit ashamed that I’ve been a Christian for almost 20 years but have only read through the entire Bible three times), and each day is filled with something new God is revealing to me.

But for a while, I’ve been living my Christian life on autopilot. I help with the youth group on Saturday nights, I lead a weekly high school girls’ Bible study, I participate in a couple’s prayer group/Bible study twice a month, and I lead a worship team for Sunday service once a month. I do all these things for God, and I’m happy doing them, but nothing is new. Nothing is different.

My faith is the same as it’s been for years.

As some of you know, I’ve been reading The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay because my church is doing the 40 Days of Love campaign.

One thing I like about this book is that it has challenged me to dig deeper into my faith. It has made me search and see what aspects of my faith I’ve let slide without even realizing it.

What struck me the other day was “Not my will, Lord, but Yours be done.” Jesus prayed that in Gethsemane, and although I know the story, the phrase as it applies to me hasn’t entered into my consciousness in a while.

But Jesus set aside His desires to do only what God wanted Him to do. He set aside His wants in favor of God.

And I realized I haven’t been doing that very much lately.

Much of what God asks me to do, I really enjoy doing—the youth group work, the Bible studies, the worship team.

But when God asks me to do something I don’t want to do, I find excuses. I delay. I hide. I reneg.

And I hadn’t even realized that this is what I’ve been doing. I’m so ashamed of myself.

But I’m also determined to do better. And I know God will help me.

There’s a great prayer from the book that has really spoken to me:

”God, I want your will, but I want my will also. I know it’s wrong, but it’s how I feel. So I ask you to work in my heart to get me to the place where I can pray, ‘Not my will, but your will be done.’”

I am typing that out and taping it somewhere near my workstation. It’s important for me to remember.

So how about you? Can you relate to what I’ve been discovering about myself?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her latest Asian chick lit novel, Single Sashimi, is out now. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!

Priorities

Camy here. Recently, I’ve been reading The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay because my church is doing the 40 Days of Love campaign.

The book is pretty good. What I’ve gotten out of it this week is that Jesus always put His relationships with God and people before other things like money and tasks.

My pastor talked on Sunday about how we can’t really give our lives to anyone because we’re going to die eventually anyway. But we can give time--we give our time to someone else.

Jesus did that. He gave time to God. He gave time to people. (He also gave His life, in a truer sense than we could, but that’s another topic.)

It made me take a good look at my priorities. Often I’ll spend time in my Bible after I handle “pressing emails.” But really, how pressing is something that can be put off for an hour? If it were really pressing, the person would have called me, right?

And God has blessed me abundantly—but how am I using my time in taking care of my work? Am I being as efficient and disciplined as I should be? Am I overworking? Am I being lazy? Am I being inefficient or not working as well as I could?

In my relationship with Jesus, I want to please Him in what He’s given to me. If I don’t make Him a priority, then my goal in anything I do is not for God, it’s for me.

When you boil it all down, questions about priority are questions about faith. If I have faith that God will care for me, it frees me to live with a certain set of priorities; if instead I feel that it’s up to me to take care of myself, my priorities will go in a completely different direction.

How about you? Do you need to reprioritize something in your life?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her latest Asian chick lit novel, Single Sashimi, is out now. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!

Small victories

Camy here. Well, I’m still going strong on my weight loss/getting fit/getting healthy journey!

I’ve been on SparkPeople.com (friend me! Mary Griffith’s there, too!) for about 6 or 7 weeks now, and while I don’t always stick within my calorie range, I don’t go over by too much.

I’ve also been pretty consistent with my workouts—I do some form of cardio about 6 days a week, and a really short strength training program (gotta prevent osteoporosis!) 3 days a week. I’m doing the Couch to 5K program for 3 of my cardio days, and the other days I just take it easy and go for a walk with the dog or do some gentle biking on the stationary bike.

While all that might sound like it was a breeze, it’s been a TOUGH 6 weeks. Every day is a BATTLE to not stuff my face with potato chips or overindulge on chocolate. Every day is a BATTLE to get myself to exercise, especially when I’m tired or just feeling lazy, which is pretty much ALL THE TIME.

Sigh.

So I’ve started seeing each day I eat well or exercise (mostly exercise) as a small victory. It is a small victory when I choose a tangerine over a cookie. It is a small victory when I go for a 30 minute walk with the dog. It is a small victory when I go to bed with my stomach growling rather than snacking on something.

Anytime I eat a cookie or don’t walk the dog or snack on something before bed is NOT a failure. I try to forget about it and focus on the NEXT small victory instead.

My days have become marked by all my small victories.

Some days I have fewer small victories than other days, but I always have at least one small victory each day, and that’s good.

How about you? What are some things you’re struggling with and what small victories can you accomplish during the day?

Camy Tang
lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research,
and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her latest Asian chick lit novel, Single Sashimi, is out now. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!

Tips for staying motivated?

Camy here, asking how everybody’s doing on New Year’s Resolutions?

I know, I know, I hear the collective groan. But really, it’s not too late to try something new for 2009.

My New Year’s Resolution wasn’t a “new” one—I determined to lose weight this year, same as I resolve to do every year.

The difference is that this year, I’m putting more effort into my resolution than previous years.

First, I joined (or rather, restarted a nonactive membership in) SparkPeople.com (friend me! Mary Griffith’s there, too!). What I like about it is that:

(a) It’s free

(b) I can keep a food diary online, which is really easy for me since I’m always on the computer, and it’ll calculate not just calories but also protein, fat, cholesterol, etc.

(c) Their online food list is HUGE so I can always find what I’ve just ate

(d) It’s free

(e) They have this nifty fitness tracker where they’ll assign you a certain number of strength training exercises, tailored to your fitness level AND the equipment you have at home (I have a stability ball and weights)

(f) The pre-assigned strength training exercises takes the thinking out of strength training, and it’s only 20 minutes 3 days a week, and they change the exercises automatically for you every two weeks or whenever you’re bored—you just hit a “change exercises” button.

(g) Did I mention it’s FREE???

Now I’m going more than 3 weeks with them, and I’ve seen a few things:

(a) I’ve been better and better about keeping within my assigned calorie range (YAY!)

(b) I’ve been fairly consistent about exercising 6 days a week, even if it’s only walking the dog for 30 minutes or riding the stationary bike (YAY!)

(c) I lost a few pounds the first week, but I haven’t lost a single pound in two and a half weeks (BOO!)

(d) The exercise is getting harder to keep doing (double BOO!)

Now, those last two are something I’m familiar with. Previous years, I’d also not lose much weight and then lose motivation to exercise, and the resolution would tank, all by the end of January.

Well this year, that’s not going to happen if I can help it!

You are already helping me by reading this because you’re (silently) keeping me accountable.

But do any of you have any other tips for helping me stay motivated?

What I’m already doing:

1) I bought a new waterproof running jacket to make me want to go out and walk, since it’s a very pretty lavender color and it looks way cool. (I’m actually going to use it for the first time today, since it rained)

2) I’m tracking my food and exercise with SparkPeople.com

3) I’m reading lots of articles on healthy living and success stories to keep my spirits up

4) I have set a concrete goal for the year: I want to be a size 6 by September 1st. I don’t know if that’ll happen, but it’s nice to dream about, don’t you think? The thought makes me smile, anyway.

Anything else I can do?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research,
and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her latest Asian chick lit novel, Single Sashimi, is out now. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!