In my most depressed days, I’m not sure if I have friends. This isn’t a woe-is-me-no-one-cares thing. I think a lot of people do care, if by care it’s defined as compassion. That kind of care is common. Friendship, however, are diamonds, forged through a lifetime of natural, circumstantial means. There are a handful of people I call best friends, but I’m not sure they…

All my life I’d wished my mother was someone else. We want love to be easy, that the people we love do noble things or have admirable talents. My mom is neither moral or bright. Her life philosophy is dependency. She hates to learn and thinks the worst of people. Whatever the feminist ideal – strong, independent, sassy – my mom’s the opposite. I’d spent…

I’ve often been called a pussy. It’s usually from the same crowd who use words like “cuck” and “alpha”. Because I don’t scream my feelings out, especially in a way that demeans people, I’ve also been labeled as dishonest or passive-aggressive. Half the country mistook a narcissist with no filter and made him president. They said that particular personality type was “refreshing” and “strong”. People…

I believe in reincarnation. Well, maybe. I hope it’s true anyway. It would explain a lot of things; it’d explain me. I hate authority; like hate it. If it were my way, the sun would come up when I’d want it to come up. I have a low tolerance of people telling me what to do, even if they’re right. I want to be a…

My first novel, Cody Quan, is the polar opposite of my second novel, Asians Don’t Date. I say polar opposite because when one writes books, they’re either in the soul-searching category or the commercialized category. Cody Quan’s the former. It’s amateurish, all over the place, there’s a billion characters and I wouldn’t want it as my writing’s prime representation. But books are like children; I…