Need I say more?

Yup, it's that time of the year again! The annual BBWB sale is back!!

This year I got a preview pass again! But just like last year, I could only take a half-day leave for the sale. This time though, a colleague will be joining me as she won a pass too.

I might be borrowing my mom's trolley. I never buy a lot of books at one time, but carrying a box around was just too tiring.

Can't wait to see what's in store!! 

Hooked (and for once, not by books)

I haven’t played any video games for a long time. My first and last gaming console was a PSX (Yup, that old!). But once a while, I do keep track of some of the games that I like or played before, e.g. Medal of Honor, Metal Gear, Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. When Tomb Raider 2013 was released, I was pretty excited and always checked online for some photos and videos, but never excited enough to actually want play it, mainly because I sucked at gaming. But when I heard about one amazing game and watched the video, I was hooked and was for the first time in a long time considering buying a console just to play that game. The culprit was “The Last of Us”. 

The Last of Us is a post-apocalypse survival horror zombie game, but it’s not just any post-apocalypse survival horror zombie game. The storyline was absolutely amazing, it got players completely connected to the characters, the gameplay was great, even the zombie infection idea was more realistic compared to other zombie games and movies. (Not going to bore you with my unprofessional details and definitely not going to spoil the game for you.)

I’ve watched the “movie” version of the game on Youtube, downloaded it and watched it again many times later. The story was that good. Even though I’ve watch the video before playing the game (a serious no-no for hardcore gamers), it’s because of having watched the whole story that made me want to play the game even mor and experience it for myself. True, I’m not a good gamer and most likely to die many times even before getting a quarter-way through, I still want to try playing it. The game has an easy difficulty setting, which is good news for me, and from what I heard, the easy difficulty has an auto-aim function, which is great for me.

The one thing that is stopping me from playing the game right now is money. I haven’t done my research yet, but I know that buying a console and a game would set me back around RM1,000, maybe more. And to play the game, I need to get a new TV too. The TV in my room is simply too small to play any game, even the ones from my old PSX. So you can do the math on how much the whole set-up would cost me.

Now you see my predicament. I really, really want to play The Last of Us. But the financial cost was just so high. Argh! What am I to do… 

Choked

Reading Together by Tom Sullivan with Betty White. The first few lines on the first page already left me choking a bit. 

"It was noon -- when the sun was at its highest point and the dog was at his lowest moments. There was an aching in the black Labrador retriever's heart as he circled the area where his people had left him. If he could, he would be asking the question why. Why did you drive into this park, open the door, bring me out, hug me, pat me, and then leave me? But dogs never ask questions like that, and they never question if they should love us forever, because love is an absolute."

Correction: Not so great start in the new year!

It wasn't how I imagined how my new year would start. While I didn't plan anything special, the idea of spending several days in a hospital was definitely not what I had in mind.

The story goes like this...

A great start in the new year for book lovers

In case you haven't already know, Big Bad Wolf Books will be having a Fireball Book Sale this February!!

So remember to collect all the Ang Pows you can get your hands on from your friends and families to pay for the books you'll buy from this superhot sale!!

Turn off that TV, grab a book and start slaying some dragons!

Happy 2014!!

A brand new year has finally arrived! It's almost surreal every time a new year came and the old year gone. One moment you think that time passes by slowly and the next moment it's gone before you realised it.

So what's for the new year?

My Treasure

The great Big Bad Wolf Books Sale of 2013 has ended yesterday! The 24-hour arrangement was ingenious, allowing more freedom to choose what time to visit the sale which in turn made the hall less packed. Last year's sales visitors will know what I mean.

I told myself not to buy too many books this year. And I did. 25 books weren't that many compared to the box and luggage full by others, right? And four of those books were for my nieces when they start reading English, so in actuality I bought 21 books for myself.

What's my haul for this year?

My haul so far...

Went to the Big Bad Wolf Books sale, twice. Tiring? Sure! The congestion from getting into the parking area was enough to sap anyone's energy, and that was before walking around the hall with a box full of books looking for more! But seeing all those books stacked everywhere was worth the effort.

Entrance to a happy place

Stupid and careless mistake (Someone else, not me)

Last night I came upon a review on Big Bad Wolf Books (BBWB) by a Ms Chong from KL, complaining about the Preview Passes given to winners to visit the book sale today. She had the facts all wrong and I would like clarify this on behalf of my favorite book sale event.

Bittersweet

Again, almost two months after my last post. I've gotten lazy in writing my blog now. Actually spending more time reading, but progress so-so only though.

Why am I here now? To talk about Big Bad Wold Books sale again, which will start on 6 December, just two days away. Everyone who knows about the sale would also know that the organiser gives away preview passes by taking part in its contests, sharing its Facebook posts, etc. Last year, I've tried everything to get my hands on a preview pass but to no avail. This year, I won a pass without even knowing.

Have to spread the word!!

It's been almost two months since my last post (so long already??). I guess I got lazy lately and didn't feel like posting so frequently (I admit, two months is a bit of a stretch), but I don't think anyone missed me, right? Ok, feeling a bit depressed now...

Anyway, there's a great news I heard last night that I think I ought to post it here whether or not anybody reading this. I'm sure many people know that the Big Bad Wolf Books sale is coming this December, right? Check out the following images and see if you can spot the difference.

Just four. [Updated]

That's how many books I bought from the BookFest 2013 that just ended yesterday. But with just these four books, I saved RM 128.73 as compared to buying at full retail.

Popular-The Star Readers’ Choice Awards result [2nd update]

The result of the Popular-The Star Readers’ Choice Awards for 2013 was announced on 3 August. Sadly, Tan Twan Eng came in at second place in the fiction category. I was so hoping for him to win. Perhaps I was being biased, having not read the other books in the category to make a fair choice. But I was quite optimistic that he would win, with his book being shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won both the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize and Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

Need I say more?

My mom, a gamer??

My mom is officially addicted to video games!

While she is not playing any popular role-playing, action/adventure games in the market such as Diablo, Fallout, Resident Evil or Tomb Raider (although I'll admit it would be so cool if she does), she's fully immersed in Luxor,  Zuma and Shoot Bubble Deluxe and is quite good at them.

Giving myself a brain hemorrhage

Reading an old American literature written in the late 1800's, e.g. "The Red Badge of Courage", was a bit hard for me, not used to the way books were written back then as I tried to understand what I read. So I was, unwitting, beating myself in the head again when I try to read something written even earlier, in the 1850's, i.e. "Walden", which is way thicker than the previous book.

Mystery sleeper in the station

This happened yesterday morning as I was on my way to work. As usual, I arrived at the Putra LRT station at Taman Paramount super early. Taking the escalator up to the platform, I saw this Indian guy (obviously a homeless) sleeping on the concrete slab just above the bus waiting area. Me, along with others who saw him too, wondered how in the world did he got up there.

Arriving back at the station after work, I walked around the place where the Indian slept and found out how. Took some photos too.

Slow reading required

If you're not accustomed to old American literature, reading "The Red Badge of Courage" make take some getting use to. I had to read it slowly to understand the book and took me over two weeks to finish despite it being deceptively thin for a novel.

Mini library in the office

Did I ever mention that a colleague of mine started a mini library project in our office? No? Well, she did and so far there's quite a selection available now, contributions from everyone who enjoys reading.