post-cny post...

ok, so cny is not over yet... but for us workers, they sure as hell are! even though it's just the 10th day and i'm still getting one or two ang-pows, nothing bursts the "yay-it's-cny" bubble like having to drag urselves out of bed in the morning and sitting thru an hour of traffic to get into office on time!

on cny, it was ok lar... spent a total of 11 days at home! pure bliss, i tell u! but after all the bingeing and lazing around, it's kinda good to be back. i watched so much astro at home that i did not even touch the two books i brought home to read!

anyway, i would love to post some photos of my cny, but the very clever me brought home the camera case without the camera! ok, don't anyone mention about the weight difference and all! i was packing in a hurry and rushing to leave the house, ok?

ok, i think that should be all for now. gotta get home early and get some good rest today. stayed up late to finish up marley and me (2nd read) in prep for the movie. gosh, i always hate the part where they die in the end. cried my eyes out, which resulted in a blocked nose the entire night. and puffy eyes today. and a headache from sleeping on tear-soaked pillows! :S

a thousand splendid suns: a blardy good read!

this is a book i read a few weeks ago, but only found the time to blog abt now. i would say this is one of the BEST books i've read so far. khaled hosseini did it again... no, actually he didn't do it again, he did it better!

i just couldn't seem to put it down! being a slow reader, i normally take abt 2 weeks to finish a good book. and esp now that i don't take the train to work anymore and spend longer hours in the office, i've less time for my reading. but this book! i finished it in just 3-4 days!

it's really REALLY really good! for all the readers out there, and even non-readers, go grab yourselves a copy!

caught!

woo hoo! the very first book i released into the wild was caught!!! i'm over the moon now...

yesterday after work, i was just walking around, looking for the right place to leave my book... then i thought maybe i could just pass it to someone. so i started looking ard for the 'right' person to pass it to... and since the book is a romance book, i thought maybe it'll be good to pass it to a girl. then on my way to the lrt station, i saw 3 foreign women walking in my opposite direction and immediately i stopped them with "excuse me, do you want a book? it's free". the woman nearest to me put up her hand and said a very determined 'no'. but her face!!! it's written all over it that she thinks i'm one of those direct sales ppl trying to lure ppl into buying stuff or going for their free trial something! from her face, it's as if she's saying, "look, pls get away from. free? yeah right! i'm not gonna fall for your gimmick!"

i was crushed! this is for a good cause and ppl are treating me as if i'm trying to con them! *bawl*

so, still shaking from being looked upon in that light, i continued walking towards the lrt station. at the queue while waiting for the train, i was standing just next to the bench there. so i thought, why not just leave it on the bench? but i didn't, coz there were a few people sitting there. then the train came, and as the line was making their way forward into the train, i suddenly turned around and dropped the book on the bench. in full view of everyone! after that i just walked casually (with a selamba face) into the train. haha... what an experience.

then yesterday night, after coming home from dinner with N, i saw that someone has caught it and reported it as found (the term we use at bookcrossing is 'made a journal') at the bookcrossing site! even before i had a chance to issue a release note! actually the right procedure is, once u've released a book, u need to make a release note at the website stating where u released it so that bookcrossing can track it. tak sangka the anonymous finder is so enthusiastic in taking action upon finding it...

ah, this made my day. not everyone is as indifferent as it seems. there's hope yet for humanity! am heartened! :)

a near release!

so i was gonna release my very first book yesterday, and i was kinda nervous. after work, i walked around for a bit to survey on the best place to release my book… and after a while, i decided to just leave it on a bench. so i found an empty bench opposite the isetan entrance on the ground floor of klcc and sat down. i put the soon-to-go-on-a-journey book down on the bench next to me and put my bag on top of it. i sat there for a while, trying my best to look as natural as possible. i had to make sure there were no passers-by around when i get up to leave. won’t want anyone to chase after me with the book in hand, saying things like, "miss, u forgot ur book!"

after a while, when i thought the coast was clear, i stood up and walked away. after abt 20 paces, i turned around and took a peak at it. it’s still there, sitting innocently waiting for its next potential reader. then i decided to observe it from afar. so i took the escalator up, hoping to watch it from one floor up. but as i was stepping onto the escalator, i saw the cleaner makcik pushing her cart towards the bench and looking at the book curiously. oh sh*t… do i just let the makcik take the book and consider it the book’s karma? or do i chase after the makcik and rescue it?

in the end, i went to take it back. can’t do that to a book, rite? so that’s a false start... gonna try releasing it again later. hopefully someone nice gets it before the cleaner makcik!

or maybe i should find a leng-chai, approach him and say, "hello, do u want a book? it's free!" and hope he buys me dinner? hehe...

ready for release...

ok, i think i've never mentioned this before here, but maybe some of you have already noticed the logo at my sidebar, that i've became a bookcrosser recently. end of last month actually... i think the concept is simply ingenious and i love it! releasing a book and then see where it ends up... tracking a book's journey... there's a certain magical feeling to it, don't u think?

however, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for it. the few ppl i've mentioned it to, other than YH, gave me the 'are you crazy?' look. *sigh...

anyway, i'm not gonna harp on abt other ppl's opinion here. the reason for this post is this:



the starter kit that i've ordered to prepare my books for the wild has finally arrived! so excited... it consists of bookmarks, post-it notes and bookplate labels enough for 25 books. ok, i know i can always download the softcopy file and print them out... but since this would be my first release, i wanna make it real nice. more exciting mar... will use the printouts after i finish up the kit next time.

i'm not lost - i'm on a journey! the post-it note:


bookplate labels, explaining what to do:


and so, my first batch of books ready for release! so excited...


hmm... wonder where shall i release them... anyway, here's a link to my bookshelf. not many books in there yet, coz need to register one by one take a blardy long time!

oh, and i've also joined the m'sian bookcrossers! they seem pretty active in the bookcrossing cause, having meetups every month and all that. i'll be joining their meetup for the first time this coming sunday... so excited neh!