Do Your Part For Darfur

Natasha over at Maw Books Blog is trying to create awareness about the war in Darfur, Sudan. I have heard of the war a few times before but I'm ashamed to say that I've not bothered to read more about it. Anyway, Natasha will donate a certain amount of money when you do your part to make her campaign a success. You can donate too if you want to!

You can put up the button above in your blog and link back to Natasha's blog for the whole month of September in order to spread word about this campaign.

For more information on Reading & Blogging for Darfur, please visit her blog.



Come on, wait no more! Do something good today! You can help make a difference for the people who are suffering in Darfur.

Happy Merdeka!!!

Well, it is Malaysia's 51st Independence Day today or also known as Merdeka Day. What are your plans for this lovely Sunday? It's a holiday tomorrow too! Yahoo!

I don't think I'll be going out...not sure if there'll be traffic jam or not but still I don't want to go out and join the mad crowd of honking cars. I have to finish reading Understanding Journalism by Lynette Sheridan Burns as soon as possible. I'll need to review that book and hand in my review paper this Friday!!!

So, I'm wishing all Malaysians a Happy Merdeka Day again! :D

What Have You Eaten?

I got this meme from Trisha's. This should be an interesting one since I love to eat! But when I glance through the list, there are so many kinds of food that I've never heard of before. Well, here we go:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at Very Good Taste linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare (was this what Mr. Bean ate at the restaurant on his birthday?)



5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari (Squid)
12. Pho (is it something like beef noodle soup?)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi (potato and kunyit or turmeric!)
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (apple wine?)
19. Steamed pork buns (char siew pau!)



20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans (I eat rice everyday and I've eaten them with baked beans too. Is it counted? :D)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat (mutton curry!)
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (I once used a shampoo containing goat's milk!)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I like McD's but I don't think I've eated the Big Mac before. It's always the chicken burger, filet-o-fish or quarter pounder)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores (Yummy! Haven't tried before! Make your own with this recipe.)



62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yam
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (what kind?)
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Friday Finds

Should Be Reading
Here's what I found!






Oh, how I love all those book covers.

Who's Going To Avril Lavigne's Concert In KL?

I'd love to go but...can't go! It's in KL (Kuala Lumpur) and I don't think any of my friends are fans of Avril. One friend even mentioned that why should we pay so much just to hear or see some celebrity? They are still people like us, after all. So, it makes no sense paying hundreds of ringgit to fight with the mad crowd gathered at the concert area.

Hmm...but it'll surely be fun to be at her concert! I have all 3 of her albums: Let Go, Under My Skin, and The Best Damn Thing. My favourite album would be her first one, Let Go but the others aren't that bad either.

Sigh...why would some people protest against her concert??? It's just music and her songs are great. Well, some are really angsty but still, it's good to listen when you wanna release your anger. Haha!

Avril Lavigne:
From this:





...to this:




Anyway, check out this piece of news and the comments underneath. They're so funny.

ETA: This article is even funnier!

Booking Through Thursday: Stories

Question:

If you’re anything like me, one of your favorite reasons to read is for the story. Not for the character development and interaction. Not because of the descriptive, emotive powers of the writer. Not because of deep, literary meaning hidden beneath layers of metaphor. (Even though those are all good things.) No … it’s because you want to know what happens next?

Or, um, is it just me?

That's why I read in the first place! I read because of the story and the desire to know how it'll all end. I think that's why people read in the first place, right? It's all about the story. End of story. :)

The Sweet Far Thing Has Arrived!

Yay! I got a wonderful surprise when I came home today after a really long day at uni. There it was, the package on my table. The book which I bought from Better World Books: The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.




It was sent out on August 06, 2008 and it arrived today. So, it took around 22 days to come.

Sporty Days

I used to be on the athletes team in primary and secondary school. Well, I could run because I was quite active during those days and I always enjoyed Physical Education classes. The fun classes were the times when we got to play baseball, netball, handball, hockey, and we even played football once! Too bad Phys Ed classes were only held once a week. It sure is better than sitting in class poring over books!

My teacher would also put my name in cross-country events. I would go but I never win! Haha! My friends and I would jog and talk all the way. We knew we will never even get in the Top 100, so we might as well enjoy the run. Those days were absolutely fun.

Hmm, my old trainers are already worn out and I think I threw them into the bin. I have a pair of Reeboks now, given to me by my sister. I can’t do much sport now, anyway because of my back pain! I hope I can go back to playing my favourite games.

Want To Win More Books?

Hey there! Tracee is giving away 3 books and they are Bleachers by John Grisham, The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

If you want to try your luck, then visit these pages to submit your name.

Amateur de Livre's Weblog
Zensanity
Scribe Vibe

The deadline is August 31, 2008! Good luck!

Streamyx Installation Successful

Yay!!! Finally, I managed to install Streamyx by myself. I chose the RM66 package without modem and also without installation help which costs RM88. However, my Streamyx agent wasn't so helpful. I had to find some things out by myself.

First there was the router problem. Then, my router page couldn't be opened. I sent e-mails to both Aztech and Prolink help support. Prolink replied me almost immediately! That was a pleasant surprise. The guy told me to check the proxy settings, IP address, the firewall...

That time, I was using my Maxis broadband to go online and therefore, the IP address wasn't Prolink's! So, I disconnected the Maxis broadband and connected to the Prolink wireless connection instead and voila! Prolink's IP address appeared. And Prolink's router page opened miraculously. I could finally set in my Streamyx username and password.

Okay, so I tried to sign in to MSN. Failed. What's wrong now? Ah, I tried to connect the phone line to the router. The little computer icon at the bottom right of my screen started blinking blue. Connected! Really connected. Finally!

Now, I just need to find the microfilter so that I can connect the main phone line, the phone and the router with one another.

Sigh...I really don't like all this tech stuff.

Can't Open 192.168.1.254

I'm trying to self-install Streamyx. Now what I need to do is set in my username and password inside my router page. The problem is I can't open it at all! I'm currently trying to use Prolink Hurricane 9000G 802.11g ADSL router with VPN and Firewall. Before this, I've tried Aztech DSL600EW but I couldn't find the installation CD so now I'm going ahead with Prolink!

Does anyone know how to open http://192.168.1.254? I've even tried to put it as one of the trusted sites in my IE browser but still can't open it. :(

I appreciate any help or advice! Thanks!

***

Alright, here was what my Streamyx installation problem was and how I solved it:

The ADSL light was stable on my router and Streamyx was already activated. All I needed to do was to set in my username and password inside my router's page. I couldn't open the router page. So, I sent an e-mail to the Prolink help and support people and Tan Chee Seng from Prolink replied almost immediately.

This was what he wrote to me:

To access you will need to enter http://192.168.1.254 at the address bar.

If you can’t access, please check if you have any proxy settings set.

Click tools, internet option, connection, lan settings. Is the proxy ticked? If yes, please untick it.

Check that you are able to get an IP address from the H9000G.

Click start, run. Type cmd and click ok. Type ipconfig then hit enter. Do you get an IP address like 192.168.1.x?

Also check if you have any software firewall installed. If you do, try to disable the firewall. If still cannot access, you may need to uninstall your firewall.

So, I went to Start -> Run -> Type 'cmd' -> Check IP address

IP address wasn't Prolink's because I didn't connect to Prolink! I was actually connected to my Maxis broadband, which was what I was using before Streamyx. No wonder it's a different IP address. So, I disconnected the Maxis broadband and connected to Prolink. Finally, Prolink's IP address showed up. After that, I could open the router page to set in my Streamyx username and password.

After setting in my Streamyx username and password, I could go online. Everything was fine. Before that, the balloon that appeared on the bottom right of the page said that the Internet connection was excellent but I couldn't open any webpages. Silly me!

So, problem solved!

***

ETA: Book giveaways at the following places:

Camy's Loft (August 28, 2008)
Reading Room (August 25, 2008)

Have You Read Them All?

If yes, then BRAVO!!! It would mean that you're a very well-read person. :D Anyway, I got this from Trisha's blog.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline (or mark in a different color) the books you LOVE.

Here's the list:
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (only read 5 in the series!)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War & Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime & Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt.
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie.
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Colour Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flauber
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - I love this movie!

I intend to read as many of the books not bold in the list as possible.

Trying My Luck Again

These blogs are holding book/audio CD giveaways:

The Novel World (August 24, 2008)
Melody's Reading Corner (August 26, 2008)

A Silver Medal For Malaysia!

So, did you manage to catch the much-awaited badminton match between Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei and China's Lin Dan? I did. The game began around 8.55 p.m. (I think) and ended around 9.45 p.m.. Only 2 rounds were played and Lin Dan was clearly dominating the game.

Lee Chong Wei tried his best but Lin Dan beat him. The scores were 21-12 and 21-8. Chong Wei looked tired while Lin Dan looked like his energy never left him. He was alert and was terribly quick. He leapt at the chance to smash when Chong Wei was down.

It was definitely an exciting game, for me and everyone else! If I were there at the match, I would have cheered like crazy and shouted for Chong Wei. The support for Lin Dan was huge. You could hear the crowd chanting "Lin Dan! Chia Yuk!" every now and then. "Chia Yuk" means "add oil" or "go for it" in Mandarin. It's an encouraging remark to tell somebody who's about to do something difficult.

I'm sure Chong Wei tried his very best (who wouldn't give their best shot when there's an Olympic gold medal to be won???) but Lin Dan was just too darn good! He even threw his racket and sweaty shoes to the crowd!

One thing I noticed, why was Chong Wei wearing rings on his fingers and a watch too??? Wouldn't the rings and watch limit his movements? Plus he had so many chains and necklaces on his neck. Lin Dan only wore one chain and nothing on his hands except for his racket.

This is Lin Dan's first Olympic gold medal.

So, will Chong Wei go on to compete in the next Olympics? It's okay Chong Wei! You're still our hero!

Things You Bring Along

What do you bring with you each time you leave your house? Whether it’s school, college, shopping mall, wet market, church, temple, mosque, friend’s house, party, what items do you always take with you?

For me, I need my watch with me whenever I go out. Once, for a couple of months, I did not own a watch because my old ones didn’t work anymore and I had to resort to my cell phone to check out the time. But then wearing a watch on my wrist would be much easier and also the watch is an accessory.

Of course I carry a sling bag to put my stuff in. Things like my wallet, a bottle of water, a small book, a packet of tissues, keys to the house and car, and my umbrella! I’ve just acquired a cool bucket hat and that goes into my bag too. What’s the difference between a fedora and a bucket hat? I think the fedora looks trendy.


Left: fedora, Right: bucket hat


So, what do you take out with you?

Lee Chong Wei's Game Live Tomorrow Night!

If I'm not mistaken, his badminton match against Lin Dan of China will be aired live on RTM1 on Sunday night, 17 August 2008 at 8.48 p.m.. Well, for those who don't have the Astro cable television, that is. I'll certainly switch on the TV way before 8.48 pm just in case my timing was wrong.

Wow, the pressure is definitely on Chong Wei now to bring back Malaysia's first gold medal. Hmm, it seems that he's played with Lin Dan (World No. 1 in men's singles badminton) before. They played 12 times. Read this article from The Star.

If Chong Wei doesn't win, he'll still get silver medal but it'd definitely be much, much better if he can snap the gold! Malaysia's first gold medal!

Let's just stay calm and pray hard for Chong Wei to play an excellent and mind-blowing game. Anyway, last night on the ntv7 8 pm news, there was a poll asking people to vote if Chong Wei will deliver Malaysia's first-ever Olympic gold medal. 100% voted YES! Not bad. The spirit of Malaysia Boleh is stil burning in the hearts of Malaysians.

BTT: Gold Medal Reading

You, um, may have noticed that the Olympics are going on right now, so that’s the genesis of this week’s question, in two parts:

First:

• Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general?
  Nope, I've not read any books about the Olympics before. Books about sports....I guess so. I can't really remember. I think the only sports I read in books are those Quidditch matches in Harry Potter and also those lacrosse games in Enid Blyton! Oh yeah, what about skating? That's a kind of sport too right? Well then, White Boots by Noel Streatfeild then.
  
• Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both?
  See above answer.

And, Second:

• Do you consider yourself a sports fan?
  Yes, kind of. I was quite involved in sports when I was in school. I was in athletics and represented my school a few times. But I never could beat them runners from other schools! Anyway, I love to watch others run, especially those fast runners.
  
• Because, of course, if you’re a rabid fan and read about sports constantly, there’s a logic there; if you hate sports and never read anything sports-related, that, too … but you don’t have to love sports to enjoy a good sports story.
  No, I'm not obsessed with sports. Only now that the Olympics are on, I refer to the Sports section in the newspaper for updates on how my country's athletes have performed in their events.
  
• (Or a good sports movie, for that matter. Feel free to expand this into a discussion about “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural” or whatever…)
  Oh dear, a sports movie? I haven't watched Friday Night Lights either. Hmm, what about Bring It On, the cheerleading movie? That's the only movie that came to mind. I've watched hundreds of movie and I can't even name a movie with a sports theme! But I want to watch Chariots of Fire though.
  

(For the record, I am not a sports fan at all, but I’ll watch almost any Olympics event, have indeed read books about the Olympics–and strongly recommend The Second Mark, which yes, is about Figure Skating, but was a fantastic story and particularly enthralling in its view into life as an athlete in China, so no sneering at the sport, okay? The book was fascinating. I’ve also read a history of the 1896 Olympics (there’s also a good mini-series which just came out on DVD).)

Book Giveaway News

Try your luck with book giveaways at the following blogs:

Fantasy & Sci-fi Lovin' Book Reviews (before August 19, 2008)
Blood of the Muse (before August 31, 2008)
Get shocked! Get Jolted! Win a free book! (August 18, 2008)
Tera Lynn Childs (August 25, 2008)
Imperial Beach Teen Blog (August 31, 2008)
Bookroomreviews' Weblog (September 01, 2008)
Cheryl Rainfield (August 31, 2008)
The Procrastinator (September 02, 2008)
Camy's Loft (August 18, 2008)
Fantasy Pleasure Reading Contest (August 31, 2008)
Amateur de Livre’s Weblog (August 18, 2008)
Romance Reviews Today Blog (August 15, 2008)
Bookroomreviews's Weblog (August 26, 2008)
So Many Books...So Little Time!

Beijing Olympics 2008!

Badminton:

Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) bt Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia). (2-0) -Quarter Finals

So, Chong Wei will be in the Semifinals! All the best to him!

I Want To Abandon My Maxis Broadband

It's because I won't be needing it anymore. Who's interested in becoming the new owner of my Maxis Wireless USB Modem at RM138/month? I've been using it since December 2007. I'll pay the RM50 transfer fees. The transferring can be done at the Maxis store in Penang since I'm from there (Penang).

And there's no more 18-month contract. You can terminate it anytime you want now but at a fee of RM200. That is why I'm trying to transfer ownership instead.

If you're interested, send me an e-mail at josettebooks[at]yahoo[dot]com

Thanks!

P.S. Preferably for those living in Penang only. The transfering would be easier.

My First Chess Competition

That happened yesterday. A closed chess tournament, only open to students in my uni. I think there were only around 13 or 14 players. One player didn't come. Only 3 female players.

Well, there were 6 rounds. Here's a recap of my games:

Round 1: Played with an Indonesian student. He was shocked that he's to compete with a girl. He's also shocked that there are girls who play chess. Sigh...but he won. :(

Round 2: Played with a tension-looking Chinese guy. He played and hit the chess clock very fast! I'm a slow player so he had to wait patiently. Anyway, he's one of those chess champs. He won.

Round 3: Played with another girl. She moved her pieces fast and aggressively. Looks fierce while playing. She won.

Round 4: Opponent missing in action. I won automatically. :D

Round 5: Played with the other girl. A slow player like me. I won. :D

Round 6: Played with another guy. He's a fast player too. Probably was bored while waiting for me to think and move my pieces. He won.

And that was my first chess competition. Won 2 games out of 6. Actually winning *one* game only but too bad one of my opponents didnt' come, so it's 2. The competition lasted almost a whole day. From 10 am until around 6.30pm. Lunch wasn't provided too! I remembered them saying that there's lunch but then, no food in sight! Had to go to a nearby cafeteria and ate chicken rice.

One hour, one round. First round started at 10.00 am. Luckily I brought a book to read. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Would have been bored to death if I didn't. When I finished early or in other words, when I was rapidly defeated, I had some free time because we had to wait for the other players to finish their games.

It's been a good experience and I also made some new friends. Will consider joining more chess tournaments. Well, I have to brush up on my chess-playing skills first!

Go Riding

Do you own a bicycle? Do you know how to cycle? I first learnt how to ride a bicycle when I was 8. Riding a two-wheel bicycle, that is. Riding a four-wheel bicycle was pretty easy, actually.

Anyway, I think my sister tried to teach me to ride. To push forward and just ride away! Sounds easy, right? Well, learning something new can be quite daunting at times. I tried and tried but I couldn’t balance. But finally, one night, when my mom was just out for a late evening walk, and I think I decided to just ‘ride’ my bike when suddenly I could ride it without stopping! It wasn’t perfect riding. I was going left and right and was quite unsteady but still, I could ride. That was unforgettable.

In my teens, I used to ride our old Raleigh bicycle. I was quite jealous because other kids were riding mountain bikes. We didn’t own a mountain bike as it was sold off when I was still small.

So, how about taking some time off the computer or the TV and go ride a bike? It’s good exercise for the legs, that’s what I read.

Missing Pages In Library Book

I was happily patiently reading 1984 by George Orwell last night. It's a library book. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at page 166. There was no page 167 right until page 189. It skipped right to page 190. So around 24 pages were missing. And it was already 10.30 pm last night. I couldn't go to the library because it's already closed!

The book's quite old already. It's been on the shelves since 1989. Lots of people have borrowed it because of all the 'Returned' stamps at the back of the book. But not one of them reported the missing pages to the librarian? Quite impossible. Just now I told the librarian that the pages in the book were missing and he said that it can't be borrowed. Well, I meant to return it anyway.

In the end, I looked for another 1984 book and borrowed it. I've already reached Chapter 3, there are only 3 chapters in it. Hope to finish reading it tonight!

Win Breaking Dawn!

Not here but over at Stone Soup! If you don't want Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, you can opt to win Twilight or The Host also written by Meyer.

I haven't even read Eclipse yet! I'm currently reading 1984 by George Orwell and it's quite complicated. Well, my classes are cancelled for tomorrow, so I guess I'll have more time to read. Also, I signed up for a Closed Chess Competition at my uni! Argh!!! What if I'm to play against chess kings and queens? I joined for the fun of it and also for the experience. At least I can say, "Yeah! I've been in a chess competition before. How about you?" LOL! It'll at least make me look intelligent for a while.

ETA: You can also try to win a copy of Driving Sideways by Jess Riley over at Bookroomreviews' Weblog. The winner will be announced on August 22, 2008.

I Actually Won Something!

Last month, I've been entering my name like crazy in numerous book giveaways but luck has not been on my side. However, on Monday, I was excited when I received an e-mail from The Kool-Aid Mom, telling me to check out this post. And guess what? I visited her page and saw my name as the winner of a $10 Borders gift card! How cool is that??? She even left comments in both my blogs to make sure I got her message. Thank you so much, Alisha!

Unfortunately, the gift card can't be used in Malaysia! So, Alisha suggested that she buy a book for me from the brick and mortar Borders store and then mail it to me. :D

By the way, I found another online bookstore called Better World Books. Shipping is absolutely free in the USA and only $2.97 worldwide! Isn't that cheap??? I decided to search for The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray and it only costs $14.98 (MYR48.83)! Here in Acmamall.com, it costs MYR63.44 (USD19.46) and in Kinokuniya, it's slightly more expensive. But if I buy from Betterworld, it'd only cost me MYR58.68 or USD18.00, including shipping! It's a brand new hardcover book too.

I really couldn't believe my eyes that night when I saw the amount. I thought I was either dreaming or just hallucinating. I counted everything all over again, converted the currencies back and forth to make sure there was no mistake, checked the page a few times to see if I saw the right price, etc. Finally, I was convinced that it was no joke. It was real and my lucky day!

Since I'm international, the book will take between 10 to 21 business days to reach me. I put my order in on Sunday, 03 August, 2008. I just checked my account and my book hasn't been shipped yet! Hmmm, when are they going to send me my book??? I can't wait for it to arrive!

Book Giveaways Again!

Nari from The Novel World is giving away a free copy of Immortal by Traci L. Slatton (513 pages). All you need to do is name one historical person from the 20th century whom you'd like to meet. Leave your comment over at the blog before August 15, 2008. Hurry!

fashion-piranha is giving away:

• an ARC copy of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (due to be released on September 30, 2008)!
  
• Coraline, one of Gaiman's newest graphic novels
  
• Gaiman's Bath Surprise: one Stardust bath bomb and one Comforter bubble bath, which Gaiman has written about in his blog
  
• $25 to the charity of your choice!