Big Bad Wolf Book Sales 2011

I grew up reading books. Books from Enid Blyton, Sweet Valley High and such had always been my companion. Heck, i was a total nerdy bookworm. I have a complete set of The Twilight Saga, Eragon, and i've probably read almost every Shopaholic and Cecilia Ahern's books.

But do not blame the books for my glasses. You can blame the Pokemon show i watched everyday at 10am back when i was a kid, with me sitting approximately just two metres away from the screen.

Back to the book talk, when i heard that there will be a massive book sale going on at Serdang called THE BIG BAD WOLF BOOK SALE, i knew i had to be there. I knew i must be there. It's an opportunity of a lifetime!

......only i didn't have a ride. Serdang is so far away and i don't even know where the hell MAEPS is so going there using public transport would be such a burden. But on Sunday afternoon my retarded friend Syamim told me the good news saying he agreed to give us a ride to the book sale. I was so happy i practically did cartwheels 10 times in my mind!

When i reached there, the sight of people dragging boxes and suitcases (yes, suitcases!) of books just excites me. I was like "Koraaannggg cepat sikit boleh taak nanti buku habis koraannggg aku tak sabar nii!!" I was so out of control, Damia and Zuley lost me the minute i entered the hall. True story. If i were to bring a child along with me, i'd most probably lost the child since i was so preoccupied with the heavenly amount of cheap books. Pity Zuley, he was not the book-nerd type so bringing him to the book sale was kinda boring for him. Thank God for Damia for keeping him company, because at that time, i just don't give a damn. Haha.

All the books there were sold at the price as low as RM8! Hardcovers, bestsellers, comics, magazines, you name it. They were all RM8 and below.

HOW IN THE BLOODY BRILLIANT WORLD IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?

Look at that. Omg bookgasm.

Biography of The Beatles. It was a hit.

New Moon at RM8?! To be thinking i had spent RM30+ for this. Pfft

Grab it while you can mosnters!

I was searching for these! Couldn't find any. Bummer.

Classics. Wanted to buy some, only to realize i have two more of this kind at home that i haven't read yet.

I took several books, decided not to buy some of em along the way, took some again, then having to put them back after realizing that i didn't bring enough cash (it was an unexpected trip, mind you). And i came out with only four books. Only four! Sigh, i am ashamed with myself. And i call myself a book nerd? Curse you non-existing ATM. I came out from the hall giving dirty glances at those carrying boxes and suitcases of books.

Books i bought, hardcovers baybehh. And these are all for RM32. Now that's what you call a sweet bargain.

But anyways, the fact that i had the opportunity to experience the Bid Bad Wolf on its very last day made me a one happy kiddo. Especially since i had accepted the fact that i might not be going in the first place. Thank you Syamim for making it possible. Thank you Zuley for accompanying us even though i know you were bored to bits. And thank youuu Damia for buying more books than me *shoots her multiple times in my mind*.

Those who didn't get to catch the book sale, too bad for you for having to miss out on an exceptionally awesome event. I hope they make this as annual thing (or is it?), cause i will be coming again next year fo sho!



p/s: Photos shamelessly stolen from Big Bad Wolf's Facebook page. We didn't bring along our camera that day, since once again, this was an unexpected trip.

The Secret Life Of Nora

In one of my posts recently i mentioned that i'd be going to a musical theater in Istana Budaya; THE SECRET LIFE OF NORA. I went last Saturday and it was great!

I have always wanted to watch a musical theater. Because deep inside i have always had this fascination towards the showbiz. I enjoyed the singing, i enjoyed the acting. I used to love being on stage and perform. So watching talented, famous people dancing, singing and acting in front of me kinda feels like i have stepped into this one magical world where everything is so nice and perfect.



You may think i am exaggerating, but i am not. I loved it that much.

The Secret Life Of Nora tells us the story of Nora, a rising star who thinks she had a shot in appearing as the lead role of a movie when in reality, she was actually training to become a spy. You know how i love a good spy story, so it's a plus.

The casts were great. Tiara Jacquelina was great at acting, and i never knew her voice was that good. Yeah sure she sang Asmaradana but the song didn't amaze me like the way she did during the theater. Her partner, Ryan Silverman was beyond superb (and quite handsome i might add). I was told that he was actually from Broadway and indeed he acted like one. The scene where he and Nora sang on the hill, i was so hypnotized it felt like i was being teleported into an actual Disney movie. And when the fireflies appeared while they were singing, i couldn't help myself from seeing the resemblance to the scene in Tangled where Rapunzel and Flynn sang when they watched the lanterns float. Awww. Syamim and I just can't stop squealing in excitement.



Adibah Noor and Tony Eusoff, on the other hand, were hillarious! Adibah Noor was easily my favourite cast. She didn't need to speak, she could just barge onto the stage and everyone would laugh at the sight of her. Aznil also played well as the villain. His character had trouble pronouncing the letter R and it came out as a W instead. I thought it was cute.

The girl who played Betty and the guy who played Sharif were also good. They were new in the showbiz, and i think Secret Life Of Nora was their breaking act. I loved Betty's voice. She was so talented, i envied her for sounding so much like a princess. Sharif has a good voice too, but what i admired most about him was his talent of playing the violin and piano. He played live, beautifully! Oh and not to mention his gorgeous face hehe.

From left; Betty, Sharif, Mr. J, Agent Nora & Agent Foss
Not seen; Kak Tijah & Agent Farouk

Yes, i became friends with the casts already

The play went really well. They were no flaws, and the props were amazing. The play had a simple storyline, nothing complicated, which allows the audiences to watch at ease. Everything was just fabulous!

My friend Ainaa said she hated the musical, claiming that "it had too many songs". Well duh, you're watching a musical for crying out loud. You can't expect to watch a musical without hearing some songs. I don't know what has gotten into her. Maybe sometime during the show, she was abducted by an alien and was forced to hate the show.

As much as i loved the show, i didn't love it that much to be spending my money on its merchandise. The goods were pretty and cool, with everything in hot pink and all, but i don't think it's wise for me to be spending my money on stuff like that. Especially when the only reason is to get an autograph from the casts. Har har, yes, one of us is actually lame enough to do that. "-__- Sometimes i doubt that he's 19 instead of 9.




All in all, i was satisfied with the show. I loved it so much, i now promised myself that i will watch theaters as often as i possibly can. I can't promote you guys to watch The Secret Life Of Nora now since the show had ended, but do buy a ticket for the next show in Istana Budaya!

Who knows you might see me acting and singing on the stage. No i am not joking.

I literally asked for a role from Tiara Jacquelina already. So that's one step ahead.

A GIRL CAN DREAM OKAY PFFTT

Barney-ism

Ever heard of laser tag?

In case you live under a rock like Patrick Star and didnt have a clue what laser tag is, well, it's a game where you just have to run, hide and shoot. Simple as that. Simple as it sounds, it's a whole lot of fun!

I have always been wanting to try out the game since they first opened a warzone at Midvalley, but there was always something in the way. Be it in terms of financial, time or even people. But last Friday, i finally did it!

We played at iCity and it only costs RM12 per mission, which takes about 10 minutes. I know what you must be thinking, "RM12 for 1o minutes? What kind of an easy money business is that? I am sooo not paying that much for just a 10-minute game." I thought so too, but hey now you dont hear me complaining. Because believe me guys, the RM12 you spent was worth it! It can get pretty tiring in the warzone, cause everyone would be running around dodging and shooting like they're in an actual Bond movie. Instead of saying "That's it? That's my 10-minute mission? What a crap" , you'd be panting "Seriouslyyyyy it has not been 10 minutes yet?!! [heavy breathing]".

The place closes at 12am so we decided to make a stop at Intec first to watch their cultural thingy they had going on.... or so we thought. We ended up hanging out outside the hall eating roti canai.




Around 11pm, all 8 of us made our way to iCity, or shall i say, to the battlefield. We decided to play in teams; red and blue, and let the poker cards decide our fate.

Red team: Syahira, Adilin, Ainaa, Syamim
Blue team: Me, Damia, Zuley, Alis

To those who had never played laser tag before, dont be afraid of screwing up the game because you dont know how to play. The person in charged there would kindly give you a briefing on the game before you play, just like they did to us. We were all first-timers :)

The cool thing is, each of the gun has it's own name so later we could check our scores according to the names. I am so not gonna tell which is mine haha. As you can clearly see from the photo below, blue team lost. No big deal, i am already plotting my revenge.




The 10 minutes spent in the pitch black area was legen - wait for it - dary! We were exhausted to the max but who the hell cares. We had so much fun! Everyone came out all sweaty and smelly but still managed to put on a satisfied face.





After a good game, we all decided to give our stomach a treat so we headed out to the nearest mamak, and our usual hang out spot, Barra. Too bad one of us was too sick that he had to head home without even finishing his food. Too bad that his tom yam was super delicious. Too bad we had to finish em for him :p

I strongly recommend everyone to try out this game! It's cheap, fun, and just a whole lot of awesomeness. Look at Barney. He agreed to the awesomeness of laser tag and never seem to get enough out of it. I tweeted about the game and has managed to attract a few people to play. Guess when's my next game?

Next Friday! Interested? Do tweet me :)

Jazz by Mimi Morticia

Seperti
Ada trompet
Berbunyi
Pet pet pet
Dari dinding dadaku
Melihat engkau
Berbaju Melayu dengan lengan disingsing
dan
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The Awesome Tale of How We Conquered Johor, Terengganu & Pahang

Well last week we had our semester break and instead of going home, my homies and i decided that we should stay together and go for a road trip (again) instead! And one hell of a road trip we did.

Unlike the last road trip we had, this one went for a week. And this one had not been as disastrous. Most probably because we had learned from our mistakes. I went with a different set of people this time, just us college mates (me, Damia, Zuley, Adilin, Alief, Ainaa), because the others were busy with their examination period in their own respective unis. So there we have it. New trip, new people & new experience!

Putting the road trip thing for a while aside, lately i have been having How I Met Your Mother fever. I watch the show a lot now and it affected my life so much that i even started to speak HIMYM language. I tweet the word "Legendary" a lot, say "wait for it" for every possible reason, heck i even applied the stupid theories from the show into my real life. God knows how badly my fingers itched to start the post with "You see kids, back in September 2011, my gang and i went for a road trip" , HIMYM style.

So when i think about it one more time, maybe a HIMYM style post is not so bad after all. You know how in the show, they always give a name for something. Be it a story, a theory, a tradition, a crazy psychopath ex-girlfriend or whatsoever. They always have a special name for it.

And so i am recording the memories of my road trip here, HIMYM style, by giving names to the phenomenons (yes, i purposely use the word phenomenon just to make it sound bombastic) that happened and that are worth remembering.

1. Free Food Mania
Believe it or not, during our 7days 6nights trip, we only had to fork out money to eat twice. Yes, TWICE. The rest of our meal were automatically sponsored since we crashed into so many houses. Scene of crime: Zuley's, Ainaa's, Hafiz's, Faitz's & Damia's aunt's. We even managed to score duit raya from one of those houses. What is up! *fist bump*

Ainaa's lil brother who i named "Gendut" without his mother's permission

2. The Bangla In Shining Armour
When were just about to start the road trip, somewhere around Melaka, our car's bumper got ripped into half. We were literally dragging the dangling thing along the highway for a solid 20 minutes until one of us realized that the bumper have fallen. I was consumed in my own world at that time, watching episodes of - wait for it - HIMYM on my laptop. Long story short, we stopped at the nearest gas station and asked for help from some Banglas. A bunch of them did helped, but halfway through repairing the bumper, they were summoned by their boss, getting scolded at for trying to waste their time helping us. After being threatened that they will not get their wages for the day, only one Bangla came back. "The Bangla In Shining Armour". He continued helping us despite the fact that we have nothing to offer him in return. But we did gave him RM20, kesian lah the guy. Well Malaysians, ONE MALAYSIA YOUR ASS. Turns out this Bangla from another country is more helpful than us Malaysians. Shame.

3. The Birthday Surprise
We missed Ainaa's birthday and didn't get the chance to celebrate it. So we thought, hey why not do it during the road trip? The plan was to meet Faitz and Wafa in Terengganu, where Faitz would then bring us to a beach and do the celebration there. Unfortunately luck was not on our side that day since it rained so bad the moment we started heading to the beach. And so the plan ended up with us celebrating it in Secret Recipe with a birthday song playing in the restaurant and all. Ainaa was indeed surprised, thank God. Okay Ainaa, if by any chance that you're reading this, yes i do know that we're awesome. There's no need for you to say that another million times. :)

The birthday girl

4. The Kuantan Experience
If there's one thing i love about Kuantan, it's the signboards! They were stupidly hilarious and were damn straight forward. Can you imagine, having to drive there and see signboards that reads "TAK RASA BERSALAH KE POTONG Q..?!". Hahahahaha these Kuantan people, what were they thinking. We spent the day in Kuantan by watching a movie and playing at the beach.





5. Play Date With Law
We had two play dates with the law. 1) Alief was driving behind this one stupid slow car and when he couldn't stand it anymore, he overtook the car by using the left lane. Duh, it was wrong, but who the hell drives slow on the right lane? Little did we know that the driver of the slow car was actually mad at us for doing that, and so he overtook us in return and blocked the road. His car was in the middle of the road, in a HORIZONTAL position. Cars were passing by at high speed so if this guy's not stupid for doing that, than i don't know what stupid is. Alief and the driver screamed some words i couldn't tell for a while, but after the driver commanded us to step out of the car, Alief has had enough. He just drove away, driving like mad at a dangerously high speed, left right left right (imagine Fast & Furious, seriously, it happened just like in the movie. Okay i exaggerate ) trying to get away from the driver. We even hid in a corner for about 10 minutes until we were sure we were not followed. The runaway got our adrenaline pumping and it was legendary! Felt like i'm in Mission Impossible for a moment there. 2) Zuley was driving back from Kuantan to Terengganu when we met a roadblock just outside the boarder. We did not have our P sticker and so Zuley had to stepped out from the car. When he got back, he told us that he settled it with the police officer by giving him "duit minum" just like he asked for. When i heard about this, i was in a total disbelief. It was my first time witnessing bribery by a cop right in front of my eyes. Seriously, BRIBERY? And i should be calling you sir. Shame.

6. Gambang BBQ
We went to the new Bukit Gambang Waterpark and played the hell out of it. We tried on every slides we could find and played at every pool there is to offer. Who knew playing in the wave pool could be so much fun! If i were to play there with my family it would have been kinda dull. But when it was with my homies, it was wonderland! The downside was, we went out from the waterpark all dark and sore. Our skin hurt so much due to the sunburn that we went "ouch" every time our skin makes contact with anything. BBQ-ed indeed.



7. The "Nina should stop eating turtle eggs" Mission
Since we were in Terengganu, we decided that we might as well have the experience of watching turtles lay eggs. To my friends, this is also an effort to get me to stop eating turtle eggs, thinking i would be touched by the sight of a mother turtle laying (delicious) eggs. We got to see three turtles that night, one was just about to reach shore, one was already hiding her eggs while the other one is laying hers. The myth that i heard so much about, saying that turtles cry when they lay their eggs, well apparently they were true. Except, the turtle didn't actually cried because she was sad or anything, she's just doing that to cover her eyes from sand. By the way, we also got the chance to release baby turtles out to the sea! The ranger told us to pick one turtle and named it before releasing it. I named mine Qaseh (coughfuturebabynamecough). Aww those little bastards were so cute! There was also this one couple who came with us, newlyweds i think, and the husband is the sweetest guy ever. I overheard him saying to his wife at the beach, "Sunrise tomorrow sayang? It's quite late already, tak payah tidur lah." Aww.

Oh and the "Nina should stop eating turtle eggs" mission? MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED. Yes the babies were cute, but the eggs still taste pretty good. Mwehehehehe *evil laugh*




8. The Handbag Dilemma
A girl's gotta be a girl, so when it's a handbag problem, IT IS A PROBLEM. First, i should tell you that i am in love with my yellow handbag. Because it's YELLOW. So when one of the small screws from my handbag came off causing it to be deformed, i freaked out. It fell somewhere in the car and because it was night at that time, and the screw is really small, i thought that finding the screw would be impossible. Or so i thought. Alief then took out his phone to get some light and started looking for the missing screw on the car's floor. I still thought it was impossible to find and i asked him to stop. He wouldn't and somehow, a while later, Ainaa and Adilin joined in the search. They were all on the floor frantically searching while i just sat on my chair yelling "Stop stop" to which they wouldn't listen. And of course, minutes later Adilin managed to do the impossible and found the missing screw, and Alief screwed it on the bag back for me. Ainaa too contributed by teaching me how to sew (what does sewing have to do with the bag, i do not want to explain). These guys saved my handbag, they should be given medals of honor! Thank you!

Me faking a smile while deep inside i was crying for my bag

There you go, I think i have told the highlights of my trip right. It was pretty laid back, the trip, and i was loving every single moment of it. But if i were to write every single moment that i love here, it would take forever and would require a lot of adjectives that my mind would probably fail to think of.

Thank you guys for a wonderful road trip without complications. This story, twenty years later, should be told to our kids because it was definitely legen - wait for it - DARY!



p/s: Some of you might find this post a little bit confusing, with the HIMYM language and jokes here and there. If you're a HIMYM junkie, you would probably understand. But if you're not, well, i guess you just have to deal with it.... Or go watch HIMYM right now and be a HIMYM junkie yourself!

p/s/s: I will be going to a musical theater with my friends next week; The Secret Life of Nora. I know it's a week away but i'm already pretty stoked!

Give me a tshirt that says I LOVE KIDS

Me and kids. We have this relationship that even i can't explain. Google it, search it up in a gigantic dictionary. You wouldn't find any word to describe my relationship with this small creature we call... KIDS. *cue scary evil music*

You know how i'm always "Awh this kid's so cute i feel like i wanna blow him up to pieces" or "Come here you adorable little thing let me eat you up". Back then, i actually meant those words literally. If only the law allowed me to do that. Because when i say i want to blow a kid to pieces, i really do want to blow the kid to pieces.

Why? Because kids are annoying for crying out loud.

But as i grow older, i realized it's time for me to change my perspective on kids. I cant be hating on them forever can i? So instead of putting a sign that reads "I HATE KIDS" i toned it down a little bit by changing it to "I MIGHT LIKE KIDS IF THEY'RE ONE DIGIT OLD AND DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO TALK YET. AND THEY HAVE TO BE CUTE. AND DOES NOT PUKE ALL OVER ME."

So over the years, i have slowly ease myself into finally connecting with kids. And hey. They weren't so bad after all. Some of them are genuinely cute and had successfully made me go "Awww" in my heart sometimes. I tried so hard, it comes to a point now when every kid i see excites me.

Kid walks by me, i pinch cheek. Kid runs, i chase. Kid smiles, i touch.

Aaaaa so many cute little kids running around everywhere in this world, they should all gather around in small groups and arrange themselves like bowling pins so that i could knock em up with a bowling bowl!!

But i'm so tied up with trying to let myself to like kids, i forgot to actually try and make kids like me. Who am i kidding. I failed sometimes. Tried playing with a kid and ended up looking like a loser. Sometimes i think i tried hard enough, but to others it looked like i wasn't even trying. And sometimes i'm doing it the wrong way and didn't even realized it until it's too late. Hmmm kids used to hate me big time.

Proof 1 : Once i was assigned to take care of my little cousins. They ended up crying with no apparent reason, so i got mad. And i left them crying and rolling on the floor. I just left them until they shut up. Don't worry they still love me now.

Proof 2 : Bought this sweet lil kid an orange juice, trying to be nice and all. She stared at the orange juice for quite some time, not even drinking it. Much later, i found out that apparently she does not know how to open the bottle juice. Poor kid so thirsty, but who the hell does not know how to open a bottle? Pfft. Sissy.

Proof 3 : I always try to attract kids by stealing their toys. That way, they would want em back and come near me. Nahhh but most of the kids would end up crying or go running to their mom saying "Mama mama kakak tu curi mainan waaaa". Yup, happened a couple of times.

Proof 4 : I make fake fun facts to kids just so that i would look cool. But my so-called fun facts always sounds scary. I once lied to a kid that i have a double personality, and this other me would get really mad whenever she's hungry. Made the kid scared by making scary faces and he ended up giving me food so that i can eat and be nice again. Haha stupid kids, so naive.

Proof 5 : You know how kids can go all "Why this? Why that? Why this colour? What is the name? How? Where? Why? WHY? WHY??" Man, like shut up already! This is what i hate most when it comes to kids. They have like gazillions questions inside that tiny head of theirs and i'm sorry but dear old me does not have the bloody time to answer each and one of em. That's why i said that i might like kids if the kid does not know how to talk yet. That way, the kid can keep all the questions to his/herself. Yelled at kids a couple of times because of this, and of course it made em cry. Hooray.

I am so not mommy material. Yet. Eheh. Hehehehe.

You see, kids are fun and cute, sure. But at times they can get so annoying i feel like i'd rather play dead than having to entertain them. So yeah, i created this stupid ways for me to connect with them just so that i can have fun in it too. But hey it works sometime. Some people are telling me that i am getting better at this.

KIDS LOVE ME NOW! YAY! *fireworks*

Of course people love kids. Who would not? They're cute. Funny. Adorable. Fat. Stupid. All the qualities of a lovable human being. And i tell you this, i am actually starting to love kids too. Sincerely. Just as long as they're mighty cute. And doesn't talk at all. And doesn't puke all over me. And does not have snot dangling from they're nose. And have a nice haircut. And doesn't ask me stupid questions.

Now i don't sound sincere at all do i?

But i do love kids :)