“You don’t read, you don’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like to live in different worlds, to travel on great adventures through the galaxy with people you know better than you know your own family. To live and die with them. These are my friends, my best friends in the world.”

—Atticus Shaffer

Independence Day Haul.

First of all, I would want to greet my country, the Philippines, a Happy Independence(?) Day. Question mark denotes my uncertainty of us being a “true” free nation. You know, with the intense dependency we have on other well-developed countries, plus the restrictions we have because of the personal ties and bond we have struck with foreign nations and all that. But who am I to complain? I mean, for one, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy and savour amazing books if other countries wouldn’t export their own published goods.

And so on this day of independence, I practiced my freedom to do what I like best: hunt for good books. Yes, I know this is what I always do, but hey, can you blame me for being such a book addict? Anyways, in my trip I was able to find 4 books (3 books I wanted for so long, and one which caught my attention) with great deals. I got all of these books for a total of Php480 ($12). So here they are:

• Fat Girl: A True Story by Judith Moore — It’s supposed to be a coming-of-age memoir about the struggles of being in a tight relationship with food. As the back summary says, it’s about the gains and loss of the writer and of her yearning for belonging, family, love and acceptance. As a fat girl myself, who had my fair share of dilemmas and painful experiences due to my personal appearance, I got intrigued and picked up this book since I felt that I would be able to empathize well with the author.
• Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris — I have been a reader of Sedaris since I first got my eyes on his Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Although not a lot of people like his books, I find them quite good. Maybe it has something to do with his humor. It’s like an acquired taste and not everyone gets it. I bought this book because I know that this creation is partly about human’s natural difficulty in communication. As a bilingual, I know of the certain struggle people have when it comes to expressing themselves using a different language. That, and I want to have a good laugh again, while reading.
• The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne — Like some other books I love, I was introduced to this one because of the movie. Yes, I know the much used argument that the book is always better than the movie, but you can’t really blame me since I was not familiar with the author or the book itself before watched the movie. I loved the movie and the tragedy and the pains brought about by war and so I want to read about it and get more details from the story.
• A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon — This is the second book of Mark Haddon that I will be trying. I thoroughly relished his Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and I have been told by fellow bookworm friends that this book is a good catch as well. I loved Haddon’s way of writing since it’s a perfect depiction of the world from a somehow peculiar person’s head. And sometimes, we can see the truth better with these kinds of people.

I have been to The Land of Happy—

What a bore!

Good evening!

Just want say hello and remind everyone that the owner of this blog is still alive and well (although with a pair of ginormous eyebags). I know I haven’t been that “regular” in posting book-related stuff, especially my promised books reviews. I’m so sorry for disappointing those hopeful ones (if there are) who are expecting to hear about the books I have read. I would also like to apologize for not being able to reply to your messages immediately. I am not a snob (I swear to you!) it’s just that I rarely open my inbox and read your questions. I am so deeply sorry!

As you all know, I am currently in my last year (I hope) of BS Physical Therapy and I am quite busy with my clinical internship. I just don’t know how to find time to read fiction and blog anymore. I actually thought of taking down my page but changed my mind instantly when I thought of my blogger friends. 

So I guess what I’m saying here is that, I might be a bit absent from your dash but I am still here trying my best to sneak in bits and pieces for you guys. Hope you understand and would stick around. I love you all and I miss you guys! :)

—Badz

I guess my weak self-restraint failed me once more. And I think I went a little overboard with this haul. I already have the complete Harry Potter series, both in hardbound and paperback, yet this fact did not stop me from buying two of these British edition. Oh well, after spending 2 hours inside Booksale, I still had a great time since I got all of these for only Php550 ($14). YA time. HAHAHA.

• Besties (Mates Dates 1-3) by Cathy Hopkins
• Friend Me (Mates Dates 4-6) by Cathy Hopkins
• Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone (British ed) by JK Rowling
• Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (British ed) by JK Rowling
• Passing For Normal by Amy Wilensky
• The Sisters Grimm Tales from the Hood by Michael Buckley
• Angus, Thongs, & Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
• After Shock by Kelly Easton

As usual, I did not really plan to buy books a while ago. I just went out to get some cash for my allowance next week and stop by at the supermarket to get some stuff for my dorm. As I was going to the grocery area of the mall, I passed by Booksale. I tried to ignore the voices in my head telling me to go inside, yet I had no power against them. And so I end up checking out the shelves and after about half an hour, I found these two books.

I have been looking for Jaycee Dugard’s A Stolen Life for so long now. I was intrigued since a friend of mine really wanted to have a copy of this book. Now I dunno if I’d play the “good” friend and give him this copy, or be the “selfish” bookwhore and keep it to myself. Well, I guess I will try to read it and then give it to him after.

As for I ❤ Geeks, I learned about this book from Airiz and since then I have been on the lookout for a copy. And voila! Finally, my lucky day came. Not only did I find these two books, I also got them for a very cheap total of Php110 ($2.75). Ha! Now isn’t that just awesome!

Anyways, I hope I can make time to read all my newly acquired books. My internship is killing me and I cannot even have time to read. When I have free time, I would either just rest or study for our revalida. Ugh.

Had a very stressful and tiring day today. We had our ACL and core strengthening circuit training at Loyola International Multispeciality Clinic as part of the activities for internship. I almost fainted due to the exercise regimen given to us to test our endurance. As you all know, I am a very sedentary person and exercise or physical exertion was never my thing. And I hated every bit of movement I had to do a while ago. Here are the summary of the whole training:

With 5 lbs. ankle weight strapped on our both ankles we did the following:

• high marches x 2 rounds in the hallways (~20 m)
• butt kicks while walking x 2 rounds in the hallways
• lateral walking with dips x 2 rounds in the hallways
• partial lunges walk x 2 rounds in the hallway

And here goes the other exercises:

• run up and down the stairs 10x from 1st floor to 2 floor
• forward planks x 1 min
• side planks x 1 min on each sides
• ab crunches x 20 
• diagonal crunches x 20
• superman exercises x 5 seconds hold x 10 
• pelvic bridging with single leg up x 20 
• push-ups (as many as possible) for ~ 1 min.
• 10 mins. on treadmill
• 10 mins on bike
• 10 mins on stepper machine

So you see how difficult it was for me to finish this training. I swear, I can feel like my legs will be sore tomorrow. They are aldready aching like hell right now.

As for my stress and weariness, I found a way to somehow relieve them. I decided to stop by Fully Booked Katipunan on my way home and voila! I found some books that I have been looking for for ages! Of course, it felt like my energy was restored. And so here are the books I got from today’s haul:

• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (Finally! The last booooook!!!)
• Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman (In paperback! The cover is very lovely, btw)
• Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (After months of searching for this, my luck finally worked!)
• Legend by Marie Lu (I’ve been meaning to buy this but it wasn’t available in paperback before)

See? I am so happy with my mini haul. Now my only problem is the soreness that’s slowly creeping up on my legs and thighs. As for my mental capabilities, I think I can still survive a chapter or two of reading Gaiman’s book before finally going to slumber. :D

from Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

How could I not love this man?

Bow down to me for I am the queen of secondhand-books-shopping!

Hahaha. Passed by Booksale at the Festival Mall branch yesterday before going back home from our cousin’s baptism. I thought to check in for just a bit and voila! Look what I found! I got the first edition of JK Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard Hardcover. And I bought for just, wait for it.. Php60 ($1.50). It was a really good buy. The book is in a very pristine state save for the cover that is a little bent around the edges. And to think that it’s original price is around Php900 ($22.50).It’s funny because it was strewn aside with a bunch of children’s book by another customer. I spotted and it and immediately asked the woman if she was going to buy it. Luckily, she doesn’t have an idea what book it was and said no.  Oh yes, I am in such bliss. 

Okay, that’s it. Just sharing my happiness with you guys. :) 

Unplanned Book-Buying

I went to the mall this afternoon to have my 2x2 picture taken for completion of my NMAT form. I was told that I would have to wait for 30 minutes to get the pictures. And so I decided to kill time by roaming around the mall. I haven’t take around 10 steps yet when I passed by the secondhand book shop I frequent, and of course, my feet automatically walked to that direction.

Like always, I was determined to check all the shelves for books I might want. After all, I don’t have any other shops in my mind that I wanted to go to. I was in luck for after less than 30 minutes inside Booksale, I found the two books I have been looking for for months now, which are out of stock and unavailable at Fully Booked, Powerbooks, and NBS:

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
• Ash by Malinda Lo

Ooooh the perks of patience and perseverance in scanning all the shelves. I got them all for a total of Php230 ($4), less than the original price of just one book. Such bliss! :D