Fish Avenue

Before Chinese New Year, I bought my first ever Percy Jackson book, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Saw a lot of its movie posters while I was in Taiwan. I didn't know what story it was until I got my hands on the book. It's all about the Olympian gods and the demigods. I've always loved Greek and Roman mythology, how could I miss out the Olympus then? :) Thought I could finish the book before I watched the movie.

When I turned on the first page, I got gloomy. The story was written in first person, "I, Percy Jackson......" :( It's funny that I don't mind reading blogs that's written in first person, but I do not choose/buy books that's written that way. Why? I do not know. I just feel funny and weird to read books written in "I".

Since I've bought the book, I just had to finish it. It took a little getting used to, the next thing I know, I could hardly put that book down. No fancy and big words, it is so simple and easy to understand. Then I realised, ah, it was meant for the children, dumb me. Hahahaha. The story was good enough, love the edgy side of Percy Jackson.

Went to watch the movie then 2 days ago. First, I was a bit surprised to see the "bigger" version of Percy by Logan Lerman. Percy from the book was only 12, this one on the screen looks 16 (Logan is 18 this year). Of course, this is the movie, not wholly based on the book. Then things got worse, most parts of the story have been changed. Grover isn't the shy and timid Grover, Annabeth isn't the wise and calm Annabeth, and Percy has become pretty arrogant and self-centered in the movie. How sad......

Half way through the movie, I had to tell myself to stop comparing it with the book, enjoy the movie! Hahahaha. Yup, it was still a good movie despite the distorted story from the book. Andrew was wondering how Luke stole the lightning bolt and why Zeus would suspect Percy, the movie didn't explain it well. However, we still enjoyed the movie. Andrew even said "it was better than Harry Potter". LOL! He is never a HP fan. :)

If you want to watch Percy Jackson, better watch it before you read the book. It isn't good to have a "book" in your mind while watching the movie. If you have read the book, make sure you erase all the Percy Jackson shadows in your mind before you enter the cinema. :D

One thumb up to Percy Jackson the movie, and 2 thumbs up for the book.

I went to Kinokuniya wanted to buy the other 4 books of Percy Jackson series (there are 5 of them in total), which I've seen few weeks ago when I bought The Lightning Thief. Good grief, they're all out of stock! It's gonna take 2 to 3 months to replenish! Oh my, my, my...... Gotta try my luck in other bookstore. Sob, sob.

Now, let's see some Percy power! Yay!

P. S. : Waiting impatiently for Clash of the Titans!

On 30th December 2009, tt was so kind of Yee to tell me that Zara is on SALE! Thought I could check it out and see if I could get some work pants and shirts. Didn't see anything that's worth the money, they're still expensive even after the discount. It's just another sales gimmick they have to attract more customers.

Since I couldn't find any working clothes, went on the check out if there is any cheap winter jacket that I could possible grab. I kept oh-my-god-ing on the jackets' prices and Andrew kept giggling. When I was about to give up, I guess I said too much of "oh-my-god" and God heard me, I saw this jacket and the price was OK! Even Andrew said OK. Too bad that there were some imperfections on the brown color that I like, I had to take the white. Now I have to be careful wearing it.

It's only RM99.90. To my surprise, there were some of them priced at RM139! Same jacket, same color, same everything, but RM40 different! I wonder why.

I was so happy that I finally got a jacket with a decent price. Then Andrew saw this 4-letter word (SALE! I know what you're thinking! :P ) on Topshop's display window and decided to go in to have a look. That was then I spotted this green cotton jacket. :D It fits him nicely! RM63 after discount. I wanted to get the smallest size for myself, too bad that the green didn't have XXS anymore. I took the purple. :) Guess what, I got a RM25 voucher and it was RM37 for mine! So sweet of Andrew that he said he would buy that for me. Okay, my belated Christmas present from him then. :D

Last week went to Karaoke with Phoebe and Wan Yi, each of them bought that Zara jacket too! Hahahaha! :P

Kinokuniya was having this special 30% discount on selected books with purchase of another item of any value. How could I miss that! Went with Phoebe, I got myself another Jimmy Liao's book. It is his new book, One More Day With You (走向春天的下午). Then this book caught my attention. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. There is already a movie based on this novel. I didn't bother to watch it as I thought it would be boring. I don't mind reading the novel though.

My first 2 books of the year 2010. :)

How nice to start the new year in such a splurge. Well, not really a splurge. LOL! Hope I could more intellectual this year, finish all the books that are lying there in the corner for a long time.

上个月，我的几米珍藏又多了一本了。:)

纪伊国书屋的优惠卡上个月是最后一个月了。那天看见只剩最后一本！当然是快手快脚的把它买了啊。

书里边的画都是黑白的，但是并不会觉得枯燥。每一页都是满满的细节。真不知道几米是怎么把它们画出来的。佩服，佩服。

故事诉说一位老太太和动物园里的毛毛兔重逢，勾起了以往的回忆，共度了一个愉快的下午。虽然我用十分钟就把书看完了，但是那份感动却是那么的强烈。让人真的有点想哭。故事很短，有点意犹未尽。

糟糕了，真的深深地爱上几米了。

昨天Andrew做晚班，整9点才放工。我害怕自己一个人在办公室里，就只好到KLCC去逛逛等他放工。最近的我好自制哦，逛街都不乱买了。真为自己感到自豪。哈哈哈！

KLCC里头唯一可以让我呆上几个小时的地方，非纪伊国书屋莫属了。7点半一到那，就直冲书店去了。今年四月在纪伊国书屋买书，获得了一张Daruma卡（达摩，亦象征好运）。有了那张卡，于4月到11月之间买的书籍都可享有28%的折扣。对爱书的我来说，这简直是可喜可贺的消息啊！但是，一个月只可用在一本书上。上个月忘了，浪费了。。。:(

走着，走着，一直都在英文书堆里打转。想买这本，也想买那本。可是仔细想想，家里还有好多书等着我去看哎。。。结果把手上拿着的两本书给放回原位去。嗯。。。好久没看华语书籍了。天啊，要找一本有趣有‘内涵’的华语书可真是难如登天！以前那些有才华的作家，现在的书根本就不吸引人。要不然就是没再出书了。

上个星期看见几米有新作品哎，但是没买。以前看过他的“向左走，向右走”，好漂亮哦。好有艺术气息的一本书。艺术得来又合逻辑，并不是无厘头的乱画一通。新作品名字叫“星空”。不知道里面画些什么呢？包得密密麻麻的，根本看不到。又不好意思到柜台去请小姐开给我看。哎呀，算了吧。买了它吧。反正折扣后只需RM37。

还没到家，在车上就迫不及待把包装给拆了。好美啊！回到家，再仔细看看。哇！真的好厉害哎！所有的图画都好漂亮哦！也好有创意！就这样，我爱上几米了！将来要慢慢收集他的作品了。

实在太欣赏他的画了。那种画中画、那种气息、感觉、颜色。。。太棒了！

其实我也是蛮喜欢画画的。但是画得不好，早就放弃了。哈哈哈！现在就只能从别人的作品上，提升自己的修养。嘻嘻。

在星空里航行，多棒啊。

看！可爱吧？！

照片是用手机拍的，素质不好。请见谅。

This morning, saw a friend posted a photo in Facebook. I was so curious and yet excited. Dan Brown has got new book???

Just so that if you don't already know Dan Brown, he is the author of the famous "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons", which have become the big movies in cinema.

I am a fan of his after his publication of The Da Vinci Code. Love the little riddles in the book and how things are all intertwined with one another. That's the beginning of it. After The Da Vinci Code, I bought Angels & Demons. Again, I fell in love with the riddles and symbols, and the Illuminati. Finished that, I thought I'd take a break from all the Dan Brown stories and imaginations. But I missed his stories so much! I bought the Digital Fortress and Deception Point! Geez...... Guess what? After reading Deception Point,  that has become my favorite of them 4. You just can't praise enough of how brilliant Dan Brown is to come up with such plot! LOL!

Everytime I went to the bookstore, I would definitely go check him out if he has any new book. And everytime I was disappointed. Come on, 4 books and you aren't writing anymore? 5 0r 6 years after the last book and no more? Gosh...... So sad......

Then, now we have The Lost Symbol!!! And it's the Robert Langdon series!!! I gotta grab it! My gosh, it is only available in hard cover. I don't usually buy hard cover book as I don't find the need of having hard cover for a novel, and it's more expensive. But for this time, I was just going to break free from my own traditions. Hahaha. I bought it! My first hard cover novel (yes, seriously it's my first, except that Jamie Oliver hard cover cook book). I just couldn't wait for the paperback, I want to read it now. All right, for this long weekend, it's just going to be Dan Brown, Robert Langdon and ME. Hahahaha......

Okay, enough of Dan Brown. I'm sorry if I was babbling. :P I'll tell you later if The Lost Symbol worths all the attention of mine. LOL.

Finally I could upload photo to Wordpress. The hard cover book costs RM99.90, but currently Kinokuniya is having a 30% discount on the book, with purchase of any other value of book/magazine! If you want it, go grab it now!

So, there I was, watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs with Phoebe. Didn't have a good start in the morning, decided to go for a movie to give my mood a little lift.

Before the movie started, I went to Kinokuniya to grab some book. Sorry, not some book, wanted to buy the Tribute to Michael Jackson, Passion magazine. I was roaming around in the bookstore, wanting to buy some other book to reach my yearly quota. Hahaha. Yes, I am so going to spend RM1000 this year on books!!! So that I could get tax relief for that. LOL. Yeah, I'd rather spend extra on myself than paying extra for taxes. I've already paid enough! Imagine all the import taxes on all the books, clothes, cosmetics, skincare, and many more!!!

Hey, something caught my eyes in the bookstore. They are together with the stacks of "Twilight". I've never seen that story book before. It's called Night World. There are 3 of them, each of them with 3 stories inside. What's more, it's only RM29.90 for the first book!!!

With 2 books in hand, I went to the counter. I got 28% off the MJ book. I didn't know that was considered a BOOK and not magazine. Anyway, happy that I got the discount. :)

Ok, enough with the books. Ice Age that is. It's a great movie, I enjoyed watching it. But I guess my mind were somewhere else and I wasn't paying full attention to the movie. There were a few times I realised everyone around me was laughing hysterically while I was not! And when I realised that, I literally faked it and forced myself to laugh with the rest. LOL. Of course there were times I really found it funny. I wonder what happened to me that night.

After the movie, while waiting for Andrew to come pick me up, I went to Isetan and sent my sterling silver necklace and pendant for polishing. Just when I thought I was feeling great after the movie, someone just had to upset it again. The new sales assistant obviously didn't know the polishing process, ended up my white pearl has got a tint of purple. He didn't even apologise to me, it was the other nice lady from the other counter who kept on apologising on his behalf. So the pendant was sent for servicing. :( Oh well, I shouldn't get more upset over such small thing.

Anyway, I'm still happy that I got a new book to read. My short term goal now is, make myself lost in between the pages of all the books. I was joking to a friend, I am now "chasing" books. Hahaha. I never really know that reading can make one self suddenly feels so intellectual, now I am feeling it. I have 6 books waiting for me! Gosh, when did I buy so many?!

Last Sunday, went to Seremban for a super duper delicious crab dinner. There were 5 of us, Wan Yi, her husband and her friend, me with Andrew. Wan Yi was coming back from Singapore, while Andrew and I went to Seremban from KL.

Deep fried pork ribs (Nam Yu Pai Guat)


BBQ crab with salted egg.


BBQ crab with Marmite, yummy!!!

Finally, I finished Predator that I started since last year July!!!

Patricia Cornwell is so good in writing forensic sciences. It's even better than watching all the CSI series. Besides all the sciences, she is so damn good in creating mystery and suspend!

Well, not all her books are interesting, I've read one which is kind of boring, Book of the Dead. Her Kay Scarpetta series are in fact very famous.

Gotta start another book, perhaps it's time for Nora Roberts now.

Yesterday received a SMS from Citibank, Air Asia new route to Taipei, open for booking today. I didn't give it any thought yesterday, didn't think I'll go Taiwan in the near future. I didn't even bother to finish the SMS, didn't even bother about the price.

This morning, my colleague told me Air Asia having a full page advertisement on its new route to Taipei, air fares as low as RM101! Well, I was curious. Therefore, I checked out Air Asia website. Wow, surprisingly I could still get RM101 for return tickets. Hesitated a while, called Andrew. Then I asked a few friends if they would like to go as well. Again to my surprise, Andrew said go. My friend's husband said go too! Ok, without any hesitation, I booked 4 air tickets to Taipei! Total came up to RM1504 for 4 of us.

Later afternoon, another 2 friends said they would like to go too! I was so happy they could go with us. But they didn't manage to get the lowest fare, they got the tickets at RM139 before taxes. Still feel excited, total 8 of us! 4 pairs! Hahaha. I am finally going to Taiwan!

Just now, after work, I went to KLCC to wait for Andrew. It's been quite a while I didn't do some serious shopping. I went to shop, but didn't really buy anything. Just now saw this little yellow dress in Parkson's Dorothy Perkins, tried it and it is just fine. I bought it for my friend's wedding dinner later in May. Still, my mission is not yet accomplished. I haven't got any white blouse! The search continues......

After wandering around, I went to Kinokuniya. One of my goals this year is, to buy as many books as possible. One of the reasons being to get some tax relief, another reason is to build up a library for my future home! Hahaha! I do not like a home without any bookshelf or books, and I do not like a bookshelf without any books! People has been telling me to donate my books which I have read to the charity. I know it's a good deed, but I love my books. Perhaps later, when they're old enough. Sorry, I know I sound selfish.

Kinokuniya is having this cute promotion. When you purchase RM80 and above in a single receipt in the month of April, you're entitled to this "eye of Daruma". It's a card that entitles you to 28% of discount on your next purchase of ONE copy of book per month. Yes, one book a month entitles to 28% discount, until November 2009. Isn't that a lovely news for a book lover like me?! LOL! Now I must hold dear to the card, never ever lost it.

Oh, did I mention what books I've bought? Oopsie... Pardon my bad memory. I got this Nora Roberts' Tribute. While walking to the Chinese books section, I just couldn't stop my feet from going into this food & beverages section. My feet just stopped right in front of this one of my favourite books that I've always wanted to buy but I didn't due to the price. I bought it now because I just couldn't resist it anymore. It's Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food! Anyone can learn to cook in 24 hours! The book, the page, the content, the author...... Gosh...... It's a lovely book. Great and simple recipe comes with colourful and rich photo illustrations. I've watched Jamie's shows, the way he cooks is simply amazing. He's fast, easy, simple, no fuss, healthy...... I hope I'll get to cook all those nice and simple food when my home is ready.

Jamie has another book too, that shall be my next target. Hahaha!

I apologise for not putting up any photos. First, the photos I took using my iPhone, just couldn't show the picture when I uploaded it here. Second, I'm just being lazy to take photos again using my camera. Sorry...... I promise, all the photos will up again soon.

Tomorrow I have a special date.

Finally got my favorite Jamie book!

I was watching Criminal Minds, an American TV series. It's all about profiling of criminals, they call them "unsub". Unsub in the series stands for "Unknown Subject of an Investigation". It is interesting to see how they follow each and every clue, determining the characters or personalities of the criminals, and ultimately allowing them to read the criminal minds, think like them, act like them... In the end, catch the criminals. I wonder, do they really exist? Are they really able to read people's mind, profiling each and every one of us?

Tonight, it was about a murderer who got profiled 4 years ago, went into a coma and woke up now. He has no memories of what he did, it was then a controversial decision arised. Can a man who has forgotten his past be forgiven and set free? Or shall he pay for what he did whether he remembers or not?

At the end of the episode, this poem had me by the heart. It reminds me of my loved ones, who left me for better world, hopefully.

That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight.
Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass,
glory in the flower.
We will grieve not,
rather find strength in what remains behind.
~ by William Wordsworth ~

It is so wonderfully written!

Recently read this book, My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult.

Anna was born for a reason : to save her leukaemia sister, Kate. At least, that’s what her parents want it to be. But Anna starts thinking, what her life would be without being tied to her sister. She made a decision which is so difficult for a 13 year-old, she sues her parents over the rights to her own body.

I don’t like the ending, it could be a happy ending, but instead, it’s a sad sad ending… Guess that’s how life should be.