Monday, March 26, 2007

Had an impromptu trip to Singapore over the past weekend with Boon. Travelled by overnight train and stayed at Hangout Hotel @ Mt Emily for a night. Nice place with Ikea furnishings but will not consider again unless bookings is full at The Strand (Bencoolen St), the latter being more worth it in terms of location and price.

Well a trip to Singapore isn't a trip unless I check out the bookstores, collectibles shops, etc. and of course buy something back.



Got myself A Nightmare Before Christmas notepad with stickers at Kinokuniya @ Takashimaya. Different types of notepad paper designs, how to resist? Next, hopped over to Borders at Wheelock Place to buy Coraline by Neil Gaiman. (darn I just realized I took the copy with the more pricier price tag. The copy I saw was SGD8.95, bought it SGD11.95 instead). Sigh... at least I got Burton on Burton edited by Mark Salisbury for SG12.95 (RM29.79) at HMV @ The Heeren. I'm not sure why this particular music store is selling this trade paperback so cheap. Kino is selling it for SGD43.58. In fact HMV is selling most of the music/movie related books much cheaper than conventional bookstores.

And yes, the gacha haven at Suntec City is no longer around, they are mostly scattered around the area instead. BUT I managed to grab an NBX capsule at Toys'r'us @ Paragon instead. I got what I wanted on the first try - Snowman Jack with Santa's elves riding on a bear in Christmas Land.

Meals wise, we had our usual Mos Burger, Carl's Jr, ToriQ and my yummy hot pot. We also tried out Ayam Penyet Ria @ Lucky Plaza. It's an Indonesian franchise eatery and highly recommended for those who love specially concocted cili padi infused sauce. I was rendered speechless after a few light dabs on the sauce. Yes, it is extremely pedas. Attempt with caution.

We ended the trip with a long (and tiring) evening walk to see the merlion and slept the night away on the train back to KL.

1:01 PM 1 comments hmm?

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

well I got the book yesterday night anyway hehe... I simply love it!

9:58 AM 2 comments hmm?

Sunday, March 18, 2007

I got this Roald Dahl's Incredible Chocolate Box book for RM6. It's an A-Z book of facts on Dahl and mostly chocolate-related stuffs. Right at the end of the book contains a missing chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The chapter is written in mirror image so you'll need one to discover the secret. If you ask me, it's a whole marketing ploy which as usual I fell for.



I'm still contemplating on getting this beautifully illustrated book by Jan Pienkowski priced at RM29.90 (original RM74.95). All of the illustrations are drawn in silhouettes against brightly coloured marbled backgrounds, something different compared to other vibrantly coloured picture books. You'll be surprised at how effective silhouettes are in bringing a story to life. This book is a testament to that. '...in a Gallup poll, conducted for The Telegraph in 1992, Jan was the third most recognised contemporary children's author (after Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake)'. wow... and I didn't even know that. Read here to find out more about him. He has another silhouette book called The First Christmas and a new one coming up, a follow up to The Fairy Tales. Here are two pictures from his new book that I pulled from his website. Breathtaking isn't it?



Friends, help me to decide. Should I get the book??

1:14 PM 0 comments hmm?

Friday, March 16, 2007

12:55 PM 2 comments hmm?

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

What, another book warehouse sale? As much as I love them, I do wish sometimes they'd give my wallet a break. This time around, The Big Bookshop at Atria is having their sale right after ours. Wasn't it just last December 2006 that they had one? I had to check it out, I really had to.

They didn't have as much books as they did the last time around. But they did have some exciting new titles which I'm baffled as to how they manage to sell at dirt cheap prices again. Take for example the Penguin Red Classics. There was almost a complete range of them selling at RM10 each. Original price about RM27.50. There were six Jane Austen titles which I'm sure some readers would gleefully buy in a set. Thankfully I'm not a fan. Anyhow I bought Perfume. I've already read the first chapter much earlier and thought it would be a shame if I didn't get it now. Apparently the movie will be out this month, I'm looking forward to it.

There were a few other children's books that I didn't mind getting but I had to really restrain myself. In the end I bought Wallace & Gromit anti-pesto journal at RM8 (original RM29.95). Colourful weekly journal entries by Wallace in his quest to rid West Wallaby town from the cute bunny pests. I did find it slightly odd that there were only 48 weeks in the journal. I thought it ties in neatly with the DVD me and boon got last year. Original, not pirated btw.

I will have to make another round of visit on the last day of sale (25 March) in case they do decide to lower their prices heh!

1:29 AM 2 comments hmm?

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

This year is Dr Seuss' Cat 50th birthday and since we represent the publisher, we had to plan some children's activity to get the kids excited. Well ultimately the aim was to sell more Dr Seuss books.


Birthday bash at One Utama

One fine day, me and my big mouth decided to volunteer to be the emcee for the event. Tadaa... I was seriously nervous planning for the whole thing. I didn't really had time to prepare in fact. Thankfully everything turned out alright. I wasn't nervous, I guess I did ok. The kids didn't bawl or ran away.

We're gonna have more roadshows this May. I guess I'll wear claws this time around.

3:58 PM 8 comments hmm?

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Time and again I've always said that I won't get anymore books, but I just can't resist!

The first thing I grabbed was the Calvin and Hobbes comic books. I knew beforehand how much they were going to be since I was pricing them earlier. At first I only took two titles and then figure I should get the other two remaining copies since they are only a fraction of the retail price. My collection is almost complete!

Then there was this Dr Seuss children's book vibrantly illustrated by none other than Quentin Blake, my favourite illustrator. I was pricing this book earlier as well and made a mental note to get it. Anyone familiar with Dr Seuss titles will realise that the illustrations are slightly dull and the colours bland. Quentin Blake really knows how to spice things up.

And then while we were unpacking the books before the sale, I saw this set of Kitty Cat fridge magnets. I did a wild dance and quickly stowed it somewhere safe away from jealous eyes. I simply love it, it's so adorable - I will adorn my future fridge with Kitty Cat magnets.

While still feeling euphoric I chanced upon this bunny-in-the-box that pops up when you pull the front flap. Oh my, it was simply too adorable to let go! There are two tiny flap books to read to your young ones. And oh the bunny has velcro on its paws and when clasped, the bunny appears as if saying a little prayer. The original price was RM69.90 but I got it for RM10 only.

Two days into the sale I saw a comic picture bible book reserved by a customer. I wanted it too but it was too pricey. Before I realise it my colleague ran to get the only two remaining copies, one for me and one for his kids and asked my boss if we could buy it at a cheaper price. He said yes and tadaa! I got it for RM20. My nephew actually has a copy and I simply love reading it, now I have my own personal copy.

On the morning of the final day of sales, I was browsing around when I saw a hardcopy of Shel Silverstein gleaming in my path beckoning me to buy it! It was RM30 (original RM79.90) and I had to get it. My first copy of Silverstein's works, wowee! Silverstein's humour contained within his poetry reminds me of Roald Dahl.

I will not play at tug o'war
I'd rather play at hug o'war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug
Where everyone kisses
And everyone grins
And everyone cuddles
And everyone wins.

I got three more books, a Toni Morrison (of The Bluest Eye) illustrated children's book with handwritten captions and two Collins classics - Mary Poppins and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. I read bits of the latter and it's a very inspiring story of the Jewish author fleeing Germany as a young girl.

You must think that I spent a bomb but I didn't. It only came to RM135, the Silverstein book being the most expensive of the lot. Woohoo such a fantastic deal! Now I just need some time to read all the books that I've been accumulating thus far.

4:40 PM 2 comments hmm?

Monday, March 05, 2007

That practically sums up my first experience being involved in a book warehouse sale. Working for a book distributor means having to help out before, during and after the warehouse sale. And so for four consecutive Saturdays before the CNY break, most of us had to work from 8am to 3pm packing and pricing books some of which were covered in dust so thick that you can't even see what the cover looks like. We were supposed to work the weekend right before the sale but I refused to because it was still CNY. The physical labour was very tiring, not to mention inhaling all the dust. The only consolation I was looking forward to is to be first in line to choose and purchase books before anyone else.

Last Monday, the actual nightmare began. We had to unpack all the books and display them on the tables and shelves in preparation of the sale at our warehouse. The 9-hour ordeal left me with a head-splitting ache from all the heat and exhaustion. Getting sick is not an option at this point of time. And so I showered, took some vitamins and slept early that night.

Next day, I was prepared to face the crowd. There were 10 counters. My task was to assist my cashier partner which involves telling her the price and packing the books into bags. It was manageable, in fact at times it got a little boring when there weren't many customers. In fact I was wishing for more customers. The crowd peaked during the weekend. It was elbow-to-elbow. People kept pouring in and it was non-stop packing books into bags while smiling and thanking customers from 9am to 7pm. Did I mention it was hot and stuffy? Thankfully no one needed first-aid.

On the last day of sale, I had to wear a surgical mask to block the dust. My nose was watery and itchy and I could hardly breathe anymore. My colleague said that some guys actually queued at my counter instead even though hers was empty. It must be the mask. Darn! I should have been a nurse. Come 7pm, we had to drive the people away and start repacking the books back into cartons. Man, I was tired and sweaty and I couldn't lift up a book anymore. At least my team got to leave at 8pm, only because we had to work this morning for a book launch.

Well after all the sweat and heat, I have two good news. (1) I managed to get most of my favourite books at dirt cheap prices and, (2) Our sales revenue exceeded my GM's expectations. Hopefully we the employees will get a fair share out of it.

As my GM mentioned, this will be a memory for all of us especially for people like me who have never done this before. Indeed it is. I got to know some of my colleagues better. The camaraderie far outweighed my exhaustion. And from now on whenever I go for any warehouse sale I will remember never ever to be rude to the staff, never ever to mess up the stuffs and leave the place when told so. We're going to have stock check sometime this month. I've been reminded it's far worse than the warehouse sale. I'm (gulp) ready.

I will brag about the books I bought tomorrow. Ah, bliss!

4:37 PM 0 comments hmm?