Free Comic Book Day and May The 4th Be With You!

I attended the Free Comic Book Day at Kings Comics and I had so much fun! This was my first time doing anything like this.

Like queuing for hours.

Like joining the masses in adoration of fictional characters.

...you know what I mean. 

I had planned on taking a bus so I'd arrive at the store by it's opening time 9am but I was offered a lift. I sure am happy that I didn't take the bus because when I arrived at 8:20am, the queue was already looking rather formidable. So for the next 50 minutes, I gawked at cosplayers, read the 2 free comic books and ate the free donuts the staff gave us. Awesome, right?

Photo credits: Kings Comics Facebook page

When I finally got into the store, it was pretty crazy. I grabbed 2 more free comics and pottered around the store, looking for the manga section. I promised myself that I'd purchase only one manga but even that was proving difficult since they didn't have the first volumes of most mangas. After some thorough browsing, I finally found Volume 1 of "21st Century Boys" by Naoki Urasawa! I watched "Monster" anime a year back and it was amazing.

And creepy.

And awesome.

After I left the store and escaped the general crazy atmosphere, I crossed the street over to Elizabeth's Bookshops to buy an Asterix comic for my mom. She's a quite a huge fan and owns around 25 titles. I found that Elizabeth's has a good comic collection which includes manga and used comics for cheap prices.

I got down at the wrong bus stop on my way back home (yeah, I went full retard) which meant I had to walk over a kilometer. As I was walking, I spotted an Inspector Lynley novel at a thrift shop so I guess I was lucky...?

All in all, it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to reading the comics!

PS: Here's my OOTD. One of the staff members said my Vote for Pedro was awesome. Aw yeah.

Woe is me

I just got back from my IELTS exam and I honestly think that I sod up my Writing and Speaking tests. Hence, I'm feeling a little down in the dumps.

During the 2 hour wait for the Speaking interview to start, I tried to calm myself by reading Crime and Punishment (didn't work) and listening to Cabin Pressure (made me giggle like a buffoon in the lounge). During the course of the interview, I stuttered and and was often lost for words. Half the time, I was trying to make up stuff to say because a) the topics were mundane and b) nothing noteworthy ever happens in my life.

The examiner had a fake smile on the entire time which I found a bit disconcerting. I suppose you can't blame the old bird. If I were her, I'd want to stick a pencil into my forehead, just to rid myself of the monotony. But hey, that's just me.

On a lighter note, I finally got my prescription glasses - Ray Ban frames and Nikon lenses. The lenses were pretty expensive and they make me feel like I have two camera lenses on my face. The weight of the high-prescription lenses cause it keep sliding down my nose. Hopefully, I can get it adjusted accordingly soon.

I included the following picture because it cracked me up. You have be warned.

Enough hogging the camera A! Now here's a close-up the frames. It's a pair of Wayfarers with a dark blue gradient (ombre?)

Next week, on the 24th, I'll be heading back to Sri Lanka for a 2 month long holiday. The past 6 months have already been like a really, really long holiday but I guess I was too busy to enjoy. University, visa, IELTS and all that jazz.

I'm going to go watch The Legend of Korra now. Bye!

But shit, it was 99 cents!

Yesterday, I headed over to Doonside to pickup my latest purchase, or rather, bargain. It was a collection of 16 books aptly named The Greatest Masterpieces of Russian Literature.

I had won it at an eBay auction for 99 cents. Oh you read that right. 99 cents. Hence, the post title's Macklemore reference.

My mother and I felt pretty terrible about simply waltzing away with such a beautiful collection so we decided to gift the now-previous owner a nice bottle of wine.

Sure, the books may not be in mint condition but it's what's on the pages that matter. What's more, the books have wonderful illustrations!

Can you say gorgeous? In fact, while I was reading Crime and Punishment, I often stop and look at the book's cover and spine.

There's an ornate gold baroque design on the pastedown. All the more to distract me from reading.

While I'm on the topic of books, I recently discovered a site called AwesomeBooks. They sell both used and new books for quite cheap prices. The books I've bought so far are used copies and cost me $3.99 each, free shipping included! It took about 10-14 days to receive the order.

It's suffice to say that I'll definitely be purchasing more books from AwesomeBooks rather than paying exorbitant sums at bookstores and flea markets. In fact, whenever I visit a bookstore now, I simply take a picture of the book I'm interested in and I look it up on their site. More often than not, I find that the book is available for a fraction of a fraction of the price!

If you're a lover of used books like me, then I definitely recommend AwesomeBooks.

PS: My IELTS exams are on the day after tomorrow - 19th January 2013. The days just flew by so quick, didn't they? I'm think I'm prepared and yet, not prepared...if I may offer you a riddle. Alright alright, enough The Ladykillers references. Auf wiedersehen!