big bad wolf

I love books. 

The collection of books sitting in my bed room makes my room look cramped. And three-quarters of those books come from the Big Bad Wolf Sale, usually held annually at the end of the year. This sale is fantastic; most of the books are sold at RM8. What a bargain!

In 2013, I missed the sale because I was too busy attending camps and moving house. But turns out, they extended the sale and there was another one held in February 2014! Of course I had to go.

So I went there after church on Sunday.

Arriving at MIECC, my parents and I headed toward the exhibition hall where the sale was held. I immediately grabbed a large one from the pile of cardboard boxes at the entrance and made my way to the "General Fiction" sections. There were at least ten tables lined up against the walls, plus another thirty huge ones in the middle. The rest of the sections were Business, Self-Help, Reference, Junior Readers, etc. Soon I began filling up my box with books that looked interesting (I am not a picky reader).

I managed to fill my box with forty-five books.

*I apologize for the photos; I took them with my phone. (The clearer ones are from Google Images.)

The adult novels:

And of course, I need my fix of teenage fiction too:

why is it that they're mostly blue?

Got a bunch of books by Carl Hiaasen (loved his first novel, Hoot, so I bought more of his work):

Star Island has such a nice cover *o*

Found a pretty interesting non-fiction book called God Encounters.

Got Wuthering Heights, the classic, for 8 bucks! *dances*

Found another book by Lisa Genova, who is the author of Still Alice, a book I talked about a while ago.

I got the sequels to Holes and Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, two children's novels that I found really interesting.

Small Steps and Kingdom Keepers II: Disney At Dawn:

I also found this cute book called A Pocketful of Watercolours. The whole book consists of simple watercolour paintings which are just beautiful. It only costs RM1! 

But... we accidentally bought two.

our total bill was RM300 on the dot, which meant that if we didn't buy two of these,
the bill would've been RM299.

And... the best part of the sale... finding

Georgia Byng's 

Molly Moon and the Morphing Mystery.

My cousin Le Chi and I have been looking for the fifth and last book in the Molly Moon series forever. We've diligently finished the first four books in the series by swapping what we don't have. 

Now we can finally finish the series! 

*dances again*

* * *

I'm a total bookworm.

:B

8 Problems that Lefties Go Through

I am a lefty myself, so I would know. These are some problems that most -- if not all -- lefties have encountered in their lifetime. 

1. Scissors

This is the most common of all. Unless you're able to cut paper with your right hand (like me) or you actually go to the trouble of buying left-handed scissors, then you'd understand what it feels like to have a piece of paper all crumpled because you cut it with your left hand and the blades went all funny. My heart is filled with sorrow for every single lefty out there who is frustrated because they have so much difficulty cutting paper properly. 

2. College tables

I'm not really sure if that's the right term, but you know those tables that are used in tuition centres and colleges, the kind that are attached to chairs and can be flipped? Those burdensome chair-tables are already difficult for right-handers because of its ridiculous smallness (what is this; a table for ants?), but it's doubly worse for lefties! Can you imagine writing notes at high speed while your elbow hovers awkwardly in mid-air? Not the most comfortable way to spend your college lecture hours.

3. Spiral notebooks

I dislike spiral notebooks with a passion. Most lefties do. Margins are much wider because it's practically impossible to reach the sides while the spirally metal is there blocking your left-handed writing position. The first word of every line doesn't even look like it's written by you! The handwriting is all bad in spiral notebooks and your hand itches by the time you're done since it keeps rubbing against the comb-binding. (This is a warning to anyone who decides to buy me a spiral notebook for my birthday.)

4. Writing

Right-handed people writing from left to right? Easy. Left-handed people writing from left to right? Not so easy, especially if you're a child learning how to write. You don't even get to glance at what you just wrote a second ago, because your left hand is in the way. Besides, (I don't know if anyone else goes through the same thing) I make tons of spelling errors just because my hand's covering what I just wrote. It's only ages later that I realize my mistakes. (Come to think of it, I think I'm the only one who does it. So... You can forget what I said two seconds ago.) If only there was a language or alphabet that could be read in English, but written from the right to the left, like some secret code for lefties. 

5. Ink or graphite stains 

Whether it's penciling your rough ideas in your notebook (which is most definitely not a spiral notebook) or rewriting your final essay in your favourite gel pen, you're likely to end up with stains on the side of your hand (and again, it's because of the whole left-to-right thing). Which leads me to the next point:

6. Smudges 

Correction for the previous point: my leftiness has prevented me from owning any gel pens, let alone have a favourite one. This is because any essay of mine done in gel ink will result in a smudged mess, something the teachers detest. I think gel pens were invented by a smug right-handed fellow who thought it'd be fun to see lefties' assignments get messed up.

7. Chopsticks

Being Chinese, I use them at least once a day. It's not that I can't use them properly; in fact, I maneuver those sticks pretty well. See, it's a problem because lefties' chopsticks love embarrassing the user. It is especially humiliating when you're sitting at a not-so-large round table, cramped up with fifteen of your right-handed relatives during a family reunion dinner, and your chopsticks go get themselves tangled up with the chopsticks of your right-handed neighbour. 

8. People exclaiming "Wow! You're left-handed!"

The point is self-explanatory. You know, 15% of the people you meet could be lefties, and if you said that to the 150 out of 1000 people that you met, you're gonna be pretty busy. And yes, thank you for reminding me that I'm left-handed; I almost forgot. 

One study showed that left-handed people, on average, die nine years earlier than the right-handed. Come on, living with the eight problems I've just listed; it's no surprise. In fact, the problems go on. We've just... Evolved. 

* * *

All jokes aside, I feel left-handed people are united in a way no one else is. It makes us feel good to see a fellow lefty struggle with the same problems. Besides, 15 percent of the entire population? Hey, we're pretty rare! 

the brother limerick

my brother's known as justin

sometimes he's known as jus

other times he's "ah jun"

"ah boy" boleh pun

he won't really make a big fuss

his talents have amazed most 

but about them he does not boast

he plays and hums

lets loose on the drums

but I doubt he can make toast

justin turns twenty on this very day

and to that I have something to say

you'll always be my gor

I couldn't love you more

but you must love me back, okay? ;)

Happy birthday, old man! 

cachenny.com

This is weird, 'cause my good friend Russell just bought me a .com for my blog. 

This blog can now be called www.cachenny.com .

That's pretty cool, no? Russell says it's my birthday present, and he SAYS he's gonna pay the yearly fee for me as my birthday present every single year. I'm not sure what'll happen after a while though. Now I have no choice but to blog more often. Or else it'll be a waste of money.

Anyway, y'all can see a blog post before this that's about Russell. He obviously blog-jacked me, and I'm gonna leave it there because sad people like him sometimes need some attention (ha, jokes). So yes...

Here's a photo of a sunset.

p.s. thanks Russ! :)

Russell

Oh Russell, the awesomest guy ive ever met in my life. He is just so______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Words just can't describe him. :)

surprise

   I turned 16 yesterday, on the seventeenth of February. I was in the midst of planning my sixteenth birthday party, which was to be held on the 23rd, because I heard that my church friends couldn't make it on the 16th. So here I was, thinking that the 16th of February was just any normal day. My church friends went to Sunway Pyramid after service and in my head I was thinking BOJIOOOOO (which means "didn't invite"). What a birthday weekend. 

   I got cheered up right away though, as Justin and Vivien took me out for lunch at Sukiya, a Japanese steamboat buffet restaurant. The food was amazing, no joke, and we managed to finish more than 10 plates of pure meat. I was stuffed after that. 

   We went home after that, and on the way home, I was fast asleep. If I weren't sleeping, I would've seen everyone preparing for the surprise party in the clubhouse, considering the fact that there were over thirty colorful balloons on the staircase. In fact, a car that belonged to my friend's dad passed by in full view, but I was asleep, so their cover didn't blow. 

   So I was home, watching TV, and weirdly enough, Vivien took a bath in my house. I found it weird, but didn't suspect a thing. After that my brother started to rush me to go take a shower because we have to leave the house at 5:30; my parents were "bringing me to Meeples Cafe for my birthday". You see, my brother is usually the one being late, and I'm usually the one rushing him. This time, he rushed me, and that would've been really weird, but even then, I didn't suspect a thing. 

   After showering, Vivien told me to put on my favourite T-shirt. Then I was like, "Nah, no need." Then she said, "Don't you want to dry your hair first?" Then I replied, "No, it can dry in the car." 

  WHY DIDN'T I LISTEN TO HERRRRR!? 

(All the photos and videos of the surprise had me with wet hair and some oversized tshirt)

   So, at 5:30, my brother told me that our parents had arrived downstairs. We headed down to the ground floor and we all went into the car. I even asked, "So are we going to Meeples first or are we having dinner first?" 

I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW BLUR I WAS.

Then, out of the blue, my mom said, "Justin, I need you to go back upstairs and take...something." 

Even by THEN, I should've suspected something, BUT I DIDN'T *facepalm*

My dad quickly said, "Yeah you have to go get the Capen phone." 

LOLOL BEST ACTORS EVER.

So my brother went up, and a few minutes later, my mom's phone rang. After the call, she said, "Eh girl, gor gor want to show us something at the clubhouse..."

AND I STILL DIDN'T SUSPECT.

(If you're wondering how on earth I could be so blur, it's because of this: I was already planning a party, and being too focused on that, I didn't realize my family and friends would surprise me on my birthday)

As I walked up the stairs of the clubhouse, I noticed the numerous balloons and loud singing, accompanied with a guitar and a cajon.The first person I saw was my aunt, and I thought "OH MY GOSH MY RELATIVES ARE HERE!" 

LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT MY CHURCH FRIENDS WERE ALL THERE AS WELL. (that's why they went to Sunway ;D)

The biggest shock was this though: my closest school friends were all there! I ALMOST CRIED. 

But I didn't, obviously.

So this happened: 

(creds to Josh for the video)

well and truly surprised heh. :D

super shocked to see them, seriously.

church mates (WHO WANTED TO THROW ME INTO THE POOL)

Then we played some icebreakers and stuff.

we also sang Sunday school songs with lots of actions (it was fun, trust me)

AND THEN IT WAS TIME FOR FOOD!

I couldn't resist, so I started opening my presents.

epic face!

then it was cake time! So much thanks to Aunty Serene and Melissa for making a birthday cake and brownies for me! :D they were DELICIOUS.

Aunty Serene's cake, yum.

After singing the birthday song and stuff, I had to blow the candles, and knowing my friends, they were about to dump my face in the cake. BUT OBVIOUSLY I COULDN'T DO THAT TO AUNTY SERENE'S HARD WORK!

So I stood really far and tried to blow. This happened.

yeah... not too attractive.

happy birthday to me

Everyone gathered around to pray for me after that.

Then it was time for the group photos! 

grandma

relatives

kethy

cousins

school friends

church friends

Jesssasha Sopnaneeseca

church members

and last but not least, 

the family, the party organizers. 

thank you so much, mum, dad, and brother. :)

I've always wanted a surprise birthday party ever since the idea was introduced to me, but I gave up hope when I became a teenager. LOOKS LIKE MY CHILDHOOD WISH CAME TRUE! :D

Thanks, God, for blessing me with amazing friends and family such as these. 

YAY.