The Chronicles of Narnia

What I was not able to mention in my previous blog post was that the thing that brought me back to book buying and readings was, finding this huge bargain of The Chronicles of Narnia books 1-7 at a Book Sale, for only 40 pesos per book! (Less than a dollar each.) 

Inspired by my great find, I decided to once again comb the second hand book stores for even more bargains. But nothing came up except for Weekend by Christopher Pike, and The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans, something that I haven't read and which I hope is good, because its not my normal genre of interest and I only got it to keep an open mind about books in general.

I have read up to Book 4, Prince Caspian, when I took a break and shifted back to Pikean horror. Narnia books are children's books.

Weekend by Christopher Pike

When I was in high school, I devoured horror books (especially vampire books), mysteries / whodunnits and thriller books. I enjoyed reading Stephen King, R. L. Stine and Christopher Pike at a time when most of my friends read teenage chick lit and other trash about dating boys. Now that I look back at it, the books that I read were still very teenage-y with a lot of references on dating, but there's still some interesting aspect in them like a monster or a killer destroying everything and love prevailing over the rest. I avoid romance novels like the plague, they're something that spinster aunts love to read. But I still get my dose of romance - in books with very unromantic covers, lol!

One night after work, I fell back into my old habit of searching for second-hand pocketbooks in the mall. I found something that made me feel nostalgic in an instant - a book by Christopher Pike. Mind you, I didn't go to high school when Christopher Pike became a bestselling author; he was popular back in the '80s and '90s, and this book, called Weekend, was published in 1986, a year after I was born. Still, I am a lover of old second-hand books; I had very little money as a student, and I always chose the thickest, cheapest novels that I could buy with my money. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I chose horror over romance - I get more pages in a book, the book gives me an adrenaline fix (and not make me sleep), and thus, I get more value for my money.

When I got back to reading Christopher Pike again, it was like the good old days when all I worry about was algebra, bringing a cute shoulder bag for all of my school stuff, and finding a good book to read. Yet it wasn't as good as I remembered it to be.

Lol = King Leonidas vs. Chuck Norris

I've never been a fan of Chuck Norris, except for the Chuck Norris fact generator which can get funny sometimes, but here's a cool video of CN and King Leonidas battling. Who won? Watch to find out!

Blood Diamonds

After watching a National Geographic Channel documentary on diamonds, I began to dislike these petty rocks. They may be sparkly and last forever, but some diamonds have been paid for with the blood of innocents in war. Blood diamonds, or those that come from war-torn regions (like Liberia, Angola, Congo, Zimbabwe, etc.), are sold by rebel groups / insurgents, in exchange for weapons to be used to kill people and destroy lives. These diamonds have been mined in terrible conditions and by prisoners-of-war or slaves held at gunpoint. Many people die - women, children, the sick and the elderly - at the diamond mines. How could anyone wear this rock on their finger as a promise of love, without seeing the faces of those murdered in exchange for it?

I remember a story I read as a child in a storybook written by Oscar Wilde. It's about a prince who dreamed of what he wanted to wear in his coronation. He saw a young boy diving for pearls in sea, paying the price of a perfect pearl with his own life. He saw slaves digging for rubies being whipped by a tyrant slave master. He saw gold vestments being woven by child laborers who work in the cold, having eaten only a single measly meal for the day. In the end, he went to his coronation in the simplest of garments - and ruled as the best king of his land. 

The most precious things in life aren't the ones that are superficial. A diamond may be precious, but a human life is priceless.

I Kissed a Nerd and I Liked It!

I kiss a nerd every day, and I like it a lot! Of course, my nerd is better looking than the nerds in this video. XD From Geeks Are Sexy.

Cheesy!

Because I am still a girl, I got *googly* with this Facebook exchange!

It was an "Aww, how sweet moment"! I've always known there's only one for me, and until now, this knowledge has never changed.