I placed my order for these books around the last week of August, and they were dispatched from the HQ from Sep 2-5. Yup, they were mailed off separately; assuming they did that to cut down on shipping costs and from making the package suspicious-looking to the eyes of the customs (who are really scums of the earth, and leeches).

Packages

Three packages stood before me waiting to be opened….

I would’ve been excited to open these packages but the customs person ruined my mood from last week’s pick up. They opened my other package (not the one form BD, t’was another online order) in the post office and went through my stuff and charged me a big-ass fee for it. Let’s just say that the amount I paid for is nearly the same total cost altogether of the stuff I bought online. I’d rather not dwell on that anymore because I waste so much energy on ranting and typing that it’s basically a waste of time.

The packages were stamped by the PO with the following dates: Sep 26, 21 and 16, respectively. I wouldn’t know any of these packages have reached the PO if I didn’t go and manually checked their record book for my name. Ugh.  So they arrived around 2-3 weeks, normal timeframe for international mail to get here, it’s just the local post office and the corrupt system (I guess) who’s problematic with delivery times. Philippines, when will you ever change your ways?????

Back to the topic…

Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! =)) Here are all the books from BookDepository that I ordered. The first package, which contained the 2n1 journal series (Jay’s Journal and Go Ask Alice), I picked it up from the post office last week. The two other books at the bottom I just go them this afternoon and they were delivered straight to my house. I owe our mailman big time for sneaking it from the customs bitch ‘n’  hag.

New books to read!

On to my first impressions..

1. I’ve started reading Go Ask Alice last week since it was the first book that I got out of my order. I just want to point out that it’s a book that I regret buying. I can’t say the same for Jay’s Journal yet but it seems a bit darker than Alice, though I expected Alice to be just as dark. For me it felt that the writing was too childish, petty, and definitely not-at-all depressed and suicide-y that it’s going to make me get hooked-up to the book and not want to put it down until I finish reading it. What the hell was I expecting, this is a supposedly journal from a 14-year old (correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t remember lol) who got hooked on drugs. It’s a best-seller and supposedly a must-read that also got good reviews. I guess I expected too much. I guess I need to lay off the teen books section and grow up. )
2. Hopefully I’m going to enjoy reading the two other books I ordered. ‘If I Love You, I Would Tell You This,’ and ‘Death Is Not An Option’ are both the type of books containing short stories. They both have good reviews and 4-5 star rating on some bookshops online where I’ve checked. Also, I saw ‘If I Love You…’ book at Powerbooks last Wednesday, I got pissed for spending money on buying a book I could’ve gotten locally. Then again… it was a hardbound copy and it did cost more.
3. I honestly don’t know what was running around my mind around the time I was looking for books to purchase at BD. I only remember looking for short stories that are good to purchase. I wish I didn’t consider getting the 2n1 package of teen journals. Haha. Wait, I think it was the fact that they were packed together and they both looked like they had intriguing stories.

Oh, BookDepository includes a bookmark in every order. Hahaha. Nifty, I say. Although, for the calendar part, it’s not that usable anymore since we’re almost at the end of the year.

Bookmark freebies

Here’s a photo of all the books.. oops, forgot to take out the two black journals out of their box. )

Thanks, Bookdepository!

While the online ordering experience has been fun and exciting for me, I’d have to put a stop to it. I was after trying out the free shipping for orders and owning these hard-to-find books in the local bookstores here in Manila. Both of these things I got to accomplish with my first BookDepository order, so okay, I’m satisfied now that I got them and very much content.

This is the first (after 7 years) and last time I’m buying online in international stores. I just can’t deal with the unfair fees I have to face everytime I have to claim a package at the post office. Their service is also very, very inconsistent and I hate having to wait for a long time.

Don’t they know how agonizing it is to wait for something you only saw online and you want to get your hands on it as soon as possible?!

As for the service of BookDepository, they’re good. Take away the inconsistency of the post office out of the picture, I would totally order from them again. The books got here (in the country) in 2-3 weeks, in perfect condition. I highly recommend them to be the place to search for books that are hard to find here in the Philippines, that is if you wanna risk time and money for it. The free shipping is 100% real, too. Unless your package gets in the hands of a slug.. I mean, customs officer who’s residing in the inner depths of your local post office. In my experience, the only fee I had to pay for was the postal fee which is PHP 40. Anything above that is usually from the customs. And, well, that’s a different story. Hell will raise over for that story. Haha. Bye now.

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Like this one, for example. I originally wanted this type of shoes in yellow or dark purple but the guy who was manning over the stall kept saying they didn’t have either colors in my size on stock. I dunno but I think he could’ve told me in a more polite way, and I think he was being an asshole towards the customer (me) at that time.

Regretting this purchase rn

Fine, I’ll choose another color instead.. settled with black and same thing there’s no pair available in my size. Lastly, I’m left with this lame-ass light purple, grey and brown. Fitted all three and they looked awkward with the jeans I wore.

You know by now which one I picked. 

As usual, it did look very weird for me during the first three times I’ve worn it with and without socks… but it grew on me. I thought they looked like some kind of brogues. Lol. Also, it looks better without socks. How do I manage wearing rubber sneakers without sockies?

Ah, I figured out why it looks weird to me now! It’s because all my other Converse shoes are either hi-top and low-top. Hahaha. Duh.

All Star Light Ox in color brown

I should’ve considered the white one, too. Ugh, I looked around online and most people bought the white ones cause they seem to go well with a lot of outfits better.

Meh, whatever. Alex insisted that I have at least one brown (rubber sneakers) footwear, and here it is.. actually this is like my third brown footwear. That reminds me, now that I’m out of school.. I can have and wear as many rubber slippers as I want without breaking any rules. SCORE! I’m always having a hard time buying new non-rubber sneakers shoes before cuz I had to consider that the one I buy is also something I wear to school.

Here’s another item I randomly picked up from the mall yesterday with my mom after we went to the church on my birthday. I thought it looked cute.. vintage-ish. Nakiki-fashyown kuno.

Buttons hahaha

I’m still waiting for a couple more items to come my way. Few weeks ago, I went on an online shopping spree and ordered goods such as books and tshirts like crazy. I hope they arrive this time, especially the shirts, cause I really, REALLY want new clothes. I’m very excited for the books to come as well. PACKAGES, COME AT ME!

These items would be my post-birthday and early Christmas gifts to myself, haha! I’m trying my very best not to get that/those bag/s I saw from EGG days ago. I was at a mall the other day and I had to drag myself away from that EGG branch.

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Lastly, post birthday notes for you readers and friends!!!

Thanks for the greetings yesterday, guys! Every year, every one gets to experience having their Facebook wall spammed by people in a good way and mine was yesterday. Haha!

Also, thanks to my good ol’ buddy southern girl who got DJ Kilmore to RT that birthday post for me. BEST GIFT EVER. :X I consider the greetings as gifts too! Who told you gifts have to be materials? Don’t you know the best gifts are the intangible ones? =))

Even though 70% of you only remembered cause of Facebook.. lmao. It’s the thought effort that counts.

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ETA: It’s 9/11 today. Never forget what happened on this day, 10 years ago, that changed the world. Where were you on the time it happened? I remember I was at home and I remember my mom accidentally cut her finger while cutting the veggies for lunch time around the time that event was shown on TV.

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The other day, I bought this slam book from Witty Will Save the World, co. (look for them at Facebook!) with my friend. Most of my friends are graduating first than me and what better way to have something from them before they leave than a message thingo! (Just made that up, haha)

In high school I remember having a plain notebook passed around our class and my each of my classmates had one page to themselves to fill up on what they wanted to say to me. The end product of that plain notebook really looked good. It didn’t matter to me if some of them had shitty handwriting =)) because all that mattered was the message in the pages for me. I still read it from time to time and laugh at some of what they had to say.

Before attending my Web Animation class, I accompanied my friend to a taxi ride somewhere in Makati to get that slam book. When we got to the place, it reminded me a lot of that place in Cubao.. Cubao X, yeah that’s it! Hipster haven, as some would say, heh. The place doesn’t look that flashy at all. To the common public maybe they would see the place as a site w/ on-going construction. As for me who has an idea on how an artsy place for common artists (art people, not artists celebs kind of people) should look like, it looks sufficient enough and the perfect place for small festivities to be held between artists and share their passion for .. what else, art!

We headed straight to this shop called “Skitzo” to get our copes of the Witty slambook. Within 5 minutes we finished our transaction with the lovely lady at the cashier who assisted us with our purchase. She was incredibly nice and her voice is cute too. ) Part of me thinks she’s a well-known artist in the circle or something lol. After leaving Skitzo, we browsed the other shops in The Collective. I finally got to touch a lomo cam IRL c/o Team Manila’s store, hahaha. I’ve always wanted one of those but they’re too expensive and the effect it produces, you can always do it on Photoshop.

We left the place with smiles on our faces and rode a taxi to head back to school, I’m nearly an hour late!

My buddy Andrew filled in first, I asked him to do it while we’re having lunch at the school caf this afternoon. He was pretty frustrated with answering it, tho I told him that it isn’t like your normal slam book that asks general questions. I feel like I’m going to have to explain the concept to people who will fill this out several times. I probably should write the instructions on the first page, LOLJK.

If ever you see me at the school halls or something, bring this topic up and I’ll gladly let you borrow the book to pick a spot and fill it up. Here are some more photos of the slam book!

I heard people like photos of book pages.

One of the answers of my frustrated friend in the love section

Spine of the book. It’s really well-made!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.. It’s only PHP 300, either if you buy it from them personally, have it shipped, buy it from their reseller/partner shops. No extra shipping fees, just PHP 300 and you can let 40+ people fill it up!

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