The World is My Oyster

Very busy bookcrossing. Still spending a ridiculous amount of time hovering on the forum and the site. I thought that rather than fighting the addiction, I would just let it flow. I’m sure it will pass eventually. I mean I would still be around, just would not spend enormous amount of time on it anymore (hopefully anyway ;).

The latest thing happening is to send your wish list up and try to fulfill other people’s wish lists too. In other words, sending gifts (this in the spirit of Christmas by the way) to strangers. You can see it here. It’s just waaay too addicting. I ended up making a couple of friends. One lives in rural Texas, 71 years old, stays with her 2 dogs since her husband just passed away. I had the most fun time reading her stories about where she lives and things happened in her life (summarized, of course). She’s sending me Japanese children book! The other one is from South Africa, who also shared stories from where she lives. About white Africans, the languages, situation in the country. It’s like reading tales from somewhere far far away. She’s sending me a package of stuff, including butterfly earrings that she made herself. I got a few packages to send to people, but I wouldn’t say here until they get them, because it’s a surprise ;D.

Another exciting thing is I got my first book from fellow bookcrosser, sent from Sri Lanka! It’s When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. Can’t wait to start this one. Someone in my office was almost as excited as I was when she saw the package. She wanted the stamps :). She said she started collecting stamps since people get packages from all over the world in our office (we have 29 nationalities here).

I’m also currently studying Japanese and Chinese. The latter one for fun because my company has this very cheap 18 weeks course for us. Most of the people in the class have never studied Chinese before though, so it’s been quite slow. Which is good, because it doesn’t give too much pressure on me. I have given up on serious learning of Mandarin language a while ago. From now on, I’m just gonna do it for fun. Conversation only, no writing or reading.

On the other hand, I’m really into Japanese right now. I’m planning for a trip to Japan hopefully next year. This will be a trip that I’ve been dreaming of since I was 5. Sure it’s been a couple of years since I can buy a ticket and fly off to Japan, but I want the trip to be perfect! After all, I’ve been waiting for it for as long as I can remember. When I do get to Japan, I will savor every little thing, as much as my soul can take. Hence I need to get the language. I will not make the trip if I’m not confident enough to speak and understand Japanese (including writing and reading). It’s good because I have a deadline now! The harder I work on this, the quicker I’d get there.

So anyway, I will continue writing about all the stuff I want and need to write. Siem Reap and Bali on the queue. My deadline is somewhere before Christmas, because Rendy and I are going on another trip. (Damn, the posts need to catch up!) I wouldn’t apologize for lack of posting, because then I would need to apologize a lot ;). I will do it whenever I feel like it.

I forgot what I did in the past week. Time went by like POOF!

These days I’ve been spending a huge portion of my time at bookcrossing.com. EVIL! Well, for bookworms like me anyway. Since I joined the community, the books I’ve got surmount more than ever (although I’m talking only about my time in Singapore, not anywhere else. I have heaps of books at my parents’ house in Sydney..) They’re either from Book Ring/Book Ray, book sales, or RABCK.

Just this week alone, I bought 9 books, and that does not include the books coming my way from ring, ray, and RABCK. As if something sets me free (read: nuts)! I guess the community gives me more reasons to buy books, more than anything ;). You can see my To-Be-Read mount. The first 9 books were the ones I bought the past week. I spent a good S$23 for the first 6! *grin* So cheap right? Very very happy lor! I had them yesterday at Times Book Sale @ Expo.

If you’re intrigued about bookcrossing, just drop by to the site and look around. My username is meexia. You can drop me a message. We can organize something together :D. I hope to introduce this to more people who love books as much as I do, especially in Singapore.

More about the terms I threw around just now:

Book Ring. Person #1 has a book to share and posts notice of a book ring in the Book Ring and Ray forum. Interested parties will PM her, and a book ring begins. The book is mailed to Person #2 along with a list of everyone in the ring–without including anyone’s mailing address (for privacy reasons). When Person 2 receives the book, he PM’s Person 3 for his/her address, reads the book as quickly as possible, and mails it off. Two to four weeks has become the standard for keeping a book. My personal suggestion is that if you need it longer than that, you a)let the founder of the ring know, and/or b) send it to the next person, unread, and request that your name be added to the end of the list when you may have more time. Person #3 repeats the cycle. Eventually, the book returns to the original owner.

Book Ray. This works exactly like a book ring except it is never returned to the original owner. Much like a paper ray of sunshine, the book travels forever. When the last person on the ray list finishes the book, they can post it on the wish list forum for more BC readers, or they can release it into the wild.

Book box. Person #1 gathers together a bunch of books, This can be as few as 8 or 10, or as many as 30 or 40 paperbacks. The books can be themed (sci-fi, chick-lit, romance, childrens, etc) or just random books. After posting a message on the Book Ring/Ray forum, s/he gathers a list of interested participants. Box is mailed to Person #2, who takes out a couple of books and puts the same amount back in, then mails it to Person #3. Eventually, the box will make it back to Person #1, who has a lot of new books to read!

Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness — this can take several forms, but the most common is when someone sends you a book without asking for a trade or postage reimbursement. It’s just the act of doing something nice for another BookCrosser.

~ taken straight from bookcrossing faqs

Happy weekend!