Hello everyone, it's another 24-hour readathon. This is the second time I've joined such an event, given that I had so much fun the last time :)

I've signed up for both a cheerleader and a reader this time so thank goodness for audiobooks.

The below are my updates. I'll continue to edit this post as we go from hour to hour so I'll only have one permalink up. Having too many can be confusing.

Now, I've just gone from a recent book launch so that post will have to wait until I could get all my readathon updates done! So, on to the updates. 

So, here's my list of books to read:
1. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
2. Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling
3. The Girl Made of Cool - Alan Fox

HOUR ONE

Okay, I have a confession. I thought that the readathon was supposed to start at 9pm my time. But I forgot that DST is now finished so we're only 12 hours ahead instead of the usual 13. Anyway, I managed to get a bit of reading done, via an audiobook of course.


HOUR ONE MEME MINI CHALLENGE

Where are you reading from today?

  - At the moment I am reading from my mum's bedroom where there's a good wifi signal. After 11pm our time [11AM EST], I'm gonna be kicked out and will read from my room.

3 facts about me …

- I love boybands. Absolutely positively love boybands.
- I am a hoarder
- I love to travel.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

- I currently have three for now. Which I'm not sure if I would finish at least one of them. 

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

- Nothing in particular, just trying to read as much as I can. 

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?

- Just enjoy and remember, the point of the readathon is to have fun, fun fun!

HOUR TWO

I've joined a few mini challenges now and I'm getting super stoked about them! I'm concentrating on Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire but I haven't kept track of the number of pages i've read! eeeep!


HOUR THREE

My mum is currently reading Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I swear she now reads faster than I do. My gosh. I've joined yet another mini challenge. My back is now aching like crazy! Still reading Harry Potter & Goblet of Fire! I've cheered on a few participants from my assignment.

HOUR FOUR

Right. My mum has now gone off to bed so I'm gonna be kicked out a few minutes from now. I wouldn't be able to provide updates until the morning [our time] then. I'm gonna be reading the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins as soon as my mp4 file conversion is done and I need to move back to my room. I'm gonna wish you all a good night a few minutes from now. :)

It's Maundy Thursday right now and I'm at work. Oh yeah. Not very pleasant, isn't it? But work is work and I have to earn some moolah sooooo *shrug*

Anyway, just want to share some upcoming events that I'm very very excited about!

-  The 24 Hour Readathon.
This starts on April 10th to 11th 2010 from 8PM Manila Time [We're GMT +7 now] and ends 24 hours later. You can sign up for either a cheerleader or a reader here: http://www.24hourreadathon.com/

I've made a list of books for me to read, mainly:
1. Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling
2. How To Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie
3. The Girl Made of Cool - Alan Fox.

- A Long Holiday.
Oh yes. Since it's the Holy Week here in Manila, I am prepared to just have a nice, relaxing holiday at home. No travel plans for this week, just bumming around, surfing the internet, updating the other blog, reading and catching up on loads of missed out telly shows and movies. Busy week ahead!

Below is Ruby & Yam's Amazon wishlist. I recently got a $25 gift certificate from Amazon and I'm stoked to buy stuff online that's not available in my country! =)

But first off, HUGE apologies for not updating my blog. My day job work has been so stressful this past two weeks, only posts I've scheduled for the first week of January have been posted in my blog. Whenever I get home, I just want to sleep and/or check my personal email or just relax. *sigh* year-end blues! I need a holiday, quick!

Regular blog updates would happen starting today [until the next month-end comes] eeeeep!

See ya!

As you can see everyone, I've got a new layout. Yay! So happy about this :) Hope you do to -- With the two sidebars, everything is so much more organized!

I do apologise for losing the quick links and the books I'm reading on the side of the page but I'll try to get it up within a few days.

Work has been hectic for me, but so far I've read Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone, the review of which I'll post within the next few days also [after I've finished editing the layout and trying to recover my lost widgets]

So, there was another storm that passed through Manila yesterday [Mirinae], and we've had a blackout for nearly 30+ hours.

And I got to thinking... what do you do when there's a blackout?

For me, I did the following:
- In the morning, while there was still light, I read! I made significant progress on "Cleopatra's Daughter" by Michelle Moran.
- I ate, ate and ate. I think I must've gained a few pounds.
- In the evening, I had at least 90%+ of battery life on my laptop -- I watched an episode of The Vampire Diaries and got to move a few files to my mobile phone before the laptop batteries' died out. My laptop is 6years old so the battery isn't exactly the best quality anymore.
- In the latter part of the evening [after eating dinner and helping to clean the dishes], I listened to some audiobooks.

So now, I've got another problem.

I think I've broken my universal remote control!
So, without any tv or dvd, what would you do? I need suggestions until I could get myself another universal remote control.
I'm thinking the following:
1. Read some more
2. Finish the scrapbook projects I have
3. Surf the internet [no matter how slow my connection is -- my WiFi says I'm only at GPRS speed]
4. Watch telly series on my PC.
5. Continue watching the telly but resort to the good old fashioned channel changing by getting my bum off the bed and manually pressing the channel + and channel - buttons.

Good enough? :)

It's nearing the last few hours of the readathon and I am now in the mood for some mini-challenges! :) Having done my errands for the night, I am free until 8PM Manila time to read like crazy [cramming] and also participating in last-minute mini-challenges.

This is hosted by Princess Bookie and I should jot down 8 of my favourite things. Here goes.

1. My mum <3
2. Goofy, my little doggie, whom I treat like my own baby
3. Money, money, money, and lots of money.
4. My house. I <3 it. I grew up in it, and houses all my stuff, my mum, and my baby Goofy as well.
5. Our car. It's old now, but I still <3 it.
6. Travelling. [Not a thing? Hmm... maybe different countries then?]
7. Concerts and events. I really, really love them.
8. My laptop! What else? :)

** Could the list go infinitely? I would put in my mobile phone, dvds, music, and so much more ***

Figured I'd take a break from publishing a backlog of book reviews & travel updates to come up with a little meme!

**some of my makeup stash**

First off, I love, love, love, love to travel. Yes, I love to travel even more than I love books! My dream destinations are the UK [again] and Italy. One of my dreams is to go on a Eurotrip for at least 2 months, trying to explore every city I go along =) That will make me so happy! I LOVE Europe!

Another love -- stuffed animals and makeup. They make me so happy!

I also love concerts, music, theatre & events. Nothing like being invited in an event. Text or ring me up a day or two before an event and I'd definitely confirm!

**red panda from Ocean Park, Hong Kong**

Next. I love tv shows & movies. Equally as much as I love books! My favourites at the moment are True Blood, The Vampire Diaries and the Tudors. Maybe a bit of Gossip Girl as well.

And finally, books! My preferences are:

1. Books set in England, most specially in London!! There's nothing like imagining what's happening in the book & mixing it up with my own memories.
2.Historical fiction about royalty - Kings, queens, prince and princesses. oh my! The scandal and society!
3. Other historical fiction - what's it like living back then? But I mostly prefer European historical fiction [again, the bias for European stuff]
4. Paranormal - vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters. :D Immortals intrigue me.
5. Fantasy - a whole new world, anyone?
6. Autobiography/biographies - partial to british royalty, personalities, singers & artists. Mostly of the European kind too [except for Nick Carter]
7. Mystery - who killed whom? what's the backstory? I loved Nancy Drew when I was a kid and it passed on until now!

Blooey of Sumthinblue.com tagged me to post a photo of my desk.
Since my desk normally contains of just piles of papers & my laptop, I decided to take a photo of what's beside my desk.

80% of the books below are in my TBR [ie Kerry Katona's "The Footballer's Wife", Katie Price's "Angel", Michael Owen's autobiography & Gary Barlow's autobiography], some are DVDs, and some are books I've read.

Guess that's about it :D Still have a backlog of posts to do and I just can't catch up! :P