I kept to the "3 for RM10" area the whole time, picked out mostly non-fictions, plus a couple of Sci-Fis. Dad paid for it of course. Bless him. I've never been to this shopping mall before, neither has he. It took some googling of a map plus a couple of wrong turns before we found the building nestled amongst other buildings which was under construction. So bless my dear darling daddy for chauffeuring me all the way here and paying for the books ^^

Okay i realise this blog's supposed to be about NS. So...

I remember reading in NS, a lot. I brought 2 books, one was Ryu Murakami's Coin Locker Babies (it was an impulse purchase, one that i couldn't let go after reading the short excerpt on its cover. I've never heard of Murakami and wasn't aware of the cult film adaptation of his novel Audition back then...).

The first few days in camp, i buried my nose in my book all the time, living an unsocial reclusive life. Nah, actually it serves as a kind of refuge for the moments when nobody approached me for a conversation. I'm the more passive type. I slowly retreat to my shell if nobody initiates a conversation with me but i'd gladly join the party if only someone else other than me speaks first :P

I totally get it that i give people the first impression of being this nerdy stuck-up girl who'd rather read than talk to people. Couldn't care less back then.

Anyway, there was once when i was sitting on the benches beside JLB (i think it was during the Kelas Rohanis), and all of a sudden Tuan Komanden showed up! The man himself! He commended me for reading an English book, then took the book from my hand and flipped through it, pausing on this page and that for a little while.

The horror.

I tried finding the exact page he read but i couldn't be sure which page was it. I'll be damned if he came across any sexual depictions. That grim book was filled with stories about the dark side of the society, and more.

When he asked me what the book was about, i was at loss for words for a moment. I definitely couldn't tell him that it's about 2 abandoned babies, one who grew up to be a pole-vaulter and the other a bi-sexual prostitute. For chrissake, the first sentence of the book was

The woman pushed on the baby's stomach and sucked its penis into her mouth; it was thinner than the American menthols she smoked and a bit slimy, like raw fish.

Now you see why i was worried.

Putting it as vaguely as i could, i told him that it was a novel about the "adventurous journey" of two young men.

Then, my heart still pounding, he handed the book back to me, and mentioned something about how glad he is to see someone finding the time to read even while in NS *beam*

Phew...