The connection for my sister's computer is so bad that I am forced to ask to download from my brother. In exchange, he's playing Sims 2 in mine. The bouncy 'build' song is loud in the study room as he's left my desk to wash the floor outside.
Did you know that I finish reading the newspaper before Facebook actually loaded?
Yeah, it was that slow.
Well then, the title's more of a shout-out than a confession. Why? Cause I'm really bored now.
So, to curb my boredom while I'm waiting for my download to finish, then store it in my pendrive and transfer it to my own computer to sort and stuff, I'm gonna tell you how it all started; reading. *grins* I don't have my onion pictures, so I'll just * my actions.
You can leave if you want.
I'd have to say, it started when I was really young; I think when I was around three. We just moved from Singapore back to Malaysia just after dad's transfer.
We, my brother and I, didn't have much toys to play with. A set of kitchen appliances, dolls, teddy bears and a tricycle was all that we had. I remember there was once when I took one of mom's planner and scribbled all over it. When she came back home from work, I got into trouble.
...To tell you the truth, I don't really remember how or why I started to like reading. The reason with the lack of toys was just a theory on how it started. It just happened and... Well, maybe it was a way for me to go places and experience things that I could never have. I don't know.
None of my family members are readers; dad's too busy with work to read, the only thing mom reads are cookbooks, bro occasionally reads his Star Wars novels (he's yet to finish them and he only has four) while sis prefers the telly and toys than books. My paternal grandparents are both barely literate while I doubt my maternal ones have time for books. None of my cousins are bookworms like me.
I used to read anything I could get my hands on; to a point where my parents scolded me for the really huge amount of money spent on books. I'm more picky now, since my dad has laid the condition where I'm buying the books with my allowance and he'll only subsidize 50% of it.
It's time for me to claim that subsidies.
As for manga, it started only two years ago. The whole Manga trend started that time too, but I took it up later, when the whole thing simmered down a little.
It was before PMR that Sapphira introduced me to manga, she was reading Eternal Sabbath. I blew it off by saying that I don't like it and will never like it at all. Words are really hard to swallow back.
It was after PMR that I got curious about the whole manga thing. Since I didn't need to go to school anymore and have more than three months of vacation time, I started to look for it. At first, I stumbled upon Stoptazmo. The titles there were limited and I read my first, Alice 19th.
I liked loved it.
I looked for more manga titles in Wikipedia. It generated a hell lot and I was devastated that I couldn't find any of them in Stoptazmo. Also in Wikipedia that I found the genre that I liked was called shoujo. I liked some shonen titles but kept away from josei, shounen-ai and shoujo-ai. As much as I was fine with the topic of homosexuals, I'd prefer that my dad didn't find a reason to keep me away from my new found hobby. He did try to stop me though, saying:
Manga= hentaiI was shocked and I proved to my dad, letting him read one of those innocent ones, like Dear Mine. He didn't say anything about it ever since.
The next site was VNManga, based in none other than Vietnam. It required copper to download (which you could earn by posting in forums or donating). I posted a few to get the titles that I wanted, but got tired of posting. I found NarutoFan, but it required me to pay and subscribe to download (which in my opinion, sucks). NarutoFan is in trouble with the manga scanslators and reader community. I mean, the scanslators are not charging for the scans and translations but he is getting all the profit! If he needs the money to maintain the servers, he should ask for donations instead! People will understand and be happy to help.
The following two sites are the ones where I get my manga from, namely Shoujo Manga Download or SMD and Mangatraders. SMD is where I get the unlicensed manga from (since they only host unlicensed ones) and Mangatraders is where I get everything. One thing I didn't get in Mangatraders is the friends I made in SMD! I'm really glad to have met them. *big smile*
Speaking of Mangatraders, they've come a long way. Back when I found the site, it was quite messy and members were scarce, but now it's really organized with thousands of members. They don't require people to post or pay to download. Any one could upload the manga chapters and find some other way to contribute. Or you could just leech 'em like me! *laughs*
I did try to upload one chapter but my connection sucked so much that the upload bar barely moved after two hours.
Kudos to Aftershock, Zraith and Yukimura for the existance of this site that creates joy to thousands of manga addicts like me!
A few months ago, they had some legal trouble with some manga publishers, Tokyopop and some other that I forgot. They agreed to remove titles and the whole thing was settled. My only grief was that Saiunkoku Monogatari was one of them. Looks like I'll have to buy it if I really want to know what happens.
I've decided to get the ones I really want to read and keep; like Vampire Knight, Ouran High Host Club, Skip Beat!, The Bride of the Water God and Perfect Girl Evolution. But I'll just have to wait till next year to ask for a raise in my allowance. *sigh*
Time for dinner. I don't think I'll update this often, maybe once a week. Wonder when the connection will get better and when will dad decide to fix my wireless...
Only 136 more days till SPM and I'M NOT READY!!!
*falls from the chair and hopes for a coma*
