After ten years.

I am now rereading Christopher Pike's the Last Vampire series (now called Thirst 1, 2, 3 and 4). I was 16 when I first encountered the mad magic of his professional yet youthful wordplay. I was the only one in school the kakak library would lend to more than four books at one time. I was crazy in love with Christopher Pike and I managed to finish almost every title by him in the school library. Then I left school for UiTM. Some years went by and I began to choose the people I read. I forgot about Mr Pike for a while. At one point I even thought that my teenage obsession towards his books existed because I was a teenager and I hadn't read that many authors yet. That was insolence no matter the angle you try to look at it. Reading his books literally reformed and refined my writing skills, although what most of you may have read in this blog are just average posts written in average English - believe me, I was so much worst. So yeah. Insolence indeed.

Ten years have gone. The Last Vampire now has 8 major chapters bound in four volumes. I now own all eight and have started rereading the series yesterday. My progress? 5 books in two days. Not that impressive, really - one book has at most only 200 pages. Now I'm starting book six - Creatures of Forever. The crazy thing about this whole matter is the fact that after ten years, Mr Pike still amazes me with his lovable characters, his stories and the unpredictabilities of the plots. He amazes me with everything he does. Every single thing. And if it's possible to marry a writing style, I'd marry his. Haha.

I don't know how he looks like. Wiki says he has very few interviews due to his highly private life. But I really hope to one day meet him. To personally tell him what wonderful things reading his books has done to me and how much being able to understand English means to me because I could enjoy his writings. His language is simple, but the depths of his stories go way beyond the dark of your thoughts and that's what I like best about his books. How he could make me feel deep emotions with non-complicated strings of words. Not many writers do that that well, I can say that for certain.

You'll find titles with vampires in them spilling off the shelves in bookstores. Take my advice, choose his. Read all eight of the Thirst. And try Twilight or Darren Shan after that. Because the Last Vampire began in 1994, long before the Cullens and Shan began and Sita is a 5000-year-old wonder with a beating heart. Or you can try something older from Anne Rice - the Vampire Chronicles which I read when I was 13. Because Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976 and Lestat does not sparkle in the sun like a gaytard emotional undead. Pft.

I'm trying to collect Mr Pike's books now, starting with the Thirsts. They're some of the things that made my teenage years a part of my life I'd always miss. I miss the innocence that I was when I first read him. I'd do a lot of crazy things to feel like that again. Because growing up reading is something I'd very much love to relive, over and over again.

If any of you or some people you know own his books and are thinking of selling them, I'd love to be the first to know. I'd be thankful and we'd be friends. That I promise.

Now, how have all of you been in my absence?

Aku ada alahan kat lagu Nicki Minaj. Kau nak buat apa?

'Aku tak layan lagu Korea ngan Jepun ni, bukan aku paham pon. Kau dengar JPOP dengan KPOP ni, kau paham ke ape diorang nyanyi? Aku layan English je.'

Ya lah tu kan. English la sangat. Kalau tak tengok lirik, tak cari translation, kau pun tak faham Lady Gaga tengah maki bapak mertua siapa. Meluat aku dengan makhluk macam ni. Dah engkau tak minat, tak nak layan, kau pergi buang masa buat rugi kapasiti otak kau duk risau pasal level kefahaman aku kat dua-dua bahasa asing ni buat apa? Macam aneh gila kot. OK so memang Hangeul bukan third language aku, tapi siapa yang decide bahawa aku cuma boleh dengar lagu dalam bahasa yang aku faham saja? Aku dengar sebab aku suka the music and the sound of the language. Why does it matter to YOU whether or not I understand what they're singing? Why does it bother you that I'm listening to a language I can't comprehend? Why does it hurt you that I can enjoy things I can't understand?

Kau faham Bahasa Melayu kan? Tapi kau sumpah-seranah siap downgrade menghina lagu-lagu Melayu dengan artisnya sekali kan? Aku tak defend siapa-siapa, aku cuma hairan apa masalahnya dengan some people yang tak boleh accept bahawa ada sekumpulan manusia kat Malaysia ni yang suka dengar benda-benda yang mereka tak faham. Aku tak faham Hangeul, tapi aku dengar KPOP, why is that a problem? Aku tak faham Nihongo, tapi aku suka JPOP, why is that a problem? Aku sangat faham English, tapi aku allergic gila kat lagu-lagu Nicki Minaj, jadi kau nak bakar rumah aku kah pulak?

* * *

'Aku tak berkenan lah artis-artis JPOP dan KPOP ni semua. Pakai singkat nak mampos cam pelacur je. Yang laki nye pulak sibuk jual muka jambu, cam bapok je.'

Yang ini lagi aku hairan. Tak ada siapa suruh kau berkenan pun. Mereka pun tak berkenan kat kau. Sebab kau tak hensem langsung, haha. Yang pakai labuh tak macam pelacur tu Muslimah beriman, bro. Kau tengok SNSD yang kau sendiri tahu tak Islam, pastu kau expect mereka dressing sopan buat apa? Reasoning skill kau mana? Dan jual muka jambu lebih baik dari tak ada apa yang nak dijual. Jambu-jambu pun ada orang sayang, ada orang peduli, siap beli album lagi buat kayakan mereka. Kau? Belum tentu ada muka yang worth it untuk ditengok pun kalau bahasa kau guna macam tu punya gaya. Heh. Oh ya, kalau bab menjual muka mereka jambu tu jadi masalah, kau nak blame siapa sebenarnya? Nak salahkan mereka yang menayang muka atau Tuhan yang menciptakan muka mereka semacam itu? Hoho. Kadang-kadang mulut kau jadi cepat tak tentu pasal bila kau cemburu. Aku faham itu.

* * *

'Aduh, KPOP lagi. Naik benci dah aku. Amende yang best sangat dengan KPOP ni?'

Dah kau taktau apa yang best, macam mana kau boleh benci? Haha. Memanglah nak benci nak suka tu pilihan kau, tapi biarlah ada reason yang kau sendiri boleh faham. Ini orang nak anti, kau pun nak anti, tapi tak ketahuan pun puncanya. Kotlah mereka pernah mengorat kau lepas tu tak jadi kawen, belasah adik kau sebab  tak mandi, guna iPad mak kau lepas tu tak pulangkan, aku fahamlah kau nak benci. Sekarang ni mereka dressing tak Islamik sebab mereka tak Islam dan menayang muka sebab orang-orang macam aku suka tengok (buat motivasi nak flawless-kan muka sendiri), jadi kenapa orang macam kau boleh jadi benci tak ada pasal? Haha. Tu lah, nak hating nak liking apa-apa pun dalam dunia ni, jangan ikut orang. Sudahnya kau keluarkan statement bijak pandai macam tu lah tiba-tiba. Menyampah for no reason. Malang betul jadi kau kan?

Kau tahu? Hating itu sebenarnya a confused form of liking. You tell everyone you hate them, but you keep yourself updated with their news just to keep telling people how much you hate them. LOL, the opposite of like or love is not hate, pal. It's neglect. So if you don't like them, don't bother about them. Bukannya ambil tahu dari hujung dunia sana sampai hujung dunia sini artis mana tidur dengan siapa. Itu dah obsessed dah tu. Lagi obsessed dari peminat mereka pulak kau kan? Hehe.

*senyum-senyum* Ini bukan post sakit punggung (butthurt). Ini post panas hati. By the way, this is SHINee. They have jambu faces. And they make big money; with or without them - because they have talents. Very unlike some very unlucky people. LOL. Later, everyone.