Braceface No More

This post is long overdue so I shall hurry through it. I hate doing this but that’s my fault for a week’s worth of procrastination. (I wish I could use “I was too busy studying for SPM” as an excuse but I wouldn’t want to be a liar.)

Last Thursday, I went to Penang to finally get my braces off. The process took very little time, and soon those metal wires that had held my teeth captive for almost three years now were gone, replaced by the foreignness of having nothing on my teeth. The feeling was so strange I couldn’t stop running my tongue over them the entire day and admiring them every time I stumbled upon a mirror.

My scary transition from crooked yellow teeth (2009) to fairly straight whites (2012)

My parents and I spent the night and my uncle’s because I had to collect my retainers the very next morning.

And when I did, I swear, you’ve never known pain until you’ve met these little alien-like…things.

And that’s it! The end of my braceface journey. It was certainly a colourful one, but ultimately I’m glad to have finish it.

Green & Pink

I particularly love my braces today because besides sporting brand new flashy colours after two months of black and white (I got white-only braces before this but I didn’t post about it because of the whole too-busy-to-blog ordeal), I got pink chain rubbers which, apparently, are new arrivals, so I could barely stop grinning the whole day.

The doctor also said that I’m a “castry” (this isn’t the right word for it but it sounded like “castry” anyway so attn dental students, help?) patient, that’s why there’s always a gap (albeit a small one now) between the top and bottom rows of my teeth. He said he’d have to check if the closed gap between the two rows open again during the next appointment and if they don’t, then I’m on my way to getting these metal things off. Yay!

A Crammed Post About Everything That Has Happened While I Was Away From this Blog and the End of A Pretty Amazing Year

This blog has not been updated for too long, but perhaps it’s because I’ve finally gotten a life. Quite a lot has happened to me while I was away from this blog. The main reason I couldn’t blog was because I was staying at my Si Pek’s house from Sunday to Thursday, and blogging on my phone was inconvenient.

Might I add that I’d been leading a life of hedonism while I was away. Hedonism in my contextual definition means enjoying every single thing I do without really worrying about the consequences, in case you’re worrying that I’ve started picking up drinking or smoking habits or whatnot. I’m pointing it out because somehow, I finally found the guts to step out of my typical guidelines to do things -things I normally would be horrified to do- without thinking too much of the consequences, which is something I’ve never been brave enough to do before. Again, nothing serious or life-damaging, but perhaps a little life-changing.

So here’s what you missed on Michelle’s Interesting Life:

I have been attending a lot of Christmas parties. A family dinner at Si Pek’s house on the 24th, a barbecue dinner at Caleb’s house on the 25th, another Christmas party at Si Pek’s house on the 26th, a Christmas festival at Taman Laguna Mas on the 29th and an MYF Christmas party last night, the 30th. This year’s Christmas has been great. Some ups and some downs but overall pretty satisfying.

Dad started giving me driving lessons around the neighbourhood, because he said he wanted to make sure I had “steady steering skills” before I worry about manual gears during the real exams. The first time was horrifying, and I couldn’t even exceed 10 km/h. I’d brake everytime a car or a motorbike appeared out of nowhere, so you can more or less imagine the hysterical screams and laughter I emitted while my dad got more and more frustrated. However, today’s my third time driving around the neighbourhood now and safe to say, I love driving. I know I’ll most likely change my mind in a few months’ time but right now, I love driving.

This is the first non-separated post about my braces, which hurts my OCD but there’s nothing I can do about it. I got black braces yesterday. Yes, black and nothing else. It symbolises my mourning of the start of a new school year.

And now we get to the sentimental part. The end of 2011. To be quite honest, 2011 was probably the best year I’ve ever had, and I know I say the same about every year when it’s coming to an end, but this time I really mean it. I’ve been to so many different places and obtained eye-opening experiences, made new friends with wonderful people as well as strengthened old friendships, and done things I’d never, in a million years, think of doing.

But of course, there were the horrible breakdowns, painful heartbreaks and confusing obstacles that lined the path of 2011. Those are places I don’t really want to venture into but just to make it clear that 2011 wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns and pure ecstasy.

Hence, safe to say, the best and worst moments of my life all took place this year. It has been a wonderful yet disastrous ride, but a lot of lessons have been learned. They’ve helped me grow into the person I am now. I think I can safely say that I’m better than the person I was early this year.

There’s another reason why I dread the arrival of 2012 besides the fact that this year has been infinitely good to me, and that is SPM. I don’t think it has fully registered in my brain yet that in less than a year’s time, I’m going to be sitting for what would probably be the most important examination in my life. I’m not prepared yet. I don’t think I’ll ever be. It makes me nauseous just thinking about it. So I shall not think about it. Yet. For today.

And then there’s also the teeny voice at the back of my head that spews apocalyptic theories which, sometimes, even makes me doubt myself, wondering if it’s true we’re all going to die next year. I know it’s highly unlikely, but you never know these things. Unlike SPM, there’s nothing I can do about it but being a natural worrier, I still worry about it.

All I know for sure is that next year is going to be one hell of a ride. Stopping for a breather even sounds absurd. So here’s to the last two days of freedom before the gates of school finally open to welcome all of us into her arms, despite our struggles and tantrums.

I would’ve written this at night when 2012 looms closer, but there is a countdown tonight and I don’t think I’ll be able to break away from it to write a blogpost so this is it.

See you guys next year!

PS. Unfortunately, I have not completed my YNN Camp page yet. Epic facepalm. Guess you all will have to wait until next year.

Red/White

Now, just close your eyes and imagine a photo of me with red and white braces, because I’ve been looking shitty the whole day so unfortunately I can’t grace this post with the compulsory braces-showing photo of myself.

Which is actually a good thing.

Today, I went to Penang with Dad and Shu Juin only. We waited for an hour at the clinic today. I got red and white to show my support for Anum’s F1 Team who will be competing in nationals in KL on the 29th of November. May the odds be ever in your favour, girls!

Then, we went to Queensbay Mall because Xuen said there was a 50% discount sale on all Murakami books and it was true and initially, I’d chosen Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami and Delirium by Lauren Oliver but ended up buying the value pack of A Game of Thrones and A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin instead for 40 bucks. I still don’t get why they couldn’t put the first and second books of the series into value packs first. Then, we had another ‘Michelle needs work clothes’ shopping session at Padini.

My packing is not going smoothly. I learned something new today: packing for a month’s worth of clothes is not something I ever want to do again.

Also, change of plans! We’re heading for KL on Sunday morning instead so there will be another day left in Alor Setar so I shall make this post simple and short for the long and dragging one I’m going to post tomorrow.

Black & White

If you see any zits on my face then you are CLEARLY DELUSIONAL.

Are you bored with my braces posts already because I really am. No matter, they’ll be gone for good hopefully by early next year.

Today I went to Penang once again for my orthodontic appointment with Uncle Lim, Kai Li and Shu Juin only. I’ve had a lot of people asking me to try the colours black and white and since I’ve already run out of colour combinations, I decided to go with it. I have linking rubbers fixed back on my bottom row and needless to say it hurt. It still does.

Before I continue, let me ask you a (rhetorical) question. What is it with Alor Setar and its lack of Form 4 Biology textbooks?

After that, Uncle Lim fetched me to Midlands because I wanted to hunt for a Biology textbook at the Popular store there, only to find it closed and, according to one of the Midlands worker, “rarely opened”. So, we went to Gurney Plaza instead and I found out there was a whole row of Form 4 Biology practical books but no Form 4 Biology textbooks (as was the case of the Union Bookstore at Jalan Stadium).

What is it with Penang (well, the little part of it that I went to) and its lack of Form 4 Biology textbooks?

Disappointed with my failure at finding a Biology textbook, I decided to stop being disappointed and start being awesome instead, so I bought Divergent by Veronica Roth, to be doubly, pleasantly surprised by an ironic finding in the book itself. Fortunately, that finding is for me to know only and for you to (hopefully not) find out.

After that, my entire day was filled with nothing but procrastinating duties. Needless to say, it was a pleasant day.

Footnote: With some encouraging and lovely comments from some friends and readers, I am slowly scraping off my writer’s block so Careful Confessions should be bubbly and alive sooner than you think! Yay!

Dark Blue & Lime Green


Okay, short post on my orthodontic visit last Friday (because I have a new one coming up).

That Friday, I was particularly excited (and admittedly nervous) about my Penang trip because I would be meeting Amanda Ng, a fellow Starstruck! writer later at Gurney Plaza. She would be the first Starstruck! writer I met in real life, and I was never good with meeting new people so I was pretty frightened, to be honest.

I changed my braces to dark blue and lime green to match my baju kurung’s colour for the upcoming school’s raya celebration.

I met up with Amanda at 12.30PM and well, it was kind of awkward (for me) at first, but I did my best to ‘de-shy’ myself, as I had promised Amanda earlier. We had lunch at Chicago Ribs after a series of “You pick what to eat!” “No, you pick!” and our conversations started off with the main thing we had in common– Starstruck! and we eventually ventured into topics concerning possible paths after graduation. This continued on as we went window shopping at Padini, Nichii and FOS before Amanda had to leave at 2PM. It wasn’t until I got into my Dad’s car before regretting not taking a photo with Amanda. Sigh.

However, it was honestly fun meeting up with Amanda, exchanging ideas and just, as Aifa would say, soksek-ing in general. Hopefully there would be more meet-ups with her in the future.

SASBAND Colours: Purple & White


So, sorry guys I’ve been missing in action for two days.

You see, I was sick.

…with SASBAND Fever!

Lame Ryan-Higa-imitation aside, yes, I had my braces changed today and yes, I changed it to purple/white because of the SASBAND fever in the air.

“Whaa? What’s ‘SASBAND’?”

SASBAND is also known as Sultanah Asma School Marching Band, my school’s band, and recently it’s all the rage in our school ever since their victory in the Zone BandComp and NatComp, earning the Number One title in the whole of Malaysia.

I know I’m not in the band nor have I actually shown much interest in the band before this but I’m just going with the latest trend in school, so.

Nah, it’s not just that. I am mighty proud of the band girls. They’ve already started practising from dawn till night a month before the Zone BandComp. Remember when I had to go to school everyday for the whole two-week holiday in June for drama practice? Not only were the band members in school for the whole two weeks too, they stayed there, and trained from around 7am to late night 11pm. (Probably not accurate but those were the hours I saw them practising in the school’s parking lot.) Then, after winning BandComp, they continued practising again every single day for NatComp. So it would pretty much be a crime if they didn’t win both competitions.

“They’ve already won! So why still the Fever?”

Still the Fever because the competitions don’t end there! WorldComp is next week, and that’s what most people can talk about in school nowadays. Despite the fact that I didn’t follow the 11 buses to KL to support SASBAND in NatComp and also despite the fact that I won’t be able to support them in person for WorldComp, I still wanted to show my supportive spirit by changing my braces colours to the band’s official colours. And also wearing my ‘I Heart SASBAND’ T-shirt for today.

Good luck guys! I mean, girls.

PS. YES, I WILL GET TO THE DH REVIEW SOON.

Hijau/Kuning!


The event in which Michelle shows her true patriotic Kedahan spirit?

Ha! As if.

The reason why I got green/yellow braces today is to match my nail polish.

That is the reason why.

After that, Dad insisted we visit the Floral Exhibition in the Botanical Garden and I even made a DIY recycling bag for 15 Ringgit! An excruciating 30 minutes later, it turned out uglier than the one done by a 7-year-old sitting next to me, so I quickly left the booth and hid the bag in the car.

Random interesting incident of the day: We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant and Mum ordered mayonnaise pork so when her meal came the waitress said, “Mayo set?” and my Mum shoved the tray at me. It was hilarious at the time and my Mum tried to defend herself by saying, “Well, your name is Mayo!”

We went to Si Pek’s house yesterday (they just came back from England) and found out the pups are named!

Prince
Rocky (named by yours truly bahahahaha)
Shero/Shiro/Lady
Duchess

The other two black puppies who Mum didn’t take photos of are Zorro and Happy.

…that sounded racist, didn’t it?

Okay, bye.

Pink & Black

As always, excuse my dopey face.

Today started off with a diary entry early in the morning that goes like this:

“Why? Why do you feel the need to hurl your brain out of the window at 8 o’clock in the morning? What horrible thing has happened? Please enlighten me.”

It could be an incredibly amazing thing (or dream, to be more precise) or a terribly horrible one. Incredibly amazing from a self-absorbed, conceited angle; terribly horrible from a realistic angle. Let’s just say that it is a great dream nonetheless because I am conceited and despite the fact that my dream will have zero chance of ever coming true, it truly is a great dream which I will not tell all of you here because it is extremely personal and I have only jotted it down in my diary.

Right, so  my morning got chaotic just because of that one dream and a couple of tweets. Then, off to Penang I go to change my braces.

Before I continue, might I also add that I added the sentence “THE DAY OF PREMONITIONS!!!!!!!!!!” in the entry above before signing off and boy, how right am I. (See, that is already a premonition in itself.) Well, okay, maybe not exactly premonitions in its contextual definition, but it was a sort of positive version of “freaky Friday” day without “soul-changes” etc.

I really should just stop trying so hard to explain my day and just say it as it is, shouldn’t I?

Well I had Katy Perry on the radio all the way to Penang, green lights all the way to the orthodontics, an empty waiting room (as opposed to a usually crowded room), Pixie Lott all the way home, absolutely great time during the 3-hour choral practice session at school, and basically just how strong the dream affected me the whole day (it all points back to the dream, my brain really needs a brain therapist to differentiate reality from dreams). The only down side was the orthodontist took off the wires around the upper and lower molars and left a sort of “box” for both the upper and lower jaws and now the wire-less metal stubs are cutting my lips every time I speak and that is dreadful because the whole of next week and the week after that are “talk-non-stop” weeks where there is choral speaking and debates and debates again.

Can I just throw my schedule at you so you can sympathise with me:

  • 17th April- Friendly debate with SMK Jitra
  • 18th April- District level choral speaking competition
  • 22nd-29th April (dates depending on whether we make it to the octo-finals & finals)- Debate at HELP University
  • 9th May- Hari Anugerah Cemerlang
  • 11th May- Exam starts
  • Somewhere in June- Violin Grade 6 Exam
  • 19th-27th June- MCKK Youth Summit

<This is a sentence filled with whines and complaints.>

Oh, and Princess also gave birth to 6 puppies today:

As to why I got pink & black…I just wanted striking colours. That is the only reason I can come up with right now.

My hands are starting to ache, so this must be a sign that it is time for me to go (I’ve been away from the laptop for so long it’s almost unhealthy, even my typing skills are deteriorating).

Mayo signing off.

Facebook Colours: Blue/White

I had no idea what colours I should change for my braces so I picked the one fandom that reigned dominant in my head for a few months now: The Social Network fandom.

So now you know I chose blue and white because I am addicted to the movie about Facebook, and not Facebook itself.

Although, trust me, if I could choose the two shades of brown that make up Andrew Garfield’s hair, I would.

This trip was on a Monday, yesterday, because I couldn’t attend my Friday appointment due to a morning upset stomach. It was a fairly short trip, but a great one nonetheless. The doctor said I didn’t have to hook my bands all the way back to my upper molars anymore, only on both the upper and lower canine teeth.

Although, who am I kidding. The real joy of the day was my visit to Borders, because I found not only one, but two of the books I’ve been pining for for months.

  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

I bought Never Let Me Go because the adapted film stars Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan, and I bought The Accidental Billionaires because…well, you know.

I am currently on page 70 of The Accidental Billionaires and so far it has done nothing but made me cry and laugh at the same time.

“The great irony is that Facebook succeeded by bringing people together- but its very success tore two best friends apart.”

“Eduardo grinned to himself; in a matter of a few short weeks, he and Mark had become close friends. Even though they lived in different houses and had different majors, Eduardo felt that they had a similar spirit- and he’d begun to notice an almost strange feeling that they were supposed to be friends, even before they were. In that short time, he’d grown to really like Mark, and had begun to think of him like a real brother, not just someone who shared a Jewish frat, and he was pretty sure Mark felt the same way about him.”

“Maybe feeding the chicken chicken was a mistake; how was he supposed to know what chickens ate? The thing hadn’t come with a manual. Eduardo had gone to a Jewish prep school in Miami.What the hell did Jews know about chickens,other than the fact that they made good soup?”

UGH, BEN MEZRICH, YOU ARE A GOD.

I have come to a conclusion that everyone involved in the making of The Social Network is a god, bamf, some kind of unearthly and ethereal creature that leaves glitter and sunshine in their footsteps. (Eg. David Fincher, Aaron Sorkin, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Rooney Mara, Joe Mazzello, The Chicken…you get my point.) And now I welcome Ben Mezrich to the club with open arms.

This is slowly and dangerously transforming into a TSN-rant post, so now I bid you all farewell for now as I return to my current sanctuary which lies behind the pages of The Accidental Billionaires.

Hufflepuff Colours: Yellow/Brown

I look like such a dope, pardon me.

Today I woke up at the hours of a school day, because Uncle Lim was fetching Kai Li and I to Penang to get our braces done and her appointment was at 9 am. It was pretty bare in the waiting room when we reached the clinic, which is something I don’t see everyday. I waited for about an hour, then went in for no more than three minutes and I was done. That was by far the quickest appointment ever. After Kai Li was done, we had a pre-lunch at KFC and went shopping for a while at that shopping mall where there was the huge Popular sale the last time I went there (remember?) but we didn’t get anything because well, frankly there was nothing. When we reached Alor Setar, Uncle Lim dropped me off at Si Pek’s house and at around 4 we went to Tesco for a bit and then to Kuala Kedah, where Dad & Mum were fetching Ah Kong back to. Right after that we rushed home because I had Accounting tuition. I got back home and watched American Idol (btw I’m sorry but I cba writing an AI review every week now since it’s getting so bleurgh but I’ll mention some favourites from time to time) and the remaining parts of Small Soldiers and here I am, waiting for the Skins S5 first episode to finish buffering (so excited) while listening to A Fine Frenzy.

The Chinese New Year mood just isn’t existent right no, thanks to my school and the situation Ah Kong is in. On a more positive note, Xiao Ku & Joshua are coming back tomorrow and I’ll be getting my Mortal Instruments series.

Also, watch out for my next post. I’ve been saving it up the whole week for tomorrow. It’s going to be super-awesome.

PS. Thus, this colour combination means the end of my Hogwarts houses colour choices.

Gryffindor/Riot! Colours: Red/Orange

 

I got red/orange because there wasn’t gold (for Gryffindor) and with all these chaos ensuing I wished everything went back to the Riot! days.

The only upside today was I got I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore & Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare.

Then dad and I went straight to the hospital because Ah Kong was going into the operation theatre around the time we reached Alor Setar. It’s been the fourth day he’s lying in the ICU ward. I’m just going to say seeing adults cry is just plain terrible. Thankfully, the operation was successful and now it’s just a matter of waiting out the recovery phase.

I’ve been to nowhere but hospitals this holiday. This is getting unhealthy.

I got back at home at around 10pm and everything was so messy and I went into some kind of  “stressed out bawling breakdown” because everything was turning out so horrid and I can’t even turn to Paramore right now because it might be adding fuel to the fire. I don’t know what to feel about all this Para-drama. I know I should be supporting them and I am but there’s just some things that don’t fade away easily, you know? It’s inevitable to for the despair and disappointment to surface whenever thinking of them. I hope it doesn’t stay that way for long.

Right. Well, it’s past midnight now and even though my Christmasy mood has long since disappeared into the gutters ten feet below, let’s not forget the presents and carols and gatherings, just to keep despair at bay. Merry Christmas to all and have a great day.

Ravenclaw Colours: Blue/Bronze

 

After Slytherin comes Ravenclaw! (And I plan Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff after that, since I’m in Hufflepuff and all.) Today was slightly different from the other trips because Kai Li and her family went with us to the orthodontist too, since she also wanted to have braces done too. We reached the place at 10am, and maybe I should tell you that I have to wait for more or less an hour before I get called in. And I have to wear bands again, but this time it winds around my molars and my canine teeth too, so it hurts terribly.

After that, we went to Popular at this mall, which I do not know the name because it is about to close down, because there was a huge banner hung saying there was a sale ranging from 50 to 70 percent discounts. I’ve seen this many of times before, and was often let down but this time I was not. It was amazing, I don’t even know how to describe this pure bliss. Anyway I got 6 books in the end, and my mum got some for herself too.

I got:

  • Eragon + Eldest Omnibus- Christopher Paolini
  • The Virgin Suicides- Jeffery Eugenides
  • LOTR: The Two Towers- JRR Tolkien
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Stiel Larsson (Millennium series)
  • The Girl Who Played With Fire- Stiel Larsson (Millennium series)
  • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest- Stiel Larsson (Millennium series)

And get this, I only got Two Towers for 9 dollars! I couldn’t find Fellowship of the Ring and the Return of the King though and that makes me feel incomplete somehow.

And I brought Heart home from my uncle’s house and it’s the first time seeing him for three days which makes me really happy. In conclusion, it has been a great day and I’m going to go watch Wipeout now, bye.

EDIT: OH AND HEY GUYS CAN YOU PLEASE CLICK THIS AND DO IT. PLEASE. JUST DO IT AND NOT MAKE ME LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.

EDIT#2: Oh and Sasha see I updated my blog so you get to read something. I am such a good friend. Lolno but I love you. ❤

Slytherin Colours: Green/White

PLEASE IGNORE THE ZIT ON MY CHIN PLEASE.

I apologise for the late braces update. Yesterday I went and got my braces changed again, and in conjunction of 19th November, which is also the release date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie, I have decided to go through all four houses’ colour for four consecutive months. I chose Slytherin first, even though I belong in Hufflepuff. Shh, don’t question that.

As I waited for the uhm, nurse, to call my name, I watched an episode of Wipeout. 4 minutes for a girl, best time I’ve ever seen.

And then I went in, and it’s been around 2 months since I last visited my orthodontist, so naturally there were a lot of spare bits of food, here and there, leaving my teeth sore. Then when the nurse asked me to choose the colours I wanted, and (out of desperation, actually) I chose green and white but then she told me I’m only going to have the colours out on my top row and I was like, huh? And then she said it’s because I’m having linking rubbers put on my bottom row, which is colourless, like Lailati’s.  (only hers has colours) I couldn’t it anything hard after that because it was painful.

We went to Queensbay Mall later and I got books! We went home and I watched Wipeout on TV that night again.

And for the first time, the pain didn’t wear away. It’s the 2nd day, and I expected it to go away, but it’s still here, and it’s like having my braces put on for the first time again. Ugh.

Blue/Pink

I suppose I should start this post with a recount of last night first.

I couldn’t sleep last night. It wasn’t as much as finding it hard to sleep than waking up at 3 in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep because you’re paranoid over everything, including those shadows on your wall. So I got up, dragged a mattress from the guest room, and slept at my parents’ room without them knowing. I guess you can pretty much blame how worked up and nostalgic I got when I finished the last book in the Percy Jackson series last night. I’m still finding it hard to accept the fact that Rick Riordan is refusing to create a sequel to the series.

The moment I woke up, my mum started asking me why I was here and I just kept quiet. Then we headed off to Penang.

It wasn’t an eventful trip, but it was basically like everything that was happening in my life. I studied Sejarah a little while waiting for my turn and I panicked a little because I haven’t been wearing my bands full time like I was told to. But the doctor didn’t say anything except that he added two ‘strings’ to my bottom row of teeth this time, which is making things difficult for me. Otherwise, I now only have to wear my bands part time, which is as good news as I could get.

Later, we wanted to go to Queensbay Mall but Daddy took a wrong turn so we ended up at Jusco Bukit Mertajam instead. Other than wandering around in Popular for a few minutes, I spent the whole time reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is pretty dang rad, especially since I was picturing Charlie as Logan Lerman the whole time, mainly because I still couldn’t get over this Percy Jackson obsession and also because he was rumoured to star alongside Emma Watson in the movie. It would be very cheesy and desperate to say I can relate to Charlie, but that’s the truth.

I ended up almost finishing the book in almost a day. I’m up to the part where Patrick gave up the role of Frank N Furter now.

Oh I also had my lunch at a Korean restaurant.

I guess that pretty much sums up my day. I wish someone could get me all books in the Percy Jackson series because I’ve only borrowed all of them from Joey. I’d trade in all 4 Twilight books and 4 House of Night books for the complete set, if anyone’s interested?

Bah.