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30 May 2016

How I spent my BB1M

Bonjour senór and senòrita (don't bash me for misuse of different types of o, to tell you the truth I am that kind of person who doesn't even bother to spellcheck foreign words).

Anyways, last Friday which dated back on May 27th, I didn't have any exams but still decided to go to KDU because I needed to print past years papers that I haven't done yet. I printed like 20+ sets but still left with 100+ pages quota for free printing. I'll probably use the balance to print arts stuffs. Yeah, I'm such a bad kid for abusing school services, yes I am really what you describe as pure evil ヽ(`⌒´メ)ノ

After I was done with my business, my next thing to do on the list was going to NU Sentral to spend my MYR250 worth Baucer Buku 1 Malaysia (BB1M). Initially there were two options for me to choose from; whether to cash it or to spend it. I wanted to cash it but was freaking lazy to find any place that offers that kind of service. Mainly because, first, the vouchers' expiry date is really near which is on the 30th of June. Secondly, it's illegal. And there was a recent news about students getting caught cashing their vouchers. So, I definitely do not want to take any risk that will jeopardise my chance of obtaining a Certificate of Good Conduct (you see if I pass my A Levels (of which the result is coming out in early August!), In Shaa Allah Amin Amin Amin, I will need that as a ticket for me to further my studies overseas). But then the problem was what could I spend the BB1M on. I already have tons of unread novels that I hauled from Big Bad Wolf book sale for the past few years and I don't want to add any more to the pile (I'm aiming to tick off every book there is on my Unread Novels' list this upcoming holiday). And then voila! An idea popped up.

If you're my friend, you'd probably notice that recently I was sucked into animu hell. I've been so immersed in animes and mangas, you could say that other than studying my only other activity is heavily related to animes and mangas. Although it's really not advisable to do this, I can't afford to buy any of the original DVDs or even mangas as they are really expensive and are considered as luxuries for a (poor) student like me, so I opt for free animes and mangas online sites. It's kind of a bummer for me that I can't support the creators but finally I was given the chance to. Now, this is the important part.

Problems with buying original Japanese (english translated and licensed) mangas in Malaysia with BB1M (and some tips)

1. If you're not familiar with BB1M, the first thing you should know is that BB1M is supposed to be spent on educational materials which excludes stationeries (including test pad and notebook), entertainment materials (e.g. magazine and manga), electronic products (e.g. external drive and pen drive). Although not all bookstores are strict like this, you may want to consider googling first which stores allow and which don't. Popular is quite strict. Kinokuniya too. I contacted them asking whether I can use BB1M to purchase mangas and they said no but MPH ✔

2. Mangas' availability. I contacted MPH and Kinokuniya respectively asking about the mangas' availability. Kino only replied that they have them in stock but MPH's service was way better (I specifically asked for ready stocks availability in MPH around Petaling Jaya area). They provided me with the amount of books available at each respective chain, based on their inventory? Still they reminded that data in the inventory may differ from the ones that are really at the store itself.

3. To search for them in store is freaking impossibru. I don't know about other bookstores but so far only Kino and MPH sell original mangas. Kino aside, when I went to MPH NU Sentral, I tried searching for the mangas myself but I couldn't find them. All I saw was Malay translated shoujo mangas. Luckily, I already reserved the mangas that I wanted one day prior to the day that I bought them. You can reserve the books that you want by calling the chain store and ask to keep them for you. Maximum reservation period is three days but I asked for an extension and they granted it.

4. This was supposed to be on top of the list. The damn expensive price. Original English translated and licensed manga's starting price would be around MYR45+. Comparing between Kino and MPH, Kino sells them at lower prices but then they don't really differ that much. If Kino sells for MYR47, MPH sells them at MYR55 something. I had no choice but to go with MPH since Kino prohibited the use of BB1M to buy mangas.

Make sure to look out for BB1M promotion and offers. If you spend MYR250 BB1M at MPH, you are entitled with a free MYR50 reloaded Touch n' Go card. Hoorah!

How the books look after being carefully wrapped; safe and precious.

List of the books I bought:

1. Figure Drawing for Dummies by Kensuke Okabayashi (MYR71.19 (I'm sure I paid a lot more for this)
2. Noragami volume 10 manga by Adachitoka (MYR54.90)
3. Noragami volume 11 manga by Adachitoka (MYR54.90)
4. Noragami volume 12 manga by Adachitoka (MYR54.90)
5. Noragami volume 13 manga by Adachitoka (MYR54.90)

That is all. If you have any questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to leave a comment. I'll be sure to reply (^ω~)

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