Chp 692. Bloggers at HillTalk 2017

One of the events I've always wanted to attend back home is the Literary Meet my friends keep organizing now and then, where notable writers and poets from the North East and other parts of India meet up to share their latest writings and socialize with each other.

Having no literature background, I've always held these people in the highest regard, and many of them had been my inspiration to write, however mediocre my blog posts may be. And it felt enlightening to befriend them and share stories and experiences on various topics ranging from politics to sports and culture to human rights. Just sitting down among the spectators in a dark corner inconspicuously and listening to them read out what they have written had always been a long-time dream of mine.

Recently, such an event took place in Aizawl. Aptly named "HillTalk", this event was mainly convened by Mona Zote, with assistance from Cherrie Lalteii, Zualteii Poonte and Dawngi Chawngthu. I felt a bit elevated because these were people I have crossed paths with before, sometimes at my blog and sometimes at other Mizo online social platforms. My four idols.

The event had many participants, all prominent poets and writers who flew in for the occasion. And what made this event even more significant for me was that, five of my friends from our cozy little "Mizo Bloggers WhatsApp group" were attending the event, showcasing their poems and chefs-d'oeuvre!

Jacqueline, Chased, Sanga Says, Cherrie and BD from our group all rocked the show that day. Kukui was another friend I was expecting to be there, but unfortunately she was visiting her in-laws at Nagpur. When you know your dear friends are meeting up for an important event, you just automatically feel so connected to that occasion too.

Now I know I suck at poetry, but nevertheless I love reading poems, especially the ones that my friends pen on their blogs or Facebook walls. Their mastery over words and emotions knows no bounds, whereas if you ask me to write a poem, I usually start with, "There once was a cow…" irrespective of whether the theme is about love or death.

I stumbled across some of their photos on Cherrie aka MizDayDreamBeliever's Facebook album. Some of my friends' poses and expressions were quite funny, perfectly captured at really odd moments. So, in the true spirit of our Blogger's WhatsApp group where we pull each other's legs all the time, here is me with a few memes. Enjoy :)

Like I said earlier, Kukui didn't go for the event so she's not in any of this, but here is a meme blog post  just dedicated to her, do check it out if you haven't seen it yet. :D :P

Overall, they are an amazing bunch of friends, and here's to wishing them more fame and success in their literary endeavours in the coming seasons. Cheers for now everyone…

Chp 691. Comic Bundle of Joy

I have come across a lot of gamers who actually don't know what "Humble Bundle" is. If you don't know what that is, you are missing a huge thing.

Humble Bundle is a subscription based service where you pay a certain amount of fee and you receive a lot of super cool games for free every month. You don't have to subscribe to become a member. Every now and then they give out free games, which you can claim by simply activating the product key through your Steam client. 

And the best part is, they also release different weekly bundles at a really cheap price, and these bundles are not just Game Bundles but sometimes Book Bundles, Software Bundles, Comic Bundles and so on.

Just today, I purchased the "Riverdale and Archie comic bundle".



The comics brought back so many memories indeed. Man, the art style had changed so much! I can still hear Archie singing… "Sugar… oh honey honey… you are my candy girl, and you got me wanting you."



This amazing comic bundle sale ends tomorrow, so if you are interested in buying it, here's the link - Humble Bundle - Riverdale and Archie comics

For those of you hearing about this site for the first time, I'll quickly take you through how it works:

First, go to the website and register, which is free of cost.

After that you can purchase what you want using your Credit card. You can also pay through PayPal, Stripe, Amazon, AliPay and Bitcoin.

You can either subscribe to the annual Bundle plan, or not spend anything at all, that's completely your call.

I too haven't subscribed till now because I really don't need to. I already have more than 1200 games in my Steam account so the chances of games I already own being included among the free monthly games is extremely high. Instead, I wait for individual Bundle sales and buy the ones that I don't have in my collection yet.

Here's how a purchase works: You can opt to pay the amount you want!

Yes, I kid you not. There is no fixed (maximum) price. You can pay whatever amount you wish to!

The minimum price starts at $1. With $1, you get a set of items (let's say, set A). And then the next batch usually costs around $5 to $8, and with that you get set A and set B. And finally the third batch usually costs around $12 to $15 and if you pay that amount, you get set A, set B and set C.

Till now, I have only purchased the $1 batch for all the Bundles I have bought so far, because I'm such a cheapo :P

With the $1 I spent today, I received the following comics:




Had I paid $8, I would have received the above 6 comics along with these 9 other comics:




And if I had spent more than $15, these 8 other comics would be in my collection, along with the previous 15 comics:




Another great feature at the Humble Bundle store is, apart from deciding how much you want to pay, you can actually select where you want your money to go. You can distribute the amount among different sources, like the artist or the humble store or to some charity etc., it's totally your call.




Once I have made the purchase, I received a link in my inbox that took me to the download page. This is how the download page looks like. Android, iOS, Kindle and Nook devices are all supported, and there are different formats I can choose from:




It felt great reading through one of my childhood's favorite comic books again, even though the art and sometimes the tone of the comic have changed a bit now.

For example, here is a screenshot of the Archie comic I bought today… notice how it is a little bit different than the ones we used to read back then? 




Maybe a refreshing change? As we used to say in Mizo, "Heng comic te hi in chhiar ve duh chuan whatsapp lamah ka lo thawn ang che u, min rawn dil mai dawn nia, mahse an size a lian angreng hlawm a nia aw", which roughly translates into, "Why make a change when a change is not required? Why fix something if it ain't broke?" A very wise Mizo saying indeed.

So that's my blog update for today. Will post about the awesome Games Bundles I have bought tomorrow, and you won't believe how much I have saved in terms of discount. So stay tuned folks, until then, cheers!