Chp 693. Game Bundle of Joy

Christmas and New Year season, where different stores are running various discounts and offers everywhere. That shopping frenzied moment every woman is looking forward to.

All my female friends and cousins are talking about the amount of bargain they managed to get at Sephora, H&M, Maybelline, Everlane etc and even compared all the different products they had bought and shrieked in unison. *sigh* women :P

And I'm always met by the usual, "Oh you men don't know how to bargain or get a good offer. You don't understand the value of discounts or End-Of-Season sales."

Well, for once, I would like to prove all my female friends and relatives wrong! (OMG Kima, what the hell are you doing!? You want to… die?)

So in my previous post "Comic Bundle of Joy" I talked about how I got a good deal on Archie comics through HumbleBundle. Well, in this post I would like to tell you about the deals I got during this year 2017 on games at HumbleBundle.

Be prepared to be amazed :P

Below are the seven game bundles I have purchased this year, each costing $1. I have also mentioned their actual costs if the games are purchased individually. Enjoy…

12th April 2017

Humble Interactive Bundle - $1

Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition - ₹ 369

Space Hulk Ascension - ₹ 729

Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity - ₹ 529

Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition - ₹ 565

TOTAL COST OF GAMES: ₹ 2192

31st May 2017

Humble GameOn Bundle - $1

Worms Clan Wars - ₹ 619

80 Days - ₹ 369

Her Story - ₹ 299

TOTAL COST OF GAMES: ₹ 1287

25th July 2017

Humble Capcom Rising Bundle - $1

STRIDER™ - ₹ 899

Umbrella Corps™ - ₹ 999

DmC: Devil May Cry - ₹ 1799

TOTAL COST OF GAMES: ₹ 3697

25th July 2017

Humble Telltale Bundle - $1

Sam & Max: Season 1 - ₹ 565

Sam & Max: Season 2 - ₹ 565

Puzzle Agent - ₹ 259

Puzzle Agent 2 - ₹ 369

Bone - Episode 1 & Episode 2 - ₹ 369

Hector: Badge of Carnage - ₹ 565

Telltale Texas Hold'em - ₹ 169

TOTAL COST OF GAMES: ₹ 2861

26th September 2017

Humble Capcom X SEGA X ATLUS Bundle - $1

Rollers of the Realm - ₹ 349

Zeno Clash 2 - ₹ 459

Sonic Adventure 2 - ₹ 369

Bionic Commando - ₹ 599

Citizens of Earth - ₹ 459

TOTAL COST OF GAMES: ₹ 2235

24th October 2017

Humble Endless RPG Lands Bundle - $1

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition - ₹ 1499

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut - ₹ 929

Wurm Unlimited - ₹ 1859

TOTAL COST OF GAMES: ₹ 4287

10th November 2017

Humble Jumbo Bundle 10 - $1

Grey Goo Definitive Edition - ₹ 729

Epistory - Typing Chronicles - ₹ 799

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty - ₹ 565

TOTAL COST OF GAMES: ₹ 2093

Now let us calculate the overall discount shall we? :P

GRAND TOTAL COST OF GAMES I BOUGHT FROM HB THIS YEAR: ₹ 18,652/-

ACTUALLY SPENT: 7 times $1 = ₹ 448

That's a whopping 97% DISCOUNT and savings of ₹ 18,204/- yooooo!

And I'm not even calculating the free games I received for being a loyal customer. If I take those into consideration as well, let's see, the games I have received for free this year are:

Tropico 4 - ₹ 479

DiRT 3 Complete Edition - ₹ 2358

Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition - ₹ 565

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - ₹ 565

That brings up the total cost of games I got from HumbleBundle this year at ₹ 22,619/- giving me a 98% discount with savings of ₹ 22,171/-

See, can any of your discounts at ZARA or Hush Puppies or any other place else beat that? It's not that we men cannot bargain, we just decide to go for discounts on stuff that really matters to us. Like games :P

So unless you managed to buy something you really love at a 98% discount, the next time, think twice before approaching the Master of discounted buyer :D :P :P

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone. Cheers!

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!

Chp 690. Pool Party in Pune

So let's add a little bit of glamour to my December blog update :)

The other day, I took my three nieces Tuli, Remruati and Sangsangi to an afternoon roof-top Pool party at The O-Hotel, Koregaon Park.

(sorry boys, they are all taken, no vacancies)

It was a special event organized by renowned DJ Abhishek Mantri and my good friend DJ Rajbeer, in collaboration with the amazing Kirri Pirri who also hosts STARIANS NITE (Shooting Star Event). Since it was a trial run, it was not a public event and entry was based on invitations only. It was truly an honour to be included in the guest list (I'll be blogging about Starians nite events later).

The roof top of The O-Hotel, known as "Addah" lounge, was beautiful.

Wide breathtaking open ambience and yet cozy with a sense of solace. The weather that day was also perfect, with a slight drizzle now and then giving rise to a wonderful aroma of petrichor and cool gusty breeze gently blowing across our hair.

The view from the top -

Met the co-organizer Kirri Pirri. A truly awesome dude indeed. I have attended most of his parties the last couple of months.

We sat down to have some snacks and drinks. There was also a brunch buffet at the corner, but we didn't opt for it as we had already eaten. The buffet was around 2000 per head and the variety of food available looked impressive, though I didn't observe it closely since we weren't planning to go for it anyway.

By the way you can click on all images to enlarge to a new tab/window. If you're browsing from your Facebook mobile app, it will open the link with the default In-App FB browser. Click on the three dots on the top right corner and select "Open in Chrome" (or any other browser you have). You can also change your FB settings to always open links using a different browser.

We took a few more candid photos around our table.

DJ Rajbeer was rocking the scene with his music. The musical theme of the pool party was Deep House, Tech House and Funky House. Or as we used to call it back in the good 'ol days, "untz untz untz untz" :D

We ordered a plate of Tandoori Fish, which disappeared in a matter of minutes as it was so good :) The fries were also scrumptious.

Kirri Pirri had earlier created a Facebook group consisting of all the invited guests. Suddenly somebody posted a photo in that group of us eating, lolz :D

I looked around and immediately saw Karma and Mike at the other table. I took a pic of their table and sent it to the group as well.

They laughed as they received the images and we waved at each other. We had seen each other many times at various Shooting Star events though we had actually never spoken to each other. That was the day we spoke to each other for the first time and became good party buddies since then. :)

We headed out to the poolside once we were done with food as my nieces wanted to take a few pics here and there…

My nieces also taught me how to take proper photos, like holding the phone from a lower position with a slightly slanted angle so as to give a better picture. See, I keep learning new things every day!

Mike was slyly taking a photo of me taking a photo of the girls from the other end of the pool :D

And oh, we all experienced a very strange phenomenon that day… all our hairs were flying up in the air! Maybe because of the rain, some kind of low atmospheric condition was created or high electrical static field generated, because this was how all our hairs were that day (and it was not because of the breeze) -

Strange indeed. Well I guess we can literally call this event a hair-raising event, lolz.

After some time, Aman appeared on the scene and Kirri Pirri asked us to pose for official Shooting Star events photos. We happily obliged :D

"Aman's Photography" is the official media partner for all Shooting Star events, and trust me, his pics are really good. I'll publish some of his work when I cover "Starians Nite" in another blog post.

All of us posed for two photos each, one with the Starians banner and one without.

Soon it was the turn of us guys too… :)

The official pics came out so well! Nice job Aman.

We spent some more time clicking pics around the pool…

Some pics not from my Oneplus 3

Yeah you can see how much fun they had with their selfies… I miss being young sometimes, because of how easily we were pleased with life…

We headed to the dancefloor after that. DJ Rajbeer kept rocking the crowd, and soon he was replaced by DJ Abhishek Mantri. I didn't take any pic of us dancing though, because I was busy dancing, duh :P

We headed back to the pool one more time once we were all exhausted from dancing. The afternoon roof-top party was only till 5 PM so it was almost time for us to leave…

There was also a birthday cake cutting occasion, to which all of us sang along too, and afterwards they distributed the cake to all the guests :) Happy birthday once again, oh unknown friend, thanks for the delicious cake.

The girls were fascinated with the way the water was distorting their legs :P

Even Kirri Pirri joined in on the fascination! :D :D :D

Last group pics before leaving…

As we left Addah, we headed to the other side of the balcony which was empty. By the way, we asked a receptionist whether we're allowed to go to that section, and she replied to us in Mizo and said yes :D It feels so nice when you suddenly meet a fellow Mizo now and then. We exchanged pleasantries quickly and headed out to the balcony.

At the other section, once again my nieces utilized my Oneplus 3's amazing camera again and I became the cameraman for the umpteenth time that day.

And so with that ended a memorable afternoon at The O-Hotel.

I'll cover more of Starians Nite and Shooting Star events in a later post. As for now, if you have any enquiry regarding such events, feel free to contact Kirri Pirri at his Facebook page.

So until the next pool party, cheers mes amis.