Of books, jelly legs, and pesky little monsters

These days, only a few things manage to drag me out of the house: cigarette and tea (yes, tea) shortage; meetings with the bit-- err, publisher; UP isaw trips; and hmmm... I guess that's it. Well, today I did manage to drag my lazy carcass out of the house for the book fair. It deserves to be called so because it only happens once a year and if you'd known me long enough, you'd know that I only splurge on books (which explains why I only have two weeks' worth of panglakad clothes), and food, among a few other things.

MIBF (Manila International Book Fair) was a bit different this year. It was moved to SMX Convention Center at SM Mall of Asia from World Trade Center. Last year, when I got home from the said book fair, I had energy left to go home, walk the three blocks to Alfaro, cook, read the books, and watch TV. This year, I dragged my less than physically fit self to the farthest end of MoA - further (mis)adventures later - and when it was time to go home, I was ready to drop dead. Another difference is that this year, I had friends along and it was definitely more fun (and more tiring) on that account. Let's start at the beginning.

I woke up early and got ready early, but again, I was late. You know those buses that move at an average of 5 kph in hopes of getting more passengers? Unfortunately, I caught one of those. By the time we got to Coastal Mall, I was ready to use the nearest blunt object to bludgeon the driver in the head with.

Years later, I got to MoA and promptly asked where the books were at. By that time, I was a.) so excited for books, I can practically SMELL them, and b.) very hungry. Bad combination. I asked the guards where the venue was and if this (mis)adventure was an epic, they would have said as they pointed to one general direction, "Go straight over yonder!"

Translation: Go that a way!

Now, if you haven't been to the SM Mall of Asia, here's a primer: IT'S ONE GIANT ASS MALL. It's probably directly proportional to the projected size of the owner's cojones. Anyway, I digress.

And so I got lost. The last guard I asked gave me proper directions, "Take the escalator, trackback a few steps and you'll find the walkway beside the elevators." By the time I got to meet Rica, Luke, Anamer, Cris & beau, and Kurt, I had walked from one end to the other end of MoA 2 times (an approximate distance of two kilometers) and it was time to eat.

Since Hawaiian Barbeque's ribs motivated my feet to keep moving, we walked back to the other end of the mall, only to find that the said motivation was closed. While we talked about other food choices, we walked back from whence we came, thus another kilometer on my Odometer. We ended up eating at Tokyo Cafe (which wasn't bad at all except my legs were turning into jelly).

Lesson: Google map the blasted place.

The actual book fair was a sight to see, as is usual. Lots of booths, lots of books. Can you imagine it? To complete the mental image, add a legion of screaming and running kids, a dash of peeps who went cosplaying, and with snippets of the storytelling session blaring from the overhead speakers ("You broke my eggs.... Why did you blow too hard?" I was with the hentai baba, go figure). Oh and don't forget the rich bastards who took all the manga right before my very eyes.

I only went to my usual haunts: PowerBooks, National, A Different Bookstore, and Anvil. The damage: 2 manga (Saber Marionette J and Sokora Refugees), 2 back issues of Pugad Baboy (4 and 5), and Ladlad 2. I had to pry myself away from Jessica Zafra's Twisted Readings (a  collection of essays that is not in general circulation yet) and Terry Patchett's screenplay of The Hogfather (it was for the TV adaptation of the 20th DiscWorld book). I still had too many unread books at home.

Oh, and Adarna had an exhibit of their most loved characters! Remember Tiktaktok and Pikpakbum? They were there, along with Chenelyn (I don't remember her, must be new), Ampalaya, Maryang Alimango, Mariang Makiling, and Langgam at Tipaklong!

Anyway, I had fun. I walked in the rain like a kid who got out of the house for the first time (in a sense, I was a kid who got out of the house after two weeks of being cooped up). It was a pleasant change, I think.

(Note to those who were not able to come with us yesterday: MILB will be running for two more days.)