Books and Characters: SMX Book Fair and Cosplay Con 2011

- September 18, 2011, Sunday.

- My friend Tiffany invited me yesterday to go to the SMX book fair, although I wasn't able to because I was too tired, and had a dinner appointment with some high school friends. Today, I thought of going to the book fair, since it was the last day of the book fair, although I didn't have anyone to go with. I was discouraged by one friend, but asked some second and third opinions from other friends. My other friends thought the book fair was fine, and my friend Tiffany told me that she'd be in SMX again for the cosplay convention. Great. Now, I had a reason to go!!

- I left the house around 1:30 and arrived at SMX around 2-ish. I went inside, after paying the ticket, and roamed around the venue. I was surprised to see that the venue wasn't as crowded as I expected, since today was a Sunday, and it was also the last day - everyone knows that Sundays or last-days of any event usually have the most number of attendees.

- I tried to avoid the mainstream bookstores, so I could explore the other stalls for possibly good finds. It was also nice to see that language institutes like Instituto Cervantes and Goethe Institute Philippines attended the event too. Of course, I was able to see some familiar faces in the Instituto booth. (Ahh, OJT memories.)

- I soon chanced upon the Ramakrishna booth, where I was able to buy a Ramayana for Children book, and another Hindu book. They were quite cheap. Haha. I later located the Asia Pacific Publisher's Association stall that sold books from Brunei, Thailand, China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam (among others.) I was surprised that the books there were a bit pricey, or at least more expensive than they looked. I was able to buy a cute Korean book, and a Thai book that I hopefully will be able to read if I learn Thai as soon as possible. Hahahaha. I wanted to buy more books from that stall, but my wallet was crying, and the books themselves were not as reasonably-priced.

- My friend Tiffany soon texted me of her whereabouts, and was ready to go to the cosplay con above the book fair. On my way out, I stopped by at some stalls selling music books (Book Wagon, and Lyric piano I think,) and saw my friend Razel and her family.

- Before leaving the venue, I chanced upon David Pomeranz, who apparently was present because he was promoting his book. I wasn't able to take a picture with him, because he was seconds away from going up stage to perform a few songs, and yes, promote his book. I was star strucked when I saw him, mainly because of his well-formed nose. Haha. Sad that I wasn't able to take a photo with him, I left the book fair to go find Tiffany.

- As I was going up the escalator, I noticed the sudden shift of crowd. While the people in the book fair were dressed up as casual people, I soon realized that I began to saw more people with wigs and life-size weapons that hopefully aren't real. I was suddenly in the land of anime and sentai, and had a hard time looking for Tiffay, who was also dressed up. I later found her together with her little sister Katkat, friends Peppy and Karlo, and other friends of theirs who I don't know.

- Soon, someone poked me from behind. I turned around, and stared at the person for 5 seconds, errr, more like stared at the "corporate-ish costume" for 5 seconds, not recognizing which character, and stared at the hair, which I thought was a "realistic wig." I later realized that she was my elementary classmate and good friend Sherly, who works in SMX. I quickly apologized and hugged her because I was a bit scatter-brained, and also thought she was one of the cosplayers. Ah, the confusion that happens in cosplay cons. Hahahaha.

- Tiffany and company decided not to enter since the 150php ticket was not worth it. After all, many cosplayers were also lingering around the wide area outside the function hall, waiting for people to take photos with them. I also had fun taking photos of some of them, when Tiffa told me that she'll be changing into her street clothes, so we could go back to see the book fair.

- Back at the book fair, Tiffa and Peppy were stuck in National Bookstore, while I was able to see and sort of catch up with high school classmate Gwen. She told me that our friend Jennifer Hsu was also in the venue, selling artsy books at the back. I soon went to the restroom, and saw Jennifer selling books, and also served as an interpreter/translator to the Taiwanese owner of the store. I coincidentally saw my friend Christine (aka "Chewy,") who was looking at the artsy books Jennifer was selling.

- I was also able to see my friends Ryan and Ricsson in the venue, just as I was going back to find Tiffany and Peppy. I caught Peppy, Tiffany, and Katkat in the long cashier line, and soon left to find other books for Katkat. We passed by the Instituto stall again, and was able to meet former "co-worker" Joanne. In the middle of talking to her about stuff, Tiffany suddenly called me to come quickly, because David Pomeranz was allowing people to take pictures with him, or have copies of his book autographed. I quickly said goodbye to Joanne, and ran to the other booth to hopefully have a chance to have a photo with him.

- I was able to take a photo with him, thank Lord, and Katkat and ate Jaijai (Tiffany's helper) were able to take photos with David Pomeranz too. Well honestly, I'm not really a "fan" of David Pomeranz, but I liked some of his songs, like "I Learned it All from You" and "In Our Hands," my grade school graduation song.

- All of us later met up with Tiffany's mom, and waited for their car to arrive; I was going to hitch a ride with them home, but Peppy had to go ahead. All of us sans Peppy proceeded to the second floor, because the dining area was more spacious. Since I already ate a late snack at the book fair, I offered to reserve our seats while all of them bought food. Just then, Sailor Chibimoon arrived, and I had to ask Tiffany to take a picture of me with the Sailormoon character. Not long after, the Power Rangers' Ninjazord also appeared, and I almost fainted. It was my favorite Power Ranger zord/robot, and it was also the one that appeared in the Might Morphin' Power Rangers movie. Aside from that, it was also the robot I had most "drama" with; I used to want a deluxe model of that robot when I was young, but it was released late here in the Philippines. I used to cry because it was hard to find, and I was fortunate enough to have one, finally. Haha. I also liked the season of the Power Rangers where this robot appeared. Ah, my youth (where did it go??).

- Later on, we met Sandino and his youngest sister, Diandra. They're the siblings of my friend Danica, the one responsible for our carpool group during my Ateneo days. Hahahaha. Oh college, you're now a thing of my past. HAHA.

- Tiffany's mom later informed us that their car was already waiting for us, so we quickly went downstairs, and rode the car. Tiffany and her mom chatted me more during the car ride, especially since the traffic was quite heavy that night. I'm not really a fan of traffic, but at least I got to talk to Tiffany more.

- Today was supposed to be rest-and-schoolwork day, but gladly, I followed my gut to go to the book fair. I was able to see many people who I haven't seen in a while, in a few months, and in a few years. I might not have have a picture with David Archuleta when he came here, but at least David Pomeranz was able to fill that sport - ALTHOUGH I still wish I could've had a picture with David Archuleta a few months ago, heehee. Of course, I was also glad to have taken pictures with figments of my imagination and childhood, and of course, I was also happy to have bought some hard-to-find books in the book fair. Yay!!