Bookworm mode was definitely on yesterday afternoon! Despite the ominously gray sky and the series of to-dos listed on my planner, I braved Metro Manila once again and rushed to the World Trade Center to catch the 26th Manila International Book Fair on its last day.

Two days ago, I was losing hope about going there, what with the piles of homework that had accumulated in the past few days. But, heck, why waste the opportunity, or should I say, privilege? You see, I had an entrance ticket and a whole page of freebie coupons, which I earned from my Reader’s Digest purchase early last month.

So there I was, riding a public utility FX bound for Buendia around 1:00 p.m. I’ve never been to WTC before, but I had checked it on my faithful map last night and thought I could manage going there without spending much. Upon reaching the Taft-Buendia crossing, I slithered my way to the Fair along Puyat Avenue and across Roxas Boulevard. It was a bit tiring, but I totally forgot about it when I finally got inside the Fair.

The leading bookstores were up front – National, Goodwill, and Power Books. Suddenly, I felt my hair stand in excitement. Unable to contain it any longer, I plunged into the bustling and bumping crowd with a wild grin on my face. “This is where I belong…” I kept muttering to myself.

I decided to claim my freebies first. I wanted to look around and visit all the booths before buying anything. First I went to the Reader’s Digest booth – and they gave me a back issue! Sadly, they were the only one who gave as much; the rest just gave me bookmarks, a pen, pads of brown recycled paper, and worthless glossy catalogs.

Anyway, the whole place was truly a happy chaos. Lots of people and lots of books – lots of wonderful things to photograph, too! Too bad my camera still hasn’t arrived yet. There were even some children dancing ballet in one of the so-called function areas; there sure were picture-perfect moments.

Most of the larger bookstores were selling their books with 20 percent discount. The publishing companies were also into gimmicks like “buy one take one”, raffle draws, and “free whatever-it-is for every whatever-price-it-is purchase”. On the outskirts of the Fair, meanwhile, people were eating at the sort-of food court. I bought a green mango-flavored shake there after two hours of book-ogling.

So what did I buy? A weird mix, actually: Selected Stories of O. Henry (Php140), the latest and a back issue of Badminton magazine (Php100), and two back issues of FHM (Php100). O. Henry because he’s such a genius at surprise endings; Badminton because it’s my favorite sport and the only one where I’m quite competent at; and FHM (though it’s still my first official purchase of the magazine) because it’s educational.

Satisfied (and heavily loaded), I went back to Buendia at 6:30, and then headed to Quiapo to hear Mass.

Now as I look at my bed, I feel like looking at a storm-stricken library. So many books and magazines, so little time…