ON Sunday, I woke up and thought it was Monday.
On Monday, I woke up and thought it was Sunday.
Meaning, I wasn’t woke at all. Haha.
Must be the cool December weather which is making me stay in bed longer. Ho-hum.
Anyway, that Monday was Big Bad Wolf’s (BBW) last day at SM CDO Downtown Premier.
Let’s see if the Cagayanon bookworm visited BBW daily when it was here from December 6 to 16. That’s 11 days of browsing and shopping for books.
I panicked upon learning BBW was coming to CDO for the second time this year. I had not read the February books yet, and here it was again.
February was the first time ever for BBW to be in CDO. Before that, I was always so tempted to fly to Manila or Cebu whenever it was in these two cities. So, when it was finally here, I bought its books like publishers would stop publishing them the morning after.
But on Monday last week, there were fewer BBW shoppers compared to its February visit. I guess that’s a hint to lessen its presence here to once a year, or even every two years, to give the Cagayanon bookworm enough time to read the books he bought.
I used to drop by the Booksale branch at SM City CDO Uptown almost daily after gym. After realizing I’ve already read the books that I truly need, I drop by there only when I have to use the restroom nearby. I never thought that I’d be able to ignore a bookstore despite knowing it’s there.
Years ago when I was in Palawan, the first thing I asked upon entering a mall at Puerto Princesa was if it had a bookstore. And it did—Booksale, where I found some books and magazines. Same for a Tagbilaran mall which also had a Booksale branch.
A bookstore has always been my happy place. But I’m not buying as many books anymore. This is perhaps the result of being a bookworm since my grade school days.
Need versus want. It’s time for that to sink in.
But have I tried all the cheesecakes that I need? Hmmm.
I can now pass by a food stall that sells high-carb goodies without stopping there to check out its bestsellers. That’s my hard habit to break at restos, coffee shops, and food stalls: before ordering or buying anything, I’d ask, What’s your bestseller? Because if their bestseller is not yummy, could the non-bestseller be better? Not. Therefore, there will be no “I shall return.”
BBW’s favorite expression is obviously “I shall return.” It always returns to the cities it has previously visited, and it’s great to see at least one Cagayanon bookworm whose mantra is also “I shall return” as he keeps going back for more books. Precious cycle, eh?
The books I’m currently reading are those that I bought at BBW in February. If BBW didn’t come back to CDO this month, these books would have remained unread and gathering dust inside the box that was still sealed with packaging tape until I finally opened it last week.
