Event Recap: Bookworms Unite 2.0! (2016)

Last Saturday, we held Bookworms Unite for the second time, at Tweedle Cafe in Tomas Morato, Quezon City. Fair warning: This post may be LONG. In a nutshell, Bookworms Unite 2016 was sooooooo fun, and I really do hope that there'd be a next time! 

I underwent a hiatus with the hilarious reason of having no interest in books during that momentary period of time. I don't know why, but it happened. Now I look back at that moment with a smug look on my face saying "HA! I won't be able to resist books!" 

Anyway, last year I'd only been an attendee of Bookworms Unite, and was only invited/encouraged (more like coaxed, LOL) to host this year by some of my blogger friends during the Summer. We technically just re-did what we've done last year. Although I have to say, during the Twitter chat, we were all constantly worried about the number of attendees, because the facebook event page displayed "316 interested", and if all of those people decided to come to a cafe meant for 60, well. . .

Time went on, and when the day came, I was pumped down to my heels. When I entered the doors of Tweedle cafe and saw my friends, as well as the tremendous amount of books, of course I'd felt giddy inside! (Note: that giddiness wasn't really apparent on the outside) The entire event continued like that, with a certain kind of giddiness tugging at my stomach, in a good way! I mean seriously. There were so many books. And we still had the book blind date!

Books for the blind date!

I was reunited with my friends, and I was introduced to new ones. I wasn't able to take that many pictures, though. But yeah! I was so glad to see familiar bookish faces again, after a LONG while. It's amazing how much of an impact this community has on me!

L to R: JM, ate Salve, ate Biena. (c) ate Salve

We also met Ms. Honey de Peralta, a representative from Penguin Random House and our country's very own ReaderCon. It was so nice meeting her, filled with energy that was infectious! And by the way, she's one of the people who motivated me to start listening to Hamilton! YAY.

So many things transpired that day. We had so much fun playing games, socializing, EATING, and generally being absorbed more into the world of books. It was kind of a home to me, a rest from the stress of school and everything that followed.

People trying out the open-games

I also met two of my newer friends over the internet, ate Gellie (Gelleesh) and ate Czai (The Blacksheep Project)! They're so goals, since they're both bloggers (ate Gellie is a beauty blogger, and an amazing one at that!). I first met ate Gellie at another blog convention, one that was held in St. Paul's Manila last year.

Left: ate Gellie; Right: ate Czai

When the day was nearing its end, I started to reflect. I realized that no matter what I did, the bookish community will always be a safe place for me. I knew that there were people who'd support me, even if I undergo hiatuses because of school and whatnot. It was comforting to know that, it's always good to know people are there for you. And that's exactly what I felt with these people!

Attendees of Bookworms Unite! (c) ate Faye

To conclude this post, I just wanted to thank everyone who came to our marvelous not-so-little party in a cafe with a Platform 9 3/4 in it somewhere. I definitely had fun, and I'd definitely do it again. I also want to thank my awesome co-hosts for this year, JM (Book Freak Revelations), kuya Miel (Bookish and Awesome), ate Hazel (Stay Bookish), ate Dianne (Oops I Read A Book Again), ate Inah (The Bibliophile Confessions), ate Jasmine (Jasmine Pearl Reads, there in spirit!),and ate Faye (The Social Potato). You guys are too cool to be real (what)! And finally, thank you so much Fully Booked, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster Philippines, and Scholastic Philippines for gloriously sponsoring our event! Thank you very much, Tweedle Cafe, for hosting us!

Again, thanks so much for attending this event! For those who weren't able to, you can always count on next time! Comment below about your experiences in bookish events!

P.S. These were the only ones I got. No regrets!