Damn it! Too early to break my no-spend month resolution. If there’s something I missed in Mtero Manila, it would be the bookstores like Booksale and Biblio.
I drove my kids to SM North in QC so they can meet up with their elemetary besties and hang out at the mall. I left them to their own devices so I had a lot of time to kill.
First, I bought Twin A a guitar stand similar to her sister’s. There’s a Yupangco store in SM North.
Then of course I had to try the Clavinova. And of course I am lusting after it. The size though is prohibitive—it can’t fit in my house.
After this, I still had a lot of time to kill. The best way to do that is to scour second-hand bookstores.
I spent at least one hour here and my haul was sizeable.
After Booksale, I walked around so that I can achieve at least 10k steps for the day. I wasn’t able to do my brisk walk yesterday so I must compensate today.
Then I got to Biblio. Serendipity or what?
I was there for 45 mins, I think. I bought all the John Green I could find for my girls. Unfortunately, the only copy of Fault in Our Stars got sold earlier.
Eager to read Me Before You, I searched for a Starbucks branch so I could sit and read. It looked promising, the novel I mean. I imagined the protagonist looking like Emilia Clarke since she portrayed Lou in the movie version.
Sad that I couldn’t stay long in the coffee shop because people were so noisy. I normally could drown out people around me when I work, especially on time-sensitive stories, but I couldn’t do that now on leisure activities. I had to get out of Starbucks.
It was surprising that SM North is very crowded even though the Christmas season is already over. It was annoying.
So how can I kill more time? Go to the salon.
After reaching 12k steps, I just stationed myself in one of the benches in SM Annex and chatted through Messenger with my bff, who is also struggling with retail therapy.
This day was a failure in terms of my personal finance goals. But I’m happy with my book haul. Sometimes you just have to compromise for your sanity.