bethgstories

Despite my yearly attendance at the MIBF , the Philippine Book Festival 2024 is the first PBF I ever attended. I didn’t really plan on coming since I am on a no-buying-of-books season until I finished reading everything in my unread pile. Plus, that was my birthday week. I was true to my words for the most part this time. I mean, yes, I went, and yes, I bought a couple of books. And for a reason. Meeting Ron Canimo I first met Ron Canimo at the MIBF 2023. I had no idea who he was back then—but Kim is one of his avid followers. He was extremely nice to us, entertained all our questions, and even signed the little quote card freebie I had in my hand. I appreciate nice people, so I followed him on social media and found overwhelming emotions in his words. Damn, I was sold! So when I saw that he was gonna be at the PBF, I just knew that I should go. I bought his books and got them signed, we hugged, and I was just standing there while answering his questions with a single or maybe a couple...

Storytime to when I submitted my first published book to the publisher. I actually submitted Destiny Cheated Me to two publishers. I can no longer remember the first publisher I submitted it to. What I can remember was they had tons of comments about my manuscript. Even  the first working title was unacceptable. Thankfully, the 2014 version of me wasn’t a severe procrastinator, and despite my extremely weak finger muscles because of myasthenia gravis , I edited the manuscript. I tried to clean every nook and cranny of that story and addressed all the comments the first publisher had. But I never went back to them. I submitted the much cleaner version to Lifebooks. I didn’t know where I pulled the confidence to hit Send on that email, expressing the desire for my story to be published. I didn’t think it was crap. I didn’t think I sucked. All I thought about was how much fun I had while I was writing that story. Louise and her friends were the barkada classmates I’d want to be in. Th...

No, I am not a vegan. One of my close friends is, and this is literally the only time of the year that we’re guaranteed to meet. It was in 2018 when I first attended the VegFest Pilipinas and it was a blast. So I figured, why not attend every year and discover what are the tasty treats in store for me? This year’s fair was held at the Blue Bay Walk , and I got there after lunchtime. Cecille was already waiting for me and I was super hungry coming from the dentist appointment so we grabbed lunch first. I let her pick since this is her “territory” and we ended up at WildThyme , a kitchen offering plant-based meals for your meat-craving palate. I got their tinumok which , instead of shrimp, they used a flavorful version of crushed tofu wrapped in taro leaves. It was a combo meal so it came with a cup of rice, crispy octo eggplant, and some sort of lemonade with butterfly pea, hence the purple hue. Once we were full, we decided to check out each booth. Unlike the previous years, there was...

I’ve never been to Boracay. In fact, I am not gonna go to the beach of my own volition. There has to be someone else who would plan the entire trip. Luckily, I have friends who are 1) extremely capable, 2) eligible, and 3) all too willing to plan a trip, book flights, secure hotels, and think of the things we can do for 3 days. I thank God and the entire universe for Kim ‘s friendship. DAY 1 🏠 Kim’s Cribb 🛫 Airport Breakfast 🏨 La Carmela 🍽 Spice Bird 🌅 Sunset By The Beach 🍷 Epic Boracay It was roughly a month before the trip when Kim sent me and Lalaine the flight details, booking done on a whim and all because of one cruel joke. Anyway, we had to pay her roughly Php5000 for flight and accommodation expenses. It’s November, the cold breeze of the amihan is here and not many people are keen to chillax by the waters so that’s probably why the fare was cheap. Anyway, all three of us live in the same neighborhood (the foundation of this friendship is the Catholic church), and Kim’...

When Everytime hit the radio in 2003, the tea was, it was Britney’s song to Justin. They had just broken up and this news was all over the world. Somehow, I interpreted the lyrics as Britney saying sorry to Justin because she cheated on him. Soon after, Cry Me A River was released, an alleged response to Britney’s melody of broken heart. At the time, it all fit – the lyrics, the news, the info we all had. Britney cheated on Justin. Britney’s pregnant but she got rid of the baby because her career would be ruined. Now, exactly 20 years later, we learned the other side of the story. I saw …Baby One More Time went to MTV for the first time. I liked Britney Spears . She was cute and an extremely talented dancer. Until she was linked to Nick Carter (oh yes, we’re petty like that as teenagers). As someone who saw the rise of Britney’s career, her book became my time capsule that brought me back to when I was a schoolgirl and all I had to do was finish my homework and gossip about these We...