treasure trove

June 6, 2010

Today, I had a chance to finally meet my best friend in college, Dianne, who just arrived from the US after pursuing her journalism degree in Ohio Wesleyan University as a scholar.

I tagged along our other friend, Gualbs, the silent one who also left the university right after our first year because she wants to pursue another course. 

Our day went pretty well. We went to Cubao Expo to do some book hunting. I took them to my new favorite place, the antique shops there where you can find various books, both old and new, and some other ancient things like cameras, toys, vinyl cd’s, mannequins and furnitures.

 

While brushing my fingers in every level of bookcase I see, I spotted an unexpected book: 1984 by George Orwell.

This book is listed on my wishlist. I am very ecstatic to find such treasure in that place but to my dismay, the book pages seems to be in good condition, the yellow pages are expected, there are some mouse bites on the cover of the book which shied me away from purchasing it. It’s cheap, costing only 90php but it might feel gross to own a book like that. I mean, I love that the book is ancient but I think I can purchase something better than that even at a more costy price but there’s an assurance that it will eventually last longer.

However, putting the torn parts of the cover away from the picture, I appreciated that a book published almost five decades ago (I googled the editions of this book, it appears that this is a 1961 edition) is a fun experience. It feels like touching a thing from the past.

Meanwhile, even if there are good books available in the thrift store, we left the store empty handed since we find most of the good books a bit pricey. Other than that, I have a more valid excuse: I already belong to the unemployed citizens of the Republic of the Philippines ergo, I have no money. I’m being practical here.

So, instead of thinking about money matters, we just enjoyed each other by walking around in Cubao expo and checking out each store that sparks our interest. There’s this interior designing store named Heima, which I am a very big fan of even if I only get to see their store for once only, I admire the quirky yet fashionable interior of the shop and the furnitures inside it.

Unluckily, we arrived at a very untimely time because the shop is closed. Well, most of the shops in Cubao expo are actually closed. I think real life starts there at night and we arrived late lunch. But to make our effort worth it, and to maximize the eye candy look of the shop, we just took some photos with the shop as the background.

 

Dianne and Gualbs

From heima, we went to the clothes thrift shop located also just around the area. The clothes are on sale, you can get them for as low as 20php. It’s amazingly cheap but I only got one take home prize: a blazer jacket worth 50php which I will be using for possible job interviews and hopely, a real job soon.

After shopping for some clothes, we continued looking around in Cubao Expo and we found this:

<

Bellini’s!

It’s an Italian restaurant famous for being one of the settings in the movie One More Chance starring Bea Alonzo and (Dianne and I’s favorite) John Lloyd Cruz.

Oh hai. It has been another wonderful experience to roam around the streets of Cubao with good friends. Another treasure added to our trove. I can say that, if a good book is hard to find, so are good friends too. And not just good friends, but true friends in that sense.

*All photos are taken by Dianne, unless of course if I am included in the picture.