The Big Bad Wolf, the world's biggest book fair has arrived at the City of Love and just like any other Ilonggo bibliophile, I did waste any second as book fairs are akin to premium ukay-ukay at rock bottom prices. You know, early bird catches the best deal or that hidden gem of a book. As fellow shoppers swarm around endless piles of books (2 million of them!), you just wish nobody will pick up that obscure book that you have always wanted and of course you'd wish it would be dirt cheap. Hah!

I didn't have any book title in mind as I wanted the Big Bad Wolf to do a blitzkrieg, surprise me with books that I cannot resist! In Filipino lingo, it's a budol thing. With glazed eyes, you will gladly hand over your wallet with a big smile and not worry if you will subsist on instant noodles for the next 15 days. After all, the Big Bad Wolf visits once in a blue moon. Yeah, right!

Silly me, I spent more than an hour at the Gen Z and millennial book aisles (the young adult/fiction) not knowing that there are other BBW corridors to explore for Gen X like me. My goodness, those Gen Z kids who saved their allowance for this book shindig not knowing if they indeed got their end of the bargain. Save for a few rich kids with the parentals in tow, there were a few kids with trolleys (or shopping baskets for that matter). Damn, where are the Php 20 peso novels??!! Buy a mid-range priced book and checkout as fast as you can, kiddos! Make sure you have enough allowance left for that every other day milk tea.

Hunger pangs eventually gnawed on my book hungry brain and I decided to refuel at a nearby restaurant. The restaurant was situated next to the Graphic Design/Photography/Home and Garden BBW section which was absolutely my thang! So many art and architecture books that I wanted to bring home! Afraid that I might blow a month's salary on those books, I hastily bought (but thoughtfully considered) a few interior design and cat related books (mostly cute and useless but nevertheless will look nice on my shelf) and quickly ran to the nearest exit door. Will probably visit again (the history and biography section) when the book fair comes to a close (praying there will be more books in the A-E price range). To tell you the truth, I have not seen any Php 20-40 peso books. The VIPs/select buyers (the criteria of how they were selected will always be dubious to me) who were given the chance to shop before the grand opening probably carted the ultra-barato books before regular customers had the chance. I definitely got red riding hoodwinked on this part!

That being said, let the budol games begin!