Coffeespoons

Haemin Sunim was in Manila last weekend for a couple of events: one in UP, care of the UP Korea Research Center, and the other at Fully Booked BGC, who was responsible for inviting Haemin Sunim to Manila in the first place.  I spent a decent amount of time with Haemin, given the job, and I can honestly say his presence is kind, calming, and also quite fun. It was also the first time for me to be at an author event that began with a mindfulness exercise, and let me tell you, I think I needed it.  Haemin was also really engaged with and gracious to the people who had their books signed by him. After, he talked about how moved he was by people who told him how his books helped them. Honestly looking forward to when Haemin decides to come back, which I think he wants to when he has a new book coming out. And hopefully then, he gets to visit other places aside from Metro Manila. 

Not much of an update these last few days. Unless we're talking about what's happening in the world. Which is extremely disturbing that I found myself giving into the doomscroll again, albeit on different apps.  But there are still other interestingnesses--still in the realm of books and publishing--that can distract from <gestures to everything> this. Among my faves in the last few days are: This news item about a company based in Cebu called Innocentrix (aka PageTurner Press and Media) who apparently ran publishing scams victimizing several people in the US --and perhaps elsewhere--by promising them fame and fortune through publishing in exchange for a lot of money. Their CEO and VP were arrested by the FBI last December. Is it weird to include this as a "favorite"? Perhaps. I'm not making light of what happened to the victims or the seriousness of the money laundering and fraud. But I suppose among the things I find interesting are that the news was repo...

Today, I joined SBC-Manila’s  silent reading session at Podium’s The Book Nook . First time for me to attend, though I’d long been lurking on the Discord server and, like a shy teenager, have always wanted to join one of the silent reading events.  I tried signing up to one of them before, but apparently, slots go quickly, and I never made it to before sign-ups closed.  Was lucky enough to get a slot for this one, though! This particular session was hosted by kutingtin , who I don’t think I’ve ever met personally, but know through IG and Discord. (We’ve met now.)  Have to say, Tin was a consummate host, well-prepared with constant and complete updates before the event, and a clear program during.  There was an intro, then we dove right in to the 1hr silent reading portion. And yes, everyone silently read for one hour. I think there were 30 or so people who participated!  After 1 hr of silent reading, we broke up into groups for half an hour of talking about...