Geek Fight!

Geek Fighting is Manila’s latest sport. What’s a book geek to do? :D

(First published in Manila Bulletin, Students and Campuses Section)

The trivia culture has invaded Manila!

Pub quizzes, the quaint British tradition of publicly matching wits and exchanging useless information over drinks and bar chow, have been a great addition to the social scene around the city. On any given week, you’re bound to find one or two trivia showdowns in bars around the metro, and for geeks such as myself, the glory of being the geekiest of them all proves to be difficult to resist.

I’d heard about Geek Fight for some time now, and I’d always intended to join, as I’ve never been known to back down from any geeky challenge. So when I chanced upon the Facebook page calling for an all-Pinoy Geek Fight Friday of last week, I was determined to give it a good try.

On Friday night, the ragtag team I assembled met up at the Quantum Café in Makati for what (save for two of the members) was our first foray into Geek Fight: me, my cousin Dianne, our book club friends Czar and Marie (a writer and a geodetic engineer), my office’s finance officer Ate Chi, my lawyer friend Ryan (also a political science teacher), my long-time friend Joseph (who works in advertising), and his pal Norman (a banker).

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I am the Ultimate Book Geek

As promised, here is the full account of the Book Geek experience, published Feb. 27, 2010, Manila Bulletin Students and Campuses section:

I am the Ultimate Book Geek
by Blooey Singson

I eat, live, and breathe books – ask those who know me and they can tell you as much.

I read over 200 books a year, maintain a blog devoted solely to books and reading, add half a dozen books to my collection every week, trade books with readers from all over the world, discuss books on both online forums and face-to-face book club meetings, and storm bookstore sales and warehouses with equally bookish friends.

So when I saw the announcement for the Book Geek contest on the Fully Booked website, I knew I just had to join. Little did I know that there were bigger things in store for me many months later.

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More Book Geekiness

Remember when I won Book Geek of the Month last year?  Well, today they gathered all the monthly finalists once again for one final showdown: The Fully Booked Ultimate Book Geek Challenge!

I had to miss this month’s book discussion (and The Shadow of the Wind is a favorite of mine, too!) but it turned out to be very well worth it — I ended up taking home the title of Ultimate Book Geek.

I won’t spill the details just yet — am writing an article about it for the Saturday issue of Manila Bulletin (Students and Campuses), so the story will have to wait until then :)

2010 is shaping up to be another awesome year of books!

Ultimate Book Geek -- receiving my certificate and the whopping grand prize from Fully Booked's events manager Ms. Aimee Diego