Herv Alvarez

#FeelsFest Recap: Here, have my feelings

So it’s been a week and a day since #FeelsFest happened, and I think I’m coherent enough to do a recap.

Soon after we finished our super exhausting and successful time at the Manila International Book Fair, it was time to get started preparing for #FeelsFest. No rest for the feelings, as we said. We’ve known about #FeelsFest even before #FeelsRushIn happened, and we figured we can make this bigger, so it was bigger. Unfortunately, work came rushing in as well in the weeks leading to this (busy with a side of crazy, involving a multi-country project launch, haha), but because all things in #romanceclass are pretty much made with (so much) love, more volunteers stepped in to make the event a success.

This is my fourth feels event (fifth, if you count ReaderCon last year, sixth if you count the first time we all gathered for the live readings), and let me tell you two things I learned that day.

1. Make sure you attend the event with a full stomach.

Eat, have a snack, or all things. During #AprilFeelsDay, #FeelsRushIn, and #AllTheFeels, I remember having a meal right before the event started. A good, full meal, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat until it ends. This time, though, I had to do some family things before I could go to the venue, so when I arrived at Glorietta, I was starving. You know the kind of hunger that you just know you need to eat something, anything, and you went to the wrong direction of the mall and all you saw was an ice cream shop (when there’s actually a Starbucks and Family Mart on the other side of the mall) so you just decided to get a cone? Yes, that. I ended up running entirely on sugar the rest of the afternoon, which wasn’t really bad, except I felt like I was partly incoherent. Haha.

(Or you know, it could be just the feelings that happened right after.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL6D8L7jyl3/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL3EgDAAe63/

 

So yes, carbs are your friends, you need carbs before a feels event. 😀 And you would need carbs for the live reading, seriously.

Read More »#FeelsFest Recap: Here, have my feelings

Where I attempt to encapsulate my feelings in the past weeks

It’s raining here in Manila now, and I am working from home because I tried heading to work but faced atrocious rainy-day traffic. Thank goodness for remote access, yes?

So many things happened in the past few weeks! Let’s recap:

1. #FeelsRushIn

I had a blog post for this but I’ll just put it here. #romanceclass was scheduled to have our next feels day on October after we were invited by Ayala Malls, so we were planning for that until Mina told us that we were invited to have one on July 23. We found out about it on July 13. Ten days to prepare? Easy, right?

feelsrushin1

Well, we pulled it off. Actually, they pulled it off more because I was deep in school work back then, so all I could do was do my share of posting about it online. Right after my last defense for school (yas!), I went to Trinoma and here we go, feelings! Video recap below by Chi Yu Rodriguez.

There was live reading, too, of course! No Gio or Rachel or Jef, but we had a new reader, Migs, who was also one of the models for @romanceclasscovers. Herv and Salve performed When Cocoy Became Kikay by C.P. Santi (there was a part when we were all giggling with kilig when Herv read a part, and we totally ship #Alvarosa, hihi),  and Only a Kiss by Ines Bautista-Yao. Migs and Salve performed The ByeBye Bouquet by Chi Yu Rodriguez (“You look amazing.” *squee*), What About Today by Dawn Lanuza, and No Strings Attached by Mina V. Esguerra.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BINYO9gB992/

It was a fun afternoon! And it proved that we can mobilize these things even with limited time. High five! If you missed this, don’t worry — we have another one in October. Block this date on your calendar: October 22, Glorietta 5. You don’t want to miss this! 🙂

Read More »Where I attempt to encapsulate my feelings in the past weeks

It’s April and we feel Things

Who would have thought that it would become this three years ago?

When Ron asked that question sometime in the middle of that hot Sunday afternoon while we were in Pegi Waffles, I smiled. I’ve asked the same thing about other things several times (like Filipino ReaderCon, or the book club), but hearing it again for another thing just never gets old. It’s amazing what people with like-minded interests can do.

Especially like-minded romance writers and readers with lots of feelings.

So, last Sunday, April 17, was the first ever #AprilFEELSday! It’s a celebration of romance books and authors and readers, with various activities like book selling, tarot card reading, writing and publishing Q&A, poetry reading, and the much-awaited live reading sessions from the next seasons of the #romanceclass podcast.

aprilfeelsday2
It was a hot, hot day made even hotter by the number of people that sat inside Pegi Waffles. I just realized that I hardly sat down that day – save for the time that I ate lunch, and then when all was over and we were all hanging out and waiting for everyone to leave and settle the payment. But it was fine, because the place was so packed that I didn’t have any place to sit, anyway.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BESie71HnRK/

 

Read More »It’s April and we feel Things