tweet tweet!

11:50 OMG. Totally messed up just now. D: D: D: >___< ;___; #

11:57 Things to do when I get back, besides my essay: 1) Practice how to roll posters!!! I was terrible just now. 2) Memorize prices. 3) Wrapping! #

13:29 @futurachel OKAY! #

14:30 I really think Chinese who dye their hair dark green look like they have moss on their hair... #

15:39 @gssq That's the sane, logical thing to do right! #

15:43 i have secretly changed the store music to kings of convenience, because that was the soundtrack/band i heard when i first walked into BA. #

15:46 @gssq LOL but this girl had like, moss-hair on the top of her head, and black hair at the bottom. So it really looked like a rock. #

15:59 Beef noodles for lunch. Nom nom nom. #

16:03 AH JAPANESE CUSTOMERS #

16:09 @scyll24 What time is it there! Is it 6pm yet? Depths of winter right hahaha! #

16:13 wonder what happened... #

16:16 i better finish my box of rock melon before i go home today! #

16:39 @scyll24 I want to go to Mellllbouuurrrnneee! My cousin is holidaying there now! #

16:56 The lady who wanted the Zhou Enlai book disappeared. #

16:57 @doublex2 Hear hear! I agree! #

18:05 @milkred I love your new display pic! #

18:18 I just collected a dead drop. #spymaster bit.ly/playspy #

18:49 after dinner crowd! #

19:50 @milkred i am so tempted to do so right now! #

20:15 Does anyone know of any way to get Arashi-con tickets?? :O #

20:24 @milkred yeah tell me about it! i can join the fanclub when i reach japan but it'll be tooo laaaate #

20:26 @milkred i think my friend's in contact with mai (she is like more fan than me sob haaha) but it's hard even for mai :( #

23:48 Looking for Arashi Fanclub members or Johnny's Family Club members! :) #

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one day i will own a bookstore!

So I sit here, with Stars playing in the background, a cup of tau huay ju beside me. It's been two days already, and I'm just starting my third day at Polymath & Crust. It's been a wonderful ride so far, on a vehicle (lumbering, with loud music and soft cool upholstery) that I never want to get off. I'm a little sad that I'll be leaving all of this behind when I head off to Tokyo. The likelihood of getting hired by a nice, friendly bookstore is rather low. Still, I'll persist? Cow Books seems like a lovely place to try first. Otherwise I'll just roam around the bookstores and cafes.

Everyone is really nice -- I feel bad when I screw up (I've made a customer annoyed with my ineptitude in rolling posters - but I've perfected it already!; panicked over non-existent missing cash; fumbled with transactions, because money makes me jittery and other people's money makes me even more panicky) and they're nice about it. That makes me feel even worse. I mean noooo, please tell me off! No, I'm not masochistic much.

But still, I've learnt a lot and will learn a lot more as the days go by. I'm psyched about working here because I really do want to own a bookstore of my own in the future - something similar, but also distinct from Polymath and BooksActually - and this is like a postmodern apprenticeship of sorts.

I like meeting the people who walk in, the very different people who walk in (and of course, the people who stop outside, peer through the glass - sometimes smiling - but don't come in); just a while ago, two young girls came shuffling into the store, armed with huge cameras (where do kids get the money these days?!) and started snapping everything around. It was cute. It was nostalgic. I used to do that with the careless abandon that they have. I felt incredibly old when I looked at them and talked to them.

But yes, we are having an exhibition starting this Saturday (all the way until 17 July methinks) called "Wunderkammer; The Cabinet of Curiosities". It's done by Kenny and Karen of BooksActually / Polymath & Crust fame and it's positively... positively, I don't really know how to describe it. Pungent? Odd? Whimsical? Deep? Well, come and see for yourself. We're at No. 86 Club Street.

I need to get back to work - essay (oooovvveerrrdduuuueeeee) and real work. No more swiss missing around!