Whales, Cape and Grape, Oh My!

It looks like another half year has past already since my last post. Haha, I was just reading my friend Paula's blog, and she is definitely much better at keeping her blog updated. I'm so jealous that she and Carlos are zooming around the world on their two-wheelers right now, taking such great pictures of everything big and small:P

Let me rewind to my trip back to Boston. Of course I was pretending not to be sad that morning of my departure, but something cheered me up...

I GOT BOOTED UP TO BUSINESS CLASS.

Woohoo.

I feel like I've climbed up to the the princess status from a peasant. My legs could actually stretch out straight in front of me. And of course I enjoyed every second of being able to see my toes. The seat was awesome too, of course. It was like leaning back into a la-z-boy. The only flaw was I didn't get my first choice of the menu--a menu--but I can deal with it.

I went to attend our Simmons Children's Literature conference, of which the theme was "Crimes and Misdemeanors"--MY idea, thank you very much (no, really). Crime was my suggestion for the next theme that I put in on the survey for the conference before. And the professors mentioned several times that the theme this year was submitted by a surveyer, so who else could it be but awesome me? I never realized how much power I could have over poeple, after they put my idea into action, of course.

After that weekend, it's job searching of course. But who says I couldn't still enjoy life? So I went on a whale watch where I saw a mother whale and her calf (and where I puked a bit), and went to Cape Cod (this time I wore seabands, which miraculously worked on me) and visited a couple of beaches and Provincetown. And after my German roommate came back, we went camping for three days on Grape Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands. Aside from me loaded down with like 15 kilos of camping stuff I borrowed, almost getting lost and near tears as I tried to bicycle back to my place, and loaded down with the same stuff to return afterwards, it was plenty fun and relaxing. We got to do yoga in the morning with a ranger (I shall never do yoga in a crowded, musty room again, maybe), did rock painting, had a small campfire and smores, saw a lobster trap, and the best part, kayaked in the sea. Now I'm in love with kayaking. If I had nothing to do I would kayak 24/7, excluding nights.

Then it was back to reality and I did get a job, thanks so very much to a fellow classmate. So now I'm happily sorting/shelving books, doing cash reg, helping customers find books, etc. at The Harvard Bookstore. We are not affiliated with the university in any way...we're independent. And book people certainly are different from techy people. Pay is not so good, but I love running around the store so much more than dragging equipment around. And everyone is so friend;y and helpful. I really could stay in the store all day.
AND.... we just got a BOOK MACHINE! It can print and bind books (paperbacks) in less than 4 minutes! Gives authors another option who want to self-publish. It's so cool. I haven't really seen it in work it, but I've rung off a book from the machine, and it really is "hot off the press". The book physically feels warm when you touch it.

What made my day today was I got to talk to some Chinese people from Beijing University--possibly professors. They wanted to talk to someone who could speak Chinese, and I was the only one. So it was a nice change, even though I could hear myself chatting with a poor Beijing accent. Weird how that heppens. And one said I was pretty and looked like Lin ChiLing (hahaha), and another actually took a photo of me. A little later, I was on reg, and I turned my head once and was taken aback at this huge camera staring at me. Guess that guy was from some kind of media here for the book machine, and probably was the only bookseller behind the counters. Great timing they have. I happened to have a slight cold these days and definitely will not look good in those pictures. I also set up my first children's section display! I couldn't think of any other good themes for the season-we already have banned books, books made into movies, back to school books, etc. So guess what? I pulled in the theme of "crimes and misdemeanors":PP Hope it looks all right. I will have to remind myself to take pictures of it and the new theme sections.

Till next time.