bookstores and Africa

i think the title of this blog deserves some explaining. my attention span is comparable to a goldfish, so when i'm in a situation in which i become distracted, which pretty much is much of my life, sadly, i think about the WEIRDEST things. on one of these occasions, i became fixated on the word "gastronomy". i had no idea what it was, but i assumed it was the study of gases or something equally as interesting and far beyond my grasp of intelligence but NO! it's actually the study of food and stuff. in case you're REALLY interested, i've included the ever so reliable wikipedia definition. i was shocked and awed and then promptly forgot about it completely until JUST NOW.

but that really has nothing to do with the creation of the blog. well, not NOTHING, but very, very little. in fact, my reasoning behind this blog was my recent infatuation (in the most uncreepy way of being infatuated with something) with Hyperbole and a Half blog, which makes me giggle like a 5 year old at very inappropriate times, like, while in class learning about small starving African children, which is very sad. which explains the need for laughter. but just inappropriate.

i'm getting ahead of myself. to be clear, not a creepy stalker, just appreciate the humor.

ANYWAY, i like to think that this blog will become a spot for my observations of hilarity will come to live, but i'm sure it will turn into my attention disorder running wild, like lions in Africa (i'm stuck on the Africa bit tonight. sorry)

and so my observations begin.

i worked at borders bookstore up until last month (not fired, store close. very sad wah wah wah. moving on.) but what i discovered while working there was that the customers were some of the STRANGEST i'd ever met. there were the homeless, which i will talk about in great detail...later on but also the insane, rude nuttso strange customers we got. during the holiday season, our store placed one employee at the very front of the store to hand out fliers that mentioned the promotions we were running that day/week/month/eon. some people took them without question, some didn't but some looked at it like it was carrying typhoid. not a normal reaction AT ALL.

to demonstrate more clearly to you just one interaction, i've drawn a series of pictures. extremely real looking. don't get blown away.





needless to say, my job was strange and horrible at times. more to come on the borders customers.

i guess i should stop. i feel a tangent coming on and those should probably be posted when i'm positive no one is reading ;)

ADIOS, dear sweet internet!

UPDATE: the little girl in the top picture is not me. honestly, it could be, but i was never that composed in pictures, so my childhood pictures wouldn't work. i am the crazy college girl in the yellow sweater dancing in the rain on the right hand side of the page. yup. that's a normal occurrence.

UPDATE pt 2: just wanted to clarify that i am not ripping off hyperbole and a half. true, there are many similarities, if only because i wasn't sure how to start my own blog and hers just cracked me up. i promise i will some be getting my own voice and all that. but til then, bear with me. it'll get better!!!!!!