This weekend is still manageable by my standards.
Apart from some work i.e requests from customers, I'm not grossly stuck inside work too much.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm on holiday and will only get back to work on Tuesday 26th.
And make no mistake, I'm not having illusions for when I get back to work tomorrow. I know that a mountain of work is waiting for me, and that it will last until the new year. I'm just putting it off for at least one more day before I get all stressed out.
So today (Monday 26th i.e Christmas day), I woke up at noon, and then went to buy lunch at my favourite place that has a very beautiful cashier that I've been eyeing on since 2021. I also went there on Saturday, when I got to talk with the chef, who I believe is also the owner of this family enterprise and the father of the cashier and the waitstaff. We spoke about that day's menu and where we lived. Today when I went there, the guy at the drinks counter already knew my order before I even said it. It's quite embarrassing that people can remember my usual order, but it's more embarrassing that it could be a sign directed at me for hanging around too often while not so subtly having an eye on the sister.
In the evening, I went to Bookxces, out of boredom and the need to relieve the stress at thinking about what this week holds for me. Plus, I need a fiction book to accompany the book that I'm currently reading (The Republic - Plato). Parallel reading is really a life-changing way to read a book. Since discovering the method, I've been reading continuously and finishing books significantly faster. Best if the books are a pairing of a non-fiction-fiction, preferably any one in English and another in BM. The parking at Tamarind Square was fairly easy. Go straight up to level 3 where Village Grocer is and from there it's just a few metres walk and an escalator ride to get to Bookxcess which is just right above Village Grocer.
Last I had been at Bookxcess was in 2020 I think, when I bought the book Joy on Demand - Chade-Meng Tan. I never finished the book. It's such a boring read despite the easy style of writing.
I've never really liked Bookxcess and today I still feel the same. Granted, the books are really cheap and original (beware of shopee books) but they have such a limited selection. I could hardly find anything of interest here. The fiction books are mostly young adult, and the non-fiction are mostly history of weird things and dinky self-help books. It's quite frustrating because it's not like they don't have a lot of books, there are a lot of them on the shelves corner to corner and floor to ceiling, but barely anything is interesting. Plus, the bookstore is beautifully designed.
By the way, it's really a shame that books are not more affordable for the masses. I consider myself an M40 (Selangor standards), but even to me, buying a book is an economic decision. And not just the rare books. Even the paperbacks are quite expensive these days. I placed an order on 2nd Dec for paperback Orientalism - Edward W. Said at Kino online, and the price was RM69.50, added RM8.00 for shipping. I had to order from Kino because other local suppliers had no stock, and Kino's also out of stock but they could order from supplier with lead time 10-15 days. It was actually my first purchase from Kino online. Happily, they managed to source it from supplier and has been delivered to me on 20th Dec. Totally fair and I can't wait to start reading, of course after I finish the Myth of The Lazy Native - S. Hussein Alatas. Yesterday, I was browsing Kino again to buy the Art of Rhetoric - Aristotle. At RM18.54, it's cheap and in stock, so I right away clicked and paid RM26.54. I want to read Aristotle because I'm currently reading The Republic. And then I noticed that Orientalism's price had gone up to RM75.71.
I guess inflation hits everything, including books.
Anyway, Merry Christmas. Peace be upon our Prophet, Jesus and to his Immaculate Mother, Mary.
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