Celebrating 20 years of HONG KONG BOOK FAIR

Against my better judgment, I went to the Book Fair. I did not last long, I was out of there within two hours with a large chunk of time wasted stepping on others as well as being stepped on. I gave up going to it every single year although I know quite a few people who are trying to keep up with this annual ritual. It had become so obvious that I am falling further and further outside the target audience.

I remember the first time I went to the Book Fair. It was with Mom and my baby sister after a morning practice at Wanchai swimming pool. I wonder if it was the every first one in 1989. It was probably the most pleasant memory I had going out with the two of them -- there was no crowd (probably because we were the early birds), you have the entire day to shop from an whole exhibition hall. Normally, it was extremely difficult to get my mother to buy us stuff. However, she has this weakness with books and paper products. It was only in the bookshops that I will be allowed to buy something of my choice. So, it was the sense of freedom and indulgence that I remember.

Working at the Book Fair was almost as memorable, but in a bad way. To be honest, I was curious about how the other side works and was somewhat looking forward to it. Granted, it was early days working for the wonderful I-don't-read-I-only-need-to-know-numbers editor. The bubble was quickly bursted, it was before the doors were even opened. We were sent to the exhibition hall on the set up date - wasted about 2 hours for the set up to be done (which was a copy from the previous year), another 2 hours for the boxes of books to arrive, another 2 hours to try to organize ourselves and did not put books out on display (with absolutely no logical categorization) until 10pm. As I was dragging myself home at night knowing that I need to be back at the same spot staring into space like a zombie, I was questioning why I was doing a teenager summer job as I was nearing 30 and well into my career. Things continue to go down hill from there, I remember screaming and crying from our small working group. I developed for the first and only time hatred for people I see daily. I escape from the job before the next Book Fair comes around but the damage has been done, I will never look at the event the same as before.

As I was squeezing my way around the Book Fair the other day, I did not forget to stop by and see some of colleagues who are still putting up with the craze. Except for the titles, nothing much has changed - same color theme, same set up, same poster layout, same chaos. I guess you must be willing to be a little brainless and lazy to stay in the business for teenagers, right?