boiii...iiiing...

I decided to revisit an old friend tonight ... her name's Kathleen Kelly.

She owns a quaint (read: small) children's bookstore Shop Around The Corner left to her by her mother, and she is happily living her "small ... valuable, but small" life until challenge comes in the form of book megastore Fox Books. While she twirls through unbelievable optimism (also read as "denial" to the realists), acceptance, "going to the mattresses" (i.e. fighting to keep her store alive), she is also busy falling in love with a really sweet man, with one snag--she doesn't know who he is, cos their greetings to each other are always preceded by the sound of a modem dialing up followed by three powerful words "You've Got Mail." That's right, they meet online. The great guy turns out to be her nemesis, the owner of Fox Books, Joe Fox.

Oh, in the end everything turns out marvellously, because Joe knew how to play his cards right. He primed her until she was caught in between loving him the man who put her out of business, and the sensitive, kind, caring yet unknown person on the other end of her inbox. Then, eventually he reveals himself and makes her romantic dreams come true.

And there's a plus in it -- Brinkley, Joe's golden labrador (at least that's the breed I think it is).
I got all "I'm missing Benji" again, but then, honestly I don't think i stopped missing him since he moved out. :P

I like Kathleen because she kinda lives in her own bubble of hope, which totally rejuvenated me.
While everyone else is worried before time that she will go out of business, she goes "I think it's great! You know how there is the flower district? Well, we'll be the book district! We'll have whatever they don't have."
She's the welcoming girl who is cheerful like the daisies that she loves.

She's not in denial of her reality though (not to me anyway).
After some time, when she realizes that her store is not making money, she puts up a fight, roping in the media and picket lines etc. only to have to fold eventually because the big, bad Fox Books is just too big a contender.

So she takes a break for a while to mourn the end of her shop, and then she starts writing a book. Haha.
She's just an unbeatable dreamer, and I love that.

Anyway, "You've Got Mail" is one of my favourite movies of all time.
Because movies always tell you there's a dream, and this one tells me, for all you know, the dream may just come true.

After a week of being down in the hopes-dump, it is time to bounce back, albeit however slowly.
Which sounds like an oxymoron ... Bouncing Slowly.