Fun Friday: Bookstores and Bathrooms

Welcome to Fun Friday where Aubrie writes about fun things that have no merit to anything at all.

Picture this: You're prancing (yes, prancing) about in your favorite bookstore (or craft-store). Be that a local Indie bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, or Borders (RIP you beautiful bastard.) You're daydreaming about all of the phenomenal and magical adventures that await you in the pages of the books all around you. You smile, breathing in that fresh, delightful scent. The scent that you know well. The pages of a book, hundreds of books. You run your fingers across the shelves that hold the portals to numerous worlds, and you smile. That's when you feel it. A rumbling in your stomach. You know it well, for it happens almost EVERY time you come into a book store. You need to poop.

If you have experienced the phenomenon you are not alone. It's so common in fact, that it even has a name. The Mariko Aoki phenomenon. For real. It has something to do with the scent of paper and ink mixing, creating a laxative effect. That, combined with reading on the toilet back at home, makes for the perfect pooping atmosphere.

I am NOT ashamed to say that I poop literally every.single.time. I go to the bookstore. It takes about five minutes before I am headed to the potty. In fact, my friends Shannel and Alyssa have both witnessed this first hand. We were browsing the clearance rack at BAM when I said, "Oppp, there it is." They both looked at me confused. So I explained the Mariko Aoki effect to them, and went on my merry way to the bathroom.

I don't know about you, but I find it comforting knowing that I can count on the book store poop. You can't count on much in life, but for me, it's one thing I can rest assured will always happen.

Have you ever experienced this? C'mon, don't be shy! Tell me in the comments below!

-Aubrie