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I moved to Los Angeles in 2002 I think, shortly after my parents divorced and a girlfriend broke up with me.
我应该是2002年搬来洛杉矶的，当时我父母刚离婚，女朋友也跟我分手了。
I had torn my bicep like the year before.
差不多头一年吧，我的二头肌又拉伤了。
And I had like an Internet magazine covering film and music and that sort of tanked.
当时的我就像网上的一本电影音乐杂志，就挺糟糕的那种。
I tried to get a job a few places, but nobody would really hire me.
我也尝试着找了几次工作，但没有一个人要我。
And so I just, I lived on welfare and food stamps.
所以我就只能吃福利券和食品券了。
And I had sort of an early like midlife crisis where I was just like, man, I'm a loser.
所以我很早就有中年危机那种感觉了，就觉得，啊，我好屌丝啊。
I'm not doing anything with my life.
一点儿出息都没有。
I gotta get serious about this.
那我得认真想办法了。
I gonna find something that that I can really focus on and really love and really get behind.
我得找个我真正能专注下来，我真正喜欢，真正愿意支持的事情做。
You know, I've always been a writer and a reader.
你也知道的，我一直都有在看东西，写东西嘛。
And I said I thought, well, try books.
我就想说，那，就试试书吧。
Ebay was just getting started, so I had learned how to use that.
那个时候Ebay才刚起步，我就学着用Ebay。
So I started doing that just from my apartment.
一开始就是在家里上Ebay淘书。
This tiny little studio apartment.
就一间小小的单间。
But this one guy that, that I knew, he's a friend of mine,
但有个哥们儿，我认识的一个哥们儿，也是我的一个朋友，
he kept hassling me to open up a store for a couple of years really.
他就一直缠着我让我搞个店面，缠了我好几年。
Until finally I relented and was like, all right, just there's a space open up across the street from where I live.
后来我就心软了，就想，那好吧，刚好我住的对面就有空房子，所以……
And it was busy from the first day we opened our doors.
我们开业第一天起就一直很忙。
I created this place as as somewhere that I would want to hang out all the time, you know, I was like a huge living room for me.
我是冲着打造一个我愿意一直呆着的地方在规划这个书店，这儿在我眼里就一大客厅。
So it seems to have worked for a lot of other people too,
现在看来，很多朋友也是这么觉得的，
so they, they kind of see it as their, their home away from home too, you know.
他们基本上也觉得这儿就是他们，他们家门之外的另一个家吧，你懂我的意思吧。
I definitely think the bookstore has changed other people's lives.
我坚信，这个书店也改变了他们的生活。
It's definitely become a refuge for a lot of people.
这儿已经成了很多人的避风港了。
Regardless of whether they like books or not, it's a place they come and hang out.
不管他们喜不喜欢书，他们都会来这里转转。
Some of them are huge book lovers, so it's sort of rejuvenated their, their ability to access books easily.
有一些朋友是超级书虫，从某种程度上来说，这儿可以说是重新打通了他们和书之间的渠道。
People who love books and love to read and love to hold books and love to collect books,
喜欢书，喜欢看书，喜欢将书捧在手上，喜欢收藏书的朋友，
and definitely I think it changed their lives because they come here every single day,
我坚信这个书店也改变了他们的生活，因为他们现在每天都会来，
So whatever they were doing before every single day, they're not doing that anymore.
不管他们以前每天是做什么的，至少他们现在已经没干了。
We've tried to add a real human element.
我们有尝试给这个书店赋予一些真正人性化的元素。
We want it to be an authentic real experience versus something that's cold and calculated.
我们希望大家在这儿的体验是真实的，而不是冷冰冰的，精心设计的东西。
I think that's the difference.
这应该就是我们和其他书店的区别吧。
I think that's one reason why we've been able to do well when other bookstores, perhaps, are struggling.
应该就是为什么其他书店，可能，已经快撑不住了，而我们还能做得很好的原因之一吧。
In the beginning, I really did this think, okay, I'm gonna do this sort of art project bookstore in my last two or three years,
一开始，我真的就只是想，好吧，那我就用人生的最后两三年开一个走艺术路线的书店，
and then it's gonna fail because the book, this is gonna be done and that'll be it.
最后肯定会失败的，那失败就失败吧，就这样了。
But after my injury, my life perspective definitely changed in terms of just learning to look at everything as a challenge, not be afraid of failure.
但受伤之后，我的人生观就完全变了，我学会了把每件事看做一次挑战，我已经不怕失败了。
I've lost things in my life much more traumatic than a business.
我失去的东西比生意失败让人痛苦多了。
There's not much that could compete with that.
那种痛是其他事情都完全没法比的。
You know, seriously, you know, if I can deal with that, I could certainly deal with a business failing, no big deal, so, yeah, no fear.
真的，这我都扛过来了，生意失败都不是事儿，你明白吧。所以，我根本没在怕的。
