Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
If i had to list down my favourite places - generally, not specific - the library will have to be on it!
I just love being in a library. I guess the sensation of being surrounded by volumes of knowledge and hours of entertainment really thrills me.
One thing that i really appreciate regarding my childhood was the fact that i've had lots of books around me! Being the youngest, i inherited all the books of my bro and my sis as well as had many of me own too. Thank God i was not born in this generation where kids seem to be more interested in computer games, PS2 (or the X-Box now), cable TV, DVDs etc.
So it was no surprise that i loved to hang out in me school library. And that carried on to me tertiary education years. I spent so much time in those places - the BB school library (even after i left school, i went back there and worked as a librarian on a temp basis), the miserably small law library of Stanford College (they did renovate it and enlarged it... not by much, tho), my church library, the UEL library (wif cubicles in dark corners), the UM Law library (where we'd camp til it closes late at nite). There were many other libraries too - the National Library in KL, the spanking brand new public library in Miri, the Bar Council library... ah... the memories! If there were libraries, then a good bookshop would do - MPH at Mid-Valley, Kinokuniya at Suria KLCC, Borders at BTS!
Do u recall the scene in Beauty and the Beast (the Disney cartoon version) where the Beast took Belle to his library? I loved that scene and i felt almost like how Belle felt! The closest i felt to that in real life was when one of me mates took me to his brother's law firm's library - rows and rows, shelves and shelves - floor to ceiling - of brand new mint conditioned law books! :-)~
There was this episode in Buffy (1st season - i'm still there!) where Giles explained why he prefers a good old book instead of the computer - books are knowledge in a tangible form. You get to hold it, feel it - and most importantly, smell it! Yeah, smell it! I loved the smell of me school library - it reeked of books, old books. And the smell registers in my brain as the smell of knowledge!
My love affair wif the library here started late, tho. It was quite a change for me when i got here as 90% or more of the reading material is obtained on-line. Initially, i was pretty thrilled about it! Having internet connection in me room, all the reading materials are available to me at the click of the mouse. No more going up and down the library, hunting for the elusive book, "fighting" with your coursemates oer who gets to borrow it, making photocopies of the relevant pages etc.
But i hate it now. Studying is holding a book and reading it - not sitting in front of the laptop and reading til yr eyes hurt!
Yeah, i'm old fashioned.
So anyways, the distractions in me room grew to be too unbearable and i've returned to the solitude of the library - and loving it!
For more pics of the library, go here.
Sure, there are other distractions in the library - but nice ones! One is the view from my seat! Lovely. Today, a little bird landed just outside the window and we looked at each other for some brief moments. Poor fella - he only had one eye. He prolly lost the other one in a fight - but as if to say "Don't feel sorry for me", he turned away and flew away into the bright blue sky!
I can now see the yellow daffodils growing around the lake. Adults are bringing their kids to the lakeside to feed the various kinds of feathered frens there - the geese, the ducks, the gulls. No fear of the bird-flu here yet.
And one of the wonderful things i can see is the wind! Yeah, i can literally see it! I see it on the surface of the lake.
Still, take that all away and it still does not make the library any less special - for it is the books in it that makes it what it is.
I just love being in a library. I guess the sensation of being surrounded by volumes of knowledge and hours of entertainment really thrills me.One thing that i really appreciate regarding my childhood was the fact that i've had lots of books around me! Being the youngest, i inherited all the books of my bro and my sis as well as had many of me own too. Thank God i was not born in this generation where kids seem to be more interested in computer games, PS2 (or the X-Box now), cable TV, DVDs etc.
So it was no surprise that i loved to hang out in me school library. And that carried on to me tertiary education years. I spent so much time in those places - the BB school library (even after i left school, i went back there and worked as a librarian on a temp basis), the miserably small law library of Stanford College (they did renovate it and enlarged it... not by much, tho), my church library, the UEL library (wif cubicles in dark corners), the UM Law library (where we'd camp til it closes late at nite). There were many other libraries too - the National Library in KL, the spanking brand new public library in Miri, the Bar Council library... ah... the memories! If there were libraries, then a good bookshop would do - MPH at Mid-Valley, Kinokuniya at Suria KLCC, Borders at BTS!
Do u recall the scene in Beauty and the Beast (the Disney cartoon version) where the Beast took Belle to his library? I loved that scene and i felt almost like how Belle felt! The closest i felt to that in real life was when one of me mates took me to his brother's law firm's library - rows and rows, shelves and shelves - floor to ceiling - of brand new mint conditioned law books! :-)~
There was this episode in Buffy (1st season - i'm still there!) where Giles explained why he prefers a good old book instead of the computer - books are knowledge in a tangible form. You get to hold it, feel it - and most importantly, smell it! Yeah, smell it! I loved the smell of me school library - it reeked of books, old books. And the smell registers in my brain as the smell of knowledge!
My love affair wif the library here started late, tho. It was quite a change for me when i got here as 90% or more of the reading material is obtained on-line. Initially, i was pretty thrilled about it! Having internet connection in me room, all the reading materials are available to me at the click of the mouse. No more going up and down the library, hunting for the elusive book, "fighting" with your coursemates oer who gets to borrow it, making photocopies of the relevant pages etc.
But i hate it now. Studying is holding a book and reading it - not sitting in front of the laptop and reading til yr eyes hurt!
Yeah, i'm old fashioned.
So anyways, the distractions in me room grew to be too unbearable and i've returned to the solitude of the library - and loving it!
For more pics of the library, go here.
Sure, there are other distractions in the library - but nice ones! One is the view from my seat! Lovely. Today, a little bird landed just outside the window and we looked at each other for some brief moments. Poor fella - he only had one eye. He prolly lost the other one in a fight - but as if to say "Don't feel sorry for me", he turned away and flew away into the bright blue sky!
I can now see the yellow daffodils growing around the lake. Adults are bringing their kids to the lakeside to feed the various kinds of feathered frens there - the geese, the ducks, the gulls. No fear of the bird-flu here yet.
And one of the wonderful things i can see is the wind! Yeah, i can literally see it! I see it on the surface of the lake.
Still, take that all away and it still does not make the library any less special - for it is the books in it that makes it what it is.
# posted by imissw : 5:23:00 pm
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I so so so echo almost every word here! Hail from one library groupie to another!
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# posted by 
: Tue Jul 25, 04:34:00 pm
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