I hate the library.

So the last time I tried to read Don Quixote I was a pretty young kid. I think I was in grade school. I remember I liked the book quite a lot, but it was far longer than my childhood attention span (or, let's be honest, my current attention span), so I never got around to finishing it. I do remember, though, reading a line near the beginning that theorized that Don Quixote really went crazy from reading too many books. At the time I thought this was hilarious; what could be better for your mind than reading books? But now I know. Don Quixote must've been reading books while he was in a library.

OK, OK, so I don't really hate libraries. I don't think anybody with a soul can actually hate libraries. In fact I think the library system is one of those things that modern society can really be proud of. Free books! Free books for all (who have library cards)! It's beautiful, really. So I'm a great supporter of libraries on principle. And I really do love them in the run in, get what you want, get out kind of way. Libraries and I have always gotten along famously provided we didn't actually have to spend much real time together. I take the books and I go. Later, sometime relatively near their due date, I bring them back. This system works well for us. So why did I have to go messing with it by staying in the library all day?!

This place is too quiet. And it's too...the ideas kind of hang around in the air so that after hours of reading Crime and Punishment and Tennessee Williams plays, you start to feel crushed under the weight of all the writing, all the thinking, the overwhelmingly one-sided exchange between you and the book. And at the same time you're surrounded by people - there are people everywhere - but they're so focused on getting done what they have in front of them and not disturbing each other that nobody acknowledges anyone else. It's surreal, I tell you.* I don't know how people spend hours on end here. I've been in and out all day on an extended monologue search/rare study binge and let me tell you, after about the first hour I started to feel completely insane. I know my choice of reading material isn't helping - Suddenly Last Summer alone can make you feel rather mentally disturbed - but still. This place? Not my favorite.

Anyway, I'd better get back to work now. Just another hour or so and then I can go to rehearsal with joy and relief in my heart. I was going to include a video here before I conclude, but YouTube is blocked on campus (way to redeem yourself, HBLL...sheesh). Fortunately I did discover this lovely image:
Yep, that about says it. (And no, I have no idea who made it or where it came from originally.)

*I'd say I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone, but then you'd probably think of the "Twilight Zone" section that they have in the BYU Bookstore. Which isn't a bad place, really - people talk there, and they have an awful lot of food. In fact, I'd much rather be in the Twilight Zone than the library right now.