The Adventures of Mer at the Library
Aug. 7th, 2003 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteI don't know whether you know this, but I might be the only person you know that enjoys making a trip to the library. I'm strange enough as it is already (don't you think?) but I mean, wow, the Main Library here in San Francisco is great. I would have LOVED to come here on a field trip when I was a little kid, and promptly get LOST. But now I can do that anytime without worrying about evil men kidnapping little me (okay, that's still a worry, just not a BIG one).
First thing I realize when I walk into the library is "Man, I love the smell!" You know every place has a smell to it, and that's why when you're away from that place, or there's suddenly a new scent there, you get all freaked out. It's like when your parents suddenly set up incense or scented candles (Come on, I can't be the only one) all around the house, changing that comfortable smell into something sort of tingly and itchy to your nose. And those candles with those strange, but fascinating scents, like baked apple pie-- in the bathroom? Or how about freshly cut grass in the living room? Lovely. But the library-- oh, it reeks of BOOKS! And since it's the Main Library, in a building that is veritably the size of a MALL, there's that whole "pristine" clean smell to it, almost like at a hospital, but not so suffocating. And of course, there's that kind of "school" smell to it, because you've got all these different people wandering in and out, all these different sections-- and like all the different books you can get at the library, there's an assortment of different smells.
I don't know, I'm weird I guess. My sight and my hearing have never been that good, so I guess in place of it, I've got a killer sense of taste and smell! =) And a pretty good sixth sense, if I do say so myself. But tactile sense... er, let's not go there.
Anyway, so I went downstairs and through the security check and then took the stairs up to the third floor-- I think everything's on the third floor, really. I head to the Teen Section, and LO AND BEHOLD! What awaits me on the table but HANA YORI DANGO! @_@ It was amazing, it had to be like, kismet, or destiny, or fate, or something wonderful~ The Chinese edition of the manga, actually, so I couldn't read a word, but I knew most of what was going on from the translations I'd pored over the night before. And in Chinese, Hana Yori Dango/Boys Before Flowers is called "Liu Xing Hua Yuan." I got volumes 7 and 27-- which sadly, only have a small portion of Domoyouji/Makino romance/mush in it, but there is that really great scene where a not-so-sober Makino yells to Domoyouji that YES, SHE'S IN LOVE WITH HIM, DAMMIT! I thought that was cute.
Also went nuts on the series cases, you know those spinning bookshelves they have strategically placed so you nearly walk into one of them? Got myself a Sweet Valley High double volume, consisting of the first ever SVH book, and the last one. Read the whole thing in one day. >) Also got more volumes of some books I'd liked the last time I bothered to go to the library-- 2 and 3 of "Circle of Three," 2 of "Daughters of the Moon," and other assorted books... Lessee...
Amrita - Banana Yoshimoto (the plot looks more interesting than I remember); Job-hunting on the Internet (well, dur); The Gods of the Greeks (I couldn't find that really cool, huge picture book); In the Mood for Murder (I need to read a good, non-Nancy Drew mystery); The Burning (Buffy/Angel novel! WHEE!); Define "normal," (looks cool); Careers for night owls and other insomniacs (but I've been getting better at waking up at "normal" times, right?); Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of An Unwanted Daughter (I'm fascinated by Asian literature; did I ever tell you that Joy Luck Club is one of the best books ever-- even if I had Evil Archer teaching that class?) ... yeah.
I also went into the Chinese Center to check out Feng Shuit books... nothing really screamed at me, so I let those be. Also went to the Educational Guidance Center and pored over many financial aid books... gawd, you know what is SO damn annoying? "Minority, minority, minority!" You know what minority means!? A SMALLER NUMBER OF SOMETHING! NUMBER!!! It should NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT (should I mention NOT?) be used to "represent" Asian Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Latinos, Hispanics, etc. It's not fair! I might live in an area of the world where yes, there is a lot of diversity, and I'm damn glad for it, but guess what?! If you want to talk reality and statistics, *I'm* the minority here, and being denied financial aid left and right because I'm "not a minority" compared to the rest of the world is NOT FAIR! I'm not going to school in the rest of the world, I'm going to school HERE! And *sigh* it was rotten flipping through those books having to nix out almost every scholarship or grant because of my plain, boring, WHITE PEOPLE culture. FEH.
Aside from that, yeah, got a few leads I can check out, but truth be told, most of the things I saw were for people already IN college, especially when it came to Journalism grants and such. BLAH. I need to do more research, but not being able to check out the books is a pain. I placed a hold for one book, hopefully I'll be able to check that out. Also, I happen to have screwed myself over, going to school in the Spring; most deadlines for these things are in January-March, ergo, past when I can get the money for when I go to school in April. -.-
Anyway, when I finally left the library after 4:30, I was hungry! I'd pilfered all of $3 from my Mom's change purse (^^;) and decided to go to McDonalds... but the one by the UN Building was closed. Also not in a very nice neighborhood. Walked ALLL the way to Powell, and remembered that the McDonald's THERE had been transformed into an overpriced Sephora! *cry* Walked ALLLLL the way to 3rd/Market near Academy of Art (where I used to go sophomore year for Fashion Design class... and I used to get my lunch EVERY DAY at McDonald's! That was the life!), past all the porn shops and the homeless people, the chess players, and the people that try to intimidate other people with their baggy clothes, silver chains, and loud boomboxes. I am happy to say I walked with my head held high, and did not respond to any idiotic jeers of "WHITE GIRL!" -.- Yes, there were some.
Could only afford one measly cheeseburger and a medium coke, which I finished pretty quickly... I really wanted another cheeseburger, but I only had 31 cents to my name, not $1.09. *sniff* The only reason why I'd want to live in the 50s is because everything was so authentic and cheap back then! 50 cent burgers! *cry* Read some more SVH and then headed home on the 5.
Came home and promptly crashed on the couch. My stomach immediately caught up with me, because mom had gone all out and made some HUUUGE dinner dish, which I was too full to partake of. Go figure-- and it smelled really good, too. Chicken, corn, and noodles. ;_; I wonder if there are leftovers?
I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 7pm, waking up around 3am to finish SVH and start on "In the Mood for Murder," and now... well, here I am, somewhat full and slightly hyper after my second bowl of Berry Cheerios this morning. I plan to march into my room, boombox in hand (once I log off, stretch, etc.) and CLEAN DAMMIT! I get into theese funks annually, or semi-annually, and I go on this cleaning rampage... amazingly enough, at my own house (this is supposed to be a shocker, come on, look surprised!).
Uhm... yeah. And tomorrow's RTA and hopefully a sleepover at Amber's... Mom doesn't plan on using her Mahogany Garnier dye anymore, so I'll bring that AND Photoshop with me so I can get my hair redd-ized while I fix her compie. >) Hopefully she won't forget and Mom won't be too much of a stinge with cash... >_> I guess I can always bring a "bag dinner," if worse comes to worse. I miss the good ol days when I had an EXCESS of food, you know, like the pantry was stocked with applesauce, pudding, cereal boxes, muffins, everything! I'd throw a bunch of starch into a bag, and whoosh, it's lunch! It's dinner! It's free food from Costco, as far as I was concerned. ;_;
Okay, so plans for the room... well, Nikki's right, if I'm not utilizing every drawer, I should ditch the dresser. Thing is, I know Mom would NEVER let me get rid of Precious Michelle's old dresser, even if THAT's the only one with a bum drawer. That one IS bigger though... and doesn't look as stupid as my old one, with teenage mutant ninja turtle stickers half peeled off the pajama drawer. So... ergh. I might FOLD my clothes, but as for putting it away, I'll save for later. I have to get the makeup and papers and bags out of the other dresser though, and put them somewhere. Clean out my old trunks, too, and boxes, oh my goodness, I have like, a huge box of papers! And I really want to fix my file cabinet. I want to be organized for college, dagnabbit! The cute type with crisp shirts, ties, pinstriped pants, and cute, bouncy hair held back by a perky, plaid hairband! ;_; (Miyazawa complex, much?)
*sigh* How can hairbands be perky, anyway? I better get going soon, before I lose my drive.
First thing I realize when I walk into the library is "Man, I love the smell!" You know every place has a smell to it, and that's why when you're away from that place, or there's suddenly a new scent there, you get all freaked out. It's like when your parents suddenly set up incense or scented candles (Come on, I can't be the only one) all around the house, changing that comfortable smell into something sort of tingly and itchy to your nose. And those candles with those strange, but fascinating scents, like baked apple pie-- in the bathroom? Or how about freshly cut grass in the living room? Lovely. But the library-- oh, it reeks of BOOKS! And since it's the Main Library, in a building that is veritably the size of a MALL, there's that whole "pristine" clean smell to it, almost like at a hospital, but not so suffocating. And of course, there's that kind of "school" smell to it, because you've got all these different people wandering in and out, all these different sections-- and like all the different books you can get at the library, there's an assortment of different smells.
I don't know, I'm weird I guess. My sight and my hearing have never been that good, so I guess in place of it, I've got a killer sense of taste and smell! =) And a pretty good sixth sense, if I do say so myself. But tactile sense... er, let's not go there.
Anyway, so I went downstairs and through the security check and then took the stairs up to the third floor-- I think everything's on the third floor, really. I head to the Teen Section, and LO AND BEHOLD! What awaits me on the table but HANA YORI DANGO! @_@ It was amazing, it had to be like, kismet, or destiny, or fate, or something wonderful~ The Chinese edition of the manga, actually, so I couldn't read a word, but I knew most of what was going on from the translations I'd pored over the night before. And in Chinese, Hana Yori Dango/Boys Before Flowers is called "Liu Xing Hua Yuan." I got volumes 7 and 27-- which sadly, only have a small portion of Domoyouji/Makino romance/mush in it, but there is that really great scene where a not-so-sober Makino yells to Domoyouji that YES, SHE'S IN LOVE WITH HIM, DAMMIT! I thought that was cute.
Also went nuts on the series cases, you know those spinning bookshelves they have strategically placed so you nearly walk into one of them? Got myself a Sweet Valley High double volume, consisting of the first ever SVH book, and the last one. Read the whole thing in one day. >) Also got more volumes of some books I'd liked the last time I bothered to go to the library-- 2 and 3 of "Circle of Three," 2 of "Daughters of the Moon," and other assorted books... Lessee...
Amrita - Banana Yoshimoto (the plot looks more interesting than I remember); Job-hunting on the Internet (well, dur); The Gods of the Greeks (I couldn't find that really cool, huge picture book); In the Mood for Murder (I need to read a good, non-Nancy Drew mystery); The Burning (Buffy/Angel novel! WHEE!); Define "normal," (looks cool); Careers for night owls and other insomniacs (but I've been getting better at waking up at "normal" times, right?); Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of An Unwanted Daughter (I'm fascinated by Asian literature; did I ever tell you that Joy Luck Club is one of the best books ever-- even if I had Evil Archer teaching that class?) ... yeah.
I also went into the Chinese Center to check out Feng Shuit books... nothing really screamed at me, so I let those be. Also went to the Educational Guidance Center and pored over many financial aid books... gawd, you know what is SO damn annoying? "Minority, minority, minority!" You know what minority means!? A SMALLER NUMBER OF SOMETHING! NUMBER!!! It should NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT (should I mention NOT?) be used to "represent" Asian Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Latinos, Hispanics, etc. It's not fair! I might live in an area of the world where yes, there is a lot of diversity, and I'm damn glad for it, but guess what?! If you want to talk reality and statistics, *I'm* the minority here, and being denied financial aid left and right because I'm "not a minority" compared to the rest of the world is NOT FAIR! I'm not going to school in the rest of the world, I'm going to school HERE! And *sigh* it was rotten flipping through those books having to nix out almost every scholarship or grant because of my plain, boring, WHITE PEOPLE culture. FEH.
Aside from that, yeah, got a few leads I can check out, but truth be told, most of the things I saw were for people already IN college, especially when it came to Journalism grants and such. BLAH. I need to do more research, but not being able to check out the books is a pain. I placed a hold for one book, hopefully I'll be able to check that out. Also, I happen to have screwed myself over, going to school in the Spring; most deadlines for these things are in January-March, ergo, past when I can get the money for when I go to school in April. -.-
Anyway, when I finally left the library after 4:30, I was hungry! I'd pilfered all of $3 from my Mom's change purse (^^;) and decided to go to McDonalds... but the one by the UN Building was closed. Also not in a very nice neighborhood. Walked ALLL the way to Powell, and remembered that the McDonald's THERE had been transformed into an overpriced Sephora! *cry* Walked ALLLLL the way to 3rd/Market near Academy of Art (where I used to go sophomore year for Fashion Design class... and I used to get my lunch EVERY DAY at McDonald's! That was the life!), past all the porn shops and the homeless people, the chess players, and the people that try to intimidate other people with their baggy clothes, silver chains, and loud boomboxes. I am happy to say I walked with my head held high, and did not respond to any idiotic jeers of "WHITE GIRL!" -.- Yes, there were some.
Could only afford one measly cheeseburger and a medium coke, which I finished pretty quickly... I really wanted another cheeseburger, but I only had 31 cents to my name, not $1.09. *sniff* The only reason why I'd want to live in the 50s is because everything was so authentic and cheap back then! 50 cent burgers! *cry* Read some more SVH and then headed home on the 5.
Came home and promptly crashed on the couch. My stomach immediately caught up with me, because mom had gone all out and made some HUUUGE dinner dish, which I was too full to partake of. Go figure-- and it smelled really good, too. Chicken, corn, and noodles. ;_; I wonder if there are leftovers?
I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 7pm, waking up around 3am to finish SVH and start on "In the Mood for Murder," and now... well, here I am, somewhat full and slightly hyper after my second bowl of Berry Cheerios this morning. I plan to march into my room, boombox in hand (once I log off, stretch, etc.) and CLEAN DAMMIT! I get into theese funks annually, or semi-annually, and I go on this cleaning rampage... amazingly enough, at my own house (this is supposed to be a shocker, come on, look surprised!).
Uhm... yeah. And tomorrow's RTA and hopefully a sleepover at Amber's... Mom doesn't plan on using her Mahogany Garnier dye anymore, so I'll bring that AND Photoshop with me so I can get my hair redd-ized while I fix her compie. >) Hopefully she won't forget and Mom won't be too much of a stinge with cash... >_> I guess I can always bring a "bag dinner," if worse comes to worse. I miss the good ol days when I had an EXCESS of food, you know, like the pantry was stocked with applesauce, pudding, cereal boxes, muffins, everything! I'd throw a bunch of starch into a bag, and whoosh, it's lunch! It's dinner! It's free food from Costco, as far as I was concerned. ;_;
Okay, so plans for the room... well, Nikki's right, if I'm not utilizing every drawer, I should ditch the dresser. Thing is, I know Mom would NEVER let me get rid of Precious Michelle's old dresser, even if THAT's the only one with a bum drawer. That one IS bigger though... and doesn't look as stupid as my old one, with teenage mutant ninja turtle stickers half peeled off the pajama drawer. So... ergh. I might FOLD my clothes, but as for putting it away, I'll save for later. I have to get the makeup and papers and bags out of the other dresser though, and put them somewhere. Clean out my old trunks, too, and boxes, oh my goodness, I have like, a huge box of papers! And I really want to fix my file cabinet. I want to be organized for college, dagnabbit! The cute type with crisp shirts, ties, pinstriped pants, and cute, bouncy hair held back by a perky, plaid hairband! ;_; (Miyazawa complex, much?)
*sigh* How can hairbands be perky, anyway? I better get going soon, before I lose my drive.
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Date: 2003-08-07 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-07 05:54 pm (UTC)Yep yep
Date: 2003-08-07 07:35 pm (UTC)