Quiet Time
Feb. 2nd, 2013 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trickykittyI decided to spend this morning having some quiet time to myself. That didn't really work out as I planned.
First, I went to the Hurst Library to look for a book to check out. I found it, and then I went to the far back to the Reading Alcove that they have. As you can see from the picture, it's a very serene, atrium-like room which I have always enjoyed since they added it to the library. My back is still killing me every moment of the day, so I sat in one of the corner chairs with a yin-yang-shaped, swivel desk top that I could use to rock back and fourth on, stretching my back out into various positions as I read.
There was no one there when I first walked in, and I was glad how quiet it was. A bit later an older guy came in with a book, and after that a college-aged girl with laptop and textbook of some sort. Then, kids with their moms came in, going over to the fireplace, then making lots of noises with papers they had been coloring, and then leaving. I finally deduced that they were doing some sort of library treasure hunt and collecting stickers from different areas of the library. The gentleman ended up leaving. After a bit, the girl came over and asked me if I was going to be there a while, and if I wouldn't mind watching her stuff while she ran to her car for something. Sure, no problem. While she was gone, two more kids with moms came in, and one of them was the meanest mom (or what seemed to be more grandma than mom) ever. She griped at the young girl for going this route instead of that route on her paper, so now they had to collect 5 more stickers instead of just 4, and next time she had BETTER listen to her and do as she told her, or ELSE! She was so bitter towards that child, it was ridiculous. I felt sorry for her, but I stayed out of it. The other mom in the room gave her the same look I did as we watched her leave the Reading Alcove. The college girl came back, luckily having missed the bitchy scene. I finished reading my chapter and headed out myself.
Next, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. There was a huge sign out front saying "Entire Store Clearance." I walked in and quickly stopped to look at the items on the wall to the left, where they normally display "As seen on TV" items. I noticed this Hamilton Beach 2-in-1 coffee maker and contemplated getting it for our house. As I was looking at the box, a gentleman walked up and started telling me how he just bought the smaller version of this himself and he totally recommended it. He was telling me all about it, it's features, etc. I asked a couple questions about the filter. He said it was a good price and would be even better if I had one of these, indicating I should look and see what he was talking about. I noticed in his hand he had one of the Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons we tend to get in the mail, and he seemed like he was trying to give me the coupon as a gift with which to buy the coffee maker. I also happened to notice his left arm was a stub just past the elbow, which otherwise didn't make any difference in the grand scheme of things - just something I noticed. I was fine with him telling me about the coffee maker, but for some reason I started feeling really odd when he was trying to offer the coupon, and I had no intentions for making a purchase right then, so at that point I said, "Thank you," in a manner indicating I was done with the conversation. He said, "Ah, yes, okay," and scurried away, and I do mean scurried. It was funny watching him walk away, because it wasn't exactly casual the way he did it. I went and looked at cutting boards and then at knife sets. I saw him one more time in the same area as the knives, but he didn't notice me, or at least didn't appear to notice me again. I went to look at kettles, but they didn't really have any of note. Then I left.
I walked next door to Barnes & Noble and took my copy of Stranger In A Strange Land with me that I have been re-reading this week. I went to the coffee shop and purchased a quiche and a vanilla latte and found a seat. After a couple bites and a couple pages into that chapter, the perhaps mid-40s lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I wouldn't mind helping her understand something. I could hear her and her female friend talking in both another language and English earlier, and saw that they had a lot of papers and books out in front of them when I sat down. "Sure," I said. I turned around to face her. She had a sheet of paper with stuff all over it and was asking me what the word "capital" meant. At first I thought of the capital of a state or country, but I read a couple words near it and realized it was referencing the economic definition of capital, as in venture capital, or capital assets. I tried to explain someone lending money to someone else in order to make more money, and she recognized the word loan, but I knew that didn't exactly explain capital. I mentioned investment, but that seemed to be too big of a word for her to know. I gave the example of giving her money to start a business, and at that point I think she was grasping the term.
A bit later, she asked if I could help again. Again, I turned around, happy to be of service, really. It was an interruption to my reading, but I really enjoyed being able to benefit someone else, and I didn't exactly mind the interruption. This time she asked about a question that appeared to be on a multiple choice test. "The gross state product of Texas is $1.xxx trillion. If Texas were an independent nation, what would be it's ranking in the world market?" She didn't understand "gross," "gross state product," "independent nation," or "ranking." I explained them all, with independent nation being a country, and it's asking if Texas were a country instead of one of the states, and ranking was 1st/2nd/3rd, and gross - well, gross and gross state product were a bit more difficult to explain. She was smart though, and really was just having trouble with the translations, so once I was able to explain it, she understood. She also had the answers with explanations, so she was really just trying to understand the exact translations for certain words.
Once more before I left she asked for assistance. This one was, "Which were considered the most advanced of the pre-Columbian groups in the Mesoamerican areas?" The answers included Maya and Aztecs, Iroquois, and some others I didn't recognize, with the Mayans and Aztecs being the answer. She needed help understanding "advanced," "pre-Columbian," "Mesoamerican," and all of the groups listed in the answers. At one point, I mentioned the Mayan pyramids, which were like the Egyptian pyramids, but different. "Oh! How did you know we were Egyptian?" I didn't. I honestly thought they were speaking Spanish, but as I wasn't paying all that much attention, I really hadn't noticed that it wasn't. She mentioned this was for some kind of Economics class. I pulled up pictures on my phone of the Mayan pyramids, and they told me about the ones they also had with steps in them. By that time, I was ready to leave, not because of their interruptions, but because I was done with my quiche and chapter.
I stopped by the jigsaw puzzles, picked out 4 that I liked, and also came across a B&N special edition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys. Gathering up all those items with my bad back was probably interesting to watch. An employee saw me just as I was heading to the front to check out and offered to get me a hand cart, but my next stop was the checkout cashier, so I didn't need it. The cashier behind the counter managed to get everything into one bag and walked around to the front of the counter to give it to me.
For a non-people preferred day, I was peopled out by the time I got home.
First, I went to the Hurst Library to look for a book to check out. I found it, and then I went to the far back to the Reading Alcove that they have. As you can see from the picture, it's a very serene, atrium-like room which I have always enjoyed since they added it to the library. My back is still killing me every moment of the day, so I sat in one of the corner chairs with a yin-yang-shaped, swivel desk top that I could use to rock back and fourth on, stretching my back out into various positions as I read.
There was no one there when I first walked in, and I was glad how quiet it was. A bit later an older guy came in with a book, and after that a college-aged girl with laptop and textbook of some sort. Then, kids with their moms came in, going over to the fireplace, then making lots of noises with papers they had been coloring, and then leaving. I finally deduced that they were doing some sort of library treasure hunt and collecting stickers from different areas of the library. The gentleman ended up leaving. After a bit, the girl came over and asked me if I was going to be there a while, and if I wouldn't mind watching her stuff while she ran to her car for something. Sure, no problem. While she was gone, two more kids with moms came in, and one of them was the meanest mom (or what seemed to be more grandma than mom) ever. She griped at the young girl for going this route instead of that route on her paper, so now they had to collect 5 more stickers instead of just 4, and next time she had BETTER listen to her and do as she told her, or ELSE! She was so bitter towards that child, it was ridiculous. I felt sorry for her, but I stayed out of it. The other mom in the room gave her the same look I did as we watched her leave the Reading Alcove. The college girl came back, luckily having missed the bitchy scene. I finished reading my chapter and headed out myself.
Next, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. There was a huge sign out front saying "Entire Store Clearance." I walked in and quickly stopped to look at the items on the wall to the left, where they normally display "As seen on TV" items. I noticed this Hamilton Beach 2-in-1 coffee maker and contemplated getting it for our house. As I was looking at the box, a gentleman walked up and started telling me how he just bought the smaller version of this himself and he totally recommended it. He was telling me all about it, it's features, etc. I asked a couple questions about the filter. He said it was a good price and would be even better if I had one of these, indicating I should look and see what he was talking about. I noticed in his hand he had one of the Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons we tend to get in the mail, and he seemed like he was trying to give me the coupon as a gift with which to buy the coffee maker. I also happened to notice his left arm was a stub just past the elbow, which otherwise didn't make any difference in the grand scheme of things - just something I noticed. I was fine with him telling me about the coffee maker, but for some reason I started feeling really odd when he was trying to offer the coupon, and I had no intentions for making a purchase right then, so at that point I said, "Thank you," in a manner indicating I was done with the conversation. He said, "Ah, yes, okay," and scurried away, and I do mean scurried. It was funny watching him walk away, because it wasn't exactly casual the way he did it. I went and looked at cutting boards and then at knife sets. I saw him one more time in the same area as the knives, but he didn't notice me, or at least didn't appear to notice me again. I went to look at kettles, but they didn't really have any of note. Then I left.
I walked next door to Barnes & Noble and took my copy of Stranger In A Strange Land with me that I have been re-reading this week. I went to the coffee shop and purchased a quiche and a vanilla latte and found a seat. After a couple bites and a couple pages into that chapter, the perhaps mid-40s lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I wouldn't mind helping her understand something. I could hear her and her female friend talking in both another language and English earlier, and saw that they had a lot of papers and books out in front of them when I sat down. "Sure," I said. I turned around to face her. She had a sheet of paper with stuff all over it and was asking me what the word "capital" meant. At first I thought of the capital of a state or country, but I read a couple words near it and realized it was referencing the economic definition of capital, as in venture capital, or capital assets. I tried to explain someone lending money to someone else in order to make more money, and she recognized the word loan, but I knew that didn't exactly explain capital. I mentioned investment, but that seemed to be too big of a word for her to know. I gave the example of giving her money to start a business, and at that point I think she was grasping the term.
A bit later, she asked if I could help again. Again, I turned around, happy to be of service, really. It was an interruption to my reading, but I really enjoyed being able to benefit someone else, and I didn't exactly mind the interruption. This time she asked about a question that appeared to be on a multiple choice test. "The gross state product of Texas is $1.xxx trillion. If Texas were an independent nation, what would be it's ranking in the world market?" She didn't understand "gross," "gross state product," "independent nation," or "ranking." I explained them all, with independent nation being a country, and it's asking if Texas were a country instead of one of the states, and ranking was 1st/2nd/3rd, and gross - well, gross and gross state product were a bit more difficult to explain. She was smart though, and really was just having trouble with the translations, so once I was able to explain it, she understood. She also had the answers with explanations, so she was really just trying to understand the exact translations for certain words.
Once more before I left she asked for assistance. This one was, "Which were considered the most advanced of the pre-Columbian groups in the Mesoamerican areas?" The answers included Maya and Aztecs, Iroquois, and some others I didn't recognize, with the Mayans and Aztecs being the answer. She needed help understanding "advanced," "pre-Columbian," "Mesoamerican," and all of the groups listed in the answers. At one point, I mentioned the Mayan pyramids, which were like the Egyptian pyramids, but different. "Oh! How did you know we were Egyptian?" I didn't. I honestly thought they were speaking Spanish, but as I wasn't paying all that much attention, I really hadn't noticed that it wasn't. She mentioned this was for some kind of Economics class. I pulled up pictures on my phone of the Mayan pyramids, and they told me about the ones they also had with steps in them. By that time, I was ready to leave, not because of their interruptions, but because I was done with my quiche and chapter.
I stopped by the jigsaw puzzles, picked out 4 that I liked, and also came across a B&N special edition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys. Gathering up all those items with my bad back was probably interesting to watch. An employee saw me just as I was heading to the front to check out and offered to get me a hand cart, but my next stop was the checkout cashier, so I didn't need it. The cashier behind the counter managed to get everything into one bag and walked around to the front of the counter to give it to me.
For a non-people preferred day, I was peopled out by the time I got home.
