This author is currently on hiatus for the ignoble cause of mugging. The public is advised to remain calm, as this routine protocol has been shown to have no effect on one's violent tendencies in 96% of cases.
| Saturday, March 17, 2007 |
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I can't believe I actually tore myself away from the computer to go down to the NUS library today, for the sake of my HSSRP/HRP literature review. And when i got on the bus i realised i forgot to top up my card, so i had to fumble for 5 cent coins. Ughwtf <_< Anyway, this was the first chance i got to explore the NUS Central Library on my own, but first i ended up spedning almost 20 mins figuring out where the freaking entrance was. I actually walked up almost 10 flights of stairs up the fire escape route or something, before i realised that all the exits were locked up. So i went all the way back down, found the lift for handicapped users, took it up to the 4th storey, and voila! The entrance was right in front of my eyes. The feeling of triumph of finally navigating correctly was just so overwhelming, i could have fallen onto my knees, bowed to Allah for leading me all the way there and kissed the floor tiles in utter gratefulness. But that's just stupid in front of the CCTV camera. So moving right along, i picked up my library card and let my instincts guide me to the floor above. And there i saw...the horror.  Books can kill. Imagine if someone took every single book in just the NUS Central Library alone (there's six others on the compound, btw) and whacked someone's head with them. That poor guy would probably gain an almost-infinite amount of knowledge such that every neutron link would have been connected, but he would be too dead by then to apply any of it. And what a waste of paper that would be. And i looked up on the rows upon rows of hard-backed bound journals and went, WTF. I had never visualised the prospect of facing so many books...alone. And you couldn't simply pick off any book like you do in the NLB libraries, cos there's like Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3 (Incomplete), Volume 4...heck, there's like 10 volumes for the "East Asian Economic Review journal" thingy. Leaning against the wall, i stoned for some time just comtemplating my chances of survival. And the atmosphere was just right for silent contemplation - the only thing you could help in there was the faint click-click of some mugger's fingers dancing across his laptop's keyboard. And every sound in there seemed to be amplified a hundred times - though a pin would probably not make a noise on the sound-proofed carpeted ground. Eventually, i got down to work, flipping through index after index. I almost borrowed an entire collection of books until i realised that it was so heavy, i could hardly lift it up for a few seconds. Plus i had forgotten to bring a bag along, so i just chucked everything aside, heh. On a side note, their patented borrowing machines make a hell lot of sound - the beeps do get really irritating. The travelling time itself took a total of 2 hours. What a waste of time, though i've probably no choice but to go down there again a couple or more times. The neighbourhood libraries are just so much more convenient. Oh, and they stock Terry Prachett too. |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:04 pm.
