See You At The Library
I may or may not have started the New Year celebrations a little early. Today is New Years eve and I spent the majority of my morning being hungover after a night of Italian food and karaoke. Honestly, I’m not even 30 yet and I feel like I'm ready to cut out drinking altogether. My back hurts from ungodly things that I don't remember from last night? Did I break dance at some point? I guess the IG stories will flow in eventually to remind me of an outgoing version of myself that I don't recognize.
Today’s schedule went a bit out of plan. I skipped the gym, but I did make it to my local library! During my winter break from school, I have decided to teach myself how to do algebra, and then later statistics and probability. I think this should be fun! Teaching myself new skills in a low-pressure environment means that I will actually retain more of the information that I learn.
Around 11am, I waddled out of my room, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and put on a comfy denim jumpsuit. I ate a gluten free granola bar that tasted extraordinary after a night of nothing but fried food and peanuts. I blasted some Lana del Rey and pouted about not bringing another snack with me for the drive. After arriving, I couldn't help but notice how quiet the area was. It was almost freaky! I followed the detailed signs to the entrance of the library and when those sliding doors opened with a smooth wind, I took a deep breath. This place was gorgeous. It was well kept, clean, organized. You could hear adults downstairs sharing witty banter with the librarians. Upstairs was quiet, peaceful. I walked by floor to ceiling rooms of glass where people were meeting for robotics, puzzles, and studying. I even saw a sewing club meeting!
I did a small lap before I found a friendly woman sitting at a desk with a small labeling task in front of her. We chatted, I of course mentioned that this is my first time here and her energy was amazing! She was knowledgeable, engaged, enthusiastic about the reading material on the second level. I was blown away.
I got a cool library card and headed over to the area where she pointed out the science and mathematics section. There was so much! I grabbed a few things to take with me and wrapped around the aisles in awe of all of the amazing things that I could be learning while on my Winter break. Who needs a man when you can have books?
In between the aisles were pockets of sitting areas with tables, extended seating, more leather cushioned furniture. As I made myself comfortable, I remembered something funny the librarian from earlier said.. “Have you paid your taxes to the township yet? Well you’re finally starting to use them”. Initially, I thought that she was joking. Uh.. no. I do get taxed heavily in my area, but I thought that was because I lived in an area code with bigger houses. Seeing that my money was actually going towards maintaining this beautiful sanctuary of knowledge and local activities that foster growth and creativity was.. Astounding?
I cracked open my new book for a little under an hour and felt so at peace that I almost fell asleep. I did not want to be that person snoring in the library, so I packed my things and headed for the exit.
You will never guess what stopped me in my tracks.. The freaking cookbook section.
In all of my adult years, I thought that recipe finding was very one-dimensional. You go on pinterest, because most random recipes on google are horrible. Then you filter recipes based on the responses in the comments, flip through the photos of someone else trying the recipe, then sort of go back and forth with yourself about the difficulty before you make your decision.
I felt like a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me. You’re telling me that in this pristinely kept building, I can not only learn about astronomy, but I can also learn how to make a Bucatini Verde with a tuscan kale pesto and walnuts?
There are a few more things that I caught my eye before I sprinted out:
I then visited my favorite grocery store for some ingredients to test a new recipe with, and then headed home to do some more reading.
As you guys know, tomorrow is the beginning of a new year. 2024 was phenomenal to me. I am not sure how many times I can say that before I’m sick of hearing it. 2025 will be so much better.
Enjoy and be safe out there,
Fran.
