Escape is so simple

My first post on the road. This is kinda exciting. Even though you can't see me while I type this (at least, I hope you can't see me, because that would be creepy), just trust me that I'm not lying to you, and I am, in fact, not sitting at home.

Okay, so "on the road" is used quite loosely here, since I'm actually about 15 minutes away from home. I am writing this post from the public library, as my first attempt at setting up shop outside my own domain didn't go so well. Lesson for the day, kids: coffee houses attract some real jerkwads. I mean, wouldn't you be upset if three pretentious knobs park themselves right next to your quiet little self, who is typing away on a computer, minding her own bidness, just so Ms. Important can plug in her cell phone and not miss any calls, because she is that important? And then, the 3PK proceed to talk about uppity businessy schmoozy stuff that yourself and the chick reading next to you don't care about in the least, but they are too busy pumping up their own egos and checking their phones every two seconds in case they miss an important email...wouldn't that make you upset?

Hence, the reason I moved on to the library. Of course, I forgot about the summertime library effect: 3,000 screaming children, whose parents have no respect for the "keep quiet in the library" days of yore. Oh, how I miss those days. At least this library is big enough that I could move away from the kids' end, even though I really wanted to sit in on that Lego building party they're having (hey, the guy said it was for "ages 5 and up", and I am slightly above the age of 5, so I technically qualify...I'd just look like I'd be searching for a prison record if I went in by myself, is all).

It's nice to get out of the house every once in a while and see the real world...makes it that much better when you get to escape it later! Being among the city folk is a great way to observe humanity, at its best and worst, all rolled into one sunny morning. I always find it intriguing to see what people are reading when they sit in the library, as well as how they act when they are in this place. I've found at this particular branch, most parents drop their kids off and bolt, like they're leaving them at a babysitter's place. That makes me angry, because it's incredibly disrespectful. A library is supposed to be a happy place, and when you leave 3,000 kids in the hands of people whose job descriptions do not include daycare duties, you make it an unhappy place for all of us.

It's funny that a library is such a common place to escape for so many people, and ironic that when more people escape to the library, it makes it louder and more annoying, and hence becomes a place that you want to escape from. For the most part, I can tune out the loudness at the front end of the place...as long as it doesn't show up right in front of me, I should be all right.

Another place I like to escape to is a second-hand bookstore. I love finding little treasures in the aisles: long-forgotten books that were taking up space in someone's home, now have a chance for a new life with an excited person looking to recapture or re-live a part of their past.

Books themselves are my favourite escape route, even more so than television (yeah, that's right, I said it). There's something about the happy feeling provided by reading a good book on any kind of day: whether it's a stormy day and you're curled up under a blanket listening to the rain hit the window, or it's a beautiful sunny day and you're stretched out on the beach with the waves crashing nearby, or you're sitting on a park bench enjoying the sounds of nature.

Come to think of it, I'm going to find a book myself and head outside for the rest of this beautiful day. There has to be a park bench around here somewhere, or a stretch of water nearby. I'll sit in the sun and work on my tan (if the sun can penetrate the SPF45 I'm forced to wear) and escape to another world.

As long as it's nowhere near a coffee house.