Treasure troves

Libraries are underrated places. I realised this when I visited the Jurong Regional Library last weekend. When most people would enjoy a night out socialising with friends, I was thrilled to tuck into a cozy corner in the library with a cup of coffee and my laptop and delve into deep levels of thought. The interior of this massive 4-storey building was designed with a fountain and next to the absence of human chatter, it was the noise of running water that filled the ears. I didn't notice the hours pass by while I productively did my work, until I heard the 9:00 pm closing announcement.

For a membership fee that costs next to nothing, the public gets access to an enormous collection of reference books, magazines, microfilm, documentaries and movies. Not only that, there there are plenty of places to sit and read or study in silence. There's a small cafe inside the library for short breaks. The library even provides wireless internet and power outlets for charging laptops and phones! Another interesting concept I noticed about libraries here (compared to my time as a child) is that books borrowed from one library can be returned at any other library branch and the location of specific books can be tracked online. 

While going around in circles trying to locate the toilets in this large building, I accidentally discovered a section on movies! And this month, they had doubled the number of movies that can be loaned in one go to SIX!!

I came home with a good haul of movies, including "Ramona and Beezus" for a trip down memory lane

When I was in secondary school, the library had several books by the author Beverly Clearly which I enjoyed reading. One memorable character was Ramona Quimby who is portrayed as a very curious, imaginative and mischievous little girl who causes a lot of trouble (mostly unintentionally) to the ones around her, especially her elder sister Beezus. Efforts to rectify things often makes things worse and the author takes us on an entertaining journey through it all.

The collection of  Ramona's stories by Beverly Clearly

Another well loved series which this reminds me was The Littles by John Peterson. This series features a family of tiny, intelligent humanoid creatures with mouse-like features living in a house owned by the Bigg family (who are humans). The stories consist of colourful characters and many gripping adventures which brought me a lot of joy.

Image Source: netbys.com

Speaking of treasure troves, I found this noteworthy link on The 46 Most Brilliant Life Hacks Every Human Being Needs To Make Life Easier. My favourite was the one below *evil grin* :

How to stop people from stealing your pens at work

Smart minds

Gym Timings
Open from 9:00am - 9:00pm, Saturday to Thursday*
Ladies:  9:00am - 11:00am, 4:00pm - 6:00pm (a total of 4 hours)
Men:    11:30am - 3:30pm, 6:30pm - 9:00pm (a total of 6.5 hours)

*The work week here is from Sunday to Thursday. Some unfortunate folk work on Saturday as part of a 6-day work week.

The above timings are the gym access hours in my residential building. At first glance, it can be inferred that this schedule must have been drafted by:

a) a man who thought that it was more important for men to workout than is it for the ladies. So in addition to longer hours, he also gives his "brothers" prime gym timings on all the days. OR,

b) a woman who was jealous of other working women - maybe because she has no access to a gym, or no time to hit the gym or she has little success with her own workouts. OR,

c) a computer program that generates random time sequences.

I work from 9:00am to 6:00pm on weekdays, and by this schedule, I cannot use the gym on a weekday. And if on Saturday morning (my off day) I happen to indulge in a few extra hours of sleep between 9:00am and 11:00am or happen to run some errands between 4:00pm and 6:00pm, then my chances of using the gym are entirely lost. Not that I care, but here I thought some common sense might be used when creating a schedule such as this.

Now I have found ways around this problem. I have spoken to the building keeper to open up the gym for me at 7:00am, when he does his cleaning rounds. Somedays when he happens to clean the gym at 7:00am, it is not available. But on the days I motivate myself to go one flight of stairs to the gym, which is about 4 days on a good month, I manage a 15-minute workout on one of the running machines and burn 98 calories a day. That is until my nemesis comes for his workout at 7:30am.  This annoying man, refusing to use the good hours allocated to his gender by the building management, prefers to encroach on my time. One day I found him sitting on a muscle building machine and chattering away on the phone. USE THE CORRIDOR DAMMIT. DONT HOG THE GYM IF YOU AREN'T USING IT.

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Public Library Timings
8:00am - 9:00pm on weekdays
Closed on weekends.

I'll start of by saying, I am glad I can used the library on weekdays from 7:30pm to 8:40pm after work.

But what kind of library is closed on weekends? Isn't that when people (mostly working adults and school children) have the time to come and use library facilities? It seems the public library caters mostly to telecommuters, housewives/ househusbands, the unemployed, some school children, some university students and some people who work irregular shifts.

Today I find out that due to the month of fasting, libraries close at 5:30pm on weekdays. All flickering hopes of studying for an impending GRE exam have vanished. I am doomed.

Pictures courtesy of Google Images.