Making Noise in Public Library

I had to watch a lot of Sesame Street when my brother was young. Which is fine, except that we are eleven years apart in age, so when he was 2 and I was 13 I was watching a lot of Sesame Street. There was one bit that I remember with Grover. He was sitting on a mountain top wearing lederhausen and calling out "Echo" and listening to the return "Echo, echo, echo." During this time my dad was working at the American Embassy in Rabat, Morocco. We had a great Moorish styled home with tiles and marble and echoing hallways, as well as critters you find in a Mediterranean home. Especially gecko's. Not so cute as the Geico one when it crawls out of your bath tub spout. My brother, a fan of Grover (and his own voice) would sometimes sit at the bottom of the staircase and call up the marble stairs and the echo'y hallway "Gecko, Gecko, Gecko." Loving the sound of his voice bouncing around back and forth.

So, I'm back at the Public Library today and in the midst of the seemily normal people surrouding me who are also working on laptops or reading books and newspapers, there is a man standing in the staircase making "MMMHHHMMM" noises, listening to the acoustics and the sounds he can make.

I'm coming around to this whole Public Library experience. It is entertaining.

The Public Library Is Stinky

In an attempt to get out of my apartment (and you know bathe and get dressed) and take a break from my new obsessive news watching, I am blogging from the Chicago Public Library. Usually I go to various coffee shops. I have quite the knowledge of which ones have free wifi and which ones are loud, which ones quiet and who plays the best music. But in an attempt to be economical (because let's be honest, it's never FREE. I feel obligated to order a coffee or buy a bottle of water or a sandwich and before I know it, it's been a $14 dollar afternoon) I am trying out the public library. This is what I've observed so far:

• It stinks. Kind of like a mix of B.O., new car smell and stale air.
• There are a lot of people in here on a Monday afternoon. Recessionistas? Daycrawlers who work from home? Retirees? Who knows...
• The seats by the window go fast.
• It's a wackadoodle trip down memory lane sitting in a study carrel. I keep expecting to see Greek letters carved into the wood. Or graffiti referring to my sorority (or one of the others) as slutty.
  
• I type REALLY loud.
• Turning the page of a newspaper is a distracting sound.
• People need to turn off their ringers. (and what is great is that if you don't, the sweet Asian lady librarian will come over and passive aggressively request that you kindly turn if off)
  
• The guy sitting one study carrol over from me needs a cough drop.
• I need to be able to gaze out a window and think for like hours when I'm attempting to write brilliant things.
• Next time, come early and snag a window seat. (and bring a cough drop for throat clearer sitting next to you)