We were at the National library as usual last sunday, eager to get a spot inside the study lounge for a change. It was going to be opened at 9am, so we scheduled to meet on the train at like 8:30 so we'd be in time. Of course, being us, we weren't exactly punctual, but we got to the study lounge at the nlb at 9:05! And surprise, surprise! It was full. Already.
So we started to grumble. It was so typical of us. And we slumped into the cosy carrels in defeat. And pouting. It was dumb, and we decided to wait it out. So for that hour, we just sat on the floor with the short table and pretended we were doing work. No I mean, we were actually looking out for available seats. But tell me, which kiasu idiot would chiong to the library before 9am and then give up his seat at 10am? Noone, seriously. There were these people who left their belongings there for more than an hour. And I was so sure they went for the morning breakfast okay.
So being provoked and frustrated, we headed down to the basement at 10am and we were sure that they were going to have seats. We ended up on the far end of the basement, squeezed in between two chinagirls and two jc guys. We sat there from 10 till 'bout 5pm, and then Hidayah had a call from Jia Hui, who was at the study lounge with Hazel (they were the smarter, earlier birds) , telling us that they had seats for us!
They were nice enough lah, so yeah, we headed up and were finally contented. We no longer had to deal with the shaky table and packed confines of the basement. It was so comical, I tell you. Whenever someone used the eraser, the entire table would experience a seismic earthquake and the people on the table would be like. Sigh. And my bloody stomata stomach was growling! I was writing messages to Hidayah, 'cos the library was too extremely quiet, and she thought I wrote stomata instead of stomach. Of course, we were trying so hard to hide our chuckles like, under the table.
The study lounge was more conducive I guess. You can eat there! Is the best part of it all. And the thing is, you can talk to your friend there and not really be heard at all. They've got wonderfully big and white tables for you to expand your territory as and when you want to spread your books and materials around. (:
There was this man, this middle-aged weirdo. He sat down opposite me and began to whollup his pack of potato chips. Not that I minded the incessant crunching and chewing sounds at all, but the mere sight of him eating like there's no tomorrow made me cringe. When he was done, he bought another pack from the vending machine as we all watched with furtive glances, in disgusted pain.
Nevermind all that, guess what he did after finishing everything up? He took his bottle of barley drink, poured all of its contents into his mouth, and no! He didn't drink it all down. He gurgled the barley drink! For a solid few moments somemore! And in the dead silence of the library, it was all amplified lah!
I was like. Stare. Make him feel embaressed. Make him feel sorry for the gross shit we had to endure. Make him feel bad. Then he gave me a you-got-a-problem-with-me-doing-that look? I went back to my work anyways, and he also disappeared from the lounge for quite a long while, before he came back and shifted his things to another spot.
We mugged till it was time to break fast for Hidayah, and we left our stuff there and got our take away dinner. We had like 20 nuggets and we chowed away under the jealous stares of the other library users. Hahahhaha. Pay back time for not letting us have a place in the morning!
We're heading there this Saturday again. And earlier too, to secure them bloody seats!
