Monday, April 6, 2009

This City is Loud

Today I really need to start buckling down with my final projects for the semester or else I am toast. I had class this morning until about noon then I knew I had to complete an assignment for tomorrow's class and make some progress on my group project prior to meeting friends to see a movie later. 

Our class gets our room at SUNY Stony Brook until 3pm, so I tried staying in the room to eat my lunch and start reading. Obviously this wasn't going to work because other groups were having meetings, which is fine, so I finished my sandwich and made my way to 34th and Madison to a public library. This required taking the subway because it was raining and I'm the fool who doesn't know where her umbrella is at the moment, but that's fine too.

Anyway, I get to the library and find a table near the circulation desk and start working. Then I realize that the volume in the room has crept to a dull roar. What the hell? This is a library! I look around giving people my patented "you are so rude" look and realize it's not the other patrons who are disturbing me but the library staff! They are having a little giggle fit over at the circulation desk, then more staff members join in and next thing you know it is taking an incredible amount of effort to focus. At this point the person who is bothering me least is the older, and possibly transient, man sitting to my right who keeps falling asleep at the table.

Determined to rise above and not be curmudgeonly at my young age, I keep working and finish my first assignment. Then a new patron sits next to me. He is another older man who is definitely transient because he had a certain odor. Again, trying to be a decent citizen I plan to rise above, then he gets settled in and so does his odor. I can't handle it, really, so I quickly snap my laptop shut and make my way into the depths of the study room. 

Finally some peace and quiet. I am surrounded by other studious types. Lesson learned: if you want peace and quiet in New York City just keep walking toward the back of the building.

In other news, I've found housing in Anchorage! I will be renting a room from a very kind couple who live near the University for a very reasonable price plus being generally helpful around the house. This is a huge relief for me. Now I have my flight booked, housing settled, and general idea of what my summer will be looking like. I even have some idea of what I'll be doing after I sit for the bar exam: a wild night on the town followed by nursing a hangover then followed by a flight to Seattle to work for my grandparents for a few months. When harvest season ends I'll look into temping to make some more money before going abroad. That's where my plans end, but I figure the details will work themselves out over the next 3 or 4 months. 

On that note, I will now attack my second task for the afternoon so I can hopefully enjoy my movie tonight without feeling guilty about socializing instead of studying.

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