Headphones Are A Wonderful Investment

The Asian male has a friend here today, that got here after him but is sitting on the table next to his. They say hello, talk to each other in another language for a minute, and then both begin to play on their cell phones. The girl with the purple backpack is here, sitting to my right. Jasmine’s boyfriend is here, alone this time, writing away in his notebook. A man in a grey shirt has chosen to sit next to the girl with the purple backpack, even though there are multiple tables still open. Grey shirt sits next to purple backpack, and starts telling her about his day. This causes me to assume they know one another. Once grey shirt is done talking and stressing about his history report due later today, he asks for purple backpack’s name. Once they exchange names and shake hands, he begins asking her where she is from and all kinds of personal questions. I guess I was wrong, because grey shirt and purple backpack do not know one another. Purple backpack likes California, so they talk about their likes/dislike of the state for a few minutes. As they talk, purple backpack looks a little more uncomfortable with every passing minute. Grey shirt tells purple backpack where he is from and gives her his background story, to which she nods her head and tries to get back to work. Each time grey shirt finishes talking, purple backpack desperately tries to act busy and get her homework done. She seems embarrassed by how loud and distracting he is. After about five minutes of grey shirt talking, purple backpack gets up to leave and tells him goodbye. Purple backpack must be very bothered by his presence, because she has never left the library before me.

Cheetos is back again today, but someone is sitting in his seat so he stands in the middle of the room as usual, debating where to sit now that his spot is taken. After about two minutes of contemplation, Cheetos decides to sit next to the girl who is in his spot, but leaves a table between them. The females outnumber the males in the library today, which is unusual. To my left, there is an Asian woman who is sitting at the table next to the Asian male and his friend, but they are not here together. To my right, there is a girl in a very low tank-top sitting in Cheetos’ usual spot, working on her laptop. There is another girl next to low tank-top with a Las Vegas bag who is just playing on her phone. Las Vegas’ headphones are in and her foot is tapping to the music. No one is looking around at other people today (excluding me) because it is once again a quiet day. After ten minutes, low tank-top leaves and Cheetos wastes no time to move over to the spot she was in. He all but throws his laptop and backpack over the table, as if the room is full of people, and hurriedly moves the rest of his things over.

It is quiet for twenty minutes or so, and when I look around at everyone here, the Asian woman to my left has fallen asleep on her books. The Asian male is still playing on his phone, laughing out loud to himself, and his friend is getting up to leave. Las Vegas is still on her phone, typing away, and Cheetos is working on his laptop. An older woman who looks lost has done two loops around the library, but there are only five of us left here besides her. A woman in a green shirt has come and sit down at the table next to mine. She gets out her laptop and begins to play music. Without her headphones in. Why in the world does everyone think that others want to hear their music either through headphones too loud or without using headphones? It’s rude, but for some odd reason people think that it’s okay to do it. In a world so focused on being politically correct, everyone has forgotten about basic manners. When I very obviously grabbed my headphones and put them in she gave me a glare, but I don’t mind. Sport shorts walks in, and I remember I haven’t seen him here for about a month. He has his headphones in and plays on his phone for a while. He then flips open the book he brought with him, finds the page he needs, and plays on his phone a little more. He is interesting to watch, because he flips the pages every once in a while, but is obviously not reading them because his finger is scrolling through his phone. He laughs to himself every so often, but is quiet and respectful.

Green shirt is then joined by a male with a large soda, and she screams (literally screams in a very high and annoying voice) profanities at him for some reason I am not aware of. Green shirt explains to soda that she has a huge paper due on Thursday and she is struggling to get it done. She warns him not to distract her, and they both begin looking on their computers. After a minute or so she leans over to him and asks him why New Mexico is poor, to which he responds “I don’t know,” and she gets back to work. They did not greet one another, she screamed profanities at him, and they sat as far away from one another as you possibly can being on the same side of the table. I can’t really tell what this relationship is all about, but it seems strange. She gives up on the paper after about 15 minutes, and is playing a game on her IPad now. They talk to one another about school and personal life issues that I can’t hear for about 20 minutes. I’ve been here for two hours now, and it is time for me to go. Everyone is starting to quiet down so that’s a good place to end.

Please Don't Drink and Drive

The library is quiet today when I first walk in. There are only four other people here, five counting the man in sweats who walked in at the same time as me. The Asian male is here, as usual, and everyone is working hard on homework. The atmosphere on campus begins to change around this time as finals approach, with less students goofing off and more students cramming for tests and writing last minute papers. There is a woman wandering around, possibly looking for a book, but she is doing so very quietly. Suddenly, an older man and a blond woman enter. The blond woman seems to be escorting the older man around the library, and she looks nervous. The older man takes his time to stand in the corner of the quiet zone and have a good look around. He doesn’t say a word, but nods his head when he is ready to move on. The blond woman tells him that next they will be going around the corner as they begin to leave. Perhaps the library has inspections and the older man is here to do the job? The way the blond woman is keeping her distance, but staying very close to the older man makes me think it is some sort of inspection or checkup.

The couple that was here last week is back again. This time they decided to sit together at the same table. Now that they are sitting at the same table, they only have one computer open and are pointing to the screen while talking about something. They are speaking so low that I cannot even tell what they are saying. She looks like the princess Jasmine, so I will call her Jasmine for her pseudonym. Jasmine leans in very close to the boyfriend with glasses, but they never touch one another. When they are done talking about whatever is on the computer, Jasmine scoots her chair away from his and begins writing on a piece of paper. After a couple of minutes, the boyfriend gets tired of working and stares at the ceiling. He stays that way for a while, so I think he has fallen asleep. The boyfriend bolts awake, however, when a man sitting in the corner by the window begins talking. He is speaking so loud that it shocked almost everyone in the room who is used to the silence we have been enjoying. Loud-mouth has his headphones in, and is holding his cell phone away from him while looking at the screen. This causes me to think that loud-mouth must be Facetiming someone. Loud-mouth is speaking in a different language, Spanish, and must be talking so loud because he can’t hear himself outside the headphones. Because I haven’t learned how to speak Spanish yet, I can’t understand what he is saying, but I can tell he is talking to a buddy by his tone of voice and the curse words I recognize.

Another couple has settled at a table, and they both have giant cups of iced Starbucks drinks. The man has a chain around his neck, and the woman has a lacey see-through shirt. Lacey begins talking about another man who is taking a lot of classes, and says that she doesn’t know how he handles the workload. Chain-neck replies very smugly that this is the other man’s third time taking chemistry, and they laugh about it with each other, commenting on how many classes they have failed. Even though the man in the corner is being loud, they are both speaking quietly and being considerate of everyone around them. They are talking about their chemistry professor in a very disapproving way, but chain-neck doesn’t seem to care as much as lacey. Lacey is ranting and raving about how the chemistry professor doesn’t give any grades back until the end of the semester, and I remember hearing about the professor from someone else before. Lacey thinks she should be required to give grades back every week so they can see their grades before the semester ends and they get a surprise. In the time that I have taken notes about their class, they have moved on to talking about how they think the drinking age should be lowered (no wonder they are failing classes). They are interesting to watch converse with one another, because they are sitting across from each other, on opposite sides, but lean in to one another as they talk. Lacey does most of the talking, and chain-neck listens and says “really,” and “wow,” and “no way,” appropriately. It seems like he is interested in her because he is obviously a little bored, but keeps listening. They are joined by a male in a bright green shirt, but as soon as they start talking about friends driving under the influence, I cannot force myself to listen to them any longer.

Jasmine and her boyfriend have now left, so there are two open tables left in the library. The library is always quiet when I first get here, and busy by the time I leave. This is probably because most students prefer to take classes in the afternoon, instead of early in the morning like I do. A man in khaki shorts has come in and he sat at a table next to a girl he knows. They say hello to one another, very formally, and talk about their finals. They are sitting far apart and are not as quiet as neck-chain and lacey. Their conversation ends quickly, however, and they both get to work. Another male has walked in, carrying a big bag of Hot Cheetos. Cheetos stands in the middle of the room, presumably looking for a seat. Even though there are more tables open than usual, Cheetos can’t seem to figure out where he wants to sit. After looking from the Asian male, to me, to the man in khaki shorts talking in the corner, he decides to sit by khaki shorts against the wall. Instead of leaving a table between him and khaki shorts like most people do, Cheetos sits down right next to khaki shorts, pulls out his laptop, and gets to work. It’s possible he didn’t sit by me or the Asian male because there are no open seats near me, except for the one directly across from me, and one open across from the Asian male. Cheetos could possibly be observing people as well, because every time I look up from my notes he is watching others and typing on his laptop. After five minutes, the number of people in the quiet zone has doubled and I am happy to get a phone call telling me it’s time to leave campus.

Was The Study Group Helpful?

The library is full of people when I walk in. I don’t recognize anyone here except for the Asian male (who is here every week) and the girl with the purple backpack. Usually the library is very quiet, but there is a study group here in the quiet zone. Everyone here that is not involved in the study group has their headphones in because the study group is being quite loud. Today the Asian male is working on his laptop quietly by himself. The girl in the purple backpack is typing away and reading her textbook as usual. The study group is a group of nine girls. The group seems to be studying for a math class because they keep going over statistics problems. As usual, some are more prepared than the others trying to piggy-back off of them. There is one girl who is conducting the study session and knows what she is doing better than any of the others. I’m wondering if she is a TA or she has taken the class before because she also knows the outline of the class very well. The others ask her for the date of assignments and finals and the conductor always knows the answers.

              There is one couple in the room and a few single people spread out in the corners. The couple that is here together are sitting at different tables, like they want space from one another, but are still talking quietly. The conductor of the study session is answering questions for everyone else still. Three more girls come into the room and sit next to them. The girls at the table ask where they have been and they reply that they went to get some food. The conductor decides that she would like to grab something to eat, and she leaves the study group. A girl that is much too skinny to notice anything else about her asks everyone how they are doing as soon as the conductor leaves. The way she took over causes me to think that she must be second in charge. Another girl, very short with spiky hair, says that she is having trouble and cannot figure out the problem she is working on. The skinny girl begins to try to help her with it, while two others are helping each other on another problem.

              Across the room, the Asian male’s phone begins to ring and he answers it at his desk. This is unusual, because when his phone rings he always gets up to answer it elsewhere. I’m guessing that he doesn’t feel the need to leave the room because the study group is being so loud. The girl with the purple backpack is still typing away, and the couple is working silently with their headphones in. There is a guy with an odd shaped head who is pacing behind the desk right in front of me, and I’ve never seen him here before. While he is pacing, the conductor returns with food and sits down to try and help skinny girl explain the problem to the girl with spiky hair. Skinny girl returns to her seat and begins to look at Facebook on her laptop with a girl that has blue hair (not completely blue, just partially). I hadn’t noticed the girl with blue hair before, but now that I’m observing her she seems to be just as comfortable with the class material as the conductor and skinny girl. The guy with the odd shaped head has returned to his seat and is talking out loud to himself as he writes something down on his class worksheet. I know some people claim they work better when they think out loud, so I wonder if he does as well.

              When it is just about time for me to leave, conductor stands up and says she has to go. Everyone in the study group says goodbye to her, but no one thanks her even though she spent time helping almost all of them. She doesn’t seem to mind that they don’t thank her, and she seems very happy as she leaves the library. Skinny girl and blue hair get up and tell everyone they are leaving as well, and I couldn’t help but overhear them saying what a waste of time it was as they left. Spikey hair stands up as soon as they leave, and bids everyone farewell by saying that she hopes they don’t fail as miserably as her. The group has left, and as soon as the last two girls are out of earshot, the library has gone back to its usual quiet atmosphere.

Choosing Boys Over School

The library is very quiet today. The only other person here besides me is the Asian male who is here every week. Today he is not studying, he is just smiling while looking at his phone. He has food wrappers spread over the table and doesn’t have his laptop open today. There is a male in khaki pants that wanders in looking for a book, but he is very lost and keeps walking in circles. He finally finds his book, and heads for the exit while two girls walk in. They are wearing matching hoodies and shoes, probably trying to look like “twins.” Twin two hands twin one a notebook and tells her she can copy the notes from it. Sport shorts walks in right after them, except he is wearing what looks like a Nike golfing outfit today. I guess today he will have to be known as Nike man. He is all by himself this time and gets straight to work, like he is actually going to study, instead of playing around on his phone. The twins on my left begin looking on their phones and mumbling things to one another that I cannot understand. Khaki pants is back very briefly, then disappears into the bookshelves as if he is looking for something else. Perhaps he grabbed the wrong book by accident? Nike man puts in his headphones and begins playing on his phone, meaning I was wrong. Nike probably isn’t going to be studying today.

Meanwhile, a man in glasses has entered and begins typing numbers into his calculator and writing in his notebook. He chose to sit as far away from everyone else as possible, and he is hurriedly getting his work done. Two more people enter, a man in a green shirt and a girl with a purple backpack. They walk in very awkwardly because they do not know one another even though they came in at the same time. Purple backpack sits on my left next to the Asian male who is still smiling on his phone, and green shirt sits on my right between glasses and Nike man. In twenty minutes the library has gone from almost empty to pretty busy, but the only two talking to each other are the twins. Twin number one is frustrated about something, and twin two is trying to console her. They begin laughing about the course they are taking and how far behind they are, and go back to writing notes. The reason I am having a hard time understanding what they are saying now is because a girl in patterned leggings has sat between us and opened her bagel she brought with her. The wrappers are very loud in the almost silent room, and leggings cringes as she tries to get to the bagel. I’ve never noticed how loud Einstein Bros Bagel packages are before now.

A man with a longboard enters and looks disappointed to see so many people in the quiet zone of the library and I do not blame him. He eventually decides to pick a seat in the middle of the room. Longboard pulls out a giant laptop and homework packets, and starts to fill out the papers slowly. He looks very reluctant to finish his homework. After Longboard is settled, Asian male puts his phone down and begins to listen to the twins talking about a boy they both have a crush on in their biology class. He seems amused for a moment, and continues listening as he pulls out his laptop to start it. He takes his banana peel to the garbage, fills up his water bottle, then returns and begins typing on his laptop, still listening to the twins and smiling when something they say amuses him. The twins are now talking about some other girl they know and giggling about something she text twin one. Twin two listens intently, like she is enjoying herself. The twins have moved to the floor and it seems they have completely given up on studying now. They continue giggling and looking at twin one’s cell phone while going back to discussing the boy they like. Just as they are talking about which twin should approach him, a well-groomed man in a Volcom shirt sits down and looks around at everyone else while drinking his smoothie. He sneezes, and no one in the room says bless you except me. He can’t hear me with his headphones in, and I wonder for a moment if that’s why hardly anyone says it anymore. His music suddenly gets loud enough that we can all hear it, and others begin looking at him with tired expressions. Twin two has moved up to the table from the floor and is pointing to Volcom for twin one to see. They seem a little boy crazy to me. When they start talking I assume they are talking about Volcom, but once again they are speaking so quietly I can’t hear them over Volcom’s music and striped legging’s wrapper noises. It is time for me to go to class and I am almost sad to leave because of how busy and interesting the library has been today.

Can you feel the love?

There is a couple in the corner today, both drinking coffee from Einstein Bros. Bagels. He is in a red shirt and very skinny, and she is significantly taller than him. When they kiss she has to bend down to reach his lips, even when sitting. They seem very involved in their conversation, but I am too far away to understand them. They have a biology book open and it seems like they are supposed to be studying. Most people in here today aren’t studying. The Asian male glued to his computer screen is back again, but has a friend today. They aren’t talking or acknowledging one another, but are both bobbing their heads to the same beat. There is another tall male with “poofy” hair in the middle of the room with his headphones in, typing furiously on his computer. He is replying to someone on Facebook. Red shirt gets up with the wrappers and his empty coffee cup and heads for the trash can. While red shirt is walking away, tall girl starts to fix her hair and check her make-up on her phone. She is done quickly and returns to normal before he faces the table. After he sits down, he reaches into his backpack and pulls out flashcards that they begin to study with. The Asian male and his friend laugh at something they have heard or seen on his computer, then go back to their silent head bobbing.

It’s quiet for about ten minutes until a couple comes in holding hands. They are both grinning from ear to ear, and the girl with the big diamond ring on her finger is quietly teasing the scruffy man about something. They have a Subway sandwich with them, so they sit at the table next to mine and begin eating. They are quiet, but busily and excitedly talking about school and work as if they haven’t seen one another for a long time. They are constantly touching each other- holding hands, touching legs, or rubbing one another’s backs. When they are finishing up their bag of chips they are sharing, diamond ring tells scruffy man that he forgot to lock the door this morning. I had assumed they hadn’t seen each other because of their enthusiasm to talk to one another, but they had just been together hours before now. I wonder if they are always this excited to be with one another. They begin to talk about scruffy man’s family coming into town this weekend, and she seems stressed by the upcoming visit. Scruffy man begins to rub the palm of diamond ring’s hand, soothingly telling her that they will have time to get the house cleaned and it instantly calms her. He seems to know just how to calm her down and keep her from building onto the stress.

Once diamond ring has calmed down and talked through how much time she has to get home and get their home cleaned before work, scruffy man smiles at her encouragingly and gets up to throw away their trash. Instead of fixing her hair and make-up as tall girl did, diamond ring watches scruffy man slowly and full of thought, until he returns to his seat. Scruffy man leans in to kiss diamond ring, and their kiss is much slower and longer than red shirt and tall girl’s kiss. They are kissing like they’re greeting one another after being apart for months. Perhaps that’s just how their relationship is? It’s almost like I’m watching a movie and I’m not sure if I should be intruding on their extremely romantic moment in the library. I’m beginning to wonder what their romance is like when they are alone and how long they have been dating. Instead of being loud and obnoxious like teenagers trying to get attention, they are quiet and to themselves, but still have overflowing passion for one another. They being to read their books separately, but keep holding hands. The Asian male and his friend have been laughing for a while now, and diamond ring begins to giggle at their enthusiasm. Scruffy man gives her a smile, but then tells her they’ve got to get their work done and she nods her head and goes back to work. Everyone has gone silent now so there is nothing more to observe.

Not So Quiet In The Quiet Zone

A man in a blue shirt and a short girl with “nerd glasses” are sitting in silence in the corner, but glancing at one another and giggling frequently. They keep looking at me with odd expressions because I sat near them, almost like they’re wondering why I came to their spot. Maybe they will be here next week? There are only two other people here that are both sitting in the corners against the opposite wall, glued to their computer screens. One is a female with her headphones in, the other is an Asian male focusing intently at the work on his computer.

Some time passes before another man in sport shorts enters, sighing and rubbing his eyes. He sits next to the short girl without saying hello, greeting them by explaining that he hasn’t studied at all for the exam they must be studying for. Short girl pulls out her notes and immediately begins going over them with the man in sport shorts, but the man in the blue shirt loses interest and doesn’t say much. Sport shorts asks her how long she has been here and short girl shrugs, not knowing the exact time, but says that she is tired. They go silent and begin studying, all the while blue shirt mumbles small sentences to the girl and checks his cell phone a lot. The guys keep glancing around, not seeming to be very interested in studying, while short girl looks over her notes and reads through the book. Blue shirt and sport shorts seem to be more interested in who can keep short girl’s attention the longest. After five minutes (if that) sport shorts guy gets up and leaves for a moment, adjusting his shorts as he returns. This tells me he probably went on a bathroom break. When he returns, short girl asks if the professor is going to ask about any material from chapter seven on the exam. Both men shrug and they go quiet again, resuming their text messaging or browsing on their phones.

 In the corner directly opposite of where we are sitting, the female with her headphones in is joined by a male who takes off his jacket, revealing his muscle shirt. Muscle shirt leans down to greet her with a kiss and sits on the opposite side of the table, instead of the same side as her, and they both begin writing in their notebooks. They go silent and don’t seem to have any updates to tell one another. Then, sport shorts suddenly comes up with a question to ask and the three of them begin to talk about if they do/do not think their professor will put the information on the exam. Blue shirt shrugs and gets back on his cell phone, while short girl and sport shorts guy begin to argue about the information being relevant or not. Short girl ends the discussion by saying that he should go ask the professor if he thinks it will be on the exam. They go quiet for a few minutes, then he starts the conversation again, but short girl is annoyed and tells him that it is not relevant enough to be on the exam. Blue shirt seems to be pleased with her annoyance of the guy in sport shorts. A thick male in athletic clothing sat down right across from me with his music blaring through his headphones. I don’t think he can hear himself breathing because he’s huffing and puffing like he just ran a marathon. I’m going to take that as a good place for me to end my notes and free myself from the music he’s wanting us to hear.