Don't Limit Me, Desk Ladies

Today I had a four-hour calculus class.

It wasn't really a four-hour calculus class, but after our one-hour calculus class, a couple people from the class and I went to the library to study since we have a test in a couple days. We studied by ourselves for an hour and a half, then the teacher came to help us study for the next hour and a half. The other two people may have stayed longer, but I didn't, so I don't know.

I call them "the two people." I don't know how to spell the girl's name, and I don't know the guy's name. I can't ask him now, because we've been studying together and I still don't know his name, so it's long past the grace period of, "I'm sorry, what's your name again?" That grace period is something like the first two or three weeks of the semester. The semester is now almost over so I figure I'll just never know his name.

I assume The Two People don't read this blog. If they do, I guess I'm in trouble. Hello, Two People. My apologies.

I also ate a bologna burger. It was from the campus "snack bar," which apparently sells more than "snacks." The fact that I 1). Ate food from the snack bar, and 2). Ate a bologna burger at all are momentous events in my life. Events that I would like to forget.

The bologna burger was a gift from The Female Half of The Two People, who likes bologna burgers. In a way I'm glad I ate it because I'd always wondered what one was, and I guess also because it saved me from definite starvation. But now I know what it is, and my dislike of mayonnaise is intensified.

Moving past the bologna burger, hopefully forever, I will now talk about what I came to talk about: the library.

I firmly believe that the Vance-Granville Community College library, or the Learning Resource Center (LRC to you) is bigger than either the Franklinton library or the Louisburg library, which is pretty sad. That does not, by the way, mean that the LRC is big.

I wish they would just call it "the library." The title "Learning Resource Center" is entirely too long and vast for VGCC, and makes me want to have a headache.

There are a lot of signs in the LRC. "No eating, drinking, or smoking in the LRC." "Turn your cell phones OFF." "You must sign up to use the computers." Etc. etc. I don't really mind those, except the drinking part, because I like to have my beer where it's quiet and the LRC is the quietest place on campus.

Just kidding. There are other quiet places on campus.

Anyway, the signs I dislike the most are the ones that say, "No sleeping in this area."

The LRC is full of padded chairs.

The LRC even has a sofa area for comfy reading.

And we are in college.

College students are exhausted all the time. It's one of those qualifications for being in college. We're tired because we stay up late, working feverishly, so when we open a book during the day we immediately fall asleep. Because we fall asleep over our books, we don't get much done during the day, so we have to stay up late, working feverishly. Then we get sick. That makes us tired. It's a vicious cycle, I know, but heaven forbid that I should be the one to break the mold and get my work done early and not have to stay up late, working feverishly.

So why on earth the LRC should have signs saying, "No sleeping in this area," I can't fathom. That's exactly what everyone wants to do when they see those comfy chairs. And the signs are everywhere. They're over the individual study area (quite possibly the worst place to nap anyway); they're over the quiet reading area (the best place to nap); I think they're even over the group study area (what?).

The LRC and its signs causes me a lot of angst.

Someday I just want to take a nap and see what the desk ladies say. My group always studies in the "Individual Study Area" and not once have they said anything. Maybe I'll nap in stages. First I'll doze while I'm reading in the comfy chairs. The next day I'll study at the tables, but with my head down on my paper. The day after that I'll just sleep there. Then I'll climb up on the table to sleep. Then I'll bring a pillow and a blanket. Then I'll get on the desk.

Really, there's no end to what I could do. At least until the desk ladies kick me out.