Borders = Interesting Place to Study

As some of you may know, there is a Borders bookstore right outside of my apartment complex. I have been a frequent visitor of this Borders since becoming a resident here in good old Creve Coeur. Last night I went with Ben who had his own studying to do. I'm not the only idiot to think summer classes were a good idea, ya know. Anyway, Ben convinced me to turn up the heat on my econ studying and I successfully studied two chapters last night. I sucked down a nice cup of iced coffee from the Borders coffee shop. That coffee helped me stay up until about 2ish last night, working on econ with the occasional visit to the DPReview message board (which is a whole other blog discussion).

So, thinking I was on a roll with the whole studying thing, I left work today and immediately went to Borders. I was amazed at my own academic discipline. On any other occasion I would procrastinate to the bitter end, but really I've already done enough of that and it was time to do work. And do work I did. I started at about 5:30pm and studied all the way through closing at 11:00pm. Not bad at all for me.

The weird thing was that I didn't do my usual crying and bitching about having to study a god-awful subject. I was actually really invested in the material. Yes, invested in economics. Wtf am I thinking? Gag. Usually I stare at the digital clock in the upper right corner of my screen thinking to myself how much time of my life is going by when I could be living a legitimate life of enjoyment and bliss. This time was different. I hunkered down and got shit done is the long and short of it.

Funny thing happened while in my study corner (I strategically rearranged the tables on the back wall for optimal study position). An older woman, scraggly and a bit odd looking, sat at the table next to mine. A trash can separated our comfort zones and I was deeply invested with headphones in place. Still, this woman somehow successfully caught my attention. She pretended to read a book while she attempted to get me to look toward her with frequent fake yawns. These were blatantly fake yawns, like how you would yawn when trying to act out a cheesy scene to five-year olds. Anyway, needless to say I was pretty annoyed that this women didn't notice by my headphones and intense consentrative face that I might have been busy with something. She finally mustered up the courage to speak up.

"Hey, excuse me, can that send emails," she asked as she gestured at my computer.

I took one headphone off and responded, "...yes."

"Do you mind sending this email for me? Ya know, when you have time." She handed me a small piece of paper with what appeared to be random scribbles. A split second later I realized it was a really a badly-written message with a website and some other crap I didn't bother to care about. A bit cross with the woman, I responded, "I'm in the middle of studying."

"oh, ok" she said with surprise.

I immediately thought "you know I'm in the middle of something because you've been staring in my direction waiting for an opening to talk to me for like ten minutes." I'm sure that's what my facial expression said.

The weirdest thing was that she didn't even stick around to see it through. Five minutes later she put down the book she wasn't reading and just left. I waited until then to really look at the piece of paper she handed me. Just as I thought - gibberish. Ok lady, how am I supposed to send this crap ass message to a website with MY email account. A few screws loose she has. Definitely not legit.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to continue my recent streak of productivity. I must say, I really enjoyed feeling so dedicated to one task. So far this summer I've managed to distract myself out of necessity. It's nice to know I can still sit and do work (yes I know, that's like the third time I've used that expression).

Three more chapters to study. Test Friday. We'll see how tomorrow's Borders session goes.

Good night.