Librarying

 I'm not sure those who are smart enough to refrain from subjecting themselves to the masochism that is postgraduate study will truly understand this...but librarying is hard work!  (Do you like how I've used it as a verb?)  It looks easy; but enduring days and days of nineteenth-century novels, critcal books and a plethora of articles can easily lead to a neurological disorder.  It's scientific fact. 

There are days when I wake up early (or not), get ready and then send myself to the library intent on a day full of academic accomplishment.  But when I pull out that Derrida article I know I'm in trouble.  With all that talk of how he is the cat and yet not the cat, and the cat is both animal and not animal, and he is both animal and not animal, when he looks at the cat is looking both at the cat and at himself, therefore he is animal (or something like that) I find myself drifting off into a doze before lunch time.

What's a student to do?  I don't want to ship myself home purely because I've hit the hurdle of Derrida-induced fatigue.  I can't let Derrida do that to me!  So I nap.  Right there in the library.  Observe:

These chairs are the comfiest in the library

and 'I could always sleep anywhere'

Sometimes I zonk out in the middle of my work space

After 30-45 minutes I awake refreshed, feeling like I could keep going and going just as the Energizer Bunny does.  Napping: it has to be done. 

One day I was reading in the library when my friend Liz entered with her mum and brother informing me she would return to say hello after viewing some of the manuscripts.  I got tired and fell asleep in the position just above.  When Liz came back her mother viewed me with some alarm.  'Is she dead?  Is she okay?'  Liz assured her I was indeed alive and well. 

So.  If you ever pass by me in a library, eyes shut, mouth open (fortunately I very rarely snore), you can safely assume that I am not dead.  I'm just resting.