Further Proof that I am Weird

Sometimes I think that maybe I really am a time traveler from the past. Specifically, a time traveler from before many of the labor and public service improvements of the 20th century.

Normally, this feeling comes upon me when I think about working conditions. Wow, this 40-hour work week is amazing! Don’t even get me started on public holidays. They blow my mind. To say nothing of sick time. Really, five days every year that you have to pay me for not working if I’m sick or need to go to the doctor? Plus personal days? I don’t even know what a personal day is, but I think it is amazing that I get paid for needing “personal” time. It’s ironic, considering that a lot of my work is helping people whose rights as workers have been violated, but I still am sometimes just floored by the very concept of “rights as workers.”

The other time that I feel this way is when I go to the library. As noted in the FAQ, I read the vast, vast, vast majority of my books for this project from the library (sometimes I read books that are already owned by someone in the family or if they are old enough and copy-right free, I read them online; I very rarely by a new book for this project, and usually when I do it’s because I ran out and am trapped at an airport). Therefore, with all those regular library visits you might think that libraries would seem mundane and ordinary.

Far from it! I am continually floored by the very concept of libraries. So many free books! So many! It’s mind boggling. To say nothing of all the other amazing resources that libraries provide to us like meeting spaces, lectures, librarians, daily newspapers, internet/computer time, DVDs, CDs, online resources, tax help. . . Seriously, libraries are amazing. There are so many, too, and you can just go to them and borrow books, and the very concept is sort of mind boggling. It’s this incredible world of free (yes, I know that as a tax payer I am supporting it, but damn, I get my money’s worth and then some when it comes to libraries) resources just there for the taking.