07 - Libraries
You know in those 80s coming of age movies, where children would have a sanctuary of their own? Maybe it was a treehouse, or a little fort built in the woods, or a tent set up in their backyard?
Mine was the library.
One of my favourite rituals when I was young was weekend trips to the library. Nearly every Saturday, I'd have a very similar routine:
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Go to Chinese school in the morning (where we learnt Cantonese reading and writing - how fun!) (actually is super useful because I can read, write and understand Chinese to about a Year 5 level (LOL) so I'm not being sarcastic here)
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Go to the Jade Hong Kong Cafe in Box Hill for lunch - $11 lunch special with a free drink; what a bargain! (or alternatively the Satay Beef Noodle soup which took me like a month to finally get over the spiciness of...fun times! I love it now!!)
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Sit outside the butchers place in the corner waiting for mum and dad to buy groceries from the Box Hill market - often doing some homework from that morning...and lastly,
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Go to a library and chill for a few hours
My parents must have been over the moon when they dreamed up that tactic - we would be quiet for an entire afternoon, and they got to relax and do whatever they wanted. I think Dad used to just sit there and sleep? He's really good at that (like father, like son).
Usually, the time we spent there was quite variable. Sometimes we'd be there for an hour...sometimes we'd be there for 5. It really depended (on reflection) what my parents needed to do at home or with their lives.
Or maybe just how long Dad needed to nap that day.
What that means is that we never knew how long we would have, so I would often run to the kid's section and acquire a massive pile of books as quickly as possible just looking at titles, or getting books I knew would be good (Tintin, Garfield, Selby). The discovery of books when I was young was so fun, so pure - I miss it! It's like that feeling of jealousy you have when you can't read or watch something for the first time - the first time I devoured a Tintin...
It's a wondrous feeling.
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one." - George R. R. Martin, "A Dance with Dragons" (I haven't read this yet but it's on the list!)
My parents were instrumental in cultivating that love of books and stories in me. Mum used to tell me that when we would read together, she would deliberately make mistakes in words, and I would always triumphantly correct her.
"Ah-ha! I am smarter than my mother who has for some reason not been able to read this particular word. But I can read it! I am the superior being!!! SUCCESS!!"
Really, Mum was just incredible at acting.
Dad used to read me Journey to the West, the Chinese epic tale, to get me to nap when I was young. I didn't always understand what he was talking about, but I mean...maybe it's because it worked and I fell asleep?
Who knows...
I started loving it even more when there was a TVB show of it (for those who don't know what it is - TVB is the Hong Kong channel that you can get an international subscription for. This was before the older generation learnt about streaming).
A fundamental part of my childhood - the adventures of a monk, a monkey, a pig and a human - how could you not love it!
Anyway, to round this all back to sanctuaries - one of the things I love is about libraries is that it's a place you can be, without any expectation of you needing to do anything there, or buy anything there. It's a sanctuary for the mind, and a place that heals the soul...
...also it has books, which allow me to live a thousand lives through other people's eyes.
I just gotta find the time to get through them all.
What's your all time favourite book? Where are your sanctuaries from your childhood?
Chat soon :)
✔️ Real Life Recommendations
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Going Clear - the Scientology documentary on Netflix is a pretty interesting look into what actually goes in behind closed doors...from the science-fiction inspired backstory to the whole thing, to the abuse that executives suffered in the Hole. Fascinating doco!
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Saint Dreux - on St. Collins Lane in the city, this minimalistic Japanese-inspired katsu and coffee bar sits nestled in a food court, out of the way of most passers-by. It sells coffee, and japanese katsu sandwiches. Since I'm a heathen and don't drink coffee, I only really got the katsu sandwich here - a bit pricey (around $15) but it was delicious! The packaging and the presentation of the food was immaculate - definitely check this one out :D
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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What was trending on YouTube 10 years ago? - says what it is on the box - really interesting to see what was on at the time...e.g. at time of writing, one of them was a drum cover of USA for Africa, and another was a dog humping a cat. Oh the wild wild west of the Internet!
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The Mistakes of Death Note - (for fans of Death Note) a security researcher does an analysis from an information perspective about how Light made a bunch of mistakes while using the Death Note, and quantifies exactly how bad each mistake was. The subtitle reads: "using information theory to quantify the magnitude of Light Yagami’s mistakes in Death Note and considering fixes" - I mean, how could you not read this!!
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AI Lyric Generator - lyrics on demand around your given song topic! Put in 'Vincent' and...
in my best John Oliver impression - Cool.