(no subject)
Am excited today =)
Someone gave me a book, "Why I am a Christian" (Compilation of essays put together by Norman Geisler, Hoffman). For absolutely no reason at all, that I don't even know him very well, but because we spoke and he thought I would enjoy it. Thank you for the thought and for the encouragement it means.
But I'm also excited to begin reading it: can't wait to dive in and hear what someone else is thinking, test it, think, respond.
Books are always a most welcome present for me because there is nothing I appreciate more than a good book that challenges my thinking, especially one which is a carefully chosen and appropriate response. It's such a privilege to own a book, to be able to read it when you want to, use it as a reference, lend it out to people, share it with others, sit in the presence of a beautiful collection. While soft copies are great and suffice sometimes, I still enjoy the real thing, regardless of how tattered and torn it is. It is more than enough to hold it physically in your hand and turn the pages. Really enjoy the whole process and can't wait until the day I can build my own collection beyond the cardboard box that I now have.
The first time I entered the HKU library, it was like a little kid that just entered a candystore bigger than you ever imagined a candystore could be. It just blew my mind that a library could be this huge, with so many books. And it was for loan. It was a school library. Someone asked me my favorite place in Washington DC, it was the Library of Congress. Just blew my mind to think that a library wasn't just a collection of books, but of ancient artifacts, online resources, videos. When in Shanghai, the books were dirt cheap because they were sold by weight of paper. You should have seen how badly I tried to restrain myself, to not think about buying up the store because I had never known books that cheap. They were always so expensive, so out of reach.
I know I do seem like a frog in the well, but it's a huge change from the days I finished reading the few small shelves of the primary school library and moved down to picture books because there wasn't anything else to read. It's a huge change from the days we would reserve books and wait for our turn in line because there weren't any to go around. I never understood why people complained about the SMU library, because the 3-4 floors of books already seemed pretty awesome to me. I never knew the depth that could exist out there and hearing about it before just sounded like fairy tales and myths. I thought an 8 loan limit was awesome because I was accustomed to 4. 16 books or AV material at a public library? It blew my mind in the States, much less coming here where it's 32.
Yes I'm a nerd. But access to knowledge just gets me excited because it is an opportunity to learn, to get ahead, even when there isn't anybody physically there to guide you. It becomes your resource, your friend, your teacher. Practically, it shapes how you want to respond to the world, how you see it. It is awesomeness for the self-learner that never had, or never could learn in a classroom =).
But I digress. I should go back to studying and have the discipline to churn out essays and respond to them, out of time pressure if nothing else. Despite all the input, it's the output that will matter.
Someone gave me a book, "Why I am a Christian" (Compilation of essays put together by Norman Geisler, Hoffman). For absolutely no reason at all, that I don't even know him very well, but because we spoke and he thought I would enjoy it. Thank you for the thought and for the encouragement it means.
But I'm also excited to begin reading it: can't wait to dive in and hear what someone else is thinking, test it, think, respond.
Books are always a most welcome present for me because there is nothing I appreciate more than a good book that challenges my thinking, especially one which is a carefully chosen and appropriate response. It's such a privilege to own a book, to be able to read it when you want to, use it as a reference, lend it out to people, share it with others, sit in the presence of a beautiful collection. While soft copies are great and suffice sometimes, I still enjoy the real thing, regardless of how tattered and torn it is. It is more than enough to hold it physically in your hand and turn the pages. Really enjoy the whole process and can't wait until the day I can build my own collection beyond the cardboard box that I now have.
The first time I entered the HKU library, it was like a little kid that just entered a candystore bigger than you ever imagined a candystore could be. It just blew my mind that a library could be this huge, with so many books. And it was for loan. It was a school library. Someone asked me my favorite place in Washington DC, it was the Library of Congress. Just blew my mind to think that a library wasn't just a collection of books, but of ancient artifacts, online resources, videos. When in Shanghai, the books were dirt cheap because they were sold by weight of paper. You should have seen how badly I tried to restrain myself, to not think about buying up the store because I had never known books that cheap. They were always so expensive, so out of reach.
I know I do seem like a frog in the well, but it's a huge change from the days I finished reading the few small shelves of the primary school library and moved down to picture books because there wasn't anything else to read. It's a huge change from the days we would reserve books and wait for our turn in line because there weren't any to go around. I never understood why people complained about the SMU library, because the 3-4 floors of books already seemed pretty awesome to me. I never knew the depth that could exist out there and hearing about it before just sounded like fairy tales and myths. I thought an 8 loan limit was awesome because I was accustomed to 4. 16 books or AV material at a public library? It blew my mind in the States, much less coming here where it's 32.
Yes I'm a nerd. But access to knowledge just gets me excited because it is an opportunity to learn, to get ahead, even when there isn't anybody physically there to guide you. It becomes your resource, your friend, your teacher. Practically, it shapes how you want to respond to the world, how you see it. It is awesomeness for the self-learner that never had, or never could learn in a classroom =).
But I digress. I should go back to studying and have the discipline to churn out essays and respond to them, out of time pressure if nothing else. Despite all the input, it's the output that will matter.