Reading in Public

I am sure many of you out there are avid readers, as I am, and love to sit down with a good book. That is, when and/or if you find the time to do so, between the kids, errands, work, etc, etc. I mean for some people, I am sure it is better than sexual excitement to be able to get an hour alone with a book ... I don't know for sure, and if you are one of them, I don't want to know - or maybe in a weird perverted way I do want to know. ::shrug::

Back to the topic. So I enjoy reading, and one of the ways I get some quiet time to read is by doing it outside the home. When you have four kids, I am sure you can imagine the yelling/fighting/screaming/he-said-she-said/they-touched-me-first/I-wanna-watch-this/blah-blah-blah/baby-crying-dirty-diaper ... ARGH!!!!! And that's the first 15 minutes when I get home. ::sigh:: So I tend to have a book or two in my car, and I will head down to one of my local hangouts (read 'bars') to relax and do some reading.

For the life of me, it is almost as bad there as it is at home. Old people coming by and interrupting your reading - "You'll ruin your eyes" or "I don't know how you can read in a bar". C'mon! Compared to the alternative think I can't tune out some old fogies that can't read the neon sign without magnifying lenses? Then the other half starts in. These are the ones that are seemingly trying to be unobtrusive. "What are you reading?" or "Is that book good?" or something said aside to someone else "That's funny seeing someone read in this place. I wonder why?" I love to just smack them and say "So I won't have to waste my life making conversation with someone that doesn't understand my desire to read. Now STFU!"

::BIG SIGH::

Okay, that is off my chest now. Is anyone able to give me reverse point of view, I would love to hear it. I mean, if I went to a bar, and there is my buddy sitting there reading a book, I am going to at least stop and say hi. If he is like me, he would say something like "Let me get to a stopping point" or maybe just mark the page and close the book. I do that as well if I want to talk to someone. If he don't want to chat, then he would just say so. No skin off my nose unless we had made arrangements to meet up to talk or something. Just running into a friend ain't no matter.

Yeah, as if you couldn't guess, that is what happened (for the zillionth time it seems) last night. The sad part is it doesn't matter what bar I go to, it is the same old thing - whether they are people I know, or not. At least I got more reading in than I would have if I were at home. Plus the drinks are a bonus ... and the steak dinner.

PeacE