What to do... with 3 hours... Reading?!?!

Have been busy lately trying to get my stuff together for the trip - planing on what gear to bring, what bags to use, borrowing winter stuff from my aunt, etc. for the first time in my years of travel, I actually started to pack for the trip way before hand. You know those trips I had for the past few years, I only pack an hour ahead of the travel - including those Germany/Korea trips; and yet here I am throwing stuff into the luggage bag, and determining which to bring - I think I only need to throw in the t-shirts and pants and I am ready to go!

So then I started thinking about the 4 hour transit (well, more like 3 hours, since it will be +/- some mins from the landing to get to the transit area and also boarding the plane before the actual flight time). What can I do then? Should I or should I not bring the laptop (not that the laptop is mine, although I have been holding/using it for like coming to 2 years)... Ultimately this decision boils down to what I am using as my hand carry luggage. Is it going to be the usual small cabin luggage or just the bag which will contains my cam gear only? I was inclined to bring the normal luggage as this will allow me to dump in change of clothes as a "just-in-case". If I do that, the chances to bring the laptop is higher and since I heard that we can have free wireless access to internet, it would be a great way to spend that 3 hrs.

Had a short msn chat with tehsis about this and she suggested that I bring a book to read... Or better (according to her), buy one and read it, once finish, throw it away since it's only a couple of dollars.

I have actually thought about it, but her method of throwing a perfect book after reading does not sits well with me. Perhaps it's because of my background or my experience, any books I buy, it would have a space in my bookshelf. If I am going to throw it away, I would not have even bought it. Why buy something and then throw it away - Does it not have value after you have read it?

You see, my childhood world belongs to books. When I was young, my mother has known the power of books and she had bought a fair amount of books, from the long list of fairy tale books, to a small version of science encyclopedia. Those books are my companion as I was the only child and I was never really allowed to wander under the blocks like you see sometimes - those playing in the basketball courts, and gathering under one of the blocks of flat. So, it was either the tv or reading books. Both have the ability to give you knowledge (although some need more moderation than the other), one through words, the other visual. Not sure why, but my tv staple was confined to the weekends till I was older, because I could only remember watching tv on Sat afternoons - shows like Lone Ranger, Donny & Marie Osmond Show to name some (that I remember), and others which most probably be a staple of cartoons, sesame street, muppet show, some war movies, some western movies - I could clearly remember Have Gun, Will Travel. Yes, I have some fixation with any that is of war or guns... How I never did ended up in some military career is a wonder....

Anyway, I was brought up in staple of books that at that point is part of any children's list - the Hans Christian Anderson's stories, Grime Bro's fables and of course all the stories which Disney brought to life in their animations. I then proceed on to Enid Blyton's books... Five-Find Outers series are part of my favourites. Then it progresses to Hardy Boys - but interestingly never Nancy Drew... By the time I was in Secondary school, I was already into Encyclopedia - almost every saturday I would be found in the Library (since the library was within the walking distance and mother do allow me to make trips there!!), pouring over the volumes of Encyclopedia that the library have... On my own, I started reading up on biographies and histories. I clearly remember I do have some facination on the Kennedy family and there were tons of books on them... Iam sure I still have some of those books in my shelf somewhere...

So while my peers were all reading books like Sweet Valley High and its equivalent, I was pouring over the history of the world and biographies of famous people... From there, it was onto other subjects like current affairs and of course, anything on computers. I was starting to learn computing and usually could get some money to buy books on these topics...

I guess the distractions of life and computers halt the habit of reading till in Australia, that's where I started reading up books on Christian faith - Koorong book store in Australia had orders from me since then for a couple of years - I started to read books from Phillip Yancy, Max Lucado, etc.

As time goes on, the need to read books no longer impose itself on my time and even if I was to read, it's no longer any "heavy" subjects like I use to read on... I guess it was like in the reverse, I am now, if any, be reading books which does not require much thinking... More like to pass the time, which means no brainer stuff. Feels kind of weird as I think most of my peers are now into, if any, "heavier" stuff, and yet, I am making the reverse track where I am reading the "thrashy" stuff as those are the only no brainer kind of books... At time, it might even be comics! So I guess never say never! (I was so postive, at one point of my life, that I would never read such "thrasy" books as it was like a waste of time!!)

But at one point or another some things changes, and what you read changes as well... Heck at one low point of my work life, I even bought books like "How to manage your boss", "Think out of the box" and "Cross-train Your Brain"!!!

However, it's sad that the reading habit is becoming in danger of dying as these few years, most of my "reading" and information comes from the internet. It's such a vast difference between reading a book and the internet... But it's still reading... Right?!?!?

Oh well... Back to the question... What do I do for those few hours... Hmmm.... Decisions, decisions, decisions... Maybe a book could be a good idea, but I doubt I would throw it away after reading...