I collect books as a hobby. When I read a book, it becomes a part of me. And when something is a part of me, it should become just as much a part of my space. So, I collect books and store them like display trophies. Then, I can exhume a conversation out of those books later, mining them for conversation, bringing the book to life once again through a new social dimension.

I listen to video essays for fun. I know I sound like a pretentious intellectual for saying it, but I need to hear someone else’s thoughts or I will be lost in my own.

There are four Jane Austen books on my bookshelf. They are Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and the famous Pride & Prejudice.

I always read the book before the movie. I won’t understand what’s going on otherwise. It’s the reason I still haven’t seen the Lord of the Rings, as essential as it is for someone of my interests.

Science Fiction and fantasy really only work when read in a book. There is always the potential for infinite context for any conflict. Like a statistical average, the larger the sample, the more precise. A film is too short and condensed to fit the background needed for another complete world.

My favorite word is discourse and I work it into everyday conversation. Language unlocks our capacity to think. New words package new thoughts, and the word ‘discourse’ unlocks an entirely new register.

There is a bolster on my bed. I use it to read, both for school and for pleasure.

I subscribed to the Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine. The classic one. I don’t read all the stories, but when I do, I am blown away by the creativity.

I love D&D more than life itself. I like to write. I like to make characters. I like to make it social. Name a better activity for mashing those appeals.

In my youth, my Granny described me as a voracious reader. I thought she was right because at that young age, I believed I understood what that word meant. Voracious was the prefix of a card in the gearhulk cycle of Magic: The Gathering’s Kaladesh expansion. “Voracious” gearhulk is a card that’s art depicts a giant humanoid construct covered in foliage, its colossal scale emphasized by the people surrounding it looking miniature in comparison. Thus, for about a month following that interaction, I had the idea in my brain that voracious meant large and growing. This was a definition I was content with until I had the bright idea to bring up my love of “voracious gearhulk” in conversation with my friend James, where I quickly learned that my misreading of “verdurous” had led to a month of me using a cool word I assumed I had known the correct definition of incorrectly.

What I’m trying to say is that I make a lot of assumptions, and the assumptions that have hurt me most throughout my life are the assumptions that I am correct about absolutely anything. Each time I assume I know something about anything I am swiftly made a fool of, and rightfully so. I spent so much of my life making these assumptions that at some point, I started assuming I was alone in this destructive mindset. Nobody else needs help knowing these things, so I shouldn’t either. At the same time I am frequently too self conscious to ask questions about these assumptions to confirm or refute them, or too lazy to research them for myself. These assumptions that I have made in the past and admittedly continue to make today have led to a depressing lack of drive to expand my understanding of topics such as literature, history, and life itself. To be honest, the only thing that has ever really changed about me is my outer layer. Beneath the superficial changes of mood and facial hair I’m still the 13 year old who assumes he knows what words mean because he’s seen or heard them in some media he consumes. I am tired of being lazy and ignorant, I want to be able to learn again.

Ever since I was a little kid, I always loved being creative. I loved making up my own stories or just daydreaming. I was never a big fan of science or math since there only seemed like one way to approach a certain topic. That’s why books were always a safe space for me. I could just read and read for hours and escape from the real world and delve into a beautifully crafted fictional world. Even though these worlds are fictional and not real, they are very much real to me. Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, The Maze Runner, and An Ember in the Ashes are all fictional worlds that make me insert myself into them and really live and breathe through them.

            I remember when my sister started reading Harry Potter, I instantly wanted to start reading it as well. Partly because my big sister, whom I look up to, is reading something and loving and the other part is because I absolutely loved to read. My parents were always reading to me as soon as I was born. As I grew older, I always wanted one of them to read me a bedtime story, I wouldn’t go to sleep without it. Now that I’m older, nothing much has changed. I still read every chance I get whether that’s a physical book or reading books on my phone, it’s always been a hobby of mine and I think it always will be.

            That hobby of reading eventually grew into a love of writing. Now, I have a love of writing my own creative stories or just writing my thoughts down in a different and creative way. One day, I hope to write and publish a novel. I’d be happy if I was able to publish just one thing. It’s always been a goal of mine since I was in Middle School. My love of writing and reading has only grown and contributed to my goals of where I want to go in life.