Having fun isn't hard when you got a library card!

It only took me about oh say; 19 years give or take to realize this and nothing helps more to drive this fact home than a rainy day. It is actually enjoyable to read a book.

All throughout my years of school I have never, not once read a full length novel. Not for a school assignment and not for the fun of imagining wizards flying on brooms or being there when the detective solved the big mystery. Spark notes, chapter summaries and the movie section in the library became my best friends. All this did me very well until one day in the 11^th grade when we had a surprise quiz on Hamlet. The quiz consisted of 42 marks. These 42 marks were based on quotes from the readings we were supposed to read before the beginning of that class. There were about 14 quotes and we were asked to first write down which character said each of these quotes and then explain the significance of each. Well… the quiz might as well have been written in Greek. This was the first time my antics had caught up with me. You see, my plan was to read all the chapter summaries and watch the movie at the end of the term just in time for the essay we had to write. As for the quiz, picture my paper as a chalkboard being written on by Bart Simpson in detention but instead of “I will do all my homework.” written on down the whole board it was:

 “Hamlet

        .

  Hamlet

        .

        .

        .

 Hamlet."

Yeah...that ended me up with a solid 8/42. Now you ask did this help me learn my lesson. Well, to be frank, not one bit. Luckily, I managed to get away with it for the rest of my high school career.

But then came the oh so wonderful realization that I would once again have the pleasure of taking first year English in university. What was even more awesome is that we also had seminars to go along with the lectures where we would talk in groups about the readings we were supposed to have read! (I hope by now you all realize the incredible amount of sarcasm present in the last few sentences >.<)

All I can say is I am glad my group consisted of mostly science students who only cared slightly more about the book then I did. I swear those people thought I was a mute. But, I mean seriously, why on earth would a math student be put into a class where we had to write an essay on a book where the reader is supposed to conclude that talking animals are used to represent the main antagonist’s emotions. Wait a minute… that sounds kind of like an isomorphism to me. Hmm. This must be the work of those crazy art faculty members who were getting bored of listening to the witty responses of hipster students sitting behind their douchey sunglasses. But I digress.

It was only after completing all the English classes in my educational career when I thought “why not read about something I actually enjoy?” Genius idea epop.

Reading and I are now on a first name basis. I am doing something I never thought I would be doing, that is sitting down and reading (and blogging of course) when my Play Station 3 is but feet away.

But don’t get too excited you English professors out there. I still wouldn’t expect my next art elective choice to be English.