Books are something that I think is criminally under-used in modern society. I am someone that has loved books since my mom gave me her old set of Harry Potter books as a kid and to this day has a room that looks more like a library that someone accidentally left a bed in. there are many lessons that we could learn from books and many basic lessons that we did learn in early life by listening to them. one of the best examples are the works of the brothers grim or as they're more commonly known nowadays as fairy tales. so much early lessons can be found in this world of faeries, trolls, and princes. the Boy Who Cried wolf teaches us the importance of honesty, Little Red Ridding Hood teachers us to be wary of strangers, and The Frog Prince teachers us that people can be more than just their appearance. these truly are wells of knowledge that when we first hear them we don't even realize that we're being taught. and something that gave me comfort in a scary chapter of my life. I had brain cancer as a kid and honestly the doctors didn't know if I would even make it to adulthood. but I never thought about this I kept moving and so did my parents moving from one doctor's visit to another and on the way mom would always read me stories. One of my favorites was a book called Wonder. were a little boy named August has problems similar to ones I faced both health wise and social wise. it gave me so much comfort to listen to how he solved his problems and how he made it through and made friends, and by the end of the book how he got a normal life. all because he never gave up. that was probably the biggest lesson I ever got out of August stories to never give up no matter how bad things seem they can always turn around you just need to be brave and have hope. I've recovered now and am living a good life, but I still love to read and listen to almost any book I can get my hands on. it honestly makes me sad how many people in my school see reading as a punishment after how much they helped me get through what was easily the darkest parts of my life.

Minecraft changed my life, when I was a kid I was really sick and was suffering from brain cancer, but Minecraft really helped me through it. I remember whenever I was driving to the doctor for another MRI or sitting in the waiting room waiting for them to call my name I was on my iPad playing my creative world. I got Minecraft one day when my mom and I were browsing the app store for new games for me to play on the drives to the doctor and back. This was twelve years so Minecraft wasn't nearly as well known but when I saw it under the free games section something just told me that I should try it out, so I ask my mom if I could get it and she said yes. though she probably wished she hadn't because I haven't put the game down since. I was never very good at the game and could never make it past the first few days in survival, yet I would always have fun. the part of the game I always enjoyed the most was building whether I was building an upgrade village, a zoo for every mob or a 1 to 50 scaled starter house (pulled an all nighter for that project) I was always having an amazing time. later i started to learn more about the game. when i got my first phone i actually started understanding stuff like redstone and build hacks. My mind exploded when i figured out how to make a nether portal. it also didn't take me long to find several Minecraft youtubers like DanTDM, ThinkNoodles, and Popularmos. one youtuber though I found later on and one that i was more alike then I thought was the one and only Blood God, TechonBlade. I started watching him when he was going for his 1000 bedwars win streak. it crushed me when I heard that he had cancer, I knew how terrible it can be for people but I thought if anyone could survive it it would be techno. I could go on for hours talking about how bad I felt when he passed away but i don't think you want to hear that so let me just say it felt like a piece of me died that night. Minecraft was a welcomed distraction in a dark time of my life and I will be forever grateful for it. luckily I did survive and have already completely recovered. as well as rocking an awesome TechnoBlade hoodie. I still hold Minecraft extremely close to my heart, and I look forward to Minecraft live this year and what else will be add to the awesomest game of all time.