Books and video games: My escape-Scott J.

Literature and video games. Hmmmmm. Where to start. Literature and video games both affect the way I live my life. Reading books is my escape. When I really hate life I bury myself within the confines of a book and don’t come out until I feel better. When I’m too angry to focus on a book, I play video games. My Playstation 2 is my venting tool. In my life, these two items are a few of the things that keep me sane (if you can call me sane at all).
I have a bookshelf in my room. It has five shelves, two rows on each shelf, and it’s ten feet high. Oh, and another thing: I have no room at all for more books. I love them to death, and I never want to give any of them up. So what do I do when I have no room for more books? I go to my parents’ collection. They have a lot more books than I do. They have a room the size of Mrs. Labouchere’s classroom full of books. The house came with the shelves, and that room is effectively called: the Library (ooh, creative, right?). Whenever I need another book, I just go into the Library and randomly pick up a book off of the shelves. I love it! One of my favorite series in my parents’ collection is called Spenser. Yes, like my middle name. It’s about a private detective named Spenser (no first name mentioned) who solves a really intricate case every book. It’s by Robert B. Parker, if anyone’s interested, and the first book is called “The Godwulf Manuscript).
When there aren’t enough books at my house, or if I just want to get away, I go to Barnes and Noble, which is really close to my house. Barnes and Noble is, simply put, Heaven. I absolutely worship the workers, and plan to work there when I’m sixteen. Rows and rows of books, waiting to be read. I’ll go there around ten a.m., and not realize it when it’s 5:00 and I need to be home for dinner! Books are huge in my life. I know that a lot of people (maybe not those at ASA) don’t like to read. I ask them if they’ve read any good books, and they say that they don’t read. I think that this is a bad decision. Reading makes you smarter. It was proven.
Video games are the way I dissipate anger. I get angry a lot (friends, don’t say a word). I hate admitting it, but it’s true. I’ll sometimes get home from school in such a rage that my parents dismiss me to the garage to hit the punching bag. Personally, I don’t think that it works, but there you are. What really helps me is to plug in my Playstation 2 and play Star Wars Battlefront 2. It’s my way to express myself: bloody violence.
There are a lot of people who say that video games are bad for you. Well, you know what? They’re right. I always feel a little off after I’ve played video games for a few hours. It’s inevitable. However, just because video games are bad for you doesn’t mean that you have to avoid them completely. I play Battlefront all the time with my friends. It’s just a matter of pacing yourself, and not overdoing it. It’s the second week of school, and I haven’t played a video game for three weeks (which is weird because I’ve gotten angry a lot over the past three weeks). It’s what I do.
My two favorite video games are War of the Monsters and Star Wars Battlefront 2. War of the Monsters is a third person melee. The story is that aliens attack the Earth, and are wiping us out. However, Earth makes a super-weapon that destroys all of the UFO’s on and near the planet. However, all of the UFO’s emit a toxic liquid when destroyed, and this liquid mutates things when they’re touched. There was even a human that was electrocuted when a UFO was on a power cable. He turned into a giant electric eyeball. There are also monkeys and preying mantises. It’s very cool. The monsters fight in the game.
Everyone knows I’m a Star Wars fan. Battlefront is a game where you play as a clone trooper. You roam the galaxy fighting the Sith (if you know what that means) and the Separatist army (the Droids). I love shooting it out with the Separatists, because it really feels like war, watching people die next to you. I don’t particularly like war or death, but with Star Wars it’s ok.
Literature and video games play a huge role in my life. I love them both. They both have there downsides, but it’s what I like to do.

Scott J.

P.S. Halo is cool too.