Well, here we are at the end of the semester. I might have been a quiet student, though not without my personal reasons. If I haven't seem so involved then I will admit it is because I prefer to stay on the sidelines and observe rather than to draw attention. I've followed my curiosity around here and there. I wouldn't call in disinterest at all but instead the notion that I struggle with having confidence in my own opinions.
Anyway...
I honestly read on a daily basis; random articles and tidbits all across the internet. Now, I am certainly one of my generation. I often have a short attention span and I easily forget... I feel like my head is full of floaty, non-coherent information. It's a lot of stuff, but I don't know when it will become relevant to me. I suppose I'm trying my best to turn my head into a library of sorts for world building. I mean, I am trying my best to observe the functionality of things around me.
I like to read scientific articles, or watch historical documentaries. My family can barely get me to watch TV, or movies if it's not educational (or animated). If I'm going to take in a fictional work I honestly prefer those to be given to me through text, or perhaps if a friend is telling me a story they've come up with. Videos...kind of wear me out for some reason.
Anyway, I do read. I've got several apps on my phone based on "informational exploration" I guess you could call it...Stumble Upon, Daily Curiosity, Pinterest. Maybe those are old news at this point, but I still fiddle around with them several times a day. I fear I'm always going to be more of an enthusiastic amateur than an expert of any kind.
All of this rambling aside, I can't exactly name any books I'm looking forward to reading. I prefer to just take what comes my way at the time. I'm just always in a sort of gathering phase. Right now my biggest interest sort of falls on a theme, I suppose. I'm researching knights in an attempt to get a better historical understanding of their general time period as opposed to their popular settings in fantasy. Although, in the future when I have a more accurate understanding (I hope) I would like to apply this information to some projects my friends and I are working on.
Maybe it's not intellectual reading, but I am thumbing through some Pathfinder rule books as of recent. I bought three of them to get started on world building for the game.
On the other hand I've got a book titled "Knights" and a Smithsonian textbook on History that I'm reading together, a little bit each evening before I go to bed. Once again, I'm really trying my best to research and gather information. To the best of my ability I like to know how the world works.
I still have a fear that I might not be properly understanding any of this or retaining as much as I should. Regardless, I still have that curiosity. It feels invigorating to "learn" and so I'll keep feeding that desire.
What I am looking forward to on a general level are more "academic" books pertaining to my areas of curiosity. I just want content. My mother does keep books for me that her friends give her because they know I'm an art student. At home now I've got a book on William Turner and a few other big names waiting for me. I'll probably read those this summer and mentally organize that information as relevant to their particular time periods. Even if I don't fully absorb I hope it at least stretches my mind out a little more...I think I need as much of that as I can get.
As open minded as I'd like to think I am I know I still have my quiet little nook that I hide in. That idea in itself is a way to stay boxed in.
Iffffffffff you're curious to see where I go with the whole blogging thing in the future here's my tumblr version. Who knows how much I'll get around to working with it, but I have dreams of keeping it active:
http://adingydinghy.tumblr.com/
