Revelations from the past
Mar. 5th, 2013 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kasuminI found my collection of bookmarks from middle and high school when visiting my parents' house this weekend! I thought I'd lost or accidentally thrown these out! But they were sitting in a shoe box in my room this entire time. Oh man, I love this collection. I think I started it back in 4th or 5th grade. I tend to be kind of sentimental about the past, so I hang onto stuff like this.
I did notice something interesting, too... Back in middle school there was an annual list of recommended books for reading. I used to try and read every book on the list (it was about 20-30 books). And if I remember right, I'd highlight each book I finished on the bookmark. Well, I found the bookmarks for 1996-1997, 1997-1998, and 1998-1999. The first too bookmarks were highlighted entirely. The last one either only had a handful highlighted or wasn't highlighted at all, I forget.
What happened in 1998-1999? I started using the Internet habitually. So either there's a cause and effect relationship there, or I just didn't highlight. But knowing how meticulous I am, I'm pretty sure I would've highlighted. It's kind of a sobering thought, looking back.
And this is why I like keeping stuff like that around.
I did notice something interesting, too... Back in middle school there was an annual list of recommended books for reading. I used to try and read every book on the list (it was about 20-30 books). And if I remember right, I'd highlight each book I finished on the bookmark. Well, I found the bookmarks for 1996-1997, 1997-1998, and 1998-1999. The first too bookmarks were highlighted entirely. The last one either only had a handful highlighted or wasn't highlighted at all, I forget.
What happened in 1998-1999? I started using the Internet habitually. So either there's a cause and effect relationship there, or I just didn't highlight. But knowing how meticulous I am, I'm pretty sure I would've highlighted. It's kind of a sobering thought, looking back.
And this is why I like keeping stuff like that around.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-07 02:16 am (UTC)I used to read a lot more in the days before I started using the internet as well. For me, definitely the 1997 to 1998 school year, as that was my first year of junior high, when my group of friends formed and I got really into anime and RPGs and then started using the internet to find out more about them. I consider those to be magical times of discovery, but yeah, also a bit sad in terms of my reading habits.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:47 am (UTC)I remember that magical feeling of discovery back then, too. Makes me feel all nostalgic. But it does definitely seem to have made me read less. And I think even nowadays I have less patience for reading long things. I always worry about that.