[soulofmischief]

Can definitely relate to the dictionary thing. I enjoyed that exercise.

Age 14 is when I transitioned from primarily fiction books to almost exclusively non-fiction material, including history, news, biographies, STEM etc.

Fiction really stopped clicking for me, I appreciate the genre but it just no longer captivated my interest. Games and some visual media entirely consumed that need for fantasy. There's just so much more to nerd about with those formats.

Lots of little details that come from such massive collaborative efforts, whereas with fiction books I started to feel like I was encountering the same tropes over and over again.

> All this made me appear smart for my age, but that doesn't mean I was. I merely appeared smart.

I feel like I'm having the opposite effect. I'm looking backward at how intelligent I was during school and wondering where it all went. I think becoming jaded and traumatized from sheer stress and emotional pain really blunted my mind. I still consume lots of reading material but something just feels different.