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you know this?” or “Want to hear something interesting?”
When I was a child, adults would naturally humor me by
always accepting any information I offered, but I had the
impression that they thought I was intelligent because I could
repeat what I’d heard on TV. As I grew into my teens, my
interest became more sophisticated; I started playing a video
game for the PC called “Zoo Tycoon,” which is a simulation of
owning, maintaining, and working at your own personalized
zoo. Putting down the games and well-rooted in my passion, I
set out to ask real zookeepers or employees at any zoo or
aquarium what the requirements were for working in their
given field. A bachelor’s degree in biology and a few years of
volunteer experience should land me in the career path that I
had chosen.
Alongside dreaming of being a zookeeper, starting at age
ten, I began experimenting with writing. I had classes for a
few years with the same creative writing teacher, Mrs.
Morrison. I’ve always felt a soft spot for her as my friend; she
always put good marks on my papers and encouraged me to
develop more short stories. I would say that all of my writing
was inspired; when I was eleven years old, I wrote my first and
only book which was only fourteen pages long. My papers were