[excerpt from my journal, August 2020]

“During the pandemic, I read books. Dr. B from Schachnovelle (the royal game), Theodore Finch from All the Bright Places and Max Vanderburg from The Book Thief and I formed our own little quarantine squad. Dr. B and I counted the books on our bookshelves together, first by color, then by author, then by compartment. There were 5 testing/practice problem booklets on mine, 54 The Knowledge books, 7 dictionaries (German-English, English-German, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), and the like). Theodore Finch and I changed the layout of our rooms. We pushed the bed against the far wall and covered half of it with my table, then changed it again to close off half the room with the bed right in front of the door. And every day, Max and I waited. For the tapes on the bookshelf (3 on the top shelf, 5 on the second, and 6 on the third), my personal leaning tower of Pisa, to give way, and to taste the freedom of the night sky.”