I am Tom. I am seventeen years old and in the eleventh grade. I have red hair, blue eyes and am about five feet five inches tall. I weigh about on hundred ten pounds, and look thinner than I am. I have asthma and use an inhaler frequently. As a result, I enjoy a lot of indoor games, but go outside enough to remember the sun. My favorite food is tacos, and my favorite music to listen to is either techno, classical, or folk-rock. My favorite movies are westerns staring either John Wane of Clint Eastwood. Japanese is one of my hardest classes following chemistry. I have too many hobbies to list and keep you interested, so now a brief bit on my friends.
      I have been a part of a few different groups through the years, but the friends that I have new are the ones I have had since before sixth grade. Alex is a geek, just like me, he plays a lot of strategy games like Axis and Allies, Risk, and Civilization (computer). He has been a tempering factor in my life because he thinks things through before taking action, I usually do not and that has landed me in trouble with my parents quite a few times. Rusty is another one of my friends. He is an actor, geek, and musician. He plays a lot of fast paced games than Alex, but even he has helped. Rusty is a person that has a lot of pride, and being such a person makes him careful not to slip up. He makes some quick decisions, but overall chooses right. Rusty is a happy person above all else which has helped me keep going. A third friend that I know deserves mention is Racheal Chevey. She has been one of my best friends since about third grade. I play Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) with her usually once every other week. She has always been a shy person in public, but when she is playing she is perfect example of why you cannot judge a book by its cover. I have helped her become a little more outgoing, and she has helped me become a more reserved person. Now that you know who they are, the things we do together.
      I often play video games, board games, of role-playing games (RPGs) with my friends and enjoy every minute of it. D&D is a game set in a magical world of dragons and elves, and you play a person living in it, an adventurer. There are no limits to what you can do because all you need are some books, they tell you certain rules, dice of many sides: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20; and some paper. The group I am in has been meeting since I met Rachael in third grade. I play an elfin fighter that wields a sword and shield. Rachael plays a halfling thief; a halfling is a human, but only half the size basically. Everyone else in the group has changed over the years, but we keep on playing. With Alex I play Axis and Allies, a World War II strategy game. It is a board game, but takes as long as eight hours to finish a “quick” match. He usually plays the Allies, and loses because he doesn't play the American forces right. We also play some fighter games and some computer based strategy games. Rusty and I play mostly fighters and third person adventure games together. I usually win in the fighters, but his characters stay alive longer in the adventure games. Those are some of the things that I do with my friends.
      When I am alone I do a lot of the same things, but some other things as well. I often play the same games alone that I do with my friends; I need to play a lot to stay better than them. Video games are among the biggest hobbies of mine, just behind reading. I read a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and historical documentaries. I currently don't have any new books to read, so I took up writing. I write in a world that is similar to the world in which my D&D character lives, but a little different. I had originally started writing because I had to write a story for an English class that demonstrated my understanding of the “plot diagram”. By the time the story was due I had a short novel, nearly eighty pages without a glossary of terms that I used and made. My teacher laughed when a week before I asked here whether or not she cared how long it was and she had said no, now she limits the length of the story you can hand in. when I write I don't use a computer, I don't write well on one. Usually when I write I begin later at night, maybe around nine, and quit when I fall asleep hours later. Sometimes I need to go back through and read what I have written because I honestly don't know. That is basically what I do when I need to stay home during my free time.
      During the summer I bike everywhere, partially because I don't have a drivers license, and partly because I love being outside. I am by no means an athletic person, but I bike nearly five miles a day in the summer on the roads near by house. I go fishing, biking to the river three or four miles away, then bike home when I am done. I like just being out and away from people sometimes, it is very relaxing in my opinion. Despite all of this my asthma is only a minor factor. Now that you know what I do, there have been a few places that I went to that I think are the most interesting places I have ever been.
      There is a gaming festival called Gen Con and it is held every year for four days in August. This year it is in Indianapolis, nearly a thirteen-hour car ride away from River Falls. Last year I got second in the world tournament for a real-time card game called Brawl. In addition to playing in that tournament, I also played a lot of demos that had been just developed like The Hobbit for Nintendo, and Lords of Every Quest. I bought a lot of cards for the game Magic: the Gathering. None of the cards I got in boosters were that great, but they worked well in my deck so I was happy. Two years ago at Gen Con I bought a sword, a wakizashi. It is a real sword; I cut trees as big around as my arm down with it, and have yet to cut myself. Both times that I have gone I took around two hundred dollars with me and spent it all. In addition to all of the people at Gen Con that are there for the games, many people come for the Anime that you can watch and buy. A lot of these people dress up for the annual costume contest, this year I am going to go to the Con in a costume, Kenshin from an anime, but there is no way that I could win the contest. Gen Con is probably the most exciting place that I have ever been to, but many things that shape our lives are not exciting or glamorous.
      My family consists of six members; Mom, Dad, Samantha, Me Dan, and Dylan. Samantha studies French and reads more than me. She recently got hocked on bemani, and is already better than me. She looks a lot like me; both of us even have long hair. She is nineteen and going to college in Montreal. Dan is one of my younger brothers. He's about six feet tall, and lanky. Unlike everyone other than my mom, he has brown hair and a deep complexion. He plays guitar and piano; he doesn't like video games very much. Dylan is my youngest brother. He is only in fifth grade, but already he is as good at most games as I am. He, like me, has red hair and pale skin. We bike together, and enjoy most of the same hobbies beyond those. He wakes up at the same time I do despite not needing to get to school for an hour after I do. He is one of the least judgmental people I know, and I am proud that I have had a little to do with it. My home is happy now, but for a while it wasn't.
      My home has typically been a happy place for my family but there was one incident that shattered that confidence. I was in ninth grade and I had been depressed for a while. My mom and dad were disgusted that I had almost failed a class, and were telling me that I had just ruined my one chance at having a good future. My brother Dan did the same thing the next day and after about a week of this happening I decided that if I was so worthless I didn't need a reason to live. I went to my parent's room and got a gun. Then when I went out to get a shell my brother Dan asked me what was going on. I told him that if he thought I should kill myself, which he had said earlier, that I would be gone shortly. He succeeded in keeping me away form a bullet, but I did hold onto the gun. Meanwhile my youngest brother Dylan had called my mom at work and she was on her way. When she got home I still had the gun and was trying to load it. If she hadn't come I would never had known how much she cared about me. I took her and my brother Dan to take the gun from me and after they had my anger towards them turned into a deep gutless depression. The next day she stayed home with me, to make sure that I was alright, my dad was away on business, he was never told about the incident that I had had, but my mom did tell him to stop berating my poor performance. That is one of the most important events of my life, the only time I have ever truly broken down.
      Never judge a book by its cover, never assume that your words go unheard. Each of my friends has made a difference in my life, each of my hobbies has played a similar role, and only a few members of my family are aware how close I got to self-destruction. Remember; never judge a book by its cover.