Melbourne

In 2016 (or maybe 2017), my mum surprised me with an Xbox from my birthday. It was an Xbox 360 E, and a copy of Minecraft. That was my first time on a console, and I stayed up all night playing it. Literally all night. Probably needless to say she was less than happy I was still up when she woke up, but she just let it be. I had a lot of fun, and also had a few cans of coke over night. That's a core memory of mine that I've never really been able to recreate. There was such a feeling of carelessness and peace that night, a feeling I unfortunately very rarely experienced during my youngest years.

That was when I was really struggling with "school refusal", as they call it, and mum was really trying to push me to go. It was a very difficult time, and led to such a feeling of helplessness, probably for both of us. That's probably why I enjoyed the care free feeling the games provided - a little safe haven away from the constant chaos and incessant disappointment and despair of the real world. A world where the biggest concern is placing enough torches to keep the zombies away.