Tuesdays with Morrie – Bucket List

• What are your initial reactions to what you have read in Tuesdays with Morrie thus far?
• One of the main themes developing in Tuesdays with Morrie is not to take your life for granted. Based on this premise, what is on your Bucketlist?

I'm not gonna lie, I felt really sad just from reading the first two pages of Tuesdays with Morrie. Heck, I almost cried. I can't explain why–I think it's obvious that I can't voice my thoughts that well, despite having acquired a rather expansive vocabulary. The feeling of sadness I got most likely came from the fact that Morrie, an old man of 78 with ALS, was dying. He was teaching the last course of his life, so to speak, to a former student, who had promised to keep in touch with him but had not. I feel as if the seriousness of this is magnified by the fact that this is a true story, and the student was the author of the book.

Morrie Schwarts was apparently Mitch Albom's favorite college professor, and took all of his courses during his years at college. The book is titled Tuesdays with Morrie because all of Morrie's classes took place on Tuesdays, even those of his last course. Morrie was a lively person, even when nearing death. He is generally very kind and friendly, once telling Mitch that he hopes to be friends with him soon, when Mitch was just starting his sociology class. Some students have even remarked that they would probably be able to get along with him, had they met him. Morrie is also a deep thinker, noted as such by Emily who said, "Every other thing he speaks is an aphorism." There is a lot more to Morrie than I can put into words.

A main theme in Tuesdays with Morrie is not to take life for granted, which is a rather visible theme seeing how the author describes Morrie grappling with death, trying to squeeze out the most out of his remaining breaths. Death is not something many of us think about on a regular basis, so life is often taken for granted. As Morrie said, not enough of us take a step back, look at our life, and ask ourselves, "Is this it? Is this what I wanted?"

Based on the thought that we can die at any moment, I was asked to create a bucket-list of things-- no, priorities I want to accomplish before I perish.

Here is said bucket-list.

• Travel to Japan to satisfy my curiosity of its culture
• Travel to England someday in the hopes of meeting an old classmate and friend of mine
• Return to the Philippines and meet a friend I haven't been able to meet
• Visit some Aztec ruins to satisfy the old part of me that was obsessed with the civilization
• Walk on terrain that's coated with water, giving it reflective properties (I know there is a name for such land masses but it's been two years since I've last read about them that I've forgotten)
• Get at least 4 years of college education
• Get rid of extremely laid back attitude at home
• Gain ability to toss away reserved attitude at will when speaking
• Learn about the craft and structure of literature, which I have never received formal education on
• Figure out how to talk without instantly jumbling up my thoughts
• Get the chance to meet people I have become friends with online, especially the ones I talk to on Twitter

3rd Quarter Reflection

Prompts:

• Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why?
• *In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts?
• *What is something you have accomplished this quarter that you are proud of?
• Where are you in your 40 Book Challenge?
• *What has been the most challenging part of 3rd Quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?
• What have you learned about the world?

* Required

I've finished around three or four books this quarter, and The Lost Hero from the Heroes of Olympus series is my favorite of those books in terms of entertainment, but Night by Elie Wiesel was really eye-opening. Night is a firsthand witness report of life as a Jewish prisoner during the Holocaust. It had a very direct style of word choice, employing no tricks yet leaving no escape from it.

"My faceless neighbor spoke up:

'Don’t be deluded. Hitler has made it clear that he will annihilate all Jews before the clock strikes twelve.'

I exploded:

'What do you care what he said? Would you want us to consider him a prophet?'
His cold eyes stared at me. At last he said, wearily:

'I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.'"

 The book had me doubting about God at one point, like the narrator, who wrote about the night his God was murdered.

I have tried observing the TIQA format more often after being told several times that my blog post was good, but the format didn't match that of TIQA. Although, while writing this paragraph, it is hard to observe TIQA, and I don't exactly know why.

I don't remember

I have read 8 or 9 books so far this school year, and I am in the middle of reading I Am Malala, which I have not read since late 2014. I have a feeling that I won't be able to finish the 40 Book Challenge, particularly since I'm not that invested in it (sorry).

Like past quarters, keeping up on schoolwork has been hard for me. I think it's actually gotten worse, since I got my first detention due to a combination of tardies and unfinished/no homework. However, I managed to wake up today early due to a recovered mentality from two years ago, and I plan on developing that.

We studied the Holocaust this quarter, and I've learned a lot about that time period. My memory retention is horrible, however: I know things, but if I don't see them often enough they get buried deep into my mind and I don't remember them unless some sort of catalyst (like a reminder) causes me to. But I still found out some things, like how there were many reasons behind Hitler's rise to power, such as his gift of speaking and manipulation of the Germans' feelings.