#cleverurlhere

Rules: In a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just ones that have touched you. Tag ten friends, including me, so I’ll see your list. Make sure you let your friends know you’ve tagged them!

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling 

3. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

4. Looking for Alaska by John Green

5. 1984 by George Orwell

6. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

7. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck 

8. My Life in France by Julia Child

9. 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons From Teaching by Phillip Done

10. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Follow Mele: 

Rule 2: Answer the questions you were tagged on and make 11 new ones.


Rule 3: Tag 11 new people and link them to your post.


Rule 4: Let them know you’ve tagged them

Tagged by adventuresinemmaland

1. What are your top three fantasy worlds?

This is already hard. I'm going to assume this doesn't include Harry Potter since that technically isn't another world. In no particular order, and bearing in mind that I haven't read nearly as many books as I wish I had: Westeros, Oz and Middle Earth.

2. Where is your favorite place to visit?

The local hall thing where we do musicals and Bambinos (and now Zest, which I will have to make a post about...).

3. What was your favorite book when you were a kid?

There once was a lady who swallowed a fly.

4. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? (Feel free to list more than one!)

A vet, mainly. But I knew I didn't actually want to operate on animals, so...

5. If that’s not what you’re doing now, why not?

For the above reason. And also, because I realised what my actual love is.

6. Tell me about two games you like to play (video games, board games, party games, sports whatever you like).

Articulate (board game) and Twister. Can't beat twister.

7. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

When my mother graduated high school, they were given a choice of book as a graduation present, and she chose a big cookbook. This cookbook is now held together with duct tape, yellowed, and splattered with food. For one birthday, mum gave me the updated version of this beloved cookbook. I don't usually cry, but I actually burst into tears.

8. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, which book would you choose?

No.

9. What’s your favorite animal?

My favourite general animals are ducks, but my favourite specific animal is my dog.

10. What is more important to you: music, books, tv or internet?

Books.

11. What’s the last book you finished reading?

Insurgent. Currently reading Allegiant.

My Questions:

1. What's your favourite memory from school, if you have one?

2. What are you recently thinking a lot about?

3. What's something you learnt this week?

4. Would the loss of hearing or the loss of sight make a bigger impact on your life?

5. What's your favourite book genre?

6. If you had the ability to shapeshift, in what form would you spend your most time?

7. Have you ever been in a newspaper? If so, why?

8. Ever milked a cow?

9. List five songs which you love.

10.  Do you have a favourite item of clothing?

Sorry I had to link you to a text post, but I don't think there's any way that I could try and convey all I want to convey to you in a limited amount of characters, so if this runs a little long, please bear with me. (:

Okay.

Let's get this all out in the open in case anyone had any doubts: cancer sucks. Like, really, it sucks. It can take a while to set in or it can take you all at once. It will demand to be felt or you won't know what happens until it's a little too late. Cancer is a horrible thing for everyone involved, those suffering and those suffering alongside those suffering.

I feel your pain.

My grandfather was diagnosed with kidney cancer a few years back. Luckily, they were able to remove the afflicted kidney, and since he still had the other one, it was fine--just had to be more careful with foods and stuff. Another win for science and cancer fighters everywhere!

However, it spread. It spread to his liver, his lungs, his bones. In all honesty, I don't know where else it went or is going, but it's trying to get everywhere. And it hurts. It hurts him like a rock the ocean beats against. It hurts him like wildfire. It hurts when he moves, when he sits, when he tries to do nothing at all.

And it hurts all of us, too. My mom, dad, aunt, and I just have to sit and wait. And that sucks. Because as much as you want to punch that cancer in its dirty mouth, as much as you want to do something--anything-- you can't. 

God, does it suck.

This is not a post to say, oh, look who has it so much worse, because this is not that, nor will it ever be that. This is a post to say that I totally understand that everything sucks. And I'm sorry. I wish I could hug you and tell you that's it's going to be okay, everything will be okay, but I'm both too far away and it might be a bit weird to get a hug from a crying stranger (that's kind of a weird thing, I'm sorry).

But you don't have to go through anything alone. You have friends and family and weirdos from the internet who are more than happy to help you out. Your uncle isn't alone, you aren't alone, and there is always someone who'll be at your side--even if you don't know them.

So this is me, giving you a tear-filled hug, saying I'm sorry, but we will support you. 

DFTBA, Mele and Mele's uncle. Stay strong.