Log #7

I had finished the second book, Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior, from Dan Millman. This book pointed out some important paragraphs in his previous book and gave some annotation and explanation. The core value of this book is similar to the previous book so I won't explain the content again. However, through reading his books, I know clearly of myself that I really value the quality of life and inner heart. Since a few years ago, I tried to find the balance between my life and my heart. I used to study and major in design, but I found that I did not want to do design as my future job. So I took a year off and went traveling to Australia for six months. After I came back to Taiwan, I transferred to major in Language and started to learn in a new field. Along the way until now, I am always searching for myself and my career. I know there is no perfect and ideal job, but I still want to find my career which I meant to do rather than a job that I can handle.

I started to think about some possible choices which I am interested in. I am interested in learning languages, knowing people from other countries, meditation, and yoga, activities like free diving or rock climbing. Before last semester, I dreamed of becoming a dimplomat because I was interested in both language and culture. During the advanced writing class of Gloria's, I was searching for the information of this job. At that time, I found I was actually not interested in the content and the duty of this job.
So I started to look for another possible option. I later found another job I thought I was interested in- a public servant in immigration. I enrolled for a course to prepare for the exam. There were so many books and laws needed to remember. After digging into this field, now I am not sure whether being a public servant as my career can really satisfy myself even though the benefits and the salary are good.

I am a people with free spirit. Can I be trapped in such orderly and limited job?
Maybe I did not think of it thoroughly. I should not find a job only because the payment is good and I have the expertise in this field. But this is still an option for me to choose from since I am not a practical person. I always make the decision based on my feelings and I am too idealistic. Sometimes being practical and finding a suitable job are the ways you should do to fit in the society.

One teaching in the Peaceful Warrior is to find the balance between inner heart and reality. We do not only seek for material satisfaction such as wealth, power, and social status. We also do not go far way from the public and seek for spiritual demand. We combine these two needs to become complete and reasonable.

So for the present stage, I am highly interested in being a person who can help others to find their inner heart because I know the importance with my own experience. I am thinking about being a spiritual therapist using Tibetan singing bowl sound. I once took this sound therapy, and it really had some positive impact and experience. There are some training courses in Taiwan and in India. I think this is one path I can discover more in the future.

I am also interested in the jobs that I can participate in nature such as outdoor activities. I love nature, challenges, and knowing people. Being part of a worker in an outdoor activity company may also be a great choice for me.

Log #6

 I am sorry that it took so long for me to finish this log. During this period, I finished reading "the way of the peaceful warrior". I really felt that this book is going to have a big impact on me. About two or three years ago, I got a chance to read a book called "Love". The author of this book was Osho, an Indian who wrote many books about the mind and spiritual practice. This book opened a new area that I had never known before. After reading it, I started to focus more on my inner heart and try to find the peace inside me. I really like this kind of books, like "the Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse, and books from some Buddism master.

The book "the way of the peaceful warrior" hid many teachings which are similar to the Buddhism teachings in the story. It says that what influences our emotion most is not the environment but our mind. When the sky starts to rain, we feel unhappy; when the sun comes out, we feel happy again. The things that can control our feeling are our thoughts and mind. The environment is objective and neutral. We should learn not to be influenced by our mind. Money, social status, popularity can not bring us true happiness. Many of us do not know what we want and who we want to become, so we pursue these things that are easy for us to come up with. Once we notice about our inner heart, these things can no longer satisfy us. We all have different goals and purposes that we should pursue.

After reading this book, I came up with another concept map. I want to read more books of Dan millman and have a better overview of what he wants to convey to the world. The book now I am reading is his next book "Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior：A Companion to the Book That Changes Lives". By following the path of his books, I hope to be more clear of myself after each reading.


Lastly, I want to say to Professor that this course really helps me in many ways. I did not want to kiss someone's ass.  There were comments of argument, and I want to convey the opinion of another side. As I mentioned above, the book "Love" played an important role in my life. To me, it was a turning point, it brought me new value and concept in my brain. I realized that reading good books can have big impact and influence. At the same time, you need awareness to discover the advantages of reading. Some people may see the reading course as useless because it does not bring knowledge that is related to success and wealth like some other financial courses. I think the teaching way of professor is very innovative and modern. Revolution is always difficult. I hope that Professor can keep this concept and will not beat up by obstacles and critique.

Concept map

Log #5

One day when I was waiting for my friend at 7-11, which had a bookstore in it, I picked up this book and started to read it. I had heard about this book and its adapted movie before, but I never got the chance to read or watch it. 

The first two chapter was talking about how the life of the main character, Dan, had changed after he met his mentor, Socrates, at a gas station. Dan thought he had a successful life. He was an excellent Gymnast, who won many prizes. Socrates challenged the way of Dan's life by asking him a lot of questions. Dan started to feel confused about his life. Although he looked successful from other's perspective, he did not feel satisfied within his heart. 

I felt a sense of excitement while reading this novel. This book was definitely the book that I needed for my life now. The questions and words saying from Socrates also gave me a chance to reflect on myself. I was also confused about my life just like Dan. I like the way that Socrates taught Dan. Socrates did not give Dan a solution or an answer, instead, he let Dan figure out the answer by raising a question to him. A few years ago, I started to read some books related to Buddhism. The books that I read did not actually talk about the religious doctrine or teaching of Buddhism but provide some techniques that you can use to make your life happier. I think the way and the word of Socrates gave me a similar feeling of these Buddhism books.

"Understanding is one dimensional. It is the comprehension of the intellect. It leads to knowledge, which you have. Realization, on the other hand, is three dimensional. It is the simultaneous comprehension of the 'whole-body'---the head, heart, and physical instincts. It comes only from clear experience." 

Above is one of the paragraphs that I like from this chapter. Sometimes we all know many rules, knowledge, and truth. However, understanding is one thing, realization is another thing. Only through experience can we really learn and understand the meaning of a thing. Just like swimming and driving, you have to really go into the situation and learn from it. You can not call yourself being able to swim or drive if you only read the instruction from books.

I felt lucky that I picked this book by chance. I could have missed this book if I did not go to that 7-11 and waited for my friend. I hope that by reading this book, I can also follow the growing path with Dan and find out the true happiness of my life. 

Log #4

After reading some articles about Trump's policy for a while, I started to watch some video clips of people talking about this executive order on Immigration. The first one I watched simply explained how poorly targeted and confused the order was. Even the government officers were confused about the order. Immigrants and non-immigrants from the influenced seven countries were banned. It also affected the green card holders and dual citizens. President Donald Trump claimed that this was based on the consideration of safety in the US, but merely a single person in these seven countries had killed an American in terror attacks. In this video, the speaker said that American civilians are literally more likely to die by the lightning strike than terrorism. We can see that the order was not only ambiguous but also not convincing.

The second video was about a Sudanese Stanford Ph.D. Student. She was escorted to a room and was banned from entering the US due to her Nation although she had a valid visa. Surprisingly, she seemed to be banned for shorter days than other Sudanese people because of her affiliation with Stanford. This ambiguous order had caused a huge chaos to immigrants and officers at airports. And it reflected a larger trend to criminalize black people, immigrants, Muslims.

This issue still has so many debates going on. It seems that this order was passed without well-consideration for sure. I hope that the US can use its power and resource to make this world better. The decisions they make should be benefit for most people, not only to satisfy those people who have the power and neglect the human rights of non-American.


https://tw.voicetube.com/videos/47984
https://tw.voicetube.com/videos/49482

Log #3

This week, to deeper dive into the issue of Donald Trump, I also keep reading the novel that I read since last week. Meanwhile, I read some news from different publishers online. One article from Washington Post was writing about how Trump’s policy undercut the human rights over the world.

In this article, it mention about how American’s recent attitude towards human right and the news happening around the world. In the past, the US often served to check the behavior of the leaders in many countries. And now, US seems to care less of other counties’ problem. What is worse, some countries even echo Trump’s criticisms of the media. From all these results, We can see how important the US plays in this world.

Sometimes I think that it is okay for Trump to only care and be responsible for his own country. He is the president of the US, not the president of the world. He do not need to make everyone satisfy and sacrifice the interests and benefits of his own country. However, what if we have the ability and power to make other people better? The US is a powerful country with many good sources. It would be great if this big brother of the world can use its sources to help those countries in need. Just like how the previous presidents had done. People tend to criticize him because many of his policies have deeply influenced other countries. He should not only care for his country but also think of others.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/03/08/donald-trumps-foreign-policy-is-already-undercutting-human-rights-around-the-world/?utm_term=.6c3ad0b92bb7

Log #2

Trump's policy influenced many people including travelers, immigrants, and refugees. And this week I tried to find a novel related to refugees or immigrants. I found some novels which seemed very worth reading. Unfortunately, I could not find their English version in our school's library. Instead, I found a book about a journalist's recording of wars in the Middle East. The book is called "Every man in this village is a liar" by Megan K. Stack. The problem of immigrants can trace back to wars; I think reading this novel can also help me understand the background and main reason of this issue. In the first chapter, the author wrote about the scenes she saw there. Every day there were American air planes flying through the sky, sometimes they threw bombs to villages. The US was trying to find Osama bin laden after the 911. In the hospital were many injured citizens and people waiting to be heal, but there were no adequate materials and sources.

In this situation, the war between Afghanistan and the US caused many refugees. These people no longer had their home to stay. And that may be the reason why they wanted to escape to other countries like America. I could not help but think that America was one reason that caused this kind of war and tragedy, but now they refused to take the refugees and blocked them strictly.

It was really hard for us Taiwanese to imagine a war like this, especially to the young generation. Taiwan is surrounded by seas and oceans, unlike other countries are close to each other. We do not have to experience the war, but it does not mean that we can ignore this issue. In the future, we may have the chance to work overseas, or our friends and families may live in other countries. There are many chances for us to get in touch with other countries and cultures. Knowing more about the news that happen in this world and think about how to make this world a better place is one thing that we should all do.

Log #1

Donald Trump's travel ban

For our group, we chose to talk about the impact and influence of president Donald Trump's policies. This week, I read some news on BBC. The link of the article is belowed.

Trump travel ban: Five questions about the new executive order
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39044403

This article talked about some questions raised by the travel ban which was announced by Trump. He banned some people from 6 countries from entering the US because he thought  that these countries were the potential areas to occur terrorists and attacks.

I believe that his action was based on concerning the safety of his country; however, these countries did not really occurr some terror attacks. Some people think that this ban is actually based on the discrimination of Muslim because these counties' major religion is Islam. We often see most muslims as potential terrorists just because some terror organizations are Islamic. We should not have this kind of bias; the minority could not stand for the whole group.

As a result, I think that people from these six countries also have their rights to enter this country if they have prepared the same documents and requirements as people from other countries. Otherwise, Donlad Trump can come out with a well-organized and convincing policy to make most people satisfied and be benefit.

Log #9

The kite runner


When finishing the whole book, a complicated feeling rose in my heart. Some plots in this story were heartbreaking and so sad, however, the story ended quite well to me. After going back to his hometown, Amir found Hassan's child, rescued him from slavery, took him to the US, and finally opened his heart again. At the end, it seemed like the sense of guilty inside Amir could finally go away a bit.

Each chapter of this book was very interesting and thoughtful. I really like some way the writer structure this story. I think that he used many contrast points to emphasize the irony this story. Amir was good at writing, while Hassan was illiterate. But illiterate like him could see the big problem in Amir's writing. Hassan used to have a  harelip, Baba let Hassan do a surgery to remove it. Amir hurt his mouth very badly to fight with Assef in order to save Hassan's kid, and his mouth just looked like he was a harelip. Amir put money under Hassan's bed to set up Hassan. Few years after, Amir put money under someone's bed to give away money secretly. Hassan used to chase the kite for Amir; now, Amir was chasing the kite for his son. All of this comparisons deliver the ideas of the story in a more powerful way.

I think that living in such a country must be hard. Even though I think that Amir really did many wrong things, I should not blame his so much. I am now live in a very peaceful country without so many worries, such as war and poverty. Under a different situation, I do not know what will I behave. I do not know if I am as brave as Hassan, or I am just as cowardly as Amir. Above all, this book has taught me the lesson of redemption. "Everything has a price to pay." When you did something wrong, you have to face the consequence ultimately. Sooner or later, you will pay for what you had done before. We should face and deal with our mistakes when it happened, that is the better way to solve problems. Postponing things only makes it worse. I also learned to cherish the true friendship around you. Don't take others sincere for granted. You are very lucky to have such good friends around you.

Reading a book gives a person so many inspirations and reflections. I hope I can make reading into my habit and keep reading after this class. I really appreciate this opportunity to open my view and world.

Log #8

The kite runner


After Hassan and Ali left the house, sooner Amir and his dad moved to the USA. Amir did not have to face Hassan anymore, so everything seemed to calm down a little. However, there came a turning point. He went back to Pakistan to meet his dad's old friend, Rahim Khan. Amir knew few things that were very shocked. First thing, Hassan was dead. Second, Hassan was his half-brother. And third, Hassan had a child and he was still alive. Knowing these facts all came together must be hard to take. Especially the conflict inside Amir's heart of what his father had told him. "When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth." His dad said that the only sin that mattered was theft. Amir must be very confused now because what his father said was different from what he taught. Baba had hidden the fact that Hassan was also his child. Now, Hassan was dead. Would this end differently if Amir knew this fact before? Maybe Hassan would not have been killed.

I think the reason why Baba taught Amir not to lie was because he had felt a great deal of pain himself. He had made this mistake, he wanted his son never make this same mistake again. As we grow up, we learn from what our parents have taught us and also how they behave. But our parents are not sages. Just like the saying, "Easier said than done."  My parents rarely tell me to follow their rules. They only tell me that they treat us like adults and we need to be responsible for ourselves. I wish I can teach my children well in the future. If I did something wrong in the past, I can have the bravery to admit my mistake to them and teach them lessons from my old experience.

The book is coming to the end. I am so sad that Hassan was dead. I thought Amir would have a chance to give Hassan an apology. But he never get a chance now. So I am very curious about how the story will go between Amir and Hassan's child.


In-class discussion
What inspires Amir to find Hassan’s kid?

Amir did not want to go find Hassan's kid,  Sohrab at first. He was used to running away from the responsibility. It was difficult for him to face the fact. But he remembered all the past memories and he really missed Hassan. Being tortured by the sense of guilty for several years, this is a chance to make the amend now- the chance to atone his sin.

log #7

The pages I read this week was really heavy and sad. The name of this book, the kite runner, began to tell us what it meant. Along with the kite tournament,bullying, coward, lies, betrayal all happened at this time.

Every year, there would be a kite-fighting competition held in this country. And this year, Amir and Hassan took part in this game. Amir was not as masculine as his father was. He liked writing more than footballs. His father was disappointed this. By this chance of fighting the kite, Amir wanted his father to be proud of him, even for just on time. After Amir cut off the last kite of a blue color, Hassan chased the kite  for him. Hassan was a real good kite runner. After a while not seeing Hassan, Amir found him surrounded by a group of children. They bullied and hit him very badly. But Amir did not stand out just like Hassan would stand out for him. He watched it happened without doing anything. After that, he felt great guilty every time he saw Hassan. He put the money and a watch that he received at his birthday under Hassan's bed and claimed Hassan of stealing his money. Hassan did not deny... He left their house with his dad. The reason why he did this was also protecting his best friend, Amir.

Amir did many mistakes this time. I believe he was not a bad child, but what he did hurt more than wounds, I believe. To me, honesty is very important. You can have a bad temper or bad behavior, but you can not lose your honesty. I can imagine how heart-breaking Hassan would be when he realized all of this. Assef, the leader of the children who bullying Hassan, hurt Hassan on his body; Amir, who shared the same breast with Hassan, hurt his heart cruelly.  It was really hard to find such a friend who would stand for and fight for you all the time. Amir did not appreciate what he really had around him. Maybe because he was too focusing on his dad and what he did not have.

Actually, we all made many mistakes. We HAVE TO make mistakes in order to learn lessons and grow up. When I was little, I also stole something from others. I was caught then. It was a really bad experience, and I did not want to steal things again and have this feeling. We all made mistakes sometimes. What is important is not to do the same mistakes again.

In-class discussion

This week we discuss together why Amir does not save Hassan and even send his away.
We all think that he was a coward to stand out for justice. After making a mistake, he even tried to deny his guilt and sin by sending Hassan away. Denying and escaping are not good ways to solve problems. This sense of guilt will haunt you for the rest of your life.

Log #6

Reading texts and novels are still a bit difficult to me. I have read drawing books or magazines of graphic for too long time. Even I have finished reading a novel of our first book, the texts still go into my brain very slowly. But I'm trying my best to understand an English novel. Hope I can see the message the author tried to convey because I heard this is a very good book.

The book we chose is "The kite runner". This week  I have learned about the discrimination of race and the problem in a family. The background was set during the war period in Afghanistan. There are two little boys, Amir and Hasaan. Hassan and his father, Ali, were adopted in Amir's family by his father. Hassan is Amir's servant, but also his friend. They are different races. Therefore Hassan and his father were always laughed by others. Amir's father is a famous, ambitious man. He has a  good reputation in the neighborhood. But Amir did not inherit from his mankind characteristic which he was very concerned about. Amir accidentally found out he had the ability to write a good story which was highly appreciated by Hassan and others. But his father did not care even a little.

I think what the writer was trying to say through this story was the expectation of the parents. A sad thing in this story is that Amir did not get an appreciation of his talent by his own father but by other people. I think that Everyone has its own gifts. Parents should not put their own expectations on their children. We should appreciate and support the very own talent of everyone.

I feel that I was a really lucky person. These two things rarely happened in my life. It sure happened somewhere in Taiwan. But compared with other countries, such as India, discrimination happened every day around them. Recently I am doing a project of news of the rape in India. There used to be a caste system in this country. Some people were higher and others were considered lower status. Even though the system is abolished now, people still remain to recognize and judge people by their caste. I hope that people can improve day by day, not judging others by race, caste, gender, and any other unfair points. 

log #5

Book : Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Author : Thomas Hardy

Page : ~32

"Tess of the d'Urbervilles", published in 1891, is a novel by Thomas Hardy. The story is mainly about the sexual moral of the late Victorian England in the 19th century. In the first chapters, the main character- Tess - had already been through the nightmare of her life. A sad and tragic experience I could never imagine but probably happened commonly in the real world. 

The family of Tess was not a wealthy family. One day, her father was told by a parson that their family name, Durbeyfield, had a connection with a noble family of D'Urberville. So she was sent to visit the D'Urberville and claim their relationship. By doing this, they might have got some interest of this wealthy family and made their life better. There she met her cousin, Alec, and the tragedy happened. He was attracted by Tess, and he raped her while she was sleeping. She even got pregnant and had a baby afterward. What was worse, her baby was dead because of illness. 

I had seen the movie of this story filmed by BBC. The story was the one that made you think deeply after watching it. Sexual harassment happens often every day in our world. Our society is now a more open-minded one. We will protect the victims and give them a hand to come over the sorrow. But this book gives us the opportunity to peek at the society in the past and their reaction towards sexual harassments. Tess may be considered as an unclean woman even though she was innocent. This is very sad.

I chose this book because I am working on a news project of the rape in India. They share quite similar ideas. From reading news articles and watching a movie, it gave me a different way to see how the harassment happened around us. I also had similar experience which I shared once in class. I was slightly harassed by the Indian twice when I was in India. Relating to my own experience, I had much stronger feeling when doing this project. I also learned that we as women need to fight and protect for ourselves. Do not stay quiet when you are being invade.

Log #4

Book: If you could see me now

Author: Cecelia Ahern

PAGE:224-308

The stories I have read through this two weeks had a breakthrough- they finally kissed. The love story between a woman and an invisible man seemed to begin. Reading this book until now gives me a very complex feeling. Because of the long length of the story, the author gives us many detailed description of their emotion. The story describes how Elizabeth has grown up, her difficulty of having a relationship and what special role which Ivan played in her life. And the way the author describes about starting to love a person was so true and real, that made me feel touched. 

The story that I read every week, Elizabeth's younger sister, Saoirse always made many troubles that needed Elizabeth to deal with. She was already a grown woman who had a child, but she always needed her sister to look after her. She is one reason that Elizabeth could not have a normal relationship with her partner. Every time she has to deal with the problem and could not run away with it. This made Elizabeth's ex-boyfriend left her. I was  sad when I know that her boyfriend left her because she felt she had a responsibility for her family. It was already a hard time for her, and her boyfriend even could not by her side.

What Ivan did in his job was to be a friend with kids and help them. He knew how difficult Elizabeth had been through, so he helped her being like a kid again. They were dancing with the dandelion flying in the air so happily. He seemed to be the reason that kept Elizabeth smiling. Seeing them finally kissed makes me very happy. She finally met someone that suit her and understood her.

Ivan's job was taking care of Elizabeth's nephew, Luke. But recently, he only focused on Elizabeth and did not do his job. Falling in love is much easier; Getting along with someone is not that easy. Now they both are in love with each other. The challenge is coming to them soon. I really do hope everything will go well with them. Lastly, I would like to share a beautiful sentence in this book: Well, today I gave Baile na gcroithe a big wake-up call, kissed a very beautiful woman and then spent the rest of the day being unable to do anything but think of her.

Log #3

Book: If you could see me now

Author: Cecelia Ahern

PAGE:161-223

In my reading this week, Elizabeth had started to seen Ivan. The interaction between them really makes me smile sincerely from my heart. They both had a feeling for each other, but they were still getting to know each other more. Their relationship at this stage was just like what we called "more than friends less than lovers.

" In this chapters, I could see how Ivan's presence was essential for Elizabeth. She was hurt in her childhood by her mom because her wishes for her mom to come back home always fell. She grew up by acting strong and taking care of others rather than herself. She did not know what she wanted. She did not know that she was so hurt and she needed someone to help her out. Someone who was meant to be with her. That's why she felt so comfortable when being with Ivan. It made me think of the romance relationship. Sometimes our lover had a different characteristic from us just to make this relationship more fulfill and balance. 

But no matter how hard Ivan tried to tell her that he was an invisible person, Elizabeth did not trust what Ivan said. Seems like Elizabeth was a kind of person who only accepted the idea which she wanted. Her world did not allow too many possibilities to breeze in. I am very curious what will happen next when an invisible man met an old-fashion woman.

I wish I would not be like this. A person who hold their opinion very tight. I always let all kinds of possibilities be there in my life. Never judge or assert one thing from your opinion too soon. There are always something you do not know yet. Sometimes I do not like when people insist their point of view and do not want to listen to others. We have to be humble and open to the world more.

Log #2

Book: If you could see me now

Author: Cecelia Ahern

PAGE:59-160

One day Elizabeth had to take Luke to see his granfather. Luke insisted to bring his invisible friend, Ivan, with him to meet grandpa where as Elizabeth did not want to. She thought it was all his imaginary and she did not want her dad to think Luke was crazy. When Luke was getting off the car, she kept Luke from opening the backdoor of the car. It seemed stupid that she acted like there was actually a person there. And Ivan was stuck in the car with Elizabeth.

After sending Luke to his grandpa, Elizabeth went straight to her office. There were  her employees in the office, too. But they saw a very strange things happened. The chair was spinning by itself. It was spinning slowly and then fast. It continued for couple of minutes. That was pretty weird and rare to all of them. What happened was Ivan sitting on the chair and played with it. But none of them ccould see him. Suddently, Saoirse went into the office. Saoirse was Elizabeth's younger sister and she was Luke's mom. She said, "Aren't you going to introduce me?" She looked at Elizabeth. Ivan was so shocked because Saoirse was the only adult that could see him. Elizabeth still did not get anything when she heard this. Afrer a little fight between the two of them, Saoirse shouted to Elizabeth, "They all will leave eventually, isn't it right, Lizzie?" She thought Ivan was some kind of Elizabeth 's boyfriend. And she was referring that Ivan will leave her. Pointing out the fact that no one stayed for long time in Elizabeth's life, they had all lefted her.

Hearing this words came from her sister whom she took care of in her all life hurt Elizabeth badly. After coming back home, she could not help but cry. At that moment, Luke was  already back home. She thought he was playing with his classmate, Sam. So when she saw a man at her house, she thought that was Sam's dad coming to pick him up. She talked with him for a quite a long time. She  felt very comfortable talking with this person who she had just met. But this man was actually not Sam' dad. He was Ivan. He was the invisible friend who she could not see before. Because Ivan did not reveal his name, she still thought he was Sam's dad.

The story became very interesting to me now. I kept turning the pages to see how the stories went on. Ivan worked in a company which was made by invisible people. What they do was to find a person, usually kids, and accompany them. Children were more likely to see them because they believed in more things than adults. After the fight happened in the office with Elizabeth and Saoirse, Elizabeth became able to see Ivan. I am really looking forward to see if there will be something romance between these two person. And how Ivan may help Elizabeth overcome the deepest hurt caused by her family.

Log #1

Book: If you could see me now
Author: Cecelia Ahern
PAGE:1~58

I bought this book about two years ago when I was in Australia. The author was the one who wrote "P.S. I love you". Although neither did read that book nor watch the movie, I assumed this book would be a nice one for me to start on. But it turns out that I fail myself again. I didn't continue reading after I finished chapter one. I really need to do some changes and make things done. The first thing I can do now is reading this book chosen by myself. 

From page 1 to 58, there was a man called Ivan. He was walking along a neighborhood. He met a little boy, Luke, and they became friends. When they were playing at the front yard, a woman ran out from Luke's house. She got on a car and drove away. Ivan asked Luke who the woman was, and Luke said that was his mother,Saoirse. Luke's aunt, Elizabeth, came running after Saoirse and shouting at her. But she already drove away. Luke's mother was pregnant when she was very young. No one knew whom the dad was. The name, Saoirse , means freedom in Irish. Saoirse acted just like the meaning of her name. She could not be control by anyone. She did not even care about her son, Luke. Elizabeth was the one who took care of the whole family. All her life was taking care of Elizabeth and Luke. 

Later, Elizabeth saw Luke playing and she asked what he was talking about. Luke said that he was playing with his new friend, Ivan. Surprisingly, Elizabeth couldn't see Ivan. He was an invisible person! I am not sure how the story will go on, but this is kind of interesting. Elizabeth thought Luke was insane. She didn't believe in what he said. Luke even asked for extra pizza for Ivan. But Elizabeth just didn't want to waste the food just for an imaginary person. Luke insisted to give Ivan the pizza, so Elizabeth did not have choice and placed a piece of pizza on a plate.

In this story, Ivan was actually existing. I don't know why he was invisible. Maybe he was a ghost. However, Elizabeth seemed to hear Ivan. After eating the pizza, Ivan said thank you to Elizabeth. She said, "You are welcome, Luke." to him. I am looking forward to seeing the interaction between these two people. Ivan could see Elizabeth, but she could not see him. It could be very difficult for them if they were going to have a relationship. 

My Reading History

Honestly, I do not consider myself as a reader yet. To me, I always want to become a reader. I have tried to read books in the past two years. But until now, it still takes me a lot of time to finish reading a whole book.

I think the reason why reading is so hard for me is because I used to read a bunch of picture and illustrated books. One of my favorite illustrators is 幾米Jimmy. I started to read his books when I was in junior high school or even earlier. Founding myself enjoying his books made me also want to become an illustrator in the future. Most of the time, I only read such kind of books that do not require thinking. Maybe that is why my brain is easy to get tired when I am reading now.

But there was a person that changed me in some way. He was a classmate of mine when I was a sophomore student. He was very different from me. He read many books and had many thoughts in his mind.  At that time, he suggested me to read a book called "Love" by an Indian writer Osho. Osho was also considered as a mystic. I would say this book had a very very huge impact on me. It totally changed the way I had used to think of many things. It was a book of his opinion of love. But what I learned from this book was more than love. I am not saying that this is a good book because some of his thoughts are really controversial. But it is definitely a book that will change your concept.

This book had really broadened my view. I felt like a babe in the woods before. After that, I was very interested in reading books like meditation, yoga, Buddhism, and philosophy. I did not read picture books anymore and started to read something that made me think. I really enjoy exploring new worlds and learning new concepts from books.

Last week, professor was talking about how reading will change the way we see. I totally agree with this because of my experience. I am still on the journey of becoming a good reader. And I hope I can improve day by day.