Animorphs 30 Day Challenge: Day 22 - Unpopular Opinion

Day Twenty-Two: An unpopular opinion you have about the series.

I actually don't have an answer for this because it's not that popular around here (SAD SAD PLACE, THIS IS).

Animorphs 30 Day Challenge: Day 21 - Jake's Mistakes

Day Twenty-One: It’s natural for a leader to make some mistakes. What are some mistakes you think Jake made in the war against the Yeerks?

He should've let anyone watch Erek until the end of his assignment. That way, Erek could've not drain the Dracon Beam
and Rachel could've might've lived.

Animorphs 30 Day Challenge: Day 20 - Influence in Life

Day Twenty: How has Animorphs influenced your life?

I've been reading and rereading this series for almost 8 years now, so the series influenced me a lot, more than I wanted to, more likely. 

1. The very first good influence of Animorphs to me is in reading - it made me read beyond Sweet Valley thanks be to gods all over the multiverse. The story: I was browsing through the SV books in one bookshop (Expressions Batangas City, RIP), and not finding anything that I didn't read yet, I tried to check on other books. Lo and behold, there's this discounted book, and it's the first book of a series, so I thought I'd try something new. And that's the beginning of constantly checking thrift bookshops for the Animorphs books that I do not have yet (I'm 8 short of 54).

2. It gave me more treehugger influences, thanks to Cassie, and to the entire story line really. I have an environmental cousin, but she's just one, and I'm really lucky to have Animorphs because it opened my mind to what humans can do for the environment during my younger years. It seeded my dream to become an environmentalist, and here I am now, trying to finish my Environmental Engineering masters.

3.It also opened my dear young mind to philosophical questions and ideas without bombarding it with technicalities of philosophy. It didn't give me Marx or Kierkegaard or Machiavelli yet, but it gave me a jumpstart to ask questions about life, death, and everything in between, or does that in between really matter. It removed me from the mediocre philo stuff that Christian Social Living books from my elementary years that they force fed to us. (No offense meant to the religion. It's just that I think they should let us reflect on it and dissect it afterwards, or just let us read the Bible and instruct us to make tons of paper work, than force feeding it to us.)

Animorphs 30 Day Challenge: Day 19 - Conversations

Day Nineteen: Three favourite quotes/conversations

Animorphs #35: The Proposal 

(1) "<Self-help books?> Ax asked. <Are they similar to instruction manuals?>

<Not exactly, Ax-man,> Tobias said. <Self-help books are like instruction books for living.>
<Indeed? Instructions for living? Such as "Consume necessary nutrients"?"Breathe sufficient air"?>"

This is my first favorite Animorphs conversation that I can remember. I even make 'Breathe sufficient air' as a motto once. Ax makes me laugh out loud most of the time. 

(2) “But mostly, I remembered what I’ve always believed. What my mom taught me. That while some things are just plain awful, most things in life can be seen either tragic or comic. And it’s your choice. Is life a big, long, tiresome slog from sadness to regret to guilt to resentment to self-pity? Or is life weird, outrageous, bizarre, ironic, and just stupid? Gotta go with stupid. It’s not the easy way out. Self pity is the easiest thing in the world. Finding the humor, the irony, the slight justification for a skewed, skeptical optimism. That’s tough." - Marco

This is straight to the heart. I'm a pity person, but I'm doing my best to get out of that because it doesn't make any difference. Sulking isn't the way out. And Marco is one fine example how to make a way out. 

Animorphs #54: The Beginning 

(3) Did it matter? In the end. My life and my - my death - did it change anything? Did I matter?

Yes. You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered.
-Rachel and Ellimist

This is the summation of a life story. I'm hoping that when my time comes, this would be my last thoughts. That I mattered, too. 

Animorphs 30 Day Challenge: Day 18 - Funny Aneurysm

Day Eighteen: A Funny Aneurysm Moment (FAM)

NOTE: SPOILERS AHEAD

I must say this is my FAM:
[From Book 4: The Message]

Marco's cooperative mood hadn't lasted long. I knew it wouldn't. Marco is never happy
unless he's complaining about something. Just like Rachel is never happy unless she has
something to fight against. And Tobias is never happy, period. He thinks if he's ever happy,
someone will just come along and take his happiness away.

When I read this part, I thought the POV (Cassie) was joking about Tobias, so I laughed. Out loud. This would be an FAM in Book 54 though, because the love of his life was taken away from him, at the very end of the effing series. 

I want to please give Tobias a long hug.

And this too:

Rachel's POV, Book 17:

"I think it was a dead body!"Thanks, I thought. Hope that's not a prophecy.

Animorphs 30 Day Challenge: Day 17 - Three heartwarming moments

Day Seventeen: Three heartwarming moments.

1. The characteristics of Pemalites
    - As much as how heart wrecking their end might be, Pemalites, as how they were, are heart warming. When I read the part where their story was being told, I was all 'Awww, I want to meet one.' Their chosen innocence is sweet it makes my heart melt and makes me want a dog so much.

2. Aftran and Cassie's deal
    - To be introduced to a Yeerk who didn't like the war they started for the first time is so good for my Yeerk-hating heart. Applegate had done a great job here in demonstrating the gray areas of life. The Departure should be read not only once.

3. Rachel, crying over Cassie's caterpillar incident
    -  I've just reread book 19: The Departure after reading books 50-54.  They've changed a lot because of the war, and inevitably, relationships suffered. So I was deeply touched by Rachel, crying over Cassie.in book 19 because from feeling so down due to the Animorphs' doubts with each other's motives from the last books, here comes a refreshing part of their story: when their friendship was so fresh that it would truly devastate the hard, cool Rachel to lose Cassie. I imagine, if Rachel would lose Cassie on the last parts of the series, she would return to her memories, of how deep their friendship was, because so much strain had happened to them that their recent encounters would only count Cassie as the 'valuable part of their team'.