waking up to tea in your cup

Argh

I accidentally fell asleep at six yesterday; after waking a couple of times without remembering, right, get up, I woke up at seven thirty this morning and realized it was not all a terrible dream. I loathe oversleep; it's like all the worst parts of being stoned without the pleasant sense of stoned-ness and desire for lots of food. I think I am here, but I cannot be certain. Mostly, I miss coffee. Coffee took care of things like this.

God, I miss coffee.

No Argh

After years and years of despairing I'd ever get Child to read fiction (as opposed to piles and piles and piles of non-fiction about reptiles), he finally broke the last couple of years when his reading and English classes required novels (I love his school so much); Child has Diane Duane's first three Young Wizard novels in his hot little hands and I've been informed he'll need the rest of them by Monday at the latest.

Actually, checking my B&N and Amazon purchases, he's not doing too badly with them, but I want him to get a better variety of sci-fi/fantasy beyond white male writers, though to his credit, and his school's, they do seem to have a pretty good variety of non-white male writers introduced to the students in their AR (advanced reading).

As a kid, from about fourth-fifth grade on, I skipped children's and young adult literature to go straight to adult and it's not that I regret it, but I know I missed a variety of interesting novels that I'm getting a second chance at now to read and be impressed by.

Some Argh

I am starting to add milk or cream to my tea. It is odd. I hated the taste of that before, but now I make my tea very strong just so I can do that. I mean, I get this is partially psychological; I cannot have coffee, but if my tea looks like coffee, then it's almost like having coffee, even if the taste of tea and milk together appalls me.

Now, here's proof that you really can adapt to anything; I am staring to like how it tastes. Not just like, but anticipate. I don't even know what to do with that.

Yay No Argh!

The tops I got from ideeli shipped! *glee*

Comments

[scy]

My tops shipped too!

[seperis]

Did you see the dresses up today? *stares at them moodily*

[scy]

*is avoiding*

I have to review my arabic vocabulary and verbs, that's what I keep telling myself.

*also moody*

[seperis]

They have this adorable tank dress of cotton that's just--oh.

[laurajv]

do you like ideeli? I haven't signed up because it seemed like just another sale site, but I do wonder....

[seperis]

I've found a lot of stuff I like so far? Not everything, definitely, but the Mikasa sale the other day was really popular with my sister, and I've ordered a few things. They've had a couple of designers I really like come up, but I'll know for sure when my order comes in and I can verify it's as advertised. I got the link from a friend at work who loves that site for shoes, and she's had no complaint so far, so I decided to try.

So far, I'm enjoying at least the browsing experience; they usually have something I'm interested in at least a couple of times a week, even if I can't buy at that moment.

[laurajv]

hmm. good to know! thanks.

[via_ostiense]

Has Child read Guardian of the Dead? It's YA fantasy heavily based on Maori mythology by karenhealey and it's smart, well written, and awesome with regard to writing about women, a minority culture, colonialism, and an asexual character. It opens with a scene of implied underage drinking (the hungover morning after) and there's a scene about sexual harassment. The latter is done very well and very not-faily. Just a heads up, though, in case Child comes up and asks you about them!

[spaggel]

I am a pretty big tea fan but yeah, I don't like regular milk/cream in it since I too, think, coffeecoffeecoffee. So I add sweetened condensed milk to it, a small spoonful and it doesn't make it watery/milky bland, but tastes a little creamy and a little sweet which is how I like my coffee.

BUT GOD, NO COFFEE D:

[harpers_child]

what are your thoughts about white male authors who write about strong female characters? Garth Nix's Abhorsen series is one i enjoyed in high school and my sisters enjoyed in middle school. It's about two kingdoms and a girl who went to school in one going in the other and trying to find her father who has gone missing. did i mention she's a magician? she is. along the way she picks up a sarcastic talking cat and an amnesiac swordsman as companions. there is one brief mention of sex as the main character overhears someone next door at an inn.

Robin McKinley mostly retells fairy tales. She did also write _The Hero and The Crown_ which is about a girl killing dragons and meeting a magician and defeating an army.

i've also always found various mythologies from around the world to be interesting. has he heard of Ananzi yet?

i'm also one of those people who more or less skipped YA books (unless you count reading Tarzan at about nine). both Nix and McKinley are found in the YA section and are people i discovered in high school on the recommendations of friends.

books for Child ?

[dine]

Diana Wynne Jones writes some very entertaining YA stuff (and adults generally love too); Archer's Goon and The Ogre Downstairs are my personal faves, but just about everything is good reading

seconding Robin McKinley's Hero & the Crown and The Blue Sword for terrific action fantasy stories with kickass female protagonists.

[ashdustdirt.blogspot.com]

Sorry you don't know me at all, but I subscribe to your journal, love your fics and your non fic posts are tres amusant(what can I say I find your pain funny, yes I am a bad bad person). Anyways, may I make a suggestion concerning tea?

While it doesn't replace the taste of coffee, a great way to have milk and tea together is to have tea Indian style, and I am not talking about the chai latte at starbucks(which I never had and probably never will). I don't know if you ever tried it and enjoyed it or hated it.

Just heat up some water(1.5 cups) in a saucepin, put some tea in(ideally two tea bags or 3 spoonfuls of black tea), toss in some chai spice mix, let it boil for 4-5 minutes, and add in half cup of heated milk(from microwave) and let it boil then simmer for 5 more minutes. You can add in some sugar, or I like to add in some sweetened condensed milk. And voila chai. Or at least my bastardized version; the real indian style is to heat up the water and milk(50:50 ratio) from the start, but then you have to scrape the bottom of the pot afterward and I am lazy as hell.

Remember though that just as various black teas can have different flavours(although muted I think when boiled with milk), there are various chai spice mixes out there, that vary in flavour.

[litotease]

Not just like, but anticipate. I don't even know what to do with that.

It's like looking forward to the methadone. *nods*

[betweenthebliss.livejournal.com]

make sure he reads lots of nancy farmer. 'the ear, the eye and the arm' is still one of my top ten books of all time. and 'house of the scorpion' is also very good.

also, i totally hear you on the oversleep thing. 9 hours is the mark for me; after that i just feel sick. :/

[amazonziti.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to add an emphatic WORD to that Nancy Farmer recommendation. "A Girl Named Disaster" is one of my faves, along with "The Ear, The Eye and the Arm". \o/

[betweenthebliss.livejournal.com]

i've been meaning to read 'girl named disaster', i just always forget to get it from the library. EE&A is seriously one of the best books i have ever read, and every time i reread it reaffirms it.

[amazonziti.livejournal.com]

OMG. DO IT. "A Girl Named Disaster" is amazing. I love it to tiny tiny pieces. "The Ear, the Eye and the Arm" I really love for the way it combines futurefic/sci-fi, urban fantasy, and historical fiction. And of course the characters are incredible. NOW I WANT TO REREAD IT.

[renshai.livejournal.com]

Double WORD on 'The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm' - I've never read any of Nancy Farmer's other books, but I went through three copies of that one.

[betweenthebliss.livejournal.com]

i'm on my third, lol. think i might try to lay hands on a hardcover copy once this paperback wears out. :)

[amazonziti.livejournal.com]

Most of what I read growing up was YA sci-fi and fantasy. I AM EXCITED FOR YOUR SON.

Most of what I read was by white female writers -- of course Diane Duane, Patricia C. Wrede, Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula K. LeGuin, Madeleine L'Engle, Jane Yolen. I hear people liked Patricia McKillip and Anne McCaffrey, though I never read them myself. As far as non-white or non-male writers go... Laurence Yep is pretty awesome (I loved his Dragon of the Lost Sea series), as is Octavia Butler, though she's more of a grown-up writer, I think. Virginia Hamilton was amazing, though the only books of hers that I know are children's books, folktales and fantasy -- I don't know if she wrote YA ever.

I wish you luck on your hunt for awesome literature! *throws confetti*

[betweenthebliss.livejournal.com]

and hell yes, robin mckinley and ursula leguin are amazing. everyone in the universe should read the earthsea books, and 'the hero and the crown'.

[amazonziti.livejournal.com]

Especially if you're looking for more diverse YA fiction, the Earthsea books are about people of color. \o/

AUGH I love Robin McKinley, especially her reimaginings of fairytales. Also "Sunshine" is AWESOME, although probably too grown-up for a boy who just discovered the Young Wizards.

[betweenthebliss.livejournal.com]

hell yes they are! that's one of my favorite canons ever, the detail in the worldbuilding is just so, so good.

and omg yes, sunshine, eeeeee. seperis you should read that one, lol, it is definitely like age 15/16 and up. talk about vampires done right! <3

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

You may be the best mom EVER! Your son has fun reading times ahead of him! Sarah Rees Brennan is on my LJ flist; she used to write excellent HP fic, now she writes excellent YA novels. Check her out: http://www.sarahreesbrennan.com/ She collects YA novels and writes wonderful recommendation and reviews of them on her LJ. Check out her tags and pick up some ideas for good YA novels there: http://sarahtales.livejournal.com/tag/

I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but anything good that drinking tea does for your body is negated by the casein in the milk or cream. Rethink your drink!

[drackypotter.livejournal.com]

Were you one of the "lucky" ones who got the PDF...well if not http://hotlinks.fyrdrakken.net/the_complete_works_of_maya.pdf

there it is...it is also being put up on a site where the chapters are split up, but so far only Draco the amazing bouncing rat is up http://mayaforever.proboards.com/

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Yup, I did get the PDF when she posted it! But I highly approve of others sharing it now that she's had to take it down due to her professional contracts.

::points::

I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but it appears you HAVE NO ICON!

[drackypotter.livejournal.com]

New link: http://www.mediafire.com/?gvt5dzqz1en

Table of Contents --

Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing... Rat? Page 2-179
Chains and Chained Page 190-203
Underwater Light Page 204-769
Loved Those of Great Ambition Page 770-820
Extended Courtship Page 821-843
Flame and Shadow Page 844-881
Hatred Page 882-892
Contempt Page 893-907
Your Every Wish Page 908-946
Dancing Queen Page 947-966
The Professional's Guide to Badgering People Page 967-988
Crouching Lion, Hidden Badger Page 989-1006
How The Badger Has Fallen Page 1006-1021
Dark Side of the Light Page 1022-1091
A Distinctly Different Manner of Finding Prince Charming Page 1092-1117
Draco Malfoy, Ruler of the Universe Page 1118-1142
Quality of Mercy Page 1143-1856
Sirius Black, Super Genius Page 1857-1898
If You've a Ready Mind Page 1899-2127
The Way We Get By Page 2128-2230
Drop Dead Gorgeous Page 2231-2539
Coda to an Epilogue:
Twenty Years Later, or The Kids Are All Right Page 2540-2605

[fyrdrakken]

I've somehow lost the taste for milk in my tea, in that once I got in the habit of using Irish cream instead (since for years we had a crappy fridge that wouldn't keep milk from going bad within a couple of days and we just stopped buying milk) I really prefer the taste. And also being able to start my day with a trifecta of caffeine, sugar, and a dash of alcohol.

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

E. L. Konigsburg is a great place to start. She is the only writer to win a Newberry award with one book and win the runner-up Newberry award in the same year (in 1968 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler won the Newbery Medal and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth) She won again for A View From Saturday 30 years later.

Curtis, Christopher Paul. THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM - 1963. is a funny, dramatic beautifully characterized book about a black family who travel from Detroit to visit their grandmother and arrive just as the violence of the Civil Rights movement is starting.

Donna Jo Napoli has written some wonderful retellings of fairytales. She is worth trying.

Maniac Magee is an urban fantasy, no wizards or dragons, but a fantastic and fanciful main character. It is a tearjerker, so if Child reads it be prepared for tears and much need for comforting and then having it be reread many times, or at least that was what happened with my daughter.

Good luck in finding things that will engage and entrance your young reader. All of these helped my daughter become entranced by books.

[tetsubinatu.livejournal.com]

My eldest was required to read 'Tomorrow When the War Began' for school last year - and then he and I ripped through the rest of the series at the speed of light.

John Marsden is a male white writer. The protagonist, Ellie, is female, a country girl. The series doesn't really meet your criteria but I thought I'd recommend it anyway, because both of us were just gripped by it. The premise is that an unnamed asian country successfully invades present-day Australia while Ellie and her friends are on a camping trip in the bush. I think there are 7 books in the first series and then another 3 in the sequel. Be warned - some of the central group die and some of them have sex with each other, but it is sensitively and realistically dealt with and I do think that it is handled in a way a young teenager can cope with.

FWIW!

[tetsubinatu.livejournal.com]

Oh - and if you're looking for cultural diversity, two of Ellie's friends are of asian extraction, which has psychological ramifications for them, as well as for their imprisoned families.

[clairshadows.livejournal.com]

Shields of Trell - Jenny Summerville I adored this story when I was a child 8-10 I think. A story set in the future where everything is controlled by these 'super computers' children are sent to sent to a boarding school on a different planet and everything is planned for them. The story starts with three children going home for the holidays when their shuttle malfunctions. It's a lost in space adventure story where they save themselves and learn how to do things for themselves. Easy to read and for the most part light hearted.

More present day The keys to the kingdom series by Garth Nix more fantasy than science fiction, but young male hero inherits the keys to the kingdom (a universe alongside our own which is an infinite house) piece by piece through the seven books. Fantastic ending.

If he likes conspiracy stories with a sense of humour 'A series of unfortunate events' by lemony snickett is fun. My favourite was book number 7, but the last book the damn ending of a series with thirteen books will bore him to tears.

[geeklite.livejournal.com]

I totally have to have milk in my coffee and tea, but they both have to be hella strong to make it worthwhile. It would probably be easier for everybody concerned if I stopped drinking them with milk, but they just look wrong otherwise.

[jamesinboots.livejournal.com]

Now, here's proof that you really can adapt to anything; I am staring to like how it tastes. Not just like, but anticipate. I don't even know what to do with that.

It's the caffeine. Your body misses the coffee, but it is recognizing the tea as being an acceptable substitute. :D :D :D

Also, I know what you mean about oversleeping, gosh. I tend to get depressive and nauseous when I sleep too much, funtiems.

*hug*

[(Anonymous)]

just a quick not to say that your site (illuminatedtext) is down at the moment. it was working about 1/2 weeks ago, last i checked. er, sorry if you've already posted about this or something. just thought you might want to know!

[hellpenguin.livejournal.com]

It's like you're on the Heart of Gold, and you stick your head into the beverage-sensing machine, and you pray for coffee, and it gives you tea and milk.