The Dangers of Tea

Many a time you will come to this blog and find words of praise for a beverage I call chai. Its a warm beverage of tea and milk with a dash of sugar for the sweet inclined. I now realize my praises have been reckless as I have sung the praises of chai, yet seldom do I discuss the darker side of the delectable beverage. Today I temper my love for chai with some words of advice: Do not, I repeat DO NOT drink a cup of loose leaf chai at 9:45 at night. Yes you may tell yourself that chai is not as strong as coffee and therefore will have no effect on you whatsoever. You may remind yourself of all the days you drank tea and promptly began snoring like a hibernating brown bear. However chai drinking at 9:45 at night can result in side effects such as lying in bed for 48 minutes listening to each individual rain drop as it hits your roof forcing you to go downstairs and deplete your carefully saved new episodes of Ugly Betty that you were hoping to watch as you savored each one and not in a frustrated restless state as you waited for sleep to come and then reading hideous books you're glad you borrowed from a library and didn't actually purchase, and praying deeply, most sincerely to feel just the tiniest slightest bit sleepy though sleep in any shape or form seems nowhere on the horizon resulting in this, what you have before you, frantic caffeine induced blogging of questionable literary merit. Sigh.

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation. ~Author Unknown

How to travel with carry on only

We all have a thing. Some can charm sales ladies into 50% discounts. Me? I can travel with carry on only luggage like its no one's business! I traveled to Costa Rica for 8 days, Chicago for four days, and DC on business all carry-on!

I do it because I save oodles of time. I print my boarding pass the night before and frolick straight to security (which is time consuming enough without the hassle of ticketing counters) Plus you don't have to wait like a forlorn puppy at baggage claim with 100s of similarly situated pupswho swivel their heads with each drop of the dark (always black) suitcase, proceeding to stampede and claim it and ofcourse realize upon inspection, not theirs. No thanks! Here's some tips on what I do.

1. Duffel bag: They're flexible so fit more than traditional carry on luggage.
2. Stop, grab and roll: Don't fold your clothes, roll them up tightly. You get less wrinkles and save a ton of space.
3. Do the catwalk preflight: I know many who bring 7 different outfits for approximately 2 days! All hail the perfect outfit but why not answer the soul searching question preflight by trying on what you would wear and picking before you go?
4. Minimize the shoes: Shoes take up tons of space. I take black shoes that can go with all my clothes. Sure it means my outfits will have to go with black shoes but having one nice shoe as opposed to three to go with three different outfits saves a lot of space and to me its worth it.
5. Wear your suit: When going for suit-ish meetings I wear my suit onto the plane.
6. Liquidate: The 3oz liquid requirement can cause many to check in bags. Target has great travel size EVERYTHING plus "airport requirement" ziplock bags.
7. Tote it! Bring the big tote bag as your purse. It'll carry your book, and other things that you can avoid packing in. (Men, you can tote without a purse!)

8. Take the paperback. I'm a book addict and I can't fly without a book in hand. You don't NEED to take Harry Potter volumes 1-4 with you. How about a paperback you've been meaning to read? It can fit in your tote and takes up less space.

Aisha, the bookworm

I have books coming out of my ears. There's the bag book [for waiting moments], the car book [audio book], the bed book [good but slightly sleep inducing], and the everywhere book [the book you just CANT put down].

The libraries in the two cities I lived in before this one didn't charge late fines. Many find this incredible, as though I'm saying I once had zebra stripes and lived amongst the fairies. But its true and because I wasn't used to fines, I ended up accumulating hefty ones thus putting me off libraries for 3 years.

One of my goals for my 108 in 2008 was to pay off my fine and start checking out books again. In doing so I've re-discovered the library and how economical, and wonderful it really is. My county has an online catalog where you can search books, ask the library to hold them for you, and then you can pick them up, read them, drop them off, pick up more, FOR FREE! I grew up on the library so this shouldn't really feel like a novel concept, but somehow it is. Thanks to the library I'm reading books I might never have and reading more than I have in YEARS.

These are my latest reviews on the books I've recently read: The Green Book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Man Walks Into a Room, Shopaholic & Baby, Snowflower and the Secret Fan, Northanger Abbey, Baby Proof, About a Boy, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Atonement

Read any of these? I'd be curious on your take! Any books you recommend?

The unfortunate circumstance of the goat meat

Takalaf: the concerted act of being polite/formal/gracious/hospitable.

Desis are notorious for takalaf which though translatable is not fully understood without seeing how it plays out in the desi world:

If you see a jolly family of desis having a nice amiable dinner at say, Macaroni Grill, and then 10 minutes later see a road runner scene as two grown men chase each other around the table one holding the bill high out of reach and the other flaying a credit card after him because both insist on paying: Mutual Takalaf.

If at a dinner you have the strong inclination to gorge yourself on biryani until your stomach needs to be pumped at the hospital but eat only a plateful because you're afraid the pan might empty of biryani and you don't want to burden your host with replenishing the tray: Self Induced Takalaf.

If you stopped at a friend's to drop off a CD and the mother proceeds to yank you out of the car, drag you in the home, plop you on a sofa and feed you chai with an assortment of biscuits while monitoring your bites: Auntie Takalafed you.

If you tell your MIL as she hands you a bag of frozen goat to take home, that you don't want goat meat because you don't like the taste and cant get the image of lamp chops out of your head (and yes lamb chops was a) not a goat b) but a puppet c) therefore not a real animal in any way shape or form, but still) nor do you care for its smell and insist you don't want it but get a smile from MIL as she opens your car door and plops aforementioned goat meat for you to take with: Presumed Takalaf.

So thanks to Takalaf and desis who practice it entirely too much, I have approximately twelve pounds of goat meat in my very teeny freezer that I am just not sure what to do with. Any good goat recipes? Sigh

One Yucky Thing Saturday

Realizing the glorious snow is now the reason flights are canceled and you in doubt of seeingyour family on this all too precious long weekend anticipated eagerly for weeks. If you want to give your Sustainer a good laugh, tell him your plans for the future. Amen

Three Beautiful Things Thursday

1. Standing outside in the still of night looking, touching, tasting the rare presence of snow; watching its descent as it swirls down to earth blanketing grass, trees, trucks and roof tops, and anything else still enough to allow its brief repose.
2. Potatoes and their long shelf life which comes in handy when spouses remember to bring the salmon but forget the green beans entirely.
3. Being born in a life where my gender does not bind my feet. Why is it, throughout cultures and generations, its women who get the short end of the stick? Foot binding may no longer happen, but the fact that it ever did to someone somewhere, breaks my heart.

Aisha, the laptop

When I look at my to-do list and the timeline in which to accomplish it and fully realize the urgency of NOW, I panic. When I panic, my anxiety goes UP. When my anxiety goes UP, I freeze up like a malfunctioning laptop. When I freeze I'm unable to do all the reading, researching, drafting and such I require to accomplish all the things urgently in need of accomplishment. Instead, I find myself involuntarily frozen in place chanting ohmigod in a monosyllabic tone while more to-do items fill up resulting in more panic, more anxiety, more freezing. If you are walking to your office today and come across a random 5 foot 5 pile heap of papers, please poke it kindly. Urge it on its way. It might be me.

Tea Addiction?

Is it a bad sign that I awoke this morning with a startle because of my bad dream which consisted of: rushing to get ready for work, putting tea on the stove, pouring tea into my to-go cup and realizing in horror that I forgot to put the tea leaves in the pot!

Hello, my name is Aisha, I am a tea addict.

Aisha the Soggy Samosa

Samosa: a delicious desi treat. Flaky and crispy on the outside, soft and potato squishy on the inside. A samosa, to shine in all its samosa glory must do the balancing act of hard and soft, crispy and squishy, effortlessly. You can talk about the tasty potato center all you want, its delicate spices mingling together in perfect harmony, but really the hard crispy shell is essential and there's no way around it: hard shells are gotten only by deep frying.

I'll be seeing the subject of my trampoline post at two different gatherings tomorrow. I've since learned said person has said a great many things against me to people who have in turn joined in solidarity. Said person has a gift for charming people and taking over a room with their presence. Its one of the things I liked about them, but when used for hurting another, now that I have been on the receiving end of it, is one of the things that hurts most.

I'm reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austin. In one scene a dissed Catherine sits alone at the ball, friendless and alone. Austin writes: To be disgraced in the eye of the world, to wear the appearance of infamy... while her actions all innocence, and the misconduct of another the true source of her debasement, is one of those circumstances which peculiarly belong to the heroine's life, and her fortitude under it what particularly dignifies her character.

Different era, different culture, and yet she too had to endure a similar situation. Such situations can help define your character. The proper amount of hot oil to solidify your crispy shell and balance the spicy softness within.

Ofcourse the Quran addresses such instances. "and endure with patience whatever people may say [against thee], and avoid them with a comely avoidance. And leave Me alone [to deal] with those who give the lie to the truth - those who enjoy the blessings of life [without any thought of God] - and bear thou with them for a little while..." [73:10-11]

When it comes down to it, I'm not the only one whose dealt with this. Its a source of pain clearly for thousands of years. It might be my first time, but if history is any indication, it likely won't be my last. So sooner or later I'll have to be fried, if I want to strengthen myself anyhow... as I jump into a boiling vat of it tomorrow I'll remind myself, better now than the inevitable later.

Three Beautiful Things Thursday

1. Lipton Yellow Label. Because the chai is so much better.
2. Safe Arrivals. My family is back from Pakistan, safely.
3. Hope. Its both the most beautiful and excruciating feeling in the world.

I'm doing it for the tree

I printed out my novel today. It took 10 seconds [give or take] for me to want nothing more than to shred it to pieces and light it on fire. But- what a waste of tree. Isn't it bad enough it got chopped, hauled away from family and friends , turned from a majestic tree into flimsy paper and endured my heinous words against its being? (Plus, setting fire to paper in a confined office space might affect my employability). I could recycle it but where's the satisfaction in that?

Suffice it to say, the second draft is hard. Leaps and bounds harder than the first. You're allowed to stink on the first draft but the second draft should resemble something you could ask a friend to read who won't in turn, turn green and pretend to faint. Its not to say the whole thing is a rambling load of six week old feta cheese, some parts I love BUT- some parts are so heinous I wish to look away with one tear drop in my eye declaring "You are dead to me!"

The trouble is most sites providing advice to wannabe writers focus on the first draft, very few talk about the second though this site which is quite helpful, and this writer says its okay to fall into a pit of despair when staring at your first draft. Its really hard to keep going but I'm going to keep on trucking. If nothing else, I'll do it for the tree.

I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork. ~Peter De Vries

Why attentiveness is a virtue

Because then you won't, when introduced, give a big smile, extend your hand, and say all cheerfully "Hi! I'm Aisha, so nice to meet you!!" and get a response like "Uh, yeah, I know. We met twice before... remember?" -D'oh!

Ten things I'm resigned to never understanding

1. Fantasy football and the resulting two hour discussions with fellow fantasizers.
2. Boiled Peanuts
   
3. William Hung and the people who buy his CDs
4. High gas prices because the cost of crude oil is insane and its so unfortunate because what can you do? and the curious correlation with record high profits for gas companies. Bahh.
   
5. Skinny Jeans in sizes that are not skinny. .
   
6. Washing machines that wash only in extra small, medium, and extra large and why this strange setting sequence never really disturbed me until my little brother was visiting and stood befuddled before the machine trying to quantify the size of his laundry load.
   
7. My hatred for reality TV and my inability to look away.
8. Ipod Nanos that don't hold their charge even though its turned off.
   
9. Neighbors who insist on making chapatis in their saris on the driveway. And yes I live in the USA in a typical two story suburban neighborhood.
10. Sunday evenings and my inability to fall asleep and thus have miserable Mondays more miserable than any Monday truly ought to be.
    

108 in 2008

Huda discussed her 101 in 1001 and I should fess up. My 101 in 1001 deadline was November. I accomplished 67 of the 101. I wish I accomplished all, particularly ones that weren't too difficult like, get a massage, I mean all that requires is a credit card and 60 minutes, but oh well. Now that its over I began to feel woeful as I stared into the abyss of goal-less, task-less, list-less-ness, but luckily Huda came to the rescue with: 108 in 2008! 108 things to do in 2008. The goals are not as "fly to the moon"ish but can still have lofty ambitions. The thing I like is, all can be done in the time frame.

One thing I've done different than other 108 in 2008'ers is instead of "learn new recipes" or "read more" I am quantifying the goal. Research says it takes 21 days to make a habit so many of my goals are in month long increments. Its not that I plan to do each of them for one month only, but I hope sometime in the coming months I'll have one month of solid consistency and consequently a new habit.
*I reserve the right to amend during the month of January!*

So here's my 108 in 2008. If you do it lemme know!

1. A final version of my novel. November 2008!
   
2. Submit aforementioned novel to at least ten different publishers/agents
3. Read 50 books: The books I'm reading listed here. Done November 2008!!
   
4. Write in my gratitude journal every day for a month.
   
5. Practice being vegetarian for two weeks straight.
   
6. Stop biting my nails. Thank you Hawaii! 9/9/08!!!
   
7. Sell my house!!!!!
   
8. Make another scrapbook
   
9. Pay my library fine and start checking out books again-Done 1/10/08
   
10. Write a post five days a week for four weeks straight.
    
11. See the ocean. HAWAII!!! 8/25-9/3
    
12. Eat out for lunch only once a week consistently for one month- Done Month of January!
    
13. Find a painter to paint my house.- December 30, 2008 (Found him, he hasn't done it yet though!)
    
14. Don't eat after dinner for one month.
    
15. Read 50 pieces of professional literature: December 2008
    
16. Lose 20 pounds: I lost ten! So at least I made progress.
    
17. Mail out the items sitting waiting to be mailed to friends/family
18. Take a creative writing class.
    
19. Get a physical- Done 2/1/08!
    
20. Get my vision tested-Done 2/29/08!
    
21. Order Contacts- Done 2/29/08!
    
22. Make a dentist appointment- February 2008!
    
23. Renew my passport Done 9/10/08
    
24. Update all my movie reviews
    
25. Learn to make Plantains
    
26. Don't watch any TV for one week.
27. String up my lights from my awning
28. Go to a spoken word event
29. Visit my family- Completed 1/19/08
    
30. Have a girls day with Madiha Done 8/13/08!
    
31. Attend a live show (Riverdance anyone??) Les Miserables 9/2008!
    
32. Make K attend said live show with me.
33. Go one month without any unrefined sugar 9/17/2008!
    
34. Attend Nabila's wedding- Memorial Day 2008!
    
35. Buy a suit -October 2008!
    
36. Organize my garage
37. Work out five days a week for at least 30 mins for one straight month.
38. Re-do one of my bathrooms
39. Spend at least one of my many many borders gift cards
40. Find and purchase Tazo Chamomile Tea
41. Write a short story.- Done and sent out for the competition 1/25/08!
    
42. See my cousin Aamina- July 2008!
    
43. Make a scrapbook gift for someone
44. Update this whenever I achieve a goal.
    
45. Learn to make five new dishes for dinner: Veggie Chili, Greek Chicken, Filet Mignon,
    
46. Have six lunch dates with friends during the weekdays: Done by August 2008!
    
47. Read the Quran cover to cover again
48. Give clothes in clothing drive- Done 2/28/08!
    
49. Learn to make hummus
    
50. Do a full 8 hour writing on my novel day: Done 1/26/08!
    
51. On a clear starry night watch the stars- 9/1/08: Thank you Hawaii!!
    
52. Run outdoors at least once.- 8/25/08: Thank you Hawaii!
    
53. Eat a bowl of pomegranate
54. Eat at Fogo De Chao- Completed 2/14/08!
    
55. Outline my next novel- Completed 2/11/08
    
56. Draft my next novel
    
57. Get another haircut - Done May 2008!
    
58. Get K's watch fixed
59. Get K's ring sized
60. Take home the gifts from work that are sitting in my cupboards.
    
61. Buy a shoe organizer for the foyer
    
62. Get new glasses
    
63. Frame my diplomas and hang them up
64. Send flowers to someone- Done 3/13/08 [parent's anniversary]
    
65. Buy organic salmon for dinner- Done 2/28/08!
    
66. Break 100 in bowling
67. Write a letter to my congressman about an issue of concern
68. Do one evening of writing four nights a week for one month solid. Done July 2008!
    
69. Learn a new song and sing it.
70. Buy an entire outfit at Zara's in two sizes smaller.
    
71. Get a manicure- December 30, 2008
    
72. Get a professional massage
73. Spend a day at a bookstore and read inspiring/how tos on writing
74. Have a closetful of ironed ready clothes if only one time.
    
75. Make a recipe book
    
76. Moisturize every day for one solid month
    
77. Read 20 never before read poems
78. Vaccuum every other day for a month
79. Get a new battery for my watch.
    
80. Buy organic pure cane sugar
    
81. Print out my digital pics that I want
82. Buy four nice baby outfits two for each gender to have on hand.
83. Learn to make a new dessert- 2/9/08 Completed: Heath "easy as" Pie
    
84. Take a vacation somewhere new and fun- HAWAII- August 2008!
    
85. Clean for 20 minutes a day during the workweek for one month. Done 5/5/08! A new habit has now been formed!
    
86. Buy vitamins- Done March 2008
    
87. Don't complain about work to anyone at work for one month. Done August 2008!
    
88. Donate to charity- September 2008!
    
89. Buy a nice night robe
90. Buy new nice matching pajamas- May 2008
    
91. Eat Sushi- Completed 1/4/08: YUM!
    
92. Don't drink Diet drinks for one week.Complete February 19, 2008 and going!
    
93. Buy candle holders for my nightstand
94. Get season two of the Gilmore Girls
95. Wear perfume daily for a week
96. Make my bed every day for a week.
    
97. Buy nice towels for guests
98. Buy a nice soap dispensor for kitchen
99. A frame of family for work- Done April 2008
    
100. Vote- Super Tuesday!! GO OBAMA!
     
101. Stuff my floor pillows
102. Re-Read Big Sisters Guide to the Working World
103. Do something nice for K once a week for two months.
     
104. Have a non-clothing littered floor in my bedroom for one month.
     
105. Draw a Henna pattern and frame it for my office
106. Make a charity jar (last paragraph of this post)
     
107. Do all my prayers five times a day for a month
108. Load dishes each night before bed for a month- Done 5/7/08!
     

Resolution

2007 is gone, 2008 is here. Each year slips by faster than the last it seems. Maybe to harness the reigns of time, I should write down the things I want to do to better myself as a person. A man's character is his fate (Heraclitus). This year I want to strengthen my character and in doing so hopefully enrich my destiny. Inspired by Chai.

I resolve to do something for the betterment of the world every day be it giving of my time, my money, or simply an apple to someone hungry, or a prayer to God from the depths of my heart.

I resolve to nurture my mind every day. Nutrients give to us, junk food takes away. Junk TV does the same. I resolve to watch less television and read more and use other more productive ways to spend my time.

I resolve to exercise regularly. Not for vanity but for the depletion of adrenaline and the way it strengthens my heart and regulates my pulse.

I resolve to eat healthy. My body harbors my soul and is one of the various manifestations of me. I resolve to put in my body that which betters me. I want to eat significantly less meat and significantly more organic locally grown food.

I resolve to read daily. Not just legal memos and briefs but books, magazine, stories. Its the art that I aspire to and through reading I grow intellectually and artistically.

I resolve to write daily. It may be blogging, or working on my novel or simply a note to myself in my journal before I sleep.

What do you resolve?