“
You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.
She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.
Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.
It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.
She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.
Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.
If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.
You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.
You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.
Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
”
”
Rosemarie Urquico
“
I was drinking a cup of tea. I actually enjoyed tea. It was so much better than coffee. It tasted like comfort.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Humans)
“
If I die this instant will you be more content with the morning news? Will your coffee taste better? I am not your fate. I am not your government…I am not your mother, not your father or your nightmare or your health. I am not a fence, not a wall. I am not the law or actuarial tables of your insurance broker. I am a woman with my guts loose in my hands, howling and it’s not because I committed hari-kiri. I suggest either you cook me or sew me back up. I suggest you walk into my pain as into the breaking waves of an ocean of blood, and either we will climb out together and walk away.
”
”
Marge Piercy (The Moon Is Always Female: Poems)
“
Mmm, butt bagels." Elody reaches into the bag and pulls out a bagel, half squashed, then makes a big deal of taking an enormous bite out of it. "Taste like Victoria's Secret."
"Taste like thong floss," I say.
"Taste like crack," Lindsay says.
"Taste like fart," Elody says, and Lindsay spits coffee on the dashboard, and I start laughing and can't stop, and all the way to school we're thinking of flavors for butt bagels, and I'm thinking that this---my life, my friends---might be weird or screwy or imperfect or damaged or whatever, but it's never seemed better to me.
”
”
Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)
“
It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on. Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility. So let’s be kind to the people in our own existence. Let’s occasionally look up from the spot in which we are because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever. Yesterday I knew I had no future, and that it was impossible for me to accept my life as it is now. And yet today, that same messy life seems full of hope. Potential. The impossible, I suppose, happens via living. Will my life be miraculously free from pain, despair, grief, heartbreak, hardship, loneliness, depression? No. But do I want to live? Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
Lauren,” he murmured.
She looked up into his face, into his glazed eyes. Her lips parted to say something cutting, pithy, witty—God, anything would be better than nothing—when he leant toward her, those angry-sky eyes of his growing intense with clarity, and then his mouth was on hers.
Lord, he still kisses…
His tongue dipped past her lips, seeking and finding hers with little resistance. He tasted as good as he had fifteen years ago—toothpaste and coffee and him. He tasted as good. He smelt as good. He felt as good.
”
”
Lexxie Couper (Love's Rhythm (Heart of Fame, #1))
“
Nothing in the world tasted as good for breakfast as stolen rolls with some butter and jam and a mug of milky coffee. Nothing tasted better than a venial sin.
”
”
Ian Rankin
“
There will usually be a pseudo-French bakery with weak coffee, bubble tea, and an array of glowing pastries that always look much better than they taste.
”
”
Michelle Zauner (Crying in H Mart)
“
We were brought hot, delicious coffee and fresh butter rolls. Have you ever eaten sugared egg cookies? That’s how good those rolls were. Maybe better. And the coffee! I can’t begin to describe it. A taste of Paradise!
”
”
Sholom Aleichem (The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son)
“
He kissed her before he knew he would do it. Cupped her small head against his hand and bent to touch her lips with his own, lightly tasting that sensuous mouth. He closed his eyes to feel it better—the moist plumpness of unseasoned lips, flavored with coffee and sugar and something that belonged only to her. And like an exhausted man sinking with gratitude into the down of a pillow, he sank into the softness, losing himself as he explored the edges and corners, the sensitive inner edge. He suckled gently and heard her sigh as she inclined her head to take him more fully.
”
”
Barbara Samuel (Breaking The Rules)
“
That gave us enough time to get a shot of Ethiopian coffee, espresso style. Nothing tastes better than Ethiopian coffee; almost everywhere you go, it is roasted right before it’s brewed. In the United States, we think it’s a big deal if you wait to grind the beans before you make coffee. Here, the benchmark for freshness is miles higher.
”
”
Marcus Samuelsson (Yes, Chef)
“
You look beautiful.” Lindsay giggles, checks Elody out in the rearview. “There are some bagels under your butt, beautiful.” “Mmm, butt bagels.” Elody reaches into the bag and pulls out a bagel, half squashed, then makes a big deal of taking an enormous bite out of it. “Tastes like Victoria’s Secret.” “Tastes like thong floss,” I say. “Tastes like crack,” Lindsay says. “Tastes like fart,” Elody says, and Lindsay spits coffee on the dashboard, and I start laughing and can’t stop, and all the way to school we’re thinking of flavors for butt bagels, and I’m thinking that this—my life, my friends—might be weird or screwy or imperfect or damaged or whatever, but it’s never seemed better to me.
”
”
Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)
“
We tell people,” he said, “to follow their dreams. We tell them that they won’t be complete until they do, that they’ll be miserable until they start reaching for that brass ring. They never tell you how good it feels to give up on a dream. That it’s a…” “Relief?” Lucy said. “A relief, exactly,” Jack said, nodding. “I decided one day that kids weren’t ever going to happen for me, that I was going to be single and childless and that was that. And I awoke the next morning and the sun was dancing on the water and the coffee tasted better than it ever had. It tasted like one less thing to worry about. One less promise to keep. One less fight to fight. One less heart to break. And it was sweet. Almost as sweet as victory. The sweetness of giving up.
”
”
Meg Shaffer (The Wishing Game)
“
She has her own tastes, her own experiences. I shouldn’t have tried to guide her all the time. At some point, she would have had to make big life choices without me. And when we choose our way in life, sometimes we mess up... It’s simply impossible to always be there to help. Protection is not everything. It would have been better if I let her gain the strength to overcome adversity by herself. In wishing for Yoko’s happiness, perhaps I’ve inadvertently narrowed her choices.
”
”
Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Before We Forget Kindness (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #5))
“
She had just given Liger his food when a tap sounded on the connecting door. Priss’s heart leaped into her throat.
With excitement.
Not dread, or annoyance, or even indifference.
Pure, sizzling stimulation. Suddenly she was wide-awake.
Tamping down her automatic smile, Priss leaned on the door. “Yeah?”
“Open up.”
Still fighting that twitching grin, Priss tried to sound disgruntled as she asked, “Why?”
Something hit the door—maybe his head—and Trace said, “I heard you up and moving around, Priss. I have coffee ready, but if you don’t want any—”
Being a true caffeine junkie, she jerked open the door. “Oh, bless you, man.” She took the cup straight out of Trace’s hand, drank deeply and sighed as the warmth penetrated the thick fog of novel sentiment. “Ahhhh. Nirvana. Thank you.”
Only after the caffeine ingestion did she notice that Trace wore unsnapped jeans and nothing else. Her eyes flared wide and her jaw felt loose. Holy moly.
“That was my cup,” Trace told her, bemused.
But Priss could only stare at him. Despite the delicious coffee she’d just poured in it, her mouth went dry.
When she continued to stare at him, at his chest and abdomen, her gaze tracking a silky line of brown hair that disappeared into his jeans, Trace crossed his arms.
Her gaze jumped to his face and she found him watching her with equal fascination.
A little lost as to the reason for that look, Priss asked with some belligerence, “What?”
With a cryptic smile, Trace shook his head. “Never mind. Help yourself, and I’ll get another.”
Oh, crap, she’d snatched away his cup! “Sorry.”
He lifted a hand in dismissal and went to the coffee machine sitting atop the dresser. His jeans rode low on his hips. The sun had darkened his skin, creating a sharp contrast to his fair hair.
Another drink was in order, and another sigh of bliss. Hoping to regain her wits, Priss said, “God, nothing in the world tastes better than that first drink of coffee.”
Trace looked over his shoulder, his attention zeroing in on her mouth, then her chest and finally down to her bare legs. “Oh, I don’t know about that.
”
”
Lori Foster (Trace of Fever (Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor, #2))
“
We needed coffee but we'd got ourselves convinced that the later we left it the better it would taste, and, as the country grew flatter and the roads became quiet and dusk began to colour the sky, you could guess from the way we retuned the radio and unfolded the map or commented on the view that the tang of determination had overtaken our thoughts, and when, fidgety and untalkative but almost home, we drew up outside the all-night restaurant, it felt like we might just stay in the car, listening to the engine and the gentle sound of the wind
”
”
Matthew Welton ('We Needed Coffee But . . .' (Poetry Book Society Recommendation))
“
The coffee was shockingly, blisteringly good: hot but not hot enough to scald, the paper cup warm in Mahit's palms. It had a rich, earthy taste that wasn't anything like the instant coffee on Lsel, and in some better moment Mahit thought she'd really like to drink it slowly enough to think about all the different qualities of the flavor-
‹There are varieties,> Yskandr said, ‹and they all taste different. It's fantastic. But the important part is the caffeine.>
He was right. Even in the few minutes Mahit had been drinking the coffee, she felt more present, more acute, conscious of a faint thrumming in her skin.
”
”
Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1))
“
Twenty-three One day you wake up and you’re twenty-three and you can’t remember what it feels like to be seventeen but you still cry to your mother after a bad day and you look a little older but you don’t really feel it. One day you’re twenty-three and your great-aunt is telling you how mature you look and how you grew a little taller but inside you still remember sitting under the oak tree reading with no meetings tomorrow and no rent to pay and the only thing you can think about is how at seventeen you thought at twenty-three you would know everything and now you can’t remember how you got from there to here. But seventeen-year-old you was wrong because you know only some things and not everything. You know that coffee tastes better in the mornings and your home isn’t your home anymore; it’s “Mum and Dad’s.” You know your car needs servicing every six months and groceries are harder to do after breakups. She liked cookie dough and walnuts and strawberry-flavored milk and now every time you go to the store you can’t buy spaghetti without remembering it was a Friday night and she kissed you for the first time and the heat from her skin could have set your entire place on fire. One day you’re twenty-three and you’re trying to explain to a seventeen-year-old all the mistakes you made so they won’t make them too, when all you really want is for someone to realize you still don’t have the first clue.
”
”
Courtney Peppernell (Pillow Thoughts)
“
She lifted the cup to her lips. “You make good coffee.”
“You haven’t tasted it yet.”
“I can smell it. And I love the way it smells.”
It’s not the coffee, he thought. Not all of it, at any rate.
“Well, I love your perfume,” he said, because he was a dolt.
She frowned. “I’m not wearing any. I mean, other than the soap and shampoo I use.”
“Well, I like them, then. And I’m glad you stayed.”
“Is this what you planned?”
Their eyes met. Shit, she was perfect. Radiant as the candles had been.
“You making it all the way to the coffee? Yeah, I guess a date was what I was after.”
“I thought you agreed with me.”
Man, that breathless quality in her voice made him want to have her up against his naked chest.
“Agreed with you?” he said. “Hell, if it would make you happy, I’d say yes to anything. But what are you specifically referring to?”
“You said…I shouldn’t date anyone.”
Ah, right. “You shouldn’t.”
“I don’t understand.”
Fuck him, but he went for it. Rehv put his numb elbow on the table and leaned into her. As he closed the distance, her eyes got wider, but she didn’t pull back.
He paused, to give her a chance to tell him to cut the shit. Why? He had no clue. His symphath side was into pauses only for analysis or to better capitalize on a weakness. But she made him want to be decent.
Ehlena didn’t tell him to step off, however.
“I don’t…understand,” she whispered.
“It’s simple. I don’t think you should date anyone.” Rehv moved in even closer, until he could see the flecks of gold in her eyes. “But I’m not just anyone.”
-Ehlena & Rehv
”
”
J.R. Ward (Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #7))
“
Mr. Clutter enjoyed the chore, and was excellent at it—no woman in Kansas baked a better loaf of salt-rising bread, and his celebrated coconut cookies were the first item to go at charity cake sales—but he was not a hearty eater; unlike his fellow-ranchers, he even preferred Spartan breakfasts. That morning an apple and a glass of milk were enough for him; because he touched neither coffee or tea, he was accustomed to begin the day on a cold stomach. The truth was he opposed all stimulants, however gentle. He did not smoke, and of course he did not drink; indeed, he had never tasted spirits, and was inclined to avoid people who had—a circumstance that did not shrink his social circle as much as might be supposed, for the center of that circle was supplied by the members of Garden City’s First Methodist Church, a congregation totaling seventeen hundred, most of whom were as abstemious as Mr. Clutter could desire.
”
”
Truman Capote (In Cold Blood)
“
It is easy to mourn the lives we aren't living. Easy to wish we'd developed other other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we'd worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga.
It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn't make and the work we didn't do and the people we didn't marry and the children we didn't have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out.
But it is not lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It's the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people's worst enemy.
We can't tell if any of those other versions would of been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.
Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we feel in any other life is still available.
We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music.
We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine.
Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savor the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
Chris- the one who wrote the halfway creepy thing about missing me so much when I didn't post and thinking I was dead- found it mind-boggling that before the Julie/Julia Project began, I had never eaten an egg. She asked, "How can you have gotten through life without eating a single egg? How is that POSSIBLE???!!!!!"
Of course, it wasn't exactly true that I hadn't eaten an egg. I had eaten them in cakes. I had even eaten them scrambled once or twice, albeit in the Texas fashion, with jalapeños and a pound of cheese. But the goal of my egg-eating had always been to make sure the egg did not look, smell, or taste anything like one, and as a result my history in this department was, I suppose, unusual. Chris wasn't the only person shocked. People I'd never heard of chimed in with their awe and dismay. I didn't really get it. Surely this is not such a bizarre hang-up as hating, say, croutons, like certain spouses I could name.
Luckily, eggs made the Julia Child way often taste like cream sauce. Take Oeufs en Cocotte, for example. These are eggs baked with some butter and cream in ramekins set in a shallow pan of water. They are tremendous. In fact the only thing better than Oeufs en Cocotte is Ouefs en Cocotte with Sauce au Cari on top when you've woken up with a killer hangover, after one of those nights when somebody decided at midnight to buy a pack of cigarettes after all, and the girls wind up smoking and drinking and dancing around the living room to the music the boy is downloading from iTunes onto his new, ludicrously hip and stylish G3 Powerbook until three in the morning. On mornings like this, Oeufs en Cocotte with Sauce au Cari, a cup of coffee, and an enormous glass of water is like a meal fed to you by the veiled daughters of a wandering Bedouin tribe after one of their number comes upon you splayed out in the sands of the endless deserts of Araby, moments from death- it's that good.
”
”
Julie Powell (Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously)
“
Consider a mug of American coffee. It is found everywhere. It can be made by anyone. It is cheap - and refills are free. Being largely without flavor, it can be diluted to taste. What it lacks in allure it makes up in size. It is the most democratic method ever devised for introducing caffeine into human beings. Now take a cup of Italian espresso. It requires expensive equipment. Price-to-volume ratio is outrageous, suggesting indifference to the consumer and ignorance of the market. The aesthetic satisfaction accessory to the beverage far outweighs its metabolic impact. It is not a drink; it is an artifact.
This contrast can stand for the differences between America and Europe - differences nowadays asserted with increased frequency and not a little acrimony on both sides of the Atlantic. The mutual criticisms are familiar. To American commentators Europe is 'stagnant.' Its workers, employers, and regulations lack the flexibility and adaptability of their U.S. counterparts. The costs of European social welfare payments and public services are 'unsustainable.' Europe's aging and 'cossetted' populations are underproductive and self-satisfied. In a globalized world, the 'European social model' is a doomed mirage. This conclusion is typically drawn even by 'liberal' American observers, who differ from conservative (and neoconservative) critics only in deriving no pleasure from it.
To a growing number of Europeans, however, it is America that is in trouble and the 'American way of life' that cannot be sustained. The American pursuit of wealth, size, and abundance - as material surrogates for happiness - is aesthetically unpleasing and ecologically catastrophic. The American economy is built on sand (or, more precisely, other people's money). For many Americans the promise of a better future is a fading hope. Contemporary mass culture in the U.S. is squalid and meretricious. No wonder so many Americans turn to the church for solace.
”
”
Tony Judt (Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century)
“
It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on. Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility. So let’s be kind to the people in our own existence. Let’s occasionally look up from the spot in which we are because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
It is easy to mourn the lives we aren't living. Easy to wish we'd developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we'd worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga.
It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn't make and the work we didn't do and the people we didn't marry and the children we didn't have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out.
But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It's the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people's worst enemy.
We can't tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.
Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies.
We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.
We only need to be one person.
We only need to feel one existence.
We don't have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.
So let's be kind to the people in our own existence. Let's occasionally look up from the spot in which we are because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever.
Yesterday I knew I had no future, and that it was impossible for me to accept my life as it is now. And yet today, that same messy life seems full of hope. Potential.
The impossible, I suppose, happens via living.
Will my life be miraculously free from pain, despair, grief, heartbreak, hardship, loneliness, depression? No.
But do I want to live?
Yes. Yes.
A thousand times, yes.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
A Thing I Have Learned (Written By A Nobody Who Has Been Everybody) It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on. Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility. So let’s be kind to the people in our own existence. Let’s occasionally look up from the spot in which we are because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever. Yesterday I knew I had no future, and that it was impossible for me to accept my life as it is now. And yet today, that same messy life seems full of hope. Potential. The impossible, I suppose, happens via living. Will my life be miraculously free from pain, despair, grief, heartbreak, hardship, loneliness, depression? No. But do I want to live? Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
NOTE: Practice your most effective relaxation techniques before you begin these exercises (refer to Chapter 6 if necessary). People are better able to concentrate when they are relaxed.
Listening
-Pay attention to the sounds coming from outside: from the street, from above in the air, from as far away as possible. Then focus on one sound only.
-Pay attention to the sounds coming from a nearby room—the kitchen, living room, etc. Identify each one, then focus on a single sound.
-Pay attention to the sounds coming from the room you are in: the windows, the electrical appliances. Then focus on one sound only.
-Listen to your breathing.
-Hear a short tune and attempt to re-create it.
-Listen to a sound, such as a ringing doorbell, a knock on the door, a telephone ringing, or a siren. How does it make you feel?
-Listen to a voice on the telephone. Really focus on it.
-Listen to the voices of family members, colleagues, or fellow students, paying close attention to their intonation, pacing, and accent. What mood are they conveying?
Looking
-Look around the room and differentiate colors or patterns, such as straight lines, circles, and squares.
-Look at the architecture of the room. Now close your eyes. Can you describe it? Could you draw it?
-Look at one object in the room: chair, desk, chest of drawers, whatever. Close your eyes and try to picture the shape, the material, and the colors.
-Notice any changes in your environment at home, at school, or in your workplace.
-Look at magazine photos and try to guess what emotions the subjects’ expressions show.
-Observe the effect of light around you. How does it change shapes? Expressions? Moods?
Touching
-When shaking a person’s hand, notice the temperature of the hand. Then notice the temperature of your own hand.
-Hold an object in your hands, such as a cup of coffee, a brick, a tennis ball, or anything else that is available. Then put it down. Close your eyes and remember the shape, size, and texture of the object.
-Feel different objects and then, with your eyes closed, touch them again. Be aware of how the sensations change.
-Explore different textures and surfaces with your eyes first open and then closed.
Smelling and Tasting
-Be aware of the smells around you; come up with words to describe them.
-Try to remember the taste of a special meal that you enjoyed in the past. Use words to describe the flavors—not just the names of the dishes.
-Search your memory for important smells or tastes.
-Think of places with a strong tie to smell.
These sensory exercises are an excellent way to boost your awareness and increase your ability to concentrate. What is learned in the fullest way—using all five senses—is unlikely to be forgotten. As you learn concentration, you will find that you are able to be more in tune with what is going on around you in a social situation, which in turn allows you to interact more fully.
”
”
Jonathan Berent (Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties)
“
You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.
She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.
Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.
It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.
She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.
Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.
Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.
If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.
You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.
You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.
Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
”
”
Rosemarie Urquico
“
I had a dream where I was in a place that served steak and mashed potatoes and the soup! The pasta soup was heavenly even better than my mother’s homemade recipe. Every spoonful of the soup reminded me of the sun. The mashed potatoes were so smooth that they could slide down my gullet. The steak was medium-rare, my favorite, and every bite reminded me of the steak my mom made but it was one hundred and one times better. And there was also iced tea and every sip of it felt refreshing like a cold, winter morning with the sun shining merrily and my mom and I throwing snowballs at each other. I ate and drank until I could eat no more. I felt as if my stomach was about to combust. But then in came the tiramisu. It was better than anything I had ever tasted. The rich smell of coffee wafted up from it. It reminded me of the coffee shop my mom went to when I was little. Despite the fact that my stomach was about to explode I managed to fit in three more slices of tiramisu before I could eat no more. But then came the Ice cream. It was my favorite flavor, mango. The ice cream was silky and sweet. It was like I was on a sunny June morning, a ray of sunlight shining in my face. The sensation intensified as mango juice dribbled down my chin like sunlight itself. I managed six scoops before I was sure my belly would explode. Every moment of eating the ice cream was sunsational. Finally came the float. It was vanilla ice cream on top of some Fanta even though my mom insisted root beer was one hundred times better. It tasted amazing. It was like the early spring making our ice crack in the pond on which my mother and I go ice skating every winter. It was happy but also sad at the same time as if my old life called back for me.
”
”
Zining Fan (The Fall of Naquinn)
“
It was tinted with coffee, feline, and . . . “Colton.” It was a growl. The male’s scent was barely there. Nonetheless, everything in Ryan bristled and possessiveness gripped him hard. His wolf snarled. Sensing his mood shift, she nuzzled his chest. “I worked with him a little today, that’s all.” Sliding his hands around Makenna’s neck, Ryan kissed her again. Harder and more dominantly than before. He took and tasted and demanded, stroking her tongue with his until she was pliant against him. The spicy scent of her need rose up, blanketing those other foreign scents until all he could smell was her. He hummed his satisfaction. “That’s better.
”
”
Suzanne Wright (Savage Urges (The Phoenix Pack, #5))
“
It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on. Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
But thirty million dollars of subsidy money from Washington had been plowed into Project Soybean—an enormous acreage in Louisiana, where a harvest of soybeans was ripening, as advocated and organized by Emma Chalmers, for the purpose of reconditioning the dietary habits of the nation. Emma Chalmers, better known as Kip’s Ma, was an old sociologist who had hung about Washington for years, as other women of her age and type hang about barrooms. For some reason which nobody could define, the death of her son in the tunnel catastrophe had given her in Washington an aura of martyrdom, heightened by her recent conversion to Buddhism. “The soybean is a much more sturdy, nutritious and economical plant than all the extravagant foods which our wasteful, self-indulgent diet has conditioned us to expect,” Kip’s Ma had said over the radio; her voice always sounded as if it were falling in drops, not of water, but of mayonnaise. “Soybeans make an excellent substitute for bread, meat, cereals and coffee—and if all of us were compelled to adopt soybeans as our staple diet, it would solve the national food crisis and make it possible to feed more people. The greatest food for the greatest number—that’s my slogan. At a time of desperate public need, it’s our duty to sacrifice our luxurious tastes and eat our way back to prosperity by adapting ourselves to the simple, wholesome foodstuff on which the peoples of the Orient have so nobly subsisted for centuries. There’s a great deal that we could learn from the peoples of the Orient.
”
”
Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)
“
The coffee was better too; it no longer tasted like steeped charcoal.
”
”
Kurt Schlichter (The Split (Kelly Turnbull, #6))
“
Inside an H Mart complex, there will be some kind of food court, an appliance shop, and a pharmacy. Usually, there's a beauty counter where you can buy Korean makeup and skin-care products with snail mucin or caviar oil, or a face mask that vaguely boasts "placenta." (Whose placenta? Who knows?) There will usually be a pseudo-French bakery with weak coffee, bubble tea, and an array of glowing pastries that always look much better than they taste.
My local H Mart these days is in Elkins Park, a town northeast of Philadelphia. My routine is to drive in for lunch on the weekends, stock up on groceries for the week, and cook something for dinner with whatever fresh bounty inspires me. The H Mart in Elkins Park has two stories; the grocery is on the first floor and the food court is above it. Upstairs, there is an array of stalls serving different kinds of food. One is dedicated to sushi, one is strictly Chinese. Another is for traditional Korean jjigaes, bubbling soups served in traditional earthenware pots called ttukbaegis, which act as mini cauldrons to ensure that your soup is still bubbling a good ten minutes past arrival. There's a stall for Korean street food that serves up Korean ramen (basically just Shin Cup noodles with an egg cracked in); giant steamed dumplings full of pork and glass noodles housed in a thick, cakelike dough; and tteokbokki, chewy, bite-sized cylindrical rice cakes boiled in a stock with fish cakes, red pepper, and gochujang, a sweet-and-spicy paste that's one of the three mother sauces used in pretty much all Korean dishes. Last, there's my personal favorite: Korean-Chinese fusion, which serves tangsuyuk---a glossy, sweet-and-sour orange pork---seafood noodle soup, fried rice, and black bean noodles.
”
”
Michelle Zauner (Crying in H Mart)
“
It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers.
Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the
band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga.
It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and
the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all
the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad
infinitum, until our time runs out.
But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us
shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true,
but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.
Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is
still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece
of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to
know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We
are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we
always contain a future of multifarious possibility.
So let’s be kind to the people in our own existence. Let’s occasionally look up from the spot in which we are
because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
Remembering the careful way the cooks she'd met chose their ingredients--- the snails at L'Ami Louis, Taeb's saffron, Baldwin's asparagus--- Stella thought Django was more like a magician, conjuring dishes out of thin air. By the time George nudged Stella aside to poke his nose in the door, Lucie was strewing crisp breadcrumbs on top of a thick vegetable potage, and Django was stirring a tart lemon pudding. Downstairs, customers lingered, people who had intended on stopping in for a moment stayed on as increasingly seductive scents wafted through the shop.
Unwilling to admit that he was pleased, George tasted the pudding and grumbled, "You've used up all the eggs. And I wanted gingerbread for tonight's reading."
"Gingerbread!" Django pulled a face. "Nous sommes en France. I will make something more appropriate." Still standing in the doorway, Stella wondered how he would manage this; he'd used everything in the kitchen except an aged pound cake resembling a rock, a handful of desiccated dried apricots, and the sour milk.
"We'll make some coffee." Django was tearing up the stale cake. As she watched, he produced curds from the sour milk, cooked the apricots into jam, and soaked the cake in coffee. With a flourish, he pulled a bar of chocolate from his pocket. "J'ai toujours du chocolat sur moi." He melted the chocolate, stirring in the last of the coffee. "I always have chocolate. You never know when you will need it." Against her better judgement, Stella was charmed.
Lucie stood close by, watching him layer the coffee-drenched cake with jam, curds, and chocolate, grabbing each spoon as he finished. "Will you make this for my birthday?" she asked.
"No."
"Please," she begged.
"For your birthday I will make something better.
”
”
Ruth Reichl (The Paris Novel)
“
We tell people,” he said, “to follow their dreams. We tell them that they won’t be complete until they do, that they’ll be miserable until they start reaching for that brass ring. They never tell you how good it feels to give up on a dream. That it’s a…” “Relief?” Lucy said. “A relief, exactly,” Jack said, nodding. “I decided one day that kids weren’t ever going to happen for me, that I was going to be single and childless and that was that. And I awoke the next morning and the sun was dancing on the water and the coffee tasted better than it ever had. It tasted like one less thing to worry about. One less promise to keep. One less fight to fight. One less heart to break. And it was sweet.
”
”
Meg Shaffer (The Wishing Game)
“
It is easy to mourn the lives we aren't living. Easy to wish we'd developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we'd worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga.
It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn't make and the work we didn't do and the people we didn't marry and the children we didn't have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out.
But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It's the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people's worst enemy.
We can't tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.
Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies.
We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.
We only need to be one person.
We only need to feel one existence.
We don't have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.
So let's be kind to the people in our existence. Let's occasionally look up from the spot in which we are because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever.
Yesterday I knew I had no future, and that it was impossible for me to accept my life as it is now. And yet today, the same messy life seems full of hope. Potential.
The impossible, I suppose, happens via living.
Will my life be miraculously free from pain, despair, grief, heartbreak, hardship, loneliness, depression? No.
But do I want to live?
Yes. Yes.
A thousand times, yes.
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
Um," I point at his cape and gadgets. "You know you'll stand out, right?" He frowns at me. "You're none better," he says. I look down at my very medieval looking white gown and the two swords I carry. At least Yami is hidden as a dragon necklace. "You're right. I won't blend in either." He freezes. "Right, well, I'll just say it's Halloween." "But it's not." He raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" "You can't just say it's Halloween. It has to be the actual day." "Really? Your human customs are so strange." He turns to the sink to wash his hands. I sigh. "Okay, we can say we're part of a fantasy game reenactment. Cosplay. That should give us a good cover." "Cosplay?" he says, holding the word in his mouth like a foreign thing he's afraid to taste. "Yeah, it's when humans dress up like characters from their favorite… " Ace's eyes are vacant and he looks bored. I sigh again. "Nevermind. Just let me do the talking if anyone questions our choice of clothing." He washes his hands, then gestures at the door. "After you." I lead, entering a place I once called a second home. Everything is familiar, everything makes me feel welcome. Jesus eyeing the naked sculptures. The Neon signs. The baby bottles filled with milk for customers' coffee. "Oh, Ari, sweetie. I didn't see you come in." Sheri runs up to me, wrapping me in a hug. "It's been so long. How have you been? And who's this dashing young man?" Ace raises his cape in front of his eyes. "It's Halloween." "No… no…" I shake my head and pull his cape down. "He's a friend. I'm just showing him the sights.
”
”
Karpov Kinrade (Moonlight Prince (Vampire Girl, #4))
“
I was beginning to taste it. Something bitter, but warm.
A flavor that woke me up and let me see things clearly. A flavor that made me feel safe, so I could let those things go. A flavor that held my hand and walked me across to the other side of loss, and assured me that one day, I would be just fine. A flavor for a change of heart- part grief, part hope.
Suddenly, I knew what that flavor would be. I padded down to the kitchen and cut a slice of sour cream coffee cake with a spicy underground river coursing through its center, left over from an order that had not been picked up today.
One bite and I was sure. A familiar flavor that now seemed utterly fresh and custom-made for me.
Cinnamon.
The comfort of sweet cinnamon. It always worked. I felt better. Lighter. Not quite "everything is going to be all right," but getting there. One step at a time.
”
”
Judith M. Fertig (The Cake Therapist)
“
Don’t ever let a man get the better of you – that’s all Peter is. Just one man. Now, pull yourself together and make me a decent coffee – this stuff tastes like tar.
”
”
Joanna Bolouri (I Followed the Rules)
“
One of the best conversations I ever had with Betsy happened when I asked why she thought I was good for her. I’d been wondering about it for a long time but I’d never brought it up. I could count the ways she was good for me, but had no idea why I was good for her. We were walking Lucy up near the Capitol when I asked. She laughed for a second. “Are you serious?” she asked. “You really don’t know?” “I don’t think I know,” I said. I’m glad I finally asked the question. Betsy’s answer changed me. She helped me believe I wasn’t just good for people, I was great for them. She said I had a way of not getting rattled when things were tense and that brought peace to her life. She said I loved adventure and without me her life wouldn’t be half as exciting. She said ever since we’d started dating she’d stopped doubting whether she was beautiful because I told her she was beautiful every day. She went on and on and talked about all the ways I was making her a better person. Not long after that conversation I found I enjoyed getting together with people a great deal more. Whereas before I’d endure having to get coffee with people, I began to enjoy sharing a bit of our stories. I realized that one of the reasons I’d been so isolated was because I’d subconsciously believed I wasn’t all that good for people. It’s true what I’m saying. If our identity gets broken, it affects our ability to connect. And I wonder if we’re not all a lot better for each other than we previously thought. I know we’re not perfect, but I wonder how many people are withholding the love they could provide because they secretly believe they have fatal flaws.
”
”
Donald Miller (Scary Close: Dropping the Act and Acquiring a Taste for True Intimacy)
“
My Cup of AL MO MOTTO...oh yeah, I love that taste in my mouth but drinking too much can be too much and a bit of coffee love here and there is better than none.
”
”
Kelvin Mark Coleman
“
If you’re stuck without lab-tested coffee, here is how to reduce your risks of getting mold toxins in your coffee. First, look for single-estate coffee. That means the beans come from one place, so if you’re lucky enough to get mold-free beans, you don’t have to worry about them being mixed with other moldy beans. This is why blends of coffee are a bad idea, even if they taste good. Second, look for washed coffee, because washed coffee is better than natural-process coffee. Steer clear of natural process entirely. The third thing to do is to look for Central American coffee, which is often better than coffee from other regions. The fourth thing to do is to look for high elevation, as that can reduce mold problems by making stronger plants. Remember, an “organic” label means nothing—most of the best coffees come from small plantations that could never afford an organic certification because the paperwork cost would put them out of business. Plus, organic coffee can sit in dirty water and grow mold toxins just like conventional coffee can.
”
”
Dave Asprey (Head Strong: The Bulletproof Plan to Activate Untapped Brain Energy to Work Smarter and Think Faster-in Just Two Weeks)
“
Gil handed Henny one of the cushions and a one-pound coffee can from under the seat. Henny was very suspicious.
“What’s this for?” he asked. “Why are you giving me this stuff?”
“The cushion is for your sitter,” Gil said, “and the can is for the water.”
“What water?” said Henny. He didn’t look too good.
“Well, there’s bound to be a little extra water with the three of us sitting here,” said Gil. “And your friend hasn’t done much rowing. He splashes a bit over the side.”
Henny glared at me. “Quit it,” he said. “Just quit splashing water into the boat.”
I tried to be smooth. By the time we got out into the river, I was doing better.
“Two steps forward, one step backward,” said Gil. “We aren’t making much progress against this current.”
“I’ll go out a little farther,” I said. “Maybe the current won’t be so strong out there.”
I felt very good about things. My rowing was getting better. We were closer to the bowl. The crew was busy and in high spirits.
Gil was reading from The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Henny was searching his photographic memory for loose information.
“Says here that one time, the expedition had nothing to eat but bear fat and candles,” said Gil. “Now that’s real interesting.”
Henny sighed. “Sometimes they ate buffalo humps, and wolf meat, and a root called Wappato. Wappato is supposed to taste like potatoes. Boy, am I hungry. Did anybody bring a snack?”
“There might be a few crackers under your seat,” said Gil. “Then again, there might not be.”
“There is a box of Wheat Thins,” said Henny after he rummaged around under the seat. “It is soggy, dirty, crushed, and unfit for human consumption.”
“I never eat them,” said Gil. “I feed them to the kingfishers. But if you’re really hungry, they’re better than candles.”
Henny waved the box in the air. “Is anything going to go right on this trip?” he said. A sea gull swooped down and almost got the box.
The crew was starting to feel the hardships. Desperation and hunger had set in. I figured the people from my island would look to the turtle for an answer to this situation, so I tried to do the same.
The only thing I could come up with was that the armor on a turtle was much better protection than an old rowboat.
”
”
Brenda Z. Guiberson (Turtle People)
“
Rita turned around at the stove and smiled. “Dexter,” she said. “There’s coffee. Would you like some breakfast?” “More than life itself,” I said, and seconds later I was staring down at a steaming mug of coffee and a stack of Rita’s French toast. I don’t know what she puts into it, but it tastes better than any other I’ve ever had, and after four pieces of the French toast, a slice of perfect, ripe cantaloupe, and three crisp strips of bacon, I pushed back from the table and poured a second cup of coffee, feeling like there might be some point to this short and painful existence after all.
”
”
Jeff Lindsay (Dexter's Final Cut (Dexter, #7))
“
I poured myself another cup of the brown sludge he was claiming to be coffee. I downed it and poured a second. It was an acquired taste I suppose. The more of it I drank, the less my taste buds protested. Apparently, it was either tasting better or just killing my tongue.
”
”
Jason Clark (Red Letter Days)
“
Chocolate makes everything better, in the end,” he announced, and Thayer fully agreed.
Thayer gave him a smile of gratitude and watched Castel lift his spoon from the saucer. He dipped it, gracefully, into his coffee and gave it a light stir.
“Too many people rush to stir such delicate flavours. Take too long and they will clog together to become a lump of bitterness in your coffee. But take your time and be gentle with them,” Castel explained, quietly, “and they will create a symphony of flavours, to melt in your mouth,” he said, leaning down, just until his nose was over his cup, to take a long inhale. He smiled and straightened, extracting the spoon to place it back on his saucer. “Now try it.”
Thayer took a sip and almost felt his toes curl at the luxurious taste.
~ Cinnamon Kiss
”
”
Elaine White (Clef Notes)
“
Lily Anne Morgan. Dexter’s DNA, living and moving on through time to another generation, and more, into the far-flung future, a day beyond imagination—taking the very essence of all that is me and moving it forward past the clock-fingered reach of death, sprinting into tomorrow wrapped in Dexter’s chromosomes—and looking very good doing it. Or so it seems to her loopy father. Everything has changed. A world with Lily Anne Morgan in it is so completely unknown: prettier, cleaner, neater edges, brighter colors. Things taste better now, even the Snickers bar and cup of vending machine coffee, all I have had for twenty-four hours. The candy bar’s flavor was far more subtle than I had known before, and the coffee tasted of hope. Poetry flows into my icy cold brain and trickles down to my fingertips, because all is new and wonderful now. And far beyond the taste of the coffee is the taste of life itself. Now it is something to nurture, protect, and delight in. And the thought comes from far out beyond bizarre that perhaps life is no longer something to feed on in the terrible dark frenzy of joy that has defined me until this new apocalyptic moment. Maybe Dexter’s world should die now, and a new world of pink delight will spring from the ashes. And the old and terrible need to slash the sheep and scatter the bones, to spin through the wicked night like a thresher, to seed the moonlight with the tidy leftovers of Dexter’s Dark Desiring? Maybe it’s time to let it go, time to let it drain away until it is all gone, vanished utterly. Lily Anne is here and I want to be different. I want to be better than what I have been. I
”
”
Jeff Lindsay (Dexter is Delicious (Dexter, #5))
“
Not eating?” “Working.” I held up the menu and avoided those teasing eyes. “You know, you could have come and worked for me, if you needed a job.” He layered butter over his feast. I laughed and shook my head. “What?” He started cutting up his pancakes. “You don’t think I’d make a good boss?” He poured syrup over the hotcakes. I shrugged. “No.” He laughed in surprise. “No?” I kept my eyes on the menu and deftly stole a piece of his bacon. “Plus, I steal things.” I took a bite and chewed, without giving him a glance. “Last time that happens,” he grumbled. I saw him turn his plate out of the corner of my eye, so that the bacon was further away. I took another bite of my contraband to hide my smile. Mrs. Winston set his coffee down and shook her head. “You want bacon, Hadley?” I smiled. “Nah, it tastes better stolen,” I teased. Max
”
”
Sarah Brocious (What Remains (Love Abounds, #1))
“
Aren’t you going to finish?” His grin grew. “I had breakfast.” He stood up. “The food was a ruse. I got what I wanted.” I blushed. He pushed the plate in front of me. “You can have my bacon.” My tongue was tied. “I will see you after then?” I nodded dumbly. “Thank you, Mrs. Winston,” he called, taking a sip of coffee. He was about to leave, but turned back, and leaned toward me. I held my breath. His eyes softened on me. His eyes mesmerized me. They were a weapon on my defenses. Beautiful. He chuckled warmly and then snatched a piece of bacon from my plate. “Max!” He took a bite, chewed thoughtfully, and smiled. “You’re right, it does taste better stolen.” Ok,
”
”
Sarah Brocious (What Remains (Love Abounds, #1))
“
Charlotte Bell was waiting in line at the coffee stand, not fidgeting, not tapping her toes, not looking at her phone, she was just there. Present in some indefinable but obvious way. Probably counting her breaths or reminding herself that the anticipation would make her almond chai latte taste better. She alone looked at peace amidst the disorder, as though she were standing in the eye of the storm.
”
”
Eve Dangerfield (James and The Giant Dilemma (Beyond Bondage #2))
“
Much of the negation poisoning the democratic process has stemmed from a confusion of the personal and the statistical. I may hold down an excellent job, but the failure of the stimulus to meet its targets infuriates me. I may live in peaceful Vienna, Virginia, safe from harm—but a report that several Americans have died violently in Kabul appears like a fatal failure of authority. By dwelling on the plane of gross statistics, I become vulnerable to grandiose personal illusions: that if I compel the government to move in this direction or that, I can save the Constitution, say, or the earth, or stop the war, or end poverty now. Though my personal sphere overflows with potentiality, I join the mutinous public and demand the abolition of the established order. This type of moral and political displacement is nothing new. The best character in the best novel by Dickens, to my taste, is Mrs. Jellyby of Bleak House, who spent long days working to improve “the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger,” while, in her London home, her small children ran wild and neglected. Dickens termed this “telescopic philanthropy”—the trampling of the personal sphere for the sake of a heroic illusion. Mrs. Jellyby, sitting in quite a nest of waste paper, drank coffee all the evening and dictated at intervals to her eldest daughter. She also held a discussion with Mr. Quale, the subject of which seemed to be—if I understood it—the brotherhood of humanity, and gave utterance to some beautiful sentiments. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers “Puss in Boots” and I don’t know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed.3 The revolt of the public has had a telescopic and Jellybyan aspect to it. Though they never descended to details, insurgents assumed that, by symbolic gestures and sheer force of desire, they could refashion the complex systems of democracy and capitalism into a personalized utopia. Instead, unknowingly, they crossed into N. N. Taleb’s wild “Extremistan,” where “we are subjected to the tyranny of the singular, the accidental, the unseen, and the unpredicted.” In that unstable country, “you should always be suspicious of the knowledge you derive from data.”4 I can’t command a complex social system like the United States, but I can control my political expectations of it: I can choose to align them with reality. To seize this alternative, I must redirect the demands I make on the world from the telescopic to the personal, because actionable reality resides in the personal sphere. I can do something about losing my job, for example, but I have no clue what could or should be done about the unemployment rate. I know directly whether a law affects my business for better or worse, but I have no idea of its effect on the gross domestic product. I can assist a friend in need, but I have little influence over the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger. Control, however tenuous, and satisfaction, however fleeting, can only be found in the personal sphere, not in telescopic numbers reported by government. A
”
”
Martin Gurri (The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium)
“
Annie Cookies from The Bakeshop at Pumpkin and Spice
2 C sugar
½ C Lard
½ C milk
2 eggs
8 drops (or 2 tsp) anise oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
7 to 8 cups flour
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and lard. Add milk, eggs, anise oil, salt, and baking powder. Mix well.
Add flour, one cup at a time, until the dough is stiff. Roll out and cut into your favorite shapes.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned
Icing (optional)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp vanilla extract
Food coloring with your favorite colors (optional)
Combine all ingredients. Stir in food coloring if desired.
Annie cookies taste better as they age and are delicious dunked in coffee. Enjoy!
”
”
Allyson Charles
“
We had driven miles to find the world's creamiest cheesecake and the world's largest pistachio nut and the world's sweetest corn on the cob. We had spent hours in blind taste testings of kosher hot dogs and double chocolate chip ice cream. When Julie went home to Fort Worth, she flew back with spareribs from Angelo's Beef Bar-B-Q, and when I went to New York, I flew back with smoked butterfish from Russ and Daughters. Once, in New Orleans, we all went to Mosca's for dinner, and we ate marinated crab, baked oysters, barbecued shrimp, spaghetti bordelaise, chicken with garlic, sausage with potatoes, and on the way back to town, a dozen oysters each at the Acme and beignets and coffee with chicory on the wharf. Then Arthur said, "Let's go to Chez Helene for the bread pudding," and we did, and we each had two. The owner of Chez Helene gave us the bread pudding recipe when we left, and I'm going to throw it in because it's the best bread pudding recipe I've ever eaten. It tastes like caramelized mush. Cream 2 cups sugar with 2 sticks butter. Then add 2 1/2 cups milk, one 13-ounce can evaporated milk, 2 tablespoons nutmeg, 2 tablespoons vanilla, a loaf of wet bread in chunks and pieces (any bread will do, the worse the better) and 1 cup raisins. Stir to mix. Pour into a deep greased casserole and bake at 350* for 2 hours, stirring after the first hour. Serve warm with hard sauce.
”
”
Nora Ephron (Heartburn)
“
If this was bitter, I wanted bunches. Impossibly, the coffee tasted even better than it smelled, and it wasn’t just one flavor but an evolution that started with something - yes, bitter, as it slid over the tongue but then turned sweet as I swallowed and left a spicy aftertaste. What magic was this liquid that could change flavor even after it was gone? It’s the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.
”
”
Erin Jade Lange (Mere Mortals)
“
Let’s look at how some successful brands we all know about have positioned the purchasing of their products as the resolution to external, internal, and philosophical problems: TESLA MOTOR CARS: Villain: Gas guzzling, inferior technology External: I need a car. Internal: I want to be an early adopter of new technology. Philosophical: My choice of car ought to help save the environment. NESPRESSO HOME COFFEE MACHINES: Villain: Coffee machines that make bad coffee External: I want better-tasting coffee at home. Internal: I want my home coffee machine to make me feel sophisticated. Philosophical: I shouldn’t have to be a barista to make a gourmet coffee at home. EDWARD JONES FINANCIAL PLANNING: Villain: Financial firms that don’t listen to their customers External: I need investment help. Internal: I’m confused about how to do this (especially with all the tech-driven resources out there). Philosophical: If I’m going to invest my money, I deserve an advisor who will thoughtfully explain things in person.
”
”
Donald Miller (Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen)
“
My facial expression must have looked like a swarm of bees as I drank the hot brown liquid. Whatever it was, it was not the sting of coffee I swigged with swagger. Bitter is better than what I tasted.
”
”
Jarod Kintz (I love Blue Ribbon Coffee)
“
) It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on. Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility. So let’s be kind to the people in our own existence. Let’s occasionally look up from the spot in which we are because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever. Yesterday I knew I had no future, and that it was impossible for me to accept my life as it is now. And yet today, that same messy life seems full of hope. Potential. The impossible, I suppose, happens via living. Will my life be miraculously free from pain, despair, grief, heartbreak, hardship, loneliness, depression? No. But do I want to live? Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes
”
”
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
“
Yes. A hundred grams as the daily ration.’ He paused, considering this. ‘You can take a couple of kilos extra. No, better, I will have Jorgen get you the emergency ration from the lifeboats. That takes up less room, though it does not taste so good.’ ‘For the stews, I take as much as I think will be needed?’ ‘Yes, but choose what bulks smallest and weighs least.’ He smiled. ‘We should have pemmican, but the company does not expect us to end our journey by sledge.’ ‘Can we take coffee as well as cocoa?’ ‘Cocoa is better, and more easily made. But you can take some coffee, for special treats.’ ‘And pastes, for the biscuits?’ ‘Hunger will be the best paste. But there is Gye, in the store. It is made from Guinness – we buy it in Dublin. That will go well on biscuits, and it does not take up too much space.
”
”
John Christopher (The White Voyage)
“
Should soft drugs one day become commonly available for mass consumption in a "postindustrial" society (for want of a better term), this would define the new quality of this society three hundred years ago. The analogy can be taken even further. Just as seventeenth-century prohibitions against coffee and tobacco were desperate rearguard actions on the part of a medieval worldview (which rightly sniffed out the modern, bourgeois dynamic inherent in the new pleasure goods), today's still-enforced prohibition of drugs may be interpreted as a last-ditch effort to maintain the rationality and self-discipline of middle-class life.
”
”
Wolfgang Schivelbusch (Tastes of Paradise)
“
I can’t taste anything,” Silas commented, looking out over the park as he took another drag of his cigarette. “I could eat it, but it would be the equivalent of uncooked rice powder.” “Then why do you smoke? Or drink?” “I can only taste things that are burnt or bitter. Like coffee, liquor, and the like.” He lifted the cigarette in emphasis. “Oh, and meat. The more raw, the better.”
”
”
I.V. Ophelia (The Poisoner (The Poisoner #1))
“
You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.
▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷ ◀ ◁▶ ▷
She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.
카톡【ACD5】텔레【KKD55】
♡♡♡우선 클릭해 주셔셔 정말 감사합니다 ♡♡♡
신용과 신뢰의 거래로 많은VIP고객님들 모시고 싶은것이저희쪽 경영 목표입니다
믿음과 신뢰의 거래로 신용성있는 비즈니스 진행하고있습니다
비즈니스는 첫째로 신용,신뢰 입니다
믿고 주문하시는것만큼 저희는 확실한제품으로 모시겠습니다
믿고 주문해주세요~저희는 제품판매를 고객님들과 신용과신뢰의 거래로 하고있습니다.
24시간 문의상담과 서울 경기지방은 퀵으로도 가능합니다
믿고 주문하시면좋은인연으로 vip고객님으로 모시겠습니다.
원하시는제품있으시면 추천상으로 구입문의 도와드릴수있습니다
☆100%정품보장
☆총알배송
☆투명한 가격
☆편한 상담
☆끝내주는 서비스
☆고객님 정보 보호
☆깔끔한 거래
참고로 저희는 고객님들과 저희들의 안전을 첫째로 모든거래 진행하고있습니다,
돈도 돈이지만 안전을 기본으로 한분의 고객님이라도 저희쪽 단골분으로 모셔셔 그분들과 안전하고 깔끔한 장기간 거래원하는 업체입니다
▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼
◀경영항목▶
수면제,낙태약,여성최음제,ghb물뽕,여성흥분제,남성발기부전치유제,비아그라,시알리스,88정,드래곤,99정,바오메이,정력제,남성성기확대제,카마그라젤,비닉스,센돔,꽃물,남성조루제,네노마정 등많은제품 판매중입니다
▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼
You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.
Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.
”
”
정품 엑스터시(캔디)팝니다,Ask her if she likes the book.
“
Suggestions For Getting More Vitamin C In Your Day
If you want to stay healthy, eating a proper diet is very important, but knowing what you should and shouldn't eat can be confusing. It seems like every day a new study says that some food is either very unhealthy or very good for you. This article gives you some sensible nutritional advice; advice that most people can follow.
If you want the best nutrition possible, eat foods that are still close to their original form. Unprocessed, fresh food is the ideal way to make sure that all your nutritional needs are met while reducing chemicals and unwanted fats.
Eat nuts as a snack everyday. These healthy little gems are packed full of good fats and plant sterols that can lower your cholesterol. They are low in fat and an easy item to eat on the go. Serving sizes for these snacks can be easily measured by handfuls.
Stick to all-natural foods instead of those produced and refined in factories. Many times those foods add items such as extra fats, oils, greases and preservatives that can really harm your body. Try shopping from the parts of the stores where you can purchase produce, healthy protein and other "from the earth" products.
Oranges are a great fruit that you can eat in the morning for its high content of vitamin C. This is a beneficial option, as it can improve the energy that you have during the day and reduce stress and anxiety. Oranges can help your acne and improve the tone of your face.
Instead of reaching for coffee or an energy drink the moment that you wake up, turn to a grapefruit, apple or orange instead. Natural fruits are fantastic for your body because they come with a multitude of vitamins that are essential for your health and nutrition. Adding these to your routine, can also improve your energy level during the day.
One of the greatest things you can put into your body is fiber. This well help with your digestive tract and will give you tons of energy. Many companies are now making products that are packed full of fiber and also taste great. Try to eat the same amount of fiber each day.
If you are very concerned about not getting the proper amount of nutrients, supplement your diet with a quality multivitamin. There are great options at your local health store. By choosing the right multivitamin, you stand a better chance of getting all the nutrients that are needed.
Eating foods high in fatty acids can be great for your skin. Foods high in fatty acid can slow down inflammation. Inflammation can cause blotchiness, sagging, and fine lines. Almonds are good any time of day to increase your intake of fatty acids. You could also try halibut, tuna, and salmon to get the amount of fatty acids that you need.
Eating a healthy, nutritious diet shouldn't be a difficult chore. It really isn't that hard to keep yourself in good shape by eating right. Just remember some of what you've learned from this article. Follow the basic guidelines you've read about rosholistic.com, and you won't have too much trouble getting the nutrition you need.
”
”
morphogenicfieldtechnique
“
Why do you always drink your coffee out of a glass?” I asked. She poured herself a glass and sat down at the table with us. “That was the way my mother always drank it,” she said. “She always said that coffee tasted better from a glass than from a ceramic cup.” I took a sip of mine. I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but it did seem to taste different—clearer—more pure. I was always going to drink my coffee in glasses if given the opportunity, I decided, as well as buy my wine directly from the maker.
”
”
Laura Bradbury (My Grape Year (The Grape Series, #1))
“
This is your cordial invitation to try 10 world famous Kona Coffee Bean brands from 10 of Hawaii's best 100% Kona Coffee bean roasters and estates. If you love a strong coffee bean brew then only fresh roasted Kona Coffee Beans, slow grown on the Big Island will do. Buy the 100% Kona Coffee Bean direct to enjoy a coffee bean that just tastes better! Our freshness promise "only the best" 100% Kona Coffee beans.
”
”
Kona Coffee Beans
“
But venom had never tasted better, like the mint and coffee she smelled on his breath, like the desire and deviance she saw in his eyes, like the sin and seduction she heard in his voice.
”
”
RuNyx (Enigma)
“
And while I can’t always manage to convince my colleagues to head out for one, two, or perhaps even three coffee breaks a day, I’ve carried Luigi’s lesson—as well as those from Egypt and the Persian Gulf—with me ever since. Life is about relationships. Whether it’s your partner or spouse, a lifelong friend, or the person you pass in the supermarket, it’s important to remember that we’re all people just trying to get by, take care of ourselves, and look after our families. We might have different visions, come from different cultures, and be products of vastly different upbringings, but in the end our similarities far outweigh our differences. And by opening our hearts and minds to the possibility of friendship—no matter how alien and far-fetched it may seem in the moment—we begin to see the good in the world, make ourselves better people, and enjoy the ride a bit more. As for Luigi Fazio, well, I tried to honor the things he taught me by going out and buying an expensive Italian espresso machine. The coffee doesn’t taste quite the same as it did in Naples, but the memories are pretty sweet.
”
”
Brett Crozier (Surf When You Can: Lessons in Life, Loyalty, and Leadership from a Maverick Navy Captain)
“
No amount of sugar will make coffee taste better—but it’s still worth it.
”
”
Shannon Messenger (Unraveled Book 9.5 (Keeper of the Lost Cities))
“
### Find the best fast food delivery in BTM Layout, Bangalore
In clamoring urban areas like Bangalore, where the speed of life never dials back, the accommodation of food conveyance administrations has become key. For food darlings living or working in regions like BTM Design or Jayanagar, finding solid and speedy cheap food conveyance choices can be a distinct advantage. Whether you're longing for an exemplary burger, firm fries, or a heavenly pizza, this guide will assist you with exploring the best food requesting applications in Bangalore.
#### Cheap Food Picks in BTM Format
BTM Design, known for its dynamic feasting scene, offers a plenty of cheap food choices that take care of each and every taste. From nearby top picks to global chains, there's something for everybody.
1. **Big Bites**: Situated in the core of BTM Format, Enormous Nibbles presents probably the juiciest burgers and sandwiches around. Their conveyance administration is quick, guaranteeing your feast shows up hot and new.
2. **Pronto Pizza**: In the event that you're in the mind-set for pizza, Right now is a phenomenal decision. With a different menu that takes care of both veg and non-veg sweethearts, their high quality pizzas are created with the freshest fixings. The simplicity of requesting through different food applications makes it surprisingly better.
3. **Chaat Junction**: Hankering something neighborhood? Chaat Intersection has some expertise in a variety of tasty chaat choices that bring the road food experience to your doorstep. Their quick conveyance guarantees you can enjoy light meals whenever.
4. **Burger King**: No cheap food conveyance list is finished without referencing Burger Ruler. Accessible on all significant food conveyance applications, their burgers are a go-to for late-night desires and fast snacks.
#### Requesting Applications for Accommodation
With regards to best fast food delivery in BTM Layout, a few stand apart for their ease of use and broad eatery decisions.
1. **Swiggy**: This application has acquired gigantic notoriety among Bangaloreans for its tremendous choice of eateries and fast conveyance. With continuous following and a large group of client well disposed highlights, Swiggy makes requesting food a breeze.
2. **Zomato**: Known for its café surveys and evaluations, Zomato likewise gives a consistent food conveyance experience. You can investigate different cooking styles and attempt new spots right from the application, ideal for foodies needing to find new flavors.
3. **Uber Eats**: However prestigious around the world, Uber Eats has customized its contributions for the Indian market, collaborating with heap cafés. Its not difficult to-explore point of interaction and speedy help go with it a most loved decision among many.
4. **Dineout**: While essentially known for table reservations, Dineout has extended its administrations to incorporate food conveyance. They frequently give select arrangements, making it an extraordinary choice for economical coffee shops.
#### Why Pick Cheap Food Conveyance?
Cheap food conveyance isn't just about comfort; it permits you to partake in different dinners without the problem of cooking or eating out. It's ideally suited for occupied experts, understudies, or anybody needing to save time while fulfilling those inexpensive food desires.
All in all, whether you're in BTM Format or Jayanagar, a wide exhibit of cheap food conveyance choices can take care of all your impulses. With solid food requesting applications readily available, partaking in a scrumptious dinner is only a couple of taps away. So the following time hunger strikes, you know where to go for delightful and brief cheap food conveyance in Bangalore. Partake in your feast!
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hungrs
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Coffee can fix a lot. Coffee does more than a diamond ring, tastes better than true love’s first kiss. I didn’t believe her at first. I do now. Coffee is love.
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Naomi Lucas (A Gargoyle's Delight (Monster's Duet #1))
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The word has shapeshifted again and I feel far away from the mountain, where things were less noisy, less frantic, more basic, and more meaningful. Where coffee tastes better because it is the end and not the means.
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Cory Richards (The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within)
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It is easy to mourn the lives we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn’t make and the work we didn’t do and the people we didn’t marry and the children we didn’t have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy. We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on. Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.
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Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
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Call Girl Bangalore: A Beginner's Guide to Safe and Professional Companionship
Bangalore, India's "Garden City," is renowned for its successful technology industry and active social life. Microbreweries, rooftop cafes, art galleries, and high-end hotels fill the city with promise to indulge in culture, cuisine, and social chat. Several tourists and professionals look for "Call girl Bangalore" as they are actually in need of trusted companionship or hospitality services to spice up their nights.
Venturing Bangalore's Nightlife
From Indiranagar's brew-pubs to MG Road's upscale lounges, Bangalore has something for every taste. Theatre enthusiasts get to catch a show at Ranga Shankara, while eaters sample a blend of home-grown and global cuisine. It can be a laid-back coffee house or a posh fine-dining establishment, the city promises numerous settings for remembered conversations.
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Selecting Genuine Companionship Services
Professional escort or hospitality directories enable adults to meet reliable hosts for meals, excursions, or cultural activities. A quality service highlights:
Verification: Companions' and clients' profiles are verified as authentic.
Transparency: Charges, timetables, and expectations are clearly communicated.
Discretion: Client safety and anonymity are still the top priorities.
Professional behavior: All actors have a mutual respect obligation.
These features make meetings enjoyable, hassle-free, and respectful of the law.
Safety and Etiquette Tips
When organizing companionship, give it the same respect as any other professional service:
Organize a first meeting at a public venue like a restaurant or café.
Make an agreement on plans and boundaries beforehand.
Exercise courtesy and respectful speech and behavior.
Ensure the service you select adheres to local laws.
These practices assist in establishing comfort and trust for all the parties involved.
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Why Professional Platforms Matter
Utilizing a trustworthy platform minimizes the risks that come with unconfirmed listings or deceptive advertisements. Directories with transparent booking policies and safety precautions allow clients to better concentrate on having engaging conversations, city tours, or shared meals.
Conclusion
Bangalore's cosmopolitan atmosphere makes it the perfect destination for adults who appreciate lively company when seeking out dining, art, or nightlife activity. Individuals looking for a trustworthy source of safe, discreet companionship have a go-to at 247Torax Bangalore Escorts, a professional listing service focused on matching visitors with vetted hosts, maintaining respect and privacy in the process.
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247Torax Bangalore Escorts
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(T) 971564419067 Indian Call Girls In JVC Dubai Sins taste better at night
Jumeirah Village Circle, commonly known as JVC, is one of Dubai’s most popular residential communities. Surrounded by modern apartments, villas, and luxury hotels, it is a growing hub for people who love comfort and style. For those who want to enjoy beautiful companionship in this peaceful yet lively area, Indian call girls in JVC Dubai are a top choice. With their beauty, charm, and warm personalities, they bring happiness, excitement, and memorable moments to your stay.
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What makes these girls stand out is not just their beauty but also their ability to connect on a personal level. Many of them are educated, confident, and well-spoken, making them ideal companions for both private time and public outings. Whether you want to go for a casual walk, enjoy coffee at a nearby café, or attend a party, they know how to adapt to every situation with grace and confidence.
For those who value quality companionship, JVC Indian call girls offer more than just looks. They bring genuine care, positive energy, and memorable experiences. Whether you are visiting Dubai for a short trip, staying in JVC long-term, or simply passing by, their company can turn ordinary days into extraordinary moments.
If you are in Jumeirah Village Circle and want to experience warmth, beauty, and true companionship, then choosing Indian call girls in JVC Dubai is the best way to enjoy your time. They are stylish, charming, and always ready to make your stay in Dubai unforgettable.
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SDWEG