I got injected with the 3 month Lupron shot last Wednesday (the 21st) to control the pain caused by my endometriosis and ovarian cysts. I also started taking a daily estrogen supplement last week - I want to say Friday, because I called the pharmacy to see if it was a daily med or one taken when a hot flash hit. It's daily. I've also continued my birth control for a week - Yaz. Because of a week of bleeding caused by not taking a (different) birth control for a day and half, I had to take 4 a day for at least 3 days.
So my moods have been a bit topsy-turvy, I'd say.
Last night was the worst. I was in terrible pain from 9 to 11:30. Around 11, I sank into a black, scary mood, and cried so hard. Then at 11:30, I saw a police car parked on this road near my house, and it made me curious and paranoid, and distracted me. The black mood hasn't come back, but I am feeling a bit blue and bitter now. So I'm just listening to my favorite Youtube videos - the links to the side there, yeah. Some Velvet Morning, done by two of my friends from Nytram's message board, I love the song, I love the people. Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole's mix, I dare you to listen and not be calmed. Chaiyya Chaiyya appeared in the movie Inside Man, a move I love, and the song is fast and infectious. Baby Love Child appeared in a moving episode of Futurama and it is a beautiful song, and I need to find Pizzicato Five's CD with the song, along with an IK CD, and some Bollywood music. Monkey Bint was created by a beautiful poster at Nytram's, and the song and video are delightfully silly. She also did most of the work for the Velvet Morning video.
So I'm just riding out my moods.
I wanted to post tonight about "juvenile" books and how it's a stupid label, there are great books for kids and "young adults" out there. I felt so out of place going into the children's section at the Central Library in Memphis, but there are some great books there, and they don't become worthless because I became a teenager, or because I am now an adult. I still love most of the books I loved when I was younger, though the American Girl books are out. I gave away my huge Babysitter's Club collection, and I think I'll do the same with the AG books. They are great, but I have outgrown them.
I haven't outgrown my Goosebump or Fear Street books, however. I had a shelf full of only them, but some had to be moved to accommodate more mature books. Including a children's book, The Boggart, which is an amazing book about a culture and a creature most of us aren't familiar with.
My Goosebump books still scare me. What can I say? I'm a paranoid weenie. The shelf of my headboard used to be filled with Stephen King books, and I am a die-hard X-phile. The books had to be moved as others came in, and there are size issues, you know how it is. I have too many books.
Another juvenile collection? The Little House on the Prairie books. I realize that her daughter rewrote some of it - especially the Long Winter, to fit her more right-wing views. But I still adore these books and reread them once a year.
I also have an extensive collection of Archie comics. I even ordered the Archie 60s book from Amazon last year. Some of the comics have outdated views about women, because they reprint old stories in new digests. I'm talking 50s and 60s here. There is one where you can tell they did a bit of editing to make it more current - cds instead of 45s - but they still had, the whole premise, was the threat of women taking men's jobs, because Veronica made Archie do the dishes. I realize the comics are juvenile, but I still continue to buy old issues (usually the digests, bigger bang for your buck) and the occasional new one. If I ever outgrow them, some kid will be so damn happy. I'd never sell them for profit - I'd give them away. They are a brightly colored comic comforting tool. And I can't profit from that.
Why?
Last summer, a poster I talked to quite often at IMDb's Soapbox and later, Nytram's private board, sent me a huge box of Mad Magazines from her childhood, since she'd outgrown them. All she asked was that I pay the postage - and it was less than 30 dollars. It took a lot of trust on both of our parts, and I am eternally grateful to her for her trust in me. She knew I'd want them because I wanted them. I want to read them again and again, treasure them always, not lock them up for display or sell them. And if I outgrow MAD (please no), I will do the same for some kid who loves it. I did give away some of her issues (or some of mine, I don't remember) because I bought the same one at an antique store. When I told her, she said she was fine with it, and that made me happy.
Another juvenile collection? This one is woefully small. My "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" books. I have less than 10. Only 2 were bought new, the rest are Goodwill and library sale finds. I hope to get all of them, they are better than the TV show, which is one of my favorites still (reruns on ABC Family.) Except for the season after she left college and her aunts left the picture. Not for me, I stick with the high school and college episodes. But I love the books. They're longer than an episode, and there's no laugh track. I only wish I had more of them.
What I started tonight was a post on juvenile fantasy, and I've finally reached that. I just finished Ella Enchanted, an amazing book that was butchered by its movie. If you were dissatisfied with the movie, find the book. Mine has Anne Hathaway on the cover, but that's okay, she does fit Ella's description. The movie was an abomination unto the Lord, a weak attempt at a live-action Shrek that failed horribly. It had a rich source, but it abandoned most of it, Ella protesting? Going to a modernish high school? The elves hating their lot in the life? The book talking to her? Argh. My sister has the movie, and won't read the book. I saw the movie once, and it gets half a star on whatever rating system because Eric Idle narrates and he is one of my many celebrity crushes.
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a series of four books that falls under 'juvenile fantasy'. But it's also quite funny, and that makes it perfect. I'm not going to describe them now, because I can't without giving too much away. (Read them - Patricia C. Wrede wrote Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons, which is the last chronologically, but was written first. And Tales of Enchantment is also good and includes a tale about the characters in the other books.) The main characters are real, human characters. The books should not be dismissed because of their label.
Wizards are the bad guys in that series, but not in this one. Yes, I love Harry Potter. My favorite book is the third, because I love Sirius. I don't like the movies as much, but I have seen all four, and will see the last three. But Harry Potter doesn't need me to talk about it, while the Enchanted Forest does, because I can't get anyone else to read the latter! I fell in love with the first book, and when I found out there were more, I went nuts, and read them all. I remember turning them in at the library, then checking them out again. My mom saved the library by giving me the set for Christmas.
Another little known fantasy series is the one that starts with Of Two Minds by Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman. There are more, but my town library (since we left the huge branch system, all the libraries - suburb and city - are broke) does not have the second book, so I'm stuck with one, three, and four. I should buy the whole set, but I get distracted.
I have a spiral notebook filled with titles I must buy or at the very least, check out at a library.
My point about the books?
I read, and appreciate, books meant for children. I also read, and appreciate, books meant for adults. I think the label of 'young adult' should not be a stigmatizing thing, but a sign of an eclectic mind that hasn't forgotten the heavens and hells of youth.
And with that, I return to old Pandagon posts. I love that blog. I feel much better.
Thank you for reading, if anyone did.
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