Team Zaphod's Pangalactic Gargle Blaster

[JoJo_theDodo]

***I completed The Secret Garden and updated the spreadsheet.

[Kelly]

My favourite thing to drink is Coke Zero! It’s still not cold here yet, but in the winter I do like hot chocolate or hot cocoa. I drink it made with water since I don’t like milk, but I do make a quality coconut milk hot chocolate at work haha.

[Becky]

I completed two books this week. I've added them to the spreadsheet. Hope they help 💕

[Kelly]

Every book helps!! I currently seem to be reading books that only fit one or two UNO cards and I feel really bad about that lol. But every book counts, especially if we can get a bunch of the harder cards (like the coloured covers) squared away before we need to focus on the mini challenge….which I’m expecting to be announced in a few days’ time mwahaha.

[Becky]

Kelly wrote: "Every book helps!! I currently seem to be reading books that only fit one or two UNO cards and I feel really bad about that lol. But every book counts, especially if we can get a bunch of the harde..."

I'm reading a yellow one now - whew~ and I've got a red one lined up. ⭐

[Kelly]

Yay! We seem to be knocking the colour cards out so quickly again this month. I’ve never had an Uno year where they’ve just….magically disappeared like this. It’s usually been lots of waiting until the last minute (me included lol).

[Apoorv]

Kelly wrote: "Yay! We seem to be knocking the colour cards out so quickly again this month. I’ve never had an Uno year where they’ve just….magically disappeared like this. It’s usually been lots of waiting until..."

[Kelly]

TOO LATE I JUST BROKE IT

Oops

[Maddy]

Lol.
We need green ones, right?

[Kelly]

Looks like we need some greens! And that diabolical Red 5

[Maddy]

I will keep an eye out :)

[Kelly]

I have some great red cover books (kindle unlimited) but they’ll only work for Red 3 so I’m saving them for JUST IN CASE we need them next month.

[Maddy]

Found red 5 and yellow 2 :)

[Kelly]

Nice one!!

I’m currently reading Riley Sager’s latest book and it’s creeping me out lol

[~emily~]

Completion post

Book: The The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Pages: 213
READ: MAR 10(GMT+7)

FITS:
Green
0 - standalone
3- C:Helen
6-C:Sam
8-C: Elizabeth, Mary
Skip - T: the PERKS of being a wallflower

[Maddy]

Kelly wrote: "Nice one!!

I’m currently reading Riley Sager’s latest book and it’s creeping me out lol"

It's on my tbr. Is it good?

[Kelly]

I liked the first couple he did, DNFed Survive The Night at chapter 2 because I just couldn’t get past the premise, made it through that Lake one….barely (they were just some terribly written characters), but this one was a bit more of a return to form. I guessed some of the twists but not all of them and I actually got quite a kick out of the final one, unlike some reviewers lol. I wouldn’t BUY his books, but I’d totally throw myself in the library queue to read them.

[Apoorv]

MARCH MINI CHALLENGE IS HERE!!

Head on over here for more details!

The tracking spreadsheet is updated with a new tab that lists all the tasks.
Also, the main tracking page has a column where I urge you to write the task numbers, if your book applies to more than one mini task.

Books can be started at anytime after Feb 1,
but CANNOT be finished before the start of the Mini Challenge.
Countdown to the Mini Challenge Start: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

[Becky]

Apoorv wrote: "


MARCH MINI CHALLENGE IS HERE!!


Head on over here for more details!

The tracking spreadsheet is updated with a new tab that lists all the tasks.
Also, the main tracking page has a column whe..."

AHHHHHHHHH

[Kelly]

SCREECH! I better make sure I log the books I’ve finished then haha. It’s been a pretty full on March already and is only set to get more ínstense when I start my new job on Monday! Pretty excited about it.

[Ansel]

Hi guys, I come here to check in since the vpn is not very stable for now. I will back with some books finished as soon as possible. And check the updates of our team.

[Lilly]

Hi, I might need some help with the Mini Challenges since I didn't do them for Feb, but how do they work? I see a list of cocktails and something about making your own with ingredients in the March Mini tab. How do I know if my book works for a mini challenge or not? Thanks!

[Becky]

Completion Post:


By: Lucy Score
Pages: 519
Finished: 3/12/24

Yellow (sorry I couldn't find any "V"s 😒)
0 - CLN: Zimmerman
1 - 1st in series
2 - CLN: Thorn
3 - Place: Harrisburg, PA
4 - CFN: Fred
6 - ALN: Score
Skip - CLN: Penny

[Kelly]

Hey Lilly! It’s a bit confusing to start with, but I think we’re supposed to focus on part 1 first and part 2 is bonus points.

Each of us teams is named after a character and their signature drink, so for part 1 if you read a book with a particular colour on the cover or lettering then just make a note of it on the planning sheet.

Also, if your book fits a cocktail in any way at all then it could count. So for our group, you could read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (the book that features our character and cocktail) or a book set in space (galactic). For Mayday’s Tuxedo it could be something like a book featuring a plane crash or people getting dressed up in formalwear for a party/performance/wedding. It’s fairly flexible!

The more options you have for each book, the better. It gives our esteemed team leader a few more options to wiggle the books around if needed haha.

[Kelly]

Apoorv, I’m a terrible co-captain, please note that I have finished these books BEFORE the mini challenge started!! They’re in the sheet and all otherwise above board.

The Unexpected Patient
The Only One Left
Stalling for time
A psalm for the wild-built
A prayer for the crown-shy
Out of reach
Catching cinders

[Apoorv]

Lilly wrote: "Hi, I might need some help with the Mini Challenges since I didn't do them for Feb, but how do they work? I see a list of cocktails and something about making your own with ingredients in the March..."

This could be a little long, so please bear with me.

Okay, one thing to bear in mind for these monthly minis:
- We don't have to read separate books for these, we use the same books that we read for cards and try and fit them for the mini challenge prompts.

As for the March Mini,
For Part 1, we are given names of 15 cocktails and 2 tasks for each of them.
- The first task for each cocktail is pretty straightforward - it is all about the cover and the writing on it.
- The second task for each cocktail is all about the name of the cocktail - which means we have to somehow relate the book we read with the given name. For example, President Snow's White Negroni - so if your book has a president character, it works. If it snows in your book, that works too, if some character is actually having a white negroni, even better. Anything in your book that can relate to those 4 words, will be a relation.

For Part 2, we create our own cocktail. from a word from the title, series, author name, item on cover, cover color, setting etc. of a book.
- For example (I am going to use books listed in Kelly's last post) - The name of the cocktail I would create could be something like The Unexpected Stalling of the Crown-shy Cinder - it doesn't mean anything, but you get the point. I choose 4 book titles and created the cocktail name.
- We can use a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 6 books to do that.

Long story short, mention all possible details from every book and we can go ahead and put them in a cocktail name as we go.

[Apoorv]

Kelly wrote: "Hey Lilly! It’s a bit confusing to start with, but I think we’re supposed to focus on part 1 first and part 2 is bonus points. .."

Small correction: Part 2 is not just bonus points. We get usual points for Part 2 just like Part 1.

We only get bonus "completion" points for Part 1 and Part 2 is primarily about us getting creative, so there is no completion bonus there.

[Kelly]

Oooh great! It’s a pity I’m not very creative 😬

[Jax]

For part 2 (Create your own cocktail) are the mods just going to look for the books we didn't use in part 1? Or is there somewhere you want these entered? I see there's a section for part 2 on the March mini tab. I tried to fill it out with my latest book, is that what you are looking for?

[Apoorv]

Jax wrote: "For part 2 (Create your own cocktail) are the mods just going to look for the books we didn't use in part 1? Or is there somewhere you want these entered? I see there's a section for part 2 on the ..."

The mini starts tomorrow, Jax. So the book you finished today would unfortunately not qualify. :(

But, for Part 2, basically feel free to add any book that seems to have an interesting facet to it - cool character name, interesting setting, something fun on the cover, a random cocktail name mentioned in the text - so it will be fun for us to create our cocktail name.

In short, it is upto us to be as creative as we can with our names. :)

[Jax]

Apoorv wrote: "Jax wrote: "For part 2 (Create your own cocktail) are the mods just going to look for the books we didn't use in part 1? Or is there somewhere you want these entered? I see there's a section for pa..."

Argh! Oh well. It was an interesting read and ended up being a reverse which was a surprise.

[Lilly]

Thanks for the explanations for the Mini Challenges, Kelly and Apoorv! Part 1 makes sense now. To clarify, for part 2, you want us to list anything alcohol related from our book?

[Apoorv]

Lilly wrote: "Thanks for the explanations for the Mini Challenges, Kelly and Apoorv! Part 1 makes sense now. To clarify, for part 2, you want us to list anything alcohol related from our book?"

Not just alcohol related, it can be anything.
I know that sounds rather vague, but think of what could make an exciting addition to a cocktail title from the following factors:

- book title
- series title
- author name
- item on cover
- cover colour (no matter how much of it is found on the cover as long as one can actually detect it with the naked eye)
- name from the story (any character or named creature, you could even use the cat's name if you like)
- setting of the story (can be the entire setting, can be the setting of a single scene, whatever works for your creation)

[Maddy]

Turqiose?

[JoJo_theDodo]

An example for part 2 for the book I’m reading, The Women

The drink name I came up with would be:

Frankie's Red Rye Saigon

Frankie is the main character

Red is the cover color

Rye is another main character

Saigon is the location in the story

**The minimum references you need to use from the book you read is two.

[Lilly]

Thanks, that's helpful. I'll wait to see some examples that others come up with in the spreadsheet as well. :)

[Apoorv]

JoJo_theDoDo wrote: "**The minimum references you need to use from the book you read is two"

So, this is a little confusing, I understand.
But, each book can be used only for one ingredient.
We don't need to create an entire cocktail name from one book.

A cocktail name can be made out of a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 6 different books.

P.S. I love the name of the drink though, Jo! :)

[JoJo_theDodo]

Apoorv wrote: "JoJo_theDoDo wrote: "**The minimum references you need to use from the book you read is two"

So, this is a little confusing, I understand.
But, each book can be used only for one ingredient.
We do..."

Okay so you have to use a minimum of 2 books that you've read to pull the elements from to create the cocktail name?

"You can use anywhere between two and six elements from your books to create a name for your cocktail along the lines of what the mods have done for the team names."

I took this description to mean you can take two elements from one book you've read to create the drink name. The team drink names that moderators created come from referencing one specific book for each drink. Like our drink name come from the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

[Maddy]

Okay, sorry, busy week, but now I am back :D
What is the verdict on those Cover: TURQUOISE books? Or is someone already reading for them?

[Apoorv]

Maddy, I think they are turquoise, but I have asked the question in the Mods group to confirm because this is a contentious color and hardly ever is universally agreed upon. Haha! :P
Will let you know in a little bit.

EDIT: Both of the books mentioned earlier are okay-ed for turquoise, with the Boyfriend one more so than the latter.

[Maddy]

Okay, here is another one :D

[Maddy]

Alright, then I will do the boyfriend one :D

[~emily~]

Completion post

Book: Starter Villian
Author: John Scalzi
Pages: 246
READ: MAR 18GMT+7)

FITS:
0 - standalone
2-C: Til
3-C: Heta
6-T: STARTER Vilian
Skip-C: Persephone

[Becky]

Completion Post:


By: Holly Black
Pages: 356
Finished: 3/18/24

Cover: WHITE
1 - CFN: Oak
2 - CFN: Tiernan
3 - AFN: Holly
6 - CFN: Suren
8 - Place: Elfhame
9 - CLN: Nore

I put this one down for the white cover but this one would be very easy to make a cocktail of if you'd prefer to go that route - just let me know :)

Happy Monday team!!

[Maddy]

Hi! Me again!


Is this turquoise?
I need it for another challenge, so I am hoping to do 2 with one book :D

[Apoorv]

Maddy wrote: "Hi! Me again!


Is this turquoise?
I need it for another challenge, so I am hoping to do 2 with one book :D"

This is approved to be turquoise! :)

[Apoorv]

Maddy wrote: "Okay, here is another one :D
"

This is approved to be blue! :P LOL!

[Maddy]

You know, these colored cover challenges always make me feel almost colorblind :D
thanks anyway ;)

[Ansel]

Mickey 7

Hi, Guys!I finished this book, but I haven't yet checked the sheet. I will mark it later.
And I think the Sci-fi is very entertaining and the setting is quite interesting, If you like clone & star trek, you may also like it. It also has a sequel.

[Maddy]

Captain, oh, captain!
How about an update, please pretty please? :)
How many more books needed? What do you want me to focus on? Want me to find that last stubborn 7 yellow? Pick off mini one by one? 1,5 weeks left in this month and I could try to do a rampage this weekend :D

Also, side note, "Half a soul leaving church" is hilarious :D