National Blueberry Pancake Day!

Mood:

That's one of my fave types of pancake. They're simple to make for something so good, too. Banana chocolate pancakes are pretty good too. You can put almost anything in the batter for pancakes.

Today was cold and rainy. Perfect for a still semi-low mood. Although, towards the middle of the day I felt empowered for some reason.Hope that keeps up. I started with my 45 sit-ups 2 times a day for this week. I can't believe I did it this morning.I'll be amazed if I can manage to do it for the whole week. It feels a bit odd after that many. But, I'll keep adding sit-ups in increments of 5 for both times each week. I'll see how long I can do that for. There might be a limit to how many I can do...But, we'll see.

I have decided to stop going to the cafe on Wednesdays.Mainly because of the guilt-tripping, people only into mahj (and I'm not), older people, and all in all just not my crowd. I realized that the only thing connecting them to me is my mom. Other than that, we don't share anything and sometimes they treat me like I'm a mini version of Mom.Which I obviously am not. I'm a totally different person. (Although, we did share a few things in common. But, that's it.) So, why not stop going?I'm thinking I might go occasionally on Thursdays, since it's still a great place to study and be with people. It's more like a social hall or a pub. Plenty of others to get to know. I somehow feel really good with this decision.Now, I just have to tell the person who drove me that I'm not going. I can get pretty close to the cafe by bus, so I don't really need rides there. I can also go at a time I want to go. And, might not spend 3 hours each time I go.Again, I don't have to go every week either. 

I watched the Hana Yori Dango Final movie. I thought it was really good, and a perfect end to the series. Makino and Domyouji are about to get married. They have to find a really expensive tiara that has been handed down for generations through the family. It was stolen from them. Supposedly, the bride-to-be gets to have it. They travel around the world, and realize that something seems fishy about it. Later they find out that the tiara's a fake, and Makino's family wanted to make sure that she really loved him. So, they came up with an elaborate scheme, with the help of Domyouji's mother. Makino and Domyouji really bonded in one of their last destinations. It was a deserted island. They lived there for what they thought was at least 2 months. They hunted, scavenged, fought off wildlife, did their clothes, went swimming, etc. all on their own. Since their love only grew through this experience both of Makino's parents and Domyouji's mother approved of them. They had a really beautiful wedding put up by Rui. Towards the end of the movie, Makino tells Domyouji that she's pregnant. I don't remember the end of the anime, but I thought this was a really nice way to tie up things.

Since Monsters is still raw/not subbed yet (I still need it when they speak really fast, or use words/phrases I'm not familiar with), so I watched another episode of Cartoon KAT-TUN. This time it was with an otaku or 'anime geek' as some like to call them. They're really any type of geek. But, this person is a singer that does opening/ending themes for many anime shows. She's also a mangaka or comic artist. She was quite crazy with the wealth of info she had on anime. Particularly really old ones like Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon. Koki is apparently an otaku too, and went at it with her. It was kind of amusing to watch. They also did a quiz on anime songs. The guys almost beat her, but she got the last one. Then, one of her idols, who sang one of her fave anime's opening song showed up. She went nuts. It was the 40th anniversary of when he put it out. They also had a drawing game. Interesting results. One of the last couple of episodes I saw explained the meaning behind the band's name, KAT-TUN. Each letter stands for each members' first letter of their family name. Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi (this was before he left the band, now they use the first 2 letters of Kazuya's last name), Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda, and Yuichi Nakamaru. Kind of cool. 

I started Cuticle Tantei Inaba (or Cuticle Detective Inaba) a while ago. At first, I wasn't quite sure of it. They could royally screw this up with the type of rhythm and humor it has, or it could be hilarious and awesome. After a few episodes into it, it has already grown on me. So, it's definitely not horrible. No one seems to die in this anime, despite being mauled by dogs, multiple gunshots to the head, having a refrigerator fall on you, etc. I like those type of anime shows. Each character is eccentric, and has many quirks. They also seem to be superhumanly strong. It's about Hiroshi Inaba who's an artificially created being. Formed by splicing the genes of both a human and a wolf. (He's a werewolf, essentially.) He gains info by tasting and examining people's hair. And has a huge hair fetish. With the help of his assistant/secretary, Yuta (who cross-dresses and is extremely sadistic, he's mistaken for a girl constantly), he can become more wolf-like, and gain special powers and perform different attacks depending on the type or color of hair he eats. Formally employed by the police and partnered with a police officer, he now runs his own private detective agency. With the help of Yuta and Kei. (Kei seems really normal compared to the others.) Kei actually has a big thing for cats. He's allergic, but is fanatic about them. Hiroshi's previous partner, Kuniharu Ogino, also helps out with many of the cases. (He's obsessed with his daughter.) His archenemy is Don Valentino, an evil goat who eats money. His henchman are really bizarre.

Started reading Mix Vegetable a little while ago, too. The art is a bit different, and I'm not usually into such shoujo-ish type art. But, its oddly grown on me. Hanayu Ashitaba is the daughter of a celebrated patisserie, but all she wants to do is become a sushi chef. Hayato Hyuga is the son of a prestigious sushi chef, and all he wants to do is become a patisserie. Both are chefs in training at Oiwaka High School. Ashitaba believes if she marries Hyuga, her parents will understand her wanting to be a sushi chef and she'd get a reputation. So, she tries to appeal to Hyuga, but usually ends up becoming angry and yells at him. The last chapter that I read he asks her out, but she thinks it's like he lost a bet or is a punishment game. She finds out that he does have some feelings for her. I like the cooking stuff they refer to. So, it's not all about 'romance'. I'll see how long I'll continue with this. It's surprisingly entertaining, and interesting.

Played my clarinet today. Did some klezmer tunes. Managed to add some new ones to my practice list, because I felt I perfected those other ones enough to move on. These 'newer' songs are even tougher. So, that'll be a nice challenge.I'll go over them a lot of times, like I did with the previous ones. Tomorrow, I'll probably listen to them on youtube, if they have them. I don't know where the CD to my book went...So, youtube is my avenue for it. It's good to get a sense of how others play it. I learn better after hearing it, and reading the notes/rhythm as they go along. It's like all the pieces come together that way. There are some songs where I get them easily if I just look at them on the page. But, the tougher ones I get a much better feeling for it this way. Plus, it's nice to hear how others embellish the tunes. Klezmer can be very much up to the musician, but it has to follow a certain base melody. So, you have to have some grounding in it first.

Edited a bit of chapter 19 of Alliance. Kind of let my mind wander a bit with it, too. Now I have some really interesting ideas for it. Went over the kanji for blood which is: 血. Pronounced as ち or chi, けつ or ketsu. I already knew this one, but needed to go over writing it. Apparently, I had been writing it incorrectly before.Went over some compounds for it, too. Things like blood transfusion, blood vessel/vein, etc. Those were interesting. This kanji is supposed to look like blood going into a container. Kind of creepy, yet interesting to me. Translated more of a You Manga article I'm working on. Scanned some of my drawings for panels of another original character meme. This is a really long meme, but there are parts you can post in sections as you fill them out. I'll edit these few drawings tomorrow in Photoshop. I think most of my drawings (including the ones I haven't scanned yet) for it turned out pretty well. So, this showed be fun.

Tomorrow, the support group is having a potluck and a movie showing. That should be great. Dad made some of her red beans and rice. It's slightly different than usual, but it looks and smells good.