Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Kimi wa Dare wo Mamotte Iru (Original Mix)

Mood:

Or: Who Are You Protecting. This is from the first Rurouni Kenshin OST. There are 5 different versions of this track. There's the original, a strings version, acoustic version, electric guitar version, and a 'hard' version on the 2nd OST. Very interesting. This is one of Kenshin's themes, and with whatever version, it really fits him well. The strings one is a bit more calming and grand sounding. But, thought I should share the original if I'm thinking of sharing the string one in the future...:iconsleepygreeceplz:The flute and electric guitar is an interesting mix, though. The music as a whole for the anime is pretty cool and interesting. Liking the series so far, too.:iconchibinitalyplz:

Wrote more of the 9th short story to my nightmare anthology. Like the others, it's going in a direction I didn't expect to go.:iconseychelles-plz:But, I think that's what makes it interesting. Also came up with a possible title for the name of the anthology. It might be Sleep Well: An Anthology of Nightmares. Still not sure, though.:iconpolandplz:I want to keep it short and simple. It certainly covers that. I'm starting to like it more as I think about it, too. 

Drew more of my characters' outfits and accessories/extras, from my first novel, Alliance. I've gone through 10 of them so far. (I think I have 8 more written down with their info, but 2 more that I didn't add to my list. They were late additions, but seem to have become pretty important towards the end of the story.:iconheroamericaplz:I'll probably draw their stuff, too.) It's been fun figuring out their clothing designs. The extras are things like horns, tails, special hair (for example, one has feathery like hair, another has skinny strands of snakes for hair), etc. Seeing these things drawn out feels like they're coming to life. Which is a very nice feeling.:iconthailandplz:It'll feel even more so when I color them.:la: 

Edited more of Junko from the exaggeration meme. Almost done with editing the first part. Each 'part' has 3 drawings. That's pretty good. 

Drew out Doina's head (or bust, I guess I should say...But, it sounds funny while bringing up a female character:iconhanatamagoplz:), as well. This is apart of another project that I kind of forgot about for a while. It's drawing out all my characters' heads from Alliance. Just to see how they look on paper, and to improve on their design as I go. Doina's one of my fave characters, so it was kind of fun. It'll be fun to draw out her clothes and accessories, as well.:iconyayhanatamagoplz: 
日本語
Studied the kanji: , , . If is pronounced as よし (yoshi): reason, significance, cause; piece of information that one has heard, I heard that..., it is said that... If pronounced as 由る or よる (yoru): (usually written in kana, not kanji) to be due to, be caused by; to depend on, turn on; to be based on, come from. It might also be pronounced as (yu), ゆい (yui), or ゆう (yuu) in compounds. 自由 or じゆう (jiyuu): freedom, liberty, as it pleases you. can be pronounced as あぶら (abura), (yu), or ゆう (yuu). It means: oil, fat. If is pronounced as (u): [Buddhism] bhava (becoming, existence). As ゆう (yuu): existence; (pref) possession, having. As 有る or ある (aru): (usually written in kana, and not kanji) to be (usually of inanimate objects. For animate objects, it'd be いる or iru), exist, live; to have; to be located; to be equipped with; to happen, come about. 有余 or ゆうよ (yuuyo): more than. 有意 or ゆうい (yuui): significance. 有為 or ゆうい (yuui): capable, able, talented, promising. 有識 or ゆうしき (yuushiki): well-informed, learned. 有益 or ゆうえき (yuueki): beneficial, profitable. 有功 or ゆうこう (yuukou): merit. 有徳 or うとく (utoku): virtuous, rich. 有耶無耶 or うやむや (uyamuya): (usually written in kana, and not the kanji) indefinite, hazy, vague, unsettled, undecided. This one's very common, and I've gone over it before. Just not as in depth. It was good to go over it this way. I think I only went over the ある (aru) part before. So, it helped. Next time I'll be going over more of its compounds.

Finished watching Atami no Sousakan, or Atami Investigators. The last few minutes were really crazy.:iconwtfukplz:Left more questions than answers. There are a lot of speculations as to the meaning of it online as well. They finally found the girls who seemed to be barely alive, and took the doctor that was experimenting on them to a private hospital (he had been shot by one of the investigators). Apparently, there was a scene towards the end with the doctor getting out of his hospital bed that looked like it was in some sort of an apartment, and a dead nurse at his feet. If that wasn't enough, we don't really know if the girls are alive or not. One of the girls that came back on her own at the beginning, who acted like she couldn't remember anything, was also behind it all. She's the doctor's daughter. She seemed to be a bit tormented by it most of the time. (Although we thought it was about the amnesia.) The last few scenes she's on a bus with the bus driver who is supposed to be dead, at the wheel. One of the investigators gets on the bus. The girl asks do you know where we're going, and he nods, then whispers where he thinks they are going. The machine that he usually uses to answer his questions, that the girl stole and is holding, signals that he's right. He looks surprised, but amused. The next thing you know they're going into a tunnel with a light at the end that gets brighter. The brightness increases, he smiles, and then it whites out. Don't know what he whispered. And, don't know if they died or something. One of the last lines the other investigator said was: "Don't leave me here!" We don't even know if the whole town was dead from the start, or if it's some weird halfway place. This left more questions than the Interviewer did. Which was another one of Satoshi's dramas. He's a genius when it comes to comedy and mystery.:iconchibihungaryplz:Usually pretty dark stuff, though. The characters are usually all eccentric, but likable. This one had Erik Satie's Gnossienne no. 1, playing throughout in the background. It had many different versions of that same piece. They even mentioned and featured it in the drama. The doctor played it on a record player while the girls were in some sort of coma. The diner always played it on the jukebox. I like the piece, so it was nice to hear. (The different versions of it were interesting, too.) But, it really got stuck in my head every time they played it. It fit very well, though.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Dragon Slayer

Mood::iconicelandfukkiretaplz:

This is from the first Fairy Tail OST. The background music for Fairy Tail is amazing!:dummy:Kind of has an Irish/rock flair. This is one of Natsu's themes. Dragon Slayers don't necessarily 'slay' dragons. But, they have dragon-like abilities, and most grew up and were raised by dragons. There's another track on a newer OST that features the 3 main Dragon Slayers' theme. Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy. Natsu has fire-type abilities, Gajeel has iron-type ones, and Wendy has wind-type ones. Found out recently that they originally came about when the dragons were at war with each other over whether they should be at peace with humans or not. The ones who wanted to live peacefully with humans, asked the humans to help them fight the other dragons. The dragons trained them, and with the help of the humans, they were able to overpower the others. Very interesting. One of the humans that helped, became so absorbed in his new powers, he eventually turned into a dragon. But, that was before Natsu and the others' time. All of the dragons that raised them disappeared on the same day. Still don't know why.

Did my nails again, yesterday.:la:This time it's called 'Paparazzi Pink Glitter'. I'm not usually into pink nail polish.:iconhanatamagoplz:Mainly because it doesn't usually show up too well on my nails. (And, I really don't like that color in general.:iconnataliaplz:) But, this one is more of a peachy color, and has glitter in it. I like glitter on nails, and for a lot of them you have to have something underneath in order to have it stick. But, with this, the glitter is so fine that it sticks to it on its own. Makes it more uniform too. It dried pretty quickly, which surprised me. 

Finished translating another paragraph from a pretty long article in You Maga. I think the article is like 10 pages of the actual magazine. It's more than fine, though. Gives me some practice. I managed to clean up my English version of it pretty well, and still keep it close to how the author had it. That can be hard sometimes.:iconpolandplz:Read an article on Asahi's site about a guy who suffered minor burns after throwing a cigarette butt in a manhole on the street. There was a high concentration of methane gas and trash that had collected inside the manhole. That lit, and blew up in front of him. Crazy! At least he survived...:iconkikuplz:
In Pandora Hearts, Oz is learning what really happened to Alice and the kingdom of Sabrie or what they called the 'Tragedy of Sabrie'. The story people were told was that an earthquake engulfed the kingdom one day, and swallowed it whole. The real story is that Vincent went on a killing rampage, and Alice was killed during the mayhem. And, the whole city was plunged into the Abyss. Gil was there, too. I still don't remember how they were able to get out, and why Alice is still 'alive'. She created the Abyss in the first place. I guess I just have to read and find out.:iconnorwayunimpressedplz:I know she was locked up in a room before it all happened, for a very long time. I think her only visitors were her cat, Cheshire, and Jack. Things can get pretty twisted, if that's the only 'people' you ever see. (I think she had a lot of dolls to keep her company...:iconusaplz:) And, Jack only came so often. For some reason she doesn't want to remember him...I think I remember that the Will of the Abyss or other 'Alice', is basically her other more demented self. (It seems a lot more complex and twisted to me than Alice in Wonderland, which is what it's loosely based on. I like that, though.) It might explain a lot more than the anime did, especially since it's been around much longer than the anime has. 

Finished editing the 8th story of my nightmare anthology, and moved on to the 9th one. This one's more based on a campfire story that people would tell while I was in girl scouts every time we went camping. It creeped everyone out, and my nightmares twisted it even more. Even the person who was telling the story would get scared. This version will be a little different, but obviously have some of the same elements. It made me think of chokers in a whole different way. Looked around a bit online, and no one knows exactly where the original story came from, or who the author was. But, it's apparently a popular story to tell. Should be interesting to see where I take it in my 'version'.:iconchibiaustriaplz:Again, it's going to be loosely based on it.

Played my clarinet, yesterday. Did some Mozart, a lot of pieces from my general solo book, Duke Ellington tunes, and some Gershwin tunes. Sounded pretty good. Only problem I occasionally had was suddenly stopping, and trying to continue after. I don't know why that was going on.:iconlietplz:Almost like my confidence left me for a brief moment. It got better as I played more, though. I just have to play more often to get over 'that', whatever 'that' was. 
日本語
Studied the kanji: . If pronounced as くすり (kusuri): medicine, pharmaceuticals, (legal) drugs; efficacious chemical (i.e. gunpowder, pesticide, etc.); (pottery) glaze. As やく (yaku): (slang) dope, narcotics, drugs; (suf) medication, drug, treatment, anti-. 薬缶 or やかん (yakan): (usually written in kana, and not the kanji) kettle. 薬局 or やっきょく (yakkyoku): pharmacy, chemist (shop), drugstore. 薬学 or やくがく (yakugaku): (study of) pharmacy, pharmaceutics. 薬剤 or やくざい (yakuzai): medicine, drug. Next time, I'll go through more of its compounds. 
Started watching Shinigami-kun, or Mr. Grim Reaper, or more literally Mr. Death G-d, about a week ago. It's a lot better than I expected it to be. Again, it has one of my fave actors, Ohno Satoshi, as the lead.:iconchibihungaryplz:He's awesome! Also, the leader of the band Arashi. (I like some of their songs, but most of the time I find they are better at acting than singing. They do have some good songs, though.) Shinigami-kun, or grim reaper #413, is a rookie who pronounces the death of those scheduled to die, and brings souls to the nether world. He tends to appear and open with a line similar to: "Congratulations! I'm here to tell you that you'll die soon." He then tells them how long they have left, and if there's any unfinished business or things they've always wanted to do, but never had the chance. So far, he's helped them with those. Giving advice along the way. He starts to realize that dying might not be such a happy occasion for humans. He has to stay with them until they die. To grim reapers, persuading people to not commit suicide and preventing unforeseen deaths is also an important task. Since 413 is new to being a grim reaper, he has a tendency to lean towards humans in his judgments, break the rules of the nether world, and get reprimanded by his superior. She transforms into a crow to supervise what he does on Earth. The chief seems interesting, too. He's a bit angry with 413 now, because he went against the rules, and now the Devil might be doing his own thing. The music is funny and quirky at times. He seems so clueless about humans, too. He seems like an interesting character. 

Went to group last night, but there weren't that many of us. At least there were more people than the meeting before that. Since it was such a small group, we seemed to have had a difficult time coming up with things to discuss.:iconpolandplz:Didn't go to Shari's this time, though. 

I finally got tired of waiting for the Women's Clinic to get back with me, and emailed my primary care doctor about it. I told her I've been trying to contact them for the last couple of weeks and haven't heard from them, and should I get another referral? She came back saying that she'll have her staff look into it, if that doesn't work she'll get back to me. Later, I got a call from one of her staff members saying she talked to the people at the Women's Clinic. She said they've been trying to call me back, as well. But, what she realized as we were talking, was they had the same number and she was able to get through. She had emailed me, but wanted to see if the number they were using was correct or something. I think the Women's Clinic flat out lied to her.:iconhongkongplz:They got all weird when they realized I was serious. Suddenly, they're like, oh we tried calling you several times. Yeah...sure.:icongermanyplz:The person who was on my doc's staff made an appointment for me. She said if I have to cancel it, I should call the Women's Clinic. Somehow that sounds funny at this point.:icontinoplz:I don't think I'll have a problem with the date and time. I hope they treat me better when they see me. It's scary enough with what I'm asking them to help me with. I think they didn't think I was serious, because it's something that many women don't need to be knocked out for. I just lucked out, I guess.:iconsighingplz:

Monday, May 19, 2014

World Baking Day!

Mood::iconchibiamericaplz:

I would love to get more into baking, and this reminded me.:iconberwaldplz:I'm usually kind of nervous about it. Like, I'll screw it up somehow. But, whenever I have baked things, they came out pretty tasty. Baking also kind of fascinates me for some reason.:iconchibinitalyplz:You can make so many different things with it. It's also Victoria Day for people who live in Canada. 

Yesterday was Lag B'Omer. It's a minor holiday during the 33rd day of counting the Omer. The Counting of the Omer starts during Passover and goes until Shavuot. Specifically for 49 days. An omer is an old type of measurement. When people sacrificed things like barley, they used an 'omer' amount. During Lag B'Omer people light bonfires, have weddings, parties, haircuts (some refrain from having a haircut or a wedding during the rest of the days of counting the Omer. Or, even refrain from listening to music. It's a semi-mourning time during the rest of it), some kids have their first haircut (usually when their 3), do archery (especially the youth), parades, and other traditions. It's kind of fun.:iconthailandplz:I haven't really celebrated it for a while, though. The bonfire and archery are probably the best known ones. 

Last week was a lot warmer than usual. The weekend was a little on the cool side, but nice still. This week isn't expected to get as warm, but it'll be up there.:iconheroamericaplz:I guess the warmer than usual weather will help me prepare for going to Scottsdale, AZ at the end of July. I'll explain a bit more as to why I'm going there soon. As it gets closer to when we leave. Probably not the best time to be there though...:iconitshotplz:

I'm going to do 70 sit-ups twice a day this week. It's starting to feel like a workout each time, again. Hopefully I can get both walks in everyday, too. If I keep up with the way I'm eating, I might lose it even quicker with all this again. Although, it's also more for just getting healthier in general. Even though I'm the healthiest I've been in a long time. I think I'm close to dropping another size. Yay!:iconranranruuplz:I've also noticed that I'm getting a bit more loose skin. But, I think as I keep losing, it'll bounce back. 
Started watching Smoking Gun a week ago. It's been very interesting so far. I was a little reluctant about it going from the summary that's online. But, it also has one of my fave actors playing the lead. The other actors have been really good, too. (And, there's also an actress I like that's in a supporting role.) Researchers at a private CSI lab solve cases using their scientific techniques. A lot like a Japanese version of CSI. Right down to everyone being at least somewhat quirky. But, it somehow feels like it's done better. And, the researchers don't have really fancy looking labs, offices, etc. Enishi Nagareta is one of the researchers, and tries to solve cases that the police may have overlooked. He has a thing for eating donuts. Especially while at a crime scene. (Which can't be good around evidence...:iconwtfukplz:) He proposed to a woman at the beginning, which was a few months ago. She seemed to be turning him down, so he walked away from her. The next thing he knows is he wakes up on the floor near her, and she's covered in blood. She was murdered, but he can't remember anything from when he left her until then. Which is a pretty good chunk of time. When not at work, he's constantly trying to remember. He even has a notebook with the times he can't remember, which he tries to backtrack with. Some detectives are still looking into him as being a suspect. And, he doesn't know himself if something like that happened. Kind of sad. The other researchers have their own 'problems'. One refers to her husband (I think) as a cactus and her only family. Her husband seems to be in a coma at a hospital. She also put a cactus near him there. One's a retired cop. A newer member basically deals with the more 'human' aspect with getting to know the victims. The boss is a rather eccentric, but awesome, woman. I loved that she says things like she's allergic to shady men. She also makes a huge feast for everyone every Wednesday. If you finish everything on your plate or say 'this is delicious', she'll just give you more. She's taking care of her late sister's kid. The kid helps sometimes, too. Very interesting group of people. Another seems 'normal', but he takes care of his siblings. I think they mentioned him having like 10 little siblings. 

I might have finished writing the 8th short story of my nightmare anthology yesterday. I still have to go through and edit it one last time. Kind of turned the original nightmare into something totally different, but still kind of disturbing. It's oddly fun to write, though.:iconseychelles-plz:

Played my clarinet yesterday. Did a lot of klezmer tunes. Wasn't too bad. Only a few mistakes. Some songs sounded particularly good. But, I think those are the ones I like the most. Got to get the others like that, as well.:iconchibiswedenplz:

Spent a while yesterday on JapaneseClass' site. Mainly doing the practice section. For attendance each day, you have to do 20 of them. But, you can continue doing them after that. It has a mix of kanji and vocab, new words/phrases, oblivion kanji/vocab, and weak kanji/vocab. It's a pretty good practice tool, like it suggests. You can do long combos of things you get correct, too. I think I beat my personal record this time with getting an 83 combo before I got one that was incorrect. Pretty good.:iconeduardplz:I've seen some people have chains of 200 word/kanji combos. I want to do that! I probably will at some point. I made it to the 412th rank on the site. There are about 30,000 people registered on there. (A lot of them are active.) That's pretty good. I was in the top 20 for the day yesterday. (Although, I have been on it quite often when I go on that site.) Yay! I'm getting up there.

Yesterday, I decided to see who some of the contestants were for the Eurovision contest. None of them really impressed me.:iconnataliaplz:I don't think they did last year, either. I really didn't care for the top 5 or so. The first place one didn't sound that great, and seemed to be more into that person's looks and message, but not of the actual music. There was one that seemed kind of catchy, but didn't draw me in. I think it was Switzerland's entry. A couple of years ago there were a lot more interesting ones. I kind of feel like they have a bias towards songs that use primarily English, and not their original language. Which is sad. I love hearing songs from other countries that are in that country's language.:icondenmarkgrinplz:It seems a whole lot more interesting, and you get a wider view of what the rest of the world sounds like. Also, decided to listen to some of the Pandora Hearts OST. It wasn't as exciting as I remember in the anime. (Although, a couple of tracks from the 2nd one sounded interesting.) The manga got me thinking about it again. Might look into Ranma 1/2's and Rurouni Kenshin's OSTs, too. For both, the background music seems to be interesting. Kenshin seems to have a cool fighting sound in a lot of it. Some of the ones from Ranma sound like they're enduring something big, and interesting fighting ones, too. I'll probably look at those next week. Kind of fun to look at, and I might be able to find some that I like...:iconchibiaustriaplz:

Drew more of Vincent's clothes in my new drawing project. This was what he wears currently, as his vampire self. I did the other one for when he was human already. He was human around the mid 1800's, so he had to have changed his style to 'fit in'. It makes it fun, though. Next will be Gun's outfit. He wears clothes that are based on traditional Chinese clothing. He is a Chinese dragon after all. (He's in his human form in the story.) Should be a bit more of a challenge, but fun nonetheless.:iconeestiplz:

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

National Apple Pie Day!

Mood::iconthinkinghkplz:

Yay for apple pie!:dummy:I like Dutch apple pie a bit more than the regular, though. Yesterday was International Nurses Day. They definitely deserve a day, if not more. They deal with a lot of stuff. Most of the ones I've met have been amazing.

Last night I thought I'd make something with the smoked kippers in a tin we still had from a while ago. I mashed it up a bit, added marinara sauce, a lot more garlic, and some of the frozen basil cubes to it. I don't use those cubes too often, so it was kind of fun.:iconheroamericaplz:And, it tastes fresh. And, what could be bad about adding more garlic? I love the stuff.:iconinloveplz:I could probably try to eat the whole jar we have of it raw, but that might not be good for me.:icontinoplz:It was over rotini. It was so good!:iconfrancisplz:And, Dad liked it too! Yay! I love to experiment with things. 

Had fun going to that social group again last Saturday. There were so many people with our group at the cafe that there wasn't enough chairs, and the tables weren't long enough. I kind of like to see that, though.:iconchibinitalyplz:I got a raspberry scone and some iced chai while I was there for lunch. It was really good.:iconitalyplz:I like that they actually asked me if I wanted the chai to be sweet or spicy. Most places don't give you an option. I chose the sweet one. Sweet chai tastes more 'rounded' to me. It has the spices, but it's not overwhelming.:iconsleepygreeceplz:It was nice to chat with people. Hope to go to more of them in the future.:la:

After that, Dad had an appointment. I went with her, and since it was Shabbat I decided to read the parsha (Torah portion for the week), the haftarah (weekly portion from the Neviim or book of Prophets, it's usually read after the parsha and tends to relate to it in some way), and some psalms. I'm thinking of getting back into reading them.:iconberwaldplz:It was interesting. The parsha was on the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. Some of the psalms I read were rather negative and somewhat depressing. (Like saying their only food is ashes, and the only thing they have to drink is tears.) But, there were a couple that were much lighter. All of them were pretty heavy in imagery. Very interesting. It's been an even longer time since I've read some psalms.

After her appointment, we went to Red Robin in that area for an early dinner. We decided to sit in the lounge/bar area. I wasn't carded this time!:iconyayhanatamagoplz:Although, I think they overheard our conversation about it, and we were the furthest away from the bar.:iconswissplz:I brought my ID like I normally would when we go out for the entire day. So, just in case if they did card me, it was there for me. I got their fish burger. It's kind of like their fish and chips, only burger form. (The fish is cod.) Same sort of fish with cabbage, pickles, tomatoes, carrots (I think), their tartar sauce (which has dill in it) on a regular bun. Like the rest of their burgers, it comes with fries. It was really huge, but really good, too.:iconchibispainplz:I had the whole thing this time, because I noticed I didn't eat enough during the week, and basically burned out last Friday. Had horrible headaches, my jaw was hurting, and my eyes were twitching.:iconlietplz:I also heard that it's actually healthier to have at least one meal a week that's big. I don't remember the details as to why that would be healthier, but it certainly made me feel better. (Might have something to do with revving your metabolism up, I think.) I was a little too full afterwards, though.:iconfeelingfullplz: 

After eating, we went to the mall that was in the same plaza. It's pretty big. Dad was searching for 2 maxi dresses and one of those purse backpack things. She got a maxi skirt and a maxi dress. Nothing on the backpack. Not bad, though. This mall has more of my 'style'. Our local mall seems to only be one style, and that's usually not what I'm really into.:iconohboyamericaplz:At this one, no matter what store we went into, I saw lots of things that interested me. That's rare at our mall. I would have tried on some things, but we were getting tired. (And, I was still very full.) I also need to get some new sneakers. I'm wearing out the soles in the ones I currently use, plus lots of holes are starting to form at the toe areas. The paint is flaking off, too. I think I've had these for at least 4 years. That's a long time.:iconusaplz: 

Mother's Day is strange for me now. Since my mom passed away 2 years ago on May 1st, it's hard to celebrate Mother's Day. I want to take back Mother's Day and Father's Day and reclaim it as Parents Day. There shouldn't be a binary for it.:iconhongkongplz:And, why not still keep it for 2 days? There are parents that might not feel comfortable with either, and their kids might feel that they're different anyways. Especially for 'adult' kids. Who knew later in life, and feel uncomfortable as to having them as either. Like they'll put their parent down in some way. 'Parents' encompasses them all. Oh well. We went to Dairy Queen, and I got their confetti cake blizzard in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. It was so good! I'm glad they're putting blizzard flavors in waffle cones, too. We wanted to go to Bloedel Reserve, but it was too late for it that day.:iconseychelles-plz:So, we went to the market. Dad made a quail dish for dinner. I think I've had quail one other time, but it was a very long time ago. It was pretty good. They have really long legs. Kind of surprised me.:iconchibigilbertplz: 

Decided to put nail polish on. I haven't done that in a long time. This time it's 'electric blue'. Kind of a fun color.:iconchibihungaryplz:I like fun/cool colors. Regular red can be boring at times. I think I might get back into my makeup, too. It makes me feel even better, and is a nice confidence boost.:iconthailandplz:

In Rurouni Kenshin it reminded me a great deal of Gintama. I know Gintama was into parodies, but didn't realize how much it seemed to parody this show. Even the basic plot seems somewhat similar. Very interesting. Doesn't mean I like Gintama any less. Especially because their whole spiel was on parodies. Katsu in Kenshin is very much like Katsura. Right down to preferring to use bombs in combat. He also wants to overthrow the government. Sanosuke and Katsu have a similar past to Gintoki and Katsura. Even their teacher is similar. They don't look the same, but they certainly went through similar things. Kenshin also has many of the traits that Gintoki had. Only Gintoki was a lot funnier than either Sanosuke or Kenshin. Katsura was funnier than Katsu as well. But, Gintama was really into the comedy side of things. But, the seriousness at times was similar. I'm noticing these similarities even more. Although, it seemed kind of subtle at first. 
In Pandora Hearts, Break is easily beating the Cheshire cat. Break wanted to draw him into his own memories. Memories that Cheshire is terrified of. It caught him off guard, and gave Break the advantage. Break eventually calls out his chain called the Mad Hatter. (Vincent's in the pic, and his is the sleepy mouse in the story of Alice in Wonderland. He acts a lot like it, too. Same with Break and the Mad Hatter.) Oz and Gil meet Jack finally. He's barely alive through Alice's memories. Basically the only memory that she has tried to blocked out entirely. Somehow he's able to move about by his own freewill. I think I remember that Jack's 'spirit' somehow gets absorbed into Oz later. Oz went off to find Alice before she gets swallowed up by the Will of the Abyss and her own memories. As he's trying to find her, he stumbles upon Jack's memories. Pandora Hearts as a whole is a very interesting story. I think this is kind of getting close towards the ending of the anime. And, yet the manga is still ongoing. It's been going since 2006. The anime aired in 2009. Should be interesting to see what happens after the anime ended. I've heard it ended differently than what has happened in the manga. Some shows get ahead of the manga, and make their own ending. That can be interesting in itself. I think there's a lot less side stuff in the manga version. It's progressing pretty quickly. And, I'm far from halfway through. So a lot more happens. Not really sure why they stopped the anime.:iconnorwayunimpressedplz:It was pretty popular.

Wrote more of the 8th short story to my nightmare anthology. It's getting really interesting. I should be a bit disgusted or disturbed by it, but this one seems kind of fun to write...

Played my clarinet. Did a lot of Irish tunes. Sounded pretty good this time. I think I'm finally getting used to the new reeds.:iconchibiamericaplz:I think I was playing the old ones for so long, I ended up thinning them out. So, they might not have ended up being a size 3. It feels good to get back to that size, though. It sounds better, and the higher notes can be easier to play (at least that's the way it is for me). 
日本語
Studied the kanji: . If pronounced as 問い or と.い (to.i): question, query. As もん (mon): (suf, ctr) counter for questions. As 問う or と.う (to.u): to ask, question, inquire; to charge (i.e. with a crime), accuse; to care (about); without regard to (with negative verb). It's sometimes pronounced as とん (ton) in compounds, but isn't pronounced this way by itself. 問題 or もんだい (mondai): question (e.g. on a test), problem; problem (e.g. societal, political), question, issue, subject (e.g. of research), case, matter; question (i.e. doubt); public discussion, controversy; trouble, problem, inconvenience, difficulty. 学問 or がくもん (gakumon): scholarship, study, learning. 

I decided to scrap the drawing project that I was going to do. I never really started it, and it seemed a bit difficult to motivate myself to do it.:iconnataliaplz:So, I came up with a different project. This one is on drawing out my characters' clothes, accessories, and extra body stuff like tails and horns. I might add in drawing their eyes and hairstyles. This way I can get a feel for their clothing designs, and how they look as a whole. I'm thinking of coloring it when I'm done. Yay!:iconranranruuplz:I'll get to use my 'new' coloring stuff! I've already drawn a few of the characters' stuff. Looks interesting. The only problem I'm finding is that I tend to draw really small.:iconhanatamagoplz:I have to make somewhat of an effort to make it bigger. It's kind of the same way with my writing. It's gotten smaller over the years. Pretty soon it might just look like dots with long tails or something. I have kind of weird handwriting to begin with.:iconpolandplz:Anyways, I'm trying to draw things big enough so I could really see them. The only thing I don't really like drawing is shoes, but I can practice with it, too. I also edited more of the exaggerated expressions meme that features Junko from my story. It might take a little while to complete the editing part.:iconwtfromanoplz: