By Garbage. I used to really love this band, and recently decided to go back and take a look at their songs again. Garbage debuted in 1994, and apparently they're still active. Although, they haven't been really in the spotlight for a while.
It's a 4-member band. The main singer, Shirley Manson, is Scottish, and the other 3 members are American. They're kind of an interesting band, because they seem to mix a bunch of different genres and make it their own. Some of the genres they mixed in were grunge, trip hop, rock, techno, power pop, and shoegazing. Shirley commented that she used to describe it as sci-fi pop. They were also influenced by everything from opera to country to polkas. This is one of their more recent songs that came out in 2002. They said that this song was in response to everyone wanting to know about Shirley's private life, giving her advice and having an agenda behind it, and being misinformed. It's one of those songs I can listen to over and over again and not get tired of it.
(Some of their other songs like I Think I'm Paranoid, Milk, and When I Grow Up I used to really like. But, now they sound kind of annoying...
Don't know what happened with that.) I also still like their songs Queer and Androgyny, so I might share those in the future too. 
He can easily 'disappear', and can go unnoticed. Some of my friends used to call me Ninja, because one minute they'll think I'm there, and the next I've disappeared, or vice a versa. (I've scared them just by walking behind them, and them suddenly noticing.
) Apparently, I'm really quiet at times. I like to observe things, too. Sometimes, if something catches my interest, I tend to just check it out without telling anyone. (Wasn't too great a thing when I was little, either...
) Kind of like what he does when not playing. He's like a ghost when he plays, so it makes passing and misdirection much easier. Kise can't follow his movements. He's both a strength and weakness to him.My Italy calendar features Lake Como this month. It's the 3rd largest lake in Italy, and is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. It's in the northern part of Italy. It's a huge tourist destination, popular for its landscapes, wildlife, and spas. Today's pic's of a fresco in Villa Carlotta. The main pic for this month's of the viewpoint of looking across the water at a city called Bellagio.
My Jewish calendar's main pic for this month's of Torah finials (they go on top of the rollers for the scroll). It has an anonymous maker, made out of silver and enamel, from Venice, Italy; 1650. Really cool to see the old stuff like this.
Looks like it held up pretty nicely over the years. Really beautiful design, too. The other pic's of a Torah binder. It also has an anonymous maker, made out of textile and cotton; from India and the Netherlands; 1760-1825. I'm wondering if it was a joint thing between 2 communities, if it's from both India and the Netherlands? Kind of cool. It's got a nice floral pattern. The month-long holidays are: National Biscuit Month, National Breakfast Month, National Chicken Month, National Honey Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Piano Month. Some are important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. So many great food holidays!
The piano's important too. I can't believe Rosh Hashanah starts the night of the 24th!
It seems like it's too soon. Although, I think last year it ended up being much earlier on the regular calendar. It's always the same in the Jewish calendar, but since it's lunar, holidays seem to skip around on the regular solar calendar. Rosh Hashanah is our New Year's. (It lit. means Head [of] the Year.) We tend to eat sweets during it to symbolize a sweet new year. Honey and apples are used the most. (Also, just read that some communities eat the head of a fish to symbolize that they may be the 'head' and not the 'tail' during the coming year.) It's the beginning of the High Holy Days or Days of Awe, which lasts for 10 days. It ends with Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. One of the most important holidays out of the year for us. The shofar (ram's horn) is blown on Rosh Hashanah, and it's blown 100 times. The holiday itself lasts for 2 days, but some congregations only observe the first day. Also, the shofar's blown in the mornings in the month of Elul preceding the holiday. I haven't been too great with that this year...
Sometimes I forget, and sometimes I end up doing it late. It's supposed to awaken the listeners from their 'slumbers' and alert them to the coming judgement. We're not allowed to blow it on Shabbat. For the Shabbat that lands during this time (there are apparently 2 this time), even the challah is shaped different. It's round symbolizing completeness and being wholesome. Also, it symbolizes the life cycle. It's not linear. People tend to make them sweet to keep with the theme of wishing a sweet new year.
I'm unsure as to what I'll make, if I want to do anything.
It comes down to either a honey cake or teiglach. Mom used to make the honey cake almost every time. We still have the recipe. It's a bit different than what many honey cakes are like. It uses coffee grinds, chocolate chips, orange rinds, and a few other interesting things along with the honey, of course. I kind of miss it. The teiglach is incredibly messy, but tasty.
It's basically pieces of dough formed into nuggets, and cooked in honey and a little orange or lemon zest. Makes an awesome candy. I've made it before. When done right, it doesn't totally harden. So, you can actually rip off a piece. Supposedly, it's a big thing on the east coast. We've brought it a few times in the past to services, and people are either scared of it, amazed, or it's a piece of nostalgia for them. I'm thinking of going to one of our local synagogue's services for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This one we've been with for the longest time. Although, I've stopped going regularly because some people there have been kind of hostile towards us in the past.
They're different during the holidays though. Plus, a lot of the people we like and love to talk to usually attend just these services as well. This time we have a new rabbi that was hired a couple of months ago. He's going to be leading services for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We're used to switching rabbis for them. (Our rabbi would do one holiday's services, and we'd have a guest rabbi for the other one.) So, this should be interesting.
After the night service for Rosh Hashanah (the one that starts it), we'll have a dessert potluck. Which is another reason why I'm trying to decide if I should bring anything to it. There are usually so many sweets at it, you can't even try them all if you wanted to. So I don't know...
After the morning services the following day, we usually go out to a pier and do tashlich. Tashlich symbolizes us tossing away our sins of the past year. We use bread crumbs usually. It has to be over a body of water. I'm hoping to be able to actually do it this year. Wasn't able to last time.
For the second day, I'll probably tune in to OneShul for their online services. They usually have all of the High Holy Days covered. Plus, some study times during the in between days. You can even interact with other people during it. It's just not a physical 'feel', though.
It works for things we might not be doing with our congregation, at least. I just tend to forget when they do things, because they go by the eastern time zone. I have to always remember 3 hours before they say for something. I've missed some of their Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh services because of it.
I just got an iPhone 5c last Saturday!
First time I've ever had a 'smart' phone. I've had a flip-phone for about 12 years.
So, it's almost like I've been catapulted into a different world. I'm still finding new things about it. The first day I had it, I ended up giving myself the biggest headache and was very dizzy.
Kind of like going on one of the craziest fair rides you've ever been on. It's quite a nice thing, though. Things have been getting better with it. Looks like it'll be a very useful tool for me. Plus, I think I like the color and case that I picked. I was unsure about it at first. I chose a white one with a clear and glitter 'shimmer' case. Turned out pretty.
I was able to get a English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionary app. It seems to be better than a lot of the dictionaries I use online, or at least it has everything together. I've had to use a few in order to look up something.
Plus, I can look something up when I'm away from my computer. There's like a sea of free game apps, too. I'm glad there are so many free things for it. Also, got a special app that broadcasts local radio stations from Japan. Another one has times for when Shabbat and other holidays start. Plus, the parsha (Torah portion) for the week. Another one is all about kosher (dietary laws) stuff. It gives lists of products/companies that are kosher, a list of all US and most international hechshers (kosher seals on labels), what to do with certain foods to make them kosher, and more. They even list certain medications. They give 'procedures' on how to wash certain vegetables/fruits in a 'kosher' way. It's fascinating.
It has all the contact info for each company that puts out a hechsher. So, you can even call/mail them about questions you might have. The app updates every time you open it, too. There are more Jewish-based ones to explore, too. It's a bit overwhelming.
That's why I'm trying to limit it a bit for now.Had group a couple of days ago. There was only 4 people this time. Not many.
We ended up diverging from relevant topics. Since there wasn't much to talk about, we ended early. Only one other person joined Dad and I at Shari's afterwards. I decided to get a banana split. I haven't had one since my mom was in the hospital. (Just over 2 years ago.) It was comforting at the time. They're always so big.
I barely made a dent in it before I stopped. I don't think the one before had pineapple as one of the fruit. That was interesting. It was all very tasty, though.
I've realized that it's ok to not finish something. Even ice cream, where it wouldn't keep if I took it home. For a while I was forcing myself to finish them.
I felt like it'd be a waste to leave any of it. I try to get the smallest amount of things now, but some of those things aren't really what I would call 'small'. Like I got a banana smoothie at a shop at the mall, and the smallest size it came in was 16 oz.
The smallest for coffee, I think, was 10 oz. They wouldn't let me use the 10 oz. So, I ended up only able to stomach maybe an 8th of it. Seemed like such a waste, but if that's the smallest size they come in, it's understandable I think. I remember reading somewhere that the happiest people who were 'lean' were the ones who didn't finish things like that. Only had enough to satisfy themselves and threw out the rest. They didn't force all those calories on themselves. It's hard when you know some things won't keep well for leftovers. At least with leftovers you can eat everything over a longer period of time. (And, you can savor them more.
) I'm also noticing how big the portions are not only in regular sit-down restaurants, but other places. It's almost overwhelming now. I've kept up with being really strict about my portions, too. I've even gotten to the point of eating half a cookie, instead of a whole, for dessert. Makes sense when you put the calories you had for dinner together. Doing this and going to places like Costco seems more surprising with their sizes of things. Those cookies I mentioned were oatmeal raisin from Costco. They're rather big, and very filling. Good, though. We got a few other necessities, too. But, most of our main stuff came from Safeway this time. Safeway seems to be our go-to place now. I already like it a lot more than our local market. They're cheap, too. The sizes for some of their things almost rival Costco's. Especially their dessert section...
The 'single' serving cakes/pies/parfaits/cream puffs/etc. are big enough for 2 or 3 people. So, I still am amazed with them, as well.
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