International Museum Day!

Mood:

This holiday was actually yesterday. It's important to celebrate and raise awareness for what museums go through around the world, though.There are so many different kinds. Basically showing off humanity's arts, history, exploration, scientific discoveries, culture, etc. The holiday was started in 1977. Apparently, each year has a different theme. This year's theme was Museums and Cultural Landscapes. In 2012, 30,000 museums from 129 countries participated in hosting events for the day. World Baking Day was a couple of days ago. Hope to get more into that in the future. Baking's like a new frontier for me.

I did want to post more often on here. There's still more to the month, so hopefully I will get it to more by then.I've really felt horrendous the last couple of days. It was so bad last night, that I had to leave the room halfway through a support group meeting. I apparently was gone for about 20 minutes.Really painful abdominal pain, a burning inside my stomach, and extreme nausea were and are still my main symptoms. I'm trying to relax a little more today. Although, that's easier said than done.Might make an appointment to see a dietitian at the place my primary doctor referred me to, soon. That might help me. I feel frustrated and unsure if either of my current doctors can or will do anything about what I'm going through right now.It feels like since my blood tests came back, essentially saying I'm in remission, that they won't believe me or something. I naturally have that feeling with any health related thing. Like it's all in my head, and no one will believe me. Yet, that's never been true. So, this makes that feeling worse. I've read stories where people still have inflammation, even though their blood tests indicated that they were in remission. It got so bad for them that they had to go to the hospital. I don't want that to happen to me.So, I guess I'm in a weird 'head space' with it right now. Maybe I'm lacking in certain vitamins, not getting enough calories, or something. And, after talking to a dietitian, that stuff might change for the better.

Since Sunday, I've been trying to stay as close to 1200 calories as I can. I'm starting to think that low end might actually be too low.Also, have been trying to do 3 2-mile walks a day since then. My left leg started to really hurt a couple of days into it. I still want to keep at it, but since I was feeling so horrible yesterday (and today) I decided to lay off of it a bit. I got to one walk yesterday, at least. I was doing my sit-ups, as well. I think I lost more weight this week already. A little faster than usual. We'll see what happens when I feel up to going back to doing all that again.

I decided to drop Sousei no Onmyouji or Twin Star Exorcists. It felt like it was getting stale.Not much was happening, and it was going at a snail's pace. It seemed like it'd be an interesting one, so I was a bit reluctant to drop it. Kept thinking that it'll soon change, but I got tired of waiting.

Started watching Sakamoto desu ga or Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto in Twin Star's place. It's a lot funnier than I expected. Sakamoto's supposed to be the 'coolest' student in school. Nothing seems to get to him. Even when he's bullied, he turns the situation around like nothing happened. Another student pulled out his chair before he sat down, and instead of falling, Sakamoto somehow sat in the air like the chair was still there. Another student threw his desk outside, so he decided to lay down on the window sill and open the window instead. He fought a huge wasp without batting an eye. He saved a bird, and seemed to be flying as he did so. Kind of reminds me of those commercials with the 'Most Interesting Man', and a little bit of Daily Lives of High School Boys. Same sort of humor with the latter, too. 

Started watching SPEC a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen a Jdrama in a while. Someone suggested it on a list of Japanese dramas that people should watch when they start out. I've seen most of what was on that list. They said SPEC seemed similar to Bloody Monday. That automatically grabbed my attention.I loved that show! This seems quite different so far. It deals more with supernatural criminal cases. Bloody Monday was about a terrorist organization that had a deadly virus, and the detectives hired a hacker to help try to stop them. The acting was amazing. Especially with the 'evil' head of that organization. The acting in this one is questionable so far.I don't think it's on the same level as Bloody Monday. It also brings up the popular myth that we only use 10% of our brains, but there are few who can access it all. This is utter nonsense. If you only used 10% of your brain, you wouldn't be able to function.You'd essentially be a vegetable. Maybe worse than that. Some tasks require that you use every part of your brain. Sure, maybe at varying time intervals, but you still use it. However, I have heard people say that we don't know much about the brain, and that might be where that percentage came from. Just that we don't know much about the rest of it. So, it already has some points docked down in my book. The criminals use these special abilities they've gained through accessing those 'other' parts of their brain. Now, if they just said that they gained special powers that were somehow lying dormant, that'd be different and more interesting. There seems to be an organization that's visiting all the criminals that have been caught so far. Usually killing them off without the police knowing. (Even when they're in jail with a straight jacket, alarms around them, a lock charged with a high voltage, etc.) It's still interesting enough to keep me coming back to it. It'd be more so finding out more about that group.

Finished watching Erased. It had a good ending, but seemed a little too neat and tidy. The 'murderer' ended up never killing anyone, because Satoru was able to foil all of his plans since he knew the future. I predicted who it was by the 2nd or 3rd episode.The Japanese title, Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, when translated literally, makes a lot of sense. Especially, with the last episode. It's: The Town Where Only I am Missing. The murderer tried to kill Satoru while he was still his past self as a kid. Satoru was found instead, and fell into a coma for 15 years. Meanwhile, he was still growing. When he woke up, he momentarily forgot about his 'future' self, and was slightly surprised seeing himself suddenly as an adult. The murderer waited during that entire time. He contemplated killing Satoru every day, but never could do it. They finally got him for attempted murder after tricking him at the end. Satoru was able to save everyone, and his friends lived on without him during that time. Kind of sad. He created a manga about it all after a couple more years in the hospital. Later, it turned into an anime. 

Started watching Bitter Blood a couple of weeks ago. Another Jdrama. It was also on that list I mentioned. I've been reluctant to watch this one for a while.The promo pic and title are a bit misleading. It's popular, and I think it's been nominated for awards. Also, has quite a few actors I like and am familiar with. It's based on a novel by the same name. Another title for this is Partners by Blood. It's about a rookie detective named Natsuki Sawara, who's assigned to the Ginza Police Station. He's quickly partnered with his estranged father Akimura Shimao. His parents divorced when he was 13, and was raised by his grandparents. They're constantly butting heads, but are realizing they have quite a lot in common. Natsuki seems reckless at times, and his father might be overly cautious at times. They seem to be learning from each other. It has a lot of hilarious moments. Pretty good so far. Glad I finally tried it.

Also, recently started Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge, or Tanaka-kun is Always Listless. This has been interesting. Very relaxing and funny. Like the title says, Tanaka is always listless. Constantly using as little energy as possible. He sleeps half the time, or tries to. His friend Oota (sometimes written as Ohta), is constantly helping him get up and do things. Like, he picks Tanaka up and puts him over his shoulder when he wants to go somewhere, reminds him to eat, encourages him to participate more during PE, and more. Tanaka actually prays every morning at a shrine for an uneventful day. Ends it usually with threatening G-d. This one also seems a bit like Daily Lives of High School Boys. Only in a very lighthearted and semi-surreal way. Even the art is soothing. During the last episode, a short energetic female student, named Miyano, asked to be Tanaka's apprentice in becoming listless. The only time it somewhat worked was when she was daydreaming or stressing out about town mascots. She wasn't even aware of it. And, Oota thought she actually surpassed Tanaka in her listlessness at that point. She thinks that if she becomes like Tanaka, she'll look mature and her crush will like her more. Since she's short, she thinks people see her as immature. I thought she'd be annoying, but I actually liked her by the end. Interesting personalities with the characters so far. Tanaka mentioned at one point, that Oota looks more like a main character to a show than him. He helps everyone out, seems to be good at anything he does, stands out because of how tall he is, everyone seems to like him, he's quiet at times, and more.

Finished the manga Kuro or Black. It was cute, yet dark at the same time. Very short, too. I don't think there was a true ending.It kind of cut off abruptly, and there were 'extra' side stories after. It was about a girl living with her black cat in a huge mansion. The town has black monsters that attack people if they stray from the path. That path's lined with special paint from flowers that keep them away as a deterrent. Those flowers are used in shots so the townspeople can see those monsters. The flowers come from the mansion's greenhouse. The owners hand over a certain amount each month. The girl lives alone, besides the cat, in the mansion. The cat is named Kuro, and is half like those monsters, and the other half is still like his cat self before he was attacked. Apparently, those monsters can't fully take over something unless it's dead. At the time, Kuro was barely alive. So, he has some of the powers of those monsters, and uses them to protect the girl. The problem is they have to drain other creatures' color in order to live. So, he slowly drains her of color. Eventually, her hair turns white. The girl can't see the monsters, since she never got the shot. A lot of the townspeople hate Kuro, and attack him every once in a while. He never really hurt people, though. The doctor finally realized close to the end that Kuro is actually safe, and doesn't want to hurt anyone. Occasionally, he'll actually attack the monsters that wander near the mansion. It was a very interesting story. Just wish it explained more, and actually showed what happened after the last scene. 

Also finished reading 6 no Trigger or Trigger of 6. I ended up changing my opinion on the main character by the end. He was actually a lot more kind than I realized. He only had a certain crude attitude around one of the female characters, because I think he knew she wasn't who she said she was from the beginning. Turned out her boyfriend was possessing her, and the longer he did so, the more her body broke down. He tried to hide it from Tsubame as best he could. Apparently, the one who created the mechanical arms that Tsubame uses, named Frost, just wanted to be a mother. (Everyone apparently thought she was a guy.) She couldn't physically be one. Especially, because she had a disease and was going to die young. So, developing the personalities/souls connected to each arm was like her way, in her mind, to have children. Tsubame kind of became a father this way. She just wanted to use his body as a host body. She did care for him, but that was her main goal when she first met him. Also, her little brother came down with the same disease, and doesn't have much time left to live. Frost is already dead. Before she passed away, she put his soul in the final mechanical arm, and asked Tsubame if he could find her brother's body and return it to him. So, he's been searching for him ever since. If her brother's going to die soon, why give him back his soul just beforehand? I know that they said she wanted the soul to transcend his body, but why look for it, then? Who was that person that briefly showed up in a crowd that seemed to have another mechanical arm? (Not exactly sure if they had one, but it looked like it.) I think they can easily continue this one. It was pretty good.

My mom's yahrzeit (the Jewish anniversary of her passing away) was on the night of the 16th and went to sundown the next day. It was the 9th of Iyar on the Jewish calendar. I forgot until halfway through the day on the 17th. I was just going to plug in the electronic memorial candle. I had forgotten that we also had a huge bag of yahrzeit candles. So, we used one of those and the electronic one. The yahrzeit candles burn for 24 hours, so it went for about a half of a day longer than it would have if I had lit it when the yahrzeit actually started. I think she would be ok if it wasn't exact. Just the idea that we spent some time remembering her was more than enough. 

Rosie has found a new spot. Ever since I got the new lamp, she's been laying down, sleeping, and happily watching me in a corner next to/partially on my huge stuffed lamb with her back to my closet's door. Normally she uses that stuffed lamb as a kneading pillow. I think I got it when I was in the hospital for about a week for a 2nd time. That was in early 2008 (or late 2007), and I had 6,000 times the clotting factor compared to normal healthy people. I had a blood clot in every aveoli or air sac in my lungs. Never found out why or how.Or, it could have been a year before when I was hospitalized for pneumonia for a week. I could barely breathe, and they drained my lungs of a couple of liters of fluid. (Really painful.) Anyways, someone visited me during one of those times, and gave that lamb to me. It's about half my size. It was hilarious when I got it, and looked at it on my hospital bed. It can easily smother me. At least, when you hug it, it can hug back...It was very nice of that person, though. To give me something to try and cheer me up. It's so big, I keep it on the floor between my bed and closet. One of the few places where it's somewhat out of the way. It's really nice and soft. I'm surprised Rosie is just now discovering that it can be used for more than just a kneading pillow. Maybe it something to do with the lighting being better now with the lamp. I don't know why, but she loves to watch me. No matter what I do, she loves it.