Sunnyday

Mood:

By Lead. Just a feel good summer song. The video is a bit funny, but at least they look like they're having fun. 

Only one more day until my birthday!Some people have already wished me a happy birthday. I know most of those people live on the other side of the world, but it's kind of odd. Nice, but odd.Today, is National Nachos Day, and Saxophone day. Interesting combo. I love nachos, and there are various ways of making it. Saxophones are cool, and I think they would have been my second choice for choosing an instrument. I love my clarinet more, though.Maybe in the future I'll learn to play the sax, too...

Went to the support group last night. We were locked out of the room we usually use.So, we waited a little while, just in case people were arriving late, and went to Shari's instead. Where we usually go after group. There was a lot more of us this time, since it wasn't as late. Had to really squeeze in so everyone could sit at the table. I got the strawberry yogurt parfait. It was pretty good. Kind of wish they had other options besides yogurt.My iced tea had a really bizarre aftertaste. I know some people said that it looked really weak or something, but there was something else to it. Couldn't put my finger on it. I guess I'm kind of glad I don't know what it was.Our waitress brewed some more tea herself, and once it cooled, gave me a new glass of it. It was perfect. She said the one who did it before tends to do the tea horribly. Why have them do it then?Anyways, we had some entertaining discussions. I wanted to bring up my birthday, but at one point was distracted by things. Oh well. I'll tell them next time.

Kakushou was a bit difficult to sit through without tearing up.Hagio's thief informant, Kagifuku, who helped him with so many cases, was diagnosed with having cancer. He only had a few months to live, a year at most. Kagifuku used to be a thief himself, but quit to live a more honest life. A young man deceived him into getting back into the 'game' by saying if he helps the gang of thieves he's apart of, they promised that the young man will be able to leave it. Kagifuku is a master at picking locks, and it seems easy for him to crack open almost any safe. Even if it's high tech. At one point, he knew he was being deceived and left clues for Takeda (Hagio's partner) in order to turn in the group. She figured it out, and arrested them. It was very difficult for her to arrest Kagifuku. She had grown attached to him as well. He would call Hagio 'Honey', and Takeda 'Beautiful Lady'. He seems like such a sweet old man. Now, it's very likely he'll end up dying in jail. But, he promised he'll try to live long enough so he can feel free one last time. 

Tokyo Ravens has been very interesting. I wasn't sure what to really expect with this series. Now, it kind of reminds me of Ao no Exorcist (Blue Exorcist). I like Harutora's character. He's not arrogant, wants to genuinely learn from others, cares about others, easily flustered, and is funny at times. He has a familiar now who's a silver fox spirit named Kon. Funny how a familiar has a familiar...Kon is very cute. She's fiercely protective of Harutora. Apparently, Natsume has to disguise herself as a boy at the school in order to be taken seriously. Another reason is there's a family tradition where she has to present herself as male in front of other onmyoji families. This creates some misunderstandings. The other characters have been interesting so far too. It'd be cool to see where this series goes. 

I'm nearing the end of Hitman Reborn. Thinking of finishing it tomorrow. Only 2 more episodes, I think. I've really enjoyed this series, even though I wasn't sure about it at first.All the characters have quirks (including the animals), the story is pretty complex, there's loads of humor even in some of the tense situations, some villains turn into great allies throughout the series, there's some really entertaining fights, not all fights are physical, etc. There seems to be something new being revealed about the story behind it all with each episode. They still haven't explained everything yet. Right now Tsuna is up against Byakuran. Yuni was sucked into the 'stage' that the Sky rings created, since she's the Arcobaleno's Sky Guardian. Byakuran needs her, and they were protecting her. Byakuran is very interesting, but extremely ruthless. He's traveled to almost every parallel world, and he's the ruler of all of them except theirs. (And, he's destroyed half of those worlds.) The only thing really stopping him is the Vongola family and their allies. He'll kill even his own henchmen in order to get what he wants. This one should have an interesting ending. It'll be sad when it's over, though. Although, I'm reading the manga, and it finished about a year ago. But, it apparently goes a lot further than the anime. I wonder what more it could have, considering this looks like the last big fight.I guess I'll find out. I find it cool that the creator is female. This is one of the most popular series out there. 

Tripeace has been interesting, too. Nana has regained his memory, and is the leader of the anti-peace organization, Ares. Shiro just found out about him, and she's about to fight him. It's weird to see Nana like this. I wonder if he'll revert back to his amnesiac self again. Guess I'll find out about this as well. Seems like I'm nearing the end of this manga. 

Wrote some more of the 2nd story to my nightmare anthology. I think I'll end it next time. Not much left to this one. Played my clarinet. Did some solos, Duke Ellington, and Gershwin. I think I played better than last time, but still had a few mistakes. Not bad, though. 

日本語

Studied more compounds for the kanji: 代. 末代 or まつだい (matsudai): forever, in perpetuity. 歴代 or れきだい (rekidai): successive generations, successive emperors. 交代  or こうたい (koutai): alternation, change, relief, relay, shift, substitution (sports, etc.). 十代 or じゅうだい (juudai): the teens (10-19), teenage; the 10th generation. 千代 or せんだい (sendai): thousand years; very long period, forever. 親の代 or おやのだい (oya no dai): one's parents' generation. 君が代 or きみがよ (kimi ga yo): Imperial reign; title of the Japanese national anthem. Usually the anthem title is translated as His Majesty's Reign, but no official translation of it nor the lyrics has ever been established by law. It's also one of the world's shortest national anthems. There's only a few more compounds for this kanji, and then I can move on to the next one. 

Stand Up!

Mood:

By Lead. This was Hitman Reborn's 6th ending theme song. I really love this one.The harmonizing is awesome, and even the rapping part is cool. Has a fun jazzy feel. Looked through some other Lead songs, but it doesn't seem like this is their normal 'style'. So, it's interesting that this is so different. Lead debuted in 2002. The music video with the band is kind of weird with all the corn, but it somehow grew on me too.I like the ending sequence to Hitman Reborn more, but it's not the long version. The band looks like they're having fun, though.

I didn't feel very well last Friday. (Or most of last weekend.) So, I didn't go to the mini-reunion event at a local bar and grill. Sounds like it would have been fun. Although, for some reason, I feel like I made a fool of myself at the mini-event before that. Maybe that was just because I was so nervous.Probably a lot of other people were too. 

The next one is Friday night. But, I won't be going to that one. There are 2 other events happening at the same time. One of them seems more personal to my family, so chances are I'll go to that. That would be the Trans Pride march. I'm an ally, and my dad's trans. Plus, I've gotten to know a lot of other trans people. There are other fun things after the march related to it. The other event would be Pride Shabbat. That can be fun, but we don't really know anyone that's going. So, the reunion mini-event would be least important to me.

At some point, either Wednesday or Thursday, I might get to see one of my cousins, too. I've never met her before, but should be fun meeting another family member.

The next day is the reunion's main event. So, I'll definitely be there!It's for a good chunk of the day, which is nice because we'll get a chance to catch up a bit with people. Apparently, dinner's going to be a buffet. They told us to pick what we wanted, so I thought it would be like they serve you or something.I picked the salmon dinner with mashed potatoes. Another thing is that they said they won't be able to make the mashed potatoes, and now it's just going to be roasted potatoes.I think the food part could have been better planned, but they're doing what they can. A classmate's going to be playing a large portion of the music. So, that should be interesting. There's going to be a slideshow, open mic, dancing, and more. They'll be selling memory books too. With answers to the questionnaire people filled out online. They're going to be checking everyone at the front door, so nobody needs an actual ticket. Should be a very interesting experience. I'll be with people I was more comfortable with in high school. So, I might be a little less nervous.They're up to 130 people so far. Seems like a lot, but we had a large class of 500. At least some are coming. The next day is a potluck at a local park for lunch. I might go to it. Still semi-undecided about that.Not sure what I'll bring. 

Then, not too long after, a couple I've known for a while (who are also our neighbors) are finally getting married. They were essentially waiting until they legally could in this state. I'm so happy for them!About a month after that, another couple we've known for a while (I'm not as familiar with them) are getting married. For similar reasons. So, yay! Happy times for people!

In Tokage, they found out that Terashima is really the spy who's working for the Spider. But, even he doesn't know who the Spider's real identity is. This is getting intense, but interesting. 

In Kaichou wa Maid sama, they held their athletics tournament. Almost every anime seems to have at least one episode devoted to this kind of thing. Kind of like the obligatory summer episodes too. Anyways, Misaki tried to participate in as many events as she could. It was boys against the girls. She nearly collapsed from winning so many events. The last event was a cosplay one. Usually it's so the people who aren't very athletic have a chance at winning something. You have to run over to some bags full of costumes, grab one, get dressed in a tent with no light inside, then run back in costume to the finish line. Supposedly, this way you can't see what you get until you're already in costume. She helped one of the boys in the end for that event. He was being laughed at, because he was stuck with a maid costume and kept tripping over it. And, he's a serious cosplayer. She stuck up for him, saying what's so wrong about being serious about it? She purposely disqualified herself by using a bunch of miscellaneous costumes she found lying around, and ripped them up to get a certain look. Usui helped with it all. I'm starting to really like this show! 

In Mix Vegetable, Hayato introduced Hanayu to his father. Apparently, he was the sushi chef that made the tamagoyaki that made her want to become a sushi chef when she was little. She tried to get that same taste, but nothing worked until he made some again for her. His dad offered her an apprenticeship at his sushi shop. She told him that she wouldn't agree to it until she finally told her parents that she wanted to be a sushi chef, instead of becoming a patissiere and taking over their family's shop. The chapter ended with her saying she needed to say something to her father. Hopefully, she'll finally say it.

Played my clarinet. Did some klezmer tunes. Sounded pretty good this time. Wrote more of the first short story to my nightmare anthology. For some reason, I think this will be the hardest one to put into a story-form. But, I'm giving it a shot!

日本語

Did 2 kanji for today. 商 and 章. When the first one, 商, is pronounced as しょう (shou): (suf) (math) quotient; dealing, dealer, store. As あきな.う (akina.u): to trade in (commercial goods), deal in, sell. The second one, 章, is just pronounced as しょう (shou). It means: chapter, badge, composition, design, poem, section, medal. This one only had one compound listed. (Well, common one.) 文章 or ぶんしょう (bunshou): sentence, article, composition; (writing) style. Translated more of a You Maga article. Read an article in Japanese on Asahi's site about how they're celebrating Mt Fuji becoming a World Heritage Site with chocolates and souffles. The chocolates are milk chocolate at the 'base' and white chocolate is used on top to look like the snow on top. They look interesting. The souffle looks huge. And, it seems like there are many different flavors. All kind of shaped like the mountain, too.