9th of Adar

This is my wallpaper for March. It's Zoro from One Piece. One of the coolest characters in the series. Also, one of the strongest, despite not having eaten a Devil Fruit. Devil Fruits give people powers. For instance, Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hats and main character, ate a fruit that turned his body into rubber. Brook ate one before he died that brought him back to life many years later as a skeleton. He's essentially immortal. He can also leave his 'body' as a ghost to explore things. The downside to eating a Devil Fruit is that the user will never be able to swim again. If they land in the water, their power gets drained, and they start drowning. Being pirates, that's a pretty big downside. Luffy has had to be rescued at least a few times because of this. Zoro does have a possessed sword, but he'd still be powerful without it. He fights with 3 swords when he's serious. It seems one of the few weaknesses he has is easily getting lost. He's horrible with directions (even his own), and ends up walking the wrong way. In fact, in the current arc of the anime, he went the wrong way and is getting to know more of the people of Wano on his own. He was supposed to meet up with the others. He found a boat (I guess he thought going by boat would be a shortcut?), people on the boat gave him free food (big deal, considering so many people are starving to death outside of the capital), he gambled for a while, saved someone, and that someone showed him the way to his village. Pretty big detour. 

The month-long holidays for March are: National Frozen Food Month, National Noodle Month, Irish-American Heritage Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. 

Purim starts Monday night. Depending on how people follow it, it ends either Tuesday night or Wednesday night. We retell the story of Esther, usually in a fun way. Sometimes with skits. Each name has a certain thing the audience can shout out. Like, Haman, the villain, gets boo'd at and we use groggers (noisemakers) every time he's mentioned. Some cheer when Mordechai and/or Esther's names are read. Some make fun of how clueless the king is. It can get pretty rowdy. Especially, when you throw in that the adults are supposed to drink until they can't tell the difference between the villain and the hero. Plus, there's candy and hamantaschen (triangle-shaped jam-filled cookies), and usually a carnival. Dressing up in costumes is a big thing, too. Some have likened that part and the candy to a Jewish Halloween. There's another tradition where people hand out goodie bags/baskets (mishloach manot) to family, friends, and neighbors. Usually filled with food and/or drinks. People also give to charity. It's a fun holiday. Haven't attended a service or carnival for it in a very long time. I think they actually have hamantaschen now at our local market. I might try those, but they're vegan and use soy-based things...I'd rather it be the normal ones. 

With Purim coming up, that means there's roughly a month until Passover. Not much time. It's an even bigger holiday, especially because of the dietary restrictions. It has to be planned. I think this year I might try to get things online again. As long as I do it early enough, that should be fine. I ordered a little too close to the holiday last year. It looks like I'll be alone for both of the first nights. (It lasts for 8 days.) So, I'll have both seders (ritual dinners) all to myself at home. That's not too bad. Less food to think about, and don't have to bring something to another person's seder. Plus, I can eat what I like at both. 

Since Sunday, I've been having severe back, shoulder, neck, and hip pain. Stiffness, too. Really awful along my spine. It's actually gotten so bad, I'm having trouble moving around. Really having a hard time getting up from lying and sitting positions. It's like my body just doesn't want to do it, not only because of the pain. I've come close to not being able to get out of bed the last couple of mornings. Looking at my back yesterday, I noticed 2 huge lumps. One over my spine, and one over my left shoulder. I don't know if I simply imagined them, though. If I didn't...that doesn't sound good. Sometimes it hurts just to breathe. I thought it might be related to being constipated, but after 'fixing' that, it seems to have gotten worse. I'm really nervous about it now. However, I can't do anything until I've gotten approval to be put back on my health insurance. As soon as I do, I'm going to Urgent Care for this. I'm not sure how long I can wait after that, if it doesn't go away on its own. I do plan to get a new primary care doc, too. If this gets much worse while I'm waiting for that approval, I may need to go to the hospital, even though I really don't want to unless I'm covered. 

There might be hints that I'll be approved soon, because of getting 3 (I think) checks of a sizable amount recently. They did say they'd back pay it, however I haven't really done much since I've been off it. I only saw my primary, which they billed as a phone visit. That's not much even when you're not insured. Certainly not as much as what's on one or two of those checks. I'm not sure why they paid me so much. Oh, and my current med is the same price it would be if I were covered, so it doesn't seem related to that. It's nice, but weird.  

Despite the pain, I managed to make a dinner and dessert on Monday. It had been a while since I felt like I actually cooked. Made Philly Cheesesteak stuffed pasta shells for the dinner. Found the recipe on Pinterest. I had been wanting to make it for a while. Sounded so good. I cooked the 'filling' the way I normally would for something like a ground beef, onion, and green bell pepper mixture. They wanted me to do it in a weird way that would create even more dishes. I did add a little margarine (I used that instead of the butter that was listed) into the mixture. That filling is seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt, and pepper. It was my first time dealing with jumbo pasta shells and stuffing them. That was interesting, and kind of a fun part. After they're stuffed, cheddar is sprinkled over them. The cheese sauce was made in the same pan that the beef mixture was in, so it picked up those flavors. On top of that the sauce has more cheddar, beef broth, milk, and some corn starch to thicken it. They have you pour half of that between the shells before putting it in the oven. Then, you add the rest to individual portions. It was more of a to-do than I thought it would be, but it was really worth it. It turned out amazing! Made a lot, too. Since I'm the only one eating it, I've been having it for meals throughout the week. 

I also made a cherry cheesecake. Recipe came from my cookbook, My Mother's Treasure Trove of Recipes. I haven't done many things from it, so I thought I'd explore a bit. Plus, it let's me, and others, see what things look like. There are no pics in the book. This was one of the first dessert recipes in it. Seemed really simple. I think it was from the 80's. They have you mix cream cheese and powdered sugar together, then fold in Cool Whip, pour that into a graham cracker (or shortbread) pie crust, top with a whole can of cherry pie filling, and chill it in the refrigerator. It ended up making a little too much filling/cheesecake for the crust to handle, so I had to throw out the excess. I got more of the cherries on there than I thought I could, but still had 1/4 of a can left. Oh well. The finished product was awesome! Tastes even better than Safeway's cheesecakes. It ended up really thick with the filling, too. Feels like I get a substantial amount with each slice. 

I plan to go back to doing a Pinterest recipe every week, along with one from my cookbook. I'll switch the types around, as well. For instance, next time I'll make a dessert from Pinterest, and a dinner from the cookbook. I do have drink and snack recipes for both, too. I suppose I could just do a different combo each time. Doesn't have to be a dinner and dessert. So, I'll see how that goes.

Since I'm in so much pain, I feel like not eating much today. Last night, things filled me up more than they should have, and I had a weird feeling of my stomach creating bubbles. Had hiccups when I tried to sleep after that. So, all I plan to have today is a little of the pasta thing, and maybe cheesecake for 'dinner'. Enough to take my med and have it regulated. Plus, at least I won't waste what I made. This isn't a good thing to do when you have colitis, though. I try to have 5 small meals a day (I splurge a bit during the weekend and some Wednesdays), so things are balanced. Keeps me from being too nauseated, oddly enough. Also, I already have issues with absorbing certain things like protein. Eating the way I am today for a longer period of time, will cause a lot of issues. Could even spark a flare. I suppose it's ok every once in a while to eat like this. 

Youtube:

Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer):

One Piece:

24th of Elul

Had a busy day Friday. Spent most of the day in Tacoma. Went to 2 different recycling places. Then, to the Tacoma Mall so my parent could recycle her old ipad and iphone. The line for the new iphone was long. Glad we weren't there for that. 

My parent found out that she had pink eye Thursday afternoon, and was told not to go back to work the next day. Since it's highly contagious. I hope I don't get it. Although, I think I would have had signs by now. This made it easier to make a full day of it. 

We went to Half Price Books after that. She gave them a huge collection of books. (Filled up 3 boxes.) They didn't see the value in it, sadly. They'll recycle them for her. I did find a cookbook there. It's called Traditional Swedish Cooking. It was only $7. Really good for a cookbook. It's interesting. There's a lot of fish recipes. More than I expected. Fish side dishes, salads, stews, etc. Even fish that I haven't heard of before. They have other salads that seem 'safe' for me, too. Lots of cooked vegetables. Other types of stews. Tons of desserts. There's a section for bread, and another for preserves. Sounds fun. It also has alcoholic drinks. I don't drink alcohol, but it was interesting. There are tips for certain ingredients. A lot of the recipes sound doable to me, even with the pain. 

After that, we went to my rheumatologist's appointment. He seemed to actually listen to me, was thorough, and tried to come up with things to help. He thought the muscle relaxant was a good idea. I think it might be helping, but I definitely feel it when it wears off. I might ask for a higher dose. 

He was worried about my hands. Brought up seeing a hand surgeon to figure out how to get rid of the lumps. There are so many. They're still somewhat small, but are growing and hardening. They're not painful, unless I mess with them for a while. They're annoying and sometimes move around. He was concerned about the weird sores on my hands, too. 

I brought up my mouth sores. Although, I think I only have one right now (like a thin line on the edge of the left corner of my lips). He still took a look at it. I forgot to tell him that one of the sores that disappeared was black with a little white on top and big. It scared me. Now that it's not there anymore, maybe it doesn't matter if I told him. 

I wasn't sure, but I thought the big lump on my neck might be a swollen lymph node. I thought it was too big for one. He said they can get much bigger, and it would make sense if it were. He wants me to see a dermatologist, since he's not an expert in what's going on with my skin. 

I brought up the possibility that I have scleroderma. He agreed it could be, but also brought up lupus. He ordered 2 blood tests, one for scleroderma, and the other is the ANCA Screen. I think the ANCA Screen is to help narrow down what autoimmune disease it is. If it's positive, it's a certain group. If negative, those are eliminated. I don't know much about that test. I had a strong urge to get imaging done on my hands and wrists, and he agreed and ordered x-rays. Those lumps could be calcium deposits, which would show up on x-rays. Plus, the structure of my hands seems to have changed. They're more twisted and bony looking. The positions the put my hands in were awkward to stay in, too. Apparently the results are all back, but I'm nervous to look at them. What if both blood tests are negative and the x-rays come back with nothing? I'm back to square one. However, what if all of them indicate what I think is going on? He said he'd make a phone appointment depending on the results. If he doesn't, I'll see him in 6 months. That's a long time, but maybe the dermatologist will come up with things. 

Went to the Cheesecake Factory after that. We don't go there very often, so it was a treat. So many things on their menu are calorie-laden. It's often hard to pick if I've eaten anything beforehand. I only had breakfast before that, so I could handle quite a bit. It was also the start of my treat days, but I didn't want to go overboard. I got their cheddar-stuffed burger. Most of the cheddar fell out and pooled on the plate as soon as I started eating it. Much more liquidy than I expected and kind of gross looking. The burger and sweet grilled onions were great. I ate all of the burger and onions, a little of the cheddar, roughly 1/4 of the bun, none of the fixings, and roughly half of the fries. I think I did pretty well with that. For dessert, I got their Cinnabon Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake. It had layers of Cinnabon cinnamon cheesecake, vanilla crunch cake, cream cheese frosting, and caramel on top. There was cinnamon and sugar sprinkles on the back of the slice, too. It tasted and smelled like a cinnamon roll. Like 2 desserts in one. Got home pretty late.

For the last couple of days, Rosie has had an upset stomach. I woke up to her scratching on my closet door Sunday morning. She scratches near things she doesn't like. She does this almost every time she goes to the bathroom in the litter boxes. Seems that she's trying to flush it away or something. She never covers. Anyways, I ignored her until the 3rd time she came by to scratch. I lightly tapped her on the butt, and told her to stop. She walked a little towards the middle of my bedroom and proceeded to throw up. What a way to start the day! Turned out she had thrown up a lot near my closet. I took care of it all before I got ready for the day. Then, she seemed fine throughout the day. Monday morning, she threw up again in my room. Near my sneakers this time. Cleaned it up. Throughout the day she would throw up clear stuff. She seemed depressed and was very affectionate. I was angry Sunday morning, but that quickly turned into feeling bad for her. She must have eaten something she shouldn't have. She doesn't get sick that often. She hasn't thrown up today. At least, not that I know of.

I've decided to try to stick more closely with the daily calorie range limit I set for myself (1200-1600, 1400 being the 'sweet spot'), and to be close to what's recommended of other things like sugar, carbs, protein, etc. It's a balancing act. The calorie range is the easy part. I vary wildly day to day when it comes to many of the other things. Half the time I go a little over what's recommended for sugar, the other half I get maybe half of it. I'm usually well over for carbs. That's something I'm going to have to 'manipulate' a bit. Since I have a problem with absorbing protein, I need more than what's recommended for a healthy person. However, I have a hard time going over the halfway mark for that healthy person's recommended amount. I never make it to the full amount for that. So, it's an even more difficult thing for me. Interestingly, I usually am under the recommended amount for fat. I plan to still have Friday night to Sunday as my treat days, but I might try to be a bit more careful. Maybe my limit should be around 1800 calories a day for those. Not sure about the rest of the nutrients. I think I figured out today's stuff pretty well. Except for the protein. Seems like I'll just barely make it over the halfway mark for that. I'll end up being slightly under 1400 calories, which isn't bad. Only 4g over for carbs. (The recommended amount for carbs is 225g.) Right on for sugar. Yay! Better with potassium than usual, too. That's close to it's halfway mark. Only 4% under the recommended amount for calcium. 17% under for iron. Potassium, iron, and calcium can be tricky for me, too.

Studied Dutch on Duolingo both yesterday and today. I skipped it on Friday. Despite that, I'm still in the Ruby League. I'm 1/4 way through the Arts 2 unit now, and made it passed the 5th checkpoint. I think that's the last checkpoint. They did it a little differently with this one. It must be a new thing. In order to pass it, they quiz you on content you were taught after the 4th checkpoint. They don't let you see the translations of the words in sentences you may have forgotten, can't repeat what was said, a couple of different formats for the questions than the usual, etc. Supposedly it wasn't graded either. Maybe it's more of a review? Made it through quickly. 

Edited Alliance yesterday and today, as well. I'm well into chapter 10 now. Today I went through 7 pages of the ebook version, and 9 pages of the print. I only did it for 4 days last week, but I managed to go through 36 pages of the ebook, and 51 pages of the print all together. That's a lot! I'm still surprised at how quickly I'm moving through it this time. 

Practiced my clarinet yesterday. Finished playing through my klezmer book, and started the Mozart one. I wasn't feeling up to it today. Hopefully, I'll get to it tomorrow. 

Finished watching the new anime adaptation of Fruits Basket. There is going to be a 2nd season. It really did stick to the manga. The 1st anime didn't, and the mangaka (creator) was really upset by it. She hated the design, the music, the voice actors' portrayals, etc. That one also had a lighter more immature tone. The actual manga gets dark quick. There's still a lot of humor, though. The design with this new anime followed the one in the manga to a T, which was interesting to see. They made the art prettier and animation better. The voice actors were much better. I remember how much I hated the Japanese voice actors in the older anime. It's really rare, but the English dub was much better in that. This time the Japanese voice actors sounded pretty much how I'd imagine the characters to sound. The music was better with the new one, too. It wasn't so wishy-washy. With the old one, they veered off into a different direction than the manga halfway through because they caught up to it. The manga wasn't even halfway through. So, people only got a glimpse at the plot. I'm glad I read all of the manga. It gets complex. There were characters that I liked that weren't in the old anime, since they were introduced later. Got to see one of those in the last couple of minutes of the 2019 version's finale. That was Rin, the horse in the zodiac. I've also realized that there are quite a few queer themes in it, which might be why I liked it so much in the past. I didn't realize it at the time. It's hinted that a few characters may be trans and some are gender non-conforming. One character is clearly bi, but jokes about it sometimes. Their friendships are portrayed in a much deeper way than many series (manga/anime, and even in Western media). Some of them could easily be called queerplatonic. There's a big twist to the story in the manga. They have you thinking one of them is a certain gender throughout most of it, but isn't. They were forced to be a certain gender. I think they might actually be non-binary. (I'm trying to not spoil who that is.) The main protagonist, Tohru, is tougher than she seems also. Probably was a way to portray a strong female character girls and women could look up to or be inspired by. Rare in shoujo anime/manga, to me. She seems more...real. I think she sometimes slips out of gender roles, too. The series also touches on mental illness and some other deep topics. Hopefully, the 2nd season will be out soon. They just said sometime in 2020. I'm not sure how many seasons they'll make. I think if they want to do the whole thing it might be 3 or 4 seasons long? Not sure. That would be cool. I'll get to see more of the manga-only characters next season. Yay!

Also, finished Naka no Hito Genome or the Ones Within. I liked it a lot. It had a dark side to it, which is my sort of thing. The characters were unique and most were lovable. I think Anya is actually ace, possibly aro as well. He's never had a crush, and he's said he doesn't like anyone when he was asked about dating. Some of the others don't seem straight, either. They leave it ambiguous, which was a fascinating side to it. They hint at some of them possibly being gay, lesbian, or bi/pan. Again, it's put in such a way, except for Anya, that you can't really tell. Makino, who doesn't talk much and loves to sleep, seems to attract everyone. He also seems, at least, to be gender non-conforming. I think I share a lot of Akatsuki's traits, which was interesting. The only one I felt iffy about was Akatsuki's stalker, Yuzu. I think she was meant to make people feel that way. The games were interesting. They managed to get over half the amount of viewers they needed. It leaves it wide open for a 2nd season. I really hope it does have one. It seems highly underrated. 

2nd of Tammuz

Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, or the beginning of the month of Tammuz. It's a women's holiday. Also a moon based holiday, since we have a lunar calendar. All of the days/holidays start at night, and new months are supposed to correspond with the new moon. I don't think there are any big holidays in Tammuz. I could be blanking on them, though.

Got a response back from the congregation we used to be members of. The admin said they'll add a note to the weekly newsletter. Yay! They'll get a chance to see it. The other congregation hasn't responded yet. Hopefully they'll put it in their newsletter, too. Had very few responses to the AVEN thread. At least, some people have seen it on there, too. I was going to post in other forums and possibly in old online blogs/journals, but decided to give it a bit of a break. Might do that on Sunday. I don't know. 

I'm planning to go back to writing Alliance 3 on Monday. I have many more ideas, and I'm itching to continue. I have other book ideas, but I think I should finish this one before I start another. 

Finished leveling up all of the Basics 2 for German. There was a lot to that one. It was good to go over more of the basics. I was getting a bit rusty with what this one covered. I'm able to pick up more patterns than I did when I started. Plus, they've been repeating a lot with each level in each 'unit'. Apparently, most things that are plural have the feminine the or die (dee). So, the women would be: die Frau (dee Frow), the boys: die Jungen (dee Yung-en), the children: die kinder (dee kindehr), etc. It covered the words for 'are' well, too. Seid (Zyet) seems to only be used with ihr (eer) or you. (You are... would be ihr seid...) Sind (Zint) is used for everything else. Interesting. For the more advanced units I wasn't paying much attention to these things. The first Phrases unit will be next. I find those usually are fun. Maybe the other levels will be different for that one.

Read more of the manga, Hajimete no Aku or My First Devil. I don't like that they paint Jiro as naive or an idiot, because he doesn't think about romance or care. Seems arophobic. It seems to me that he might actually be aro. It's not his fault many of the girls have a romantic thing for him. It's like his family is trying to push amatonormativity on him. I also don't like the aspect that Jiro and Kyouko are both cousins. His side of the family is really pushing for them to get together. The 'slice of life' stuff has been humorous, though. I find it odd that Jiro is supposed to be evil, but he says that they have to be kind to civilians. The 'good' people in the story seem a lot more evil. 

I only got to the cat stuff and laundry for cleaning today. Hopefully I can get to more of my bathroom next week. Rosie wanted me to keep grooming her with the mitt after my arm tired out. I started to walk away and she tried to reach out to me. She has claws, but I think she forgets sometimes. She followed me for a while, too. Seemingly hoping to be groomed more. 

I finally broke through the 800th episode mark for One Piece last night. Yay! I've got 40 more to go in order to catch up to current episodes. I've gone through about 18 years worth of it in about 2 years. (Usually, there are 4 episodes a month.) I skipped the fillers, but there hasn't been many. It won't take me long to catch up. I like it a lot. There are some unique elements to it, some homages to other anime/books, and most of the characters are lovable.  The only thing I haven't liked is that the opening and recap take about 6 minutes. So, you end up with roughly 15-17 minutes per episode. I usually skip that beginning stuff. It doesn't seem long enough.

The current arc I'm on has to do with Big Mom. She's one of the pirate emperors. She loves sweets. So much she's turned her country into various islands that are sweets or snacks based. There's a chocolate one where everything is made of out of chocolate. There are even juice rivers. She lives on Whole Cake Island, and it's cake based. There seems to be a lot of Alice in Wonderland nods with the Seducing Forest right next to her castle. There's even a white rabbit, and a mirror devil fruit eater who can travel and trap people in mirrors. Her mirror dimension is trippy, too. One of Big Mom's ex-husbands looks a bit like Humpty-Dumpty from Alice in Wonderland. (He somehow reminded me of something from Monty Python, as well.) One of the enemies that's giving Luffy a hard time ate the biscuit devil fruit, and can make armored biscuit soldiers. Some of it reminds me of Disney stuff, especially when Big Mom sang a few times. Big Mom has had around 150 children with many different fathers. Maybe that's why she's always hungry? Germa, Sanji's father, has had about 66 children. Sanji's the 3rd son. San means 3. Most of Germa's children are men. The only exception, I think, has been Reiji. Rei means zero. His family abused him horribly in the past. No wonder he never brought them up. The Straw Hats' (Luffy's crew) plan was to rescue Sanji, and get a rubbing from Big Mom's poneglyph. Poneglyphs are big stone blocks that have ancient writing on it. The one she has might have partial directions to Raftel where One Piece supposedly is at or near. Robin, a member of the Straw Hats, is one of the few that can decipher them. She's not with Luffy at the moment, thus why they're trying to get a rubbing from it. She also has been deciphering them to learn about the 100-year gap that the government doesn't want people to know. That entire history has been erased except for these blocks. I think Luffy, along with the members that went with him, are actually going to have to battle Big Mom. They didn't want to fight anyone. She's one of the most powerful characters.

National Strawberry Shortcake Day!

Strawberry shortcake reminds me of summer, so it's perfect for this time of year. Also, reminds me of fair food. I don't think the big local fairs are until July and/or August. A couple of weeks ago I had a strawberry shortcake cake. It had the same elements: strawberries (in jam form), whipped cream, and cake, but put together in cake form. Normally, they're layered, and not put together like that. It was good. The best ones I had were at the fair and they used a scone for the cake layer. I think they used really thick whipped cream, too. It was amazing! 

Created a thread promoting my cookbook on AVEN's forums. (AVEN is Asexual Visibility and Education Network.) I thought it'd be best in their celebration forum. Since, I am happy about it. I think it's something to celebrate. Haven't had a reaction yet. Also, posted a status about it on there. Nothing on that yet, either. I later posted a status about it on Arocalypse. (An aro-based community. Similar to AVEN.) The forums on there aren't very active, and they have a tiny fraction of members compared to AVEN. Sometimes the statuses get a bit more attention than the actual forums. I wasn't sure which of their forums would be appropriate to create a thread for it in. They have less sections than AVEN, too.

I also sent emails to both of the local congregations. Since I copied and pasted what I wrote in Notes on my phone, the font came out bigger than usual. Not bad, but surprised me and might look weird to them. I'm not a member of either of them, but most of the members of both knew me and especially my mom. She made a huge impact with both of them. We were 'official' members of one of them for a while. She would run a Judaica shop for them, was on the board for a while, would tutor Hebrew, etc. She and I were both apart of a Rosh Chodesh group that didn't last long (but came back a few times), Hadassah (this was actually a joint group with both congregations), and I think a Kabbalah group that met a long time ago. All this in addition to going to services. Everyone knew her, and most people loved her. She was very knowledgeable about Judaism, so people sometimes went to her instead of the rabbis. I thought they'd both definitely be interested in this. A couple of the recipes are actually emails from members of those groups. So, they may see themselves in it. Plus, there's a huge Passover and Hanukkah section. In general, they might be interested in it just for that. Someone made it a point to tell me that I should email one of the congregations when I published it. (This was face to face during Thanksgiving.) Haven't gotten a response yet. We'll see what they'll do with it. 

Leveled out both Basics 1 and The for German. There are 3 types of 'the's: feminine die (dee), masculine der (dehr), and neutral das (dahs). It was good to review them. I just remembered that mädchen (mayd-chin) or girl actually uses das and not die. So, a girl is neutral and when she becomes a woman she's feminine? Woman is frau (frow), by the way. Kind (kint) or child uses das, as well. That makes more sense. Junge (yung-eh) or boy uses der along with mann (mahn) or man. Those make sense. The only one that doesn't is mädchen...Next is leveling out Basics 2. On Duolingo, I didn't realize that if you pay a certain amount of gems, you can open bonus 'units'. Idioms and proverbs, and flirting are available for those at the moment. I think they show more when you earn a certain amount of gems. I currently have the most I've had at once. I wouldn't care about the flirting one, but the other one sounds good. 

In the manga, Helck, they made it to another demon castle. They finally got a chance to relax. The demon king there imprisoned a winged human. It seems that they want Helck to talk to him soon. They finally went back to Asuta. Several chapters ago, she was caught by the humans, and that was it until now. It looks like they beat her up and handcuffed her to a wall in a prison cell. Nothing more was revealed, but it looks like the next chapter will continue with her side of it. I like Asuta. She loves to wear men's clothes, and hates wearing anything feminine. She's ok with or doesn't really care when people call her a guy or a girl. She seems pretty enby to me, and cool at that. In an 'extra' or side chapter, her sister tried to get her to wear a dress. It was like pulling teeth. With the dress she ended up with, she asked if it looked weird. When she went to the event she was invited to later, people thought she looked like both a prince and princess. In the eyes of her sister, it seems like she couldn't win. 

In addition to the cat stuff, I managed to sweep up my bathroom floor. It doesn't seem like I did it that long ago, yet there was a lot of litter. They seem to go in there a lot. Tried to sweep the big bathroom rug with a brush this time. I think I was somewhat successful with it. At some point, I probably should launder it. It smells gross. I can't smell it when it's on the floor, though. 

Something's going on with the cats. Tasha has made the spot near the door jam to my room as her new spot. She huddles up to that door jam and watches me happily when I'm in my room. She's also been hanging out in a corner of my room (near a bookcase) lately, too. This isn't normal for her. She's normally too scared and thinks my room or anywhere near it is Rosie's territory. She's terrified of Rosie. However, I think that's changing, too. She's not running away when Rosie walks in. Lately, Rosie has only lightly fought back when Tasha socked her in the face. Otherwise, she seems curious about her. They've been lying down much closer to each other than normal, too. Maybe, just maybe, they're finally accepting each other? That would be great. I think Tasha is trying to get closer to me, too. That's one thing Rosie doesn't like. She's incredibly possessive and protective of me. I'm not used to having 2 cats hanging around me this often. I like it, though. 

30th of Sivan

Last night we went Red Lobster to celebrate Dad's birthday. She got a shrimp cocktail and fried calamari. She loves shellfish, so that was good for her. I got one of my faves, maple-glazed chicken. It comes with a salad, which I had bleu cheese dressing with. It also comes with rice pilaf and a choice of another side. I chose mashed potatoes. The maple sauce also has cherries pureed in it. I could drink that stuff. So good! Since Dad doesn't eat cheese, I got all the Cheddar Bay Biscuits to myself. I only had one, and took the rest home. Had half of the entree and salad. Still was filling. We later went to a local international market for chocolate. She got a very dark orange chocolate. I got birthday chocolate. That has milk chocolate on the outside, and white chocolate on the inside with sprinkles. It was like a party in my mouth for dessert. Interesting that I was the one that chose the 'birthday' one. Although, she loves very dark chocolate, so it wouldn't have been her thing. 

There was a troll that showed up in one of the IBD groups on fb. They made a post about it being a disorder and not a disease. (IBD is Inflammatory Bowel Disease.) They wondered why it was called a disease, when (according to them) a disease is something someone 'catches'. They said when they think of that word they think of STDs. People calmly tried to explain it to him numerous times, and he either called them trolls or twisted their words. People also started listing other diseases, and he said that they should be called disorders, too. It was wild how trollish he was being. In a chronic illness group, no less. We're already going through enough. I've never liked the idea that I have a disease, either. It's hard to wrap your head around at first. Doesn't mean it suddenly changes it. Someone mentioned that it essentially boils down to dis-ease, which is true and I've heard that before. At least, most of the members had a sense of humor about it as it continued.

Also, read an article not long after that about how people with IBD were lobotomized in the past. (Some were also subject to electroshock therapy beforehand.) Doctors considered it to be all in the head connected to mental illness or some sort of emotion. Seems like a fraction of the general public still thinks in a similar way. Apparently the first patient (with IBD) to have it done was in 1948. They were still doing it until the late 80's. That's a long time. No one officially apologized, but one doctor apologized to a few of his previous patients privately. I didn't know how the medical community treated it in the past, so it was eyeopening. There were doctors who were completely against it and tried new treatments, instead. Still, it really messed with people. They still had their disease, but they lost their personalities and then some. Awful. It also makes me worry a little about the 'new' idea that the gut microbiom affects the brain. It seems like the opposite, but along a similar way of thinking. It was odd encountering that troll and reading this article right after. 

Made a post on fb about my cookbook's page. Some people have already liked it. I also tweeted about it, and posted it to Tumblr. So, I'm getting the word out slowly. I'll eventually get to online forums, emailing both local congregations, and maybe some of the old blogs/journals I had like livejournal. Probably will think of other places after that. 

Navient emailed me last night mentioning the income-based repayment plan as an option. They didn't mention it before, and I've already applied for it. Weird. This morning, they said they had my application. I just have to wait for them to approve it. They seem behind on things. I wish they had mentioned this plan long before. I don't think it's a good deal for them. The idea that at some point everything that's left (whether I wasn't able to pay any of it, or just partially) will be completely forgiven. It'll be like wiping the slate clean, and they wouldn't get that money back. Also, with me not paying anything in the meantime, probably doesn't look good either. (Not that I was before...) Rates won't go up or anything during that time, too. 

I got through most of the 5th level of the Basics in German. I'm flying through it. Like I mentioned before, they're just repeating the same stuff over and over again. At least, I'm looking at it differently than when I first started, and it's a good refresher on the very simple stuff. 

Finished reading the manga, Bokke-san. It was pretty good. I'm not sure if I completely liked the ending. I won't spoil that, but Hino's estranged brother wasn't even mentioned until the last couple of chapters. Yet, he had a rather major role in it. Seemed odd. It was a feel-good ending. Most of the loose ends were tied up, too. I wish it was longer. It's only 18 chapters or 2 volumes. They could have done a lot more with it. That's another thing, it seemed like a rushed ending. 

The only cleaning I got to this time was the cat stuff. Through grooming Rosie with the mitt, her lumps are slowly coming out. They've turned white. They seem to almost be at the point of being able to just pull them off. I won't use the scissors, but it seems like it'll be easier to cut them off now. Her fur feels so nice, soft, and shiny now. I think she likes it a lot, too. 

Inked in Antonio's head from Alliance. Still not happy with it, but thought I should move on. Started drawing Doina's head. Hopefully, she'll turn out better. The vision of her in my head is cool. 

International Falafel Day!

Falafels are really good! Especially in a pita sandwich with hummus. It was everywhere in Israel, and I think they had the best falafel. Although, I've had some locally that come close. Falafels are basically chickpea patties. Today's my parent's birthday. So happy birthday to her!

According to fb, I came out as agender on there exactly a year ago yesterday. I thought that was in July. I don't think I was exactly sure at the time. Interesting that I realized during Pride month. Perfect time. It felt like a weight off my shoulders just to know. I've learned a lot about myself and the enby community in the last year. I've shared some of that on here already. 

Created an official fb page for the cookbook. There are some things you can only input on desktop. (Like, the ISBN.) Makes it a bit difficult considering I do most online stuff on my phone. The profile pic's of the Passover popover from the cover. Looks kind of funny this way. The cover pic's the Passover almond and cream torte, and its recipe is in there, too. I decided I might post pics of things I've made from it. The ones I have now are mainly from the Passover section. I might make dishes from other sections in the future, and can post them there. It'll be like a way to advertise, yet have fun and showcase what's in it. If it gets big enough, I'll let fans share their pics of dishes made from the cookbook. It'll be a fun little community thing, too. Not sure how often I'll post there at the beginning. I'm thinking of making a status on fb about the page and ask people to like it. 

A few days ago, I finished the German course on Duolingo. However, I've gone back to the beginning and plan to level everything out. That might take a while. The first several somehow were up to level 3 already. Not sure how. I started going through the first Basic 'unit' today. Almost done with it. They have 5 levels each. This last level has 15 parts to it. Quite a lot. I have noticed that they repeat a lot with each level, at least for this one. I started this before Duolingo switched to the 5-level system, so things might be a bit off until I reach the point I was at once that was implemented. That wasn't that far into it. This 'unit' is about things like the different a's for things. Like, eine for woman and ein for girl. (Odd that girl is masc.) Also, the difference between bin and bist, or am and (you) are respectively. They kept repeating wasser (water) and brot (bread). The pronouns er (he), sie (she), and es (it) were really hammered in, too. I'm breezing through it since I already know this stuff. 

Ao no Exorcist, or Blue Exorcist, finally had another update. It's been a couple of months. Rin got to go back 40 years and see his mother as a kid. He never got to meet her because she died as soon as she had him and Yukio. She came from a tough background. A homeless orphan, who the only 'family' she made were also homeless and died in a fire. They most likely were trying to keep warm and the fire got out of control. The Order eventually found her after she snuck into Shiro's (the person who later raised the twins) shed. She was trying to stay warm and find food. As soon as she said that she could see their dog (obviously a demon, and not everyone can see them), they took her. She met Satan while playing house in a junkyard. The only form he took was of blue flames. They said it was before he developed an ego, and his first intelligent interaction. I find this a bit odd considering it was just 40 years ago. He already had sons by then, but it might have been different in his world. It's no wonder he later became interested in her. Should be interesting to see what actually happened to her. 

For cleaning, I managed to finish vacuuming my bedroom. I worry a bit when I here something loud get sucked up. Is it something important? Oh well. The only thing I haven't been able to find is an earring backing, and if that was sucked up it's not a big deal. It was gross when I found a giant mass of hair under my desk, and it just instantly sucked it up. It looked impressive at the same time. So, now my room is the cleanest it's been in a long time. Yay! Next, I'll start with the bathroom stuff again. 

Went back to watching the Break a couple of days ago. It's a Belgian detective show, which is in French. Some of my French came back to me while watching it. It's kind of slow. A lot of staring and aerial shots. Interesting story, though. 

28th of Sivan

Went to our local Pride's picnic yesterday. It was raining heavily most of the time, so we mostly stayed in the lodge. They had a buffet area in the back. There were fruit, veggie trays with ranch, huge foot-long hot dogs, BBQ brisket, bagged single serving chips, baked beans, and more for the lunch part. There were Irish cream bars, cappucino bars, and sugar cookies for dessert. The brisket was really good, as well as the desserts. Dad got a hot dog, and it was so big it couldn't fit in the bun. The chairs were really comfy. I knew a lot of people there. It was nice to talk to some of them. Especially about trans, aro ace, and IBD stuff. (IBD doesn't have to do with the community, except for the fact that some of us have it.) 

Occasionally, there were breaks in the rain, and they had set up campfires with the fixings for s'mores on the side. I just grabbed a cold marshmallow and chocolate. They were out, so...they probably didn't mind. There were a lot of people there. We filled up most of the lodge. It's rather big. They had a live band, but also music coming from the speakers. 

Put out a status on fb yesterday announcing that both versions of the cookbook are out. The main link was to the paperback, since I think most people would want a 'hard' copy of a cookbook. An ebook cookbook might be a bit cumbersome, and you don't want it to get dirty, either...A cousin said she bought it and can't wait to get it. Yay! The paperback's not completely 'connected' to me yet, and people aren't charged until they get it. So, I don't know how many copies I've sold yet. 

However, today I did notice that the paperback does have a ranking. It's not ranked until it sells. So, it's happening. I also don't know if they're keeping sells from me, because I haven't switched to direct deposit into a bank account yet. It's still set to checks. They've stopped supporting checks in the US. I probably should switch soon. Just to see, at the very least. 

I also posted the cover on Instagram. 19 likes for it so far. That's quite a lot for me. Submitted it to dA, too. Posted it to a few groups on there. There were a few faves/collects, and one person commented asking what was on the cover. I mentioned it in the description... 

I embedded the ebook version of it on the left side of this blog. (You can see it in the desktop version.) They don't let you embed the paperback version. Soon the ebook and paperback will be linked together, and you can choose which format on there. So it won't matter much soon. I need to finish Alliance 3 to even out what's on here. It's weird for me to think I've put out 5 books already. I have a lot more ideas for books, besides the Alliance series. Also, the more I put out, the more I'll get noticed. 

Social Security accepted that I am who I said I was today. With that, I applied for the income-based repayment plan through the government. They said I was eligible. If I can't pay it within 25 years, it'll be completely forgiven. That's awesome! Better plan than I thought it was. Won't have to pay a thing unless my income reaches a certain point. I just have to recertify annually. Now, Navient has to ok it. Once they do, it'll take effect soon. 

I'll try to get to more things tomorrow. The application took a little longer than expected, and my computer slowed down/froze a lot. At least I got a little promoting done, as well as doing the cat stuff for cleaning. 

By the way, they both seem to be guarding me lately. Rosie's letting Tasha sleep against my room's door jam during the day. Tasha's looking happier because of it. I think she wants to get closer to me, too. Rosie's still very possessive of me, so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.