Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

10th of Elul

Started watching Darr Sabko Lagta Hai (I'll shorten it to Darr in the future) or Everybody Feels Fear on Netflix. Again, it's an Indian horror show. Seems like each episode will be a different story. There's a model, Bipasha Basu (basically plays herself), that hosts it. In the first episode, a blind woman who could sense ghosts told a story to her. The only way the woman knew about the story was because the ghosts told her. Some of it was hokey, but it was interesting. Not particularly scary to me so far. Although, I'm used to horror shows and movies. It does have a vaguely similar vibe to Goodnight DJ. Except in that one they weren't all horror-based. 

Went through all of the Weather unit in Duolingo's Dutch course. Only got one question wrong. Yay! I'm in the top ten of the Sapphire League now. If you're in the top 3 by the end of the week, you get a chest. Chests are full of gems, and gems can be used to restore health or for things in the store. Not sure how much you get for those. I haven't been in the top 3 of any of the leagues yet. You just have to make it to the top 10 in order to be promoted to the next league. It'd be interesting to try to get to that point. 

I realized that Junko's torso was still too long. Ended up shortening it again. Legs look a little weird. I'll have to tweak it again next time. Maybe I should just go off my gut, and not so much with the guidelines I'm using. 

Edited more of Alliance. Went through 5 pages of the ebook and 6 pages of the print. Much faster speed than usual, considering I did that in just a half hour. It reads much better than my last edit of the whole thing. 

Practiced my clarinet. Did 40 minutes again. I think I'll stick to that time this week. Maybe try 50 minutes next week. My pinkies seemed more flexible. Only played Irish tunes this time. Messed up a couple of times, but wasn't bad. 

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

National Apricot Day!

I love apricots! I don't get them too often, though. Used to get dried apricots all the time years ago. It's even more rare for me to have the fresh kind. The fresh ones are nice and soft, and have a more intense flavor. 

I'm trying to stick more to my diet this week. The last few weeks have been odd, because of holidays and so much good food. I didn't stray too much from it, at least. My 'diet' is having 1200-1600 calories during the week. It doesn't matter how much I have during the weekend. (Starting with Friday night, since it's Shabbos.) Sometimes I don't care every other Wednesday night after the local trans group meeting, since we go to Shari's after. So, 2 or 3 Wednesdays a month in addition to the weekends. I'm trying to shoot for within the 1400s most of the time now. I split it up into 5 small meals a day. For many people with IBD, including me, it's better to have smaller meals more often throughout the day. I also try to watch how much sugar I'm having and stick to the range in My Fitness Pal. The funny thing is I often don't get enough sugar. This is despite having so much fruit during the day. I have a hard time absorbing protein, especially when I'm flaring, so I need more than what's recommended for healthy people. Most of the time I hardly ever make it to half the normal amount for the day, though... Trying to be better about that. My potassium is often low, too. It's hard to balance this stuff with small meals. I think I'm doing ok with it this week. 

I've found out what an exact serving of cantaloupe is. Before this week, I wasn't really measuring it. I just took what I wanted. A full serving is a lot. I think I have half normally. It's very interesting to see what a serving is for many foods. For some, it looks like hardly anything, for others it looks like way too much. Plus, some 'single' servings are way too many calories for one meal to me. I have to keep this in mind with some things. It's made me view food differently since I started this 'diet' a few years ago. Some things that used to look like a decent amount look huge now. Even on the days where I can have as much as I want, I end up not being able to eat as much as I used to. 

After sticking closely to this, I can't seem to eat much more than half of what I get at most restaurants, too. It's made me realize how big the portions at restaurants actually are. I tried recently to get smaller versions of things at them. Telling them things like I want 1 pancake instead of 3, half the eggs, half of an entree, 1 biscuit, etc. I was surprised by how many could actually accommodate for that. Some told me they couldn't change the portion of something, but could leave out something else. That was nice. I also told myself not to take home any leftovers. A lot of the stuff I might get is usually not that good the next day. Plus, when I'm eating like this, it takes me forever to eat the regular things at home during the week. In fact, I sometimes end up getting tired of eating it. I'm noticing that this week. Feels like things are taking forever to eat, especially since for a lot of it I eat a half or quarter serving. This also runs the risk of things going bad before I finish or even start them. That's a balancing act in itself. I feel like I'm wasting a lot of food when I tell them that I'm not taking the leftovers. However, they're the ones that make such huge portions. It's not my fault that way. If the food is really exceptional or I hardly ever go there, I might take what's left home. That will be rare, though. 

Finished the V. Cond. unit for Italian. Read more of Choujin Gakuen or Supernatural School. I'm getting close to finishing this one. It's been better than expected. Messed a bit with drawing Shadow's torso. I decided to see what I could do without looking at that artist's anatomy book. It's looking better than I thought it would. Still need to tweak it more. Practiced my clarinet. Played klezmer tunes. I think I'm already improving a lot. Edited more of Alliance. Found even more errors than yesterday...

It's been pouring rain all day, so I tried to find an umbrella to take with me for my walk. All of them are either broken or made for a kid (too small to cover much). It was disappointing. We'll just have to get new umbrellas. My coat may have a hood, but it's not made for the rain. It soaks right through it. In the meantime, I ran up 10 flights of stairs. I did 3 flights 3 times with breaks in between, then one more. I read that 20 is a mile. However, it's a lot more intensive than my walks, so I thought half of that would be good enough. Even though my walks are 2 miles each time. Supposedly, it won't rain for the rest of the week. Yay! That's good, at least.

Been watching Gab-Dong. It's a mystery/detective Korean show. It's good so far, except for the long intense glares they usually end the episodes with. This is inspired by a real life serial killer. He killed and raped 10 women from 1986 to 1991. The killer has been compared to the Zodiac Killer. Apparently, they did something with it for Criminal Minds. The killer was never found. There were over 20,000 suspects before it turned into a cold case. They think a murder in 2004 was related to this case, which sparked new interest in it. In this show, there's a copycat killer carrying out the murders exactly, or with very slight changes, to the previous murders. The original Gab-Dong, name they refer to as the killer (I don't think they know his real name in the show), is still alive and in a mental institution. Both the new and old one are extremely intelligent. Neither of them have left any traces of themselves behind. They thought they had DNA (especially with the rape part), but mysteriously it was destroyed. The hairs they found on the most recent victim were actually from her clients. She was a hairstylist. The hair thing was new. Seemed like he was laughing at them. He was framing the lead detective for a while, and then suddenly made him look innocent. He may be even better than his idol, the real Gab-Dong. The actor certainly acts the part really well. He's also a patient of the psychiatrist in the story. She works in a mental institution for criminals. Same one that the original killer is still at. She suspects he's there, but she doesn't know who he really is. The copycat recently got out of that center, but still sees her. She has an odd fixation with Gab-Dong, and both of them have a thing for her. She might be their next target. 

Friday, May 11, 2018

26th of Iyar

Today was slightly warmer than yesterday. Around the mid-60s. A lot sunnier, too. This weekend looks like it'll be sunny and a nice temp. Low to mid-70s. Not bad. I skipped my after dinner walk yesterday. Mainly because I was too focused on something, and had dinner late because of it. It was rainy off and on, too. With the way I'm feeling, I don't think I'll do it tonight, either. 

My gut pain was a lot worse today. It seemed to rebel physically, too. Going to the bathroom more often (which has excruciatingly more painful than usual), burping more often, and the lower part of my belly bloated up. Fun. Something's definitely up with it today. The pain's like I swallowed hot coals, hot poker was shoved up my butt, abdomen was slit open, my intestines had tiny cuts, salt rubbed into those wounds, and then acid poured slowly over it. Difficult to do much with that sort of pain. More than just a 'stomachache' or bathroom issue. It's not usually this bad. Maybe it was triggered by the sudden change with having a schedule this week? Don't know. Things like that can upset it. I've been told I don't need to call my gastro or primary or go to the Urgent Care/ER, unless it's this bad for several days. Or, I've got a high fever and have been throwing up along with this for a few days. So, I'm kind of stuck this way. However, I also don't trust both my gastro and primary...More signs that I'm flaring again, at least. According to them, they wouldn't be able to do much if it was 'just' a flare anyways. 

For the pain, I recently took some Tylenol, but that really doesn't help much with this sort of pain. It's the only painkiller I can have, though. Most of the other over-the-counter stuff, if not all of them, can make the inflammation worse. There's also a higher chance they'll make me bleed internally more than it would if I didn't have colitis. The heavier prescription-type painkillers can be difficult to get, and they can cause issues, too. So, gastros tend to shy away from that. They also don't want addicts to misuse them, which makes it harder for people who need it. I should probably be monitoring my temp, too. I'm usually lazy about that. 

Managed to do almost everything I wanted to today, but for about half the time I planned. That's ok. Especially since the rest of the week stuck to it so well. With this post, I would have already gone over my usual amount of posts per month. That's great! I'm sticking to it well. 

I'm thinking every Friday I'll share at least a couple of amv's. It'll be like a little extra treat. I haven't looked for many lately, but I do have more than the last time I shared them. Youtube seems to work better now that I have a stronger internet connection, which will make it easier to share vids. I'm still surprised Blogger has a search option for vids, but not all of them are available that way. 

Wrote a little more of Alliance 3, and finished the alphabetized source list for the cookbook. Finished the present tense German lesson on Duolingo, as well as the body parts one. The body parts one was really easy for me. The word for brain is a little difficult to pronounce even thought it looks simple, which is 'gehir'. It's like the 'hir' part is trilled somehow. Also, the word for fat made me laugh, which is 'dick'. They harped on it, too. It was used so often, I think they knew it would be a funny one for English speakers. I sometimes forget that in words with 'kn' the k is not silent. It's like a kuh. Same with words with 'pf'. The p isn't silent either. 

Read more of the manga Hajimete no Aku or My First Devil. It has been better than I expected. The romance between the two main characters is actually cute and not overly done. That's rare. The downside is they're cousins. I don't like the incest angle. Jiro (one of the main characters) says he's evil, but he seems to be a very good and just person instead. He seems to be more of a good guy than the actual 'good' guys in the story. The only thing 'evil' about him is his insistence that he'll eventually modify Kyouko's (other main character) body, and even with that I'm not entirely sure he's serious. 

With cleaning, it was much like I did on Monday. Doing miscellaneous things like laundry, the cats' stuff, etc. I skipped drawing for the day. I think that was ok, considering I did manage to post the last batch of character heads/busts from Alliance to dA and Instagram last night. Many people have already liked them on Instagram. Had one person ask me for tips to improve in drawing, which I was surprised by. I'm not that great. I'm still figuring stuff out for my own art. I think I'm improving, though. Maybe they could see that. I think next will be Tzvi, Antonio, and Doina. They should be fun to do, too.

Watched more of Mystic Whispers on Netflix last night. This time it was about a ghost who worked as a maid to an abusive mother. The maid spoke neither English nor Chinese, but Indonesian. They had a hard time translating what she was saying. The mother would beat up her son, and if anything was out of place, her maid. They tried to portray her as being mentally ill. Specifically, manic depressive. It was a very poor portrayal. It was more like she had dissociative identity disorder (DID), which is also known as multiple personality disorder. Also, after a month of treatment, she was suddenly 'normal'. It doesn't work like that...It takes a while to see what treatment works, and then improve on it. A month isn't realistic. Plus, the quip that there wouldn't be mental illness if people just enjoyed the beauty of life more, was somewhat insulting. You can be severely mentally ill and enjoy the beauty around you. In fact, for some, that can be a symptom to enjoy it too much. So much wrong! Also, was her son still with her during that month? That doesn't seem safe in reality. The rest of this series has been great. 

Watched more of One Piece last night. Luffy's new 4th Gear form looked hilarious at first. In case people don't know, Luffy ate the rubber (or gum-gum) devil fruit as a kid. So, he's essentially made of rubber and most of his attacks are based on him stretching. However, he can control the elasticity, hardness, and other elements. It's interesting. With each 'Gear' form he messes with his body internally. He can manipulate his bones more, blood, organs, heat, speed, etc. It takes a lot out of him with each 'Gear', and it can be fatal. Anyways, with this one he turned into a giant hardened bouncing black rubber ball. He barely has feet in this form, and he can 'fly' by bouncing through the air. He's much faster and can stretch, seemingly, infinitely in this form. The look is kind of ridiculous, but what he can do with it is cool. Doflamingo seems to not be a match for it. This guy just keeps going. It'd be great to see how he is finally defeated. 

Youtube:

One Punch Man:
 

Thursday, May 10, 2018

25th of Iyar

It has been a lot cooler today. In the mid-50s. It's raining, too. The rest of the forecast this week looks really warm. Hopefully, it won't get too warm.

Yesterday, I got to my after dinner walk finally! Yay! Not only that, but I did the whole thing, instead of stopping halfway like last time. Did it in the half hour I planned. Pretty much exactly. According to My Fitness Pal, I was going at a very brisk pace. People usually tell me I go too fast when they see me on my walks. Most of the time I want to see how fast I can go. I don't care if they think it's too fast. I go faster without a jacket and really blare my music from my mp3 player. That walk felt really good. It was the perfect temp, too. I'm hoping I can get one in today, even though it might still be raining. 

I've been mostly keeping up with my schedule this week, and I feel so much better overall. My eyes aren't straining as much, I'm getting things done, I have more of a day, feel more tired by the end (helps a little more with my sleep), and more. However, my gut's starting to act up even more. I don't think it likes this. I normally have the pain, but it has gotten worse. I'm going to try and power through it. 

It's almost the weekend where I plan to sleep more and my schedule will be a lot more lax/flexible. I can 'recover' then. I planned out what I could do on Shabbat. Sometimes I refrain from so many things that I don't know what to do or get easily bored. I figured out how to get around that, but still go easy on myself. I can do more things than I thought. I'll try to have my own services, and that includes Havdalah. I normally skip that. I'll also go over the parsha or Torah portion and look up commentary on it. 

I've kept up with blogging this week, too. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to. The stronger internet connection certainly helps. It'll be interesting to see if I could really do it every day but Shabbat.

Wrote more of Alliance 3. Rewrote the dedication/preface for the cookbook. It's a lot better now. Oddly, the updated version came to me last night, as I was trying to sleep. It was annoying, but I'm glad I wrote it down. I also started putting the sources in alphabetical order in another Word document. (I had just jotted them down in Notepad earlier.) I almost forgot to put my mom as one...That would have been sad to leave her name out of it. After I finish putting them in order, I'll look at other templates. I'm going through this stuff faster than I thought I would. I think a lot of people will want it when it's published. Especially the many people that knew her. No pressure, right? 

Finished the German animal lesson on Duolingo last night. Got through about half of another present tense lesson. It's a longer one than the animal lesson. So, it's not bad. I didn't miss one until the last part I went through today. That was good, too. I'll finish that tomorrow. 

It has been a while since I last read the manga, Helck. It's getting really intense at the moment. I keep thinking I'm close to the end, but there are 45 more chapters and they usually have extra half chapters thrown in. There must be another big arc or something. This manga was lighthearted and full of humor towards the beginning, but it has become darker and more serious. Occasionally, the humor's still there but it seems to be less and less frequent. Reminds me of what happened to Gintama in many ways. It's still good, just different. It'd be cool if they made an anime adaptation of Helck. I think it's the type of series that would be enhanced by seeing it in motion. It probably would be popular, too. 

I dusted the wood in my bathroom this time. Ran out of Endust, but luckily the towel I was using had enough of it soaked in that I got to everything in there. Even if it hadn't, I would have continued to wipe things down. At least, I would have gotten the dust off either way. Maybe not as well and clean as with Endust, but close. Managed to start dusting the walls and windows in my bedroom. It was really gross. It has been a very long time. It was so much dust that when I opened my window, I could see it coming out in plumes. Similar to smoke coming off of the Swiffer wand. I didn't realize there was that much. I haven't made it very far into that room, either. Probably not very healthy.

Finished drawing and inking Rakesh. I'm not exactly happy with it, but I think if I had continued to mess with it, it would have gotten worse. I drew a better design of him in the past. Same with Nico. Oh well. I'll post Ravel, Nico, and Rakesh on dA and Instagram either later or tomorrow. With them, I've drawn 15 characters so far. It's interesting to see them all together on one page. I might post the whole page to dA when it's completely filled. That'd be interesting to see. Not sure about Instagram, since it's weird about pics that are a certain size. I have roughly 4 more spaces for heads. So many! I might color the heads in when I'm done with all of the ones I can remember.

Watched another couple of episodes of Mystic Whispers on Netflix last night. This time it was about a ghost that was addicted to his smartphone. It seemed sadder than the previous one. 

Watched a few more episodes of One Piece last night. Since I skip the opening and recap of most episodes (I'll only watch the opening once if it's new), each one is roughly 18 minutes. Not long. Plus, there hasn't been that many anime shows that have interested me this season. Why not catch up some more on this one in the meantime? They teased the viewers with the idea of killing off Law. I hated that, but I knew he must have figured out a way to survive. Bellamy is apparently dead now. He begged Luffy to fight him, and with a single punch, Luffy defeated him. That whole fight pissed off Luffy even more. They're close to beating Doflamingo now. Yay! He wants to kill everyone by slowly shrinking the wire 'birdcage' he set up over the entire island nation of Dressrosa. The wires are slicing through the outskirts of the country as they close in. People who are in the way of it, would be sliced instantly. It hasn't sliced people up yet, though. Hopefully, it won't. That's pretty evil and ruthless. He seems to be the biggest and baddest villain so far. Makes me wonder what the next one will be like.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

National Empanada Day!

It's been a while since I've had an empanada. I love the beef ones and peach ones. I think I saw empanadas as a dessert on Azteca's menu last time I was there. So, at least I know one place has them locally. 

It's warmer today than what was in the forecast. It got up to 80 degrees. I think it was about the same yesterday. We're not normally that warm this time of year. I was going to go for a walk after dinner yesterday, but I think it took me so long to figure out dinner that I just skipped it. Hopefully, I can do it tonight. Maybe I should think about dinner sooner, too. 

Managed to get everything but that walk done yesterday. So far, I've gotten everything on my 'schedule' done today. It really feels like a full day this way. I get an actual morning, which I didn't feel like I was getting before. I think Rosie's a little upset I'm not stopping to pet her as often...She has been biting, meowing, tripping me, and trying to scratch my pant leg more often. It's annoying.

Wrote a lot more of Alliance 3 today. My computer didn't slow down like yesterday when I wrote. In fact, even the internet connection has been more stable. Yay! A3 is up to 108 pages now. In normal book form that'd be roughly 216 pages. That's a lot. Finally got to the next chapter. The previous one ended up being over 20 pages, which is longer than my usual. Still trying to decide if I want to split that one up. I'm getting a pretty steady stream of ideas for A3 now. I did hit a block a couple of weeks ago, and wasn't sure where I wanted to take the story. The new ideas aren't what I expected, but have taken it to an interesting turn. Not sure how long this sequel will be. Feels like I just got into it. I don't want it to be too long, though.

Finished the generalized editing of the cookbook today. It's now a page shorter, at 102 pages. I'm all good with making it a little shorter. Next, I'll get the sources together. Then, I might look at other cookbook designs to make sure I like my current one. Eventually, I'll redo the preface/prologue. After that, I'll be formatting it for both the ebook and print versions. Still have quite a lot to do with this one. I still think it'll be ready to be published before A3. 

The lesson today in Duolingo for German was on abstract objects. Did better than I expected in this one. I think I might have missed 2 this time. Not bad. Next time it'll be on animals. I've liked the previous animal lessons, so that should be fun. I'm thinking of listening to the Rammstein CDs that I got and used to listen to as a teen. I thought the band was cool and still do. Their songs are still being used in some epic amv's (anime music videos). It might be interesting to pick out the German that I know now. I used to think their song Ich Will meant 'I will', but it's really 'I want'. A bit different. There are a couple of other bands I've heard of that I can look more into. Might look around Germany in Google Maps or other map apps during the weekends. It'd be cool to look around there. I could even cook German food if I wanted to. As well as watch their news somehow. With all this it'll feel like I really am in Germany. I know it won't really be the same, though. 

Read more of the manga, Alive. It's a very interesting series. Taisuke's (main character) group is getting closer to where Katsumata's group, or their adversaries, are. The reporters found Taisuke's group and are trying to hide their identities. They claim that they love to go to scenes where strange incidents have occurred. Like the police station that was blasted full of holes, and there was only one survivor. I'm really not liking Hirose. He's the main character's 'friend'. The one who used to get bullied and Taisuke would defend and fight them off. He's now with Katsumata and kidnapped Megumi who is also a close friend of both of them. Although, Hirose apparently wants his relationship with her to be 'more'. Megumi's the only one with Katsumata's group that doesn't have powers. At least, not yet. Not sure if she will. Katsumata's group is going to search for a 'heart'. Even the other members of the group don't know what that really means. They just know they have to have a certain amount of members, so they've been collecting them. 

Managed to clean my bathroom counter. That included things like the soap dish that was building up crud, my q-tip holder (a ceramic bowl) that had a layer of thick dust, etc. It really needed to be done. Even though it wasn't that long ago since I last cleaned that stuff. Yesterday, I did miscellaneous things for the 'cleaning' part of the day. Things like washing Rosie's big water bowl and giving her some fresh water, laundry stuff, and more. I might finally get to dusting and vacuuming my bedroom soon, if I keep this up. Haven't done either of those in a very long time. I also will eventually get to looking under my bed. It has been much longer since I went through that stuff. I remember cramming a bunch of stuff under there. I know tissues sometimes make their way in there, too. I'm a little scared to look...Since I don't really know. There could be hair, but I'm more nervous about finding bugs. I don't think there are any, but I occasionally see tiny black bugs near my bed. It's been a while since I've seen them. It still scares me a bit. I think most of the stuff I'll find I'll want to toss. 

Finished drawing Nico's head. I experimented a bit with the shape of his eyes. I'm still unsure what my style for my characters' eyes really is. This seemed better than the previous ones, though. He has the shortest and straightest haircut so far, so I didn't have to spend much time on that. I'll ink him tomorrow. I'll probably draw Rakesh, too. His design is a bit 'different' in my head. His eyes have no pupils. So, that alone makes him unique compared to the others.

Last night I watched more of the Singaporean drama, Mystic Whispers, on Netflix. It's funny, cute, and dark all at the same time. The 2 episodes (they're only a half hour each) I watched were about a ghost that had been overweight since she was a child. She was constantly trying to diet. Her dieting got more severe and she exercised intensely after falling for a coworker. Nothing worked, though. She eventually gave up one night and started binging on whatever was in sight. That's how she died. Before she went insane with the dieting she actually looked cute. She was very heavy-set, but it somehow suited her. She tried to possess Xiao Yun and lose weight as a ghost that way. She said she'd only leave Xiao alone when she lost any amount of weight. Xiao is one of the main characters. She can hear ghosts. That's why she tries to drown them out all the time with her music blaring in her noise-canceling headphones. Ji En is the other main character. He's a mortician and an exorcist (probably a fake one). Every time Xiao and Ji hold hands they can see the ghosts. Ji created a device for them in order to clearly listen to them, and they help them move on. They tried to get her to lose weight. The other side of this is Xiao is already very skinny. In fact, there's a running thing with Ji making fun of her being like bamboo. Apparently when the ghost possessed her she weighed as much as the ghost did...Her physique never changed, though. Nothing worked. At the end, she found out that the coworker she loved felt the same way about her. He thought she was adorable. That helped her move on. It was a sad yet good one. 

Watched more of One Piece last night, too. This arc has been really stretching. I'm still going through the Doflamingo one. I think it's close to the end of that arc. They've taken out most of the family's executives. There are only 3, including Doflamingo himself, of them left. They've also already rescued the Tontatta's princess, Mansherry. Law's not doing too well, but I still think he has something up his sleeve. I hope he doesn't die. I like him a lot. I have a feeling Mansherry will heal him. I won't mention his main injury, but he'll need her help. It's pretty brutal. He's normally the one to heal people. But, his ability is surgical. Hers is different. Plus, he probably can't perform surgery on himself, especially right now.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

6th Night of Hanukkah!

It's been an even longer time between posts...I'll probably be better about that now. I'm not going to do my monthly holiday stuff this time. I've felt so crummy gut-wise lately, that I didn't put Hanukkah decorations up. I've just been lighting 2 menorahs. (Of course, with the blessings.) The cats seem fascinated by the candles. They get more interested in it with each night. Rosie asked for me to light them last night. It was so cute! I have been eating some fried foods and cheese. The fry is probably not good for my gut, but what's Hanukkah without it? I don't have latkes this year, but that's ok. 

As I get older, I'm growing to hate Christmas more and more. I'm very happy for my friends and family that celebrate it, and definitely encourage them to share their holiday stuff on facebook and other social networks. That's a different thing, though. I hate that people assume others celebrate it. To get more of an idea of how I feel about it, what would happen if it was Hanukkah that was celebrated like Christmas? Switch them, basically. 

There would be menorahs, dreidels, and/or blue and white decorations everywhere you went. The mall, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. The radio would be flooded with Hanukkah music 24/7. Even Pandora would have Hanukkah themed ads. People would say Happy Hanukkah or Chag Chanukah Sameach everywhere you went. They'd look at you astonished and feel 'uncomfortable' about the idea you don't celebrate it. There would be debates about putting up a giant menorah in public schools. Kids would get gelt from teachers and bus drivers. There would be school or work Hanukkah parties. They'd tell you it's more like a 'holiday' party, yet everything there would be Hanukkah-themed. Kids in band/choir would be essentially forced to sing or play Hanukkah songs. Teachers would say they're not religious, at least. There would be extra credit Hanukkah-themed school projects. People will tell you to get into the Hanukkah 'spirit', and if you don't you're thought of as cold and heartless. They'd tell you playing dreidel isn't really religious, and of course everyone does it. It'd be encouraged in restaurants and grocery stores to eat oily food. There would be special Hanukkah drinks at Starbucks, and other special Hanukkah items at other places. There would be people singing Hanukkah songs outside in the streets. There would be dreidel competitions at malls and libraries. (Instead of kids seeing Santa.) There would be Hanukkah-themed special episodes of shows. Hanukkah specials and movies on TV, too. There'd be debates among people who celebrate Christmas about the 'December Dilemma'. How to keep kids more interested in Christmas than Hanukkah. (I never understood this...) There's more, but I think this is a good snapshot. Oh, and this stuff would happen about 2 months before and during. Enjoy that mess of stress...No one can escape all the Christmas stuff unless they hide in a cave far away from civilization without their smart phones. 

I published the sequel to Alliance, Alliance: Dawn, through Amazon. Or, technically kdp (kindle direct publishing). There's an ebook and paperback version. The ebook is on preorder until February 16th, and the paperback is 'live' now. I wanted both of them to be on preorder, but apparently I can't do that with the paperback through them. I put the copyright as 2018, because I was hoping to have both of them like that. It's really close, so it might not matter. I did the cover art, too. I drew a big feather, little feathers, and the logo from the cafe in the book. The logo has a ship's steering wheel with the sea, sun rising, and the rays of the sun reaching out to the stars in the inside of it. I edited them, colored them in black, and added text through Photoshop. It came out better than I expected, and close to what was in my head. I ended the story on another huge cliffhanger. Just leaves the option of another sequel open. 

My memoir, More Than Meets the Eye, was also published through Amazon. It has both an ebook and paperback version, as well. The ebook's on preorder until the same date as Dawn, and the paperbook's live now. Here's the description: A memoir of an aromantic asexual agender Jew. Who's a clarinetist, writer, adores cooking and food, has dealt with numerous health issues, and is an animal lover. 

The cover art is of a pic I took of a big clock in the family room, that's on a brick wall over a fireplace. I thought it looked cozy and like a piece of home. More personal this way. Time would play a role with a memoir, too. I like learning about the world, so the old world map on the face fits that way. 

The first chapter is devoted to being aro ace, 2nd one's on being agender, and 3rd being on Judaism. I'm expecting some hate with just those. The haters will have issues right off the bat. Oddly, I'm kind of itching to go up against them. Yet, terrified of it at the same time. Other chapters are on: music, family, cooking and food, pets (and my love for animals in general), mental health (I cover multiple mental illnesses in this one), physical health, IBD (wanted a separate chapter on this, since it's big topic), school before college, college, travel, and friends. I tried to cover as much as I could about different aspects of my life. With the mental health part, I might get more hate, as well as IBD and other health issues. Some people that knew both my mom and I might have an issue with how I felt about her when she passed away. Some of my friends that read the friends chapter might think I remembered something wrong, or something. Lots of different factors rolled up in this book. I tried to educate as much as I could with the topics. Going into detail with each one that I brought up. Explaining what it is, what it's like for me, etc. I mention AVEN and Arocalypse in the aro ace one. So, there's a few mentions of resources. (Not much, though.) 

I realized after I published the memoir that I made a teeny tiny error in the forward section. I added an 'a' where there shouldn't have been. It's not even a misspelling. I'm still debating whether I should bother with changing and republishing it just for something so small. My computer was super slow through the publishing process of both books and their 2 versions. It especially took way too long for the memoir. Do I want another headache through doing that again? If I had a faster computer without a faulty internet connection, I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's hard to even get much writing done with it. Maybe I'll leave it for now. The rest is free of errors. I know I came up with the forward quickly, and didn't really look over it much before I started publishing it. 

I tried to broadcast/promote it all last week. Did a lot more for the memoir. This is mainly because it covers a wider audience. With fantasy, it seems pretty narrow. With my memoir, I not only have people who are similar, but people who know me, old classmates, those who are into memoirs in general, etc. Huge swaths of different people. I put it on blast mainly on facebook. I posted it on my personal page, the local trans group's, local ace group's, and my other books' pages first. Then, to all the other groups I'm in. Aro, ace, non-binary, general LGBTQ+, Crohn's and Colitis, my former old high school classmates, Gaia Online, etc. groups. I have a lot more than I thought...Then, I messaged a bunch of similar public facebook pages, asking if they could promote it. One person in one of the ace groups asked to share it in 2 of their groups, and I said sure, the more visibility the better. With all this, I've covered a lot of people. Most of the pages I messaged have already posted about it. Some people have shared that post. So, it's reaching more this way. I'm rather surprised with the interest people have shown in it. Maybe it'll take off because of it?

I also blasted Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, AVEN, Arocalypse, a manga forum, an Asian drama forum, PLM (Patients Like Me), and a few other places. I might do more this week. Still have other sites I'm a member of to go through. With many of the others, I hardly ever use them anymore. Still, people might be interested. So far, there hasn't been any hate. Should be interesting to see what happens with it. I'm both really nervous and excited about it! 

I'll add both books to the layout on here soon, like I did with the other 2. Easier to see it that way. I don't think they're connected to my Author's Central on Amazon, yet. So, it's a bit weird. Their 2 different versions aren't linked up yet, either.

I've been really liking 2 shows on Netflix. One's a Singaporean mystery/detective drama called Against the Tide. Everything, including the cases, are turning up to be connected. Very interesting. They speak close to 1/4 English, and the rest is Chinese. Their food has looked tasty, too. 

The other one is a Korean mystery/forensic/detective drama called Quiz From G-d. (Obviously with the 'o', but I don't write it out.) I like this one a lot more. It's like a combo of CSI, Bones, and House; only better. The main character is a genius neurosurgeon and forensic doctor. His team deals with mysterious deaths and rare diseases. He has a rare disease himself. Unlike House, he's nice, kind, and funny. He's still eccentric, but a bit of a goofball. The main detective for the first 2 seasons was awesome and kickass. (She's not dead, just left for a bit.) He called her the Terminator occasionally. She's also taller than him, which looks interesting that way, too. She said she doesn't care about romance and sex, and she's never felt that way towards anyone. So, seemingly aro ace to boot. Although, they keep trying to put those 2 leads into a romantic relationship, the detective doesn't seem to know what to do. So, it gets awkward. She really does care for him, though. I think a qpr would be a better category to put them in. Makes the series even better to me. 

I like that they highlight real diseases, and it brings up awareness for them. Dr. Han (the main character) had such horrible side effects from his disease, he had to get surgery to have half his brain removed at the end of the 2nd season. I'm watching the 3rd season now. There are 4 all together. This season's side thing has been the after effects of the surgery. His hair is much shorter, darker, and in a different style. Understandably shorter, since he had to have his head shaved for surgery. I'm starting to like that look on him now, but it seemed like such a drastic change at first. Anyways, his previous side effects have disappeared, and he seems even smarter now. However, his mental health is not doing well. When he goes to sleep, he seems to turn into a person with a totally different personality. He knows this because he set up cameras in his bedroom. This other self also talked to him right into the camera. When he tried to stay up for as long as he could, his other self attacked his body after he finally fell asleep. He woke up with multiple deep cuts and bruises all over his body. There was a note telling him that he should sleep on time, or something worse will happen. Creepy. 

I like the new detective now, too. He seems even more eccentric, and loveable in different ways. I miss the other one, though. I like how every member of the team (detectives and MEs) are intelligent. It's not just Dr. Han, and they don't rely on just him. Quite different than many shows like this. It's also the first Korean series like it, so kudos to them on making a great one right off the bat. 

I might post some of the amv's I've found recently tomorrow. So, at least there will be something. Hopefully, I'll get back to playing my clarinet soon, too. Might be in January, though. I already have ideas for my next books. I might start writing the next sequel of Alliance and a cookbook. I have quite a lot of ideas for the cookbook. I'll use my mom's big binder of recipes for a lot of it. I'll credit companies if I need to. I'll post a pic of each recipe in it, so people know what it'll look like. This also means I might be trying a lot of stuff for it. Some of the recipes will be based on my 'experiments', and I have some pics of those already. I have some of the pics already for the binder stuff, too. Some of the binder's recipes are actually passed down through generations or what my mom used to make. It's like a treasure trove. A better form for it would be as an actual cookbook, too. I'll reach even more people with this. So, fun stuff to look forward to.