Happy New Year!

Hi! Hope everyone has a happy New Year! :D We just went to the grocery store for snacks for tonight. Got some nuts, pickled herring, cut up pieces of bread for the fish, Kappa Maki (cucumber) sushi, pocky, and collon. It's similar to a pirouette cookie. Only it has more chocolate in the middle, and a thicker cookie surrounding it, also it's cut into bite sized pieces. Horrible name, but by the time they realized it, they had already put it out there. So, it stuck. :P I sampled some before, and it's really good. :3 Can't wait to have some! XD (Also got some other snacky things for tonight, but I can't think of them at the moment.) We also got a dessert for tomorrow. (Not sure if we'll have it tonight, probably not.) It's the pumpkin chocolate and nut cookies. They're very good, and soft. Not to mention big and filling. We bought some Apple- Cranberry sparkling cider for tonight too. I'm going to make the soba dish that's in my cookbook for lunch. It's traditional for the Japanese to eat soba at midnight tonight, but I think it would be easier for us if we have it for lunch. (I'm sure some families over there do the same.) So, kind of a mix of American and Japanese traditional New Year's food. Nice selection! Also, got a small pan that's used for making tamagoyaki or rolled omelettes. We were going to get a bigger one, but we saw that and realized it would probably be easier to use. Can't wait to use that, too!

Last night I downloaded a program called MikuMikuDance or MMD for short. It has Vocaloid models that you can make them 'dance', make them look like they are singing, make a story line, and more. Some examples are in the Youtube videos I posted before. I got the most basic one, which just has Miku. It had so many glitches and in this version you can only have one model. I tried to download the newest English version that had a ton of models, but it wouldn't even open it. O.O So, I gave up on it. I guess I can watch other people's awesome animations with it, and maybe wait for a more updated version. It was fun to move some of her bones around and see how it affected other ones. Kind of an anatomy and physics thing. Also, moving her eyes, making her blink, and changing her facial expression was fun and interesting.

Watched some of TV Japan too. One show was Time For A Hobby Special. It was very interesting. They had three people talk about their hobbies. One was a 15 year old boy who was into Jomon culture. They were the first recorded culture in Japan's history. He follows old drawings of the 'huts' or buildings the Jomon made, and builds them as close to the original as possible. He's also tried to make the pottery the Jomon are famous for. (Jomon- means cord- pattern. Which is the pattern they used in their pottery.) He even tries to replicate the food they ate. O.O He's very talented and has won awards for these things. He started building the huts when he was just 11. The next person was a chef who goes out and finds wild plants and makes dishes out of them. He finds these plants in random places, like on the side of the road, in parks, in people's yards, etc. He tries to show people that these things are edible by making dinners entirely made of these plants to anyone who's a bit curious. I think he was the most interesting. The last one was a 78 year old woman who can speak backwards, do calligraphy backwards, and has even made a book that's written backwards. She was a little scary.

I also watched the Amateur Video Special 2009. It was also interesting. The part I watched had a nature theme. The one who was voted the best amateur video was of a person skiing, then going to the hot springs or onsen on a mountain. Supposedly, the water temperature got up to 70 degrees Celcius in some of the hot springs. (which is like 158 degrees Fahrenheit!) I think he said the ones he used were about 30 degrees C. (That's 86 F.) Seems like a nice temperature. I think the other ones would scold people. Also, in the video he showed the 'Snow Monsters' made out of frozen snow covered trees. They get their odd shape from the strong winds that blow across the mountain. They're famous, because of the unique shapes they make. The shapes are rare for snow covered trees.

Youtube:

A bit of an embarrassing (but funny) moment for Rin:

Marukaite Chikyuu (German Version)

From the Hetalia soundtrack. Another funny version of it. Hi! I made another dinner from my new cookbook. This one was really good! It's nikujaga, which literally means meat potatoes. It's their version of what they saw of the English beef stew. I think I talked a while about it when they had it on Hetalia. They definitely have a good spin on it. The main part is (western) potatoes, thinly sliced beef, onions, and carrots. It has a little bit of sesame oil added while browning the beef. After cooking the vegetables and meat, you cover it with water and let that cook for a bit. Then, you add dark soy sauce (lots of it), sake, mirin, and sugar; and let that simmer for a while. It smelled so good while it was cooking! Mom said the sauce tastes like the sukiyaki sauce from one of our favorite Japanese restaurants. I agree it was pretty similar.

I also made some onigiri for lunch. I forgot to warm up the rice a bit before I pressed it in the mold, so one of them was a bit crumbly. Oh well, that's ok. :P Another one turned out perfect, and the last one I didn't really have enough to make a full one. It was kind of half of an onigiri. I put the ume paste in one, sweet gherkin pickles in another, and the 'half' one I put soy sauce on it. Then, I put some nori on top of all of them. The mold makes HUGE onigiri, but that's fine with me. :P They were very good! I think I might be addicted to the ume paste. It tasted so good! It really is like a very tangy apricot, it tasted slightly like a plum to me too.

Today I did a lot of catching up. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll do some of my normal stuff during the day. Then we'll head over to Val and Dave's to celebrate New Year's Eve. That should be fun! I find it interesting that there's not many good things on TV over here for the week just before New Year's, but in Japan there's so many awesome programs. ^_^ I know they are more into it than we are, but it seems a bit odd.

What A Trip!

Well, I just came back from an awesome trip to Florida to visit my grandparents. So tired still from it. :D Spent about 8 or 9 days there. It ranged from 70 to 85 most of the time. So different compared to our normal 33 or 35 normal highs! I actually felt hot. We saw a nature preserve, the beach, a Japanese museum and zen gardens, a Jewish museum, the fancy (celeb) houses next to the water, little Havanna, and more. (Which I'll post more about later.)

The last time I actually saw my grandparents was years ago. There was one time in between (about 5 years ago) but that was for a day. My grandma's not doing too well, so that was the main reason for the visit. Actually, she seemed a lot better than we thought she would be. Grandpa's still doing great. Exercises, works, takes care of Grandma and never asks for help with things. I think he takes on too much.

We also got to see Joan and Marvin, who are good family friends. In fact, they basically are like family now. ^_^ I think my grandpa's been friends with them since he was a marine. Can't remember, but it's been a VERY long time. Also, Grandpa talked more about when he was in the marines, which he didn't talk about much before. He made lots of friends while he was stationed in China. They gave him so many cool things. He liked the people he met more than being in the marines. I think he was forced to enlist for some reason.

Both of them are awesome artists and their condo is full of artwork. Grandma still participates in shows. Grandpa I think just does it for fun now. He showed me his old artwork. (Like stuff he did in high school.) Grandma gave me her Anatomy for Artists book, since I told her I still need help with that. It's from 1944. O.O It was just a very interesting trip! Had a lot fun, but I'm so glad I'm home now! At some point I'll post all the pictures I took on deviantART. There's a lot, hopefully it won't be too many for people. ;)

One of my Hanukkah presents arrived today. It's pomegranate and mango frangranced shower gel, body mist, lotion, and it came with one of those sponge things. All from Avon, which is what my mom sells, although she's thinking of stopping it. Smells really nice! I'm a sucker for those smelly shower things. :P

Also, today I made 2 of the recipes from my new cookbook for dinner. One is called Green Tea and Rice Soup. The other was Green Beans in Miso Dressing. The first one also has some salmon and nori in it. It was nice, healthy, and easy, but kind of plain. It was nice that she said you can add your own condiments. (Kind of like Pho, where you can add your own stuff to the soup.) The green bean dressing was awesome! :D It had 2 different kinds of miso, Japanese mustard (which is very potent. O.O), sake, water, and yuzu juice sprinkled on top. (Yuzu is a type of citrus, supposedly only found in Japan. It smells a bit like an etrog to me. It's a bit of a cross between lemon and lime.) As a whole, the dressing was nice and tangy. It was a bit addicting. XD We also bought a ton of other Japanese ingredients for more of these recipes and for the riceballs I'm hoping to make. We even bought umeboshi paste for them. Umeboshi is a pickled plum, although it's in the same family as apricots. That should be fun! I'm going to start making the onigiri tomorrow for lunch. We'll see how they turn out! ^_^

Youtube:

Kind of funny short about Neru trying to give something to Len:

Kumikyoki

Nico Nico Douga by the Kaito Vocaloid. It's kind of a variety of songs sung by Kaito that are on nico nico douga, which is basically a Japanese Youtube. ^_^ I'm trying to figure out how to register for it, too, since it has such cool videos. At least it has a better selection of Vocaloid videos.

Well, today I mostly got ready for the trip, yet again. Didn't really have a chance to go over my Japanese, but I guess I can go over it tomorrow and when I get back. Also, it will be a nice break for me. I'll be gone until the 27th, so this will probably be the last post until that Monday. :D Along with spending some time with my grandparents (That will be most of the time. Which is awesome!), we're planning on exploring a bit of Miami and the surrounding area. It all sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun! XD I still have to pack. O.O The only problem is finding enough things to keep me busy on the plane. We'll be on it the entire day. It will be from 5:49 AM until pretty late in the evening. It's going to feel much later.

For Hanukkah, I got a really nice shower cap and some pretty dark lip gloss. I think it's supposed to look as dark as lipstick. O.O We'll see. Mom said one of my presents probably won't get here until about half way through our trip. So, when we come back, it will be waiting for us! XD The other thing I probably won't get until mid January. Apparently, it's a really sought after item. Which makes me wonder what it really is. :P

Triple Baka

By the Miku, Teto, and Neru Vocaloids. Miku and Teto on vocals, and Neru using her cell phone beeps as percussion. Pretty funny! Talking about how the 3 of them are such 'bakas'. Baka means stupid, idiot, or fool. It's actually quite cool sounding, what with the beeps in rythm, and Teto doing the harmony for Miku. ^_^ I mostly tried to get ready for the trip to Florida. Since, we're going Thursday night to a hotel in Seattle and our plane leaves at like 5:49 AM on Friday! (So early! :P) Not much time! O.O I really can't wait, though!

I looked at some of the vocab list for level 3. I like how they marked what was on the level 4 list, so you can focus on the new words. They also used the plain dictionary form (or roots) of the verbs this time. Last time it was a bit messed up, since they started with a different form. It got me really confused. Now, I don't have to go searching for it. Although, I learned how to tell what the root was the other way. But, this way it's easier. Plus, I can go through the other forms later, I just need to start with the basics now. Here are the new words I went through briefly today (I hope to go over them again soon):

沸かす or wakasu- to boil or to heat. 別れる or wakareru- to separate. 訳 or wake- reason, cause, meaning, or situation. 忘れ物 or wasuremono- a thing left behind or something forgotten. 笑う or warau- to laugh or smile. 割合 or wariai- rate, ratio, or percentage. 歴史 or rekishi- history. 連絡する or renwakusuru- to contact. 留守 or rusu- absence, being away or be out. 理由 or riyuu- reason, pretext, or motive. 利用 or riyou- use or application. 両方 or ryouhou- both or both sides. 旅館 or ryokan- Japanese inn or hotel. 用 or you- task, business, duty, or service. 用意 or youi- prepare or preparation. 用事 or youji- tasks, errand, affairs, or engagement. 汚れる or yogoreru- dirty or to get dirty. 予習 or yoshuu- preparation or preparation for a lesson. 予定 or yotei- plans, schedule, or expectation. 予約 or yoyaku- reservation or appointment.

For Hanukkah, I got a Naruto Shippuden calendar. In case you haven't noticed, it's one of my favorite animes. :P It's awesome! They even have the kanji caligraphy for the numbers. They also have most of the Jewish holidays, and on the right days. XD It even makes a note on the last page that the Jewish holidays begin at sundown. ^_^ I'm very happy. I got a lot of cool presents this year! :D

Youtube:

A funny song and dance done by the Miku, Kaito, and Len Vocaloids. This song will get stuck in your head:

Hilarious short about the chibi version of Miku (with various other Vocaloids):

No one remembers Gakupo's Birthday ^_^:

Luka tries to speak English with Rin and Len:

Viva Rock!

By Orange Range on the Naruto Soundtrack. (3rd closing credits song.) Another one of my faves! ^_^ Also, it's a bit funny. Orange Range is a pretty awesome J- rock or Japanese rock band! Their songs have been featured in some anime, Japanese dramas, Japanese movies, and other media. I also read that they like to add many different musical styles from many cultures around the world. Today, I thought about where I want this next chapter in my story to go. It's going to get a bit complicated. :P I also exercised a bit more. Wahoo! (Mainly because it's gotten warmer. We were getting highs anywhere from 25 to 30 degrees, and lows of 14 for awhile.) I'm a weird person, I actually feel really good during and after a lot of exercise. I feel closed in when I think it's too cold to go out too often.

I found a really cool site to download Japanese music. I didn't think I would find a site that had downloadable Japanese songs. Now I'll have some new music to listen to on the plane and on walks. :P Plus, just going to this site will help me a bit with my Japanese, since the whole thing is in it.

I did a lot of gathering info for my Japanese. Downloaded a software that has flashcards that you go through each day. It's designed to help you memorize kanji over a period of time. New words are reviewed in 10 hours after going through them. Then, 2 days, 4 days, then about a month, etc. I'll see if I like it, I'm debating whether to get rid of it already. -_- Then, I went to the MLC's site. MLC- Megumi Learning Center in Tokyo. They help people prepare for the JLPT. In fact, the Japanese ministry of education recommends them. Been using it for the last year to help as a study guide. It's a pretty good site. Looked at the worksheets for Level 3. Downloaded the common names for food products. (That would come in handy! :P) Also, the vocab list. They said they haven't updated it yet, though. So, I downloaded it anyways just to look over it. I'll download the new one too when they post it. I also downloaded the verbs, and some more grammar lessons. Also, downloaded the new worksheet for December. And probably something else that's not coming to mind right now. ^_^" Wow! I've downloaded a lot of things! O.O

Tonight was the 4th night of Hanukkah. I got an onigiri mold that can make 2 of them at a time. I'm so happy, because now I can make onigiri or rice balls. (Onigiri are in the picture above.) It even has a thing to make a hole in the middle of them, so you can put your fillings in. They really thought of everything for this. It even has a thing on the back to push down to pop it out. XD Also a thing to hang it from for easy storage. The package is all in Japanese. So, another fun thing! It's like a mini bonus. The onigiri are shaped like triangles or cylinders, and sometimes are wrapped in seaweed. Sometimes they're even grilled. O.O You can pretty much put anything in them. Pickled plums, shrimp, salmon, kelp, chicken, pickled vegetables, azuko beans whole or as a paste (sweet red beans), really the sky's the limit. Also, there can have many different toppings and condiments. Seaweed powder, sesame seeds, eggs, mustard, soy sauce, and more. They have them as snacks, quick lunches, quick dinners, and sometimes for picnics. I tried to make some in college, but they didn't turn out well since I only had my hands. :P

No Thank You

By the Len Vocaloid. It's a pretty funny song. :P Wahoo! Hanukkah is here! XD It's the third night. The first night I got a book called Food of Japan by Shirley Booth. It's pretty awesome! It gives some history on the basics of their food. Like when did they start adding rice to their diet, how noodles came into their diet, what role Buddhism had in affecting the way they ate, and more. Also, about what the Japanese feel about them. Has a ton of recipes too. Gives you hints on what to serve during which season, lists what cooking utensils you should use, and the many ways of cutting things up. She even has little symbols representing things like: frying, steaming, simmering, grilling, and more; next to each recipe. Really a very nice cook book. I'm thinking of cooking some of the recipes this week. Most of them are going to be soups. Simply because it's the ones in the beginning of the book. Also, it's basically winter already, so it makes sense. :P Some of them I'm really curious about, and sounds like they'll be fun to make.

Saturday, I made Hanukkah cookies from a funny kids' kit. They had most of the ingredients, so that was good. It was kind of cute. Plus they had a huge display at our market. There aren't very many Jews here, so why not support the store and show that we're here? ^_^ The mix called for one egg, but the 'dough' ended up really dry. So I added another egg. That turned out really well. The icing was extremely sweet, and very quick drying. It was good when it was on the cookie, I guess it balanced out. They also have a thing where you can draw things on them. I got tired of that, because it was kind of hard to draw on them. So they weren't very 'artistic', but that didn't matter. It was tasty anyways!

I got a nice assortment of colored pencils. 36 different colors! So much more than what I had before! Also, they're harder and pointier than my other ones. They're super thin ones. Very fancy, at least to me. ;) I sharpened them all today. (Took forever, and it was tiring!) Then, I made a color chart. They really are nice colors. :D My drawings will have better color now!

Today, I went through the stuff that was in the drawers I left in the garage from college. A lot of the food was bad. Smelled so rancid! :( There were even cans that were long past their expiration dates. That rarely happens! But, I found an assortment of packaged popcorn. Buttered, kettle corn style, extra salt, and normal. A lot of them. Also, found a good brick of brown sugar. ^_^ There was other things like my old posters, decorations, and more. I threw most of it out.

I got a pair of earrings. They're hoops with my birthstone (Citrine) in them. They look really cool! Can't believe it's getting close to when we go to Florida! Things are going by so fast. :P

Marionette

From the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei soundtrack. One of my faves! ^_^ I woke up a little late, because I had another hard night. Took a while to warm up in bed, then I was wide awake for a while, then heard my dad in the morning. So, fun fun! :P

I found a site that had tests on kanji and their meanings. Just did it to see how well I actually remember the basics. On the 3 I tested on, I ranged from 93- 100% correct. O.O That's nuts! Sometimes I feel like I never know enough, but when I test myself, it turns out I do. According to the MLC (Megumi Language Center in Tokyo), out of the 600 kanji from the beginner's list, I know 520- 540 of them. That's awesome! :3 (Beginners are like level's 4 and 3 combined!) They also say that I know 90- 100% of the grammar for the Level 4 test. Coolness! For the Level 4 kanji I know all of them but one. (This is out of 50 that they showed.) For the Level 4 vocab I know all of them but 1, yet again. But, that one had like 1 star for what is used most often. 5 stars is the most common. So, I guess I have to study for Level 3 next year. I guess I'll have more time to study for it then I did for this one. So, it seems like it will turn out well too! I've also noticed that I can read and understand Japanese when it's in the characters (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji) more than when it's in Romaji. I guess that's a good sign, kind of like it's becoming more natural for me. :D

We now have someone who's going to come by and take care of Tasha while we're gone. Which really nice, considering we'll be gone for about 9 days. O.O She can't go much more than 2 days without attention. Also, will have to have someone give her more food, and empty the litter box for her. So, that's nice.

Tonight's the first night of Hanukkah. Wahoo! One of my favorite holidays! We're going to have latkahs, steak, and bok choy for dinner. Latkahs or latkes (depends on where you're from) are potato pancakes. Usually has shredded potatoes, onions, egg, and garlic made into a patty and fried in oil. Very tasty! ^_^

Hanukkah means dedication, it commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian- Greeks. The rebels who fought the Greeks for religious freedom were called the Maccabees. After the war, there was only enough oil for 1 night to light the menorah. It instead lasted for 8 days, so we celebrate the holiday for 8 days. We also eat really oily foods to celebrate this miracle. We also light the menorah for 8 nights, each night adding a candle on. (Like the first night is 2 candles, next 3, etc. The 'extra' one is kind of like a helper candle to the others and rests in the middle of a menorah.) This year we're putting like 7 menorahs up on top of foil covering our piano. It turns into like a bonfire on the last night. :P So, instead of 'glorifying' the victory we celebrate the miracle. But, without this victory, there probably wouldn't be a miracle. It creates a bit of a paradigm for some people.

We also exchange presents, but that's more of an assimilation type thing. Since everyone else was celebrating Christmas at the same time, kids would get upset, since their friends would get presents. I heard the tradition used to be to give coins to your teachers. Sounds a bit nicer, but I like getting presents too. :P

We also play a game called dreidel. It's a top that you spin, and you follow whatever it lands on. The 4 letters on the sides are gimel, nun, shin, and hey. It stands for neis gadol haya sham, which means a great miracle happened there. There's a different version for if you already live in Israel. It ends with saying here instead of there. If it lands on nun, you don't do anything. Gimel, you get the whole pot. Shin, you have to give half. Hey, you get half the pot. It's essentially a gambling game. Although, we usually play with chocolate coins, raisins, nuts, or basically anything else other than money. We played with match sticks one year. O.O We also sing a bunch of songs. It's just a really nice and fun holiday. ^_^ So, I can't wait! XD

Delicious Tomato Song

By Romano Vargas from the Hetalia soundtrack. It's hilarious! It's Italy singing about how much he loves tomatoes. :P Also, has a very Italian feel for the background music. I don't think I talked about what's going on with my great aunt Doris. She's not doing too well. Cancer has spread all over her body. They thought the surgery before was a success, but it only made it worse. :'( I wrote more of Chapter 7. I'm almost up to 50 pages! O.O Didn't think I would want to do it this long.

Read about the end of Sasuke's and Itachi's battle. It's the same as the anime was. Ended with the Leaf's figuring out that no matter what they do, they slip right through Tobi. They ask Shino to use his bug jutsu against him.

I started reading Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I love this series! Both the anime and the manga form! The first part shows how Kafuka and Nozomu meet. He was trying to hang himself, but she saved him. Nozomu immediately asked what if I had died. Came out different than what he meant. :P Kafuka tells him no one would kill themselves on a beautiful Spring day. She thinks that people are hanging themselves to grow taller, not to kill themselves. -_- She's a bit messed up even though she's so positive. She calls him Pink Supervisor because he tried to hang himself on a tree she named Pink CEO. (That's her reasoning.) This part ends with saying: Nozomu- looks at everything negatively. A girl (She didn't have a name at this point)- looks at everything positively. A meeting that shouldn't have ocurred. XD

Next, is Itoshiki Nozomu's first day of teaching his homeroom class. The strokes for the kanji in his name add up to an unlucky number. So, Kafuka writes it horizontally, the number wouldn't matter this way. She notices that when she combines the first 2 kanji characters into one, it changes it from Itoshiki to Zetsubou or Despair. It seems no matter what, his last name's rather negative. Since she starts calling him Mr. Despair, he runs out of the room and doesn't return until the next day. His first name actually means hope. (Kind of polar opposites. :P) He talks to the school counselor Arai Chie about why he wants to kill himself. He thinks he's useless and his life is full of embarrassments. He's given questionnaires to hand out to his students that ask what they hope to aspire to be. He tells them to put down things they could never achieve or hopeless things. Since he believes there is no more hope in the world. Kafuka disagrees and says nothing is hopeless. You just have to do your best, and then you can achieve your hopes. She said there are a couple things she can't aspire to. Becoming a G-d, an alien, and a person from the future. XD

日本語

I got a bit more done today on translating a newspaper. It's kind of a fun way to learn more about it. I still haven't gotten to the actual articles. :P I finished the summary of what's in the Japanese section and started translating some of the ads. The ads are really hokey! I was right about the section I was working on being about the Nutcracker ballet. One ad says something like 何処よりも安い! or Where is the least expensive! XD

Naruto Shippuden was crazy as always! Shino uses his beetles and makes a sphere that engulfs Tobi with them. The beetles have the ability to eat chakra and drains the enemies' energy. After they started eating, Tobi disappeared. He reappears in a tree above them. Zetsu finds him and tells him about Itachi. The leaf hear it too. Kakashi sees Tobi's Sharingan. Naruto calls Zetsu a spiky aloe thing. XD Tobi finds Sasuke and takes him back to the Akatsuki hideout. Sasuke's team head over there. Zetsu can record things, and play them back to people. O.O When Kisame finds out his partner is dead, it doesn't seem to faze him. Tobi tells Sasuke that the tap on the forehead tranferred his ocular powers to Sasuke. Also, learns that Itachi actually wanted to protect his brother from Tobi, or really Madara.

Hetalia was about how Liechtenstein was saved by Switzerland. It was during the end of WWI, and Liechtenstein had suffered a major depression and had a food shortage. Just when she was giving up hope, Switzerland rescued her. He didn't expect any compensation for helping her. He considered that he helped her out of 'social solidarity'. Next, was one about England's fashion sense in the Middle Ages. The king loved whatever was popular in France. He tried to grow his hair out since it was popular in France. The bishop said that only women were allowed to have long hair. So, he 'secretly' grew it out. He didn't do anything different for it, so it looked nasty. So, he ran to France and asked him to make it look better. He started fixing it saying he had to take better care of it. He ended up cutting England's hair so much that it became as short as before. XD

I played a game called World of Pain: Chapter 3. It was kind of funny. The only thing I didn't like was even when you're running, you're really slow. I got tired of it after a while. I also inked the hairstyle of the character I'm drawing. Came out different than expected, but I think I like it. ^_^ The rest of the time I started drawing his anatomy. I'm learning from it, but it's no where near being done. At least the shoulders don't look too bad now. :P

Fear Garden

By the Rin Vocaloid. It's a really creepy song, and the video that I've seen on Youtube for it is even creepier. O.O It's about how Rin keeps a 'fear garden', that has all her dead friends and family's arms. They pop out of the ground and the fingers are spread out like they're flowers. All of them have different colored fingernail polish too. She even calls them her flowers. She's really messed up in this, but it's oddly addicting. :P Oh, I have a new playlist now! I made one on Playlist.com. They have more of a selection than Imeem did. Also, it's been freezing here! Getting into the teens at night and maybe getting up to 30 during the day. O.O I started the 7th chapter of my story. I'm trying to not make it too graphic, but it's kind of a weird part of the story. It's still fun so far. :D

日本語

I only was able to start translating a Japanese newspaper. The site I use as a referrence was really slow. I found many other things to help me learn more Japanese, but couldn't do them because of that silly site. >.<>

無料 or no charge (the English next to it said Free). 今週の日本語紙面 or This week's Japanese (paper) pages. I'm almost done working out the first topic that they headline on there. I think it's about the Nutcracker being put on by the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Kind of interesting. :P (By the way, this is from the North American Post. It's in half English and Japanese.)

I started drawing Shadow from my story. I'm still not sure if I like his hair, and I'm still tweaking his 'skeleton'. I never think the shoulders and hips are right, so I'm trying to work on it a bit. Also, I have to remember he's a short character. ^_^ His face turned out good so far.

Youtube:

A hilarious video about Kaito being a Vampire:

Len's funny and embarrassing story XD:

A cute video centered on Rin and Len:

Rin and Len having a funny fight:

A very cute, relaxing, and funny Kaito video. It's one of my new faves of him:

Chicken Bone

By Yoko Kanno from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. I just found out that my playlist was erased, well technically the site is gone. O.O I'll just have to make a new one somewhere else. :P Maybe make a new Pandora one. Haven't used that in a while. I put up some of the Hanukkah decorations. Kind of cutting it close since Hanukkah starts on Friday night. XD Those gel stick on things are funny to put up when they're brand new. It wanted to stick to everything including me. But, I think things turned out good. I also found a new social networking site called TinierMe. It's kind of fun. Very similar to Gaia so far. Also, deviantArt finally put out the groups function. So, I went through them, and joined a bunch of them. ^_^ I'm really happy about this new feature. Seems more organized now. ;) Also, someone asked if one of my drawings could be featured in one of the groups I'm a part of. O.O I don't think I'm that good, at least not enough to be featured. Tomorrow, I'm going to start going back to my normal schedule. I only relaxed a bit, as kind of a reward for studying so hard for the test and taking it. I might do some new things for when I do my Japanese. ;) So, look forward to it!

Tsumugi Uta

By the Rin and Len Vocaloids. It means Spinning Song. Well, yesterday was a big day for me! :P Took the JLPT. I was so nervous before hand. Mainly because I wasn't sure if they would do the instructions and registration in Japanese. O.O They didn't thank goodness. ^_^ For registration we just had to show them our ID and test voucher. The person that looked it mine kept saying hai... uh, hai. It was kind of funny. When she was about to hand my ID back, it dropped and I said gomennasai (or sorry- wasn't sure if it slipped out of my hands or hers. -_-) She said it too, right after me. :D She was just happy that I said something, because everyone else had just shoved their stuff at her. (I guess they were nervous about it too!) They had assigned seating according to your examinee number. I was in the front row. ^_^" The person behind me was a lot more nervous. He did that weird shaky thing with his leg on the back of my chair throughout the test, and he huffed a lot. The answer sheet was in both English and Japanese. The proctor gave the instructions in English too.

The first part was the Vocab section for 25 minutes. I don't think that was too bad of a section for me. :D After those 25 minutes, they let us out for about 20 minutes. Before that we had to turn that section of the test in. I came back early, because it was a pretty long time to wait. Thank goodness I did, because they closed the doors early, and wouldn't let anyone back in. O.O Which was pretty stupid considering they had to start the next section at exactly a certain time. So, we sat there in silence for a while. I think they just wanted to make us sweat. XD

The next part was the listening section for another 25 minutes. The first part of it was not too bad. But, the next part of it was nuts! They didn't write down any of the choices or the questions. (It was just left blank on the test part.) Not only that, but we had to mark the wrong answers on one row of our answer sheet and the correct one on another. O.O So, we had to remember every choice that was said on the recording, and make a decision extremely quickly. The end of each of these questions would be right when the bells rang on the recording. Also, the dialogue was way too exaggerated. -_- After this, we had another 20 minute break. After they closed the doors early, yet again, we heard a knock at the door. Even though we had like 5 minutes left, they wouldn't open the door. O.O It was sad, I hope that person sues them or something.

The last part was the grammar section for 50 minutes. It wasn't too bad. Although, by the time I got to the last couple of questions, I was wiped out from it. :P I had some time left over to look over everything. After we handed this in, they said we won't know our results until February 2010. O.O Also, they warned us about not telling anyone anything specific about the questions and answers. It was like they wanted it to be highly classified or something. (Reminded me of some of those FBI shows. :P) Some of the examinees ran out of there like a bat out of hell. XD It's understandable, but funny to see. I guess I was a lot calmer once I realized all the important stuff was in English. It was interesting to see who took the test. It was mostly people my age, but there were some of my parents' generation, and some that looked like they were 10. I like how almost anyone can sign up to take it. :P Next year's would be interesting considering they're changing the entire test and having 5 levels instead of 4. Levels are based on toughness and this year it was based on Level 4 being the 'easiest' and Level 1 being the 'hardest'. (I took 4. :P) They're also adding a lot more sections to it.

After this, we headed to Uwajimaya. It's an Asian supermarket. Although, it mostly has Japanese products. ^_^ It was really cool to look at the Japanese printed on things. They even had those little good luck charms. A Japanese buddhist shrine, dolls, and games like Go and Shogi. I want to learn Shogi at some point. :P They had rice cookers, shampoos, meds, and bentos. All these things are imported from Japan. It's really like a treasure trove to me. They also have a Japanese bookstore and a food court. I grabbed a free TV Japan guide too. Since I was tired of looking online to see what was on. We got some incense and little cloth- like purses. I didn't get a chance to look at the food products, but maybe next time. ;)

Next, we went to dinner. We ate at a place called Maneki. We first had Takoyaki. It's basically Octopus balls. :P I heard a while back that it was a huge thing over in Osaka, and other restaurants didn't serve it. So, I thought why not? They're like balls of tempura and other spices with bits of octopus in the middle. They drizzle a special sauce on it, and sprinkle Bonito flakes over that. They were very good. I think even better than I thought they would be. The only one that didn't like them was Mom. Oh well, leaves more for us. XD

After that, I had their chicken teriyaki and tempura combo. It was a very flavorful teriyaki sauce, didn't seem like the normal stuff I've had. The chicken was a bit crispier too. I had the shrimp tempura, and was awesome too! Gave the vegetable one to Dad, since I don't eat any of those. The salad for it was good too. The sesame dressing was great! The rice was very sticky, which I love. Next, just when I didn't think I could fit anything more, we got dessert. (The portions on everything are huge!) I got the fried tempura icecream. One of my faves. They use a better green tea icecream, and a poppyseed type cake inbetween that and the tempura along the edge. Again, it was another huge portion. Even though I split it up with Mom, we still couldn't finish it. It was very good though! We also peeked into the tea rooms. It was cool! On the way out they had 2 newspapers that I grabbed. One of them is half in Japanese. :P

I looked up the links in the newspapers today. Also, looked at the local Japanese Cultural Center online. It was awesome! I already subscribed to them to find out what type of events I might want to go to. I also watched the 2 part Alice movie. It was trippy, but funny and cool. They had elements of the original Through the Looking Glass story, but kind of put it into the future with many different twists. They even had the 'house of cards' fall. :P Nice ending too. Tomorrow, I'm going to help put up our Hanukkah decorations.

Joker

By the Miku Vocaloid. Getting a bit more nervous as Sunday approaches. :P I shouldn't have done this, but I looked up info for the Listening section. Someone said it's like the make or break for the test. O.O Although, really, it doesn't sound that bad. Also, I aced this practice section. You hear a recording of a conversation and there's questions about it. There's a section where you have to decide which picture goes with what their talking about. They say the only hard part is that the speakers are speaking extremely fast, and you have to answer it quickly. Also, they were talking about it for the hardest level which is 1. Odd, since the lowest level is 4. :P They said on the practice test that they write the dialogue down for the lowest level. Wahoo! I can hear it and see it, almost like they want us to do well. XD

I was looking at other mangas, since I've gotten caught up in Naruto. I might go back to reading Gintama. I want to read a light- hearted comedy one. Gintama most of the time is like that, but I want something new. ^_^ Guess I'll just look some more later.

For Japanese, I wrote and reviewed up to section た or ta. I quickly glanced over more of the vocab, then reviewed the verb forms again. I think the hardest part for me might be the grammar. So many different parts to it. O.O But, I do have all the basics down, just a matter of not second guessing myself. :P

I played a game called Level Up on Gamershood. Was oddly addicting. ^_^" You have amnesia and have to go around collecting gems, help a guy who also has amnesia, fight a 'shadow' in your nightmares, avoid monsters while you're awake, make relationships, and more. Along the way, you learn snippets about their world. Kind of elaborate, but fun! I finished the game (was really short), and found the truth about who my character is and who the man I supposedly helped was. They're bitter enemies, and it ends with a shot of them battling. (She actually was in love with him when she had amnesia. O.O) It also said at the top to be continued. So, it would be fun to do the second game when it comes out. Since I finished it, they gave me a bonus game. I didn't like it as much. :P

I inked my drawing, inked the cat black, and retouched a few things. After my white out dries, I'll post it either right away, or maybe tomorrow. It's not really meant to be to scale, or exact, since it's just for fun. I think I like it, though. It kind of looks like things are floating. :D Also, it was very cold today. Might have gotten up to just 40 degrees. Tonight, it's going to be in the mid 20's. O.O

Cendrillon

By the Kaito and Miku Vocaloids. It's a dark twist on the Cinderella story. :P Where Cinderella (Miku) ends up stabbing the prince (Kaito) to death when the clock strikes midnight. O.O It's a lot more complicated but that's the ending of it. I took a break from writing since I just finished the 6th chapter.

Jiraiya makes it to the Hidden Rain village. Just like the anime, he gathers info from the villagers. Also, the battle between Pain and Jiraiya was just like the anime. (Technically, the anime was just like the manga. But, I watched these parts in the anime, before I read it. :P) Tobi stalls Naruto's team who are still in pursuit of Sasuke. Jiraiya dies. (So sad! He was an awesome character!) Sasuke meets up with Itachi, and they have an awesome fight. All the while Zetsu is watching them from the ceiling commenting on everything. XD So, now I've caught up to where the anime is right now. ^_^ Wahoo!

日本語

I reviewed up to the ending of the そ or so section. Also, went over some parts of the grammar again. Came up with more sentences.

どのくらい背の高いがありますか。

English: How tall are you? I'm still working with next sentence. The only part I'm debating is whether to put how tall I am in centimeters or just leave it as feet. :P Only 3 more days! :D

Sasuke made a thunder cloud, by blowing his fireball into the air. Which heated up the atmosphere enough that he changed the air current which made the cloud. (That's how they explain it.) Crazy! O.O He can direct a huge amount of lightning to a target. A kirin comes out when he directs it to strike. Which looks like a dragon made out of lightning. He hits Itachi with it, but it doesn't kill him. What saves him is his trump card, the Susanoo. (It's in the picture above. Although, this picture is from the manga. :D) Orochimaru gave Sasuke more power and he uses the 5- headed snake jutsu. O.O (Sasuke had absorbed Orochimaru after he killed him.) Orochimaru comes out of one of the snakes' mouths. The Susanoo sword seals and traps away those it pierces. It goes through Orochimaru. After he's transformed into a normal snake, Sasuke loses its powers. Even though Itachi is half dead (from summoning Susanoo) he keeps walking towards Sasuke, saying those eyes will be mine. O.O Just when you think he'll gouge Sasuke's eyes out, he says something inaudible, flicks him on the forehead (like he did when he acted like a caring brother), and dies after he collapses. Was a pretty intense moment. Sasuke actually looked terrified. O.O

First part was about how people who have many talents usually have one hidden, and don't like to share it with the world. They fear they'll be shunned by society. O.O Harumi likes to share that she's a talented mangaka, but doesn't want to show that she's a very good athlete too. In the next part, Kiri is sick. (She's on the far left in the picture.) Nozomu talks about how meds usually have a time lag before they start working. He also talks about how there's time lags for other things. For instance, reacting to things that happened a long time ago. (Like one girl apologies profusely for something she 'supposedly' did 6 months ago.) On the self- discovery bus, Kafuka talks about how it's good for people to expose their dark sides. O.O

I did more of my Halloween themed drawing. Fixed parts of the Jack- o- Lantern and finished most of the haunted house. Drew a moon, some bats flying in the sky, and one on the end of a roof. Also, drew a grave with a headstone, and a cat. The pumpkin looks bigger than the cat and the grave. :P I guess I could say it's a different perspective. ^_^ Or I can say it's just not meant to be perfect. XD But, that's the easy way out. Other than that, it looks kind of cool.

Youtube:

These guys are awesome on the Shamisen. ^_^:

This is one of my favorite opening songs to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei:

One of the best Vocaloid songs! Plus, it's hilarious!:

Aisu Ga Meruto

By the Kaito Vocaloid. Basically means Icecream Still Melts. He's obsessed with icecream. It's a little disturbing how much he likes it. :P (It's about how even the good things don't last.) Wahoo! It's the 100th post! :D I finished editing the 6th chapter and posted it. My deviantART is at:http://rcmacdonald.deviantart.com/ Hopefully, people will like it. ^_^ I got my new prescription today! So, we'll see if it's at a better dosage. After that we went to the market for a while. When we got back I cleaned those nasty sneakers that had dog (not sure really what type of animal, just assuming.) crap on them. Was one of the most disgusting jobs ever! I might have been ok with it, if it didn't smell so rancid. I almost threw up. >.<>

I finally got a chance to study some Japanese. I reviewed up to about the す or su section. Then, I came up with another sentence.

私は７時で起きます。

English: I get up at 7 o'clock. (If you remember last time I asked What time do you get up every morning.) It's a simple sentence, but still gave me a chance to make another one. Also, made sure I remembered the days of the week. Turns out I do remember. I know it's a simple thing, but it's always good to make sure you remember the basics. :P So, today would be: 水曜日or suiyoubi. I only have 4 more days! I'm getting kind of nervous but happy about it at the same time. O.O

Trick and Treat

By the Rin and Len Vocaloids. One of my faves of theirs! ^_^ Wrote more of my story. I think I finished writing the 6th chapter. If I did, it will end on a huge cliffhanger. ;P It would be interesting to see what people think about it.

Making himself into a powerful bomb was Deidara's final 'masterpiece'. O.O It looked about as powerful as an atomic bomb. Sasuke got away just in time by summoning Manda and traporting himself to another dimension. The brunt of the blast hit and killed Manda. Along with Deidara, the Akatsuki think Sasuke and Tobi are died from the blast. Pain's ordered by Madara (a.k.a. Tobi) to find the Kyuubi. (I thought that's what they already were doing? :P) Itachi warns Naruto about Sasuke. Jiraiya finds where the leader of Akatsuki is, and plans to go there alone. Another one of Itachi's clones meets Sasuke. (He's kind of everywhere. ^_^)

日本語

I reviewed almost all of section し or shi. I also went over the particles and verb forms. I came up with a sentence for the letter too.

毎朝、何時に起きますか。

English: What time do you get up in the morning?

Nagi explained the rules of fighting each others Child. If the Child dies, they won't die but the one dearest to them will disappear. If a HiME dies, the Child and loved ones will die too. O.O The star that only they can see will eventually collide with Earth. The only person who can stop it, is the HiME that wins. If they don't do anything, the world will end. O.O Midori's researching on a better way to go about this. Akira was about to kill Takumi, he tells her if it's necessary than do it, since she's saved him countless times. Also, his tired of always being sick. Instead, she tries to give him his heart meds (he looked like he was having an attack), when he spits them out, she put them in her mouth with some water and tranferred it through a kiss. He's the one she's closest to.

I played a game called the Swords on Gamershood. It was hilarious how hokey it was. It looked a lot like Maple Story. Especially the monsters. It's kind of like a laid back rpg. Was mindless after a while of killing things.

I finally got an answer from my psychiatrist and her nurse. It took all day of calling, but I got an answer. It's funny though, she wants me to go up to 200mg 2x a day. But, I just bought a 3 months supply of 150mg. Kind of hard to do when half a pill is 75mg. :P So, they settled on prescribing a 3 months supply of 25mg that I'll take 2x a day. Anyways, it adds up right now. It was so late when they finally sent the prescription to the pharmacy, they didn't have any left. So, I have to wait until tomorrow. Wanted to at least start the night ones. :( At least I'll get them pretty quickly.

I also started another darwing. This time it's Halloween themed. I was drawing something else at the time, so why not draw it now? ^_^ So far it has a jack- o- lantern and part of a haunted house. I didn't realize how hard it was to draw a pumpkin. XD It was fun though. I'm hoping this one will be quick. Not sure if I'll even color it. Maybe, if people tell me they want to see it colored after I post it. No Youtube since yesterday they were doing maintenance. :P