Mood:
Cake's awesome!
This was actually yesterday, but why not celebrate it today, too? I don't think it's as good as pie, but it comes close in my book.
It's also Rosh Chodesh Kislev, which is the new month of Kislev on the Jewish calendar. I think it's our 3rd month of the year. We celebrate Hanukkah during it.
I can't believe I have exactly a week from today until the JLPT, or the Japanese Language Proficiency Test!
Last time I was just 4 points away from passing and being certified. Maybe this time I'll finally get certified. I've been focusing a little more on some of the stuff I needed to improve on. So, I feel a bit more confident.
Yesterday, I had my own little Shabbat service again. Rosie kept trying to eat the fringes on my tallit. It was annoying.
The portion was interesting. About Jacob and Esau. I feel a bit sorry for Esau. The Haftorah was a bit weird. It felt good to do the service again for myself. It's either that or none at all.
Started another drama yesterday called LADY~Saigo no Hanzai Profile~ or LADY~The Last Criminal Profile~. This was just like a Japanese version of Criminal Minds. Really good so far.
I'm good with seeing a similar team solving different cases in a different environment. This first episode was a bit long, but it was like a movie type of premier. Had a horrible case, too. A murderer would kill parents who abused their children in really messed up ways (not just stabbing them or shooting them), make the kids watch, eat their food, eat paper lying around, and take the kids. (Still don't know what happened to some of the kids...
) Almost felt sorry for the criminal when he was finally starting to open up about his crimes, and the reasoning behind it, and suddenly being shot in the back by a sniper. He thought that the murderer was going to kill one of the agents who went undercover.
Almost everyone on the team has a similar type of personality to the ones on Criminal Minds. There's a female boss, named Yuki (3rd from the left, in the middle in pic), instead of a male. But, she has a similar personality to Hotch. The star of this one, Kazuki (she's in front of everyone in the pic), is similar to Prentiss/JJ put together. Shinbori's like Spencer (he's on the far left). Their tech person's not as eccentric as Penelope, but she's close (she's 2nd from the left). Terada's a lot like Derek (far right). The similarities are a bit freaky. The last guy in the pic's a cop who helps them with their investigations. There aren't many profiling-based jdramas. (There's a ton of detective/police ones. Those aren't as thought provoking, I guess.) So, it's kind of fresh looking at it that way. Had a lot of actors that I like as well. That's always a plus.
Got sucked into some forums yesterday, too. I don't usually find so many things to comment about.
I think, Friday night, I played the Sims 2. Made a Gintama-based family. Gintoki with blond hair (kind of like when he was disguising himself as 'Kintoki') as the parent, Kagura and Shinpachi as teenagers. The only one that wasn't similar looking was Shinpachi. Couldn't get anything close to his clothes. The glasses and face were ok. The hair, not so much. But, they have the same personalities. So, it's still fun and interesting. Oh, and I put them in Strangeville, where there's aliens. Thought it fit.
deviantART faves: Noooo Warmth in a Cup My First Homemade Donuts 25 Gin san I did not make these! First 3 are awesome food pics. Fourth, a cute drawing of chibi Japan (from Hetalia) and their Bhutan OC. It's in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Bhutan-Japan exchange. Fifth, a nice and warm watercolor of Gintoki from Gintama.
Mood:
Hope people had a great one!
I'm thankful for a lot of things in my life. I usually am everyday, so to have just a holiday for it, is not enough to me. But, it does make others stop and pause to think about it. I'm thankful for friends, family, food, having a roof over my head, water, good meds, music, and so much more. (I mean I really could go on and on, but that's too much to read, even for me.
) Things don't seem as bad when you think about all the stuff you're grateful for. Today's Maize Day and National Parfait Day. Good stuff.
Things were a bit crazy on Wednesday, and again yesterday. So, I didn't have time to post.
We were going to go to our friends' place, but their sump pump overflowed. They still had the cleaners working on it. So, we did the dinner at our house. First time in a looong time that we've had Thanksgiving dinner here.
They brought all the stuff they said they were going to make, and cooked/heated it up here.
We did a salad with cranberries and almonds, and a fruit platter with whipped cream. Plus, cheese and smoked salmon with crackers for an appetizer.
They did the turkey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows (nasty to me
), asparagus, stuffing (really dry for some reason), cranberry sauce (both the canned version, and a relish. I like the canned stuff more), and gravy. For dessert, they made brownies, and pumpkin pie with hand whipped cream. I like their brownies the most.
The pie's ok, but they don't add much flavor to their whipped cream. Things seemed overall a bit bland with a lot of their stuff this time.
We played our annual Trivial Pursuit game. Only this time with our newer version. It was our family against their's. We won pretty quickly.Mainly, because of Dad. She's like a pro at trivia. Rosie got real happy when our friends showed up. Purring on the next cushion over from me, and getting into her 'meditating' pose. One of our friends said I looked like I lost a lot of weight. It feels like everyone who hasn't seen me for a couple weeks tells me that.
I think since I started losing weight recently, its been skydiving. Which is good to me, but a bit surprising.
In Fairy Tail, they held a 24-hour race. Surprisingly, Happy won. (In pic.) He helped people along the way. The only rule was that they couldn't fly, but they could use other magic. Happy's usually the slowest at running, since his thing is flying. Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Jet (the guy who won last year) came in last. They had to suffer the Guild Master's punishment. Which was an embarrassing photo spread in a mage fashion magazine. Funny.
Finally played another hour of my clarinet on Wednesday. Did some Irish and Klezmer tunes. Reed was a little dry, so it was a bit squeaky. But, it wasn't bad. Felt good just to play. Rosie liked it a lot. Oddly, I think she's become my number 1 fan.
Also, transposed an Irish tune. Figured out a quicker way to write it out.
I've caught up to the updates in En Passant. The last chapter that's up, ended on such a cliff hanger, it's almost cruel not to have the next out yet. This is a much better manga than I expected at first, and it's only getting more so. It'd be an interesting anime, if they did it. They did a back story on Arima. All the team members, except the Kings fought. White side's won their battles. After saving Riu, Kujou (White King) collapses, and essentially dies for a minute. While he's 'dead' he sees everyone calling for him. (In pic.) Everyone finally meets the Black King after Kujou comes back to life. I love how Arima doesn't say anything when Kujou's out cold.
Read through parts of the November issue of You Maga. Ended up starting to read an article about a 40-year-old woman's aura. (Apparently, the magazine's into that sort of thing.) This was all without writing it out or checking an online Japanese dictionary. Understood most of it. This is great practice for the JLPT. Wish I did this sort of thing sooner.
Can't believe I have about a week and a half until the test!
Also, while I was at the cafe, I had a mocha with whipped cream. I haven't had a mocha in ages!It's one of the few things with coffee in it that I love. It's really not much coffee though. More like a creamy hot chocolate with a tiny bit of coffee flavor.
I was glad that I managed to get everything that I wanted to do at the cafe. Sometimes, it doesn't work out. This week has been so weird, I was even more surprised that I did.
deviantART faves: Oreo Shake We May Kill Them Happy Thanksgiving Before After 4 I did not make these! First, a really delicious looking shake. Second, an artist was toying with the idea of what would Gintama look like if it was set in the Stone Age. If the Amanto weren't aliens, but demons. Very interesting concept, and nicely drawn. Third, a cute looking turkey drawn by an artist I watch. I'm not sure if it just ate a person or what. Looks content, though. Fourth, a awesome drawing by another person I watch. He wanted to see what people thought about different versions of a drawing. I like both. One's more detailed, the other warmer/lighter.
Mood:
Yay, cashews!One of my fave nuts. Can't believe that there's only 2 more days until Thanksgiving!
It's been a bit warmer the last couple of days. But, very windy and rainy. Did a butt-load of cleaning yesterday. Then, I got sidetracked with other things, and before I knew it, I didn't have time to post here.
Also, finally made an appointment to see my therapist next week. She's going to retire soon, so I was hoping to catch her before she left.I was surprised they had an opening so soon. After she leaves, I'll have to get another one. I think I read that they'll automatically reassign me someone. I can change it after, though. Wahoo.
Finally found a decent one, and she's leaving? Kind of frustrating.I really should be going more often anyways. Maybe I'll try to with the next therapist. Who knows, maybe this one will be even better?
Mom had her protime done, and found out her blood was too thin. So, she has to stop the new meds for a bit, then go back on a lower dose. Also, found out that her cancer marker count has skyrocketed again. Lovely.
Yesterday, I started watching Yamada Taro Monogatari or The Story of Yamada Taro. I like it a lot so far. Hilarious!
Someone commented on the first episode, saying they didn't like it because of the bad acting. But, honestly, I don't think it was poorly acted.
(Everyone else said it was great.) Some of the humorous moments were supposed to be goofy and 'unreal'. Had a good mix of goofiness and serious acting. Reminds me of Hana Kimi that way. Better acting than a lot of other comedic high school dramas.Both Ninomiya and Sho (from Arashi) do a great job.
Yamada Taro's a freshman on a scholarship at Ichinomiya Private Senior High School. He's a high-achiever, handsome, athletic, and seems perfect. But, he's painfully poor. The story humorously portrays Taro, who tackles problems that occur because of his poverty, his six younger brothers and sisters, and his mom. She feels she has to buy random things they don't need. Taro took up a part-time job to help the family. The only time he has to sleep is at school. Their father is off travelling, supposedly.
deviantART fave: Death Note: L I did not make this! A nice painting of L from Death Note, by an artist I watch. I haven't liked too many of her recent works, but I like this style more. I do see too much fanart of Death Note. Nice.
Mood:
Wow. Naming your PC? Seems a little overboard, no?
I mean I like my computer, but it's not a person.
It's been freezing out.
Last night it got to 24 degrees, before I went to bed. Things are iced over. Although we didn't get any snow, it did hail. I know I've said it before, but I really hope it doesn't end up like last Thanksgiving week.
Record lows, lots of snow, power outages...It was a mess.
Last night Mom and I went to an Italian restaurant downtown we hadn't been to in a very long time. At least, for me, it's been about 10 years if not more.I can kind of see why we stopped going.
The service was ok. The salad wasn't cut well, but was ok. The bleu cheese dressing I got on the side, tasted more like a cheesy garlic sauce. More garlic than cheese.We got a vegetarian pizza. Looked pretty big, but it had a very thin crust. It was pretty good other than that. Not the best, but ok. Most of their stuff, we realized, has bacon or some sort of pork product. Which is hard for us, since we don't eat that.
However, it was nice to try something 'different'. There's only so much you can take of going to the same 2 restaurants every other time. I mean, I love Indian and Vietnamese food, but if that's all you eat while out, it gets tiring.Tonight, we might go to Sizzler's. I haven't been there in a very long time, too. I've almost forgotten what it's like.
Found out some bad news about my mom after her doctor's visit on Friday.(I think that's when it was...) She has a huge blood clot going from her jugular vein down to her wrist. Really scary to me.
Makes sense though, since her hand puffed up, changed color, etc. They kept telling her not to worry about it, and if something else happens give a call. That's disturbing.I can't think of what would have happened if they hadn't found out what was really going on during her normal appointment. They're giving her 2 blood thinners. One, she has to inject herself twice for a full dose. The other, warfarin.
When I was in the hospital for my blood clots a few years ago, they tried the injections on me. I think I would have passed out if I was forced to do it on my own.
I did take warfarin too. Plus, she has to get her protime as well. Same thing I had to do. Only I did that for 6 months. Started to do my protime tests every couple of days, then it was every week, and I think we landed on every 2 weeks. It's a real pain.
She doesn't need another thing on top of what she's dealing with. The swelling is going down, though.
There's a special going on this year for a lifetime membership to Hadassah. Mom was hoping to have us both get lifetime memberships. Since we're so connected to it now. It's still a lot to get both, but it's for a lifetime. We wouldn't have to get it every year. The president of our Hadassah group, who's also a friend of ours, recently decided to raise the money for both. So, we wouldn't have to pay a thing.
She feels like our family's going through enough right now. Really awesome! I can't believe she'll try to get both!
Had my own little Shabbat service yesterday. It was nice. Rosie kept trying to eat the fringes of my tallit.The portion was the same one I worked on for my Bat Mitzvah. So, that was interesting to read again. I have read it a few other times since, but it feels a bit different each time. Sarah dies, Rebecca gets together with Isaac, Abraham dies and is buried next to Sarah, and a few other things go on.
deviantART faves: Hetaween: The Conqueror And The Slaves Forever sad panda I did not make these! First, a funny drawing based on Hetalia's Halloween special posted by the mangaka on his blog. I love their expressions. It was pretty funny that almost everyone ended up in slavery outfits, except for Germany. Second, a beautiful conceptual pic. I'm usually not too fond of them, but this was nicely done. Third, a drawing by an artist I watch. Same one who did the murderous cute bunny. I really like deadly and cute drawings. Poor panda. I wouldn't hug you though.
Youtube:
2 funny Sougo, from Gintama, vids:
Poor Kondo. (Also from Gintama.):
