Hug Your Cat Day

Mood:


I think it should be everyday!It's good to encourage it, though. It's celebrated worldwide. The holiday was created to show some love to our cats. And, to raise awareness of the benefits for both the cat and the person. It tends to make not only the cat feel better, but you as well.I have 2 cats, so I guess I should give them more hugs than usual today.It's also National Macaroon Day. I'm a little iffy with macaroons. I'm mostly ok with the coconut ones.

In Fairy Tail, since the clock hand was stolen from Lucy, they decide to investigate her father's mansion. There haven't been any buyers since his death, therefore it's abandoned when they arrive. Lucy thinks she'll try to save enough to buy it in the future. It still has family heirlooms mixed in with the junk. They go through everything, and when Lucy's looking through her father's library, she finds a book titled 'To My Daughter'. It's completely blank, but they realize that the title's an anagram. Once they figure that out, it leads them to a picture book about time and the 'starry sky'. They get attacked when they find it. Once the enemy glances at it, he says he memorized it and returns it. One of the other enemies, named Dan Straight (yeah, not such a creative name, and not funny...), falls for Lucy and shrinks Natsu. Happy stomps on Natsu by accident. Dan leaves without turning Natsu back. Should be funny during the next episode, seeing him like that again. People keep commenting saying it's a 'filler' arc, but I still think it's part of the story. Not much filler to it.  


Played some more Irish tunes on my clarinet yesterday. I'll probably do some Klezmer tunes today. I'm thinking about becoming a private clarinet tutor. They say the only requirement you need is experience in playing the instrument. I have 17 years experience. I think I definitely qualify in that department.I'm thinking of starting with beginner students. And, help a little if intermediate players are stuck on something. Also, I think I can help people from all age groups if they're starting out. (Not just little kids.) I've heard a lot of private tutors work with their students from their own homes. That'd make it easier for me, as well. I have a lot of ideas for it, and what to put on a flyer to send out. The more I think about it, the more awesome it sounds to me!I love music and the clarinet, and I'd be happy to share that with people. Plus, it wouldn't be too bad to make some money from it.Have to figure out rates and stuff as well.

In Anagle Mole, Luchiru fights the other majin that was assigned to kill him. Luchiru beats him and wins in the end. He kept saying Luchiru was inexperienced, weak, and would never amount to much. Chiwa found Luchiru and Kyousuke in the pouring rain. The pic's of what happens when she sees them. 


Almost done transposing my Irish tunes. It's cool to see how many I've done already. I'll probably move on to the Beatles' songs next. Started reading the Merchant of Venice from my Shakespeare collection book. Interesting so far. Not sure if I like it as much as the Comedy of Errors, though.

日本語

The kanji for yesterday was: 弟. Or: おとうと (otouto), てい (tei), だい (dai), で (de). It means younger brother, faithful service to elders, or younger male. Interesting that otouto is usually used, the others are usually in compounds. When referring to another's younger brother, you say otouto-san (弟さん). When addressing one's own younger brother, you say their given name. Contrast to when addressing one's own older brother, you use an honorific onii-san (お兄さん). 

deviantART faves: Passed Out. Commission: Fledge I did not make these! First, a cute pic of a ferret sleeping on his own litter. He looks so worn out. Second, a drawing by another artist I watch. It's of someone else's original character. I love almost anything he does. Not too fond of some of the ecchi stuff, but the rest is amazing.

Youtube:

An interesting look at what animals 'say' from various countries. Like we say oink for a pig. Or, woof for a dog. I love languages, so this was kind of interesting to me. I knew most of it, but some I haven't heard before:

Honey Pie

Mood:


By the Beatles. One of my faves from them. Really fun to play on the clarinet. This and When I'm Sixty-Four. Funny, because I use a Beatles' book that's written for the guitar. And a lot of the songs are kind of boring to play. I also like Wild Honey Pie. Quite a different feel, though.

Well, I felt pretty lousy last night, and manage to cry late at night until most of the day today. Oh, joy.The rest of the day was somewhat ok. I was distracted by it though. Rescheduled my therapy appointment. It's kind of funny. Didn't realize this until later, but most of that week I'm out doing things. I have that therapy appointment, next day I have a Hadassah meeting, next day's the day I go to the cafe, and finally I have my orthopedist appointment by the end of the week. Should be interesting. Kind of like after having a drought, there's a flood.


Toshi Densetsu no Onna has been getting better and better each episode. This one was about the urban legend of what happens when you see your doppelganger. There were apparently 3 of them in this case. You didn't know about the third until the last couple of minutes. The victim was about to get married, but she was tormented by thinking she saw herself or some imposter, and thought she was going crazy. Her fiance had fallen in love with another woman who seemed to look exactly like her. They wanted to confront her about it, on her wedding day. Before that, she was sent a pic of a place she hadn't visited yet with her fiance. But, it looked like she was there, and he was happy. There were a couple of other pics where her doppelganger also showed up. But, it turned out to be her 2nd one (or the 3rd person). They knew because the woman the fiance fell in love with had a mole. The victim didn't, and the 3rd person didn't. Kind of creepy. Going into kind of a fit of hysteria upon seeing the one her fiance loved, she attacked her. But, out of self defense, the other girl grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed her. They wrapped her up in a garment bag, put a heavy angel statue in with her, and tossed her in a nearby pond. She traveled into an underground water tunnel system all the way to a lake. The bride kept saying she saw herself dressed in a black wedding dress, before she died. So sad!


Apparently I have watched more than 4 episodes of Bleach before. I'm still not sure where I stopped watching it in my college anime club. It is getting better with each episode though. I kind of like the story 'arc' at the moment. They have to deal with a mod soul. Souls that were artificially created by Shinigami (Death Gods), and put into corpses. Basically, to work as their army against the Hollows. They can have one superhuman ability. (Like super speed, jumping great distances, flying, etc.) But, they scrapped the project. And, most of the 'mod souls' have been destroyed. Except for some who managed to hide in objects, waiting for a body to come by. It's kind of sad. This one is in Ichigo, and has been wreaking havoc at his school, and around town. He's liking all the attention. People see him, and think it's actually Ichigo. So, his behavior was really weird to them.


Somehow managed to play my clarinet. It's weird when you're crying through half of it.Did a lot of Irish tunes.

Grim Reaper has been better than I expected. (Apparently, the Shinigami/Grim Reaper theme is very popular in Japan. I know lots of anime/manga that have them in it, or reference them.) Yuuka has to fight a Grim Reaper organization called Record, to protect his family and friends. They threatened to not only kill him, but everyone connected to him. The Grim Reaper that saved him from his first fight with them, her father was the one that gave him his 'abyss' powers. She thinks that if she finds him, they can turn Yuuka back to normal. She also plans to protect him for the time being. The pic above shows how weird she is. She's not embarrassed by going around the house naked. But, it's like she's not really aware of it.

日本語

Started translating the first sentence of the You Maga article I'm working on. I've typed up the first paragraph in Japanese, and am going through it now. Today's kanji was: 弱. Or: よわ.い (yowa.i), よわ.る (yowa.ru), よわ.まる (yowa.maru), よわ.める (yowa.meru), じゃく (jaku). It means weak, frail, fragile, delicate, reduce.


Worked a little on the original character meme. The first slot, where Zero's dreaming about what he'd consider pleasant. Got him and his bed better than I thought I would. Made his hair nice and messy, and perspective looks good. At least, to me. I made him drool a little too.I'm going to have a huge thought 'cloud' next to him. Maybe he'll dream about the girl he knew in Greece, and/or flames. Should be interesting, because I haven't drawn her yet. Also, worked on Anzu's face. Almost done with it. Her head, this was unplanned, is cocked to the side. Interesting. Did a lot of editing of chapter 16. Hopefully, I can continue with the story tomorrow.

Shavuot

Mood:


Actually ended at sundown today. Started Saturday night. It celebrates the giving of the Torah. You're supposed to eat a lot of dairy foods for a number of reasons. One reason they say, is before we got the Torah, we weren't obligated to follow its laws (kind of hard when you don't know about it yet), which included the ritual slaughter of animals and kashrut. Since all the pots and dishes, now had to be made kosher before use, they opted to eat dairy foods. Another one's, the Torah was compared to milk by Solomon, saying "Like honey and milk, it lies under your tongue." The Hebrew word for milk is chalav, and the gematria (numerical value for each letter added up) of it is 40. Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai while receiving the Torah. 40 seems to come up a lot.Anyways, I'm more than happy to have dairy foods to celebrate it.


You're also supposed to study Torah at least from sundown the first night up until dawn the next day. Some people actually bring sleeping bags to it. Some say it's because they overslept the day the Torah was given, and Moses had to wake them up. Since G-d was already waiting on the mountaintop. To rectify this perceived flaw, many of us stay up all night studying Torah. This tradition started in 1533. 


I managed to get to our Torah study or Tikun Leil Shavuot Saturday night. It didn't go until dawn. But, I could have gone home and continued studying until then.I was already tired by the time I got home, though. It ended at around 10. I was starting to yawn towards the end. Kind of sad. We talked about a passage in the Torah, that says "we will do, and we will hear". A little while later it says the opposite "we will hear, and we will do". So, we went over some midrash (rabbinic commentary), and discussed what we thought about it. It seemed really simple, but turned out more interesting than I thought it would be.


The second part was on the 10 'commandments'. We actually call them the 10 'utterances' in Hebrew, not technically commandments. We discussed if we can still relate to them in the modern world, would we re-word them, and would we add any to the list. Another interesting discussion. Oddly while we were doing the 2nd part, I was being attacked by mosquitoes. This was indoors! They'll find me anywhere this time of year.


I tried to get a ride to my therapy appointment for Tuesday. Called a lot of people. One person told me she could get me there, but couldn't drive me back. After asking around some more, apparently, no one could drive me back.So, I looked at the bus system. Which was kind of hard to figure out where the closest stop was to the building. I would have to use 4 buses in order to get home. It would take about 2 hours. Another bad part of that, is the time it would end. The bus service would stop about halfway on my way home. I'd be stuck.So, I decided to cancel, and reschedule it tomorrow. It just wasn't meant to be. Maybe I can give people enough time in advance, or I can get something for when my dad goes on summer vacation. 


It's been strange without my main overhead light. I'm using a tiny cheap looking shade lamp over my computer (I usually use it on my nightstand), so I can at least look at my keyboard. Occasionally, I've also been using a small apple cinnamon scented candle. Opened up my blinds for a little bit today. Which was better, but it makes a glare on my monitor. It's been good for the day, but doesn't do much when it gets dark. Thought about using one of our kerosene wick lamps, but they're either very low on liquid, or there's not much wick left.


I've been feeling a bit more stressed out since my light went out. My jeans apparently have a hole in them, and I highly doubt they're repairable. I only have like one other pair of pants. Plus, the stress of not getting a ride for tomorrow. And, wanting to get closer to my friends. I've been having these weird headaches, my arm's starting to hurt more. I just hope things will settle down a bit more soon.


There have been good things too. Like the Shavuot thing, progressing more on my story, getting better with my kanji, sounding better on my clarinet, and other things. 


Found a site where I can look at and download things for my sims on the Sims 2. Interesting hairstyles, eyes, clothes, etc. Easier for me to base a character on one of my own characters from my story. I just like messing with them. I'm so horrible to my original characters.


Didn't go to services, again this passed Saturday. But, I did look at the portion. It's the beginning of Numbers. A bunch of census taking, and family names. Also, said where the priests and each tribe are supposed to camp. Just about the most interesting part of the portion.


Manage to find some more music. A couple from the 80s. I'm still doing that thing with searching through songs that were popular every year I was alive. Finally finished the 80s. I think I only found a few from that time period. The 90s might have more, because I really grew up then. I don't know, we'll see. It's kind of an odyssey. Fun, but weird.


Played my clarinet today. Did some classical music, jazz, and Irish tunes. Wasn't too bad. Only messed up a couple of times, but I rarely mess up on those spots. Weird.


Kagi no Kakatta Heya was interesting. I kind of like how every episode has something a little different in the opening sequence. Kind of gives a hint about what that one will be about. This time it was about a play. The play was about a locked-room murder, and it just so happened that the victim was killed in a similar way. It was interesting how the killer escaped. He made people think he was the playwright, but he really had someone do it for him secretly. The actor who did it for him, was happy to, since he paid him well. But, another actor found out, and was going to use it against him. The 'playwright' didn't want that to happen, and killed him. The actual writer was suspected of doing it through most of the episode. Sad.


Acchi Kocchi was cute, yet violent, again. It was summer, and the girls decide to go to Io's place. Sakaki was already there doing his homework with Io. The girls get mistaken for scammers by a not-all-there Io. Later, they clear it up, and everybody but Sakaki and Mayoi start playing video games. Bugging the heck out of them. They had some mishaps at a summer festival, too. Apparently, all animals love Io. He didn't even have to try in a game where you try to scoop up goldfish and put them in a jar of water. They just jumped out for him. He also was awesome at any game he tried there. He's a pretty cool character. 

In Kekkaishi, Yoshimori and Yumeko go off to try and help Masahiko (or as Yoshimori calls him, the patissier ghost), pass over. They think if he talks to his brother, it'll help him. He thinks his brother hates him, but his brother visits the spot where he died all the time. He starts thinking maybe he should talk to him. He comes from a well to do family who sold kamaboko and chikuwa (or fish paste). But, Masahiko wasn't interested in that and opened up his own pastry shop after learning the craft. So, his brother was forced to take over. Masahiko also likes to give tips to Yoshimori on his candy castle he's trying to perfect. It'll be kind of sad when he does pass over. So far, I'm liking the manga a lot more than the anime. I think the quality of the art, and how they tell the story, isn't very good. Might stop watching the anime soon, because of it.


Wrote a bit more of chapter 16 of my story. Wasn't too focused this time, what with trying to get a ride. So, I might have to go over it again tomorrow. I still feel like I'm getting the excitement of writing it back.

日本語

Typed out the entire first paragraph of the You Maga article I'm working on. Actually didn't have to look up too many things. I guess I'm on the right track then. The Japanese lesson from my book was about comparing things. Their adjectives don't have a comparative form. So they use something that literally means 'side' or 'alternative' with it. The order of the sentence is a bit different too. But, very interesting. Got most of the practice sentences correct. Today's kanji was: 強. Or: つよ.い (tsuyo.i), つよ.まる (tsuyo.maru), つよ.める (tsuyo.meru), し.いる (shiiru), こわ.い (kowa.i), きょう (kyou), ごう (gou). It means strong, powerful, potent, mighty, tough, stiff, stubborn, intense, forces, forceful. Read an article in Japanese from Asahi's online site. It's about a cat cafe that just opened in Vienna. One of the first in Europe. They're extremely popular in Japan.

deviantART fave: Silhouette I did not make this! A pic of a pretty cat's silhouette. 

Youtube:

A report on the popularity of cat cafes in Japan, in Japanese. But, I think people will get the gist of it even if they don't know Japanese:

Acchi de Kocchi de

Mood:


Or, Over There, Over Here. It's Acchi Kocchi's opening song. Sung by the voice actors. I'm liking this series more and more with every episode.Another cute, fun, upbeat, and somewhat cool song. Not only does it have a similar title, but the song and sequence really fit well. And, the actors sing pretty well, too.

Well, apparently I'm going to go without light in my room. I thought I just needed to replace the bulb, but even new bulbs aren't working. So, we think it's the fixture. Oh joy. Maybe I'll get like a small cheap candle to light the area around me at night? 


I've started walking around the neighborhood again.This time for a longer period of time each walk. Hoping to do like 3 or 4 of them a day, and gradually do longer and longer walks. Should be good for me. 


I called my health insurance to see if they got the forms and records, so they can review it and have me continue with my coverage. They apparently have the forms. But, they don't really have the records yet. Behavioral health was sent a huge packet of my records. It was supposed to go to the people reviewing it.So, good thing they realized the mix up, and will get the records soon. 


Finished watching the first season of Gokusen. I loved it!It just got better with every episode. Had a lot of actors I was familiar with from before. But, they were much younger in this. They were good even back then. There's a special episode I'll watch next week, where the boys go through graduation. Heard that with each season, there was a new group of guys she had to teach. So, that's kind of sad. I liked almost every character.

I'm noticing as I read Buster Keel, that there are more and more similarities between it and Fairy Tail. But, there are some things that I really like that the other doesn't have. The music themes, not everyone has a 'magic' power, to me the characters seem a bit more dark, lots of animal themes, and more. Keel's group, Bumper, and Tattoo are trapped in the necropolis ruins. Mippy decided to try and find the jingi (really powerful musical instruments) treasure that was rumored to be there. He wanted to prove himself to the others. Blue and Lovey realized and went after him. Keel, thinking the others abandoned him at the hospital, decided to go search for it as well. Even though he was badly injured. Bumper and Tattoo were also told that one of the jingis would be there, so they went. There's also a skeleton man, named Bone, who while he was human was searching for treasure there. He died looking for it. He saved Mippy. A demented magic user is sicking his 'toys' on all of them, while sealing off all the exits. 


Played some more jazz and a little from my solo classical music book. The solo book is one of the toughest ones I have. But, I wasn't too bad this time.Edited some of the chapter I'm on of Alliance. I really like how it's turning out. The last couple of chapters, didn't 'feel' quite right. They're good, but they went in a different direction than I expected. Took some time to get used to. But, this one's kind of fun. The new character seems really crazy, and evil. They can be the easiest/most fun to portray.

日本語

The kanji I worked on for today was: 形. It can be pronounced as: かた (kata), -がた (-gata), なり (nari), けい (kei), and ぎょう (gyou). Again, depending on how you pronounce it, it means: shape, form, style, appearance, tense, figure, visage, state.