National Blueberry Pie Day!

Mood:

This was actually yesterday. One of my favorite pies!When done right, it's amazing! It probably comes in around 2nd place for my fave pie flavors. Cherry being first, of course. Pecan pie's close, too. 

Well, I've got really good news!On Friday, I managed to publish my novel, Alliance, on Smashwords! I immediately saw people downloading the sample after it was published. I'm really surprised and happy.Last time I checked, the sample has been downloaded 10 times. Not bad for something that's been up for such a short time. 

Once it's published on Smashwords, they review it again manually to see if it can be approved to be in their 'premium' catalog. If it's approved, it can be sold at other online retailers. (Like, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, etc.) They said it would most likely take a couple of weeks in order to be approved. I was just approved today for it! Another piece of happy news!It was barely up for 3 days. I wasn't expecting a response so soon. And, I wasn't even sure if it was 'worthy' enough to be in that catalog.But, I think I'm the only one that thinks that lowly of it. So far, some of the people online said it sounded amazing. And, that it should become extremely popular. I don't know about that...But, it would be awesome if it was such a success! I might celebrate a bit this weekend, since it's gotten off to a great start. 

I also did quite a lot of promoting of my book on other sites. Its had a very interesting and positive response. Makes me even happier! Most are congratulating me, but a lot of others are thinking of buying it, too. Some have told me that they'll buy it when their paycheck comes in. It isn't that expensive, but I won't judge them. At least they're interested. Some said they have to ask their parents if they can buy it. I hope not too many little kids will be interested, because it might disturb them a bit. I know the ones who said they have to ask their parents are actually in high school. So, it's all good. I've had a couple of people say that it's weird and awesome at the same time. (It's interesting that they worded it the same, and they're from different sites.) That's cool! I don't want it to be boring, or I guess, conventional.There's a reason why I did it in the style I did, too. Kind of my own one. The characters make the story, and one or two people said it looks kind of like a script and regular book at the same time. 

Today, I started watching the new Jdrama Sennyu Tantei Tokage, or Undercover Agent Tokage. I really like the main actor, and have seen him in other shows. But, that wasn't my main draw. I always look at what the show is about, before basing my opinion on it. Having a fave actor in it is a nice bonus, though.It kind of reminds me a bit of NCIS. What with the missions they do. And, having to change identities so often. It's a pretty good show so far.

Tokage is a former detective at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. He kept to himself, and didn't work well with others. He solved many difficult cases due to his photographic memory and physical abilities. He made a mistake that led to his partner's death. He felt guilty, and quit the police force. Then, he was hired by a private detective bureau, and helps the police with secret undercover investigations. Tokage means lizard. He's kind of like a chameleon the way he can change his identity so easily. Hence, the nickname. But, they also say it means he'll turn his back on his partner, if he feels threatened. Like a lizard will drop off its own tail in order to survive. (That's the example they used in the show...) He gets a new partner to aid in the undercover missions. He's reluctant about it. She apparently has a really good nose, and is good with computers. 

Kaichou wa Maid-sama was interesting this time. Dealt with a transgender person named Aoi. A person who was born male, who's the 'nephew' of the maid cafe's owner, came in dressed as a girl with cute clothes, hair, and accessories. Apparently, she likes taking pictures of herself in those outfits. And, she's become a 'net idol'. (Someone extremely popular online.) None of her fanboys know that she was born male. She tells the owner that she's been disowned by her parents, and needs to stay with her. People were surprised when after some misunderstandings, she took her wig off and they found out that she was genetically male. She said she loves dressing up, having long cute hair, being girly, and cute things in general. She was teased in school because of it. She gets really pissed off at Misa for being born female, and not being into feminine clothes. Misa responds with telling her that she's sorry for wearing 'manly' clothes, but that's just who she is. She said that Aoi should be able to be herself, too. Thought it was a pretty good episode.

In Mix Vegetable, they visit Hana's family-owned bakery. Hayato starts oohing and ahhing at the display cases. Her father becomes very protective of her. Once Hayato finds out Hana has a little brother, he says he has to meet him. Thinking that he'll be a rival for taking over the bakery. But, he learns through playing baseball with the kid that he's extremely talented at the sport. He has no interest in the bakery, too. 

Played my clarinet. Haven't done that in a long time! Felt good, even though I made some mistakes.Did some Mozart tunes. Also edited more of the last panel of that long drawing meme in Photoshop. Soon that'll be done. Then, I'd just have to slap the panels in place, and post. I think I'll do a colored in version after that. Sounds like it'll be interesting and fun.

日本語

Worked on a few more compounds for 実. (Also, haven't done my kanji stuff in so long!) 誠実 or せいじつ (seijitsu): sincere, honest, faithful. 実名 or じつめい (jitsumei): real name. 実現 or じつげん (jitsugen): implementation (e.g. of a system), materialization, realization. 実効 or じっこう (jikkou): practical effect, efficacy, efficiency. 実行 or じっこう (jikkou): practice, performance, execution (e.g. program), realization. 実際 or じっさい (jissai): practicality, practical; reality, actuality, actual conditions. 実子 or じっし (jisshi): biological child, one's own child. 実質的 or じっしつてき (jisshitsuteki): substantial. 実習 or じっしゅう (jisshuu): practice, practicing, training, drill.

National Picnic Day!

Mood:

This was actually a couple of days ago, but a picnic would be perfect for a day like today. It's nice and sunny out. Perfect temperature, too.I haven't been to a picnic in a long time. 

I haven't posted for a while mainly because I wanted to focus on my writing stuff. Getting it ready to publish on Smashwords. I have everything done, except for making 'official' pages for the book. Like on Facebook, deviantART, LiveJournal, Twitter, etc. Basically promoting it. I'd like to put some of these pages up before I send in my stuff for them to publish. That way I can list those sites at the end of my novel. People won't know about it otherwise.It's funny, because I personally only like to use a handful of these social networks. But, it might be different and fun if it's for my novel. Kind of exciting actually!

It took me forever to decide on what kind of cover art I wanted.I'm really happy with my final 'design' of it.Dad seems to like it, too. It's basically the only thing I've asked for her help with. Mainly to see if it stood out, looked nice, etc. Her input was helpful. And, I ended up relaxing and having fun with the final design of it. If I relax with things, and have fun while doing it, I get a lot done. I love Photoshop even more now.I used 2 pics I took a while back, and the rest was Photoshop stuff. One of those pics became extremely distorted, and almost unrecognizable. Which is good, because I was going for something like that. Managed to figure out how to make things 'glow' through a lot of blurring techniques, and paintbrushes. 

For some reason, it has been kind of difficult for me to describe my story. Especially on the spot. But, I think I figured out the perfect way to say it. (After some heavy brainstorming, and suddenly getting ideas for it at like 2 in the morning...) I think the reason why it might be hard to describe is because there's so many elements to it. It all flows, but a lot happens. I also don't want to give away too much of the plot. Anyways, I'm glad it came to me finally.

Also, made a table of contents today. It's interesting that since it's an ebook, you can link the chapters back to the contents page, in addition to linking them in the list. So, if they want to go back to the list, they just click on the link of the chapter they're on, and it sends them back. If they want to go back to a chapter, they can click it on the list, and it'll take them to it. I think that's cool. Found out my spacing wasn't what they wanted, and fixed it. Instead of 172 pages, it's now 209 pages in Word. Crazy. But, it'll defer on actual pages, depending on what device its on. 

I'm also dedicating my book to my parents. I thought I should mention something about my mom, and I'm calling my dad Mammy J in it. She deserves a mention, too.I'm using Mammy J, because Dad sounds weird now, and I'm not sure how readers will respond if they see 'Dad' and me referring to her as 'her' or 'she'. She came up with Mammy J a while ago, and I like it. In my mind, I don't really feel it refers to a 'mom' for Mammy. Even though that's what they use sometimes in the South. Kind of feels neutral, yet nice. Saying my 'parent' all the time just seems cold. So, I'm trying to use Mammy J more often in general, too. 

I've been kind of on and off with my fitness routine lately. I'm hoping to get back into it. I managed to do 40 sit-ups this morning, and went for my 2-mile walk not too long ago. It was a glorious walk!(The sun, the smell of flowers blooming, the warmth, it was great!) Hoping to do the second round of 40 sit-ups, like usual, tonight. Eating has been a bit off lately too. I'm probably eating roughly around what I was doing before when I was really into my routine. But, instead of breaking up my meals and snacks, I seem to be just having 2 large meals for the day. (Essentially, just brunch and dinner.) So, not as balanced, but with the same amount of food? It's odd, and doesn't feel quite the same.So, I'm trying to get that back to 'normal' too. It might be because I could be stressing out about getting the novel ready and published. Probably, as soon as it's at least being 'reviewed' by their 'machine' after hitting the publish button, I'll feel a lot better. Might want to sleep for a while too. 

Started watching the drama Otenki Onee-san or Weather Girl (literally it's Weather Sister) last week. I'll talk more in depth about it soon, but it was a very interesting first episode. I like eccentric main characters. Started the anime Kaichou wa Maid-sama or Class President is a Maid not too long ago, too. It's surprisingly good. Again, I'll give a more in depth description in the future. I tried the anime Rave Master. It was created by the same person behind Fairy Tail. It was made before Fairy Tail, actually. So, I thought it'd be cool. I tried it one other time, too. I can't really get into it.The style was not that great either. For some reason, even though it has similar elements, it's definitely not as good. Maybe because he matured as an artist? I don't know...

SPY

Mood:

By Super Junior. Kind of a fun one. (Interesting to walk to.) You can kind of guess what it's about through the video. But, looking at the lyrics, it's about them chasing after a female spy that they've fallen for. I'm more into Japanese bands, but there are a few Korean ones that sound pretty good. Super Junior being one of them. Haven't really looked through that many of their songs, but I've liked what I've heard so far.

Haven't been feeling too well the last couple of days, so I've been sleeping in. Kind of annoys me, though. (Although, I was able to get to most of the stuff I wanted to get done these last couple of days.) Went through a lot of my mom's Jewish books. I'm only keeping a small fraction of what was there. Kind of weird to see how many I've put into the sell/donate bag I'm using. I've found things I didn't know she had. I still have a lot of them to go through, but I made a pretty good dent in it.

Started doing 30 sit-ups twice a day this week. I'm hoping to get back to a routine, like I had about a month ago. Only, I'm adding twice as much sit-ups each week this time. Managed to do my 2-mile walks so far this week, too. Trying to be as strict, if not more so, about my diet as before. 

Edited more of Alliance. This time read/edited from the very beginning in Word, until chapter 4. I think what I might do is read/edit a few chapters on the paper version, then trade off and do the same amount on the digital version. That way I can look at it twice in a 'round'. If I do this everyday, I should get through it pretty quickly. I seem to have a lot more errors at the beginning than I do for the rest of the thing.

I decided on another drawing idea. I'll draw out all my characters next to each other, with a height measure next to them. To show their designs, a bit of their attitudes, and height differences. Funny thing is my main character is the shortest. Should be a fun project. I might color them, too. I can use my fancy colored pencils and 'manga' pens.Another fun part to it. Not sure how long it'll take me, though...Also, edited that last panel of the drawing meme in Photoshop. I'm really liking the design I have for my main character in this one. Might use it as the main one for him.

日本語

Today's kanji is: 実. As じつ (jitsu): truth, reality; sincerity, honesty, fidelity; faith, kindness; content, essence, substance; (good) result. As まこと (makoto): truth, reality; sincerity, honesty, integrity, fidelity, confidence, devotion, trust, reliance. As み (mi): fruit, nut, seed; content, substance, ingredients. As まこと.に (makoto.ni): indeed, really, absolutely, truly, actually, very, quite. As み.の (mi.no): true, real; blood-related, biological (as in a relative). As みの.る (mino.ru): to bear fruit, ripen. As さね (sane): (obsc) pit (of a fruit), stone, core. The compounds today for it were: 実学 or じつがく (jitsugaku): practical science. 実権 or じっけん (jikken): real power. 実験 or じっけん (jikken): experiment. 実在 or じつざい (jitsuzai): reality, existence. There's plenty more compounds to this one. So, I'll be going over those for a bit. (Maybe for the rest of the week. We'll see.)

National Beer Day!

Mood:

Beer is great for cooking. I don't drink alcohol, so it's kind of the only way I can have it. But, to those that can drink it, enjoy it today. 

I kind of wanted to go to services on Saturday, but it didn't work out. Wanted to talk to someone, and return the books I took out of the congregation's library. I'll probably never get to reading them.Oh, well. I needed the sleep, too. 

Dad went to T-Mobile to get the new iPhone. The clerk who worked with her, outed her. Not only that, he would repeat important info/numbers out loud more times than he needed to. Seemed rather inept, too. It was a bit disturbing.But, now she has an iPhone on pre-order. Should be great. 

Looked at a place called Icing, since we were already at the mall. I've been there before, but not often. Realized they had a ton of interesting looking wallets.My really nice Indian looking wallet is in tatters. There's holes in the change pocket. So, I'm constantly losing change if I use it. The slots for cards and pics are wearing out, too. I sometimes use a coin purse that has a big Star of David on it. But, it feels like I'm being too 'open' with my religion that way.Also, obviously, only good for change. So, I really need a new one. I think that  the next time I'm there, I might look at them more closely. Maybe even get one. Funny, because my actual purse that has my wallet in it is still in great condition. I've had it for at least 4 years.They had some interesting hair stuff too. 

Ate at Himalayan Chutney after we went to the mall. It's a pretty good restaurant. We ordered chai, and Dad had a full mug when it came out. Mine barely had anything. They said they had ran out of chai, and that they just needed to make more. I was a bit disappointed by it, before they mentioned why there was so little. (They came only 10 minutes later with a mug filled to the brim.) We had the vegetable platter as an appetizer. It was pretty good. Had a huge samosa, pakoras, and onion bhajis. I tried their chicken coconut korma as an entree. It was really good. Like I've mentioned before on here, I love coconut milk-based curries, so it was perfect for me!Made for an awesome lunch today, as well. 

Started watching the drama version of xxxHolic a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't have the same 'cool' feel. Interesting to see a different take on it, though. Probably pretty difficult to get that same feeling in a live-action setting. There's a lot more freedom with anime, I think. Yuko, seems to be darker, and not as fun/sexy. She's an amazing character, but in the drama it feels like she falls a bit flat. Probably just the actress' portrayal, but I'm not sure. Maybe it'll be better, and closer to the way she was in the anime as it progresses. At least, in character. The actor who plays Watanuki is pretty good with the role. Not sure about Himawari. The few instances I've seen Doumeki, he seems pretty good too. I'm a pretty big fan of the anime, and read a bit of the manga. So, this should be interesting.

Yuko is the owner of a strange store which offers to make any wish come true for a price. Watanuki has a special type of blood that attracts spirits. He goes to her shop by 'accident', and later wishes for her to remove his ability to see spirits. She'll only grant his wish after he works as a temporary part-time employee for her at the store. She believes that will be proper payment. (But, she doesn't tell him for how long.) His job is to run small errands dealing with the supernatural and household chores. Himawari is his love interest and a fellow classmate. Watanuki detests Doumeki at first. He's another classmate, who Watanuki feels is trying to steal Himawari's heart. But, in reality he doesn't really care. (They're just good childhood friends in his eyes.) They end up helping on some of these 'errands'. The original manga was put out by an all women's manga group called CLAMP. They make some interesting stuff. At first, the only thing I had a hard time with in the anime was getting used to the drawing style, but it grows on you. 

The episode of Great Teacher Onizuka this time was great. Maybe better than the rest. Although, I liked the episode just before too. Onizuka will literally do anything for his students. They were going to fire him if he didn't get a perfect score on a standardized national test that students take. Seeing him as unfit to teach. So, he asked for one of his brightest students, Kanzaki, to help him out. She has an extremely high IQ, and it seemed that the adults in her life were just after her brain and not for who she was as a person. She told Onizuka that life wasn't worth living, since everything seems dull to her. He honestly cared about her, and eventually told her that everyone has a purpose in life. And, that they mean something to someone out there. It was actually kind of uplifting. Then, he risked his life trying to save her. He took the test and finished it, but passed out soon after bleeding all over the test. He didn't tell anyone that he had been stabbed trying to save her. They almost lost him, and when he woke up he asked Kanzaki how it felt with the idea that he might die. She was worried sick. He said that's what will happen with your friends/family if you were to 'leave' this world. In Judaism, there's an idea that when one person dies, it's as if a world dies with them. So, it kind of felt like a similar thing. By the way, with what they could decipher from his blood soaked test, he passed every answer that was visible. I'm liking this show more than I expected. 

I was going to look through Mom's Jewish books today. But, didn't get the chance. There's quite a bit of them. I'll only want a small fraction of it. So, I'll put the majority in a bag for donations or to sell. I'll do it tomorrow. It's taken me a long time to get enough courage to look through them. (Not sure if 'courage' is the right word...) 

Edited Alliance some more. And, started reading the story from the beginning over again. Kind of hard to read the paper version. At least for the first chapter, with all the editing marks. I'll read the beginning again in Word at some point. Made it to chapter 4 today. That's pretty good. I'm still not happy with the very first couple of lines. But, I'm just going to leave it now. The more I try to mess with it, the worse it sounds.At least to me. Maybe I'm trying too hard focusing on that. It might be fine. I also felt at points I might have been too detailed with characters. But, people will want to visualize them. When I had parts of it online, no one told me I was too detailed. In fact, in the beginning (when I started posting it on deviantART) they told me I wasn't detailed enough. I've worked on that a lot. They didn't say anything more about it, after I changed it. So, maybe it's just me. 

Started watching Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, or the Severing Crime Edge. I'm reading it in manga form and love it! (One of those that takes forever to update, though.) So, thought it'd be cool to see it as an anime. Really happy they made it. So far it's really good. It's one of the few seinens (intended for a mature male audience. Josei is the female counterpart. Both are very interesting) I really like. Very interesting and, to me, has a unique plot. 

Kiri seems like a normal ordinary boy with one slight problem: he's obsessed with cutting other people's hair. (Quite a bit of a hair fetish.) One day, he meets Iwai, the 'Hair Queen', who cannot cut her hair, because of an inherited curse. Kiri finds out that his pair of scissors, later called 'Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge', is the only thing that can cut her hair. But, their meeting sparked an old murder game to kill the Hair Queen using cursed killing tools, the 'Killing Goods'. Kiri has to protect her from those Killing Goods. Those Killing Goods have been inherited by the descendants of killers. Kiri finds out that one of his ancestors used the same pair of scissors to murder people, and dismember their bodies after. Quite gruesome, but somehow tasteful about it. A bit scary in some ways, too. Right up my alley! I love horror/mystery themes. So, I hope they don't mess it up in the anime version.

National Caramel Day!

Mood:

Caramel is awesome!It's easy to make, and there's lots of different ways to eat it. Whether it be by itself, into a candy, in baked goods, on ice cream, popcorn, etc. Very versatile stuff.

I had a horrible night.Just couldn't get to sleep, and kept tossing and turning. So, after I slept in a bit, I felt a lot better. The day was going pretty well up until I called a friend about something. Ended up talking about Mom's yahrzeit, which the actual Hebrew date is on the 19th this year. The congregation wants to put up a plaque with Mom's name, and say kaddish/mini memorial service. They want to do it the Shabbat before, so there's a minyan (10 Jews in attendance). Anyways, this wasn't really something I wanted to talk about today.So, it made me feel a bit odd after speaking with them. 

Finished watching Asuko March. It was a pretty good show. The actors were good, for the most part. The story was interesting. I think there could be a second season, but doubt it will happen. 

Watched the last 2 episodes of Hetalia: the Beautiful World. (They're only 5 minutes long.) One was about how Turkey treated Greece while he was growing up. It was funny to see the 'philosophy' side of Greece pop up as a little kid. He couldn't stop talking to Turkey about it. There was another country with them that was around Greece's age, but they didn't mention who he was. Maybe it was Crete? It's weird when they do stuff like that, and don't mention who they are. I know sometimes they have citizens from their countries talk to them, but this was different. Also, Italy visited Turkey. Turkey was talking about how strong Italy used to be, and Germany couldn't believe it. The second episode was an April Fool's one, based on the manga strip the mangaka put out, I think, last year. Really funny, and odd to see it in anime form. Taiwan and Thailand had a brief appearance. I love seeing what the designs for the countries are. They're very interesting. 

In Vampir, Ryou finds out what really happened to Miho. Miho was the one that committed suicide while jumping off a building. But, she landed on Ryou, and he died for a brief time. When he woke up he found out he's really one of the 'living dead'. Anyways, she caused it all, but he felt sorry for her and wanted to figure it out. It was really disturbing what happened to her, and I could see why this is a seinen. It didn't glorify it, but it still was disturbing. The people who drove her to suicide were 'punished' by one of the Vampirs, and eaten. Miho was able to happily pass on. I think the next chapter is the start of a new 'story', even though there seems to be more to this one. I guess finding this stuff out, was Ryou's purpose. I'll find out next time.

Finished working on one of the last 2 panels of the drawing meme. Just have to finish the final one. I think I really like the way Shadow turned out in this last panel. I look kind of old next to him...It's funny at least. 

World Rat Day!

Mood:

Yay! One of my favorite animals!They should be celebrated, even though many people consider them to just be pests. But, they're amazing as pets. I will post eventually about more songs. Just haven't felt like it, even though I've found a lot more interesting ones.I'm also trying to post more often, like I used to.

Watched the finale of the drama version of Ouran High School Host Club. It was rocky at the beginning, but the rest of it turned out pretty good. It's not phenomenal, but not bad either. I really didn't like the actor who portrayed Honey. He looked really demented, and more deformed than in the anime. Plus, his voice didn't quite seem to fit.The actor who portrayed Tamaki is always amazing at whatever role he takes. And, he seems to be in a lot of things. His appearance didn't really 'scream' Tamaki, though. Oh well, made for an interesting take on the character. The twins were perfect. They looked/acted the most like their anime counterparts. The actress who portrayed Haruhi was ok. Wasn't really great, but not bad. I'll be watching the movie next. 

Naruto Shippuden was another filler this time. I rarely actually say 'filler', because I consider the manga and anime separate entities. They may have the same plot, but the anime is an 'adaptation'. Meaning it's a take on the manga, so it's not exactly like it. I love to see different takes on things. But, even just looking at the anime, it seemed like the last couple have been fillers. Nothing happens during them. It's gotten so bad, that some of the sites where I watch it have put up [Filler] next to the title of the episode.These fillers are mostly just flashbacks. A couple of weeks ago it was getting intense again with the 'real' episodes. Maybe that's why they made fillers, to take a little break from the intensity. There was a new opening and ending this time. So, that was nice. Another goofy one for the ending...

In Dear, nothing much happened. In the chapter before, Kisara had kissed Chiruha. Ever since then, she's apparently been hiding from him. Everyone has been keeping watch over Chiruha's bedroom, making sure no one comes to kidnap her again. Things seem to be tense for everyone. Subaru, according to the kidnappers, was behind it all. So, Purino, Carol, Komomo, and Kurenai are shocked by it. At the end of the chapter, a couple of new suspicious people came to the door saying hello to Kisara. They'll probably try to take Chiruha, as well. I guess I'll see. 

Watched Brave last night. It wasn't as great as I was expecting. Just about the only thing that really stood out was her hair. They did pretty well with some of the stuff like the highland games, and clan meetings. But, the plot seemed a bit...weak to me.I don't know, something about it didn't sit well with me, too. Oh well, it was good to try. 

I put all the extra Passover stuff back where I had the stuff from last year. I'm keeping certain things where they are for now, because I'm still finishing them up. Stuff that I'd gladly have after the holiday, anyways. So, stuff like chocolate covered matzah, mandel cuts (biscotti like things) with chocolate drizzle on top, fruit (jelly) slices, macaroons, my homemade granola, etc. I also did some cleaning in my bathroom. Kind of tired from those now. 

日本語

The kanji I went over today were: 持 and 式. As 持つ or も.つ (mo.tsu): to hold (in one's hand), take, carry; to possess, have, own; to maintain, keep; to last, be durable, survive; to take charge of, be in charge of. As 持ち or も.ち (mo.chi): (suffix) hold, charge, keep possession, in charge; wear, durability, life, draw; (suffix) usage. As 持てる or も.てる (mo.teru): to be able to possess (hold, get, etc.); to be well liked, be popular, be pampered (spoiled, doted upon, etc.); last; possessed; possessing riches, having wealth. And, when in compounds, it's pronounced as じ (ji). 式 is pronounced as しき (shiki). It means: style, ceremony, expression, formula, equation, function, method, rite, ritual. Here's its compounds (the other one didn't list any): 式次 or しきじ (shikiji): program of a ceremony. 式辞 or しきじ: ceremonial address. 式日 or しきじつ (shikijitsu): day of a ceremony or event. 式典 or しきてん (shikiten): ceremony rites. 式服 or しきふく (shikifuku): ceremonial dress. 儀式 or ぎしき (gishiki): ceremony, rite, ritual, service. The next kanji that I'll work on has a ton of compounds. Should be interesting.