Erev Shavuot

Mood:

Or, the eve of Shavuot. The holiday starts at sundown tonight, and goes until Thursday at sundown. The reason why it's not just one day is the date's disputed. So, why not cover both days that's debated? Anyways, Shavuot literally means 'weeks'. It commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, and it's also a harvest festival. One side of the discussion of when to observe it is the day it actually occurs (with the giving of the Torah), and the conclusion of the counting of the Omer. (Some Reform Jews only observe one of the days.) It's the counting of days between the holidays Passover (2nd day) and Shavuot. Thus, Shavuot falls on the last day, or 50th day. Omer (literally 'sheaf') is a measure of grain used in the Torah. 

It's also common to have dairy foods during the holiday. There are many explanations as to why. Here are just a couple: one is the Torah is compared to milk by King Solomon who wrote: "Like honey and milk, it lies under your tongue." There's a psalm that refers to Mount Sinai as Har Gavnunim or mountain of majestic peaks, which is etymologically similar to gevinah which means cheese. 

People are also encouraged to stay up all night studying Torah. (Many people study the Talmud, Torah, and/or Mishnah.) This tradition apparently goes back to 1533.Sometimes there's a small group that gets together from our congregation, and we study/discuss parts of the Torah for as long as we can. Usually not all night, but it can go pretty late. Then, some of the congregants go home and do self-study for the rest of the night. It's a lot more fun and interesting with a lot of people. This year, it doesn't seem like anyone's getting together.So, I guess I have the option of studying it by myself. It'd be interesting if I did study it all night long. Doubt I will, though. We'll see.

The Jdrama, Dinner, has been interesting. I almost feel like it's too happy, or things work out too well for the characters. It's still a nice show. In Hitman Reborn, Xanxus was defeated and imprisoned in ice that seals the Dying Will's flame. Cool that Tsuna was able to learn a technique handed down from the 1st. Gokudera and the others lost all the rings to Mammon and Bel, but at least they all seem safe. Mammon suddenly appears in front of Tsuna after he defeated Xanxus. Almost like he's just taunting him now. Wonder what he'll do next, if his boss was taken out. Xanxus was once sealed in ice before by the 9th. Still on the Deliora story arc in the manga version of Fairy Tail. Pretty much going exactly the way it did in the anime.

Managed to play my clarinet today. Did some of my advanced Mozart tunes, and some of the advanced solo pieces. Wasn't my best, but I haven't seriously played in a while. Probably not the best to do the advanced stuff after not playing for so long.

日本語

A couple of days ago I went over a new kanji. Finally, a new one! The last one had so many compounds! The new one is 写. If pronounced as うつ.し (utsu.shi): copy, duplicate, facsimile, transcript. As うつ.す (utsu.su): to transcribe, duplicate, reproduce, imitate, trace; to describe; to film, picture, photograph. As うつ.る (utsu.ru): to be photographed, be projected. It tends to be just しゃ (sha) in compounds. 映写 or えいしゃ (eisha): projection. 活写 or かっしゃ (kassha): vivid description, painting a lively picture of. 誤写 or ごしゃ (gosha): error in copying. 試写 or ししゃ (shisha): preview, private showing. 接写 or せっしゃ (sessha): close-up photography. 速写 or そくしゃ (sokusha): snapshot. 透写 or とうしゃ (tousha): tracing. 描写 or びょうしゃ (byousha): depiction, description, portrayal. 写真 or しゃしん (shashin): photograph, photo. 写生 or しゃせい (shasei): sketching, drawing from nature. 写像 or しゃぞう (shazou): image, map, mapping. 写本 or しゃほん (shahon): manuscript, written copy, codex. So, since I finished the compounds for this one today, I can move on to the next kanji tomorrow.

Planned a bit more of my next drawing. It'll feature all my characters from Alliance, their heights together, personalities, and designs. Probably will take me a while, but I think it'll be fun.Also, edited a bit more of that last panel from the drawing meme. Soon, I'll be done with that, put it all together in the actual meme, and then post it. Won't take me long. Also, thinking of making a poster/flyer for my book. Just to post in places like cafes, and to hand out to people, I guess. It'll get the word out more.It's now available on Smashwords, Kobo, and iTunes. Still only 12 downloads, and no sells. It's early, and a lot of the retailers just got it but haven't put them up yet. So, we'll see.