National Oatmeal Day!

Mood:

I love oatmeal!Used to eat it for breakfast almost every morning. I usually put some raisins, sweetener, a tiny bit of creamer, and salt in it. Sometimes I add a little maple syrup. And, then occasionally I just like to eat it plain. Oatmeal cookies are pretty awesome, too. Sunday was National Potato Day. I also love potatoes! It's very versatile. I could eat them all day.

Had my first therapy session in about 8 months. Almost didn't feel like therapy. I kind of like her. She said her approach to therapy is more focused on spirituality. I think I need that. Not sure how she'll help me, but seems like it was a good start. In fact, we talked about things that I never got to with other therapists.

I took a bus over to the ferry terminal, caught a ferry, and walked from that ferry terminal to the counseling center. I was going to take a bus for part of the way to the counseling center, but there was a lot of construction going on that also backed up the buses. So, at least it doesn't cost me anything to walk, it was somewhat nice out, and I got to sightsee. Haven't really had the opportunity to explore the city by myself. There were some interesting people and places. I got a bit lost at one point, but quickly and easily found the right way. 2 other people were lost, and I kind of felt bad that I couldn't help them.I was about 10-15 minutes early to my appointment. So, right about on time.

Can't believe my birthday is in 9 days!Not exactly sure what I'll do during the weekend for it, but hopefully it'll be fun! Might go to an art museum, science center, Uwajimaya, and/or look around an international district. The international district has a Chinatown, Japantown or Nihonmachi, Little Saigon, and a Filipino community. Uwajimaya is located there, but haven't really looked around that area. (Uwajimaya is a huge Asian super market. Most of what they sell is Japanese, but they sell lots of Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, etc. products. They even have some Russian stuff. I love this place!) Sounds like it'd be interesting. 

Halloween is really coming up quickly! I have most of my costume, but I might need one or two more things. They're not particularly 'Halloween' things, they can be useful for other times. These are just to make me look...better. The dress is semi-tight, and it's sleeveless. So, people would see my bra with the straps. Hangs pretty low too. I'll be showing a bit more cleavage than I'm used to as well...I'm going as my original character, Sin Petra, from Alliance. I've got a wig that looks close to the color and style that I want. Would have been cool if it moved a bit. She's a medusa, so each skinny strand of her hair is a thin snake. So, it moves slightly. Oh well, maybe her snakes will be sleeping or something. 

The dress is semi-short and black velvet with a patterned top (kind of ribbed, I guess). I haven't tried wearing it since I was at or close to my heaviest. It looked horrible back then, and it was for another Halloween costume. I was someone who froze to death in the water after the Titanic went down. Had 'ice crystals' that had to be glued on one by one. Friends helped out with that one. The idea was interesting, and it wasn't too bad aside from the dress not fitting right. Anyways, I tried it on a couple of days ago, and it looked pretty decent on me now. Kind of surprising, because I don't think I'm down to that size in dresses yet. But, then again I haven't tried on a dress in a long time. So, I wouldn't know currently. I have noticed that I lost even more weight lately. I think this dress was originally just for formal stuff, but somehow it turned into something I use for Halloween.Maybe because there aren't too many formal events to go to. I also have a fancy shawl that goes with it. I think it's velvet, rather big, and has a fringe. Not sure if I'll use that. Or worse comes to worse, I might hide my straps with it...

I also have really long Halloween gloves now. They're a bit longer than I wanted, but I can always roll it up nicely. I think it's made for someone who's slightly slimmer in the arms, but then again it's stretchy. So, maybe it just needs to conform to the shape of my arms. My fingers aren't quite big/long enough to fill the glove part all the way. But, it looks interesting. 

Also, got some eyeliner for her makeup. I have no experience with it, so it should be interesting. I plan to use some smoky looking eye shadow (it might be really old, though), mascara, a lot of foundation, dark lipstick (not sure what color yet, and might be old as well), eyebrow pencil, and I might use a dark nail polish for my nails. My character loves to wear makeup, so this shall be an adventure.I like to wear it occasionally, but usually not that much of it. Haven't really decided what shoes I'll wear for the costume, but I'm sure there will be something. It'd be interesting if I do get into character, as well. I love to dress up, eat candy, and watch horror movies. So, it's my type of holiday.

My grandma passed away last Tuesday.Feels weird to realize I now only have one grandparent, my grandpa on that side. I'm more worried about how my grandpa is doing. I loved my grandma, but I don't think its really 'hit me' yet. Wish we lived closer to them, and other members of both sides of my family. They live on the other side of the country. So, it makes it a little harder. Plus, she passed away close to her birthday. I have had a harder time concentrating on things since I found out. 

Finished watching Uchouten Kazoku or The Eccentric Family. It was a really good series. It'd be cool if they did a second season, but I kind of doubt they would. Had a really good ending. 

Started reading Pandora Hearts. I loved the anime, so why not read the manga? The manga's still ongoing, so it obviously has more to it than the anime. Not sure where the anime left off in the manga, or if and when it might have diverged from the manga's plot. Should be interesting to see how different it is in that way, too.

Been playing my clarinet. Today, I did some klezmer tunes and Mozart pieces. The Mozart ones are from an advanced book. Sounding better and better every time I play now. Wrote some more of the 2nd short story to my nightmare anthology. This one is a bit longer than I expected, but I think I might be nearing the end of it. Not sure, though. 

日本語

Studied more compounds for the kanji: 代. 五代 or ごだい (godai): Five Dynasties (of Chinese history). 歳代 or さいだい (saidai): (suf) decade (of age), the ...ties. 酒代 or さかだい (sakadai): alcohol expenses. 三代 or さんだい (sandai): three generations; third generation. 昭代 or しょうだい (shoudai): glorious reign, enlightened era. 初代 or しょだい (shodai): first generation, founder. 身代 or しんだい (shindai): fortune, property. 次代 or じだい (jidai): the next era. 時代 or じだい (jidai): period, epoch, era, age; the times, those days; oldness, ancientness, antiquity. 重代 or じゅうだい (juudai): successive generations. 

Well, tonight's support group should be interesting. It's a 5th Tuesday, so we're having a potluck and watching a movie. Someone said that they expect some people to be in costume. I don't have mine totally figured out yet, so I'm not going to.I might put some sort of Halloween thing on. Might be something like my pumpkin earrings. 

Caramel Apple Day!

Mood:

I love caramel apples! I rarely have them, even during autumn. Although, I think if I had them more often, I'd get sick of it and would probably lose my teeth.So, it's better for me to have it as a rare treat. I like those caramel apple lollipops that come out this time of year, too. If I do have the actual apples dipped in caramel, it's usually store-bought. Some of the ones at our local grocery store can get pretty fancy with putting a bunch of things on the caramel. The plain caramel ones are still the best to me, though.

Last Wednesday, I apparently had eaten too little. So, the next day I felt like I had been hit by a truck, and was pretty sluggish.I had started to eat less the Friday before that. I was ok for a while, until I decided to see how little I can actually eat in a day on Wednesday. I noticed I can still eat small amounts, just not THAT small. I'm still eating less than before that Friday. With leftovers I've decided I can also spread them out for snacks. That way they won't go bad, and I won't feel like I'm wasting food.

I'm up to 70 sit-ups twice a day this week. Hopefully, I can keep it up. Hope to get back to my walks soon. I finally will have my first appointment with my new therapist this Friday. Haven't had a session in about 8 months.At least I'll see someone now. On Saturday, I'll have my annual eye exam. I can tell I need it, since my contacts go out of focus quite often, and I'm squinting more. 

Decided to change my wallpaper. I had mentioned before about switching it to one featuring Chrome from Hitman Reborn halfway through the month. This is her. The wallpaper I had before featured Mukuro. Thought this seemed a bit more Halloween-ish. Her name is an anagram for Mukuro in Japanese. (Chrome in romaji: Kuroomu. Or: ムクロ and クローム.) Those aren't really her normal clothes. I don't think she has Dying Will flames coming out of her eye, either. (Or where she used to have an eye.) But, she carries the staff with her everywhere. The more I think about her 'situation', I'm realizing she's more like a zombie. She doesn't bleed either. The only things keeping her 'alive' are organs made out of illusions that Mukuro created. So, she really does fit the holiday.

Watched a Syfy movie Saturday night called Grave Halloween. Thought it'd be interesting, since the story's based off of the 'Suicide Forest' in Japan. Some of the Japanese was very poorly spoken. (I checked some of the words just to be sure. Some of them weren't actual words.) Some of it was spot on. So, on that front, it was kind of mediocre.It had a very slow beginning and middle. It could have probably just been 30-45 minutes. There were some really gruesome/graphic deaths. I usually like the more psychological stuff rather than gore in horror movies. I love horror movies in general, though. Didn't like the ending, although I kind of saw it coming. Or, at least a similar scenario. A lot of it was predictable. I like the ones that keep you guessing. So, it was just ok. Not great or bad, just ok. Also, it was filmed in Canada instead of Japan. They tried to make it 'look' like Japan, though. 

Started watching Ando Lloyd. It felt like a cross between the Terminator and the Matrix. Saying the title in Japanese also sounds like android. It fits it well, too. Reiji Matsushima is a genius physicist who studies wormhole theories. He somehow came up with a list of people who were 'destined' to be murdered. It has the exact date and time on it. His and his fiancee's name are the next ones to be 'killed'. (His fiancee's name is Ando Asahi.) He predicts his own death, but tries to change it. He ends up getting killed anyways, but he vows to protect Ando forever. A robot who looks like Reji, shows up in front of Ando just before she was about to be killed. He says his 'client' told him to protect her at all costs. Even from herself. He destroys the other 'robot' before it carried out its mission to kill Ando. Now, he apparently has to deal with 10 other 'agents'. These 'killer' robots seem to come from some sort of different dimension, where when they target you, no one in the 'real' world will notice. That's about as much as they revealed in the first episode. All the summaries online that I've found weren't entirely accurate. Oh well. I like his fiancee. She's funny, smart, has confidence, and is spunky. The couple were very cute together. It'd be interesting to see how this one turns out. The pace of it was great, too. Has one of my fave actors as the android or robot that looks like (and was) Reiji. 

Log Horizon is getting interesting. They're still on a journey to find a girl named Serara, and help her escape. She's being taken care of by a cat character or 'player'. Serara's class is a maid. So, she's constantly cleaning things. She's angry at herself for choosing that class, since she feels you can't do much with it. Both her and the 'cat' are hiding from a guild of PKers or Player Killers. For some reason the master of that guild is searching for her. He'll kill his own guild members if they suddenly grow a conscience about killing other players. 

In Mix Vegetable, Hayato and Hana found out that Saki fell in love with their teacher when he was in school. When their teacher showed up at the sushi place to do a home visit for Hayato, Saki couldn't bring himself to talk to her and hid. When she left, he became incredibly clumsy and kept cutting himself while trying to prepare the sushi. So, thinking it'll get Saki back to normal, Hana and Hayato decided to ask their teacher how she felt about Saki. She told them to never say his name or bring him up ever again. Kind of sad. She apparently had feelings for him at the time. When he refused to go to college and became an apprentice to a sushi chef, she did things like vowed never to wear skirts again. (Students are constantly wondering what gender she is...) It'd be interesting to see how this is resolved.

Played my clarinet. Did some Irish tunes. Wasn't too bad. Was more aware of how I was playing, and sounded a bit better. (I sometimes get lazy with the Irish tunes and just rush through them without really being aware.) Wrote a bit more of the 2nd short story to my nightmare anthology.

日本語

Studied some more compounds for the kanji: 代. 代償 or だいしょう (daishou): compensation, reparation, consideration. 代人 or だいにん (dainin): substitute, deputy, proxy, representative, agent. 代置 or だいち (daichi): replace. 代入 or だいにゅう (dainyuu): substitution, assignment. 代任 or だいにん (dainin): agency, acting official. 代表 or だいひょう (daihyou): representative, delegation, type, example, model. 代品 or だいひん (daihin): substitute article. 代稽古 or だいげいこ (daigeiko): substitute teaching. Still have a lot more compounds to go over for this one. Read an article on Asahi's website about how morning exercises for junior high school students who are involved in sports, is affecting their grades. Most students felt they didn't have time for sleep or even breakfast. A proposal was brought up in Nagano to end those exercises, and was passed. It's one of the first districts to do so. They're expecting some backlash though. Kind of interesting.

Star Surfer

Mood:

By Genki Rockets. Kind of a fun, happy, positive and energetic song. The lyrics are interesting, too. I think there needs to be more genuine 'happy' and/or positive songs out there. Genki Rockets is a musical and visual project by digital media specialist Tetsuya Mizuguchi and music producer Kenji Tamai. The face of the project is a fictional 18-year old named Lumi, who exists in the year 2037. They say she was born on the International Space Station on September 11, 2019. She's the first human born in outer space, and has never been to Earth. They debuted in 2007. Singers Rachel Rhodes and Nami Miyahara provide the vocals for Lumi. Rhodes appears as Lumi on the group's album covers, music videos, and in a video game called Child of Eden in 2011. 

Started watching Doku or Poison yesterday. Although hokey at times, I'm liking it so far. It's about the mystery behind a man who seems to appear out of nowhere, and gives people who have thought about killing someone or feel stuck, a bottle of poison. He tells them that one drop will kill a person, and the choice is up to them whether to go through with it or not. But, if they do, he says he can 'take care' of the rest. The poison kills the person exactly 24 hours later, so people can plan for the perfect alibi. It leaves no trace in the body, so forensics won't find anything. Also, it'll appear to be a fatal heart attack. The police are onto him though. The only 'evidence' he's left behind as an identity is a fuzzy pic online and some digits on his hand. In the first episode, a man killed a woman who told him she was pregnant with his child. He had a wealthy fiancee, and didn't know what to do with the woman who was pregnant. He killed her, then found out that she had cancer and only had 6 more months left to live. (Wouldn't have lived long enough to have the baby.) She was working as a prostitute half the time, and he hadn't known about it. She was trying to save enough money so they could live comfortably as a real family. Out of guilt, he ingested a drop of the poison that was given to him, and eventually went to the police. He tried to confess and tell them where the bottle was. He died before confessing, but managed to get out something like 'my desk'. The man came by, picked up the bottle, and passed right by the detective that was running to see what was at that person's desk. He's a little too good, and she wasn't suspicious. Funny thing is the man who died was also the main star in Namonaki Doku (Nameless Poison). Maybe he likes shows centered around poison...This show came out before Nameless Poison, though. Still, makes me wonder.

Kakushou was pretty good. I like how intricate the cases have been. Even though their division's main objective is to catch thieves and return stolen items, they've helped with several murder cases. Tokyo Ravens keeps getting more interesting. I'll post info on it at some point...

In Tripeace, apparently Nana was apart of an anti-peace organization before he had amnesia. He's a totally different person now. That organization, Ares, is declaring war on Tripeace. They kidnapped Nana, and dragged him back to where he came from. (According to them.) Looked like a very hostile place. They hope that he regains his memory and joins them again.

Played my clarinet. Did some jazz and Irish tunes. My tone is getting a lot better, and my playing is improving again. Feels good. Wrote a bit more of the 2nd short story for my nightmare anthology. It's progressing quite a bit. Might be done with this story soon. Should be interesting to see where it ends up.

Yesterday, I went to the local support group. Had quite a few new people. Some were allies. Yay!The group that went to Shari's after was pretty big as well. I got some tater tots with a side of BBQ sauce, and a fruit bowl. The fruit bowl had honey dew melon slices and red grapes on a bed of lettuce. The melon and grapes were pretty good. I had some of the lettuce, and noticed they didn't even wash it. It was gross. The tater tots were extremely crispy, so I could barely hear people while eating them.Had a very small portion of that. Kind of treated it like my late night snack. I try to have fruit with almost every snack and meal, except dinner. It was very good though. Made for a couple more 'snacks'. Actually had more fun talking with everyone this time. 

日本語

I studied 2 kanji today. First one was: 待. When pronounced as ま.つ (ma.tsu): to wait; to await, look forward to, anticipate; (usu. in negative form) to depend on, need. As ま.ち (ma.chi): (suf) waiting, waiting time. 

The second one was: 代. (A very common one.) When pronounced as か.える (ka.eru): to substitute. As か.わり (ka.wari): substitute, replacement; stand-in, proxy, alternate, deputy, relief, successor; (usu. as 代わりに or か.わりに [ka.warini], etc.) compensation, exchange, return; (usu. as お代わり or お.か.わり [o.ka.wari]) second helping, another cup, seconds. As か.わる (ka.waru): to take the place of, substitute for, take over for, represent. As が.わり (ga.wari): (suf) substitute for..., instead of... As しろ (shiro): substitution; material; price; margin (e.g. for stapling, etc.), area required for something. As だい (dai): (suf) charge, cost, price; generation, age, reign; (after someone's name or title) a representative of, on behalf of, for (someone); counter for decades of ages, eras, etc.; counter for generations (of inheritors to the throne, etc.); (abbr) proxy application company; (abbr) (used in dictionaries, etc.) pronoun. As よ (yo): world, society, age, generation. Next time I'll start going through the HUGE list of compounds for it.If it's so common, it's very important I go through and study them.Might take me at least a few days to go through, though. 

Universal Music Day!

Mood:

Yay for music! This was on Saturday, but it feels like everyday should be a music holiday of some sort...I love world music, too. Listening to music from other countries is fun, widens your taste in music, and sometimes you even get a taste of their culture. I love to play music, too. It's soothing, satisfying, puts me in a good mood, and motivates. 

Friday night, I went to a KFC for the first time in years.Got their 2-piece extra crispy white meat chicken meal. The sides I chose were mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes without gravy. It came with a biscuit. The chicken was amazing! But, the pieces were oddly sized. One being really small, and a huge breast for the other. Dad's was the 2-piece original dark meat chicken meal, and the pieces were considerably smaller. It also was cheaper. I always thought the dark meat was more sought after, and therefore would be more expensive and have bigger pieces...Oh well. The mashed potatoes tasted pretty much the way I remembered them. Kind of fake, but good. The mac and cheese was weird. Tasted like just butter instead of cheese.The biscuit was awesome! Had some of the chicken for breakfast the next day, and the rest (including what was left of the sides) for that day's lunch.

Starting with Friday night, I've been eating even less than I did before I was sick. Last time it was half of what I used to do. Now it's maybe a quarter at the most. I just eat very little at a time. I oddly don't feel like I'm starving myself, and feel rather satisfied.I almost feel like my 'meals' are the size of my snacks now. So, I essentially have 5 snacks, instead of 3 full meals and 2 snacks. Also, those fiber gummies make me feel really full. Started doing my 65 sit-ups twice a day, this morning. My muscles in that area feel like they're tightening again. Haven't been too good about my walks the last few days. Hopefully, I can really get back into it soon. 

Wanted to watch a new Jdrama, but none of this season's stuff are up yet. Watched Log Horizon. Loving it a lot more than Sword Art Online. Reminds me of actual rpg's online. It's more about the actual game than about one character and his romance. The fights seem better, too. I think it also has a bigger dilemma with them not being able to die. You just respawn back to the cathedral. At least, if you actually died in the real world as well, that would be the end for you. But, some might go crazy, because there seems to not be a clear goal of how to get out of the game, and you can just keep dying. There's no true 'escape'. Some might say that makes it easier, but I think it might be worse. Shiroe is off with his group to help find a girl that's missing. The last place she was seen was an area where players are known to kill other players. 

Watched more of Hitman Reborn, since I didn't see a Jdrama to start yet. Tsuna finally told Kyoko about everything. He was trying to protect her and Haru by not telling them what's going on. Honestly, I think he could protect them better if they knew who or what they were up against...(In fact, Kyoko helped him realize something about his box weapon.) Kyoko kept suspecting things, but kept it to herself. They also found out that Lambo's box animal is a giant bull that fights with lightening. Lambo's just a kid, but he's still a Guardian. Tsuna's animal is so powerful they're not sure what it is yet. It was very agitated, and attacked Tsuna when it was first let out. Should be interesting to see what it really is, and what it can do. 

Played my clarinet. Did some pieces from my advanced classical music solo book. Still need to practice it more, but again I wasn't too bad. Wrote a lot more of my 2nd short story for my nightmare anthology. So far, it's pretty twisted.

日本語

Studied 2 kanji today. The first one was: 打. When pronounced as う.つ (u.tsu): to hit, strike, knock, beat, punch, slap, tap, bang, clap, pound; to strike (noon, etc.), sound (cymbals, etc.), beat (a drum, etc.); to beat (rhythmically, e.g. pulse, waves, etc.); to move, impress, touch; to drive in, hammer in, put in, inject; to type, send, transmit; to insert, write in, mark; to make (noodles, etc.), prepare; to till (soil); to sprinkle, throw, cast; to do, carry out, play, perform, engage in (gambling, etc.); to pay (a deposit, etc.); to visit (on a pilgrimage); to line (a coat). As ぶ.つ (bu.tsu): (usually written in hiragana) to hit (a person), strike, beat. In compounds, it tends to be pronounced as だ (da). As ダース (daasu): (usually written in katakana) an abbreviation for dozen. It'd be like using 'doz' in English instead of dozen. The second one was: 対. Pronounced as たい (tai): opposite, opposition; versus, vs, v.; to (i.e. "we won the game 5 to 3."); equal footing, equal terms; against..., anti-, toward..., to... As つい (tsui): pair, couple, set; counter for items that come in pairs; counter for sets (of clothes, small furniture, utensils, etc.). 対応 or たいおう (taiou): interaction, correspondence, coping with, dealing with, support. I'll study more compounds for 対 tomorrow. 

Typed out more of that You Maga article I'm in the process of translating. Still have more to type out for this section before I start translating it. Read an article on Asahi's website about what they're doing about the decline in Japanese eels. The decline is mainly due to them being over harvested for food. But, there's an environmental group that's finding a solution. It was very interesting. 

World Egg Day!

Mood:

I love eggs!Nice that eggs have a whole day devoted to them. There's so many ways to have them, and they're used in so many recipes. Very useful food. 

Finally got my morning walk in.This time was earlier than what I used to do, because of getting up earlier. It was nice and crisp out there, the sun wasn't fully up yet (at least at the start of it), there was a surprising amount of people up and about, and I could smell the smell of cooking around some people's houses. Smelled like breakfast. It was nice.A lot of the people I bumped into seemed nicer than the ones I would see later in the day. Most greeted me with a nod and a quick 'morning'. 

The only thing that was a bit odd happened after I got back and locked the door again. As soon as I went to settle down a bit, someone rang the door bell. They did it about 3 more times, then jiggled the knob. It was a little creepy.I might have answered it if they hadn't rang so much (and quickly), and didn't jiggle the knob. They sounded almost desperate...That's happened before, but it was the head of the neighborhood association trying to give us a piece of paper with the minutes from the last meeting. I had been cooking that time. But, this time they didn't leave a note or anything. So, it feels a little more creepy that way. 

Doubles was kind of lame this time. Seemed anticlimactic. Next time should be much more interesting. One of the team members gets shot according to the preview. I hope they don't kill her off.She's one of the coolest characters in the show. World Embryo's getting weirder and weirder. Despite that, I'm really liking it so far.

In Uchouten Kazoku, they caught everyone except the brother who says he can't transform back from a frog in a well. Kaisei saves the youngest brother, Yashiro, and forces him to look for his other brothers. Their mom is becoming sick while she's in her cage. Yaichiro, the eldest, is being 'prepared' to become an ingredient in the Friday Fellows' hot pot. He's fighting the entire time. Hasn't been killed yet, just being transferred to another place. Yasaburo, the 3rd son, was captured but is trying his best to get out. Soun is a really evil character to be able to do this, not only to family, but to fellow tanuki. Next time, in the preview, it hinted at the 2nd son (Yajiro) being out of the well, transforming into a train (like he used to love to do), with Yasaburo and Yashiro inside going towards where Yaichiro is being taken. Hopefully, they do go off to find him, and get there in time. Hope they get their mother while they're at it. If the Friday Fellows absolutely have to have a tanuki, they should choose Soun. 

Played my clarinet. Did some Duke Ellington and Gershwin tunes. Still not too bad. Made a few mistakes, but not many. My tone was pretty good, too. Wrote a bit more of the 2nd short story for my nightmare anthology. It's actually creepier than I expected. Again, not sure where it's going. This story is really based off a combo of 3 of my recurring nightmares. It's fun to mold and blend them. Definitely going in different directions than what happened in the actual nightmares. 

日本語

Went over more compounds for the kanji: 他. Studied the kanji itself yesterday. The general meanings are: other, another. 他事 or たじ (taji): other matters, other people's affairs. 他社 or たしゃ (tasha): another company, other company. 他者 or たしゃ (tasha): another person, others. 他出 or たしゅつ (tashutsu): going out. 他生 or たしょう (tashou): previous existence, future existence, transmigration. 他薦 or たせん (tasen): recommendation. 他念 or たねん (tanen): thinking about something else. 他聞 or たぶん (tabun): informing. 

National Fluffernutter Day!

Mood:

Yay for fluffernutters!It's a marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwich. Really good stuff. I haven't had one in a long time...Probably for the best, because it's not that healthy for me. Although, I do occasionally have a Nutella and peanut butter sandwich. This was yesterday, as well as National Pierogi Day. I love pierogies! Especially the cheese, potato, and onion kind. 

Finished watching Akuryo Byoutou or Demon Ward yesterday. It was surprisingly good, especially towards the end. I wished the episodes were longer, though. About 25 minutes for each one is not much.For such little time, they were able to pack a lot into each episode. So, I guess that made for better storytelling as well. Runa being hunched over or having horrible posture got to me a bit, but it was really just a part of the character. She seemed more 'real' since she wasn't perfect. The actress was amazing! Actually, a lot of the other actors were as well. The story had so many twists and turns. It was more fascinating than scary, to me. I'm glad that there was a happy ending to this one.

I finally made another appointment to see my therapist. This time should be a lot better. Hopefully, I won't be sick at that time, again.Had an interesting talk with her over the phone today. She actually seems to care, unlike how my other therapists were. They never called me. 

I've been getting up earlier, and going to bed earlier this week. I feel kind of energized. So, I guess that's a good thing. For some reason it feels like going to bed at about 11:30 is too late and unhealthy for me. I feel like I actually have more of a morning now, too. I'll see how long I can keep this up. Also, got back into doing my sit-ups. Doing 60 of them twice a day this week. Figured that was an ok amount to start with again. Before I stopped I was up to 85 twice a day. So, 60 feels much easier. Also, going back to being more strict about my eating. Hopefully, I'll get to do my late walk today. If not, hopefully tomorrow I can get to both...

Decided to drop the idea of dressing up in a Steampunk outfit for Halloween. Instead I'm going to dress up as Sin Petra, one of the characters from Alliance, my first novel. Should be interesting. I think I have a dress that's similar to what she wears in the novel. It's just not as long...I will have to get things like a wig, accessories, and makeup. Her hair is long and wavy with a dark green color, and each skinny strand looks like a snake that moves up close. She's a medusa. I doubt I'll find hair exactly like that.But, I'm thinking of getting either a wig that's dark green, or one that's black with dark green streaks. So, I'll see what I can do. I think this'll be more fun since I can play with it more. I know her more than anyone, considering I came up with her. Her accessories might have more of a Greek theme, considering she comes from there. Yay! Makes me kind of excited just thinking about it!Makeup should be interesting too. 

In Kakushou, I watched the second half of a 2-part episode. It was about a thief who was caught up in being a hostage in the very house he was robbing. The person who took him hostage was a part of a bank heist, and he was the only one who wasn't able to get away with the gang he was working with. Being frustrated, he ran into a house pushing a man back in who was heading out. Thinking that the man was the homeowner. When he found out, he made the thief be the one to negotiate with the police. A few hours into the hostage situation, the police and thief found out the homeowner's daughter was hiding in the attic. She had diabetes and didn't take her insulin beforehand, so she wasn't doing too well. Eventually, the person who had taken the thief hostage, found the girl and tied her up as well. He has killed before, and was willing to kill her if he felt that she was useless to him. The thief was even more on edge, considering he's been protective of kids since he lost his daughter recently. Eventually, they found a secret way of getting into the house (thanks to another thief who once robbed the owner of the house years ago), and saved the hostages. I'm glad they didn't have to hurt anyone. There was a dog just outside that kept alerting the criminal of their SWAT team's presence. A sniper managed to shoot its leash off, and it ran away. Everyone thought that he was going to kill the dog. All in all a good couple of episodes.

Wrote a bit more of my 2nd short story for my nightmare anthology. It's going in a lot of different directions that I wasn't expecting.Very interesting. Oh, and I saw that the local synagogue actually featured my first novel today in the weekly newsletter. Since I didn't hear a response to my email, I thought they didn't want to do it. I looked at my Smashwords' page views for Alliance right after I saw that, and the views started to really pick up. Feels kind of good, yet scary knowing people are really looking at it.

Started watching Tokyo Ravens today. I'll talk more about it in the future. Really liking it so far, though. Watched a couple more episodes yesterday and today of Hitman Reborn. Getting exciting and interesting as well. Tripeace has been really good. Found out there was a group promoting the exact opposite of what Tripeace is. Tripeace tries to promote love and peace. This other group is brainwashing members of Tripeace into losing hope of peace, and making them attack other members. They wear animal skulls. Kind of creepy. 

日本語

Today I studied 2 kanji. The first one was: 息. When pronounced as いき (iki): breath, breathing; tone, mood. As そく (soku): son. That last one is ok to use for 'son', but 息子 or むすこ (musuko) is preferred. The other kanji was: 速. When pronounced as すみ.やか (sumi.yaka): speedy, prompt, smooth. As そく (soku): (suffix) gear, speed. As はや.い (haya.i): fast, quick, hasty, brisk. As はや.める (haya.meru): to hasten, quicken, expedite, precipitate, accelerate. 速度 or そくど (sokudo): speed, velocity, rate. 早速 or さっそく (sassoku): at once, immediately, without delay, promptly. 加速 or かそく (kasoku): acceleration, speeding up. 減速 or げんそく (gensoku): deceleration. 音速 or おんそく (onsoku): speed of sound. 光速 or こうそく (kousoku): speed of light.