2nd Day of Hanukkah!

Mood:

Happy Hanukkah!Hope people had a good Thanksgiving yesterday, too! It was pretty weird and nice to have both on the same day. We went to our friends' place like usual for Thanksgiving. Ended up being 6 people this time. 

We brought some pickled herring, crackers, and dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) as appetizers. And, a salad with the main dinner. Salad had mixed spring greens, cherry tomatoes, dried cranberries, and shredded carrots. They smoked their turkey again. Also, there was homemade cranberry relish (which I don't care for), cranberry sauce from a can (I love this stuff!), stuffing (this time they didn't have a second one without the chestnuts. Had to pick out a couple of them, but it was still good), latkes (potato pancakes. A staple for Hanukkah), homemade applesauce (to go with the latkes), asparagus, sweet potato pie (nasty to me), and another thing I'm probably forgetting. For dessert we had homemade pumpkin pie, homemade brownies, and for the first time in a while store-bought whipped cream. They usually make their own whipped cream for the pie. I don't think their homemade one has much of a taste. It's very bland. So, this was pretty nice. 

We started with lighting the candles for Hanukkah. The hostess had just recently found a dragon menorah. It was pretty cool looking. She decided to give that one to me to light. She used a smaller and more traditional looking one. I couldn't remember the melody for the blessings over it right away.For a lot of holidays, you sing it a little differently than usual. I remembered the one for the second blessing, at least. 

After that, we got to chat for a while, giving time for the host to get things ready. After dinner, we played a round of Trivial Pursuit. I thought, like usual, that I wouldn't get a lot of them. But, this time was different. I was on a roll. A lot of the answers came to me really quickly. My team won!Yay! The hostess had brought out some dreidels to play with for after Trivial Pursuit, but it was too late by the time we finished. I'm hoping to get to it at some point during the holiday. We have raisins I can play it with. Heck, some people use matchsticks. But, I'd like to use something I could eat. Makes it more fun.

Tokyo Bandwagon has been really interesting. They pack a lot of stuff into each episode. And, everyone seems to be connected in some way. Even the 'situations' that are brought up don't seem like they'd be connected until towards the end of each episode. I'm really liking it so far. 

I'm liking Toradora more than I expected. Plus, I like that the voice actress who's the voice of Taiga, is the same one who voices Kagura from Gintama. Gintama is one of my fave anime shows. But, it sounds kind of funny for some reason coming from this character. She acts somewhat similar to Kagura. Anyways...This episode was truly hilarious. They made really good use of facial expressions. Hopefully, it continues or gets even better with its humor.

Finished writing the 3rd short story from my nightmare anthology. This one ends a bit abruptly, but it could be like an endless loop if people read from the beginning again. That's a bit scary in itself.The original nightmare it's based on didn't have that element. Each story has something quite different to it so far. But, I think that's a good thing. Keeps the readers guessing as to what will happen next. Next time I'll start writing the 4th one. Cool that I'm that far into it. Not sure how that one will play out, either. 

Been playing my clarinet. Yesterday was the only day I didn't play. Today, I played some Hanukkah songs. Then, I did some klezmer tunes. Sounded pretty good. As I played the Hanukkah songs, they were playing inside my head. It's weird when this happens.Sometimes, I try to play the way it is in my head, and then I mess up. So, for things like this I have to tell myself to actually look and pay attention to what's written. 

日本語

Studied 3 kanji today. The first one was: 庭. When by itself, it's pronounced as にわ (niwa). When in compounds, it's usually pronounced as てい (tei). It means: garden, courtyard, yard. The second one was: 笛. When by itself, it's pronounced as ふえ (fue). In compounds as: てき (teki). It means: flute, bagpipe, clarinet, piccolo, pipe, recorder, whistle. The third one was: 鉄. When pronounced as くろがね (kurogane): iron. As かね (kane): money (although the most common usage for money is 金, pronounced the same), metal. As てつ (tetsu): iron (Fe); strong and hard (as iron); (abbr) railway; (pref) railway enthusiast. 地下鉄 or ちかてつ (chikatetsu): underground train, subway. 

National Parfait Day!

Mood:

I love parfaits!There are so many different kinds. The original frozen parfait was created in France in 1894. Apparently, the popular variety for the northern US and Canada is with layers of yogurt, fruit, and granola. Kind of wish there was more of a variety of them in restaurants here. But, then again I haven't tried too many, I guess. A lot of convenience stores, markets, etc. carry this version. I have to be in the mood for yogurt, though.I think I've had one with layers of cream. That was even better. I'd like to try some of the other kinds in the future.

Can't believe Hanukkah starts Wednesday night!It's coming up quick! It'll go until December 5th. There's a big hoopla around the first day being on Thanksgiving. I frankly don't understand why it's such a big deal.I know people are saying things like this won't happen again for another 70,000 years. (People keep changing this number around.) I feel like they don't have much in common. One's a national holiday, the other religious. For other Jews around the world it's just another ordinary day that it lands on. People are still trying to combine them. I think it's kind of ridiculous to do things like menurkeys or turkey shaped menorahs. Almost seems wrong in a way.I kind of get the food stuff though. Latkes (potato pancakes) go pretty well with Thanksgiving food. Having them with cranberry sauce would be interesting. Not sure what our friends will serve. We probably will do something Hanukkah related, like lighting the candles. Not sure if they'll have latkes. I think, if I remember correctly, we were told to bring some sort of salad like usual. Guess I'll find out what they'll do when we get there...They usually smoke their turkey, so that'll be nice. 

Managed to get back into playing my clarinet during the weekend as well. I decided to play for a longer time during the weekends. I feel even more connected to it now. Still slip up a bit, but I'm improving greatly. 

Also, got back into writing during the weekend. That's been great, too. The story's progressing much quicker. Might finish the 3rd short story for my nightmare anthology soon. Yay!Then, onto the 4th. (It's taking less time than I expected...Should go even quicker now.)

Ando Lloyd is getting really interesting. Lloyd is clearly developing feelings for Asahi. He's new to emotions, and isn't quite sure what to do with them. He even felt jealous of Reiji. He was told to pose as Reiji to fool Asahi's mom for a pre-wedding photo shoot. Her mom had told her that she was dying of breast cancer and didn't have much time left. She said her only regret was not seeing Asahi in a wedding dress. Later, they find out that her mother lied about the whole thing. Lloyd was semi-going along with acting as Reiji until her mother kept saying Reiji when referring to him. He got angry and stormed out. Apparently, Reiji's brain had been uploaded to a huge server. The 'future police' decided he was too much of a threat and terminated him. Even though Lloyd's repair unit, Suppli, was destroyed, there might be another one coming. Lloyd was told that an android only gets one unit for its lifetime. So, this should be interesting. I liked Suppli, so it was sad when they killed her off. But, she was the one who gave Lloyd an 'emotions' program before she was destroyed. It'd be interesting if his new unit is really like an upgraded version of her, or it might even be Reiji, or at least what was left of his brain before they terminated it. 

Log Horizon was interesting, too. Mainly about how the guilds in the game work. Talking about business deals and trades. Without revealing too much of their plan, they managed to get the top 3 merchant guilds into enthusiastically donating to them. One of the guild masters even suggested that he'll pay the full amount. I thought it'd be boring, but the way they went about it made it kind of amusing. Shiroe's planning to make the region better somehow. He hasn't revealed everything yet. 

In Mixed Vegetables, Hayato finally opened up to Hanayu. He was very close to his grandfather. His grandfather had always wanted Hayato to eventually take over the family's sushi's shop. He knew Hayato loved to make sweets instead. But, didn't know that Hayato didn't want to take over, and instead wanted to become a patissier. Hayato kept putting off telling him. Eventually, his grandfather passed away. Since he never told him, he feels he owes it to him to take over the sushi shop. Hanayu had thought that he had just gotten cold feet or something about being an apprentice to her father. She didn't know the actual story. It's been an interesting story so far. 

日本語

Today's kanji was: 定. Pronounced as 定か or さだ.か (sada.ka): definite, sure. As 定まる or さだ.まる (sada.maru): to become settled, be fixed. As 定める or さだ.める (sada.meru): to decide, establish, determine. 設定 or せってい (settei): establishment, creation, posing (a problem), setting (movie, novel, etc.), scene. 勘定 or かんじょう (kanjou): calculation, counting, consideration, reckoning, settlement of an account, allowance. 予定 or よてい (yotei): plans, arrangement, schedule, program, expectation, estimate. 定義 or ていぎ (teigi): definition. 

Started translating another section from an article in You Maga. Read in article in Japanese on Asahi's site. It was on Caroline Kennedy becoming the US ambassador to Japan, and her visit there. Very interesting. For studying Japanese over the weekend, I've added more quizzes, more of a focus on practice sentences, and on grammar. Its helped a lot already. 

Youtube:

A cool Naruto amv:

A nice Hitman Reborn amv to one of Tsuna's themes:

Funny moments of Lambo from Hitman Reborn:

My Friend

Mood:

By SPYAIR. An awesome song about friendship. I'm usually not a sucker for that kind of stuff, but they did it so well. I'm starting to really like this band. I know they've done a few theme songs for Gintama (I love this anime), and at the time I thought they were pretty good. But, didn't really listen to more of their songs. They debuted in 2005, and have 5 members. They have apparently done theme songs for 3 other anime. I found a cool Gintama amv that also translates part of the main chorus. (They sound cool 'live' on youtube as well.)

It's been pretty cold today.I'm thinking of doing only one of my walks later because of it. I'm just not used to the cold yet. 

Started watching Henshin Interviewer no Yuuutsu or Transformation Interviewer's Depression. (I think it'd be better translated as The Melancholy of the Transformation Interviewer...) It's good so far. It has one of my fave actors as the lead, which is a plus. A bit campy, has a lot of dark humor, and all the characters are eccentric to say the least. Really reminds me of Jikou Keisatsu or Time Limit Detective. Same type of humor, people act similar, etc. Shirakawa Jiro is a gifted writer, and he's published 99 mystery novels with 'trickery magic' as the theme. He's been writing non-stop since winning the grand prize at a writing competition when he was 15. Now, he's faced with writer's block while trying to start his 100th novel. 3 months pass, and he still has writer's block. In order to try and get inspired, he scours the internet for stories about unsolved murders. He stumbles upon a story about 2 women that were murdered and seemed to be posed as tulips. He decides to go to the town where the women lived. In order to interview people about the incident, he 'transforms' into a man named Aonuma Rio. Who seems to look much more approachable than what he truly looks like. Women seem to be more drawn to him as well. Where if he's himself, they're terrified of him. The pic on the upper left is what he looks like before he 'transforms', and the main pic is him after. Funny thing is the after transformation part is how the actor actually presents himself normally. So, it kind of seems like it's reverse...The girl in the pic is his assistant/editor. 

Naruto Shippuden was kind of sad. Kabuto eventually got stuck in a genjutsu (lit. Illusion Techniques, it messes with their enemy's perception of reality) time loop, where it's the same scene over and over again. It messes with his mind, and he starts to go a bit crazy trying to get out of it. Itachi's really brilliant. The fact that he's been reanimated by Kabuto hasn't changed that. He worked pretty well with Sasuke to fight Kabuto. Itachi wanted to take Kabuto out alive, since he's the one that essentially controls the war. Interesting to see what happens next. 

Ao no Exorcist was interesting. Izumo was kidnapped by the Illuminati to be used for some sort of ritual, since they basically used up her mother for it. Shima was apparently working for the Illuminati as a spy. The others are out searching for Izumo in her hometown. Although, something is very off about the townspeople. 

Wrote some more of the 3rd short story to my nightmare anthology. Interesting to see where it will go. Played my clarinet. Did some Irish and Klezmer tunes. Sounded pretty good this time. 

Tried to at least start my next drawing. I might have to start over.I thought the 'Drawing Bible' would help me, but it doesn't really help for multiple characters of different heights. I think I might base them off an old Max (original character) full body drawing. I used my old anatomy book for that one, and I think he turned out pretty good. I'll just have to tweak with the proportions with each character I add. Should be interesting. 

日本語

Studied more compounds for 調. The general meanings to this kanji are: investigate, exorcise, key (music), meter, prepare, tone, tune, writing style, note. 長調 or ちょうちょう (chouchou): major key (music). 調和 or ちょうわ (chouwa): harmony. 口調 or くちょう (kuchou): tone (e.g. of voice, etc.), (verbal) expression. 調律 or ちょうりつ (chouritsu): tuning (musical). 強調 or きょうちょう (kyouchou): emphasis, highlight, stress, stressed point. 好調 or こうちょう (kouchou): favorable, promising, satisfactory, in good shape. 哀調 or あいちょう (aichou): plaintive, mournful melody, minor key. 同調 or どうちょう (douchou): sympathy, agreement with, alignment, conformity, tuning. 調薬 or ちょうやく (chouyaku): dose. 単調 or たんちょう (tanchou): monotony, monotone, dullness. I'll study more compounds for this one tomorrow. There aren't that many left, so I might be able to move on to the next kanji as well.  

National Baklava Day!

Mood:

One of my fave desserts! It's so good!This was on Sunday, as well as Homemade Bread Day. Homemade bread is pretty awesome, too. Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It memorializes those who have been brutally murdered just for being trans, or in other words, themselves. Many remember people who have committed suicide as well. I heard a good explanation from someone recently saying society murdered the ones who committed suicide.

Finished watching Kakushou today. It was pretty good. Not the best, but good. Had a pretty good ending, too. Left it wide open for a second season, which is nice. 

Finished reading Tripeace today. I can't believe I finished it already!It's a really good manga. And, the last 'showdown' was awesome. It'd be cool if they made this into an anime, along with O-Parts Hunter (aka 666 Satan), En Passant, and Buster Keel. (Supposedly Buster Keel's still on-going, but they haven't updated in a long time.) All of them are awesome. I think they could have kept Tripeace going for a while, even though they resolved pretty much everything having to do with Nana, the main character. They even revealed Shiro's past. But, we still don't know much about the other members of Tripeace...

I started watching Tokyo Bandwagon last Friday. It's much better than I thought it would be. I think it's an instant fave.Has a lot of my favorite actors. It's set within a secondhand bookstore named Tokyo Bandwagon, located in a suburb of Tokyo. The bookstore has a small cafe, and the exterior of the building is old. There's a large family that has lived there for the past 4 generations. (They also treat their 2 cats as family.) The family loves to solve their customers' problems, and have quite a few of their own to solve. Ao Hotta, the main character, is a 26-year-old freelance travel agency guide. Sometimes Ao's grandmother narrates. She's a ghost who watches over the family. All the characters have their own quirks. Apparently, this is based off a novel of the same name. 

Started watching Hard Nut last Saturday. I really like this one already, too. Kurumi Nanba is a student majoring in math at a prestigious university. She's viewed as a bit of an eccentric person due to her poor communication skills, but has a genius level intellect. Tatsuhiko Handa is a detective. They work together to solve difficult cases. She reminds me a bit of the main character in 'Weather Girl' or Otenki Onee-san, but with a lot more personality. And, she's much more logical. 

Started Rurouni Kenshin or Wandering Kenshin. Also known as Samurai X and Wandering Samurai. This is one of the 'classics' of anime. It's right up there with Ranma 1/2, which I hope to watch in the future. (Ranma 1/2 is an older anime.) I think I started watching a couple of episodes in my college anime club, but stopped after that. It's a good show, though. Himura Kenshin is a vagabond with a dark past and sunny disposition. Not a ronin, but a rurouni, he was never a samurai, but a highly skilled assassin in the Meiji restoration who in the turning point of the war simply walked away. His travels lead him to Tokyo in the 11th year of the Meiji era, where he befriends a female kendo master, a former thief, a brawler, and a doctor all with their own secrets. Together they fight off the enemies from Kenshin's dark past that he can't escape from. The manga started in 1994 and finished in 1999, the anime started in 1996 and ended in 1998, there was a novel later, and there's been several movies. A live-action movie was recently put out. It looked interesting. The only thing that throws me off a bit is Kenshin's voice. He has a female voice actress. Sometimes it sounds fine, but other times it doesn't quite fit.Just takes some getting used to, I think. He makes some interesting startled sounds too. Oh, and he uses a reverse blade, mostly knocking out his opponents instead of slashing them down. He can kill people with it if he uses enough force, and fights in a certain way. 

Started watching Toradora (also called Tiger x Dragon) last Friday. It's been interesting so far. Can't quite tell if I really like it or not.Despite Ryuji Takasu's gentle personality, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent. For his second year of high school, the class he's been rearranged into put him together with his best friend, Yusaku Kitamura, and his hidden crush, Minori Kushieda. Along with these 2 comes Kushieda's best friend, Taiga Aisaka. Her delicate appearance contrasts with her brutal personality. Secretly in love with Kitamura, Taiga agrees to help Ryuji with his love interest as long as he helps her get closer to hers. I can already tell that Taiga and Ryuji will get together. Apparently, she's nicknamed as the tiger and he's nicknamed as the dragon. 

I've apparently lost another pant size. That's 4 pant sizes from my heaviest weight. Pretty good, I think.I feel much lighter and more 'awake'. Even my watch is really loose. It doesn't stretch, unlike my previous watches that had leather bands. This one is metal. I'm up to 85 sit-ups twice a day for the week. I'm surprised I can do that...I'm still hoping to start doing my 2-mile walks twice a day. I think I can start that off as a habit tomorrow. I've been off and on with my walks for a while. Feels weird when I don't do them. Decided to get up even earlier this week. It feels nice, oddly. Feel like I have more of a day. I just have to remember to still go to bed early. 

Got some new cute gloves recently. They're like a mitten and fingerless glove hybrid. I think that's very useful. They have an owl design with little pompoms on top as its ears. Other people like them, too. Only wish the top mitten part was a bit thicker to keep my fingertips warmer. It's gotten really cold lately. Well, cold considering what we normally get. Some places have dipped into the high 20s. 

Dad and I have been invited to an orthodox family's place for shabbat dinner. I'm a little nervous about it, but it was very nice of them. Dad had worked with their kid, and on the same day they invited us. Apparently, their kid's name is the same as my middle name. We think it might have influenced it a little. I think it's pretty awesome that it's the same. I love my middle name.Some people have a hard time saying it, because it's really in Hebrew but transliterated into English. English doesn't have the same guttural sound. 

Also, for Thanksgiving we're going to the same place we usually go, at a friend's place. We're bringing someone with us. She's originally from Ireland, but has been living in London. She's visiting the area to research for her novel that she's writing for National Novel Writing Month. The book will be based on stories influenced by the area. Pretty cool. It's also going to be Hanukkah and I'm not sure if our friends are going to do anything for it in addition. They're Jewish, too. Should be interesting, anyways.

The 3rd short story for my nightmare anthology is getting really interesting. I'm far passed the point my dream ended on this one. Not sure where it's going. 

I've also been playing my clarinet everyday this week. I'm hoping to continue that, even practicing during the weekend. In fact, for a longer time during the weekends. I'm sounding much better, and it feels really nice again. I've also been more aware of how I play pieces. Still getting faves on dA for the pic I recently posted. Didn't think it was that great...

Studied 2 more kanji today. One is a very common one. That has a bunch of compounds, but it's starting to make a lot of sense now. I plan to go over more grammar stuff during the weekends, too. I tend to grasp it, forget a little, grasp it again, etc. I want to break that. I'm still pretty good in general with it, but I want to get everything down pat. There's a lot to it. Also, want to focus more on verb forms. Plus, actually practicing more sentences.

deviantART fave:
Bred-n-bu-er I did not make this! This is a hilarious drawing of slices of bread eating a stick of butter. They have very expressive faces. Kind of sad, yet so funny. I love the cute/funny and dark stuff. Discovered this actually through dA's facebook page. 

National Pickle Day!

Mood:

I love pickles!There are so many different kinds. It's also International Girls Day, and National American Teddy Bear Day. Girls definitely should be celebrated. I don't think I ever had an actual teddy bear when I was little. Although, I had a stuffed polar bear I loved to death.The teddy bear has an interesting story behind it. In 1902, President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt attended a bear hunt in Mississippi. The other members of the hunting party captured a bear, tied it to a tree, and asked the president to shoot it. He refused to kill the bear, and later a political cartoonist depicted the president with the bear titled, "Drawing the Line in Mississippi". In the first printing the cartoon bear was full-grown, but it was later redrawn as a cub. The story and cartoon became famous, and toy makers were inspired to create "Teddy's Bear". In 1906, the teddy bear craze picked up. 

Started writing the 3rd short story to my nightmare anthology. This nightmare is still pretty vivid in my mind, even though I had it while I was in high school. It still kind of freaks me out, but maybe it'll be good to have it written out?It feels very real, too. So far, each story has been told in slightly different ways. Different perspectives, 'voices' of the narrator, totally different centered character, etc. It's kind of exciting to write this way. Things feel fresh with each story. Kind of feels like more than one writer wrote these. 

Played my clarinet. Did some Gershwin, and pieces from my advanced classical book. Wasn't too bad. I hate how high that advanced book makes me go.I can do it, it just hurts my ears. Even if done right, it hurts. And, sometimes it hurts my head more with the amount of air I have to blow out, let alone having to control it for a while. Oh well. At least I can still do it...

For my next drawing project, I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to go about it. It's all my characters standing next to each other, interacting, showing their clothing designs, etc. They're all different heights, too. After I'm done, I hope to color it as well. Today, I looked at my 'drawing bible' book to get more tips on anatomy. I kind of have parts of anatomy down already, the problem I'm having is that they're all different sizes and heights. I might just try to play it by ear or something. We'll see. Hope to actually start drawing it soon.

Posted a pic of the 2 plates I had at King's Wok buffet on fb and dA. I'm surprised at how many views and faves I'm getting of it on dA. (With half of the faves, people have put them in their collections.) Surprised that people on fb liked it too. Didn't think the pic was all that great. But, makes me feel a bit better to see that people like it. (Been feeling down lately, so this perked me up a bit.) Oh, and I even had 2 requests from groups on dA to feature it. 

Watched Naruto Shippuden. Haven't watched it in a few weeks. So, I'm a few episodes behind. They revealed more of Kabuto's past. I feel sorry for him, but on the other hand he's more of a central character than I realized. He's essentially had a hand in or 'observed' every conflict, every interaction with others, etc. He doesn't know much about himself. He's been a spy planted in several different ninja villages, if not all. Originally working for Konoha, he quit after killing the one mother figure he had, and finding out they set both of them up. Then, he started working with Orochimaru pretty early on. They say he's one of the best at collecting intel. Interesting character. I still feel a bit iffy about him. Also, read a bit of Hitman Reborn. It was on the fake Mukuro arc. So far, seems a lot like the anime. 

日本語

Today's kanji was: 短. Pronounced as たん (tan): fault, defect, weak point; minor (music). As みじか (mijika): (pref, suf) short, brief. As みじか.い (mijika.i): short. 短音 or たんおん (tanon): short sound. 短気 or たんき (tanki): quick temper, short temper. 短期 or たんき (tanki): short term. 短距離 or たんきょり (tankyori): short distance, short range. 短剣 or たんけん (tanken): short sword, dagger, stiletto; hour hand (of a clock). 短所 or たんしょ (tansho): defect, demerit, weak point, disadvantage. 短小 or たんしょう (tanshou): short and small. 短針 or たんしん (tanshin): hour hand (of a clock). 短調 or たんちょう (tanchou): minor key (music). 短刀 or たんとう (tantou): short sword, dagger. 短文 or たんぶん (tanbun): short sentence; short piece of writing (e.g. passage, article, composition). 

Too Old to Die Young

Mood:

From the Django Unchained soundtrack, sung by Brother Dege. An amazing and powerful song. The movie had amazing music overall. Each piece fit perfectly. Loved the movie, even if it was hard to watch at times. But, then again it's a Tarantino movie. Plus, it dealt with a very difficult subject. (Inglourious Basterds was awesome, too. It dealt with some pretty heavy stuff, as well. I honestly haven't seen too many of Tarantino's movies, but these were awesome.) It was artfully done, and hilarious at times. And, always good to see an awesome ending too! 

It's Veterans Day, and they definitely deserve a day, if not more, honoring them. It's also National Sundae Day, and Origami Day. When done right, sundaes are awesome!And, there are so many different ways to make them. I've never really been into origami.Seeing other people make them is cool. There was a time when I was little where I tried to get into it. I still have some of the ones I made from back then. They're not bad, just not great either. Kind of like how I feel about crocheting. It looks amazing to see other people's finished product, but I can't concentrate on it for too long when I try it myself. 

Thursday was my birthday!Went to Red Robin for my actual birthday dinner. I got a root beer float, shared some pretzel bites, had their Bleu Ribbon burger (a bleu cheese based burger), and a birthday sundae. They came out singing Happy Birthday, and gave me the sundae afterwards. (The sundae was a bit strange. Had ice cubes in it. But, still good.) I always feel so embarrassed when restaurants do this, although I try to go to ones that do that for my birthday.In addition to having my birthday dinner, I wanted to do something fun. I was hoping to go someplace like the art museum, the science center, Uwajimaya (that amazing Asian supermarket), and/or the International District to visit places like Chinatown. Oh well. It was nice that I went somewhere for dinner on my actual birthday. Was thinking about going to a new Japanese buffet tonight to celebrate, but we went to a Chinese buffet we know and love instead. Which was nice. They changed a lot of things, but were still good. Took some pics of what I got. Just to share. I might get into that habit.

Finished watching Hitman Reborn on Thursday. Including the OVA, which is like a special. They went on a 'Vongola family' based school field trip visiting most of the popular sites in Japan. At all the sites, there was something Vongola-related. It was funny. I really loved this series.It's kind of a shame that it ended. It'd be cool if they revive it and continue the story. Although, they certainly finished it nicely. They beat Byakuran, learned more about the Arcobaleno (although, we still don't know everything), their rings were 'upgraded' during the last fight (even though most didn't get a chance to use the upgraded versions), the ghosts of the first Vongola guardians showed up to help, and a few other cool things happened at the end. It really was a cool fight. They were able to bring their boxed animals back to the present. Only, instead of keeping them in boxes, they were stored in another set of rings. So, I guess it could continue if they brought it back, there's enough things to work with. The manga continues the story for a while. So, I guess I'll see what happens in that. 

Watched Chernobyl Diaries on Saturday. It was better than I expected. They played around more with the psychological stuff, which I like. Kind of felt weird that the radiation apparently turned people into zombies.The animals were creepy. It wasn't one of the best or scariest movies, but I think it was decent. 

Finished both Kamo, Kyoto e Iku (Bitter Sweet Home Kyoto [or Kamo, Goes to Kyoto]), and Doubles. I liked both shows. Kamo had a good ending, and I wasn't expecting that. Doubles was a great detective show. I think this one could easily have a 2nd season. The 'Doubles' refers to their partners and working in pairs. Although, the 2 main detectives seemed to look/act quite a bit alike towards the end of the series. The actors were great, most of the stories were interesting, and the characters were likable. Everything worked out ok in the end for this one, too.

I wasn't feeling too well on my birthday.I couldn't sleep at all the night before. So, I allowed myself to sleep in on Friday. I slept a bit longer than I'd like, but felt much better when I woke up. The next day, I slept in a bit, too. I felt even better. So, I guess I just needed to sleep off whatever I had. 

Since I wasn't feeling well, I kind of slacked off a bit on my sit-ups. I think that's ok once in a while, and I started them up again today. I'm doing 80 sit-ups twice a day this week. Hope to get back into my walking. I had planned to do two 2-mile walks a day, but haven't really been able to keep it as a routine yet. That might change tomorrow...

I'm liking Ando Lloyd even more now. His system is starting to make its own program for emotions. He refused to believe it for a while. He keeps having nightmares, remembers his fellow android comrades fondly, seems to be capable of crying, seems to want to make Ando's life slightly better, etc. Ando named him Lloyd, and gave him her last name. He doesn't remember his real name, and he was always changing code names for himself. He seemed to really like that she named him. He apparently has a program that enables him to taste food and enjoy it. For some reason, they're hinting that he might have some of Reiji's memories. He knew about the wedding ring Reiji and Ando had custom made. He also kept saying Reiji isn't dead. I'm not entirely sure that he is, either. 

Log Horizon was pretty good. Shiroe finally managed to make his own guild, called Log Horizon. I kind of figured that would happen. He plans to make living in their hometown better. There seems to be a lot of despair going around since the players have been trapped in that world, and some have been taking advantage of the lower leveled ones.

Finished writing the 2nd story to my nightmare anthology. Didn't really know which direction it would take, and seemed a lot more fun to write than the first one.Not sure how the 3rd one will go...Hopefully, it only gets better.

日本語

Studied the last compound for the kanji: 代. 身代金 or みのしろきん (minoshirokin): ransom. Studied 2 more kanji. Neither of which had compounds listed. 第 or だい (dai): no., (pref) ordinal. 題 or だい (dai): title, subject, theme, topic; problem (on a test), question; (suf) counter for questions (on a test). Finished typing out a section of an article in You Maga. I'll start translating it next time. Read an article in Japanese on Asahi's site. It was on Paul McCartney recently starting his first tour of Japan in 11 years. Kind of interesting.