National Strawberry Day!

Mood:

I love strawberries!They seem to have a calming effect on me. The store-bought ones seem to be getting bigger every year...

Haven't been feeling too well overall this week.And, today seems to be a touch worse. Didn't sleep in late this time, at least. I think I might know why I'm feeling so crummy, but that won't be 'resolved' for a little while. Hopefully, it won't get any worse.

Another thing, that's not very good news, is someone I knew in high school recently passed away. She was the one who tried to do stuff with me after my mom passed away. We were connected for a little while, and then she suddenly dropped me as a friend on facebook, and didn't contact me anymore. Maybe she had other things on her 'plate' at the time, but it seemed out of character. (She was even planning to set up a date for me with a friend of hers.) Even though I didn't really know her all that well. Had interesting conversations in high school. Most of the time it was during lunch. Actually, might have talked more in junior high, I think. Still, very sad and kind of unbelievable. She was so young, and it seemed to happen suddenly. She had a heart attack. When I talked to her around the time my mom passed away, she did tell me she was having some health issues, too. But, they were getting better. I hope for the very best for people like her husband, other family members, and friends. It's hard, but hopefully they have a good support system to get them through it. It seems like at the very least, our class is very supportive. One of the members made a memorial pic, and said if we wanted to comment anything about her we could in his post. It was a nice pic. And, very kind words. By the way, this isn't why I feel crummy, but it doesn't help.

I've been going through the manga version of Hitman Reborn really quickly. I'm reading it during the 'slots' I have open now for manga. It's just as engaging as the anime. Maybe more so.The last fight was Gola Mosca (in Italian it means Throat Fly, some say it may be intended as 'Gluttony Fly') vs Hibari for the Cloud ring. The Cloud guardian is supposed to 'be the aloof, drifting Cloud that protects the Family from an independent standpoint, and whom nothing can ever bind'. Fits him pretty well. He hates crowds, and prefers to do things alone. Seemingly not to be connected to the family, but is talked into helping them quite often. He's regarded as the strongest guardian. He won the battle in just a few minutes, but Gola Mosca went berserk firing in all directions. Gola Mosca is really a military machine. Usually, there's someone piloting it, but it goes on like a suit of armor. It has a machine gun built in, as well as missiles, bombs, etc. It can fly. They deal with more advanced Moscas in the Future Arc. In this one, the 9th's unconscious body is inside. He's not even controlling it, Xanxus is from afar. Xanxus figured that if they were able to totally destroy the Mosca, they'd kill the 9th Vongola boss in the process. Making it treason when the organization that's running the battle finds out who's inside. The battle before that was Mukuro/Chrome vs Mammon or Viper for the Mist ring. The Mist guardian is supposed to 'create something from nothing, and nothing from something; thus bewildering the enemy, to render the Family's true form intangible with visions of deceit'. Mukuro easily defeats him. Came close to killing him, but Mammon managed to escape. Mammon is the name that he uses with the Varia. Viper is his actual name, and he's an Arcobaleno (lit. Rainbow) who has the Mist pacifier. Reborn is also an Arcobaleno, and has the Sun pacifier. There are 5 other Arcobalenos, plus one who has a corrupted pacifier. They were cursed and turned from being adults into their current baby-like selves. Still don't know much of the secret behind why they were cursed or for what purpose. They hinted a little bit at the end of the anime. Each of them has a pacifier that's a different color of the rainbow, each are guardians similar to the Vongola guardians (I think they explained that their roles are the opposite for each of the Vongola guardians), they're very skilled, and help train the Vongola and other families. Anyways, later on Viper doesn't seem so bad or 'evil'. But, neither does Xanxus. He just becomes an awesome heroic badass.Tsuna came in just after the Mosca went berserk. (He's in the pic.) He was perfecting his new technique, and therefore wasn't there for the Cloud match itself. He'll battle the Mosca and Xanxus next. 

Wrote more of the 6th short story for my nightmare anthology. It's getting close to the end of this one. Played my clarinet. Did some more tunes from a general solo book. Wasn't too bad. But, I think I still have to get used to the feel of the new reed. Doesn't help that I haven't been playing regularly.

Started a writing meme. It's the one I mentioned on here last time. It uses 6 oc's or original characters. I tried to get an even amount of guys and girls, plus some characters I haven't done much with. It's good for character development. Interesting that 2 of the oc's are married, and they seem to correspond with their questions well. I didn't intend for that to happen.I have the 2 'humans' in it, to make it interesting. (One's the main character who's interested in learning more about demons, and the other is terrified of them.) And, the other 2 are just really eccentric. (One's a polite and sensitive skeleton demon, and the other's essentially a healer who's also kind of like a police officer in the demon world. Called a Light Healer. She's very to herself, tough, and doesn't care what anyone thinks.) Should be fun. The answers to the first couple of questions have been funny so far. 

Last night, I wanted to make something with the smoked trout in a tin we got a while back. I looked a while online for ideas. Then, finally decided to flake it up and mix it into some marinara sauce, then put it over some spaghetti. It was really good!Made it nice and smoky. Also, made it interesting and easy. Was even better with the parmesan I put on mine. I think that was the first time I had smoked trout, and it was pretty good.

日本語

I studied more of 病 and its compounds, and the kanji 品. If 病 is pronounced as 病み or や.み (ya.mi): sick. As 病む or や.む (ya.mu): to fall ill, be ill. It may be pronounced as へい (hei) in some compounds. 病院 or びょういん (byouin): hospital. 病気 or びょうき (byouki): illness, disease, sickness. 病人 or びょうにん (byounin): sick person, patient, invalid. 病床 or びょうしょう (byoushou): sickbed. 病状 or びょうじょう (byoujou): patient's condition, pathology. 疾病 or しっぺい (shippei): illness, disease. When 品 is pronounced as ひん (hin): elegance, grace, refinement, class, dignity; (suf) article, item; (suf, ctr) (sometimes pronounced as ぴん (pin)) counter for items (of food, etc.), counter for dishes or courses (at a restaurant). As ほん (hon): court rank; (suf, Buddhism) (sometimes pronounced as ぼん (bon), ぽん (pon) as a suf) level, grade; (Buddhism) chapter, section, volume. As しな (shina): article, item, thing, goods, stock; quality. 品切れ or しなぎれ (shinagire): out of stock. 品物 or しなもの (shinamono): goods, article, thing. 品位 or ひんい (hini): grace, dignity, grade, nobility, quality. 品行: (moral) conduct, behavior. I'll study more of its compounds next time.

Ship of Fools

Mood:

From the Tsubasa Chronicle soundtrack. I think this is usually when they're about to/are traveling through different parallel universes. It's one of the best ones on there. Kind of sad that they might be referred to as 'fools'. I can understand the ship and traveling part. But, I don't really think they're foolish.They just don't know about what it really means to be traveling through these universes. Like, are the people they knew in their world really different in others. They've realized that they may all possess the same 'soul', but they still don't understand much beyond that. And, just because one was a villain in one world, doesn't mean they are in the next. They may be a hero. It's become something more than them just trying to find Sakura's feathers that hold her memories and are scattered to parallel universes.

Went through more of my closet on Sunday. I think I spent about 3 hours trying on clothes and tossing out ones I didn't want.Made another big bag full of clothes for the dump. These ones have things like stains, rips, holes, etc. Not really suitable for charity. Remarkably, I fit into a lot of what I tried on.Some I haven't been able to fit into since high school. It's crazy that I've lost that much weight already. I still don't quite believe it, and yet things back then fit me so well again. I found a few nice dresses, but most are more for warmer weather. I thought I only had 1 or 2 dresses left that fit me, so it was nice to find more.I still fit into one of my high school marching band t-shirts. Also, more for warmer weather, but cool nonetheless. I went through so much of it, and yet there's so much left. I have about a third left of what's hanging in my closet to go through. Then, there's the massive pile of clothes on the right-hand side of the floor of it. Plus, my shoes on the other side. Also, there's stuff on the shelf above the things that are hanging. That doesn't have clothes-related stuff, but I'll still have to go through it. So, there's quite a bit left.Should be interesting. I might go through more during the weekend. Oh, and the clothes that fit, fit differently than they did back in high school. For one thing, I'm bigger in my chest area...I'm filled out more in that area for them. I remember back then I used to be bummed about being too small, so this is interesting. Different experience/look with the same clothes. Fun! 

Last night, I had the pesto tilapia and a vegetable soup. With the soup, I used a vegetable soup blend we got from the same place we get our spices from. It has carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, parsley, and a few other things. All dehydrated. They said that it should cook in the water or broth for 30 minutes to get the vegetables to hydrate again. I added tiny star-shaped pasta to it. It was good, but you could still tell that they were once dehydrated.Maybe it needs more time in the liquid? I added some parmesan to mine, and it was even more awesome! Seemed like a pretty healthy dinner, too. Very filling. 

I tried my eyeliner on again on Sunday. Before that, I hadn't tried it since Halloween. I thought it looked bad back then. I did my upper eyelids. Thought they looked weird, but Dad said she liked them. I'm not really used to the overall look, so I'm not sure what to really expect.After a while, I thought it looked alright, too. So, I decided to experiment further and did my bottom eyelids. I looked really weird.Kind of like a sad clown, or raccoon, or something. Dad said I looked like Ozzy Osbourne. Hmmm...Maybe next time, I'll just try the upper eyelids. Eyeliner is weird. I probably won't use it much. Plus, it makes my eyes look smaller. My eyes are already small looking. (Funny, because I have super long eyelashes.)

I decided to reply to another interesting Gaia thread this past weekend. It was a PTSD support thread. I'm not used to talking about things I might personally be going through on a forum. But, I thought I'd jump in anyways. Much like I was with the trans support group with me having a trans parent. But, I haven't talked much to a therapist about my PTSD. I had 2 that were able to touch on it just before they quit or retired. One psychiatrist who I met once for something, immediately told me I definitely had it. I've never really been able to 'delve' into it. Anyways, I told them about my stuff, and I got a response pretty quickly. They said that how I viewed it was very common. (I used to think that only military people had it.) But, they said I shouldn't compare myself to others, and that my pain is just as 'real'. The first person who responded, had a really long post. Very wordy, but nice. In fact, every post he replied to after each of mine were all very long and detailed. It was interesting. I do plan to eventually talk more about it with my therapist. But, this was nice to see. 

I'm debating whether I should email someone or not.She was the person who invited us to Shabbat lunch recently. She's orthodox. Recently, she was very rude to my dad. She had read some things on a very biased and homophobic site. She said that she read that gays molest children or something. (Really bogus stuff.) She also is confused, and seems to equate trans people with being gay.(Even while we were at their place, she asked me secretly something like 'what's it like having a gay parent?', not trans but 'gay'.) There are some trans people who are gay, but they can also be straight, bi, pan, etc. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation. So, that's been bugging me a bit.Anyways, she told my dad that she won't shake hands with her again because she still thinks she's a man. (Notice, my dad didn't make a move to shake her hand.) That's one of the worst things you can say to a trans person. Basically invalidating who they are as a person. Not to mention we thought they were very nice before. In orthodoxy, they're not allowed to shake hands with the opposite sex. But, I thought 'modern' orthodoxy might be a little different. Anyways, my dilemma is that she wants me to email her. She knows that I want to know more about them, and be more into my Judaism. I kind of feel like maybe it was a brain fart. She seemed to be very easily swayed. So, if she didn't really mean it or came to her senses, what then? She still hurt my dad. I guess saying hello, and talking kind of surface stuff might be ok. But, what if she tries to 'sway' me? It won't work, but it would get very awkward.Plus, I almost feel that if I don't email her, she may think that my dad kept it from me or something. Hmmm...I don't know! Well, at least if I decide to email her, she can't hurt me...I just may correct her sometimes.

I watched the finale of the 2nd season of Jikou Keisatsu or Time Limit Detective. It's probably the series finale, since there hasn't been a new season since. There were some homages to the first episode of the series. I still remember them, even though it's been a while. Like, they mentioned that Kiriyama was wearing his glasses on a Sunday. There was a joke in the first episode where you shouldn't wear them on Sundays. It's like bad luck, and it's rumored that the British follow that too. (Not in reality. Not even sure if it was really true in the show's reality.) I love this series so much!There were so many quirky things to it. Eventually, it lead to lots of inside jokes, that if people who hadn't seen the series heard them, they'd be confused. In this final episode, Kiriyama even played the theme song on a guitar in a Spanish style. It was cool. The killer in this one is one of my fave actresses, too. She's an awesome comedian. The actor who played her husband has been in many of the shows I've seen, too. The killer mistook the person she killed as her husband. Finding out that she killed the wrong person, she felt even more stuck. She was and still is terribly bored of him. She thought she'd be free of him if she killed him. Kiriyama and Mikazuki told her that she should just have an honest conversation about it with him. He was listening in to the entire conversation. Almost felt like he was going to kill her after they left, but they didn't show that. He looked very hurt. Towards the end of the episode, it felt like Kiriyama confessed to Mikazuki in a strange way. He said that the team was more like a family. He went through the possible relationships, like the captain is similar to a kindhearted and funny uncle. He ended with him and Mikazuki as similar to being husband and wife in the family. Just when Mikazuki was going to ask him specifically how he felt about her, an earthquake hit. Didn't last long, but everyone came out to see them, so the mood was gone. I grew to really like the newest member of the team too. I wasn't sure of her at first. I'll really miss this show!

Decided to drop Mixed Vegetables. It seemed to be getting a bit dry. I could sense a lot of angst coming, too. Just don't see where it was headed. The story seemed interesting for a while. It just eventually got old.

On Saturday, I did the practice quiz for attendance on JapaneseClass' site. Did pretty well. For attendance, you have to answer 20 questions for the day. I also decided to do a bunch of chapter quizzes for kanji and vocab. Did well with all of them. Lowest score I got was 82%, but most of the others were in the high 80's and 90's. I'm apparently up to level 4 in kanji, and level 5 in vocab. I'm on the last level for vocab, so there's not much new stuff left of their list. I still have a little ways until I finish all the kanji. I've always been better with vocab. Probably because some kanji have multiple meanings and pronunciations. Some have a lot of strokes as well, and can be hard to distinguish. You can also quiz yourself on everything you've learned plus new stuff with the regular quiz. Kind of a continuation after the 20 questions. The big 'random' quiz reviews some of the stuff you might have come across at the beginning, new stuff, weak words, etc. It's very helpful. I have come across some questions/answers that are spelled wrong, or have the wrong recording. They're still ironing that out. But, with feedback from the community, it goes pretty quickly. We can also challenge others, go through new vocab that people have put up as cards or notes that might not be in the system yet, read articles, see trends in Japan, there's a forum, etc. I'm ranked at 695 on the site. That's out of 45,663 people. Pretty good, I think.Especially since I don't go on there everyday. My attendance 'record' looks kind of funny that way. 

deviantART faves: Random OC Meme of Randomness Draw My Life Meme I did not make these! The first one's an oc (original character) writing meme. Kind of similar to one that I've done before. It puts your oc's in weird situations, and you write out how they would react. I love those sort of things.The second's a drawing meme that's about the artist themselves. I haven't done one of those before, so that might be cool to do. It asks you what life was like for you in kindergarten through high school. Plus, asks where you're from, and an intro. 

National Cherry Pie Day!

Mood:

One of my all-time favorite pies!This was yesterday, but why not celebrate it for one more day? Cherries are one of my fave fruits, so to put them in a pie is awesome! I've had some weird cherry pies though.Some have what we called 'sugar packets', where there are globs of sugar throughout. Some add like a ton of lemon. You don't need that kind of stuff. Makes it weird. The sugar packet thing was a lot more common when we first moved to this area. It was like they didn't know how to make pies.Now, we don't see it as often...

For some reason, I've been having more problems with sleeping lately. I went to bed early Wednesday night, but slept in later than usual. Last night I went to bed a little late, and got up later than usual. But, I still managed to get up earlier today than yesterday. It's kind of weird. Hopefully, tonight will be different. Although, usually for Friday nights I let myself go to bed whenever I feel like, and get up whenever I feel like on Saturday. Hopefully it won't be too late, then. 

I recently ran out of a certain hair product that was a type calming cream. (Also, added 'shine'. Not that I needed that, but it was an interesting bonus.) I really enjoyed it, it smelled nice, and it did its job. I've been trying to find it for the last month, but it appears to not be available anymore.So, I went on the hunt for something to replace it. I really need something to calm my hair, so it's manageable. I use a curling mousse to style it afterwards. It looks like I have long and controlled cascading wavy curls when I'm done. If I did them tighter, it'd look like ringlets. I don't like the way ringlets look.This seems more 'natural'. Without the calming cream, it'd look a bit messy and frizzy. Not as easy to style that way, too. So, anyways I tried one a couple of weeks ago. It used alcohol as a base (the previous one was alcohol-free), and felt very sticky and greasy. Smelled weird too. Kind of hard to style if your fingers keep sticking together.A few days ago I tried another one. This one is alcohol-free. They tell you to apply it liberally, and with my hair, I need quite a bit of it normally. But, apparently with this one, a little goes a long way. With maybe about half the amount I normally use, my hair was dripping with the stuff. Went on nicely. It stayed really slick when I put the mousse in my hair to style it. It seemed to even make it easier to do. Smells nice too. Not the same kind of smell, but still good. Both of these newer products were from the same brand as the calming cream from before. I'm liking this one, though.And, I think I'll stick with it. It's a bit more of a liquid rather than a cream, and has a pump to it. So, it's not exactly what I'm used to, but seems easier to use. 

Yesterday we went to a recycling place, a place to get rid of hazardous waste, the dump, sheriff's department, and Barnes and Noble. Quite a mix of places. We had lots of extra things to recycle. Then, went to the hazardous waste place to get rid of some laundry detergent. (One had been used, the other was unopened.) At the dump we got rid of the bag that was full of tupperware, and the other bag that was full of my bathroom stuff. My bathroom bag ended up being really heavy. With the tupperware, they were all old, had food stains, cracks, etc. Not good for recycling. But, now we don't have to worry about them anymore.The car even felt heavier on the way to the dump. It was kind of comical seeing all the seagulls near the huge pile of trash. We went to the sheriff's department, because some of the meds my mom had to use were narcotics. We had a lot of them. The sheriff's department is apparently the only place that will take care of them. But, the huge box they use for drop offs was full. So, Dad will probably go to another county's to try and get rid of them soon. Went to Barnes and Noble because she wanted a book from there. I saw some interesting ones from the clearance area, just nothing that jumped out at me. 

I saw a couple of threads in Gaia's forums in the past that were trans related. I just didn't feel like saying anything back then. Kind of like it wasn't my place, although I'm related since my dad is trans. And, they even said they welcome allies. I finally decided to say something in one of them last night. I told them a few things about myself and my dad. Plus, some of my experiences. I also thought it might be good to see if there were any other people who had trans parents. There doesn't seem to be many of us out there, and some people call us unicorns because of this.I really think it'd be awesome if I found more people, even online, who have that in common. It's a different experience than having a partner or sibling go through it. One person replied pretty quickly, and said that she thought I was awesome, that there needed to be more people like me out there, and thanked me for being supportive of others. She was very sweet.Later, she gifted me a rare item. And, someone else tipped my post. When people 'tip' it means they liked the post, and that they give you however much gold they want. It was a nice amount. It also gives a bit more attention to your post. I went on to the food threads, and posted a few things. I got tipped 2 more times. I don't get tipped too often, so this was really nice. Didn't think my posts were that great...

Played my clarinet. Did a couple of klezmer tunes, and Mozart pieces. The new reeds taste a bit different, and seem to be filed down differently as well. I think they're a bit shorter, too. Had a different 'feel', but I think I can get used to them. Just have to readjust a bit. 

Witch

Mood:

From the Tsubasa Chronicle soundtrack. Another cool one. I think this is Yuuko's, also known as the Dimensional Witch, theme. She's also in xxxHolic. (She has more of a main role in that one.) She's a cool character. For some reason, I don't think of her as a witch...She just has the ability to grant wishes, transport people through dimensions (with the help of Mokona), talk to demons and spirits, etc. But, anything she does for people has a cost. She only helps them if she's given something of similar value, or something that's the most important thing to the person. Shaoran gave her all of Sakura's memories of him from before (so even if she regains her memories, he won't be in them. Sometimes she's confused because she seems to be talking to herself in some of the ones that have come back to her, he hasn't told her about it), Kurogane gives her his sword, and Fai gives her his tattoo that gave him the ability to use his magic powers to their full potential. (So, from then on his magic has been much weaker.)

Went to bed a little late Monday night, so I slept in a bit Tuesday morning. Was a lot better last night. But, tossed and turned most of the night. It looks spring-like outside, but it's still cold.

Last night we went to group, and there were several new faces. It was interesting. We went to Shari's after, but we were the only ones this time. I got iced tea, like always, and scrambled eggs with cheese and their fruit bowl. Found out that those actually add up to less calories than what I try to shoot for in each meal. It's kind of surprising. They were pretty good.The fruit bowl had some grapes and honeydew melon slices. The eggs probably would have been better with some ketchup. But, I forgot to ask, and was pretty hungry by then. 

In Switch Girl, Nika grew closer to Arata. She needed his help studying for 4 finals. One of the teachers told her if she fails 3 of them, she'll have to repeat the grade. After some agonizing over studying so much, it seemed to pay off. The tests seemed to be a breeze to her. (Don't know what she got yet, since she just took them.) To celebrate, she suggested that Arata should go with her to hang out at the mall and to go out to eat. He agreed. When she decided to stop to look at lingerie, he had a hard time and told her that he'd wait outside somewhere. While outside, Arata bumped into someone whose had an eye on Nika. He asked if Nika and Arata were going out, and if not could he go out with her instead. That ruffled his feathers a bit. Meanwhile at the lingerie store, Nika was set up by someone. They made it look like she was shoplifting. After being interrogated for a while in a backroom by a female security officer, she told her she wouldn't have a reason for wanting the bra they said she stole. She demonstrated for them that they were too small a size for her. Someone told Arata about it all, claiming she looks up to Nika, and when she saw her, kept her eyes on her like a hawk. She knew Nika from the magazine she models in. This girl goes with Arata to prove it to the officer that's holding her. Eventually, it's all cleared up. I think that girl and the guy from before are in cahoots with each other. Not sure why they would do it, but it seems too convenient.

In Tokyo Ravens, they explained a bit more about the Twin Horn Syndicate. Harutora and the others are being guarded by some of the higher ups who are apart of the Onmyo Agency. One of them is nicknamed Shaver. He's just been staring at them creepily saying repetitively 'it's boring' to himself. I'm curious about him. Those kind of characters seem the most interesting. 

In Hitman Reborn, it was the battle for the Storm ring. Belphegor vs Gokudera. It was a very close fight, and Gokudera had to choose between risking his life to get it or walking away. Bel was already half gone, but his will to win was still pushing him. Gokudera wasn't doing too well either, since he lost a lot of blood and could barely stand. In the end he chose to save himself in order to still be with Tsuna and the others. Bel won. He was willing to die for it. Next is the battle for the Rain ring. Squalo vs Yamamoto. (Squalo's in the pic.) This one was interesting in the anime, so it should be interesting to see what it's like in the manga. There have been slight differences so far. Squalo ends up being pretty cool, and a great ally.

Wrote more of the 6th short story to my nightmare anthology. It's progressing pretty quickly now. Played my clarinet. Did a lot of klezmer tunes. Sounded pretty good this time. 

日本語

Studied compounds for 表, the kanji 秒, and started studying 病. 表沙汰 or おもてざた (omotezata): going public, creating publicity. 表決 or ひょうけつ (hyouketsu): vote, voting. 表現 or ひょうげん (hyougen): expression, presentation. 表示 or ひょうじ (hyouji): indication, expression, showing, manifestation, demonstration; (comp) display, displaying. 表情 or ひょうじょう (hyoujou): facial expression, countenance. 表皮 or ひょうひ (hyouhi): skin, rind. 表明 or ひょうめい (hyoumei): declaration, indication, representation, manifestation, demonstration, expression, announcement, assertion. 表面 or ひょうめん (hyoumen): surface, outside, face, appearance. 表裏 or ひょうり (hyouri): two sides, inside and outside. 発表 or はっぴょう (happyou): announcement, publication. 秒 is pronounced as びょう (byou). (It's nice that there's only one pronunciation for this one...) It means: a second (unit of time). 秒速 or びょうそく (byousoku): per second. 病 pronounced as びょう (byou) means: disease, (suf) -pathy. As やまい (yamai): illness, disease, bad habit, weakness, fault. Next time I'll go over more pronunciations, and compounds for 病. 

I went to Ted Brown Music to get some more reeds. They didn't have my faves, which are Rico Royals. Instead, they had Rico Mitchell Lurie reeds. They're supposed to be better, and I can't remember if I've used them before.Got a box of 10 of them, since they last a long time for me. (I won't need to get more for a very long time.) The strength I use is slightly stronger than what many people use. I like to use the size 3 ones. Most people use 2 or 2 1/2 ones. The sizes are based on thickness/hardness. They range from a 1 to a 5. (There are half sizes with them as well.) I'd probably break a 1 instantly because of how flimsy and thin it is. Not sure what would happen if I tried a 5. I'm curious about it, actually.I was a 2 1/2 for a long time, and then when I was curious enough to try 3, it seemed to fit so much better for me. I think 5's would take a lot of air and tongue power. I think it's cool to walk into a store and be able to talk about music stuff, and they understand you perfectly. Feels like I'm one with my peeps or something...

While we were out, we went to Starbucks. I got a chocolate croissant and some hot chocolate. They warmed up the croissant for me. It was all very good.The only problem was how messy the croissant got. It leaked some chocolate onto my shirt. The hot chocolate wasn't sweet enough, so I had to add some sweetener to it. It probably had dark chocolate as a base, rather than milk chocolate. That can make it richer/heavier.