Shavuot

Mood:

Shavuot started last night and continues until Thursday night. It's basically a celebration of the Torah. Specifically, when we were given it at Mt Sinai. It literally means 'weeks'. Also known as the Feast of Weeks. It marks the end of the counting of the omer, as well. Which is 7 weeks long starting from the 2nd day of Passover on. (Hence, the 'weeks' part.) Jews from Israel only celebrate it for one day, while the Jews in the diaspora (everywhere else) celebrate for 2 days. Although, in reform Judaism, most only do one day, no matter where they're from. 

There are many customs for it. And, they vary depending on the community, where your family came from, family traditions, etc. There are some common ones, though. People tend to pull all-night study sessions on Torah, the Book of Ruth, Mishnah, Talmud, etc. Most also eat dairy products. Dairy for many reasons. One is that King Solomon compared the Torah to milk saying: "Like honey and milk, it lies under your tongue." The gematria for the Hebrew word chalav (the word for milk. The gematria assigns a number to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet) is 40, corresponding to the 40 days and 40 nights that Moses spent on Mt Sinai before bringing down the Torah. Mt Sinai is also referred to as Har Gavnunim (Mountain of Majestic Peaks) which is etymologically similar to gevinah or the word for cheese. It's also National Cheese Day, so that goes really well with the theme.

It's been much cooler the last couple of days. And, a bit cloudier/darker. At least the flowers are still blooming, and birds seem to still be active. Saw a pair of squirrels on one of my walks that were playing around on a tree trunk. It was cute.Also, people were still out and about, so I got to say hello, at least to them. It feels nice that I'm finally getting back into my 2 2-mile walks again.Kept up with the 75 sit-ups 2 times a day for this week, too. 

Started reading Embalming yesterday. It's done by the same mangaka (manga artist/author) that did Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki Nobuhiro. I haven't read the manga version, but I like the anime so far. People have said it follows it pretty well. The first couple of chapters of Embalming are apparently like a prologue or prequel. It's a story based on the Frankenstein idea of bringing the dead to life. In fact, the 'monsters' are referred to as Frankensteins. Shortened from Frankenstein's monster. The main character is named John Doe, like an unnamed male corpse would be. He's unusually strong, rushes to judgement, thinks very bluntly about things, and doesn't realize when people are being figurative. He was called a monster after defeating another really powerful one easily. His main mission is to 'kill' (they mention that they basically dismantle them, not kill) Frankensteins that are causing unrest, and at the moment to gather limbs and other body parts for his new bride-to-be. But, I read another synopsis that said he ends up seeking revenge after his bride is murdered or something.So, I guess she 'dies' at some point. Maybe that's where the actual story starts. In this one, there was a villain who terrorized a town with his monsters that he created. Aptly named Lord Cadaver. (Not sure if he was just joking about it...) He ordered them to take body parts of people who were still living, because he grew tired of going to the graveyard. So, all the people that couldn't afford to leave are blind, have missing limbs, missing ears, etc. The woman who asked John Doe to take care of the 'monsters' and Lord Cadaver, was from one of the wealthy families of the town. Her father was killed by Cadaver, and Cadaver liked her legs so much he amputated them. Her body has been slowly deteriorating ever since. John Doe's only condition was that he collects her legs and uses them for his new bride. Someone who isn't necessarily 'alive' doesn't need things like money, as he says. He has an assistant named Rose. She usually just helps with his maintenance, or so she says. She seems to be pretty scary too. She could kill with just using sutures. (Basically using a needle and very thin thread, she can slice her enemies up.) This seems like a very interesting story. Albeit very violent and gory. But, I like some of those types of stories, if done well.

I wrote more of the 9th short story from my nightmare anthology. It's getting very interesting. Played my clarinet. Did some jazz and Irish tunes. It was pretty good this time.

日本語

Studied the kanji: 遊. If pronounced as: 遊ばす or あそ.ばす (aso.basu): to let one play, leave idle; (pol) to do. As 遊ぶ or あそ.ぶ (aso.bu): to play, enjoy oneself, have a good time; to mess about (with alcohol, gambling, etc.); to be idle, do nothing, be unused; (as ~に遊ぶ [~ni asobu]) to go to (for pleasure or study). As 遊び or あそ.び (aso.bi): (suf) playing; (usually in kana, instead of kanji) play (margin between on and off, gap before pressing button or lever has an effect). It can be pronounced as ゆ (yu) or ゆう (yuu) in compounds. 遊園地 or ゆうえんち (yuuenchi): amusement park. 遊戯 or ゆうぎ (yuugi): game, play, sports. 遊泳 or ゆうえい (yuuei): swimming, bathing; conduct of life.

Translated another section of that You Maga article. This one dealt with febrile seizures. Kind of scary, especially with reading about what to do for the kids. I tried to keep it as close to what the author intended as I could. Read some articles in Japanese through Google news this time. It gathers a bunch of different articles from various different news sites across Japan. It was also interesting to see the weather forecast for this area written out in Japanese on the side. Practiced writing out more sentences. I was kind of on a roll this time.Last time I couldn't think of much. This has been very helpful for me. I'm going over introducing myself, practicing various forms of grammar, and hopefully will get to using the more current kanji/compounds that I've studied. Oh, and going over sayings and expressions is good too.