National Oatmeal Day!

Mood:


Oatmeal can be an amazing breakfast.I like to put syrup, a little sweetener, and some raisins in. Used to only eat this for breakfast for a few years. Even though I added a little something different each time back then, I got tired of it.It's still a nice treat every so often. Oatmeal cookies with raisins, chocolate chips, and/or dried cranberries are good too. Today is also National Cat Day. I should celebrate with Rosie and Tasha! 

Fuben na Benriya (Inconvenient Handyman) has been really funny and interesting. The entire town is rather eccentric. Watched the 2nd to the last episode yesterday. The episode seemed especially good this time. The town has been trying to figure out how to revitalize itself for a while. It's an old coal mining town in Hokkaido. Jun, who everyone thought at first was Batsu's long lost son, came up with an idea. (There are hints that he still might be Batsu's son.) He thought they should break some sort of record to bring some recognition for the town, and looked into the Guinness World Records to get ideas. One of the competitions was to have a town make as many 'Western' snowmen as possible in an hour. Apparently, the Japanese version has only 2 parts to its body (bottom and head), while the Western one has 3 (bottom, middle, and head). Another more well-known town in Hokkaido had won recently. Jun decided to try that one. With the help of others, he organized it. The interesting thing is this was real. They did the competition with the actors and the locals from the town they were filming in. They won, too. They had a lot more snowmen than the previous winner. I find that really cool.It also promotes that actual town. People looked like they had a lot of fun. Apparently, it took the Guinness World Records officials 4 hours to check and count them all. And, they were the real ones, too. At the end of the episode, Jun was about to leave the town when his mother suddenly arrives at the place he's been staying at. I really do think Batsu's his father, but his mother kept quiet about it. She told him when he was little that he died. And, why would she go out of her way to visit that town now?

Midori no Ou or Verdant Lord, has been getting creepier as the story progresses. There are children who are 'in tune' with the plant life that's been springing up during the Plant Burst. Supposedly those plants are from another dimension, and they've somehow crashed through to our own. (Apparently, a few animals have, too. But, they haven't explored that deeper in the story.) Some of the plants can move around and seem to be able to think on their own. Those creatures are called Arethusas. They've also taken over humans who have been dubbed 'Plant Men'. They've taken over several other creatures, too. Apparently, you have to be on the verge of dying (or dead) in order for the plants to start taking over your body. They've already invaded morgues. The ones who were alive when the plants started taking over their body, will slowly lose their humanity to them and turn into similar things like the Arethusa. (The more they use the plant's abilities, the faster they'll turn, though.) The plants have developed weapons, too. They've destroyed nuclear facilities, so humans feel even more helpless. They've also sent things into space. Anyways, the kids that have some sort of connection with them can communicate with them. And, for some reason the Arethusa are trying to collect them all. At the end of this chapter, they showed a bunch of kids singing a creepy song as they played in a meadow-like area. There seemed to be an abandoned building in the background, and the Arethusa were playing with them. They seemed a little too happy. One of the Plant Men who happened upon the scene, hated the kids singing around him, and threatened to kill them all if they didn't stop. The Arethusa immediately went over to him, stared at him for a while, and then started to eat him. Meanwhile, the kids were singing that same song and playing around like nothing was happening.Shin, who's the main character and a Plant Man, doesn't have much time left until he's totally taken over. He was the first Plant Man, that we know of anyways. His brother (who's a scientist that's been studying the plants and the children since the beginning) infected him with the plant stuff, just as an experiment. He also thought it might save his life, so it wasn't totally heartless. He also just infected himself with it, too. His assistant did the same thing. As soon as she was shot in the head (it's a really graphic manga. Not as much as Variante was, but close), she became unconscious and the plant stuff seemed to take total control of her. We don't know yet if she survived a building that blew up around her. She was going out of control, and the military and Shin's brother thought it'd be a way to wake her up. She was tough even when she was alive. 

I colored in the drawing for my cover art with colored pencils. (Again, the cover art is for my nightmare anthology.) I think I might like it more than the one I colored in with Photoshop. Now I just have to put the drawing onto the background, tweak it a bit, then add the title.

Played my clarinet. I've been slowly adding minutes to the practice time lately. Hopefully, I can get it up to an hour. This time I did 40 minutes. I improve a lot more the longer I play each time. Trying to do it more often, too. A long time ago, I used to play an hour each time. Was better than I expected this time. I did some klezmer tunes, Mozart pieces, and some from one of my clarinet solo books. 

日本語

Studied the kanji: 功, 好. If 功 is pronounced as いさお (isao): distinguished service, meritorious service. As こう (kou): merit, success, meritorious deed; achievement, accumulated experience. It's rare, but it's sometimes pronounced as く (ku) in compounds. If 好 is pronounced as こう (kou): (pref) good. As 好む or この.む (kono.mu): to like, prefer. As 好く or す.く (su.ku): to like, love, be fond of. As 好い or よ.い (yo.i): (sometimes pronounced as い.い (i.i), and has the same meaning as 良い) (usually written out in kana instead of kanji) good, excellent, fine, nice, pleasant, agreeable; sufficient (can be used to turn down an offer), ready, prepared; profitable (e.g. deal, business offer, etc.), beneficial; ok. I'll study 好's most common compounds next time. 

Also, quizzed myself again on JapaneseClass' site. Did pretty well, again. Went over some new vocab. I apparently don't have that many left on that list. Kanji on the other hand...I've got to go over those more!Someone suggested an interesting method that I might implement as well. They make a list of every one they get wrong, and write out why they might have missed it. Then, they study them until they get them right every time. The creator of the site said that it gave him an idea for a new feature. Maybe something with a list of common mistakes of the user, so they can focus on those a bit more. It'll be cool if they did that. There are only a few I get wrong more than once, but it'd be nice to see which those are either way. They do have a 'weak' list, but those are only the current ones that you may have messed up on. I'm also using the sentence examples/articles a bit more. The only problem I'm finding with those, is they don't have examples of the various verb forms of a verb. There are like 3 different types of verbs, and they all have a different ending to their 'stem'. (present, past, polite, conditional, etc.) So, if you only have the dictionary version of a verb as an example, it's like you only have one small part of it. I know other sites that can help with that, though. Also, read some articles in Japanese on RocketNews24's original site. Watched some news vids in Japanese, as well. 

On Tuesday, I managed to get this month's blood draw done. Apparently, they still had the lab tech in training, with the other person supervising her. For the last few months, they haven't had any difficulty finding a vein and keeping it from rolling. The one in training was having a lot of issues with it.She found one, and then told me my vein 'disappeared', so she'll have to find another one. I almost passed out, so they moved me to a bed to lay on. They also gave me a huge mug filled with lukewarm water, after I asked for some water. I didn't expect it to be lukewarm, and so much of it.The second time she tried it on my other arm, and I felt an immense stinging/burning pain. I almost screamed. She couldn't figure out why I was in pain, and looked closer at it. The needle had punctured right through to another one.She tried one more time back to the original arm, but couldn't find another vein. The tech who was supervising stepped in at that point. She had a slight difficulty finding one, too. But, she got it on her first try. Apparently, they needed to collect a lot. Once the needle was in and working, she said the hard part's over with. I thought that meant they were done with the whole thing. But, they told me to hold still for a while, and I heard a lot of tubes being passed around. The whole ordeal was a bit scary to me. At the very least, it was annoying. It's done, though. 

I've gotten a few of the test results back already. My ALT is better than last time. The ALT tests the liver to see if it's damaged in any way. Some of my meds, and maybe even my IBD can affect it. So, it's a pretty important test. Last time it was the highest its ever been, but within normal range. This time it was a lot more 'normal' for me. Got the general blood panel back, and everything with that looks normal. Also, got my sed rate test result. It's to test for inflammation, and is a good indicator to see if the disease is in remission. It was better than last time, but still high. The highest of the normal range is 20mm. My highest reading was 44mm. Last time it was 32mm, and this time it's 29mm. It seems to be getting better at an even slower rate now. I wonder if she'll want to change something to make it go a little faster, or just tell me to be patient.Hopefully, she ordered the metabolites test again, too. That's another indicator for remission, and to see how my immune system is doing.

Rosie was very sick that same day. She kept throwing up, and dry heaving. Also, seemed lethargic and depressed.I remember now that in the morning she wanted to jump into the bathtub when I was getting the water ready for my shower. She jumped onto the edge of the tub, realized there was water, freaked out, and almost landed in the water. I tried to help her off of it, and she ended up slamming her stomach area against the tub and landed on the bathroom floor. I felt bad, but didn't think much of it. I'm wondering if it affected her, or made what she was going through worse.Either way, she got so bad, we had to take her to the Emergency Vet Clinic. They took x-rays of her abdomen. Then, said they couldn't find an obstruction, but it seemed she was very constipated. They said she also has a very upset stomach, and diagnosed her with gastroenteritis. I've had that before. It's very painful. I'm glad it wasn't something even more serious, but I still feel bad that she's going through the pain. She put up a struggle when Dad tried to get her in the kennel. She really scratched up her hands/wrist, and let out some really stinky pee. She was very quiet, with only a couple of meows, on the way to the clinic. She was visibly scared. Shaking and breathing very heavily. 

They gave her fluids subcutaneously, and 2 things to help with the nausea and vomiting. She seemed a lot better when she got home. She couldn't have food for 24 hours, and water was encouraged. She seemed to stay away from the water most of the day yesterday. I haven't seen her eat yet. I did see a little something in the litter box yesterday, and a bit more this morning. But, it's not nearly enough. Halfway through the day yesterday and on, she's been kind of back to being lethargic and depressed. Not nearly as bad as before, but not back to her happy self. I hope she gets through this soon. 

Managed to find the invite to the friends of the family's wedding anniversary party. They said costumes are welcomed, but optional. It will be somewhere else besides their home. I looked at it online, and it looks like a pretty fancy place. It's called the Farm Kitchen. It's an actual farm, but it's been transformed into something like a resort. A barn was renovated into being a dining room/social hall/dance hall with a very large kitchen. They cater big events, and make a monthly breakfast on the first Saturday of each month that's open to the public. Many weddings are held there. They have a vineyard, pasture for horses, gardens, etc. It looks gorgeous from the pics and a vid I saw.Cool place to have an anniversary/Halloween party. It seems the Farm Kitchen will cater it, too. I wonder how many people are going? Sounds fun!

Pumpkin Day!

Mood:

This was yesterday. I used to hate any dish that had to do with pumpkins. I would even steer clear of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. For some reason, I slowly started to like it over time. I seem to have changing tastes as I age. Used to love mushrooms, now I can't stand their texture. (The flavor's still fine.) I also used to hate cheesecake, until I tried some at summer camp. Anyways, maybe I finally had a good slice of pumpkin pie or something.Now, it's the only squash I'll eat. Who knows, maybe that'll change in the future. I find some of that pumpkin spice stuff (especially the Starbucks latte) kind of fake. Doesn't taste as 'authentic' as the real thing. Although, I found a nice pumpkin spice tea that's made with actual pumpkin in it. It's a heavy flavor, but good. (Kind of like drinking pumpkin pie, only without the calories...) It was also Pretzel Day and Mincemeat Pie Day. I've always liked pretzels and mincemeat pie. I was perplexed by the name of the pie before I tried it. I've heard other people hate it with a passion, and people warned me that it's an 'acquired' taste. I don't see why.It's a fruity/buttery/spice mix of things in pie form, essentially. What's wrong with that? The original pie, I've read, did have meat in it. But, the modern version doesn't. Today's National Potato Day. I absolutely love potatoes!Could probably eat them with every meal. 

Good news! I'm back on my insurance plan. Yay!Found out on Friday. So, knowing I still had to get a blood draw this month, yesterday I went to the lab to have it done. Apparently, they didn't have the order in from my gastroenterologist. She put it in at the end of last month, like she did the previous month. They didn't even have her name in my records. This was a little unsettling...They did have my primary's name, but that was it. They called my gastro's office about it all, and told me to come back tomorrow to try it again. Interestingly, there were 2 lab techs there, instead of the usual one. Maybe one of them was in training? 

While I was there, both Dad and I decided to get our flu shots. We checked-in with the front desk, filled out some paperwork, and waited for the nurse to come get us. We saw the people at the front desk clear out and close their booths. So, after waiting a little longer with no one coming to get us, I saw a sign about the flu shots and when they were being done. We had checked-in at about 4:45pm. The sign said they stop doing them at 5pm. By the time I looked at that sign it was already 5:02. So, I went back to the lab to see what we should do. They said to keep the forms, and get that done tomorrow, as well. So weird, though. They shouldn't have checked us in and given us paperwork to fill out, if no one was there to administer them...It's a waste of time that way. 

I also sent an email to my gastro about it all last night. Just as another heads up. I thought even if just her team gets it, it should be good. She was pretty quick at responding. Last time I tried to email her, I got one of her nurses. But, this went directly to her. I like when it's a direct thing. The go-between can mess things up by accident, or not know much about my records.She said she just put in a new order, and I can get it done within the next few days. Hopefully, that includes today. She apologized for the inconvenience, and said she was glad I'm covered again. I don't know why, but I keep thinking she's going to respond to my emails/calls in a negative way. She never has. In fact, her response is usually very nice and warm. 

My IBD might be 'flaring' up again. It's not nearly as bad as it was a couple of months ago, at least. It's still worse than it's been for the last month or so. (Also, seem to be dropping things more often. Not sure if that's related or what, though.) It scares me a bit. So, it's the perfect time to run that blood work. Maybe the azathioprine isn't working as well, even after upping the dosage? Maybe going down to a smaller dose for the balsalazide wasn't a good idea? (I'm so sick of this one, though!They're huge plastic capsules, and 3 at a time. At least with azathioprine it's one tiny tablet each time.) I don't know. The tests will help to see what's going on now. Hopefully, the sed rate is still going down. It measures inflammation, and can be an indicator to see if the disease is in remission. It was still really high last time, but it was slowly going down from what it started with. I still find it fascinating to see the results. Even when they're 'normal'. 

Saturday night I went to a fun Halloween party. I won one of the games, wore a costume, had snacks (Dad and I brought potato chips. 2 kinds: garlic, and BBQ), other people had alcohol (I can't drink alcohol because of my meds mainly), watched some weird and interesting youtube videos, and chatted. It was a bit sad that the person who invited me on facebook was sick and couldn't really attend. There weren't that many people there, but that can be nice in its own way, too.

During that day, Dad and I went to go get costumes at 2 local stores. I wanted to be a unicorn, but nothing seemed to work with it. One place had a weird light-up unicorn horn, and the closest the other place had were My Little Pony things. Not really enough.Dad wanted to be a pirate wench, but nothing seemed to fit. Kind of threw us both off. I looked around to get some more ideas for a costume at the last place, and landed in the cat section. 

After looking in that section for a while, I decided to be a punk-like cat.Found some black cat ears that had a lot of different studs on the inside part of the ears. On a corner of one of the ears there are small chains hanging off of it. A pair of black fuzzy fingerless gloves, as well. They have silvery paw pads in the palm area. Although, they seem to be slightly off-center. They're nice and cozy. A black choker with silver studs/spikes around the band, and a silver heart that hangs from it. So, it's like a collar. I was surprised it fit. In fact, I could have it on the tightest part and it'll probably still be fine. A black 'fancy' cat tail that has a glittery pom-pom at the end. It has some sort of joint inside, so you can move it around. So, you can show more emotion with it. It's nice and long, too. Kind of bounces as I walk. And, finally a small black eye mask, that apparently didn't fit. Or, more accurately, the elastic band was placed so oddly, I can't figure out how to really unravel it enough to put it over my head. Although, I don't know if it's supposed to be double banded...That would be for an awfully small head.I'll check it out again for Halloween. I kind of like it without the mask now, too. But, if I can figure the mask out and it actually fits, I can use it for future costumes. It's the only thing that didn't 'fit'. 

I wore those accessories with my black short sleeved v-neck sweater. It's the longest sleeved black shirt I have. The sleeves are actually now close to halfway down my arms. They used to be (before I lost so much weight) half as long, the rest of it used to be smaller on me, too. It looks the most fur-like, too. Also, wore my black pants. They've gotten rather baggy on me, too. The sweater and pants are actually 2 different shades of black. The sweater being slightly lighter. But, cats can have different shades/colors in their fur, so it still goes with it. I wore my black tights under that. I'm really not used to wearing tights anymore. These were actually slightly big on me. I wore my black flats for the shoes. They kind of have a nice ruche pattern. Dad had found a witch's dress (I think) we had at home to wear. It might be different on Halloween though. Don't know. 

I think I might wear nail polish with that outfit on Halloween. I have a duo nail polish thing where one side is a very dark purple (almost black) color, and the other side has confetti. The confetti has some bigger pieces than the glitter stuff. It's called Nail Art: Moon Candy. It'll be like I have shiny claws. Last time I did this nail polish, I didn't wait long enough for the dark purple part to dry before I put the confetti stuff on. It was kind of a mess.So, we'll see how that turns out this time.

We've been invited to friends of the family's wedding anniversary party on Halloween. I think it's a costume party, but can't seem to find the paper version of the invitation to double check.The email didn't say much. I just know that they needed to know how many people were coming beforehand, because it's going to be catered. Sounds fancier than what I originally thought, but it is a big thing. At the very least for celebrating their anniversary. I'm not even sure if it'll actually be at their place. We usually go to their place for Thanksgiving, occasionally a night of Hanukkah, New Year's Eve, and a Passover seder. I guess I'll find out more later. I'll try to take or have someone take pics of me in costume. Most of the time, I'm cool with having my pic taken if I'm in a costume I like on Halloween. It's different the rest of the year. Also, a week after that is my birthday!Yay!

I've gotten back to my sit-ups for the last couple of weeks. This week I'm doing 20 of them twice a day. Hope to get back to my walks, too. It'd be great if I can do the 3 2-mile walks a day. But, I'd be fine with getting my usual 2 in. 

Finished watching Rurouni Kenshin. The last episode was kind of a waste.They kept teasing the fans throughout it. They put real life pics in the background occasionally. That looked a bit bizarre. The last story arc was a bit disappointing, too. Someone commented that there's an OVA that is truly the ending. Like I mentioned last time, I'll go through all the movies and OVAs, as well. The live-action movies should be very interesting. I've heard all 3 of them are considered some of the best anime/manga to live-action movies. It can be difficult to pull off.

I colored in the skull and candle drawing I did for my cover art in Photoshop. Also, figured out a background color and effect. I still want to color the drawing manually with colored pencils. Just to compare the Photoshop version with it. I might make 2 different cover arts for it. One with the colored pencils, and the other with the Photoshop one. Also, to compare to see which is best. I have somewhat of an idea for the title's font and its color. Hopefully, it'll be as clear and as neat possible. So, people can be drawn to it. 

Hopefully, I'll get to posting here more often again.I translated more of part of a You Maga article recently. It's about info for Japanese families that are living in the US. Many have questions about the school system, health care, etc. It's been interesting so far. Sounded better than I expected when I played my clarinet recently. Studied some kanji and quizzed myself on JapaneseClass' recently, as well. 

Read a lot more of Day of Atonement by Faye Kellerman. It's been interesting so far. I have a feeling that the killer or the people he's mentoring are about to kill a little kid that went missing. I don't want that to happen, but it's looking like that. Also, Peter found out that his mother is a friend of Rina's ex-husband's family. It's the first time he's seen her. He was adopted at birth, and he searched for her for years, but gave up. He thought she hated him, and apparently she thought he hated her. So, both of them thought it was a lost cause. She was only 15 when she had him, and she said her true love was his father. But, her father didn't like their relationship, and gave her an ultimatum. So, she left him behind. He later died. When he died, all his religious books and most of his belongings were sent to Peter. He hadn't met him yet, but was about to. When his mother first saw him, she passed out. Peter dropped the plate of food he had and just froze staring at her. He now knows he has half-siblings. That part has been very interesting. 

Youtube:
A Fairy Tail amv based on the current arc (which has been pretty epic):

Another hilarious Gintama amv:

A cool Kekkai Sensen amv:

2 more Gintama amvs (the last one shows the serious side of the show):

Universal Music Day!

Mood:

Yay, for music!This was on Saturday. We should celebrate listening and/or making music every day, though. But, some people might need a reminder every so often. The organization that started it, says it's a day to encourage people from around the world to make some sort of music. If they can't, at the very least listen to something that's inspiring or that really resonates with them. Kind of a cool idea. 

The weather was crazy on Saturday. It was very rainy and windy. In fact, it apparently had gotten so bad that downtown (along the waterfront) was flooded. The videos I've seen of it are amazing to watch. (One person calls it a 'hurricane' in their vid.) It's like a river opened up over the main road.The lights flickered occasionally during the day here, but there wasn't any real flooding around us, and the power didn't go out. Just looked really messy outside. Sunday was a bit chilly, but sunny at times. Quite different than the day before. 

I still feel like I'm slowly coming out of my cold or whatever it was.I'm a lot better than I was, though. Hoping to start up my sit-ups again on a regular basis. I did them last night and this morning. So, it's a start. Doing 10 sit-ups 2 times a day this week. Somewhere simple to start with. It'd be great if I can get back to my 2-mile walks again, too. 

Something has been weighing heavily on my mind since Wednesday. (Although, I feel a lot better today about it.) I was told that I'm off of my health insurance, after I tried to order more of the azathioprine. Funny thing is, I ordered another med on the 2nd, and didn't have any problems with it. In fact, it was cheaper than usual. Which had me really puzzled.Dad had switched jobs to a local school district recently (she works at the high school that's about a 5 minute walk from home now), and I think the insurance changes over in October. (I'm a dependent on it.) It's supposed to be the same sort of plan, because it's the one offered to all 'educators' in the state. (I think.) 

Anyways, I decided to put the azathioprine on hold for a few days to see if it was a glitch. It was still the same yesterday. I had to order it, considering I'll run out on the 19th. They still haven't updated the dosage, so I get 20 days of it instead of 30.They told me I should tell my doctor about it when I got my meds right away, so it's changed for next time. Thank goodness it didn't cost as much as the med I got on the 2nd, if I wasn't covered. Normally, for that one while I'm covered, it's $6. When I ordered it on the 2nd, it was $3. If I wasn't covered, it would have been about $140. Crazy!That's a huge difference. 

I read that there might be a waiting period between the switch to the 'new plan'. Some say it might be until the 15th. I'm a little angry about it (ok, maybe more than just a little angry...), but I'd be so relieved if it did kick in then. Some say it might be as long as 90 days. I can't wait that long...Found out last night that Dad's off of it now for the time being, as well. (She really needs it, too.) So, it kind of feels like I'm falling without a safety net at the moment.Luckily, I'm pretty stable right now with my IBD. Although, this has caused a bit of stress on it. I was supposed to get a blood draw at the beginning of this month, but knowing that I'm not covered yet, I'm putting it off. It's free while I'm covered, but without it, it can be pretty expensive to have lab work done. They show how much the insurance pays for that and other things on a chart online so you can see how much things would cost. It's interesting to look at if you're covered. If not, it can be scary.If I do get back on the plan on the 15th, I'll get the blood draw done as soon as I can after that. I'm going to email my gastro about some of this stuff soon.

It feels scary also because I still feel new to IBD stuff. I feel I still don't know much about it, even though I'm learning a lot. I read a lot of it also has to do with how each individual's body reacts to it. It's different for everyone. That's also another scary part, since I was very recently diagnosed. Not enough time to really know what it's doing, or what the meds are doing to me. So not being covered feels like throwing me to the wolves this way.

Since I started azathioprine (especially with the most recent dose), I've noticed that my nails have thinned, become soft, and are somewhat rubbery. It's a weird feeling. I noticed it a bit before I upped the dose when I took off a Jamberry nail thing. (They're kind of like really strong stickers or decals for your nails. They have some interesting styles.) It left marks, and part of the inner nail area flaked off. I did it exactly as they told me to. Now my nails easily bend, get little nicks in them, have weird ripples/indents, and can be hard to clip. The hard to clip part is mainly because of that rubbery thing. (I only used the Jamberry samples on my index fingers, so it definitely didn't cause this. So, I'm not downing them.) It's kind of sad.I'm staying far away from Jamberry now. I only tried it once, but it doesn't sound smart for me right now. I'm even a bit weary of nail polish, but think it might be better for me. 

I might also be losing muscle mass or 'wasting' slowly. Wasting's such a weird term for it, but that's what people call it. I normally am extremely muscular in my legs. I know, because not only did I do marching band from the beginning of junior high until a few years into college; I took 2 weight training classes. One in high school, and the other in college. Weight training's also a gauge since I could see how much weight certain muscles could stand in my body. I remember the first time I was on the 'sled' in the high school class, I started with the wrong amount of weight. 200 pounds.It's a machine where you lie back and push up a platform that holds weights with your legs. Normally, people start with maybe 20 pounds at most. The 200 pounds felt like nothing, which impressed the teacher. I was allowed to slowly continue adding weights to it as long as I had a spotter. (He lectured me first about safety with the weights.) I think I made it close to 400 without much of a problem. I beat a football player who challenged me on it.Interestingly, I think there were only one or two other girls in that class. It was similar in college. That shows you how strong my legs can naturally be. I also had to walk uphill to a lot of my classes in college, getting my 'cougar' calves. (The cougar is their mascot.) I also had to walk to school and back in junior high and high school. Sometimes I had to walk to and from several times, because of band stuff or clubs. Anyways, I'm noticing that those muscles seem to be shrinking. I'm getting bonier in those areas. I don't want to lose them. I'm losing fat in those areas too, but I feel the muscles themselves are going as well. I don't feel as strong there. My upper arms feel weaker, too. It's a weird feeling.

I'm getting close to finishing Rurouni Kenshin. I don't really want it to end. The art just kept getting better and better. Seems pretty high quality for the time, too. The current arc is a bit weird. It's on feng shui, and how people are exploiting others through it. I wonder how the series will end? There are still movies, OVAs (Original Video Animation- usually either like a special or an original story based on the series. They can be a few episodes long), and 3 live-action movies. The live-action ones are rather new, and would also be very interesting. There are parts of the show that seem kind of 'magical', but are usually explained in a real life sort of way. So, I totally think it can be pulled off in live-action. I think I've watched one of the OVAs a long time ago. It was before I watched an episode of the actual series. I think it was called Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, and it was a lot more tragic and sad. I might watch it again, along with the other stuff I haven't seen, after I'm through with the series. I think I'll go in chronological order. The first thing is a movie from 1997. 

The finale of Kekkai Sensen or Bloodline Battlefront was finally put out last week.They postponed it for close to 3 months. It was roughly twice as long as a normal episode. I really love this series, so it was nice that they made it longer. I don't like that they made the fans wait for so long.I get maybe having a couple weeks for a break, but 3 months? I read that one of the issues was that there were scheduling problems. Many people had complained in the comments section even after the finale that things seemed too random, it was too fast, and they didn't know what was happening. It sure didn't seem random to me, and even though it was pretty complex and quick, I understood most of it.But, I like those ones that make you think. They still didn't answer a lot of things, but I think part of what made it good was the many little mysteries scattered throughout. (Of course, the humor was a huge plus.) It had a very bittersweet ending. Ghost or White disappeared. (She called herself Ghost at first to Leo.) I think she passed away, but gave Black (her brother) the power of the barrier. I think they got rid of the 'King of Despair', who was like the king of the vampires that hid in Black. He would take him over repeatedly, and had the opposite personality. (His eyes would go from blue to red, and he styled his hair differently.) I say he might have disappeared, because at the very end we heard the tune that the 'King' is always whistling coming from someone else. We don't see their face, but their back. There were hints of a possible 2nd season. Libra welcomed someone new at the very end. Again, they didn't really show this person. Leo's sister was shown at the end reading his letters while in her wheelchair at a park. Someone is behind her. She opens her eyes, and it seems like something happened with hers as well. I was thinking halfway through the series that maybe she's blind, but her eyes looked 'special'. Not like Leo's, but like they didn't have pupils, grey, and almost like she had galaxies in them. I'm wondering if the person behind her really read the letters out loud to her while she held them...(All we hear is Leo's voice reading it out.) We don't really know. Someone said White wasn't in the manga. She's pretty central to this season of the anime, but maybe that means there's even more of a possibility for it coming back. There are plenty of 'bad' guys left, too. I'd love a 2nd season, but hopefully they'd plan it better if it happens. 

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I started watching the 2nd season of Kuroko no Basket or Kuroko's Basketball. It seems even more interesting this season. I think there's one more season to the series so far. I'm thinking of watching the 2nd season of Haikyuu that's currently airing, soon. Another sports themed one. Haikyuu revolves around volleyball.

Started reading Hyde and Closer recently. It was recommended to be similar to Hitman Reborn. I can see a lot of similarities already. The 'teacher' and the other stuffed animals seem much cuter and deadlier, though. (Rather than the 'babies' do in Reborn. Seemed like they were just going for weird and slightly cute in that one.) I like that sort of thing. Shunpei Closer's grandfather, Alsyd Closer, would travel around the world and always came back to Japan to tell his grandson about his amazing adventures. Before leaving for Africa, he gave Shunpei a teddy bear named Hyde on his 7th birthday. 6 years later and Shunpei receives a dangerous package that had a stuffed monkey inside. The stuffed monkey came to life and started attacking him. Later Hyde comes to 'life' and eventually saves him. Shunpei apparently comes from a long line of legendary mages. He's the last descendant left, and all mages from around the world are after him. If they kill him, they can gain immeasurable power. Apparently, his grandpa gave him Hyde to protect him, and to teach him how to hone his magical powers. Powers Shunpei didn't know he had. Hyde likes to put candy cigars in his mouth, drinks honey like it's whiskey, and has his weapon called 'Texas Chainsaw' stuck up inside him. Shunpei has to unzip Hyde's zipper in the back in order for him to take it out. So far he doesn't seem to have any friends or people that join forces with him yet, like Hitman Reborn did. It'd be interesting if it progressed like that. I wouldn't mind if it was similar, but had its own unique qualities. 

Magico has gotten more and more interesting. It's a pretty unique series so far. I'm at the final round of the husband and wife tournament Shion and Emma are in. If they win, they finish one of the rituals for Magico and they get a magical home as the prize for winning the tournament. It feels like they've befriended almost everyone in the tournament. Shion's brother showed up, and asked him to stand in for a ritual for him where he's not sure if he'll survive. Later, Shion refused and said he'll do anything to stay happily with Emma. He doesn't want it to end like that. His brother, Faust, seems really evil. After being turned down, he got really pissed and showed himself as a contestant in the tournament. He was apparently signed up for it under a different name the entire time. Now he's out for blood against Shion. Saying Shion is so selfish, and only thinks about himself. Sounds like he has it backwards...He's pretty powerful, but never became one of the great sages like Shion. He's resentful towards him, and considers Shion a failure of a human being. He apparently has the power to use the dead to fight, can kill and bring back people alive instantly, can pop in and out of people's mouths, and has some sort of black fire. Interesting. After the tournament, Shion promised a couple, their kid, and their cat that they'd be able to be neighbors in his dragon, Sieg. His dragon is like his son. He found his egg buried somewhere, and took care of it. His home is inside the dragon. It looks like there's a whole village inside, though. But, he along with Emma, Luu, and their cat are the only ones that live there. Shion was really lonely with just his cat there for a while, and thought it'd be great to have neighbors someday. The family also couldn't go back to where they came from, so it would be perfect. Interesting to see how it unfolds. And, after this part of the greater Magico ritual, what's next?

Yesterday, I drew a skull with a candle coming out of it, that'll be used in the cover art for my nightmare anthology. I finished it remarkably quickly. At least, for me it was quick. Turned out much better than I expected, too.Didn't have to edit much in Photoshop. I'll color it in Photoshop and on my drawing pad to see which is better. (Color the candle, and maybe darken parts of the skull.) I'll use the best one. Then, I have to decide on a background color, any effects I want, and the title stuff. It's progressing much faster than I expected. Getting kind of exciting.After I finish the cover art, I might do one more read through, and then I'll submit it to Smashwords. Then, it's a waiting game. The first approval will put it in their normal catalog. Then, after the 2nd approval, it's put into their 'premium' catalog and distributed to various online retailers. I think it took about 2 weeks for my first novel to go through the whole process. I've decided to call it: Sweet Endless Terror: An Anthology of Nightmares.