National Pumpkin Pie Day!

Mood:

This holiday was actually last Friday. For a long time I hated pumpkin pie. Then, I guess when I decided to give it a shot again, it was done right and I loved it. (I had tried it several times before, and hated it.) I'm not sure if it was just my tastes changed or something, though. It happened with cheesecake, too. Hated it for years, then suddenly loved it. Now, the only squash I might eat is pumpkin. I still hate the others.The look and texture get me every time. Some day maybe I'll start liking the others, too. Had the opposite thing happen with mushrooms. Loved them for years, and then I suddenly hated them. The texture gets me the most with these. I'm still good if they're chopped up finely, or it's just the flavor, though. Pumpkin pie seems to be more of a Thanksgiving thing, so it's interesting that this holiday lands a month after. 

Also, to my friends and family who celebrate it: I hope you had a great Christmas!I don't celebrate it, so it was essentially just another day to me. Although, we did the traditional Chinese buffet dinner that day. I had as little of the stuff I could eat as possible, but I still ended up really full by the time we left.But, I was able to try a bunch of things this way, too. The dessert section seems to be much bigger than at other Chinese buffets. I probably could have just filled up on that, but that would've been even more unhealthy...I only got a small fraction of what was in that section. 

For the past couple of weeks, I've had a strange bruise on my right hand. It was only getting darker. I think today it might have finally lightened up, but not by much. I didn't bump into that area, and normally bruises might last, at most, about 4 or 5 days with me. It's a little unsettling.There's another weird bruise near my right ear. Started to feel a lot of pain in my right leg, too. I started to really notice it at the buffet. Felt kind of like someone smashed a metal chair over it.I looked at it later, and noticed several bruises were forming around the painful areas. The joints in my fingers seem to be getting really sore and stiff. My left hand is the worst on that. This stuff makes me especially nervous now, because I've been told I have to watch out for mysterious bruises, and joint pain. Those can be side effects of the meds. Some people also get arthritis from their 'disease' as a side effect, as well. So, I could get arthritis through either having IBD or one of the meds. Yay!I really don't want that. I do have a family history of arthritis, though. I wonder if my body's rebelling. Part of me thinks it's interesting, and has a morbid curiosity about it. I'll tell my gastro about all this after she emails me. I think she'll do it after the 1st, because she's probably on break. Which makes sense. At the very least, she'll contact me to talk about the next blood draw. But, I would think she'll want to talk about the sed rate going up before that...So, we'll see. It's like a waiting game. Things don't seem all that urgent, so I think I can wait a bit. 

Managed to finish going through my closet. Ended with the storage area on top. Found quite a lot of interesting things. I had to throw most of it out, though. Apparently, it was so long since I've looked around up there, that there were a ton of cobwebs, and a couple of dead spiders.The vacuum works wonders for stuff like that, though. I'm short enough that I can't reach much of the bottom of that shelf without a step ladder. Being at the highest point of that ladder really helped. I still didn't reach the ceiling while standing straight at that point. Makes me feel even shorter...I'm 5'4", and before I lost so much weight, I was 2 inches taller. Didn't seem like much, but I felt the difference. (Also, lost half a shoe size. Seems kind of weird that losing weight can do that.) Anyways, it felt good to get rid of all that stuff, and clean it up. I did save some things. 

I went through 3 jam packed small bookcases in my room yesterday. Got rid of a lot of things, and rediscovered other stuff. One of the things I rediscovered was my walkman. It's a portable tape player, and has an am/fm radio. Also, has a switch to turn on a 'bass boost'. It still works.Although, it kind of has a fuzzy whirl in the background. I think it might have had that before, too. Might be handy for listening to the tapes I have, and to listen to the radio when the power might be down. Apparently the batteries still work, too. I know I have a portable CD player around, as well. Just haven't found it yet. I remember that skipped occasionally (even with the anti-skip button), but I really liked it at the time. Found out my stereo isn't dead. It just wasn't plugged in...But, the only problem it had/has is the tape deck doesn't work. It just sticks and makes a grinding noise. It's a nice stereo, though. It can hold 3 CDs at once, and cycle through them. It also has a radio, but I had to get rid of the antenna, because the wires were stripped. So, it just needs a new one to really get the radio going again. It also has an aux section. I don't have the cable to plug it in and into another device, so I can't use that at the moment. I could in the future, though. So, I could probably listen to music from my iPhone and mp3 player on it, then. There are different sound modes, too. Technically, I can only listen to CDs through it at the moment, but that's ok. 

Found some old handkerchiefs, game holders (some for my Sega Genesis games, and some for my PC ones. My Sega Genesis still works, and the game holders have instructions and cheat codes in them. I have those actual games in a separate ziplock bag), a couple of PC games still in their holders, my high school French workbooks with some pen pal letters stuffed inside (I took all the French classes that were available), a box of interesting dreidels (some light up, launch, sing, etc.), and my old microscope. I still remember playing around with that microscope, and thinking how fun it was when I was little.At some point I lost interest. Maybe I couldn't figure out what to look at anymore. I don't know. It was too beaten up to keep, so it had to be tossed. At least, that meant I used it a lot. 

I still have more to go through in my room, but at least I got through most or, at least, half of it. With the bookcases and my closet, it already looks cleaner and roomier. Almost like a different room. It'll be interesting to see what it's like after I go through everything.

Last Thursday was the first time I 'visited' my mom since the funeral. That's about 3 and a half years. I went with Dad to see the headstone. She found out it was in the day before, so we both went the next day. (They didn't tell us it was in yet.) It was rainy and cold, which seemed appropriate. Apparently, the headstone was covered in a mesh-like netting, which we didn't see right away. I felt something was off, we both touched the letters (they seemed 'raised'), and I noticed that stuff there. I think I like the design. At least, as far as I can tell. There's a star of David in one corner, a claddagh ring in another one, there's her name, and the years she was born and passed away in. The only thing I think I'd want to change is making the star of David a bit bigger. But, that's ok. We might have an official unveiling, since we both think that's what the netting was there for. I have heard of unveilings, but never went to one before. I say might, because we have to see when a specific rabbi is available (she's pretty much the only one we know in the area and feel comfortable with now), and to see how much it'd cost for it. Hopefully, it won't be much. It'd be interesting to watch. I think I've read it's not a big thing, though. Afterwards, whether it's with an official one or not, I'll take another pic of it. It'll probably look a lot better. It'd be nice to see it without that stuff, too.

Youtube:
I've been going through more youtube vids lately. They've gotten better with their recommendations (better quality vids, too), so I found quite a bit more faves. I also looked for amv's of some anime I've seen and liked in the past. Just never thought about looking for amv's specifically for them before. I like to share these vids, not only because I like them, but it gives you somewhat of a sense of these shows. Just a snippet of them. 

2 Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler amv's:


A Hamatora amv:

2 Gugure! Kokkuri-san amv's (this anime is funny and a bit eccentric):


A Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge or the Severing Crime Edge amv (it's a pretty violent anime, but good. The anime seemed to have ended way too soon. The manga, I think, is still ongoing. There hasn't been an update in a while):

2 Kyoukai no Kanata or Beyond the Boundary amv's (this one has a pretty complex story, and was very trippy at times. Especially as it got closer to the end):

Crossword Puzzle Day!

Mood:

Today marks the day journalist Arthur Wynne from Liverpool created the first known published crossword puzzle. This was in the December 21, 1913 edition of the New York World newspaper. I love word games in general.Crossword puzzles can seem the most challenging, depending on which type you get. Some have made unique versions that are in different shapes.

Had my blood drawn last Wednesday. I think my gastroenterologist ordered 4 tests for it. Although, the more I think about it, I think the lab tech told me that there was a vitamin D one.I haven't gotten that one yet, but I have the rest. 2 of them were my AST and ALT. They check my liver function, and also indicate if there's any liver damage. One of my metabolite tests last time indicated I had hepatotoxicity or liver damage, so it's understandable that she'd order these. They both were normal. Yay!I don't have to worry much about it. But, it still feels odd that that metabolite test said otherwise. My general blood panel came back normal. Nothing had an 'H' or 'L' next to it, which I think was the first time since they started monitoring it. Although, some results were the highest I ever had, but were still within normal range. So, 3 of these tests came out pretty good.

My sed rate on the hand, wasn't too great.Sed rate measures inflammation, and can indicate remission. It's essentially how fast red blood cells travel down a tube, and how it clumps up. The more clumps, the faster it'll go. (They tend to clump together when they're sticky, contributing to inflammation as well.) Anyways, the norm is 0-20mm/hr. My highest was 44. Last time it had made it down to 29. So, I had progress. This time it was 34. The first time it's gone back up.Thank goodness it's not 44, but getting more inflamed than last time's not good. I was finally heading towards remission. So, this is really frustrating.I'm not sure if my body's getting used to the azathioprine and is becoming immune to it or something. Maybe rationing it out a bit for a few days affected how it worked on me afterwards. I still have to wait to see what my gastro says. I'm not sure if I'll hear anything from her until after the 1st, but we'll see. (She might be on break now.) 

At least, this gives me some reason as to why I have been feeling so bad lately. I decided today that I'd try to go easy on what I eat. Like more easy to digest foods, and some that I've read that are less likely to cause inflammation. We have a lot of those foods already, only I tend to mix those up with other types of foods throughout the day. Maybe it'll help if I just focus on those. I have felt like not eating at all to avoid some of the pain I've felt, but I know that's not good for me. 

Last Friday, we had a repair person come by to check out the refrigerator. They came a bit late, but actually called telling us they'd be late. Unlike the last person who didn't even go to work that day. He spent a long time looking and tinkering in it. The evaporator (I think) was frozen over. He used like a water-powered pressure washer and vacuum to get rid of the frost/ice. It looked pretty neat and clean without that stuff on there. He thought the 'bimetal' (I think that's what it's called) needed to be replaced. It's essentially the thermostat. So, he luckily had one in his truck and replaced it. It still didn't seem to totally fix it, so he messed with the timer at the bottom. I'm not exactly sure if there was another problem, because I had to lay down for a bit while he continued working after that. For some reason, I was really dizzy and nauseous. I think I just didn't eat enough or something.But, when I recovered, the repairman was gone already. Apparently, he was able to fix it! (Even though for a while he thought he needed to order something.) Yay! We have a refrigerator now!It's like a totally different world. We actually can have things like milk, and keep stuff like meat frozen now. Pretty marvelous. Even the water/ice dispenser is back. Although, the water has a slight metalic taste to it, it's getting better the more we use it. Makes sense, it had been sitting for so long, stuff probably accumulated.

There was another manga update for Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler. It seemed shorter than usual. The fortuneteller said Sebastian was like a black hole waiting to devour the 'stars'. The stars meaning humans. He seemed to know that Sebastian was a demon. (Didn't actually come out and say it, but hinted at it.) The other guests at the party yelled at him to leave, and he was forced out. Ciel decided to act like a poor factory worker, and Sebastian was his superior. Again with the little innocent kid act. He even used a similar story when he went undercover and joined a circus a while back. He used the same fake smile, too. The fortuneteller said the star that watches over Ciel is Sirius. According to him, it was rare to be protected by that star. He also said that his superior seems to be going after him the most, knowing that Sirius is such a rare star. The fortuneteller gave Ciel an expensive looking bracelet. Ciel looked around the room, and noticed most of the people there had a similar one on their wrists, only his had a different design. Later people in robes came out and seemed to do some sort of ceremony. It sounded like a cult thing. Meanwhile, while Sebastian waited outside, he saw a cat. He was oblivious to what was going on inside. He loves cats, and took the opportunity to play with her. When he first saw her, he said: "I sense a presence!" Then, the cat showed up. Readers were probably thinking he sensed something else...I hate when they mess with us that way.He blushed when he saw her, and it ended with saying he was going to spend time with a beautiful woman. Meaning the cat. Good to have some comic relief, at least. This is turning out to be an interesting story arc.

MAR and Fairy Tail were both good. Alviss won his round in MAR, and Dorothy started hers. In Fairy Tail, they seemed to have killed off Igneel. (He was a fire dragon.) He had raised Natsu like his own son, so there were some flashbacks. Natsu was so distraught when he saw what happened, it ended with him breaking down. All the dragons that had raised the Dragon Slayers came back. Apparently they were living inside the Dragon Slayers, in order for them not to turn into dragons themselves. Acnologia was once human, and they didn't want the Dragon Slayers to end up the same way. Also, they were lying in wait until the right time came to kill Acnologia. Oh, and Zeref suddenly showed up, took his book, burned it, and disappeared. He left almost as quickly as he appeared. He also threw Mard Geer back in the book before he destroyed it. He said he had no use anymore for the demons he created. 

I finally finished the cover art for Sweet Endless Terror.It's an anthology of 12 short stories based on my recurring nightmares. I started reading the whole thing over again today. Went through the first 3 stories. It's just to edit one last time, and to mostly look at the finished product. There were only a few mistakes that I fixed so far. I like how it turned out, and hope other people will, too. After I go through everything one last time, I'll send it off to be published. I'm thinking of putting it up as a preorder first for a bit. Smashwords suggested that this has helped other authors a great deal. So, we'll see. 

日本語

Studied the kanji: 最. When pronounced as さい (sai): the most, the extreme. As 最たる or さい.たる (sai.taru): prime, conspicuous. As 最も or もっと.も (motto.mo): most, extremely. 最愛 or さいあい (saiai): beloved. 最悪 or さいあく (saiaku): the worst. 最下 or さいか (saika): the lowest, the worst. 最強 or さいきょう (saikyou): strongest. 最近 or さいきん (saikin): most recent, these days, right now, recently, nowadays. 最古 or さいこ (saiko): the oldest. 最高 or さいこう (saikou): highest, supreme, the most. 最後 or さいご (saigo): last, end, conclusion, latest, most recent; (exp) (after -tara from or -ta form followed by ga) no sooner than, right after (often having negative consequences). Next time I'll go over more of its compounds. Also, practiced a bit on JapaneseClass' site. They have a slightly new system, and this was my first time using it. Might be interesting in the future. Watched a bit of news in Japanese, too. 

Youtube:

2 Kuroshitsuji amv's. The Undertaker one seems to fit him so well, yet it's funny and creepy. (They disabled embedding for the vid, so I'm posting the link to it.) The 2nd one definitely fits Sebastian. The song's perfect:

Kuroshitsuji AMV ~Undertaker

8th Day of Hanukkah!

Mood:

Today was the last day. It ended at sundown. I found it interesting that I ran out of our normal Hanukkah candles on the 7th night. In fact, there were only 2 left for that night. Each night we add a candle to light. So, the shamash (or 'helper' candle) is lit in addition to whatever night it is. So that means, 2 candles for the first night, another 3 for the next, and so on until the last night which we light 9 candles. That adds up to a lot of candles.44 in total. The boxes for the brand of Hanukkah candles we usually get only have 43. I think they did that on purpose, so you have to get another box. That's kind of sneaky.I found a big container of nicer looking ones. They're blue and white. I didn't know we had them. So, I had more than enough to finish the holiday. Kind of goes along with one of the main stories of the holiday...

Well the refrigerator repair person never showed up on Saturday. In fact, when Dad called them about an hour and half passed the appointment time, they said that the one that was supposed to do it never made it to the rest of his appointments for the day. He didn't even show up for work that day. I hope he's ok, and if nothing happened to him, he needs to be fired.That was crazy. So, the closest next appointment that was available was Friday sometime around 8am and 12pm. Almost another week with not much of a refrigerator. The bottom part on either side is close to working, but the rest is around room temperature. We can only put a few things in at a time right now. Hopefully, they'll be able to fix it and get it up and running soon.

Since a lot of the lunch stuff I would normally get would probably go bad pretty quickly, I decided to try out some soups in the meantime. (I have to rethink eating right now.) Found some interesting ones. I'm trying to stay away from corn, because I think that's one of my 'trigger foods'. I end up bloating up so much after eating some of it, I feel like a hot air balloon. I also end up throwing it up, and have other issues with my gut.The only other food I've pinpointed as a trigger food is beef summer sausage. That seems awfully specific, and I don't know what triggers it in that type of sausage. I'm ok with other types. Again, these are foods that trigger symptoms, not the disease itself. Apparently, corn is in a lot of soups.I'm not sure if things like corn syrup affect it, I just know regular corn kernels do. (Popcorn might, too. I just haven't tried it out.) But, I found 3 without corn. They look really hearty, too. One's hamburger and vegetable soup, another is smoked gouda with chicken and beans soup, and the other is a broccoli, cheddar, and potato soup. They all sound really good.I'll try to split them into single servings each time (1 can is 2 servings. Why can't they make 1 serving cans?!), but have the leftovers the next day. Probably won't be good to wait longer than that with them. 

Also, got some turkey bacon for a breakfast protein this time. Didn't realize how little protein they have. (Compared to my chicken sausage, and those breakfast sandwiches I used to get.) It's 2g per slice. I usually like 2 slices, but that doesn't really cut it. So, maybe I'll try 3. Next time I'll look at the sausages again. Also, the soups that I mentioned look like they're packed with protein for each serving. Which will help a lot. 

I've decided to start at 10 sit-ups twice a day this week again. I haven't really done it for a full week for a while. So, it's my starting over amount. I've also decided to clean something every day. A while back, I was cleaning an entire room once a week. I would switch places each time. I think if I end up doing some of it every day, I'll end up getting to things quicker. The only day I'm thinking of not doing it is on Saturday. I've already cleaned up my entire bathroom, including areas I didn't get to last time. I've gotten to dusting about a quarter of my room so far. That's including the door, blinds, and windowsill. Also, cleaned the windows, vacuumed along the ceiling, and vacuumed the huge painting my mom did of her friend in high school that hangs over the head of my bed. (Her friend's playing a guitar on the floor in front of a sofa in it. It's kind of cool.) First time I've ever vacuumed the painting. I know it's dry, but I always feel like I'll ruin it somehow...Now it looks a lot better. After dusting the rest of my room, I'll get to the rest of the stuff in my closet. I just have to go through the top part. I think I'll be throwing a lot of stuff away. Should be interesting to see what I find. I can't reach things too well up there, so I'll have to use a step stool. All that cleaning is also a form of exercise. It'll get me moving while it's just cool enough outside, I don't feel motivated to do my walks.I will get to them soon, though.

The anime MAR has been pretty good so far. I'm still surprised at how good it is, and yet seems to be very underrated. I'm up to the final match. I think it's for 6 rounds this time. It's not a sports anime, but more like a magic tournament one. Although, I guess that might be a form. They use magic jewelry called ARMs to summon 'guardians', weapons, plants, curses, heal, etc. Although, Ginta's 'ARM', named Babbo, isn't really jewelry, he's a ball and chain. And, he has a mind of his own. Unlike how other ARMs seem like inanimate objects. The first round of the final match was won by MAR's Jack. MAR's essentially the good guys. Ginta is the captain. Most of the Chess are bent on evil and destruction. Got to see more about Jack's dad, which was interesting and tragic at the same time. The next episode looks like Alviss from MAR will battle in the 2nd round. Since there seems to be quite a lot left of the series, I think there's going to be something after the tournament. Should be interesting to see what that'll be. Chess essentially started the tournament because they were bored, and the continent could have a chance at fighting against them. They call it a war game. The 'villains' haven't all been evil. More like they're confused or they've been twisted by Phantom (the head of Chess). Phantom wants to destroy all of humanity, but he's taken an interest in Ginta. The only problem I have with the show is the occasional screen time just for grunts from the characters. It takes up some time, and is kind of annoying.

Fairy Tail seems to be getting crazier and crazier. Every time they think they've won and saved everyone in the current story arc, something else happens that puts everyone in jeopardy. I think the arc is almost over, though. The Dragon Slayers' dragons that raised them have suddenly appeared. Agnologia, who has a connection with Zeref, and thought to be extremely powerful (he destroyed an entire island in an instant), was just defeated. Other dragons are attacking the 'faces' that have popped up, and if fully activated, they will destroy all magic. Mages will slowly die, since that's essentially their life source. Things will stop working for others, because magic is kind of used like electricity in their world. The dragons seem to be the only ones able to destroy those strange faces, though. They've already beat Mard Geer Tartaros, and he was the demon guild's leader. Igneel, a fire dragon that raised Natsu, wants Natsu to get a special book called END and give it to him. Supposedly, this book is filled with Zeref's demons, and if it's not destroyed, they can just keep reviving themselves. Gray wants to destroy it. So, it basically ended with him and Natsu arguing over it. We don't know what Igneel will do with it, if he gets it. I think he'll try to destroy it in his own way. The preview of the next episode shows Zeref himself appearing. He apparently wrote that book in order to find a way to kill himself. He's immortal, has lived a long time, and seems desperate to find a successful way to kill himself. He has some sort of interest in Natsu. Usually, when Zeref shows up, things die around him. I think I remember him talking to Natsu before about how depressed he was about it. Everything he touches seems to die. Only, I think, the Dragon Slayers have a chance of surviving around him. I feel bad for him, and he actually doesn't seem like an evil person. 

There was an update for Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler, today. I wish it was put out more often than once a month.I think in October there were 2 chapters out, but that seemed more like one of them was a special. The manga is far better than the anime, and it seems to only be getting better itself. (Although the 1st season was pretty decent, and the Book of Murder OVA and Book of Circus 'season' were really well done. The 'Books' followed the manga exactly, though.) The current arc is about a strange fortuneteller that reads fortunes at an odd party that meets once a week. Everyone's invited, no matter the social class or age, and people always seem happy at these parties. They're held at a music hall. It seems like no one is worried about anything, jealous, envious, depressed, or anything other than just happy. It almost seemed to me like they were high. Like the fortuneteller is giving them something without them knowing every time he reads someone's fortune. Everyone has been saying things like: the stars protect me, and this is where my star belongs. Sounds like a cult, too. Ciel's fiancee, Lizzy, might have fallen for whatever is happening there. She ran away from home, and hasn't been back for a week. Her brother, Edward, found out she's been staying at the music hall the entire time. (Lizzy's on the left, and Edward's on the right in the pic.) Her brother was the one that introduced her to one of those parties. He doesn't know much about it. He only attended one or two of them beforehand. Someone else had suggested that he should go. So, not only has the Queen asked Ciel to investigate what's happening there; Edward wants them to figure it out, too. Ciel, Sebastian, and Edward decide to check it out together. Sebastian decides to test the fortuneteller and asks for his reading. The fortuneteller immediately changes his mood once he sees him. He normally asks people to prick their fingers, and let out a drop of blood into a cup that seems to have water. But, he told Sebastian that he doesn't need to. He said there are no stars looking over him, and whispered that he can't possibly be human. It looks like he knows what Sebastian is. Should be interesting to see what happens next.

Youtube:
A Kuroshitsuji amv. Has a few scenes from the 2nd season, which I could only stand 2 episodes of. But, it's only for part of it, and it's a really good amv. Shows you just a snippet of some of the dark stuff in the series. The song really fits, too:

6th Night of Hanukkah!

Mood:

Yay! It's Hanukkah!One of my fave holidays! I'm having it pretty low key this year. Not even going to any parties. The congregation that I like is having one tomorrow night. I remember that they usually have a lot of people show up, which is one of the reasons I don't want to go. For now, I don't know how my immune system will handle that many people in such a small space, again. I also don't want to wear a mask while I'm there. There's usually lots of food, so not only will I look weird, but I'd have to take it off in order to eat anyways.Oh well. I can have my own party at home. 

I've been lighting the candles for each night like usual. (There are 8 nights.) While going through the Hanukkah decorations, menorahs (for Hanukkah there is a special one called a hanukkiyah, but for short many just say menorah. It's the general term which basically means 'lamp'), etc.; I found a wax off spray. Didn't know we had such a thing.Used it the first night, and it did indeed keep the wax from dripping everywhere (didn't even see it in the 'cups' that hold the candles). But, the stuff smelled really bad, and the spray gets everywhere.Too much of a mess to deal with. I listened and sang to some Hanukkah songs on youtube. Had some song sheets, but had forgotten half their melodies, so it was nice to hear them again. Played a little dreidel by myself. Also, I wasn't sure if I wanted decorations up until the day before. Found some interesting things that we haven't used in a long time. Rosie seems to like when I light the candles, too. The more I light, the more she wants to sit and watch them. Tonight, she was on one of the tallest boxes (in the room I do it in) we have, and just watched contently.I did have some fried foods. But, no latkes. The closest thing I had were some fried potatoes at a Chinese buffet. Seemed to have a similar taste, though. Also, we had sufganiyot (sufganiyah for the singular form) or jelly donuts the night before. Kind of started celebrating early. They had a lemon filling, and were really good. Got the same ones again tonight. So good! 

This is my wallpaper for December. A fun Pandora Hearts themed one. Break's on the far left, Oz is 2nd from the left, Alice is in front of Gilbert (with the cymbals), and Liam is at the far right. Emily, Break's doll that seems to have a life of its own, is holding a ribbon in the middle. Can't tell if she's hanging off of the violin's bow, or just in midair. Combining one of my fave manga with a music theme, is pretty cool to me. Probably because I love music in general, and I'm a clarinetist. Interesting instruments that they chose. I don't think they played instruments in the actual series, so it's interesting. They might have in one of the art books. I haven't looked at them, though.

My Paris calendar features Montmartre, and  the name means 'mountain of the martyr'. It was derived from the martyrdom of Saint Denis, the bishop of Paris. The original inhabitants established their own town outside of city regulations. It quickly became a popular drinking area, and establishments like the early Moulin Rouge and Le Chat Noir (The Black Cat) surfaced. During the mid to late 1800's, artists such as Degas, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, and Picasso lived there.

My Jewish calendar's main pic's of a menorah, unknown maker, made out of brass, Netherlands or Germany; 1870-1900. The legs/stand holding it up look like those sea monsters in old fashioned maps. (The ones that say things like 'here be dragons'.) They have a bird's head, and a fish's body. Their 'beaks' are open, and kind of look like they're smiling or laughing. Coming from the main body of the menorah there are hands for each branch. The branches really are designed like tree branches, and those hands are holding them up. They have normal 'cups' to hold the candles at the top. At the very top of the main body, there's a star of David. A very interestingly styled one. The other pic's of another menorah, made by Iene Ambar, made out of iron and wire, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 1988. I don't think I like this one as much...It's made up of triangular tubes, with a clear base. I think I see wires poking up from each corner of it. (Looks dangerous...) It's not the usual branched one or 'sitting' one. All the 'tubes' are at the same height. Normally, the Shamash candle holder is slightly raised above the rest. It's a 'helper' or 'attendant', and we light the other candles with it. But, this one isn't like that. 

One of my 2016 calendars is put out by the same Jewish museum in Amsterdam that did the Jewish one I have for this year. Technically, they go by Rosh Hashanah to start it, then end the second December after that. (If they go by Rosh Hashanah, shouldn't they end it on the next one?) So, every time I start it, it's a couple of months into it already. There's always something interesting featured from the museum. It would be cool to go there one day. The other calendar (for the normal 'secular' year) is going to be beagle themed. We used to have a beagle named Buster. I miss him a lot.He was quite a character. Most beagles remind me of him. I'm not used to having an animal theme. Normally it's either herbs/spices or places. I was half thinking about an element theme (like it features helium, gold, carbon, zinc, lithium, etc.), but felt more strongly about the beagle one. Maybe I'll get the element one next time. I love science, as well. Also, I'll go through my current calendars at the end of the month, and cut out any pics I want to turn into 'posters' to put on my walls. I think it's an interesting way of appreciating the calendars after using them. Plus, some have some pretty cool pics. 

Only found one month-long holiday that seemed interesting: National Egg Nog Month. I love egg nog (of course the non-alcoholic kind), even though I know it's a Christmas type beverage. I don't get it that often. When I do, I put a little nutmeg on top. 

Wow. It's been a while.Hopefully, next year I'll be a bit better about posting. The refrigerator broke down on November 30th. Everything in the freezer section went bad pretty quickly. Majority of the refrigerated section went bad quickly, too. I went through it all, and we took the stuff that had gone bad to the dump. Ended up being 120 pounds worth of the stuff.We had just stocked up everything, and a lot of it went to waste. I thought that maybe it needed to defrost without anything in it, so we turned off its power (the plug is hard to reach), and waited for about a day. Then, we turned it back on and left it going without anything in it for a day. Dad had cleaned it out before turning it back on. Apparently, the bottom area on both sides is working, but the vent is starting to ice over again. The top part of the refrigerated section is really warm, too. 

Dad called Sears about it, and scheduled an appointment to have someone look at it and hopefully repair it. That will be tomorrow at anytime between 1pm and 5pm. I really hope they can get it back to being fully operational. Even the water/ice dispenser isn't working. I've been using tap water for tea, and old bottled water when I just want water. The taste of the tap water is nasty to me. When I use it for hot tea, that taste seems to go away. The old bottle water has a weird taste, but it's not bad. I've also been eating oddly ever since the refrigerator broke down. 

Had a phone appointment recently with my gastroenterologist. In fact, she ended up calling me at the mall when were looking at refrigerators. (Obviously, didn't get one. But, we looked.) But, it was a very weird time to call me about something like that. I think I might have gotten some weird looks. That's ok, since I don't know those people, and probably won't see them again.

We talked about my concern about seeing a recent test result that indicated I have hepatotoxicity or drug induced liver damage. She said my other liver results were fine, and some were even better than before. She also said that everyone metabolizes the med differently, and not to worry for now. Just to wait and see what the next test results will be. She said I should have my next blood draw in mid-December. So, I'll do it the beginning of next week. 

Also, she thinks she can wean me off of the balsalazide. She said I might be off of it by the beginning of next year. I'm guessing that means sometime in the next couple of months. I really don't like the balsalazide. The pills are huge, and I have to take a lot of them during the day. 

A couple of nights into rationing the azathioprine last time, I was in extreme pain in my lower right abdomen that traveled to my back and up into my chest. Had a very hard time sleeping. After a while, I was seriously debating whether to go to the ER or Urgent Care. But, then I started to feel better, and decided not to go anywhere. My gastro was concerned about this when I brought it up. She kind of lectured me about having too much or too little of what I'm supposed to have. (Unless she says otherwise.) It could seriously complicate things. She did change the prescription finally so that it's for the full month. Yay!

I've also been feeling odd more recently. Every so often I feel like my skin's on fire. I've even seen some dark red streaks around my earlobes and behind my ears. It's a little scary. But, I don't think I'll bring it up until after I get the next batch of test results. Also, my stomach sometimes really hurts. And, my scalp has been very itchy, especially at night. (It's starting to burn up too, every time I scratch.) It can affect other places besides my digestive tract. (Places that might be connected somehow, or I'm not absorbing certain nutrients, etc. They call them extraintestinal manifestations or complications.) There has been other odd things, but again, I won't bring it up until after I get those results back. It might come up on them, anyways. Also, I've been eating even less protein ever since the refrigerator broke down. I might still have some good sources, but either I just don't feel up to having them, or I don't want to have like a whole can of sardines, for example. 

Also, I have been feeling like not eating much. Eating is even more important now with the meds I'm taking, and the 'disease'. So, it's not a good thing to feel like you want to avoid it.Most of the time I'm telling myself that I have to eat at least enough for my pills. This has helped somewhat. Occasionally, having food I really love has helped, too. I can't always eat that, though.

I decided to join a Crohn's and colitis forum. It doesn't seem as active as I thought it would, but it's something. There's one guy that seems to post/reply to everything I put out, immediately. It's a little weird. Especially when most of his posts after mine end with something like: "We're here for you." The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America's forum is even less active. Seems the site's just good for resources. Which is great, too. Definitely need that.

Finished watching Honboshi or the Real Culprit. It was a bit bland. Didn't have very exciting stories, and it seemed poorly acted. Odd, because most of the actors are really good in other things. 

Just recently started watching the Jdrama Siren, and it's been amazing since the very beginning.A lot of suspense and mystery. There's a lot of twists and turns. It's a new show, too. I don't know if Kara, the 'villain', is trying to become Yuki, a detective, or stalk her, or kill her slowly. Still don't know much about Kara. Shinobu, Yuki's partner and boyfriend (they're keeping their relationship a secret), knows something's up with Kara and is doing his own investigation. He knows she has some sort of interest in Yuki, and that recently with every murder she appears. There's never any evidence left behind of her involvement with the crimes, so Shinobu's trying to dig deeper into who she really is. (It doesn't help that she's had extensive plastic surgery.) She seems to have some sort of master plan with every murder, too. Don't know what that is, though. She follows the way a serial killer acts almost by the book, and seems to be trying different methods with each murder. At times, she even seems bored by it. Shinobu sees the pattern, but Yuki doesn't. In fact, Yuki seems to have become friends with Kara. 

I'm really close to finishing the manga Magico. It's gotten really trippy the last few chapters. The trippiness towards the end reminds me of 666 Satan which is also known as O-Parts Hunter. That one only got trippier as it progressed towards the end. The art reminds me a bit of En Passant. It definitely has its own uniqueness, though. It's been really good, and I kind of don't want it to end.

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