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! 
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.
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.
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.
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.
Youtube:
A Pandora Hearts and Kuroshitsuji amv:
A Gintama trailer-like amv:
10 hilarious cat commercials:
A Kekkai Sensen amv:
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