11th of Av

It's been really warm lately. I've felt less motivated to post because of it. We only had 2 or 3 days of relief. Thank goodness we had them! This week seems like it'll be the hottest. Possibly the low 90s for most of it. Today's high was 90. It was supposed to be the coolest day of the week. It'll cool down again this weekend. Anything above 75 degrees feels too warm to me. This sort of weather isn't the norm for the area, too. Last year was more brutal, though. At least we don't have heavy smoke at the same time. We're also going through a drought now. (It looks like it'll get worse for the next couple of weeks.) Yay! Droughts are rare here, too. 

Went to Kitsap Pride, and helped out at the local trans group's booth. At most we had 5 people show up to help. At times, I was the only one there. We had info brochures, hi-chew candy, and a clothing exchange behind the booth. It probably would have been better if the clothes were in front of it. Made it a little more difficult to get to, and some people didn't even notice it. I made sure to tell them when I was there. Despite that, people still managed to take some things. Also, it didn't help much that we didn't have a banner. People didn't know who we were at first.

There were a couple of people that asked: "So, does that mean a man wanting to be a woman, and a woman wanting to be a man?" This was gross. No, trans women are women, and trans men are men. They are not 'wanting' to be something they already are. Not to mention, they kept up the binary stuff. They didn't even think about non-binary people. We tried to explain a little, but mainly directed them to the info brochures. Some people seemed confused by it. There were quite a few people that seemed interested in the group. That was great to see.

I felt a little uneasy that there were so many church groups there. It's great that they're supportive, and Christian LGBTQ+ people know that they have options with congregations. However...it almost seemed like they were trying to coerce people to become members or convert them. I'm a little paranoid of churches anyways. They haven't been kind to any of my communities (Jews, LGBTQ+, etc.) in the past. Many of them are very ignorant of other religions and people. Cool that things are changing, but it doesn't change that feeling I get. Even meeting with a group (unrelated to a religion) at a church is difficult for me. 

I was wearing my aro ace pride shirt. There were a surprising amount of other aros and/or aces. When they saw my shirt, the reactions were great. Some loved it and wanted it, and asked where I got it. Others were so emotional and happy. Yay! Last year there were hardly any of us there. This year I also saw a lot of the big ace flags worn as capes. There were a lot of non-binary and non-binary specific identity flags, too. So many more trans flags than usual. Amazing to see. 

I had a cheeseburger with chips for lunch. I like that that food booth seasons their burgers well. A lot of places make the patty plain. I went back a little later and got their Dutch apple pie. That was really good, too. It was a thick slice. 

I looked at all the booths, saw some of the headliner's performance on the main stage, and a little of the drag stuff at a stage in front of our booth. The booths were interesting. That creepy flag guy's booth was there again. He actually had a huge aro flag hanging on the outside of his booth. That was good to see, but I wasn't going to get one from him. Good for other people. There are about 5 different designs for the aro flag, and he had the newest one. I would like the first design. It doesn't seem very popular, though. The symbolism makes the most sense and looks better to me. For instance, the yellow stripe is for yellow roses which symbolize friendship, but also other forms of love besides the romantic kind. They turned that stripe white in the current one, and kept the meaning for it. But, it loses it if it's not yellow...The current one seems more based on the ace flag, and yet we're trying to separate from that community. Doesn't make sense that way, and probably makes aro allosexuals feel left out. Most aros are actually allosexual. Allosexual or allo is what aces call someone who isn't ace. Aros use alloromantic or allo for those who aren't aro, too. The flag should be different. Anyways, I mostly had fun there. 

A little while ago, Dad and I went to the dump. She had rented a U-Haul truck this time. The dump is pretty far from where we are, and we made 2 trips there. Most of it was stuff from the garage. A little of it was from outdoor stuff. I added up how much it weighed from the receipts. 1,040 pounds! So much! I didn't realize there was that much junk in the garage. 

One of the biggest things we got rid of was the couch sitting in the garage. It had been there for about 17 years. I tried to help load it into the truck. I ended up dropping it on my upper left leg and part of my knee. It felt like I had punctured holes in my leg. I thought I had ripped my jeans, too. It badly bruised it in those areas instead. It's still there. Those bruises have changed colors and seem to look worse now. Anything that lands/sits on my left leg hurts. Not only that, but it strained my already badly strained shoulder even more. So, that couch and other junk beat me up. Great.

We also took 2 of my mom's paintings to a storage unit. One was really big and had been hanging over my head for years while I slept. I used to worry that it would fall on my head at night. She did that one in high school and it's of one of her friends. She's playing the guitar on the floor with a couch behind her. (Presumably the same one we had in the garage for a while. It was originally my grandparents', I think.) It's at a weird perspective. It's not that great a painting either. She painted my room's walls in 2 of the colors she used in the painting. One's baby blue, and the other three are 'fortune cookie'. So, it's all based on that painting. It's a little much. I have a mirror that was on the wall facing the painting, and it was creepy at night sometimes. Without the lights, it looked like someone else was in my room. Now the wall that had the painting looks too bare...I might put flags up in that area. 

The other painting was also something she did in high school. It was a match striking a matchbox. However, no one guessed it correctly. I thought as a kid that it was the moon, the smoke was actually it's face, and there was the night sky at the top. I couldn't come up with something for the strip it was striking. It just seemed odd. This one is big too, although not as big. It was on a wall in the living room. 

I was trying to get back into walking the day before I badly strained my shoulder. I was all hyped up for it. After going to Urgent Care for my shoulder, I focused more on healing it. Then, the heat hit. I can't stand walking outside in this weather. Certainly not for 2 miles. I thought of an exercise I could do inside: climbing stairs at home. Running up and down them for a few minutes, then taking a break, then going back to it for a few minutes, etc. Haven't gotten to it yet. We don't have air conditioning, so this would actually make me feel hotter. I'm trying to keep as cool as possible. I love when I brought this exercise option up with someone they were surprised I try to exercise normally. It's like they completely forgot. I think the heat had gotten to them. It just surprised me. I've talked about my walks and motivating myself to do them on here, fb, and in person with them in the past. I used to do 3 of those 2-mile walks, and would like to work my way back to that. I figure starting with one until I get used to it, then adding another, is best. I'd like to do that one right after dinner. Easy to remember, and helps with digestion. Hopefully, when it gets cooler out, I'll get back to it. It's important to get some form of exercise. I feel awful when I don't have something like that walk. I also have to be careful not to do too much, because my colitis symptoms feel worse afterwards. I also tend to walk at a 'very brisk pace' according to MyFitnessPal. Many people have come up to me during my walks telling me I walk too fast. 

Barnes & Noble now has 4 out of the 5 paperback versions of my books. All but the memoir. The memoir couldn't go into expanded distribution through Amazon, because the size might be slightly too big. Still, 4 of them isn't bad. First time I've had any paperback versions on B&N. (I've had 2 ebook versions on there in the past, but this is different.) Yay! I'm not exactly sure but it seems that in a couple of weeks they'll have it at their brick-and-mortar stores. They won't report the sales until a couple of weeks after that. Amazon, really kdp, isn't very clear on the specifics of their expanded distribution program. It's new for their kdp paperback authors. Not new for CreateSpace authors, but it might be a different way of doing it. (Amazon's slowly phasing out CS.) I've never used CS, so it's new to me. They mentioned that it's not definite that your books will be picked up by other retailers. When they do pick them, it'll take a few weeks for the shipments to come in for brick-and-mortar stores. Then, they'll report once they get them. It's weird. It'll be cool to see 4 of my books on the shelves at our local B&N. I did a search yesterday, and these are the other retailers that have picked them up so far: eBay (UK and Australia sites), Books-a-Million aka BAM, Alibris, the Book Depository (UK), AbeBooks (have 2 sellers, one from the UK the other from the US, selling just my cookbook), Valore Books, and Chegg Books. Most of these I haven't heard of. There are many sellers on Amazon and it's various international marketplaces, too. Interesting. I was worried I wouldn't get my paperback versions distributed to other places. Glad they started this recently. Sad the paperback version of my memoir won't get as much exposure, though.

After the ebook versions of Alliance, Alliance: Dawn, and Sweet Endless Terror end their Select terms, I'll publish them through Smashwords, too. They'll still be on Amazon. Once they're approved for Smashwords' Premium Catalog, they'll be distributed to many different retailers. More than their paperback versions through Amazon. Retailers like Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble (Amazon doesn't do this with their ebooks), libraries, etc. So, I'll end up boosting exposure even more. Smashwords also has a new thing with promoting a series more than a single book. I could use that as well. Once I finish and publish Alliance 3, I'll take my memoir out of Select and publish it through Smashwords, too. 

It's been difficult sticking to my daily calorie range and keeping track of certain nutrients lately, because of the heat. I'm going to do my best, though. Today's been good with that. I'll finish the day at 1423 calories. Pretty close to middle of my range. My range is 1200 to 1600. Got over the halfway mark for my recommended daily intake of protein. I never make my full amount. Usually end up barely halfway. So, yay! Did pretty well with my other nutrients. MyFitnessPal's so handy for this sort of thing. Plus, I can always go back to see what has been a trigger for my colitis symptoms. So much to it. I could record my exercise, too. 

National Pecan Pie Day!

This is one of my fave pies! One of my fave nuts, too. For some reason, it's hard to find a good slice of it locally. Usually it's too dry, too many pecans, too sweet, or runny. It's like heaven when it's just right, though. 

I posted on my personal fb and in an enby fb support group about my analogy for gender. I came up with it a while ago, but it popped in my head again when someone was telling me about a muffin one. That one wasn't very good. It's hard to find good analogies for it. 

Mine is gender as pizza toppings. Men are handed sausage pizza, and women are handed pepperoni pizza. Society encourages them to love their toppings (only those) and to never change anything like the sauce or dough. A trans woman is handed a sausage pizza, but hates it and loves pepperoni. She doesn't hate people who love what they were given, but it's not for her. If she picks off the sausage and trades toppings with someone else, suddenly society at large is in an uproar. How dare you eat pepperoni instead of sausage! This goes the other way with trans men. 

Gender non-conforming people, who still like the topping they were given, might add other sauces and dough. Non-binary people, as a whole, would have different and/or multiple toppings. Agender people specifically might not have any toppings, except for extra cheese. Genderfluid people might have different toppings depending on which gender they are at the time. Bigender gender people could have 2 toppings of any of then. 3 for trigender people. Or, some might have one totally separate gender, and they'd get a different topping entirely. Demigender people might have their pizza partially covered with a certain topping associated with a gender, and maybe another topping for the rest of it. The possibilities are endless, but society will only focus on the sausage and pepperoni pizzas. They have to be the standard for those pizzas, too. They don't want people to switch with each other. Or, even to ask for another one. 

I think this is the best one that I know. It's got many layers to it. Plus, gender expression can be mixed in there with the sauces, dough, or different types of cheese. Really, there are many ways to look at this one. I went with pizza, because it's one of the most popular foods around the world. Sausage and pepperoni are some of the most popular toppings, and considered 'classics'. Funny thing about this is I can't have those toppings in real life. So maybe that was another added subconscious thing. Also, with genders that aren't connected at all with the binary they could have things like fruit or veggies. The concept is flexible. I'm extra cheese in this. It's not boring, especially considering you could have something like a 4-cheese pizza for it. For a cheese lover, like me, that's amazing stuff. Plus, we can have any sauce, dough, etc. that we're comfortable with. 

I had a couple of loves and a share on my personal page. I'm still getting lots of likes, loves, and comments in the enby group. People really seem to like it. Someone suggested we should list what type of pizza we are, which was cool. Very interesting to see what people are in that one. This could be a 'thing' now. It'd be cool to see illustrations of the pizzas. Not sure if I'd do it. Someone recently commented in the group that it's perfect. 

It's been really warm lately. A lot of the time when this happens I feel like not doing much. I end up trying to stay in the coolest area of the house downstairs. It'll be a little warmer the next few days. Oh joy! At a certain point, I can't have my desktop on. Unless I want to heat up the house, particularly my room, even more. My room usually is the hottest, even when my desktop's off. Makes it difficult to go to sleep. Even with my new window fan. 

This means I can't write more of Alliance 3 until it cools off again. Not sure when that will be. I did brainstorm a bit on what will happen next, today. That's something. 

Yesterday, I decided to lower the prices of all my paperbacks. I thought since my ebooks will start their promos soon, I might as well do something with their paperback counterparts. I made it so I get at or close to $2.57 in royalties for all of them. They also just started giving authors the option of Expanded Distribution for their kdp paperbacks. So, it sounds a lot like it'll be similar to Smashwords ebook distribution system. It'll be available to bookstores, libraries, etc. Unlike how it was only available on Amazon before. This will be immensely handy. If I get 3 ebooks on Smashwords' Premium Catalog, and check the box for Expanded Distribution, all 3 of those books (both versions) will be distributed to different places. Smashwords only deals with ebooks, although I think you can provide a link to other versions of them. I'll have all my bases covered for those 3. 2 of them would just have their paperbacks distributed to other retailers. (I'm keeping those 2 ebook versions on Select for now.) This sounds like it'd really work out. 

I managed to check all but 1 for Expanded Distribution. That one didn't meet their requirements. It has to be a certain trim, at least. I think it's has the largest trim for my books, so it makes sense. 4 isn't bad. The prices are required to be a little more for this option, too. I still kept the royalties at the amount I planned. 

Alliance's paperback is now $11.70. Alliance: Dawn's paperback is now $10.40. Sweet Endless Terror is now $10.80. More Than Meets the Eye is now $9.80. My Mother's Treasure Trove of Recipes is now $8.99. For some, I've lowered the prices by quite a bit. Like I planned, I'll get at or close to $2.57 royalty for them all. I think MTMtE was the one I couldn't check off for ED. Oh well. This all might help. After my ebooks are finished with their promos, I'll either set the prices back to where they were or set it to somewhere in the middle. It all depends on how they'll do. I'm pretty optimistic about this working out more. Some people (some of whom I know) who bought the paperback version of the cookbook already might get angry at me for lowering the price now. However, self-published authors mess with prices all the time. They need to find that 'sweet spot' with all their books. Maybe they'd be happy they got it either way? Hopefully. Or, they might be happy they helped me? I should look at it like that. 

Today, I went through the Colors unit for Chinese. Interesting that for colors they lit. say things like 'blue color', 'brown color', and so on. I'm doing even better with the pronunciation. Still a few mistakes here and there, but not bad. The next unit is The Attributive. 

Started the live-action version of Mob Psycho 100. It's probably the best way they could have adapted it. It's just not the same 'feel' as the anime. The anime made it seem so much more epic. They really tried to make the characters look as similar as possible. They did a pretty good job with that. Even the eyes are similar. The mangaka (creator) has a unique design for the characters, so again that makes it difficult to translate it to live-action. Ekubo, an 'evil' green spirit with red 'dimples' (also nicknamed Dimple) turned Mob's pet, was a little hokey looking. He looks better in the anime version. Not sure how different the anime is to the manga, but it's following the anime's story closely. They just left out the cool tunnel scene from the beginning, and I think when he fought Teru subconsciously it was in a different type of building. I like that in the story the 'jocks' of the weight training club are really kind and against using violence unless it's absolutely necessary. So much media has the jock high schooler stereotype of being rude or like a bully. It's refreshing to see again. Mob joined that club to become better physically and possibly get the girl he likes to notice him. He's not very good at it, but then again he just joined. The other members really care about him. When he falls down from exhaustion, they congratulate him on trying his best and encourage him to keep at it. When he faints they haul him back to the club's room to let him sleep it off. Usually alone. It's interesting that Mob is strong with his psychic abilities, but very weak physically. Saitama, the main character of One Punch Man, is superior physically. Both are 'overpowered' characters in different ways. ONE is the pen name of the mangaka for both series. 

27th of Tammuz

Managed to get back to writing Alliance 3. Wrote quite a bit this time. Yay! Still feels like there's a lot more to this one. Not sure how long it'll be. 

Went through the Clothing unit for Chinese. There were more measure words for clothing. This time the ones for usually thin clothing (like skirts) and the others (like coats) were different. I find it interesting that when they say something is good/beautiful/tasty, the ending corresponds to what they're referring to. It's like they're lit. saying good food, good clothes, good drinks, etc. So, it's very specific to certain things. The pic for the Chinese word for long had a woman with impressive super long hair blowing in the wind. It seemed a funny and exaggerated one. The speaking exercises weren't too bad. I was surprised that I pronounced the new words correctly most of the time. Some seemed a bit difficult. The sentences are getting longer, too. The next unit is Appearance.

Read more of the manga, Alive. They ended up being captured by the military, but Taisuke managed to free them with his powers. Technically, his power isn't just based on burning things, but destroying and regenerating cells. Interesting how much thought the creator put into their powers. They destroyed the truck that was carrying the rock or 'Heart of Akuro'. That also has Hiro inside it. Taisuke awakened it somehow and it started shooting and killing the soldiers around it. Taisuke and his group managed to escape by car. However, the military was able to transport it anyways to a ship. The captain thinks none of the power users will attack in the middle of the ocean and that it's safe. Turns out at least one of them, this time on Katsumata's side, made it on. 

For cleaning, I did it for half the time that I normally plan for. Just did the cat stuff and a little more of the laundry. Again, I still have some pain in my shoulder and didn't want to stress it too much. It might end up being like that for the rest of the week. It is getting better, though. The new mattress protector felt nice last night. It's really soft. Felt like an actual bed this way. I think I slept a little better. Still not as well as it should be, but it's a huge plus. 

For drawing, I inked the assassin. Then, started drawing the Dark Healer that Shadow talked to. Again, he had no name in the first book. Still doesn't, but he's a very important character. Also, if I remember correctly, he has a face tattoo/decoration. That'll be cool and something different to draw. He has tattoos on the rest of his body, too. That won't be visible, though. 

Watched 2 episodes of Million Yen Women on Netflix last night. (They're only about 20 minutes each.) I remember why I was turned off of this one after watching the first episode a while back. The ones I watched this time were better, but not good enough for me to keep going with it. Too much sex and referring to it. The main character has no self confidence. While I understand the women might be there to help him with that, he just looks pathetic. The women are strong willed and really tough, and I give them credit for that. They're very interesting characters and it does keep you guessing on who they actually are. The premise is that someone made an arrangement where 6 women will stay with a writer for a certain amount of time. He'll get a million yen each month, I think. The women also get paid a certain amount. It's more than he gets. He can't ask them questions or the deal's off. Another 'rule' is that everyone has to eat dinner together with no distractions like smart phones. One of them is a high schooler, another is a movie star, another has some sort of incurable disease that she'll die from soon (she hasn't told anyone yet), another is a nudist at home and runs a brothel, and I can't remember much of the others. The nudist is very open with things and kickass. She doesn't care what anyone thinks. She's pretty cool. Although, she tends to be very sexual at times. The writer's father killed his mother, her lover, and a policeman who walked in on the scene. The only one he's regretful for is the policeman's murder. After his father went to jail, the writer has refused to kill off any of his characters in his books. He's constantly getting death threats, too. I have a feeling the person who set up everything is trying to spark some creativity with the writer. He could write about his experiences with the women. He seems too dense to get that, though. 

The next Netflix one I might try tonight is Mob Psycho 100. They apparently made a live-action show of the anime of the same name. I love Mob Psycho. I don't know how that would carry over to a live-action. A lot of it was very artsy and trippy. The animation style, especially during fight scenes, is unique. Very difficult to get the same effect this way. There will be a 2nd season of the anime in the future, too. There's just no start date yet for that. Same thing with One Punch Man, which comes from the same mangaka (creator). I think I like that one a little more. They both have a similar type of humor.

Watched the first One Piece movie last night. It was short for a movie. Roughly a little more than 2 episodes. I had forgotten how much the animation has changed. I like it more now, but on the other hand I think they put more work into it in the past. This movie came out in 2000. They only had Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp at the time. Their crew has grown quite a bit since then. I might watch more of their movies in the future. I just didn't have anything 'scheduled' yet for yesterday. I might start watching the other things on my 'plan to watch' list for those empty slots in my 'schedule'. There's also one more anime coming out this season that I want to watch. I like to watch something different each day of the week with anime. Plus, the new stuff only comes out once a week. I tend to watch only an hour's worth, which is about 3 episodes. For instance, today I'll watch this week's episode of Black Clover, One Piece, and the finale of the 2nd season of Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan (The Disastrous Life of Kusuo Saiki). I don't want Saiki to end. Maybe they'll be back. 

Youtube:

Since I've caught up with One Piece, I decided to look at amv's related to it. These will give people a taste of what the series is like. It's a lot darker than it seems. In fact, I think it's one of the darkest anime I've watched. Every character has had a traumatic past. There's a lot of humor and goofiness, too.

26th of Tammuz

This is my wallpaper for July. It's another Dear manga wallpaper I made a while ago. I didn't actually create the art. I just stretched the image big enough to make a wallpaper out of it. There's another manga named Dear that's sports related. This one's by Cocoa Fujiwara, and is fantasy-based. Quite different. These are all the main characters. Subaru is so tall! (Compared to the others.) Taller than I remembered when I was reading it. Hopefully, someday I'll finish reading it. I only stopped because the rest of the chapters weren't available. I liked it a lot. The story was unique, and each character was interesting. This seemed like a nice summery one. 

The weather calendar's main pic's of a shelf cloud in Kansas with a storm behind it during a sunset. They captured a bolt of lightning from the storm. It's cool looking. The smaller pics are of tornado-producing supercell clouds, that were also in Kansas. They seem pretty hung up on tornadoes. There are plenty of other weather-related phenomena they could capture. 

The month-long holidays for July are: National Grilling Month, National Hot Dog Month, National Ice Cream Month, National Blueberries Month, and National Honey Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. Lots of good food ones. Also, locally, it's like we have another Pride month. 2 months is a bit much...

My shoulder is a lot better than it was. The heating pad and Vicodin seemed to have helped quite a bit. It's still not 100%, though. It aches every so often throughout the day. I'll probably have to continue to use the heating pad for a little longer. Went for the entire day yesterday and today without taking Vicodin. Yay! I really didn't like how it was making me feel. My stomach was worse on it, too. Had more headaches than usual. So, I was determined to stop even if I was still in a lot of pain. I don't understand how people can get addicted to it. It just makes me feel sicker the longer I'm on it. I also was taking Benefiber for a few days while I was taking Vicodin. I might have had too much each day with it. It made my intestines hurt more than they already were. It helped with the constipation I had with the painkillers. I might try taking it once a day in the future, just to get more fiber. I'm always low on it. So, even if I didn't have colitis it might still be a good thing. I'll see how that goes. I managed to get to most things today, despite the shoulder still slightly hurting and my gut pain getting worse. 

I tried to eat lighter yesterday to help a bit. Haven't eaten much different today, I just have to figure something plain/bland for dinner again. Yesterday, I had a salmon onigiri (rice ball) and some vegetable spring rolls. They were pretty bland enough, and still really tasty. Maybe I'll have something with the rest of the spring rolls? Today, I've also gone back to being strict with tracking my calories (keeping to my 1200-1600 daily range) and such. I didn't last week, because I didn't really care and I was in a lot more pain. 

Went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond this weekend. I hadn't been to one in a very long time. I tend to forget what's actually there. There was a ton of kitchen/cooking stuff. Things that most places locally don't have. It was interesting to look at it all. My old mattress protector was ripped to shreds enough that I had to throw it out a couple of years ago. I had forgotten what it was called at the time, and kept telling myself I'll look for it online. It's difficult to sleep without it. Considering, it usually has some padding. It's felt like I've been sleeping on the floor or something ever since I threw the old one out. It even feels weird to the touch with my other linens on it. Anyways, they had them there. At first, I thought what I threw out was a mattress pad. That seemed too thick, though. I looked at the mattress protectors, and they seemed to be the right thing. I also looked at the info they had on mattress protectors and pads. They of course had the twin mattress protectors just barely within my reach. Almost had to jump for one of them. The one I picked supposedly keeps the bed cool, is hypoallergenic, and has other interesting features. When I took it out of its packaging, it felt nice and soft. I decided to wash it before I used it. Today was not only a laundry day, but also a day I usually launder my bed stuff. I do it every other week, along with my eye mask. Although, the mask has to be washed by hand. So, it worked out that way. Maybe I'll sleep better with the new mattress protector. At least, it'll be more normal.

I didn't get to writing more of Alliance 3 today. However, I did think more about the promos and my other books. I might lower the paperbacks' prices when the promos start on the 14th. That way I can have something close to a promo for them. It won't be the same as having Amazon promote the ebooks through Select, but it'll be something. Their Select program is only for the ebooks. I wish they had one for paperbacks. Maybe they will in the future. It's still kind of a new thing for them. Someone told me yesterday that they just got a copy of the cookbook and can't wait to use it. That's great! 

Went through the Adjectives and Adverbs unit for Chinese. I'm slowly getting better with the pronunciation. I get confused sometimes with the up and down tones. Had many 'perfect' sentences this time with speaking. They turn the color of the mispronounced words (sometimes parts of words) red when you get them wrong. Green is when you get them right. If they're all green, you get a quick 'perfect!'. I'm glad they highlight them this way. You know your weaknesses more. For the rest of it I've been doing really well. Even with the grammar and sentence structure. I'm getting better with quickly learning new characters, too. The next unit is Clothing. That should be interesting. 

Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler's manga had an update. It's put out monthly, although sometimes there's nothing for a couple of months. The story just keeps getting darker. I wonder what Undertaker's true relationship was to the Phantomhives. Yes, we know that he was in love with Ciel's grandmother. However, it seems much deeper than that. The Undertaker said he needed the bloodline to continue. Why? And, he seemed like bringing back 'our' Ciel's dead identical twin brother was only part of his plan. (We still don't know the true name of the one we've known as Ciel throughout the series. It's his dead brother's name.) I'm thinking he's planning to bring back Vincent. He's their father. A couple of the other shinigami showed up at the end of this chapter. After reading this one, more questions have sprung up.

I didn't much extra cleaning besides the laundry and cat stuff. I don't want to stress my shoulder too much. I did get to drawing today. Drew the assassin's head/bust from the first book of Alliance. She had no name in that book, she does have one now, but considering it's in the book I'm currently writing, I won't mention it yet. She's also like a bodyguard for one of the Dark Healers. She'll protect him, and kill anyone he tells her to. 

Started watching Satsuriku no Tenshi (Angels of Death or Slaughter) a couple of days ago. It's apparently based on a horror game. I like it so far. Puts more of a spin on it personally when the main character has the same name as me. They have quite a few things written out in English on the walls, too. It seems to be some sort of survival game. Rachel had witnessed a massacre, and went to see a therapist about it. At some point, she woke up from the session and walked out of the room. It seemed very different compared to the hospital before. She heard an announcement in an elevator that she was the next sacrifice. Each floor has a killer, and she has to get through them all. She met Isaac on one of the levels. He has a huge scythe and seems to be blood thirsty. He came close to killing her. She made it to another elevator just in time. On that floor, she met her therapist again. Turned out he was another 'killer' in the game. Only he seemed more interested in ripping out her eyes. After Isaac travels to that level and kills the therapist, he's branded as a sacrifice, too. He was not supposed to travel to another level. It ended with her wanting him to kill her. So, apparently they team up. I'm unsure how that will go. I wonder if it's real or something she made up. I guess that's part of it. I like psychological/horror/survival anime. Actually, pretty much any medium that has that combo. Hopefully, they can pull it off well. 

Close to finishing Shiyan Pin Jiating (Creatures Family Days). It's only been available in Chinese dub with English subs. It's supposed to be a Chinese and Japanese collab anyways. Very interesting to hear the Chinese while learning it this way. They even have Chinese subs above the English subs. So, I can try to read along with that at the same time. Although, that gets a bit difficult and dizzying. This is a much darker anime than it seemed at first. 

Started watching Hataraku Saibou or Cells at Work on Saturday. This one's interesting. It's about the world of cells in our bodies. The main characters are a red blood cell (rbc) and a white blood cell (wbc). I don't think they have actual names, but numbers with what type of cell they are. Like, Red Blood Cell 200. I think people that don't have any previous knowledge of biology won't truly get everything. They can see how things work, though. I like that they anthropomorphized all of them, and they've made it seem like an actual world. The white blood cells are hilarious to watch when they've found an invader. They immediately swarm it and scream things like: "Die, germs, die!" Then, they attack until the invaders become nothing but a bloody mess. It's rather violent, but that goes along with what actually happens. It's fitting that the red blood cells are mail people. They're constantly delivering things. It was the first day for the main rbc, and she was having a hard time finding where to go. She needed to go to the lungs. The platelets are cute little kids. The T-cells are even more crazy about killing things than the white blood cells. The main wbc met the rbc just after attacking a bacteria. He helped her find the lungs, and saved her when one of the bacteria found its way into the rbc's package. They got rid of him by stuffing him in a rocket and setting it off as a sneeze. It's also interesting to watch this from the perspective of having an autoimmune disease.

Started watching the 2nd season of Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen (Gintama.: Silver Soul Arc) yesterday. I didn't realize it'd be out so soon. I get notifications from MyAnimeList of anime on my 'plan to watch' list that's about to premiere. It was nice to see. Gintama is my fave, and this is it's last season. (It's the 2nd half of the last arc.) So, it's bittersweet for me. The first episode didn't disappoint. I wonder how it's all going to end. 

Finished watching Samurai Gourmet on Netflix. It was cute. He slowly realized that you should enjoy your food however way you want. Also, that you should try to be adventurous, but old favorites are good to have as well. I like how they dealt with foreigners in one of the last episodes. They were at a yakiniku place, and the chef seemed to really hate foreigners. The retiree on the other hand thought that since they traveled so far, they should be treated with utmost respect. The fact they decided to come to Japan instead of somewhere else was something to be proud of. The foreigners in this one didn't understand Japanese, and the retiree helped them with figuring out the menu. The chef lectured the foreigners in Japanese when they started sprinkling red pepper flakes on the meat. The retiree was scared to confront the chef, but another man slightly older than him stepped in. He made the chef realize that what's important is that the customer should be able to eat their food however they want. They'll enjoy it more that way. The chef apologized and the waitress told them they can have something on the house for their troubles. The retiree tried it with some red pepper flakes, and said it made the meat even better. Next, I'll watch Million Yen Women on Netflix. I watched at least the first episode a while back. It's a weird one, and I'm unsure if I'll finish it.

National Graham Cracker Day!

I used to really like graham crackers. I grew tired of them after having them as a snack for a while. They're especially good stale, or crumbled up and used as a topping or crust. They're ok with s'mores. I'm more into the chocolate and marshmallow part of that, though. I'm not going to do the usual monthly thing on here. Might in the future soon.

Yesterday, I marched in a local 4th of July parade with the local Pride group. I thought this year's float was cool. It was a ferry boat. There were inflatable orcas tied to the sides. A bubble machine was poking out on top. A speaker for the music was at the other end poking out. I was one of the people in the float. There were 2 people in rainbow captain costumes, and 2 who were in rainbow skipper costumes. There had to be someone at each 'window'. I waved my genderqueer flag out of one of them and tried to wave at the same time. The only problem was the music wouldn't play. The generator ran out of gas as soon as we started moving. Hard to do it without power. So, we ended up just smiling and waving, instead of dancing and looking more excited. Also, there were some sudden stops. With me trying to wave both a hand and my flag, I wasn't holding onto anything most of the time. So, I came close to falling with each stop. I was also wearing my aro ace pride shirt. Saw a few people I knew. At least one person booed us. I tried to think that it was just another type of cheer at the time. Most people were excited to see us and supportive. I should remember that more. Some people seemed a little confused about what my shirt said and the flag. That's ok. They can look it up. I tried to be cheerful as we went through. I'm glad that they drove us back to where most of the cars were at the end. It's a shelp to walk all the way back. Also helped that I wasn't walking during the parade. It was cooler than last time and there was a breeze. Made it nicer. There was one other ace there. I think they were also enby. Yay! 

A week ago, I badly strained my shoulder. It somehow started during a very painful bowel movement. (Sorry...It's a bit gross.) I don't how that happened...After the pain persisted for 4 days (Monday at this point), I decided I really needed to go to Urgent Care. It wasn't getting better on its own. 

I have a high pain tolerance now, and tend to just remember the worst of it. Going through the symptoms with the staff there, made me realize there was more to it. There was the shoulder pain that covered my entire left shoulder, left half of my chest, and left upper arm. A huge area. The pain was like scalding hot water was ebbing off and on. It wasn't (still isn't) necessarily sharp. My left hip had barely there type of pain. My abdominal pain was close to being as bad as my shoulder. That has been intensifying the last few weeks. My blood pressure was oddly high. I'm usually low. Even when I go to UC or the hospital, it's usually on the low end. They brushed it off as just nerves, but I don't think that was the case. I'll just have to watch it next time. I've been much more nauseous than usual, too. Came close to throwing up several times before going to UC.

I had blood and urine tests done. Of what I got back at the time, everything was 'normal'. My sodium was the lowest it's been, and was verging on breaking through the lowest normal range value. It usually is low, but this was surprisingly by a lot. It's not like I don't have enough sodium in my diet. I have plenty. I'm a little worried about this. Even if it's still technically within normal range, it's not my normal. Could be a sign I'm not absorbing it well. My chloride seemed better, but also on the low end. I can't stand food that's too salty, so it's not like just adding saltier food will help. Wouldn't be able to keep it up, at least. Salt helps with the nervous system, so it's important to get enough. Most people (at least Americans) get too much of it. There was something with one of my blood counts, too. Like, it was just slightly higher than my norm. Still within normal range, though. There were some white blood cells found in my urine, which they flagged. The doctor didn't talk about that. That's usually a sign that there's inflammation. It could be a sign of a UTI or inflammation from somewhere else. They found and flagged that there was bacteria in it, too. Since peeing doesn't hurt, it most likely means the inflammation is somewhere else and my body is fighting something. 

The doctor said I most likely strained my shoulder badly. She wanted me to put a heating pad on it and take Vicodin for the pain. As well as, resting it. She also strongly suspects that my colitis is flaring again. Just mainly going by the symptoms. So, she said I should have a follow-up soon with a gastroenterologist. Both my primary and GI (she's really just a PA, not an MD which is what I need) are awful, so I think I'll get new ones soon. She also suggested that I eat more of my 'safe' foods for the time being. She gave me some tips on a printout for easing colitis symptoms, too. She told me she also has a chronic illness and understood a lot of what I said about it. That was nice. Not good that she has one too, but good that she 'gets it' more. I liked that she really tried to help me as much as she could. 

I've been taking the Vicodin since late Monday afternoon. 2 pills a day, since I'm still in pain. She prescribed 15 pills, taken every 4-6 hours when in pain. I've decided to take one with lunch and one with my late night snack. (Usually lunch is 11am or 12pm; late snack is around 8:30pm.) I have to have food with it. I figure in order to get some sleep with this pain, I should take one close to when I go to bed. To have some relief during the day, after lunch might be best. This way I also can check on my pain more between doses. It makes very drowsy, time is weird, like there's something heavy on my chest, a little wobbly on my feet, navigating through cloudy jelly, etc. It's a good and slightly bad experience. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to throw up more while on it, too. I've noticed this happens about 3 or 4 hours after taking it. It's weird. This was all lovely while I was in the parade, too. Very strange experience. 

I think the heating pad has been slowly working, too. I had less time with it yesterday, though. I know it takes a while even for muscular 'injuries' to heal, but it's still annoying. I want the pain to stop and be able to move it around more. I'm tired of it already. I can't even wash my hair at the moment. Can't move my shoulder enough for it. Not only is there the actual washing with shampoo/conditioner part, but I also have to comb it (first with my hands, then with an actual comb), use a smoothing spray and comb that through, work in a styling mousse and comb that through, shape the curls with my fingers, and finally take care of the hair that fell out. That's a lot of moving in painful positions for my shoulder. I feel too embarrassed to ask for help with it. Getting dressed hurts, too. I keep getting dressed anyways. Mainly to feel some semblance of normalcy with it. It is getting better at least. 

I decided last night to have Benefiber while I'm on Vicodin, too. One of the side effects is constipation, and I think I've started to get that. Dad had a really bad bout with it when she was on Vicodin last. So bad she went to the hospital. I don't need that sort of thing. Benefiber might help with it. I'm taking it with breakfast, lunch, and my late night snack. They say to take it 3 times a day to get the full effect. I'm lucky I still had a big thing of it, although it's pretty old. The best by date is in January. That's not an expiration date, though. It should be good for now. 

I did get my aro ace pride shirt around the 29th or 30th. It's really nice. Feels soft, it's long, stretchy and clingy, fits me well, and the print design is cool. I shared a pic of me wearing it in the ace groups I'm in on fb. I specifically mentioned how so many shirts for ace and/or aros were cutesy, and how I felt this perpetuates people infantilizing us. (It's a big problem.) I wanted something badass instead. One of the first comments I got was that I looked adorable...Oh, and adding an 'omg' to it made it a little worse. The point went right over their head. The rest of the comments were better. 

Many people liked it on my personal page. One of my aunts noticed I looked like I lost a lot of weight. I noticed that as soon as I posted the pic, but wasn't sure if it was just me or something. Good to know someone saw it, too. Maybe it's another sign that I'm flaring. I didn't look at my weight at UC, but the doctor might have factored that in (with my weight history) when she said that I'm flaring. Last time I knew I was flaring, I did lose a lot of weight. 

I set a schedule for promos for all my ebooks on Amazon. I thought it would be good to do, especially since 3 of them will be taken out of Select soon. Alliance will have a free book promo July 14th-18th. My Mother's Treasure Trove of Recipes will have a Countdown Deal July 19th-26th. Alliance: Dawn will have a Countdown Deal July 24th-31st. It'll be the same dates with a UK version. More Than Meets the Eye will have a free book promo August 6th-10th. The cookbook will have another Countdown Deal through Amazon UK August 11th-18th. Sweet Endless Terror will have a free book promo August 13th-17th. So, there will be 7 promos from July 14th to August 18th. I've never taken advantage of the UK marketplace, and having all of the books up at once. I had to think about when all of the books' terms will be up. Even if they're going to be renewed, you can only schedule them within the term that they're already in. Plus, I wanted A2's promo later than A1's. Their terms end at roughly the same time, so it was a little more difficult to figure. A1 will be free, so I can hook people first. A2 will basically be discounted so they'd have to pay something for that next book. Since the cookbook is the newest, it'll be a countdown one. I could hook people in with the others being free, too. We'll see how this goes. Those 3 books could leave Select with a little bang. (Again, they'll still be on Amazon afterwards.) Interestingly, the cookbook's ranking is steadily going up. It has shown some sells. My author ranking reached the highest it's been yesterday. Slowly something's happening. I'm still going to take those 3 off Select and add them to Smashwords. 

Finished watching Bad Guys on Netflix. It was pretty good. They added a little too much drama to the ending, though. I feel really bad for what Lee Jung-Moon aka Psycho (that was his nickname) went through. He's a psychopath, and he was used just because of it. He walked in on burglars killing his parents, and killed them in self defense. Ever since then, the police have been trying to pin a serial murder case on him. If he's a psychopath, of course he did it, right? They caught him getting a certain type of oil for his girlfriend. She was a painter and needed it for the paint. That oil was found on all the victims. He also was found at every crime scene the nights of the murders. He had no memory of it. The detective set him up and tried to kill him. Part of his purpose for creating the team was to eventually kill him himself. He assaulted Psycho a few times, too. He blamed him for his daughter's murder, which was apart of the serial killings. Psycho never wanted to kill anyone, and was hoping it wasn't true. What actually happened was a really twisted prosecutor killed them all. He believed the only way to punish killers was to kill someone close to them. He killed the detective's daughter as a diversion. That was the only difference. That prosecutor found out that Lee was a psychopath, and took him to a psychiatrist. That psychiatrist then drugged him, tried to tell him to kill people that the prosecutor wanted to kill through hypnotism, they gave him a knife, and drove him to every victim's place. He still subconsciously refused to kill them. So, the prosecutor did it and framed him. The drugs made him forget everything. The mob went after him when they thought he killed their main boss. His girlfriend was forced by the detective to lie and say she was the only victim that got away. It devastated him. She still felt guilty once he was working cases with the team. They had to act like they didn't know each other. He went through hell. The detective asked for forgiveness when he was told the truth. Lee refused, and even came close to shooting him. He felt he couldn't trust anyone again after all that. After they got the prosecutor, Lee's sentence was erased. He was completely innocent, and technically the only one who wasn't a true criminal. I'm glad he was able to be freed. He looked younger than he was. In their present time, he was around my age. However, he looked like he was in his early 20s to me. 

Went back to watching Samurai Gourmet on Netflix. It's a Japanese drama centered on food. It's a lighthearted feel-good type show. Each episode is about 20 minutes, so it's not long. It's about a guy who just went into retirement. He likes food, and goes out somewhere different every time. He imagines how a samurai would do things in certain situations that arise there. I like that it's centered on someone older than the norm, which is usually in their 20s or 30s. It's from a different perspective that way. And, they didn't make him act old, either. The food they feature looks amazing. The last one I saw was he decided to try a run-down old izakaya. Izakaya are traditional Japanese bars/pubs. He had beer, fried chicken, a tofu and tripe stew, salad, and a few other snack like things. At one point, it started downpouring, and the rain leaked through the roof and onto the patrons. It was apparently normal to them (except the retiree), and the hostess gave them all umbrellas. It was interesting to watch that one. It didn't dampen their spirits, instead they became more lively. With the one before that, he went to a quiet cafe. He hadn't felt like he had time to sit at one with a book since he was in his 20s. That in itself was a treat for him. He got coffee that was 'traditionally' made the Japanese way and eventually had spaghetti for lunch. Again, everything looked amazing. It makes me hungry just watching what he eats. He did have one bad experience, but his wife's cooking made up for it later. I like that she's been doing her own thing, too. She just retired as well. Although, her outings aren't centered on food, and she often doesn't go with him. 

I'm really close to catching up in One Piece. Only 3 more left, which I'll probably get to today. This arc has been really twisted and disturbing. More so than the Dressrosa one. It seems all light and childish at first, but it really isn't. Linlin or Big Mom has issues. That's putting it mildly. She's been unstable mentally since she was very little. Her parents left her on an island full of giants at 5 years old. She was taken in by an orphanage there that was ran by a corrupt nun. She was into child trafficking with the Marines. When Linlin ate something she really liked for her birthday, she ended up eating all the children and the nun. She didn't know she did it and figured they just vanished. She also killed a 300 year old giant before this without realizing what she was doing. A chef that ate the cooking devil fruit found her, witnessed what happened to the nun and children, and decided to join forces with her. They became pirates. He was perfect for her since he could turn anything into food. She's always been huge, too. Never knows her true strength. She wanted to create a utopia full of different types of people, because that's what the nun wanted. She also wanted everything sweets related, since she has an awful sweet tooth. She'll abandon her children like toys if they disobey or are too 'ugly' to her. She uses her citizens souls in food and to create animorphic trees/flowers/etc. Makes for a surreal world. Everyone's about to escape from her at the moment. They keep referring to the treasure box that the Fishmen gave up. I remember the Fishmen actually gave her a dummy one full of explosives. I keep thinking she's going to open it and blow herself up. That would be oddly satisfying to watch, and it would benefit everyone.