Went to Gig Harbor last Friday. It was cold and wet outside. The waterfront wasn't that exciting. There weren't as many shops as I remembered. We did see an interesting one that had various olive oils, balsamic vinegars, spices, mustards, and more. You can sample all the oils and vinegar. That was fun. I got Quebec maple mustard there. I didn't realize at the time that it was a grainy kind. Might not be the best for me, but it's not like I'm going to have a lot of it. It's stronger than expected, too. Can barely taste the maple part.
Went to an Italian restaurant called Il Lucano Ristorante Italiano for dinner. It was great and seemed authentic. The owner comes from an Italian town named Lucano. He holds cooking classes at the restaurant. He greeted everyone and seated them when we were there. He seemed very friendly (maybe a little too friendly...) and full of energy. He sang to the music occasionally, which was interesting. They serve bread and olive oil with garlic and herbs mixed in. I've heard that it's a thing for Mediterranean countries, but not many American restaurants that have that theme seem to actually serve it like that. They might have bread, but usually not much else. There were a lot of good sounding dishes on the menu. I got their veal parmagiano. Seemed quite different than what I'd get at other restaurants. The marinara had a ton of olive oil and garlic. The pasta seemed fresh and like it was made by them. The veal was done just right. It was really good parmesan and mozzarella. There was also a ton of basil. I was a little worried when I found a bunch of fresh basil leaves connected to a long stem under one of the veal cutlets. I realized that it might have purposely added to some of the flavor. I was very impressed by the food there. We might make the trek out there again.
After that, we saw Aquaman in IMAX. I think this was only my 2nd or 3rd time watching an IMAX movie. It's huge! Felt like I was surrounded by it. Not many people were there. My parent and I were there with 2 friends. That was nice. I liked the movie until about 30 minutes towards the end. It became way too corny. Why would you have a long kiss in the midst of fighting? Plus, why do the leg up thing during it? That was weird, too. Seemed forced. The slow and dramatic poses were funny. They might have been going for that, though.
The plaza, where the theater was, was more interesting than the waterfront. Lots of stuff to see. Seemed like other big plazas around it were interesting, too. We saw a cupcake ferris wheel display at Home Goods near the theater. It moves, and you could probably rig it up to turn the wheel on its own. The more I thought about it, the funnier it got.
I've been keeping up with my Italian for the most part. It feels longer than the previous courses I've gone through on Duolingo. I originally planned to do a new language roughly every 3 months. I'm still on track since next week will mark 3 months. It might end up being a little over, which is ok. I've got about 10 more units until the end. I usually just go through the first level, not all 5. At the beginning, I was maxing out the levels to familiarize myself. However, later on I got the concepts right away and haven't needed to do more of the levels. Each unit builds off of the previous, too. When I started the German course, Duolingo only had 1 level for each unit. I think the 5 is overkill. Sure, 2 I can see. Especially, if something really isn't sinking in. When I did the HelloChinese course, they didn't stick too long on one unit. Maybe I'm just a fast learner with this stuff. I hardly make mistakes now with it. The only times I do is when I don't see something right away. Another thing with Duolingo is you can test out of units completely in one part. There are 4 to about 10 parts to each one. At least I don't do that. It's good that they have a few different options since not everyone learns the same way. I also found an app called Mango. It has over 70 languages. It sounds better and more in-depth than Duolingo. Duo doesn't have that many languages, either. They have cultural, grammar, and pronunciation notes. Duo doesn't have that. They have speaking parts to it, which is great that I'd be able to keep that aspect of it. I'm going to give some of the languages my family might have spoke a try. They actually have Yiddish and Gaelic (I think both an Irish and Scots version) on Mango! That was surprising to see. Hopefully, that one will work out. Not sure exactly which language on my list will be next.
I managed to practice my clarinet today. I hope to get back into the habit of playing every day, except Shabbos (Saturday). It's been a while since I last played. Might have been in October...Anyways, if I can keep playing every day, I might add more to it slowly over time. Like, going over things with a metronome that have odd time signatures. I think I've been speeding up on certain things, and slowing down with others. Then, I'll listen to recordings of what I play. I did this a few years ago, and it really helped even though not everything can be found online. Eventually, play with the recording. Then, record myself and post the audio to Youtube. That way I can hear myself and others will hopefully give me some constructive criticism. I most likely will get trolls, but at least I'll be able to hear myself. It'll take me a while to feel confident enough to do that. Didn't sound too bad today. In fact, it was better than expected. I also noticed something that I had a bad habit of doing in the past. I tried to break it down and play it the way it should be slowly. It'll be hard to break that habit, but with practice I know I can. I figured out a different one last time I played, and improved on that. It was better. Now that I'm more aware, it should get easier. I also finally used a new reed. I play a size 3, which is rather thick. It goes from 1 to 5 with thickness. (There are 1/2 sizes.) Most people don't play 5s. I think most of them play a 2 or 2 1/2. (It doesn't mean I'm better than them for playing a 3...) I might be able to play a 4 now, but that seems intimidating. Highly doubt I could ever play a 5. It gets harder to play, but the sound can be deeper and more full.
I also got a walk in today. I hope to get back into doing those every day. Probably with my usual 2-mile one for a month, than adding another one. It was cold out there. By the end, I somehow felt both freezing and sweltering. Despite that, it was still nice to be out there.
Started reading MAR Omega. It's the sequel to the manga version of MAR. I watched the anime, so I at least know most if not all of the story. I liked the anime. It's interesting to see it in a different light. It seems Kai is Ginta's successor. We don't know much about him, and he's an orphan. I have a feeling he was born in our world, and thrown into theirs right after (since he doesn't remember anything before being adopted). He has somewhat of a similar personality as Ginta. Ginta's his hero and he hopes to be like him someday. Should be interesting to see how this one turns out. It's much shorter than the prequel.
Got back to editing Alliance today, too. There were a lot of errors. Hopefully, I can get back to doing this on a regular basis as well. I want to finish it so I can read/edit the sequel, read/edit Sweet Endless Terror, publish all those to Smashwords, and then finish writing the most current sequel of Alliance. Hopefully, get to writing new stuff, too. That's a lot, but if I do this almost every day, it'll be quicker than it has been.
Went back to drawing today. Mainly just got to planning how I want Shadow to pose and looking at things like arm proportions. At least, I'm looking into it more. I want to do better with drawing a character's full body. I already came up with a much better head (hair, face, etc.) design for him. I'm much happier with that. It took some messing around, though. His neck and top shoulder area looks pretty good, too. I'm making progress with it. I think another drawing project I might do is a meme that has you drawing something new every day for a month. Drawing your portrait, a still life, pets, something in certain colors, food, etc. That sounds fun. I might need another drawing pad before then. I think I'm on my second to last page of the big one, and the small one is already filled out.
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