Finished the Comparison unit in Duolingo's Dutch course today, and made it halfway through the Kitchen one. Made it into the Promotion Zone for the Gold League. (I'm 8th right now, and the top 10 get to be in the 'zone'.) If I keep it up during the weekend, I might advance to the next league again. Only messed up a couple of times. I was surprised I got all the speaking lessons correct, since a lot of the new words were long and some I've had trouble with pronouncing for a while. Those are getting easier. The Kitchen unit has been fun and interesting. Some of their words for the kitchen stuff sound more fun than their English equivalents.
Finished a rough sketch of Junko's arms and torso. I think I like how she's coming along so far. Might be better than Shadow. I just have to figure out how exactly I want her legs positioned.
Edited more of Alliance. I'm really breezing through it. I've gone through 15 pages of the ebook, and 21 pages of the print this week. I didn't do it on Monday. That's pretty good for 4 days, I think. I'm still finding a lot of mistakes, but some of it's also been just rewording things better.
I played a little of the Sims 2: Seasons yesterday. That was fun. Created a new character and house. This is in a new version of a neighborhood I'm basing off of Alliance. The one I created yesterday was Shadow, the main character. The only other character in that neighborhood is based off of one of the 'villains' in the story. That one doesn't show up until the 3rd book, I think. The book that's only halfway finished. It feels like I get to mess around with my characters this way. I've also been using a cheat where you can increase their simoleons (their currency) to any amount you want. Making it easier to design their house, get what they want, etc. With Seasons, the sim can create their own garden and enter competitions with their produce. It's fun to see the weather change, too. There are penguins that show up when it snows, and especially if a sim is making a snowman. Sims can die if they get too cold, too hot, get struck by lightning, or stay out in the rain too long. There's more of a variety of clothes and house stuff with the expansion, as well. Adds more dimension to it. It'd be cool to try out the Sims 4 in the future, but this is still fun.
When I washed my hair the 2nd time since it was dyed, there was less color that came out. It still was surprising to watch it flow off me like that. The only time it stained my hands this time was when I was styling it. It wasn't nearly as bad as last time, and my fingernails are starting to look more normal. The staining on my skin has been coming off much faster.
Made a tuna salad sandwich on an onion roll last night. I'm used to Rosie falling over herself to get some. However, Tasha was brave enough to run to me at the same time. She actually begged along with Rosie when I opened the can of tuna. That's rare. Rosie didn't fight her, either. I gave both of them chunks at the same time. Rosie finished hers first and ran over to Tasha. She didn't fight her for it. In fact, it almost seemed like she wanted to make sure she ate it. Tasha didn't shy away. They seem to be getting along even better now. At least, Tasha has become braver and mellower. It would be cool if, at some point, they end up sleeping and playing together. I won't hold my breath, though.
Youtube:
One Piece:
Naruto:
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler): Book of Murder:
Bungou (Literary) Stray Dogs:
Ghost Hunt (It's been a very long time since I've watched this anime. Also interesting to find a Ghost Hunt amv, since it's a relatively old one):
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Goodbye, Mr. Despair):
Friday, August 30, 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
27th of Av
Managed to get everything on my to-do list done yesterday. That's rare, and feels good. Even if some of it was just for fun. I won't go through all of it on here, though.
Played some of Elder Scrolls: Blades yesterday. The game has only been released for the iPhone. I've been playing it for about a month. I love rpg's. I also loved Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, which I played over a decade ago. It was pretty amazing. This hasn't been on the same level, but really awesome for an app. Maybe they'll expand on it in the future? My character is already up to level 33.
You also get to build/customize your own town. The higher the level of the town, the more higher leveled things (weapons, armor, potions, ingredients, etc.) will be available. Mine's up to level 7. That's been much slower to level up. Decorations help, but building houses, smithies, workshops, etc. get more prestige which is basically exp used for leveling it up. All that costs both in coins and materials. So, I'm constantly saving stuff for it as well as for weapons and armor. I like how complex it can be.
The quests are ranked by skulls. The more skulls next to it, the more difficult. There are also daily challenges. I think they have it set up where you can't play it all day, making it less addicting which is good. I don't particularly like that opening chests takes time. It's ok with wooden ones taking only 5 seconds, but gold ones, for instance, take 6 hours to open. If you want it opened sooner, you have to pay with gems. Until recently people couldn't get many of those in a day without paying real money for them. Now, they've opened up many ways to get them for free. Like, quests that have gems as a reward every few hours. Gaining a lot of them when leveling up, too. Some enemies drop them when they're defeated. They're really handy.
There's also an abyss. It's set up with different levels to a dungeon that's made up of caves and castles. Each level is harder, there is no food which replenishes health, there are no chests unless you earn them through exp, you earn other things that way there too, and still can earn coins from enemies. Each time you enter another level, you earn a lot more coins and exp. I think the furthest I've gone is to level 25. It'll be interesting to play a different game every day.
Finished the Future and Recreation units in Duolingo's Dutch course. Only had 2 wrong answers for the questions/sentences. Next, will be the Comparison one. Made it into the 'promotion' zone of the Gold League. It'll be interesting to get into the Sapphire (or was it Ruby?) League again. It looks like they may have added higher leagues. Don't know what those would be.
I don't think I mentioned this before, but I went back to reading Hell's Kitchen roughly a month ago. There were no available updates for a few years. I'm so happy I can come close or actually finish it. I don't think the last couple of chapters are up yet. Might be by the time I get to them. It's a good manga. Plus, it's mostly centered on food, which I love. All the characters are quirky and interesting. It would be a great anime.
I drew Junko's shoulders and neck. It was a little tough to figure how wide her shoulders should be for some reason. I like how they turned out. I also planned how her arms will be positioned and where her waist will be. I'm using many diagrams and pics for reference. The old artist's anatomy book that used to be my grandma's isn't the best. It did help some in the past, though. I also am trying to find my own style for it, but still be semi-close to being anatomically correct. It's a balancing act.
Edited more of Alliance. Made it to chapter 3. Did one more page each of both the ebook and print than yesterday. 5 pages for one, and 7 pages for the other. I'm surprised I got to so much.
Played some of Elder Scrolls: Blades yesterday. The game has only been released for the iPhone. I've been playing it for about a month. I love rpg's. I also loved Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, which I played over a decade ago. It was pretty amazing. This hasn't been on the same level, but really awesome for an app. Maybe they'll expand on it in the future? My character is already up to level 33.
You also get to build/customize your own town. The higher the level of the town, the more higher leveled things (weapons, armor, potions, ingredients, etc.) will be available. Mine's up to level 7. That's been much slower to level up. Decorations help, but building houses, smithies, workshops, etc. get more prestige which is basically exp used for leveling it up. All that costs both in coins and materials. So, I'm constantly saving stuff for it as well as for weapons and armor. I like how complex it can be.
The quests are ranked by skulls. The more skulls next to it, the more difficult. There are also daily challenges. I think they have it set up where you can't play it all day, making it less addicting which is good. I don't particularly like that opening chests takes time. It's ok with wooden ones taking only 5 seconds, but gold ones, for instance, take 6 hours to open. If you want it opened sooner, you have to pay with gems. Until recently people couldn't get many of those in a day without paying real money for them. Now, they've opened up many ways to get them for free. Like, quests that have gems as a reward every few hours. Gaining a lot of them when leveling up, too. Some enemies drop them when they're defeated. They're really handy.
There's also an abyss. It's set up with different levels to a dungeon that's made up of caves and castles. Each level is harder, there is no food which replenishes health, there are no chests unless you earn them through exp, you earn other things that way there too, and still can earn coins from enemies. Each time you enter another level, you earn a lot more coins and exp. I think the furthest I've gone is to level 25. It'll be interesting to play a different game every day.
Finished the Future and Recreation units in Duolingo's Dutch course. Only had 2 wrong answers for the questions/sentences. Next, will be the Comparison one. Made it into the 'promotion' zone of the Gold League. It'll be interesting to get into the Sapphire (or was it Ruby?) League again. It looks like they may have added higher leagues. Don't know what those would be.
I don't think I mentioned this before, but I went back to reading Hell's Kitchen roughly a month ago. There were no available updates for a few years. I'm so happy I can come close or actually finish it. I don't think the last couple of chapters are up yet. Might be by the time I get to them. It's a good manga. Plus, it's mostly centered on food, which I love. All the characters are quirky and interesting. It would be a great anime.
I drew Junko's shoulders and neck. It was a little tough to figure how wide her shoulders should be for some reason. I like how they turned out. I also planned how her arms will be positioned and where her waist will be. I'm using many diagrams and pics for reference. The old artist's anatomy book that used to be my grandma's isn't the best. It did help some in the past, though. I also am trying to find my own style for it, but still be semi-close to being anatomically correct. It's a balancing act.
Edited more of Alliance. Made it to chapter 3. Did one more page each of both the ebook and print than yesterday. 5 pages for one, and 7 pages for the other. I'm surprised I got to so much.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
National Banana Lovers Day!
I love bananas! They're one of my 'safe' and calming foods. Not just an ok food for me. I could probably eat them all day, but that wouldn't be wise. I try to have one every morning. Good source of potassium. They're also good in pies and other desserts. There was a great Indonesian (I think) recipe from online that I made several years ago that was bananas cooked in coconut milk. It sounded gross, but was amazing! Only gross because of the idea of hot bananas. A local Thai restaurant has a dessert that's a grilled banana engulfed with rice cake, peanuts sprinkled on top, and coconut ice cream on the sides of it. I love it! Haven't had it in a while, though. Maybe if I get it in the future, they can leave off the peanuts.
Yesterday was National Dog Day. I miss Buster, our beagle. He got into a lot of mischief, but was very sweet. He was very intelligent. Could figure out any puzzle he was given in, at most, a minute. He passed away during my 1st year of college, I think. In fact, I was on the other side of the state at school at the time. Shadow, our cat at the time, loved him. She would clean him after every walk. He was scared of that at first. All the dogs that saw him during our walks loved him, too.
Got my hair dyed on Friday. They had to bleach and tone it first, otherwise it wouldn't have shown. It took 6 hours instead of the 4 hours they estimated. It was interesting to see my hair as blond briefly. My stylist used a violet red color for my roots, then used the colors I wanted for the rest of it: purple, green, and blue. I've already explained most of the meanings for them on here. Realized one more for purple. The IBD (as well as Crohn's and UC) awareness ribbon is purple. So, I could also raise awareness for that if people ask. The colors were for me to personally represent parts of myself. Since my hair's still falling out and I was starting to get a lot of white sprouting up, I thought it'd be a perfect time to dye it. My stylist even noticed the main growing bald spot and was surprised by not just that but the shape of it, too. It's like a large ring on the middle of my head. I feel hollowed out there. I can see it even more now, and it's becoming more visible. I can't hide all of it anymore. I like how the coloring came out, though. The first wash after shocked me at first. As soon as I put my head under the water, it was like a cascade of color. (That was just the water. No shampoo yet.) She didn't tell me much about what would happen during the first wash after. It stopped bleeding into my hands after that, which was a positive. The color stayed in my hair, but washed away from my scalp. It still has a weird residue-like texture. It's better than it was with that, at least. Interesting to see it styled my way. I still have towels wrapped around my pillows in case the color rubs off on them, like she suggested. I might do that until after one or two more washings.
On Sunday, I went with my parent to the Woodland Park Zoo. Went to the Point Defiance Zoo back around my birthday in November, so why not go to another one? I hadn't been to the Woodland Park Zoo in a very long time. It's much bigger than the other one. In fact, according to the iPhone Health app, I walked close to 10,000 steps or a little over 4 miles by dinnertime. Most of that at the zoo. I still didn't get to everything. Of what I did get to, about 1/4 of the animals weren't visible. I was a little disappointed by that, but maybe the temp was too high for them, they were tired, had checkups, or something. I heard quite a few people complaining about that. I was surprised most of my pics turned out so well. Some even better than what I could see when I was there. The lighting was awful for pics outside, the bats had the worst lighting inside, some animals hid really well, and some were really far away. I could barely see the elk, but took pics of what I thought were them anyways. Turned out clear and like I was right next to them after editing them. The lion was hard to get, too. He faced away from people and glanced briefly for about a half second back at us. Managed to capture that. Then, he got up and walked around quickly. Despite being further back than so many people at the time (they rushed to the glass as soon as they saw him moving), I managed to capture 2 more pics. After editing, the last pic of him came out the best. You could see his muscle tone.
We had a late lunch at their restaurant. I wanted a chicken Caesar wrap, but they were out. So, I got chicken strips with fries and a root beer. The strips were much better than I expected. They were crunchy, didn't have too much breading, flavorful, and the chicken was cooked just right. Fries were ok. There were too many for me to eat in one sitting, so my parent ate what I couldn't. We had a snack a little later at their cafe. Shared a big soft pretzel, and I had apple juice. I was very thirsty by then. The juice was in a tiny can. Not even a cup of liquid. Didn't quench my thirst much. Went to IHOP on our way back home. I was absolutely thirsty and hungry. Ended up downing about 3 or 4 big glasses of iced tea. Helped a lot. Got their regular buttermilk pancakes combo. The top pancake was slightly undercooked, but the bottom one was just right. I added butter pecan syrup. One of my faves there, and haven't had it in a very long time. They gave me a huge glob of butter on top of the pancakes, despite telling them to leave it off. I scraped it off and put it to the side. My sides were: scrambled eggs with cheese, turkey bacon, and hash browns. Those were all very good. Might have been the hunger, though...
On Saturday, we watched Cloverfield on the big TV. I didn't remember the party scene at the beginning being so long. I like the rest of it, though. This was probably my 4th time seeing it. It was one of the few monster movies that I thought would be great on there through Netflix. We were thinking about Jurassic Park or the sequels, but I didn't see it on there. Anyways, it was also great for testing out the new sound system. I thought the movie was even better this way. I could actually see the monster more and it felt more immersive.
Got back to my Dutch today. It's been a few days. Yet, I stayed in the same league as last week. Finished the Buildings unit, and am almost done with the Future one. Next will be Recreation.
Managed to figure out and draw Junko's hairstyle. I don't think it's exactly as I have it in my head, but it's not bad. I think it's close. Looks better than previous designs of it. I'll get to drawing the rest of her body next time. At least, the top half. Should be interesting.
Edited more of Alliance. Went through 4 pages of the ebook and 6 pages of the print version. Pretty good. It's flowing more as I read it again. Still finding mistakes, so it should only get better.
Yesterday was National Dog Day. I miss Buster, our beagle. He got into a lot of mischief, but was very sweet. He was very intelligent. Could figure out any puzzle he was given in, at most, a minute. He passed away during my 1st year of college, I think. In fact, I was on the other side of the state at school at the time. Shadow, our cat at the time, loved him. She would clean him after every walk. He was scared of that at first. All the dogs that saw him during our walks loved him, too.
Got my hair dyed on Friday. They had to bleach and tone it first, otherwise it wouldn't have shown. It took 6 hours instead of the 4 hours they estimated. It was interesting to see my hair as blond briefly. My stylist used a violet red color for my roots, then used the colors I wanted for the rest of it: purple, green, and blue. I've already explained most of the meanings for them on here. Realized one more for purple. The IBD (as well as Crohn's and UC) awareness ribbon is purple. So, I could also raise awareness for that if people ask. The colors were for me to personally represent parts of myself. Since my hair's still falling out and I was starting to get a lot of white sprouting up, I thought it'd be a perfect time to dye it. My stylist even noticed the main growing bald spot and was surprised by not just that but the shape of it, too. It's like a large ring on the middle of my head. I feel hollowed out there. I can see it even more now, and it's becoming more visible. I can't hide all of it anymore. I like how the coloring came out, though. The first wash after shocked me at first. As soon as I put my head under the water, it was like a cascade of color. (That was just the water. No shampoo yet.) She didn't tell me much about what would happen during the first wash after. It stopped bleeding into my hands after that, which was a positive. The color stayed in my hair, but washed away from my scalp. It still has a weird residue-like texture. It's better than it was with that, at least. Interesting to see it styled my way. I still have towels wrapped around my pillows in case the color rubs off on them, like she suggested. I might do that until after one or two more washings.
On Sunday, I went with my parent to the Woodland Park Zoo. Went to the Point Defiance Zoo back around my birthday in November, so why not go to another one? I hadn't been to the Woodland Park Zoo in a very long time. It's much bigger than the other one. In fact, according to the iPhone Health app, I walked close to 10,000 steps or a little over 4 miles by dinnertime. Most of that at the zoo. I still didn't get to everything. Of what I did get to, about 1/4 of the animals weren't visible. I was a little disappointed by that, but maybe the temp was too high for them, they were tired, had checkups, or something. I heard quite a few people complaining about that. I was surprised most of my pics turned out so well. Some even better than what I could see when I was there. The lighting was awful for pics outside, the bats had the worst lighting inside, some animals hid really well, and some were really far away. I could barely see the elk, but took pics of what I thought were them anyways. Turned out clear and like I was right next to them after editing them. The lion was hard to get, too. He faced away from people and glanced briefly for about a half second back at us. Managed to capture that. Then, he got up and walked around quickly. Despite being further back than so many people at the time (they rushed to the glass as soon as they saw him moving), I managed to capture 2 more pics. After editing, the last pic of him came out the best. You could see his muscle tone.
We had a late lunch at their restaurant. I wanted a chicken Caesar wrap, but they were out. So, I got chicken strips with fries and a root beer. The strips were much better than I expected. They were crunchy, didn't have too much breading, flavorful, and the chicken was cooked just right. Fries were ok. There were too many for me to eat in one sitting, so my parent ate what I couldn't. We had a snack a little later at their cafe. Shared a big soft pretzel, and I had apple juice. I was very thirsty by then. The juice was in a tiny can. Not even a cup of liquid. Didn't quench my thirst much. Went to IHOP on our way back home. I was absolutely thirsty and hungry. Ended up downing about 3 or 4 big glasses of iced tea. Helped a lot. Got their regular buttermilk pancakes combo. The top pancake was slightly undercooked, but the bottom one was just right. I added butter pecan syrup. One of my faves there, and haven't had it in a very long time. They gave me a huge glob of butter on top of the pancakes, despite telling them to leave it off. I scraped it off and put it to the side. My sides were: scrambled eggs with cheese, turkey bacon, and hash browns. Those were all very good. Might have been the hunger, though...
On Saturday, we watched Cloverfield on the big TV. I didn't remember the party scene at the beginning being so long. I like the rest of it, though. This was probably my 4th time seeing it. It was one of the few monster movies that I thought would be great on there through Netflix. We were thinking about Jurassic Park or the sequels, but I didn't see it on there. Anyways, it was also great for testing out the new sound system. I thought the movie was even better this way. I could actually see the monster more and it felt more immersive.
Got back to my Dutch today. It's been a few days. Yet, I stayed in the same league as last week. Finished the Buildings unit, and am almost done with the Future one. Next will be Recreation.
Managed to figure out and draw Junko's hairstyle. I don't think it's exactly as I have it in my head, but it's not bad. I think it's close. Looks better than previous designs of it. I'll get to drawing the rest of her body next time. At least, the top half. Should be interesting.
Edited more of Alliance. Went through 4 pages of the ebook and 6 pages of the print version. Pretty good. It's flowing more as I read it again. Still finding mistakes, so it should only get better.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
National Potato Day!
This holiday was yesterday. I love potatoes! They can be so versatile. Baked, roasted, mashed, as fries, as chips, in stews, in buns, and so much more.
I ordered my meds recently. One of them, Lialda, was up to be approved for another year of refills. I'm currently using my last refill. All my meds are important, but this one might be keeping my colitis in remission. Pretty serious. I can't just be dropped off it. Got a message from the nurse of the person who first ordered it for me. I haven't seen her in over a year. They said that I needed to see another GI in person (of course in Seattle) in order to have another batch of refills. I wrote back, feeling a little freaked out that I won't be able to get another refill before I finish my current one. I'll run out just a little before the end of the month. I wondered why they couldn't have just asked the last GI I saw, which was only 4 months ago. I didn't like her much or the clinic there, but I'm sure she would have approved. I also brought up how Seattle can be difficult to get to. Tacoma's better, but also a bit of a schlep. I also asked why my primary can't just approve it. She oversees my health in general and she's local. If I told her it wasn't working or something was off, I could see why I'd need to specifically see a GI for that. It just seems odd otherwise. I also know this med was supposed to be temporary until I was able to stick with a GI (that was an MD), and we could try out others that might be better. However, being on a temporary med is better than nothing. I looked later at the status of the Lialda. Turns out they renewed it for another year. I don't know if they did it before or after my email. Gave me a scare, then turned around and just did it. Pissed me off, yet was a huge relief.
The new TV was put up yesterday. I was distracted by it, but that was to be expected. It's huge! I'm still not used to the size. It's like a giant window. I can read a lot of the text now, and notice more details. It made both my parent and I nauseous at some point. Probably because we weren't used to it. It would be cool to watch some sort of monster movie on it. Maybe like Jurassic Park. Although, I didn't see that on Netflix. Cloverfield might be another good one. That's on there. I actually liked that movie. It'll feel more like a theater, too.
Managed to get some Dutch in today. I think Duolingo changed things slightly again. The illustrations for each unit are actually animated now. Surprised me at first. They've changed the checkpoints and shaded the units in after those. I'm almost done with the Buildings unit. Next will be Future.
Tried to figure out Junko's hairstyle for drawing. The vision I have of her seems to be a blend of a few of the examples I've found. Edited a lot more of Alliance today, as well. I think I'm seeing more of them, because there were so many that I fixed before. It's easier to see those that were harder to pick up on.
I ordered my meds recently. One of them, Lialda, was up to be approved for another year of refills. I'm currently using my last refill. All my meds are important, but this one might be keeping my colitis in remission. Pretty serious. I can't just be dropped off it. Got a message from the nurse of the person who first ordered it for me. I haven't seen her in over a year. They said that I needed to see another GI in person (of course in Seattle) in order to have another batch of refills. I wrote back, feeling a little freaked out that I won't be able to get another refill before I finish my current one. I'll run out just a little before the end of the month. I wondered why they couldn't have just asked the last GI I saw, which was only 4 months ago. I didn't like her much or the clinic there, but I'm sure she would have approved. I also brought up how Seattle can be difficult to get to. Tacoma's better, but also a bit of a schlep. I also asked why my primary can't just approve it. She oversees my health in general and she's local. If I told her it wasn't working or something was off, I could see why I'd need to specifically see a GI for that. It just seems odd otherwise. I also know this med was supposed to be temporary until I was able to stick with a GI (that was an MD), and we could try out others that might be better. However, being on a temporary med is better than nothing. I looked later at the status of the Lialda. Turns out they renewed it for another year. I don't know if they did it before or after my email. Gave me a scare, then turned around and just did it. Pissed me off, yet was a huge relief.
The new TV was put up yesterday. I was distracted by it, but that was to be expected. It's huge! I'm still not used to the size. It's like a giant window. I can read a lot of the text now, and notice more details. It made both my parent and I nauseous at some point. Probably because we weren't used to it. It would be cool to watch some sort of monster movie on it. Maybe like Jurassic Park. Although, I didn't see that on Netflix. Cloverfield might be another good one. That's on there. I actually liked that movie. It'll feel more like a theater, too.
Managed to get some Dutch in today. I think Duolingo changed things slightly again. The illustrations for each unit are actually animated now. Surprised me at first. They've changed the checkpoints and shaded the units in after those. I'm almost done with the Buildings unit. Next will be Future.
Tried to figure out Junko's hairstyle for drawing. The vision I have of her seems to be a blend of a few of the examples I've found. Edited a lot more of Alliance today, as well. I think I'm seeing more of them, because there were so many that I fixed before. It's easier to see those that were harder to pick up on.
Friday, August 16, 2019
15th of Av
Tried that new cinnamon roll mug cake that I mentioned last night. I think it was the best mug cake I've had. The instructions were really simple. Pour cake mix into a mug, add water or milk (I used milk), mix well, heat up in the microwave for about a minute, add icing on top, and let it sit for a couple of minutes before eating. There was a lot of icing, it wasn't too sweet, tons of cinnamon, and very fluffy. I read reviews on it saying things like the icing is too thick and comes out in a lump. Mine didn't do that. It was thick, but I could squeeze it out evenly over the cake. There are many other flavors that sound really good, too. They all have a topping of some sort. Makes it a little more fun. Might be nice to try the others in the future.
Someone posted a problematic meme in an enby fb group. Over a character with a chest binder it read: some boys were born girls. Another character had a wig in their hand and over them it read: some girls were born boys. This is actually transphobic and as some people worded it, bioessentialist. The op said it was supposed to be positive and it was just other people's opinions when we called them out on it. No, it's not. We've always been what our genders are. We weren't born a different gender. Some doctor interpreted our genitals to be a certain way, which is harmful in many ways. Male and female are still gendered terms. What people really mean when they ask for the sex of someone is what genitals they have. I have an agender body, since it's mine. It's not female. I was assigned that. It also comes across as trans people are just pretending. Many people don't like to use terms like mtf (male to female) or ftm (female to male) any more, either. Afab (assigned female at birth) or amab (assigned male at birth) are much more accurate and validating. You already are female or male, in these examples. The doctor just assigned you the wrong gender. Some enby people were starting to use mtx or ftx for a little while, but also realized how problematic that was. X being used for the non-binary umbrella in general. X is also being used as a new gender marker, like f or m, for IDs. Wish it was nationwide. I personally would use afab agender person. In relation to the meme, the text probably should be: some boys were assigned female at birth (or shorten to afab), some girls were assigned male at birth (or amab). It's also a little weird in an enby group. None of us, unless they're allies (there aren't many in that one for many reasons), are strictly and entirely men or women all the time. That's the umbrella definition. That's inclusive of people who have genders that are fluid and might sometimes be men or women, as well as demigenders where they might be partially a binary gender. Some people are bigender and might be both a man and woman at the same time. There are others. Why have such a binary meme in a group like that?
In one of the IBD groups on there, someone posted graphic pics in their main post. In the rules it clearly states that you should describe what it's about, to warn people, then post them in the comments. (Obviously has to be related to Crohn's, UC, lesser known ones in some way.) That way people don't have to be confronted with that right away. Some people are genuinely triggered by it, some might be eating, some might not be in a good place (in public) to see it, etc. Many reasons behind it. So, a lot of people reported it. Then, he made a really angry post about how if you can't handle those pics, maybe you shouldn't be in the group. I saw the post with the pics in it briefly, but didn't have the stomach to really focus on what it was. Then, I saw his other post, and it was pretty toxic. People tried to reason with him, but he thought they were being immature. I didn't really see an admin or mod step in, but both posts were deleted. I'm wondering if he was talked to in a pm, and then booted out of the group? That's probably for the best. Although, people do need support with this sort of thing, and it can really get to them. Might be why he lashed out. I hope he still gets some sort of support, but also realizes why it was such an issue. That's tough.
I've noticed that the lump in my neck has been growing in size. The other side of my neck doesn't have a lump, which is good and gives me a way to compare. Lumps near knuckles are getting slightly bigger, too. I feel like something is growing in the left side of my abdomen. I mentioned in the past where that area felt kind of like a balloon moving around and was painful. Worried me enough to email my primary about it. It now feels more solid/fuller and bigger. It only hurts when I twist that area, but it does feel uncomfortable the rest of the time. At least I get to see my primary in a little less than 2 weeks.
I'm hoping I can get to more of my usual things next week. It was a little difficult with the heat and getting to other things that needed to be done. On Monday, some people are going to help put up the new TV. The replacement finally came. It's a much bigger and more advanced TV than our current one. That will be cool. Next Friday, I get to have my hair dyed. Can't wait!
Youtube:
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler): Book of the Atlantic:
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom):
Someone posted a problematic meme in an enby fb group. Over a character with a chest binder it read: some boys were born girls. Another character had a wig in their hand and over them it read: some girls were born boys. This is actually transphobic and as some people worded it, bioessentialist. The op said it was supposed to be positive and it was just other people's opinions when we called them out on it. No, it's not. We've always been what our genders are. We weren't born a different gender. Some doctor interpreted our genitals to be a certain way, which is harmful in many ways. Male and female are still gendered terms. What people really mean when they ask for the sex of someone is what genitals they have. I have an agender body, since it's mine. It's not female. I was assigned that. It also comes across as trans people are just pretending. Many people don't like to use terms like mtf (male to female) or ftm (female to male) any more, either. Afab (assigned female at birth) or amab (assigned male at birth) are much more accurate and validating. You already are female or male, in these examples. The doctor just assigned you the wrong gender. Some enby people were starting to use mtx or ftx for a little while, but also realized how problematic that was. X being used for the non-binary umbrella in general. X is also being used as a new gender marker, like f or m, for IDs. Wish it was nationwide. I personally would use afab agender person. In relation to the meme, the text probably should be: some boys were assigned female at birth (or shorten to afab), some girls were assigned male at birth (or amab). It's also a little weird in an enby group. None of us, unless they're allies (there aren't many in that one for many reasons), are strictly and entirely men or women all the time. That's the umbrella definition. That's inclusive of people who have genders that are fluid and might sometimes be men or women, as well as demigenders where they might be partially a binary gender. Some people are bigender and might be both a man and woman at the same time. There are others. Why have such a binary meme in a group like that?
In one of the IBD groups on there, someone posted graphic pics in their main post. In the rules it clearly states that you should describe what it's about, to warn people, then post them in the comments. (Obviously has to be related to Crohn's, UC, lesser known ones in some way.) That way people don't have to be confronted with that right away. Some people are genuinely triggered by it, some might be eating, some might not be in a good place (in public) to see it, etc. Many reasons behind it. So, a lot of people reported it. Then, he made a really angry post about how if you can't handle those pics, maybe you shouldn't be in the group. I saw the post with the pics in it briefly, but didn't have the stomach to really focus on what it was. Then, I saw his other post, and it was pretty toxic. People tried to reason with him, but he thought they were being immature. I didn't really see an admin or mod step in, but both posts were deleted. I'm wondering if he was talked to in a pm, and then booted out of the group? That's probably for the best. Although, people do need support with this sort of thing, and it can really get to them. Might be why he lashed out. I hope he still gets some sort of support, but also realizes why it was such an issue. That's tough.
I've noticed that the lump in my neck has been growing in size. The other side of my neck doesn't have a lump, which is good and gives me a way to compare. Lumps near knuckles are getting slightly bigger, too. I feel like something is growing in the left side of my abdomen. I mentioned in the past where that area felt kind of like a balloon moving around and was painful. Worried me enough to email my primary about it. It now feels more solid/fuller and bigger. It only hurts when I twist that area, but it does feel uncomfortable the rest of the time. At least I get to see my primary in a little less than 2 weeks.
I'm hoping I can get to more of my usual things next week. It was a little difficult with the heat and getting to other things that needed to be done. On Monday, some people are going to help put up the new TV. The replacement finally came. It's a much bigger and more advanced TV than our current one. That will be cool. Next Friday, I get to have my hair dyed. Can't wait!
Youtube:
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler): Book of the Atlantic:
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom):
Thursday, August 15, 2019
14th of Av
Tonight's the start of Tu B'Av, or lit. 15th of Av. It's like a Jewish Valentine's Day, in that it celebrates romantic love. It's a minor one. It would be great if they promoted any type of love on it. Otherwise, it makes aros like me feel either left out or another excuse for amatonormativity to be rubbed in our faces. Amatonormativity can be toxic for everyone not just aro people. It's the idea that romantic love is above all others, you must be attracted to someone romantically, your friends aren't as important as your romantic partner (throwing them aside), you must strive for a romantic relationship, if you don't you're considered a failure, there's a certain strict view of what that love should look like (straight, cis, and monogamous), etc. Like I mentioned, if it was celebrating many other types of love in addition to romantic, as in: platonic, queerplatonic, family, country, for pets, for neighbors, etc. I'm all for it. I should think it's like that instead. Some observe it by setting their weddings for that day. There's really not any other modern observances/customs. In the past, unmarried women would dance in vineyards dressed in white. Unmarried men would follow them and choose one to marry.
On Tuesday, we went to my parent's wig appointment in Federal Way. It's pretty far from home. We left in the morning. Got an iced mocha and iced lemon cake from Starbucks for breakfast beforehand. It's been a very long time since I've had a mocha. I hardly ever feel like having something coffee related. Mochas are a little different, though. I used to get it as a kid at cafes, because I thought it made me look more mature. I also liked it because it didn't have a strong coffee flavor. It has a lot more chocolate, sugar, and cream to mask that. It's kind of like a fancy hot (or iced) chocolate. Anyways, I think it was the first time I had it from Starbucks. The coffee part was a bit stronger than I'd like, but it was really good.
It had been 2 years since my parent last got a wig, so it was time. She found one she liked, but it was too dark in color. She'll have to come in again after they order it in that color and it arrives. I wanted to briefly look around, because I'm still losing quite a bit of hair. Had a lot to begin with. I don't know if it'll all fall out, but I just wanted to see in case. However, there were just too many to look at, and I only remembered at the very end of it. Maybe in the future.
After that, we went to Azteca for lunch. I tried their chile relleno. It was a little spicier than some, but still tolerable for my gut. Had white rice and rancho beans as my sides. I thought the rice would be plain, but it was full of herbs. That was a nice surprise. Everything was good.
Since it was still hot out, we went to a movie theater and saw Yesterday. It was better than expected. I just really could have done without the romance stuff. It added more tension to it than it needed, also. Ellie, love interest of Jack who's the main character, annoyed me at times. Kate McKinnon's character was great! She must have had fun with it. I like her on Saturday Night Live already, but this was even better. She's Jack's agent/manager. Her reaction to the 'reveal' towards the end was perfect.
Yesterday, we went to the dump. Got rid of the parts of the entertainment center. That was originally a kit that my parent put together with the help of my mom a long time ago. It was interesting to watch some of it being dismantled. It turned into just a bunch of wooden boards, nails, and handles. Last time the haul to the dump with electronics and such weighed about 80 pounds. This time it was 140 pounds. Most of it was those pieces of the entertainment center. There were a couple of other things that were rather light. Like a very old small humidifier. That piece of furniture was heavy...There's more stuff to take, but that was a good chunk of it.
We went to Mora's afterwards. I got one of my faves from there: Cheesecake with Brownie ice cream. The ice cream is actually made from cheesecake, so it's stiffer than most and richer in taste. Makes it amazing! I was happy that they gave me a scoop like I asked for, instead of 2 scoops. Disappointed that there weren't very many big chunks of brownie. The brownie part is more like a heavy fudge.
Had an early dinner at Taco Time, because it was still hot out. We don't have ac at home, and my room tends to get the hottest. There's basically only one room that's livable at the end of a hot day. I don't go to Taco Time too often. Got my fave: soft bean burrito combo. That includes mexi-fries and a soda. That burrito is full of greatness. Packed with protein and not bad in calories. There's the beans, shredded cheddar, and enchilada sauce in a flour tortilla. Simple.
We went grocery shopping afterwards. Found a cinnamon roll with icing mug cake mix. It has 4 individual packets/servings of both the mix and icing. I'm used to seeing mug cake recipes on Pinterest. It's interesting to see it in a 'kit' like this. All the ingredients, except water or milk, are right there already prepared. Sounds like a fun thing to try.
Went to my parent's appointment to have her car looked at today. It took longer than expected, and then it stalled. So, we had to wait a little longer. It seems like things are fine now with it. I was really hungry by the time we left, so we stopped at the market again for lunch. I tried their caprese sandwich. Had their turkey caprese sandwich recently. This one was about half the size, and not as jam packed. Those were plusses to me. It had a nice bread, tons of mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, pesto, and balsamic vinegar. Really good. Had their potato salad with it. Good combo.
On Tuesday, we went to my parent's wig appointment in Federal Way. It's pretty far from home. We left in the morning. Got an iced mocha and iced lemon cake from Starbucks for breakfast beforehand. It's been a very long time since I've had a mocha. I hardly ever feel like having something coffee related. Mochas are a little different, though. I used to get it as a kid at cafes, because I thought it made me look more mature. I also liked it because it didn't have a strong coffee flavor. It has a lot more chocolate, sugar, and cream to mask that. It's kind of like a fancy hot (or iced) chocolate. Anyways, I think it was the first time I had it from Starbucks. The coffee part was a bit stronger than I'd like, but it was really good.
It had been 2 years since my parent last got a wig, so it was time. She found one she liked, but it was too dark in color. She'll have to come in again after they order it in that color and it arrives. I wanted to briefly look around, because I'm still losing quite a bit of hair. Had a lot to begin with. I don't know if it'll all fall out, but I just wanted to see in case. However, there were just too many to look at, and I only remembered at the very end of it. Maybe in the future.
After that, we went to Azteca for lunch. I tried their chile relleno. It was a little spicier than some, but still tolerable for my gut. Had white rice and rancho beans as my sides. I thought the rice would be plain, but it was full of herbs. That was a nice surprise. Everything was good.
Since it was still hot out, we went to a movie theater and saw Yesterday. It was better than expected. I just really could have done without the romance stuff. It added more tension to it than it needed, also. Ellie, love interest of Jack who's the main character, annoyed me at times. Kate McKinnon's character was great! She must have had fun with it. I like her on Saturday Night Live already, but this was even better. She's Jack's agent/manager. Her reaction to the 'reveal' towards the end was perfect.
Yesterday, we went to the dump. Got rid of the parts of the entertainment center. That was originally a kit that my parent put together with the help of my mom a long time ago. It was interesting to watch some of it being dismantled. It turned into just a bunch of wooden boards, nails, and handles. Last time the haul to the dump with electronics and such weighed about 80 pounds. This time it was 140 pounds. Most of it was those pieces of the entertainment center. There were a couple of other things that were rather light. Like a very old small humidifier. That piece of furniture was heavy...There's more stuff to take, but that was a good chunk of it.
We went to Mora's afterwards. I got one of my faves from there: Cheesecake with Brownie ice cream. The ice cream is actually made from cheesecake, so it's stiffer than most and richer in taste. Makes it amazing! I was happy that they gave me a scoop like I asked for, instead of 2 scoops. Disappointed that there weren't very many big chunks of brownie. The brownie part is more like a heavy fudge.
Had an early dinner at Taco Time, because it was still hot out. We don't have ac at home, and my room tends to get the hottest. There's basically only one room that's livable at the end of a hot day. I don't go to Taco Time too often. Got my fave: soft bean burrito combo. That includes mexi-fries and a soda. That burrito is full of greatness. Packed with protein and not bad in calories. There's the beans, shredded cheddar, and enchilada sauce in a flour tortilla. Simple.
We went grocery shopping afterwards. Found a cinnamon roll with icing mug cake mix. It has 4 individual packets/servings of both the mix and icing. I'm used to seeing mug cake recipes on Pinterest. It's interesting to see it in a 'kit' like this. All the ingredients, except water or milk, are right there already prepared. Sounds like a fun thing to try.
Went to my parent's appointment to have her car looked at today. It took longer than expected, and then it stalled. So, we had to wait a little longer. It seems like things are fine now with it. I was really hungry by the time we left, so we stopped at the market again for lunch. I tried their caprese sandwich. Had their turkey caprese sandwich recently. This one was about half the size, and not as jam packed. Those were plusses to me. It had a nice bread, tons of mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, pesto, and balsamic vinegar. Really good. Had their potato salad with it. Good combo.
Monday, August 12, 2019
11th of Av
Managed to mostly stay away from social media during Shabbos. Yay! Really felt like I recharged that way. Been cutting down the time I spend on social media today and yesterday, too. It's been nice.
Did the candles, blessings over the grape juice (I can't have wine) and challah, and online services for both Friday night and Saturday morning. Wahoo! Same as last week. Hopefully, I can make this a habit. They actually had that Saturday morning's service, rather than the week before like last week's had. That was good. I like how they make it feel like you're actually there.
Some of the night and morning services touched on Tisha B'Av. That was a bit difficult to sit through. It started Saturday night and went until Sunday night, and is a mourning holiday. We remember atrocities that happened to us in the past. Things like the Crusades, pogroms, expulsion from Spain/France/England, the Holocaust, and more. One of the main focuses is on the destruction of the 1st and 2nd temple in Jerusalem. It's the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. People fast, study the Book of Lamentations, most Torah study is forbidden, sit on low chairs or the floor (like with shiva or the week of mourning someone), some sleep on the floor, some people refrain from greeting each other, and more. I didn't observe it, and I don't think I ever have. I usually just notice it. The rabbi that did the drash (or sermon) Friday night tied it in with the recent mass shootings. It seemed to fit too well that that stuff happened close to the holiday. It was a powerful and emotional one.
For close to 5 hours on Sunday, I cleaned my bathroom. It really needed to be done. It was difficult with the pain of whatever's going on with me healthwise. I'm glad I was able to get so much done, though. I swept the floor, cleaned the toilet, did all of the shower area, sink, a cup and toothbrush holder, the counter, and dusted off the things on the counter as well as a little step stool. I didn't 'mop' the floor because the way I do it might have been too much for me on top of the other stuff. Unfortunately, Tasha decided to pee near the closed door and that leaked onto the floor. It was right after I swept. I was angry for a moment, but I don't know if she actually knows she's doing it. It was similar to when she peed on my closet door not long ago. She may have an issue with that. I was able to clean that up, too. It looks so nice in there now.
I've been having an even harder time sleeping lately. Both of my arms hurt constantly. They never really let up. They get worse when I'm lying down. It's really hard to describe the pain, but it burns and feels tight, I guess. Anyways, I decided to go to bed at a more decent time last night. I got out of bed at around 6:50am or 7am, because I couldn't stand it. I don't really like getting up earlier than 8am. So, this was weird for me. Most nights I've been in bed for even less time lately. Maybe I could look at it as being able to get more things done or something?
Got back to Duolingo's Dutch course. It had been a while. Still remembered most of it. Finished the Nature unit and started the Traffic one.
Read the most recent chapter of Ao no (Blue) Exorcist. A lot of surprises this time. With one of them, I was glad that it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I'm still wondering about Shiemi's role, and when will Rin come back to their present time?
Tried drawing more of Junko. No matter how many times I tried, her cat ears weren't coming out right. I'll try again next time. Started thinking more about her hairstyle, too.
Edited more of Alliance. I'm surprised at the mistakes I'm finding, despite going over the beginning not that long ago. I think once I catch up to the part I know is better, I'll move on to the sequel. I don't think that one will have nearly as many mistakes.
Watched Boku no (My) Hero Academia The Movie: Futari no Hero (Two Heroes). It supposedly was also in the manga (I haven't read it), and the anime briefly hinted at it. It seems to have taken place before the last season of the anime. It was nice to see something related to the show again. The next season starts in October. Yay, soon! This one was about All Might and his old friend Dave. They met when he was a Japanese exchange student in California. In a way, it was also about them handing the torch down to their successors, Melissa (Dave's daughter who also wants to help heroes as a scientist in the future) and Deku. The action scenes were great and fast-paced.
Did the candles, blessings over the grape juice (I can't have wine) and challah, and online services for both Friday night and Saturday morning. Wahoo! Same as last week. Hopefully, I can make this a habit. They actually had that Saturday morning's service, rather than the week before like last week's had. That was good. I like how they make it feel like you're actually there.
Some of the night and morning services touched on Tisha B'Av. That was a bit difficult to sit through. It started Saturday night and went until Sunday night, and is a mourning holiday. We remember atrocities that happened to us in the past. Things like the Crusades, pogroms, expulsion from Spain/France/England, the Holocaust, and more. One of the main focuses is on the destruction of the 1st and 2nd temple in Jerusalem. It's the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. People fast, study the Book of Lamentations, most Torah study is forbidden, sit on low chairs or the floor (like with shiva or the week of mourning someone), some sleep on the floor, some people refrain from greeting each other, and more. I didn't observe it, and I don't think I ever have. I usually just notice it. The rabbi that did the drash (or sermon) Friday night tied it in with the recent mass shootings. It seemed to fit too well that that stuff happened close to the holiday. It was a powerful and emotional one.
For close to 5 hours on Sunday, I cleaned my bathroom. It really needed to be done. It was difficult with the pain of whatever's going on with me healthwise. I'm glad I was able to get so much done, though. I swept the floor, cleaned the toilet, did all of the shower area, sink, a cup and toothbrush holder, the counter, and dusted off the things on the counter as well as a little step stool. I didn't 'mop' the floor because the way I do it might have been too much for me on top of the other stuff. Unfortunately, Tasha decided to pee near the closed door and that leaked onto the floor. It was right after I swept. I was angry for a moment, but I don't know if she actually knows she's doing it. It was similar to when she peed on my closet door not long ago. She may have an issue with that. I was able to clean that up, too. It looks so nice in there now.
I've been having an even harder time sleeping lately. Both of my arms hurt constantly. They never really let up. They get worse when I'm lying down. It's really hard to describe the pain, but it burns and feels tight, I guess. Anyways, I decided to go to bed at a more decent time last night. I got out of bed at around 6:50am or 7am, because I couldn't stand it. I don't really like getting up earlier than 8am. So, this was weird for me. Most nights I've been in bed for even less time lately. Maybe I could look at it as being able to get more things done or something?
Got back to Duolingo's Dutch course. It had been a while. Still remembered most of it. Finished the Nature unit and started the Traffic one.
Read the most recent chapter of Ao no (Blue) Exorcist. A lot of surprises this time. With one of them, I was glad that it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I'm still wondering about Shiemi's role, and when will Rin come back to their present time?
Tried drawing more of Junko. No matter how many times I tried, her cat ears weren't coming out right. I'll try again next time. Started thinking more about her hairstyle, too.
Edited more of Alliance. I'm surprised at the mistakes I'm finding, despite going over the beginning not that long ago. I think once I catch up to the part I know is better, I'll move on to the sequel. I don't think that one will have nearly as many mistakes.
Watched Boku no (My) Hero Academia The Movie: Futari no Hero (Two Heroes). It supposedly was also in the manga (I haven't read it), and the anime briefly hinted at it. It seems to have taken place before the last season of the anime. It was nice to see something related to the show again. The next season starts in October. Yay, soon! This one was about All Might and his old friend Dave. They met when he was a Japanese exchange student in California. In a way, it was also about them handing the torch down to their successors, Melissa (Dave's daughter who also wants to help heroes as a scientist in the future) and Deku. The action scenes were great and fast-paced.
Friday, August 9, 2019
International Cat Day!
This holiday was yesterday. I love cats! I love other animals as well, but cats hold a special place in my heart. Been around them since I was born. Our current cats are a Turkish Van, Natasha (Tasha for short), and a tortoiseshell (aka tortie), Rosie. Tortoiseshell isn't technically a breed. It's based on the color of their coat. They're similar to calicos this way. She's a tabby (short hair), which has stripes along with the different colors. We went through a lot of names for her, but Rosie seems to fit so well. She's glomped onto me almost since we got her. Tries to take care of me, too. She has an issue with matted fur. The vet clinic had to shave most of the mats off recently, and I've been using a grooming glove twice a day since. The mats haven't come back. Her fur is so much softer and shinier now. She seems happy about it and begs to be groomed now. She'll 'groom' me at the same time by licking my free hand. So cute!
Turkish Vans have long fur, but it's in a single layer instead of multiple. Makes it very soft. They often have color on the head and tail and sometimes parts of their legs/feet (she has some in those areas), and white for the rest of the body. Tasha is black and white. They're prone to polydactyly, which is lit. many fingers/toes. Tasha has that. Her paws are huge because of it. Yet, she has a small slender head. A collar doesn't fit her. She'll just wiggle out of it, if you manage to get it on her. She also barks like a dog when startled. Loves water. This might be because the breed comes from near Lake Van in Turkey. Pretty unique cat. Since we got Rosie, they've fought each other. However, they seem to be mellowing out. Tasha has become braver in the last couple of years. Wanting to stick around me, sleeping on my bed during the day, going downstairs and hanging out with us, watching things out the back door, etc. Things she wouldn't do before. She's standing her ground more, too. I think this has made Rosie feel even more jealous, but she's not attacking as often.
Tuesday marked the 10-year anniversary of this blog! Wahoo! Never thought I'd keep it up for as long as I have on here. This will be the 1,049th post. It'll be cool if I keep it up in some form for another 10 years, at least. Hopefully, I can get back to posting more often. The year I posted the most was in 2010. Did better than most years last year. I've also created 3 other blogs on here. The 2nd one was on what I'd say to my mom after she passed away. Similar to writing letters to her, I guess. I had that completely private where no one but me could see it. I deleted that one, because it was painful to see after a while. The 3rd one was supposed to be on various different topics and my point of view on them. That became inactive after a few posts. Maybe I'll get back to it in the future. It was an interesting concept. The final one was on practicing my Japanese. I even switched to the Blogger Japanese base where the comments, headings, etc. are all in the language. They even email you in Japanese if there's an alert of some sort. It was cool. Might go back to it in the future, and/or make another language learning one. As an example, since I'm studying it right now, I could make a Dutch one. I did have a few comments on the Japanese one from actual Japanese people. That was nice. I've read you can create 100 blogs through Blogger. That's way too many to keep up with. I also like the lists feature. I can keep up with things and see what I've finished at a glance. The links list is probably not completely up to date, but that's good to have as reference, too. There's a lot you can customize. I stuck with one background/configuration until just a few years ago. It looks quite different now. I think I was forced to, because they weren't able to support the old version. I like it, even if it's taken me a little while to get used to. It's pretty great to be able to link to my books (with the cover art) with a widget on here, too. Even if I'm a little embarrassed by my 1st book after editing it. I need to go over the beginning yet again. Then I'll go through the sequel, and finally resubmit both of them for publishing. Anyways, this is like my little home online.
I've been using Pandora since college. It's really gotten to know my 'tastes' in music over the years. (Of what's in their database.) I've loved that it picks new music based on things you've liked already. I recently got Pandora Premium. I had been using the free version. They give you the 1st month free, and then start the subscription. There are no ads and I think their recommendations have been much better. I haven't looked at My Thumbprint radio yet. I've just kept listening to my Shuffle one. It shuffles the ones I've thumbed up and suggests new tunes. I'm not sure how different Thumbprint would be. I guess I can see in the future.
Recently started watching Naka no Hito Genome [Jikkyouchuu] (The Ones Within- Genome [Now Streaming]). It's been very interesting so far. A very different twist on a currently popular genre, isekai. Isekai (different world) is when people from our world are transported, reincarnated, or trapped in a parallel universe. Sometimes this works in reverse. It's usually fantasy or horror based, and a lot of them are influenced by or actually in their own video games (mostly rpg's). I think it's a fun one, but there have been a lot of them in the last few anime seasons. Some people are sick of them. This one has a group of gaming 'streamers' or video uploaders from our world transported to a place called 13th Avenue. Each player specializes in a certain type of game, like cultivation games, fighting games, puzzle games, horror games, etc. A man in an alpaca mask, called Paca, gathers them together and explains that they have to clear all the stages and collect tokens. They must reach 100 million viewers at the same time in the 'livestream'. The viewers are watching everything they do. Even when they're not participating in a stage. There are a certain number of people allowed to do each one. If you go against Paca the punishment could be deadly. They can die or be injured in the stages, too. It's really dark at times, which is my kind of thing.
It got a bit personal for me in one of the last episodes I saw (I'm not up to date on the series yet). The main character, Akatsuki, has a similar dominant handedness as me. We're both essentially cross-dominant. We tend to prefer a certain hand for certain tasks, and this can switch at times. For instance, I mostly write with my right hand, carry an umbrella in my left, might kick a ball with either foot or catch it with either hand (depends on which is closest), eat with a fork and knife similar to a left-handed person but a little different (I've been told it's weird, but it makes the most sense to me) etc. They say he's ambidextrous, but was forced to do things like write with his right instead of left. They do suspect a lot of cross-dominants are actually ambidextrous, and it wouldn't surprise me if I was. Left-handed people weren't treated very well even when I was in elementary school. Scared me enough I tried to make sure I used my right hand for at least writing. I'm surprised they had a character like that.
He has a stalker that's one of the gamers. She has a wall covered in pics of him, and has been 'studying' him since they met. She knew about the cross-dominant thing. I've had 3 or 4 stalkers in the past. 1 woman and 2 or 3 men. A couple of them had done a similar thing with pics of me. The 1st one I found out at a Jewish youth group camping trip. I think I was 14 or 15? He had made a shrine with pics of me, the shoe I lost that day, and candles all around in his cabin room. I accidentally found it along with a friend. Kept blowing kisses at me the rest of the trip, and followed me all the way home. Another one, a roommate at a dorm in college, had made a huge collage of pics of me sleeping and other times without my knowledge. She also wrote a 5-page letter that she gave me when I moved out. Funnily enough, I had to move because of another stalker. That one was much scarier/violent, but he never made collages of me. That I know of, anyway. The anime did bring back those memories. It was creepy enough with what she did/was doing in it. I like Akatsuki even more so now.
Watched Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler): Book of the Atlantic. It's an anime movie based on the manga's Luxury Liner or Campania arc. Campania was the name of the ship. It was one of the best arcs in the manga. The zombies were introduced, a lot was revealed about Undertaker, and Lizzie has some major character development. A lot of people hated her before that arc. The zombies in it aren't exactly like how most are portrayed. They crave souls, not brains, and you can't be zombified if you're bitten/injured by them. There's a special way to make a zombie that only the fugitive shinigami (lit. death g-d, like the grim reaper) can do. He really was experimenting to try and bring back the dead, not necessarily make zombies. Recently, in the manga, he still hasn't truly perfected the process of making a person come back to life with their soul intact, awareness, memories, same personality, without needing blood transfusions, etc. He's come very close, though. I thought it'd be great to see. It wasn't available for roughly 2 1/2 years. I thought it was pretty well done. A lot of the animation was stunning. Lizzie's fight with the zombies really looked like a ballet, which is like how it was portrayed in the manga. It was oddly beautiful. Sebastian's 1st fight with them was portrayed as a crazy violent demonic dance. They came close. Interesting to see both animated. There's only so much the manga can do. They followed almost everything exactly the way it was in the manga, like the other 'Books'. There's a season on the Circus arc, and another on the Detective arc. I hope they adapt the other story arcs in the future. There have been several since.
Finished Ultraviolet on Netflix. It's a Polish detective show. Ultraviolet or UV is an online amateur detective forum. They often solve cases much faster than the actual detectives, so there's usually tension between them. The main character, Ola, becomes a member after witnessing a crime. A retired cop and a detective friend help her and UV. The last case was more intense than the others. It'd be cool if another season came out. The characters were very likable.
Started watching Deadwind, but decided to drop it. It's a Finnish detective show. There's not much humor (even dark humor), everyone looks so depressed, and the acting isn't great.
Tried out Memories of the Alhambra last night. It's a fantasy Korean drama mostly set in Spain. It sounded really interesting and is highly rated. Dropped it after that first episode, because I couldn't get passed how much of a jerk the male lead was, and weak the female lead was. Seemed sexist. The scenery and game stuff was impressive, though. I brought up what I thought about it in my feed on MyDramaList, and people really seem mixed on it. Some said you should just ignore the female lead. It's supposed to be only about the man. Focus more on the game. Others also hated the sexism and couldn't get passed 1 or 2 episodes. Everyone agreed that there was sexism in it, yet the ones that loved it thought it wasn't a big deal. I wonder if there's a lot of sexism amongst Asian drama fans or they just ignore it? I don't watch that many romance dramas, but it seems like a theme in most of them of that genre around the world. Particularly of non-LGBTQ+ romance shows. I've watched some other types of Korean shows, usually detective ones, that didn't really have that element. In fact, the women were kickass and strong both physically and personality-wise. So, it doesn't seem like just a cultural thing to me. I'll try Possessed next. It's a Korean supernatural detective show.
Wednesday, we went to the dump and recycled a lot of styrofoam. Got rid of the old computers (Mom's, my parent's, and mine), printers, monitors, and keyboards. There was also a cat bed that neither cat really was into, a rope I got from my horse management class, and some of my really old bedding. Felt a little sentimental about the rope, but it was ragged, pricked me every time I touched it, really old, and there really isn't anything I'd use it for. I think it was one of the ropes I used with the horse assigned to me. He was one of the most abused horses and took a while to break. After that he was glued to me. He wouldn't let anyone else touch him, and was super jealous if I took care of another horse. Was super gentle with me, and if he thought he stepped on me he was beside himself and visibly looked hurt. There were a couple of times like that, but he just would graze my shoe. I hope he found a nice home after the stables were torn down. The new electronics made a lot of styrofoam. It was nice we could find a place to recycle it.
While we were out around Tacoma, we decided to go to Half Price Books. I found a cookbook called the Joy of Chinese Cooking for about $6. Thought that was really good. It's from the early 80's, so might not be the best. There's a lot of fried dishes. (Like deep-fried, not referring to stir-fried.) I'm not sure if that's really the way authentic Chinese food is. It does indicate things like what's classic, what's festival/party food, what utensils/methods to use, time, and more. That's handy. They don't always list amount of servings, which makes it a little difficult. There's also info on how the Chinese view food, philosophy of it, etiquette, cookware, history of some ingredients, etc. That stuff's always interesting to read about. We went to another HPB, but I didn't find anything else. Last time I went to HPB I found a cheese encyclopedia for around $2. It wasn't thin and was in good shape. That's been interesting. Haven't looked at it often, but it's a wealth of info just sitting there. It features cheeses from around the world, even from places most people don't think about. It'd be cool to try out more cheeses and look them up beforehand.
Went to Krispy Kreme after all that. Needed something with my 'dinner' pills, since I knew I'd have a late dinner and I need to stick to having my pills at certain times. Have to have food with them. I've only been there once or twice, and it's been a very long time. Got their cake batter donut and chocolate milk. I didn't know they had different fillings besides custard or lemon. This was cake batter flavored frosting. It was surprisingly light and tasty. Hadn't had chocolate milk in an even longer time, so that was an experience, too.
I did manage to mostly stay away from social media last Shabbos. (Friday night until Saturday night. Shabbos is Yiddish for Shabbat, and Shabbat is our day of rest.) It felt nice. Haven't done that in a while, and it felt more like a 'rest' this way. I also got to lighting the candles, saying the blessings, and attended online services for both Friday night and Saturday morning. Did quite a lot more than what I have been doing lately. I used to try to at least do the candles/blessings. Hopefully, I can do the same things as last time this Shabbos. I was kind of disappointed by last Saturday morning online services, because they had technical difficulties and just reuploaded the service from the week before instead. Didn't realize it until about halfway through. Felt a bit off. The night one was nice, though. They seem like a much more diverse congregation than some out there. Probably because they're in NYC. It was still cool to see.
Turkish Vans have long fur, but it's in a single layer instead of multiple. Makes it very soft. They often have color on the head and tail and sometimes parts of their legs/feet (she has some in those areas), and white for the rest of the body. Tasha is black and white. They're prone to polydactyly, which is lit. many fingers/toes. Tasha has that. Her paws are huge because of it. Yet, she has a small slender head. A collar doesn't fit her. She'll just wiggle out of it, if you manage to get it on her. She also barks like a dog when startled. Loves water. This might be because the breed comes from near Lake Van in Turkey. Pretty unique cat. Since we got Rosie, they've fought each other. However, they seem to be mellowing out. Tasha has become braver in the last couple of years. Wanting to stick around me, sleeping on my bed during the day, going downstairs and hanging out with us, watching things out the back door, etc. Things she wouldn't do before. She's standing her ground more, too. I think this has made Rosie feel even more jealous, but she's not attacking as often.
Tuesday marked the 10-year anniversary of this blog! Wahoo! Never thought I'd keep it up for as long as I have on here. This will be the 1,049th post. It'll be cool if I keep it up in some form for another 10 years, at least. Hopefully, I can get back to posting more often. The year I posted the most was in 2010. Did better than most years last year. I've also created 3 other blogs on here. The 2nd one was on what I'd say to my mom after she passed away. Similar to writing letters to her, I guess. I had that completely private where no one but me could see it. I deleted that one, because it was painful to see after a while. The 3rd one was supposed to be on various different topics and my point of view on them. That became inactive after a few posts. Maybe I'll get back to it in the future. It was an interesting concept. The final one was on practicing my Japanese. I even switched to the Blogger Japanese base where the comments, headings, etc. are all in the language. They even email you in Japanese if there's an alert of some sort. It was cool. Might go back to it in the future, and/or make another language learning one. As an example, since I'm studying it right now, I could make a Dutch one. I did have a few comments on the Japanese one from actual Japanese people. That was nice. I've read you can create 100 blogs through Blogger. That's way too many to keep up with. I also like the lists feature. I can keep up with things and see what I've finished at a glance. The links list is probably not completely up to date, but that's good to have as reference, too. There's a lot you can customize. I stuck with one background/configuration until just a few years ago. It looks quite different now. I think I was forced to, because they weren't able to support the old version. I like it, even if it's taken me a little while to get used to. It's pretty great to be able to link to my books (with the cover art) with a widget on here, too. Even if I'm a little embarrassed by my 1st book after editing it. I need to go over the beginning yet again. Then I'll go through the sequel, and finally resubmit both of them for publishing. Anyways, this is like my little home online.
I've been using Pandora since college. It's really gotten to know my 'tastes' in music over the years. (Of what's in their database.) I've loved that it picks new music based on things you've liked already. I recently got Pandora Premium. I had been using the free version. They give you the 1st month free, and then start the subscription. There are no ads and I think their recommendations have been much better. I haven't looked at My Thumbprint radio yet. I've just kept listening to my Shuffle one. It shuffles the ones I've thumbed up and suggests new tunes. I'm not sure how different Thumbprint would be. I guess I can see in the future.
Recently started watching Naka no Hito Genome [Jikkyouchuu] (The Ones Within- Genome [Now Streaming]). It's been very interesting so far. A very different twist on a currently popular genre, isekai. Isekai (different world) is when people from our world are transported, reincarnated, or trapped in a parallel universe. Sometimes this works in reverse. It's usually fantasy or horror based, and a lot of them are influenced by or actually in their own video games (mostly rpg's). I think it's a fun one, but there have been a lot of them in the last few anime seasons. Some people are sick of them. This one has a group of gaming 'streamers' or video uploaders from our world transported to a place called 13th Avenue. Each player specializes in a certain type of game, like cultivation games, fighting games, puzzle games, horror games, etc. A man in an alpaca mask, called Paca, gathers them together and explains that they have to clear all the stages and collect tokens. They must reach 100 million viewers at the same time in the 'livestream'. The viewers are watching everything they do. Even when they're not participating in a stage. There are a certain number of people allowed to do each one. If you go against Paca the punishment could be deadly. They can die or be injured in the stages, too. It's really dark at times, which is my kind of thing.
It got a bit personal for me in one of the last episodes I saw (I'm not up to date on the series yet). The main character, Akatsuki, has a similar dominant handedness as me. We're both essentially cross-dominant. We tend to prefer a certain hand for certain tasks, and this can switch at times. For instance, I mostly write with my right hand, carry an umbrella in my left, might kick a ball with either foot or catch it with either hand (depends on which is closest), eat with a fork and knife similar to a left-handed person but a little different (I've been told it's weird, but it makes the most sense to me) etc. They say he's ambidextrous, but was forced to do things like write with his right instead of left. They do suspect a lot of cross-dominants are actually ambidextrous, and it wouldn't surprise me if I was. Left-handed people weren't treated very well even when I was in elementary school. Scared me enough I tried to make sure I used my right hand for at least writing. I'm surprised they had a character like that.
He has a stalker that's one of the gamers. She has a wall covered in pics of him, and has been 'studying' him since they met. She knew about the cross-dominant thing. I've had 3 or 4 stalkers in the past. 1 woman and 2 or 3 men. A couple of them had done a similar thing with pics of me. The 1st one I found out at a Jewish youth group camping trip. I think I was 14 or 15? He had made a shrine with pics of me, the shoe I lost that day, and candles all around in his cabin room. I accidentally found it along with a friend. Kept blowing kisses at me the rest of the trip, and followed me all the way home. Another one, a roommate at a dorm in college, had made a huge collage of pics of me sleeping and other times without my knowledge. She also wrote a 5-page letter that she gave me when I moved out. Funnily enough, I had to move because of another stalker. That one was much scarier/violent, but he never made collages of me. That I know of, anyway. The anime did bring back those memories. It was creepy enough with what she did/was doing in it. I like Akatsuki even more so now.
Watched Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler): Book of the Atlantic. It's an anime movie based on the manga's Luxury Liner or Campania arc. Campania was the name of the ship. It was one of the best arcs in the manga. The zombies were introduced, a lot was revealed about Undertaker, and Lizzie has some major character development. A lot of people hated her before that arc. The zombies in it aren't exactly like how most are portrayed. They crave souls, not brains, and you can't be zombified if you're bitten/injured by them. There's a special way to make a zombie that only the fugitive shinigami (lit. death g-d, like the grim reaper) can do. He really was experimenting to try and bring back the dead, not necessarily make zombies. Recently, in the manga, he still hasn't truly perfected the process of making a person come back to life with their soul intact, awareness, memories, same personality, without needing blood transfusions, etc. He's come very close, though. I thought it'd be great to see. It wasn't available for roughly 2 1/2 years. I thought it was pretty well done. A lot of the animation was stunning. Lizzie's fight with the zombies really looked like a ballet, which is like how it was portrayed in the manga. It was oddly beautiful. Sebastian's 1st fight with them was portrayed as a crazy violent demonic dance. They came close. Interesting to see both animated. There's only so much the manga can do. They followed almost everything exactly the way it was in the manga, like the other 'Books'. There's a season on the Circus arc, and another on the Detective arc. I hope they adapt the other story arcs in the future. There have been several since.
Finished Ultraviolet on Netflix. It's a Polish detective show. Ultraviolet or UV is an online amateur detective forum. They often solve cases much faster than the actual detectives, so there's usually tension between them. The main character, Ola, becomes a member after witnessing a crime. A retired cop and a detective friend help her and UV. The last case was more intense than the others. It'd be cool if another season came out. The characters were very likable.
Started watching Deadwind, but decided to drop it. It's a Finnish detective show. There's not much humor (even dark humor), everyone looks so depressed, and the acting isn't great.
Tried out Memories of the Alhambra last night. It's a fantasy Korean drama mostly set in Spain. It sounded really interesting and is highly rated. Dropped it after that first episode, because I couldn't get passed how much of a jerk the male lead was, and weak the female lead was. Seemed sexist. The scenery and game stuff was impressive, though. I brought up what I thought about it in my feed on MyDramaList, and people really seem mixed on it. Some said you should just ignore the female lead. It's supposed to be only about the man. Focus more on the game. Others also hated the sexism and couldn't get passed 1 or 2 episodes. Everyone agreed that there was sexism in it, yet the ones that loved it thought it wasn't a big deal. I wonder if there's a lot of sexism amongst Asian drama fans or they just ignore it? I don't watch that many romance dramas, but it seems like a theme in most of them of that genre around the world. Particularly of non-LGBTQ+ romance shows. I've watched some other types of Korean shows, usually detective ones, that didn't really have that element. In fact, the women were kickass and strong both physically and personality-wise. So, it doesn't seem like just a cultural thing to me. I'll try Possessed next. It's a Korean supernatural detective show.
Wednesday, we went to the dump and recycled a lot of styrofoam. Got rid of the old computers (Mom's, my parent's, and mine), printers, monitors, and keyboards. There was also a cat bed that neither cat really was into, a rope I got from my horse management class, and some of my really old bedding. Felt a little sentimental about the rope, but it was ragged, pricked me every time I touched it, really old, and there really isn't anything I'd use it for. I think it was one of the ropes I used with the horse assigned to me. He was one of the most abused horses and took a while to break. After that he was glued to me. He wouldn't let anyone else touch him, and was super jealous if I took care of another horse. Was super gentle with me, and if he thought he stepped on me he was beside himself and visibly looked hurt. There were a couple of times like that, but he just would graze my shoe. I hope he found a nice home after the stables were torn down. The new electronics made a lot of styrofoam. It was nice we could find a place to recycle it.
While we were out around Tacoma, we decided to go to Half Price Books. I found a cookbook called the Joy of Chinese Cooking for about $6. Thought that was really good. It's from the early 80's, so might not be the best. There's a lot of fried dishes. (Like deep-fried, not referring to stir-fried.) I'm not sure if that's really the way authentic Chinese food is. It does indicate things like what's classic, what's festival/party food, what utensils/methods to use, time, and more. That's handy. They don't always list amount of servings, which makes it a little difficult. There's also info on how the Chinese view food, philosophy of it, etiquette, cookware, history of some ingredients, etc. That stuff's always interesting to read about. We went to another HPB, but I didn't find anything else. Last time I went to HPB I found a cheese encyclopedia for around $2. It wasn't thin and was in good shape. That's been interesting. Haven't looked at it often, but it's a wealth of info just sitting there. It features cheeses from around the world, even from places most people don't think about. It'd be cool to try out more cheeses and look them up beforehand.
Went to Krispy Kreme after all that. Needed something with my 'dinner' pills, since I knew I'd have a late dinner and I need to stick to having my pills at certain times. Have to have food with them. I've only been there once or twice, and it's been a very long time. Got their cake batter donut and chocolate milk. I didn't know they had different fillings besides custard or lemon. This was cake batter flavored frosting. It was surprisingly light and tasty. Hadn't had chocolate milk in an even longer time, so that was an experience, too.
I did manage to mostly stay away from social media last Shabbos. (Friday night until Saturday night. Shabbos is Yiddish for Shabbat, and Shabbat is our day of rest.) It felt nice. Haven't done that in a while, and it felt more like a 'rest' this way. I also got to lighting the candles, saying the blessings, and attended online services for both Friday night and Saturday morning. Did quite a lot more than what I have been doing lately. I used to try to at least do the candles/blessings. Hopefully, I can do the same things as last time this Shabbos. I was kind of disappointed by last Saturday morning online services, because they had technical difficulties and just reuploaded the service from the week before instead. Didn't realize it until about halfway through. Felt a bit off. The night one was nice, though. They seem like a much more diverse congregation than some out there. Probably because they're in NYC. It was still cool to see.
Friday, August 2, 2019
1st of Av
The month-long holidays for August are: National Panini Month, National Peach Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. Not many this month...I love peaches! The skins upset my gut, so I end up getting the pre-cut ones. Peeling them every time can be tiring. Paninis are fun.
For the Jewish calendar, both pics are of decorative plates. The main pic is from the '50s, and the other is from c. 1910. The main one is in blue print on white with both Dutch and Hebrew around it. The middle has a dining room scene with a table, place setting, a candle, window, and curtains. The older plate is bronze looking with an intricate design.
The elements calendar has carbon this month. A very important element. Makes sense that it would be featured at some point.
Rosie seems to have gone back to urging me to eat more often. I've mentioned it before on here. She thinks I'm not eating enough. It started around the time of my first colitis flare. I would (still do sometimes) forget to eat. When she does it, it's not like she's hungry or begging for food. There's plenty of food in her bowl, and she doesn't actually eat it when she wants me to have something. She's like my therapy cat. She's been guarding me often, too. Tasha seems to be becoming more protective of me. That's a little new. In a way, it's like they both think of me as their child that they have to protect and help. Maybe they can sense the health stuff I'm going through and are reacting to that? It's so cute and great to see such creatures caring about me so much. Makes me feel loved. Although, sometimes Rosie takes things to stalker level with guarding/following me around. That gets creepy.
Recently there was the 4th anniversary of me being diagnosed with IBD or colitis. It's changed how I view food a lot and other things I may have taken for granted. The most surprising part of it, so far, has been the massive pain from my scarred colon while in remission. I was told that I wouldn't have any symptoms once in remission. In fact, that's apparently one of the signs that you are. No one told me about what happens if it causes a lot of damage before going into remission. Would have been nice to have known. It can affect so many things. Plus, there's an added risk of having another type of autoimmune disease. I don't need another one, but it looks like I do.
Went to a Kitsap Safe Schools potluck last night. They're a pretty cool organization. They've donated to the Q Center in the past. Q Center is basically an LGBTQ+ youth group. They've also helped with Pride. My parent's a member, and I've been to a couple of meetings. Came out to them as agender at the meeting before the potluck. I didn't want to be referred to as daughter and/or one of the women, since I'm not one. One of the older, somewhat leader of it, members seemed to perk up when I talked about it. They liked that I'm an author, as well. Even wrote down my pen name. Anyways, I had to remind some of them that knew, and explain to the ones that didn't. They took it in stride, which was nice. Felt I had to explain why I don't call my parent mom, since they kept referring to her that way around me. They seemed to understand. There was a lot of food I could have. Most of it was homemade. A couple of pasta salads, potato salad, salad greens, bread, and a few other things for the dinner part. My parent made cherry clafoutis for dessert. It's like cherries in a thick pancake/crepe cake thing. She made it last year. It was way too much for 2 people, so why not make it for a potluck instead? Strawberry rhubarb pie, a thick brownie, pocky, chocolates, and I think a couple of other things for dessert. Good stuff. Ended up talking a lot about Judaism. I was surprised people wanted to talk about it for as long as we did. They told me they were very fascinated by it. I try to educate people if it comes up. Some people really don't know much about it. We also talked about politics towards the end, which was fun in a way.
Youtube:
One Piece:
One Punch Man:
Charlotte:
Black Clover:
Fairy Tail:
Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer):
Juuni Taisen (Zodiac War):
Gunjou no Magmel (Magmel of the Blue Sea):
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