I love oatmeal! Usually I add syrup, sometimes cinnamon, raisins, salt, and a little Splenda if I'm having it as a breakfast. Oatmeal in things like cookies is also great. It can be pretty versatile. It's one of my safe and calming foods. Nutritious, too.
National Pumpkin Day was on Saturday. I used to hate eating things with pumpkin in them. Thought it was fun carving them as a kid (with the help of my parents, and didn't do it every year for Halloween), and loved having roasted pumpkin seeds (from those same pumpkins that we roasted in the oven) with a little salt. For some reason, I had no problem eating that part. Pumpkin pie on the other hand...Would not touch it for years. I still hate most squashes, but at some point that changed with pumpkins. Maybe I got enough guts to try a really good pumpkin pie or something. Now, if it has pumpkin in it, I tend to love it. Recently got pumpkin butter, which has real pureed pumpkin. It's not outstanding, but really addicting. Funny how they call it a fruit spread, when many people categorize it as a vegetable. Technically, it is a fruit. I guess it's like how tomatoes are. It's not as sweet as many fruit spreads, which is nice to have sometimes.
Managed to finally get my flu shot on Friday. Flu shots are even more important for me since I have at least colitis. Might have another autoimmune disease. One of my meds works in a similar way as an immunosuppressant. That means it suppresses my immune system so much my digestive system isn't bombarded by it. However, it also makes it super easy to get sick. And, when immunosuppressed patients get sick, it takes us longer to get over it. We're at risk of dying from the flu, because of this. We can't have the live version. That's the only one I've been told not to have for vaccines in general. If people I come in contact with also have the flu shot, it's an added protection. If I do end up with the flu, it won't be as dire as if I hadn't gotten the shot. When people in IBD groups say things like I'll never get the shot and list some bogus reasons (Big Pharma, it'll cause something like autism, hasn't been studied enough...), it can be harmful. Some people are banned from those groups on fb because of that. They take it extremely seriously. They also boot out people who are trying to sell something or promote some sort of health advice. I've seen many people try to sell miracle cures, say we need to find G-d, giving out misleading info, just need to think positively, etc. It's crazy. Actually a problem in many chronic illness groups. I hate actually getting the shot, though. It's quick, at least.
I got a blood draw since I was at the clinic already. I wasn't sure if my rheumatologist had ordered those 4 tests yet, since he didn't reply to my last message. Turns out he did, but put it in incorrectly. It took about 10 minutes over the phone for the lab tech to get it right. Meanwhile, I anxiously waited in the lab, not knowing if they could do it. It seemed like a lot of blood this time. I didn't get my usual reaction. It's usually an involuntary response where whenever I see/think about my blood or other medical stuff, I can pass out, or throw up, or both. Most of the time it doesn't get that bad. However, I tend to get really sweaty, my heart races, get really dizzy, nauseous, etc. It might go away once I put my head down and sip some water for a while. One of the worst times that it got to the point of passing out was while I was at WSU. I told the nurse about that feeling coming on just before the blood draw. She didn't know what to do and threw me in the bathroom. As I passed out, I hit everything around me on the way down. (Toilet lid, railing, sink, etc.) So, I woke up cut up, bruised, and out of it. Still got the blood draw done. She should have suggested a lying down position. The interesting thing about this 'response' is once it's happened, I don't get it again for a while. So, I could look at my blood all I want or other things, and nothing will happen. It gives me a calm and relaxed feeling after, too. It's so bizarre, though. I got one result back so far and it's negative. That's ok. If they're all negative/normal, then fine, I don't have scleroderma. If one or more is positive, then it needs to be looked into more. If not scleroderma, then I can move on to something else. I'll still get some form of an answer. I plan to wait until I know for sure what's going to happen with my insurance, and then I'll make an appointment to see a dermatologist. I know they'll have more things to look into.
Saturday, I had an early brunch at Elmer's. I got their chicken-fried steak and eggs breakfast. Had it with turkey gravy instead of country gravy. (The country one has pork sausage in it, and I don't eat pork products.) Added another dimension of flavor. The eggs were scrambled and it also had hash browns and a biscuit. The biscuit came a little late. I thought our waitress had forgotten or something. Turns out they took a little longer to make and it was a fresh batch. It was a really satisfying brunch.
Went to Port Gamble after that. It was very windy outside, so I didn't have the patience to take pics of that. Most of the leaves had fallen there, so it wasn't as nice as I thought it would look anyways. Went to the General Store and the Of Sea and Shore museum upstairs. The store has a cafe, too. They pack a lot into one building. That museum has apparently one of the largest collections of shells in the world. They really cram them in there. It used to scare me as a kid, because of the huge crabs and lobsters. Sharks not as much. All of them weren't alive, of course. A lot of the crabs were found locally. Knowing such big things were lurking in the waters near me got me more. There are some things from around the world, too. I had forgotten how many crabs they had. Almost seemed like half as many as the shells.
Got chicken parmesan from a local market for dinner Saturday. Had root beer and stuffing with it. I don't drink root beer that often, so it was a treat. My parent made stuffing to go with her dinner, and suggested I have some. The chicken parmesan seemed skimpier than usual, so I thought why not? Got a pumpkin spice scone from there for dessert. It was much better than the Starbucks' version. There wasn't a super thick layer of icing on top. Just a light drizzle. Seemed to have more of the spices, too. I think there was actual pumpkin in it. Nice.
Mairimashita! (Welcome to Demon School) Iruma-kun has been interesting so far. I'm liking it more than I thought I would. It's about a human, Iruma, who's sold to a demon. The demon always wanted a grandson to dote on. He makes a contract with him to agree to be his grandson. If Iruma hadn't agreed to it, he would have been killed. His human parents were awful towards him and he never had the opportunity to go to school before. His new 'grandpa' forces him to go to a demon school. If the demons find out he's human, he could be eaten. So far, no one suspects he is, and he's made 2 close and powerful friends. He's also managed to make one of his teachers his familiar by accident. It seems like humans have powers in their world, too. Only, he can't fly like the others. The other students think he's simply working out his leg muscles in order to get stronger. I've noticed the demon language is based on Hebrew. They tend to add circles and tiny lines to some of the letters, but it's easy to tell. Even the ranking of classes has actual clear Hebrew letters. Yod being the highest rank, which is interesting...Alef is the first letter in the alphabet (known as the alef-bet in Hebrew), and that's the lowest rank. I can read some of the words that they flash briefly, but from what I can tell, a lot of it seems to be gibberish. It's only shown for a few seconds at a time, though. In order to read and understand the language, Iruma's grandpa puts a spell over him where he hears and reads Japanese instead. Except for that ranking system. He seems to see it the way they do. When he speaks, demons hear their language. So, it works out that way. Iruma reminds me of a mix of Deku from Boku no (My) Hero Academia and Tsuna from Hitman Reborn.
The 4th season of Boku no Hero Academia has been good, too. Seems more intense than other seasons. Especially with the new villain, Overhaul. He appeared at the end of season 3. He seems more powerful than Shigaraki, who's the head of the League of Villains and the main antagonist of the series. Deku became an intern for Sir Nighteye, who was All Might's sidekick. (Getting an internship is another step to becoming a full-fledged pro hero.) He's also Mirio's mentor. Mirio looks a lot like Tintin from the Adventures of Tintin. He might be a parody of him. There's some sort of tension between Nighteye and All Might. So much so that All Might asked Mirio to introduce Deku to Nighteye. He couldn't bring himself to do it. In the most recent episode, it's revealed that Nighteye is investigating Overhaul. Deku comes face to face with him at the very end.
Decided to drop Kabukichou Sherlock. Kabukichou is an entertainment and red-light district. They focus quite a bit on the red-light district part. It seemed to make fun of drag queens and gay people. I don't think it actually touched on trans people. The head of the detective agency is a drag queen who holds their meetings at a drag queen bar that they own. Some of the gay people they showed briefly have seemed 'real' and they didn't make fun of them, but with others it seemed like they were the punchline in some sort of joke. Mrs. Hudson, the head of the detective agency, also tends to grope one of the detectives whenever they see each other, which I'm not cool with. I do like the twists on Sherlock and Watson. Sherlock tends to perform rakugo, a form of storytelling while sitting on a stage with only a fan and cloth as props (usually comedic stories), when he solves a case. His personality totally changes as he does it. While at crime scenes, he really throws himself into it. Sniffing everywhere, lying where the victim is/was or their bed, getting down on all fours to inspect the floor, etc. More than the other detectives. The others try to beat him in solving it. Even going so far as to destroy evidence. The main case is on Jack the Ripper, but they solve side cases at the same time. Watson is a doctor, and ever since he found a transmitter in a body, it seems like someone's after him. Someone blew up the place he was staying at. He's had to stay at different hotels because of the fear that they'd be blown up, too. He only wanted the detectives to help with his case, but got roped into helping Sherlock instead. Now he lives with him along with Moriarty, who's a teenager. I think Moriarty is also a detective in this. However, in the books he was one of Sherlock's archenemies. Don't know what his connection is to Sherlock in this one. If it didn't have the more sexual or homophobic stuff, I think I would like it a lot. I can't get passed that, though.
Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit (the Japanese name is even longer...) has been a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect much from it. They live in a world that was once ruled by dragons. Once those dragons disappeared, many different types of fantasy-based beings started coexisting peacefully with humans. Like, vampires, homunculi, elves, orcs, etc. Nine is a terrorist organization that wants the powers of the dragons, create chaos, and to change the world. The police form a unit to combat Nine called Special 7. They have abilities that surpass the average human (many aren't human). The main character is Seiji who's a rookie and human. He doesn't seem entirely human to me, though. They make fun of him lightheartedly at first, then realize he has a lot of potential. The Nines seem to hardly be there, so they solve side cases in the meantime. Although, they might have been involved in the most recent case with a bomber. Especially because the bomber used magic. They never found who the bomber was, but they had to disarm 4 bombs in different buildings. They had to figure out how to do it with only one detective at each, with the same amount on the timers, had to be disarmed in a certain order, and none of them had experience with bombs. Luckily, the homunculus named Bellemer on their team, who's also a ninja, helped them from afar with watching and giving instructions from drones. She's dealt with bombs before. Most of the characters have been very likable and quirky. It reminds me a lot of Kekkai Sensen (Blood Blockade Battlefront) and Hamatora.
Yesterday, I went through more of Duolingo's Dutch course. Finished Politics 1, and got halfway through Gerund. The politics unit was interesting. Got more of a view into their government, royalty, and some laws. Made it to #13 of the Ruby League. Hopefully, when I do it later today, I can get higher in the ranking.
Yesterday, I scanned the drawing of Junko and started cleaning her up in Photoshop. First time I've scanned something with my new printer. It's much better than the previous one. It doesn't thicken the lines and add blue marks. It's clearer. Doesn't add more gunk to erase in Photoshop. She looks pretty much like she does on paper, but with slightly lighter lines. I'll continue to clean her up in Photoshop next time. It might not take me as long as it did in the past.
Got to editing Alliance yesterday, too. Even though there seemed to be interruptions every time I tried. Went through 5 pages of the ebook and 7 pages of the print. Not bad.
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