Caramel Apple Day!

Mood:

I love caramel apples!I rarely have them, though. Not sure if I had one last year. The only downside to them is how messy they can get. At our local markets they have many different kinds with stuff put on top of the caramel. Sometimes the plain ones are the best. It's also Celebration of the Mind Day. The mind's pretty amazing and fascinating. Interesting that it has a day devoted to it. Plus, it's also Reptile Awareness Day. I think they're greatly misunderstood, so it's good there's a day to educate people about them.Yesterday was Lung Health Day. It's good that there's a day for this as well. Lung health's very important. I've experienced some issues in the past with mine, and it only makes you appreciate them all the more when they're back to being healthy.

It's been abnormally warm for this time of year. I think I remember hearing that it's like 10 degrees warmer than average. I kind of want the cool fall weather I like so much. It's been pouring rain off and on, too. That's probably normal for us during this time of year, though.

On Sunday, we grabbed my contacts that came in at the mall. Apparently both eyes have the same prescription now. It's bizarre.They were really surprised by how much my right eye has changed. At least I don't have to tell the difference between the boxes. Like which one is for my right or left eye. 

After that we went to Fuego. That place is pretty cool and has some hilarious stuff.Always have liked going there. They always have special deals on jewelry. Last time I got some really long gold square ones with a fancy pattern on the inside of each square. (They're almost as long as my hair now. That's saying a lot...) They jingle a lot when I move my head. Haven't worn them that often, but they're fun. This time I wanted something unicorn related. Unicorns have a lot of meaning for me.I used to hate unicorns, but now that there's so much meaning to them for me it's a different story. I found some silver unicorn earrings. The manes are pretty detailed, as well as the musculature. The horns look kind of stubby, but that's ok. They're pretty big too. So, at least they're noticeable. And, with the deal it went from almost $7 to almost $2. Pretty good deal.

After that we went to a local breakfast place for dinner. I got their caramel apple French toast with scrambled eggs and apple chicken sausage. It was like heaven!They had a pumpkin spiced latte as their seasonal drink. I decided to get that too. It was so good!All of that made for an amazing brunch the next day, too. At Safeway they have pumpkin spiced lattes in packets. So, I can make my own. I decided to get some of that too. I'm normally not into coffee type drinks, but this is really good stuff. Plus, I love when pumpkin is added to things in general.

Wrote more of the 11th short story in my nightmare anthology. I now have a clear idea of how I want it to go at least. Almost done with it, if I follow that idea. Then I can start the 12th, and probably last, one. Yay!This current one's pretty gruesome. So that might be why I had somewhat of a hard time. Might be the most gruesome at that.

Played my clarinet. Did a lot of Irish tunes. Only fumbled a few times this time. I've actually been playing more often now, and I can tell I'm improving pretty quickly. It feels good. 

日本語

Studied the kanji: 加. The hiragana 'letter' か (ka) is a descendant of this kanji. Kind of cool. Pronounced as か (ka): addition, increase; (abbr) Canada (long version is: 加奈陀 or かなだ [kanada]). As 加える or くわ.える (kuwa.eru): to add, add up, sum up, append, annex; to increase, gather (e.g. speed), pick up; to include, count in, let join; to inflict (damage), deal, give. As 加わる or くわ.わる (kuwa.waru): to be added to, be appended; to join in (e.g. a group of friends), participate; to increase (e.g. heat), gain in (e.g. influence), grow, gather (speed); to be subject to (e.g. pressure). 加虐 or かぎゃく (kagyaku): causing pain, sadism, sadistic. 加減 or かげん (kagen): addition and subtraction; allowance for; degree, extent, measure; condition, state of health; seasoning, flavor, moderation, adjustment; influence (of the weather); chance. 加護 or かご (kago): divine protection, bless. 加工 or かこう (kakou): manufacturing, processing, treatment. 加算 or かさん (kasan): addition, adding, supplement. 加勢 or かせい (kasei): assistance, backing, reinforcements. 加点 or かてん (katen): addition of points, scoring. 加熱 or かねつ (kanetsu): heating, application of heat. 加筆 or かひつ (kahitsu): correction, improvement, revision. 

Practiced a bit on JapaneseClass' site. Did pretty well. Made it into the top 20 ranking for the day. Apparently I was doing so well that they threw in a lot of new words/kanji/phrases.I only get that when I get most of the 'old' ones right. 

There was another new Japanese commercial compilation vid on youtube. I love looking at those.They're usually biweekly, but sometimes the person who's behind the channel makes a bonus in between one. A vid full of the ones that they feel are the most bizarre and/or cool. This was one of those weeks. They're not subbed, so it gives me a chance to figure it out on my own. I get what they're saying most of the time. The only problem is when they speak super quickly, and sometimes when it's really slow. A lot of them were even more bizarre knowing what they were saying or what they were selling. 

Wrote out more of that section of the You Maga article from last time. A lot of the kanji I knew without having to check them online. It was an interesting feeling. A lot of the ones I didn't know were either ones people learn at a higher grade level than what I'm currently at or weren't used that often. Not bad. The kanji for vomit is interesting and makes sense...I also did some sentence practice. 

Found a lot of interesting possible manga to read. It'll be nice to read some new ones.Finished Anagle Mole recently, so that freed up a spot for another one. Anagle Mole was awesome!Didn't really have an ending. It felt like they ended it with the possibility of a sequel of some sort. At least, what they made you believe until the last chapter wasn't true. (Trying to say it without spoiling too much.) So, that was a good thing. It seemed like a unique and interesting story. It'd be cool if they made it into an anime.I'm thinking of dropping World Embryo. It's gotten kind of tiring. Things have been a bit slow for a while, too. It has a very interesting story too. 

Watched the 2nd Gintama movie called Gintama: Kanketsu-hen - Yorozuya yo Eien or Gintama (Silver Soul): The Final Chapter- Be Forever Yorozuya (Odd Jobs), Friday night. It was freaking awesome and epic!I definitely would recommend this to almost anyone. (Would not be good for little kids. Probably people in their late teens on would be best...) Even if anime's not your thing, it's worth it. The animation was great! Just like the anime, one minute you're laughing like crazy, and the next you're bawling your eyes out. Great fight scenes, and they managed to pile on the drama as well. I remember reading that this one was a totally original story that wasn't in the manga. All of the voice actors were amazing, too. Just like they were in the show. This was supposed to be Gintama's last hurrah. But, you never know with them, if they're coming back or not. But, it was certainly an amazing way to end it. With the show, it only got better and better with each episode. So, you can almost imagine how great it was after more than 250 episodes. By the way, you don't have to have watched the show in order to understand or get into the movie. But, it might hook you.

Droplets

Mood:

By MEG. Another great one from her.It's about how everyone else runs inside when it's about to rain/snow, but the person who's singing runs outside when it starts. It has a calming effect on them. Almost seems like their dancing in the rain, only slowly. I like that kind of stuff. Rain calms me down too. The vid's a bit trippy, but most of hers are. 

Even though I went to bed at a decent time, and got up at a decent time; I still felt horrible today.I have this weird gut thing going on. I don't really know why. It kind of has made me not feel like doing much today. (Although, time seems to be going really slowly lately.) I still have a nasty bruise around my lower left leg from a horrible fall. So, I should probably take it easy, and treat myself better, I guess. 

I've at least been doing my sit-ups for yesterday and today. Up to 75 of them twice a day this week.I'm still figuring out ways of eating less, yet finishing things quickly enough so they don't go bad. It's kind of a balancing act. I've just realized since I turned all my meals into the same amount of calories, I can try and continue with leftovers during my 'snacks'. I need to think differently about meals now. (It's taking me a while to iron everything out.) This way I get through things at a decent rate, and yet don't go over the calories I've set for the day.

Oh, and this weekend I found out that I really did drop a size.It's kind of my guide to see how I'm doing. If just going by number, I went down 8. (From my heaviest size.) But, with the way they size things, 4 sizes. That's a lot.I didn't think I'd get down to this, at least not as quickly. I thought I imagined that my pants were becoming really baggy again. My shirts are a bit loser on me lately too. I think I'm slightly lighter than I was towards the end of high school. (At the end of high school, I was a size bigger than I am now.) I don't really feel like it yet. But, it kind of feels surreal. The only problem I'm having is my gut is going down much slower.So, I look kind of funny. I know the sit-ups are helping a lot, and it really just takes time. (And, at least it's getting better already.) Another weird thing is I have a lot of lose skin. It's starting to bounce back, but it may take a little while for it to completely do so.

Went through a good chunk of tupperware we have in the kitchen on Monday. I was amazed by how much we had in such a small area. My mom was very into keeping every piece of tupperware she got. (Plus cleaned out containers that were originally for things like whipped cream, almond roca, etc.) She also kept them for decades. I don't think we ever used some of them while I've been alive. It was just taking up a bunch of space.Plus, some of the ones we were still using didn't look very healthy anymore. I was a little weary of using them at times. But, we got some new ones to replace those. They've been great. Might want a couple more of the larger-sized ones, since I got rid of the older large-sized ones. But, those cupboards look very bare now. I know there's at least one more area in the kitchen that has a ton of tupperware, but it's a bit harder to reach for me. Some are on the top of the refrigerator, and some are in the cupboards above that. I'm not that tall.Not very many people are. So, that might take me a bit longer to go through. 

Tried to watch a new drama today. Looked into Gal Cir and Minami-kun no Koibito. Both pretty old (especially the 2nd one), but I've been curious about them for a while. Didn't like either of them. Maybe watched like 10 minutes of both. They seemed like they'd be good, but turned out not so much.I might try Switch Girl next time. If that doesn't work, I'll try to finish dramas I couldn't finish before. The site I'm using now has most of those dramas completed with all the episodes. I might have forgotten about what some of those shows were like, so it'd be interesting to get back into them like that. A lot of the ones I couldn't complete didn't have the last episode up. Some I only could watch halfway through. I really liked most of them, though. I don't think I'm interested in the new season's stuff. Sadly.

Tokyo Ravens was interesting. Harutora's realizing that Hokuto may have actually been Natsume. I'm surprised it's taken him so long to even suspect it. They both were about to talk about it, but the academy was about to be attacked. So, they didn't get to it. Kon knows it's really bugging Harutora, but he won't open up to her even if she's his familiar. I hope they resolve it soon, and then get back to the action. None of this back and forth...

Caught up with recent updates of Anagle Mole. They rescued Chiwa, but now every majin is after them. The person who's supposedly next in line to becoming king told everyone that if they kill them, they'll get the equivalent of a billion dollars. He even set free a majin that had been locked up, who everyone calls a monster. Anyone he sees is viewed as an enemy, and he's extremely powerful. I wonder if the king will actually make more of an appearance soon. (He actually looks younger than the guy who claimed that he's next in line...) They've cut to him a few times, but it's usually in his room, he's very temperamental, and kills people if they get something wrong. Like the bathwater isn't warm enough, the grapes aren't peeled, etc. He's ruthless. I'm more interested in him, oddly. He probably will show up after the 'monster' is defeated. Next time, I might start a new manga, or go back to one of the ones I put aside. Some of those I thought people stopped updating. But, another group picked it up, and there are already a lot more chapters up. (If not the rest of the series at least more, or it might be still ongoing, etc.) It was like that with Toraneko Folklore. I guess I'll see. Lots of options. 

Wrote more of the 5th short story for my nightmare anthology. It's definitely creepy, but somehow intriguing. I'm usually into watching/reading stuff in the horror genre, but when it's based on a recurring nightmare it feels a bit different.

Played my clarinet. Did a jazz tune and lots of Irish tunes. Haven't done the Irish ones in a while. Wasn't too bad. 

日本語

Studied some more compounds for 発. 発音 or はつおん (hatsuon): pronunciation. 発覚 or はっかく (hakkaku): detection, coming to light. 発揮 or はっき (hakki): exhibition, demonstration, show, display, manifestation. 発狂 or はっきょう (hakkyou): madness, craziness, insanity. 発見 or はっけん (hakken): discovery, detection, finding. 発言 or はつげん (hatsugen): utterance, speech, proposal. 発光 or はっこう (hakkou): luminescence, radiation. 発行 or はっこう (hakkou): issue (publications), publishing. 発効 or はっこう (hakkou): coming into effect. 発酵 or はっこう (hakkou): fermentation. 発達 or はったつ (hattatsu): development, growth. 

3rd Day of Sukkot!

Mood:

It's the 3rd day! It's going fast. I won't be going to the potluck for it tonight, but will be there on Saturday for lunch. So, I'll get a 'taste' of it, at least. It seems like our congregation's trying to go earlier and earlier for potlucks. It's a bit weird.One of the reasons why I won't be going today.

Yesterday and today, has felt much cooler than what it's been the past week or so. In the low 60s, instead of high 70s. Quite a difference there. It was warmer than usual, but it didn't slowly cool down, so we could adjust more. It was very windy last night, too. 

I managed to get my hair perfect yesterday!Found a couple of products that were a fifth of the price of the salon stuff combined. Didn't know that they'd actually work better than the pricey stuff. Even after sleeping on it, it still looks great today. One of the things was a calming/smoothing cream. It helps with the volume of my hair, the frizz, and relaxing the curls overall. The other thing was a 'curl-activating' mousse. It's to help style it, also helps with frizz, and gives some shine. (I'm not really looking for 'shine', but it's a nice plus.) It's also alcohol free, so it doesn't feel funny once it dries. Holds far better than the mousse from the salon. I guess it's good I found some really good inexpensive products for it. The only downside with the mousse, is that it smells a bit like incense.But, that goes away after a bit, so I'll just have to bare with that. (The cream smells awesome though!)

Posted a filled in writing meme featuring 5 of my newest characters from my story, Alliance. I tried to stay 'in character' for each one. They seemed to have a couple of questions that were repeated, but just worded differently. So, it was a bit weird. But, the rest of it was interesting. Already had 3 people fave it!

The kanji for yesterday was: 通 or つう、かよ.う、とお.し、とお.す、とお.り、とお.る、－どお.し、－どお.り (Tsuu, kayo.u, too.shi, too.su, too.ri, too.ru, -doo.shi, -doo.ri). It means: avenue, commute, counter for letters, notes, documents, etc., pass through, traffic. There's actually many more meanings. So many that I filled out a page and a half just on it. I didn't know about most of these meanings the first time I went over this. So, it's good that I went over it again. Also went over a lesson from my Japanese book. Got everything correct! So, I'm still on the right track.

For dinner last night, I tried making pappardelle pasta, with canned roasted garlic pasta sauce. It's an interesting pasta. Very big, and they are shaped into 'nests' when they're in the package. They unwind as they cook. They said the pasta would inevitably stick to the pot, and to scrape it off (and stir) with a wooden spoon. It was almost impossible to get it off with a wooden spoon!Anyways, it was very good. Yet, very messy with the sauce. I love trying new pastas! It's fun!

After dinner, we went to Dad's support group. She's supposed to be the facilitator of it, but it almost seemed like another person was trying to take over. There was 17 people. Not a bad turn out to the first meeting, I think. Someone said it was also a group for me, since I have to 'deal with' (her words, not mine) a trans parent. Plus, I show other members that family can be allies as well. That someone accepts them for who they are. And, that, according to her, is very empowering to the other members. There were 2 other 'allies' there, too. One a sister, and another a wife/partner. They were thinking of calling us FAPs instead of SOFAs. I'd rather be referred to as a 'piece of furniture' than a FAP, honestly. It disturbs me.

Cartoon KAT-TUN had an ex-boxer turned sports announcer as a main guest. He was quite a character. They gave a present to Ne-Yo at the end of the episode. (Ne-Yo's an American R&B singer/songwriter, dancer, and actor.) It was custom made sneakers, made by one of the band members who's a huge fan. Ne-Yo liked them so much, he wore them to the MTV music video awards that year. He seemed like a nice guy. The band members tried out their English on him, and they weren't too bad. It's a few years later currently since this episode, and their English has improved greatly. I've heard them speak English in a couple of recent dramas, and the one who writes most of their songs, uses a lot of English now. It's like they're all fascinated by it. Which is cool. Ne-Yo gave them custom T-shirts and his new CD. The band member who's a huge fan, went crazy. He was so happy.

Fairy Tail was action packed! They realized that if they cut the chains connecting the clock to the ground, it will lose its power more quickly. 'Michelle' or Imitatia turned out to really be just a doll. When Lucy was little she called it her sister and always carried it around with her. When Imitatia was brought to life, all she wanted was to spend 'eternity' with Lucy. She found out what would happen if Lucy's absorbed by the clock, and went crazy. Brain II immediately turned her back into a doll. Lucy could see and hear everything, but couldn't move. She managed to let a few tears out though. 

In Anagle Mole, Luchiru and Kyosuke have a new party member, named Arulu. She was a childhood friend of Luchiru. She has some crazy mood swings. After testing to make sure Luchiru was telling the truth, she agreed to not turn them in. And, since Kyousuke offered, she agreed to go with them as well. She seems much more scary than the people they've fought with so far. Probably because she's a bit unstable.

Played my clarinet. Haven't done it in a while. Did a bunch of Irish tunes. When I went to the cafe today, like usual, they had a new employee. She seems pretty nice. I got some hot chocolate this time. Practiced writing out kanji, reading You Maga, transposed a tune, went over a couple of lessons from my Japanese book, practiced making sentences with the newer kanji, and did some crosswords while I was there.

deviantART fave: The things are after you I did not make this! A cool painting that an artist I watch did. I like the way the sky looks like it has a certain texture to it. 

Mindfields

Mood:

By the Prodigy. Also, was on the Matrix soundtrack. Another one of my faves from them. I think the first time I heard it was while watching the first Matrix movie. Sounded cool. It had already been out for 2 years before the film, though. 

Posted the pic of what I made last night on FB and dA. One person on dA said that they were hungry after seeing it. Had a few people like/fave it so far.I was thinking of making eggs, having the leftover rice, and the salad for tonight's dinner. (Dad went on a date tonight, so it was just me. She hates eggs.) My shoulder had a wave of pain earlier, and therefore instead of eggs I had some soup. Cream of asparagus to be exact. It was really good. Although, kind of sad at the same time.Haven't had eggs for a while. Maybe I'll have some soon.

In Cartoon KAT-TUN, they had a limbo contest. The guys had to smile continuously while doing the limbo. If they broke their smile, they had to be tickled by this weird cutout with arms protruding from it until they smiled again.If they lost at going under the stick (while still smiling), they lost the game. But, don't have to get tickled. The guys were incredibly limber. There was one who was awesome through most of it. I thought the guy who smiles all the time, normally, would win. He was the first one to break his smile.Then, they had their dart game with Miki Maya. They won, I think for the first time. She wasn't very good though. They still gave her a dart. 

In Fairy Tail, the guild has stormed the ship that carries the Infinity Clock. Mira beat Racer, and he found out he's been running his entire life, from no one but himself. The effects of the clock have already taken place. It was kind of funny seeing things like a turkey on a family's table, come back to life. Gildarts, Natsu, Byro, Laki, and Coco find out that the archbishop is being controlled by Lapointe. He's immediately attacked by everybody. 

In Anagle Mole, turns out that the healing spring Kyousuke was in awakened his powers. Powers that humans unconsciously possess, they need a trigger or some sort of chemical to 'awaken'. So, instead of just one power, which each majin has, he has many. Superhuman speed, flying, etc. They were starting to think he'd die in that spring, because it's used for healing by the majin, but they're immensely more powerful. And something that's beneficial to them, tends to kill humans. Kyousuke saves Luchiru, and starts to fight Kamomill. He was beating him to a pulp towards the end of the chapter.

Didn't have time to play my clarinet earlier, but I might do it sometime tonight. Don't know...I need to, though.

At the cafe I just got a bottle of water. I feel I haven't been drinking enough of it lately. I don't want to end up like I was a few years ago. Where I only had, basically, a sip of water everyday. Occasionally, a cup of tea. But, not much else. Made me not feel too great. My health readings weren't very good either. Drinking's very important.As soon as I started drinking more, I felt a lot better. And, my body became much more healthier. I've only noticed that I'm drinking less since Mom passed away. Not good. But, I've also been funky with eating since then, so it's understandable.Anyways, I got a refill of water while I was there. So, technically I had 2 semi-normal sized bottles of water there. Pretty good.

Practiced my kanji, read an issue of You Maga, transposed an Irish tune, did a lesson out of my Japanese book, practiced my conversation 'skills' by writing more to myself, and did a crossword puzzle while I was at the cafe. I haven't transposed a tune in so long. Felt good to do. I need to finish at least the booklet's worth. Almost there. It was very sunny out while I was studying today. Tried to close the blinds, but they were broken.So, I ended up looking like I was crying while doing it, and it was so bright. Oh well. Might have gotten a sunburn on one arm and cheek, with the side that faced the window.Met a couple more people that were a part of the mahj group. They were nice.