17th of Sivan

This my wallpaper for June. It's Asta and Yuno from Black Clover. Haven't found many good Black Clover wallpapers yet. This seems to be from one of the openings. I didn't expect it to go for so long when I started watching the series. It's now up to 88 episodes...Haven't mentioned it much on here. These are the main characters. They're like brothers. As babies, they were dropped off in a basket together at the front door of a church's orphanage. No one knows where they came from or who the people who left them were. Asta doesn't have magic, but uses anti-magic that nullifies all magic. He's extremely strong physically, since he trained to compensate for lacking magic. He can sense others in many ways using 'ki'. Just a way to naturally heighten his senses/observation skills. Yuno's overflowing with magic. They're like total opposites in personality, too. Asta does get his own grimoire (magic book of spells that chooses its owner), which is full of anti-magic abilities plus 2 huge swords only he seems to be able to wield. He can turn partially into a demon, too. The book is in the unlucky/demon category. Yuno has the lucky one. He has a wind fairy or guardian, which is very rare in their world. Asta gets into the Black Bulls guild, which is considered the weakest one at the beginning and full of wild card members. Yuno is in the most powerful one called the Golden Dawn. Most of who are royalty. Asta and Yuno are often made fun of because of being 'peasants'. It's interesting how class plays into it. 

The month-long holidays for June are: National Candy Month, National Dairy Month, National Iced Tea Month, National Mango Month, Pride Month, National Camping Month, National Rose Month, National Zoo and Aquarium Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. 

For the elements calendar, it's lithium this month. It's used in batteries, as a mood stabilizer, cars, pacemakers, and more. They have a main pic of the metal. Other pics are of lithium carbonate pills, lithium grease, and 2 different types of lithium batteries. 

It's been a while. Much longer than I wanted it to be between posts. (Hopefully I'll get to posting more often again.) Lots of things have happened this month. 

Went to our local Pride picnic. Same place as last year, which was a camping/retreat center. It was a nice sunny day. A little odd that they didn't have hot dogs and hamburgers this time. Instead, it was sloppy Joe's and grilled chicken. Don't know what they had for the vegetarian alternative. I had the chicken, and there were quite a lot of other good things. Got to talk with some people I know. At one point, I needed to get out of the sun and went back into the main cabin. (That's where the food, drinks, and bathrooms were.) Hardly anybody was in there. I was having some sort of reaction to the sun, so I just grabbed some water and sat by myself. After that passed, I walked around outside on my own. Got some nice pics. Earlier, I went through the labyrinth with my parent. First time going through theirs. I kind of cheated at the very end. I was right next to the exit, but it seemed to want me to do another lap around it. Too much twisting around for me by then, so I just stepped over the line. There were painted rocks along the way there and actually on the sides of the path of it. There were a lot in the center along with other weird things. Thought it was really cool that they put the trans and ace flags next to the entrance sign. It was one of the first things you see. I'm both trans and ace. Yay! I like how the ace flag seems to be represented more every year. Makes my heart happy. I wonder what other people thought of it? They also had the huge rainbow flag over part of that main cabin building. It's very impressive. The only downside was, at one point, it was pushed to the side which revealed a humongous cross. I think that made a lot of people feel at least uncomfortable. Some left pretty quickly after that. Made me feel uneasy when I noticed it. Also, pushing our flag to the side when it wasn't the end seems kind of disrespectful. 

I got a new bathroom doorknob. The old one was as old as the house. (I think it's 35-40 years old?) It completely fell apart recently. It's always had issues. The only time it fully locked was when part of it was still in the door (after starting to falling apart), and the wind closed it. Apparently, locking it at the same time. I panicked at that moment, but luckily my parent was able to 'break in' and take it fully out. Looked pretty gross on the inside. It was odd seeing a hole in the door for a little while. I put sticky notes over it to have some privacy. The new one is nice and shiny. Works really well. My parent put it up. There's a slot on the other side of the door, so if there's an emergency and I can't unlock it for some reason, someone could use something like a coin to do it. Nice safety mechanism. Even if I never need it. 

Got new sneakers, slippers, pajamas, socks, and an eye mask from Amazon. The old sneakers had bit the dust. They lasted about 2 years, which isn't bad. I got a very similar design this time. It's supposed to be sturdier and the next 'generation' of it. Both the old and new ones are from Skechers. I got it in light blue (looks light teal in a certain light) for the trim and the main body is a mix of black and grey. The old ones seemed more stylish with pink and dark navy (almost black). They didn't have those colors in my size anymore. I think they only had that for the bigger sizes. I forgot how stiff they were at first. It's not the normal type of stiffness. These ones adjust themselves to your actual shape. It takes a little time to do that. With the old pair, once they adjusted, they were one of the most comfortable pairs I've had. It's getting to that point at the moment with the new ones. 

I must have had the old slippers for close to a decade. They were really beaten up and falling apart. Weren't really slippers anymore. The new ones are from Dearfoams. Same brand as the old ones. I tried to find a similar style. They still look a bit different. Same color, has a fluffy 'cuff' at the top, and memory foam like before. 

The new PJ's are from the same brand as before, and supposed to be the same design. They have a pink trim and the rest is a dark navy. (Seemed match my old sneakers...) I got it in a size too big, so I could be even comfier. It is pretty nice that way. The only other difference compared to the old is the buttons now have a simpler version of the logo. The old one had plain buttons. Not a big difference, but odd.

Now all I need are new jeans. The most recent pair had a huge hole form about a month or so ago. So, I've been wearing my even older ones since. The ones I was only wearing on laundry days. It's a size too big. Also, have noticed that it's fraying at the top. Not sure how long these will last before there are holes.

I went to Urgent Care a couple of weeks ago. I had a nasty pain on my side and fevers off and on. They thought it was a kidney infection, so they gave me antibiotics and saline to hydrate me. I had a lot of bacteria for some reason. 

Went to the ER a couple of days later, because I threw up blood the night before. The smell was awful. Worse than regular throw up. It was bright red and took up a lot of the toilet bowl. The taste was very metallic. (I don't think I've ever thrown up blood like that.) Also, threw up some bile not long after. I didn't eat anything for close to 24 hours after my last meal, for fear I'd throw up again. Turns out the antibiotics may have made me nauseous and the Celebrex made me throw up blood. I was already on Celebrex for a couple of weeks, though...Almost every antibiotic I've taken has made me sick. Thrown up a lot with them in the past, too. They saw gallstones, but apparently there weren't enough of them to worry about. They weren't blocking anything either. The gallbladder is on the other side of where I had the pain. I don't think it was that. They were worried about my liver enzymes being high. I never got the results to see by how much. It was enough that she wanted me to have my primary look into it. I was there for most of the day. At least they gave me an anti-nausea med and morphine. I stopped taking Celebrex and the antibiotic after that. Haven't thrown up since. Thank goodness. 

Had a modified barium swallow test. That was interesting. The speech pathologist made a big deal when I told her how transphobic my previous GI and that clinic were. She suddenly seemed to change her tone and asked me if I wanted to be referred to by name on file and my pronouns. She then wanted the tech there to message my primary about it even though I said she knew. Despite telling her, she occasionally referred to me as 'gal'. Yes, I didn't actually tell her I was agender, but that was weird. Things were moving too fast to correct her on it. She was a very intense person, although I was late, so she was probably exhausted.

They had me drink a few differently thickened liquids, chocolate pudding, peaches, and a cookie. All with barium mixed in, except the cookie had it slathered on half of it. I was told not to eat the plain other half...The chocolate pudding was actually pretty good. The rest had an off-taste. 

They used a fluoroscope, which takes multiple x-rays at once and basically turns them into a video. So, you can watch it in action. The monitor was set off to the side of the platform I was on. I could see some of it through the corner of my eye. My skeleton was black, and what I drank/ate showed up white. From what I could see, it was cool. I like looking inside myself in x-rays and such. It's so fascinating. Like it's another me. I might ask for the x-rays of that in the future. 

Anyways, they said that my swallow was perfect. No abnormalities. She was impressed that my teeth were so clean. Interesting, considering I haven't seen a dentist in roughly 14 years. She said it is very common for people with dysphagia to have 'good' moments where there's no sign of it. She wants to look again in a couple of months, and said maybe they'll catch it then. 

For now, she suspects I have LPR or laryngopharyngeal reflux. It's like a type of GERD, only it affects the larynx, pharynx, and other areas in the upper throat. The stomach acid travels up that far, irritating and eroding those areas. Often it forces valves to open so food/fluids fall into the windpipe, and/or the acid makes it into the nasal cavity. This can cause a lot of serious issues. If food/fluids make it into the lungs, it can cause aspiration, choking, and pneumonia. Dysphagia's one of the most common symptoms of it. It's referred to as the silent reflux, because unlike GERD, most people with LPR don't have heartburn. It also tends to have different symptoms. Making it harder to pinpoint.

She gave me a lot of info. Things on what LPR means, the swallowing process, tips on managing LPR, LPR diet, and more. It's kind of a dizzying amount of info, especially with the diet and managing it. I couldn't do the diet. I restrict my diet normally (kosher-style, trigger foods of my colitis, things I don't like, etc.), but this would have made it next to impossible to eat. No chocolate, no tomatoes, mostly no cheese (unless it's low-fat and not processed-hard to find), no cream, certain types of fruits, nothing fried, no caffeine (I tend to have a low amount in my tea, but she said that was still too much), and it goes on. I might stick to the suggestion that if a food makes me feel uncomfortable or makes the dysphagia act up; don't eat it. 

She also suggested I elevate the head of my bed with either 4"-6" blocks/books or a wedge pillow. I just got the pillow. It's taking some getting used to. It's huge! I'm wondering if it'll soften up over time? Hopefully. I've been adding my regular pillow to it at night when I can't stand the hardness. Helps cushion it more, but then my head's elevated even more and when I wake up my neck hurts. 

I'm trying to do the take a small bite then a sip of a drink thing. I tend to forget, though. It makes sense. She also told me to have Tums 30 minutes before every meal. That's a lot considering she wants me to eat up to 6 small meals. (I normally do 5.) I'd overdose. I got Tums Ultra and started taking it 30 minutes before my last meal (snack) of the day. They say the limit is 7 a day. If I followed her advice, I would have roughly 10-12 at least. I thought I'd stick with 2 a day for now to see how it affects me. I got a big bottle of it to last me. I've always just barely tolerated the taste, and it feels like I'm biting down on a piece of chalk. I'd probably have a hard time with more than 3 or 4. 

I'm also going back to being more strict with the 'diet' I normally follow. Wasn't too far off lately, though. Calorie range being 1200-1600 a day, making sure I don't eat too much at restaurants, asking for smaller portions, etc. I can eat pretty much anything this way, just as long as I take into account the calories. Calories are like what I have to 'spend' for the day. I've turned it into a game this way. I've designated the weekend, dinner at Shari's after the local trans meetings, and celebrations as treat days. I never say 'cheat' days. I'm not cheating and after following it, I should be able to treat myself. Food isn't the enemy. Calories don't matter as much those days. In the past, I did put a reasonably higher limit during those times. Maybe I should do that again. That might help me feel better overall. 

Started doing one of my 2-mile walks a day on Tuesday. It's been a long time since I made it a habit. My norm was actually 2 of those walks a day. Briefly did 3 a day at one point. That seems overkill. I'd be happy to make it to my norm again. It's been a bit easier to start that this week, because it's been cool out. Also, going with somebody, like my parent, helps a little. I normally would blare my music with earphones on, and it felt like I went into another world. I might try to get back into my sit-ups, too. In the past, I started off with 5 sit-ups twice a day. Then, added 5 to both times every week. I made it to 95 sit-ups twice a day at one point. I think that was the most I got to. After that, my colitis symptoms started acting up and it hurt too much. Maybe I can push through the pain this time. Gut might get a little smaller.

I recently sent a DNA sample to 23andMe. I did AncestryDNA before, but this one's much more in depth and there's an added health part. Should be interesting to see what they say about me. They think the results will be ready by July 8th. My parent had hers done before me, which was very interesting to see. 

Still keeping up with my Dutch. Made it to the highest league in Duolingo. Apparently it's ruby. So, it goes bronze, silver, gold, sapphire, and ruby. You earn things like sapphires or rubies, depending on the course, so that would make sense. I've often ended up in the top 25 by the end of the week. Not bad. I don't see how people can earn over 1000 xp a week. They're the ones in the top 5. Just finished the Family 2 unit. A lot of words for family members are super close to their English counterparts, or at least sound like them. Things like vader sounds a lot like father. Or, moeder sounds like mother. Other words for them are opa or pa for dad, and oma or ma for mom. Nicht for niece and neef for nephew. Although, those last 2 are also used to refer to cousins. (Nicht for female cousins, and neef for male.) That's weird.

I've figured out how to add shading to my drawing in Photoshop. So, I've been messing with that lately. It's kind of fun. He looks more 3D this way. After I finish that, I'll post it to dA and Instagram. 

I've managed to edit Alliance every day this week. Wahoo! I'm already well into chapter 18. There are 20 chapters. Getting close. I might still go over some of the beginning stuff again. It won't be long until I'm done editing it, though. Certainly if I keep it up. 

Finished both the 2nd season of The Rain and 3rd season of Slasher on Netflix. For the most part, I liked both of them. Some parts of The Rain were slightly frustrating, but I think that was to add more drama. They didn't need that. Slasher actually surprised me with who the killer(s) was. (Don't want to give away too much.)

I'm almost done with the 1st season of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix. I'm really surprised by this one. It's a little trippy, but good. The actors have been great, the music fits, the cinematography is great, story has a lot of twists, and more. They say a 2nd season will be out soon.

Found a new game for my iphone called The Elder Scrolls: Blades. Done by the same people who did The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. One of my fave games. They're both rpg's, and a lot of Blades reminds me of Morrowind. It's not as fantastic, but for an iphone game it's pretty dang good. Both games have really beautiful worlds. Actually, I think they're supposed to be set in the same world, but Morrowind takes place much earlier in their timeline. The story of that world is really complex. Apparently, the people behind the Elder Scrolls games just had a 25th anniversary of the 1st one. A lot of time to build on it. The art is stunning and music is nice. The only downside is you have to choose if you're character is a man or woman. Same thing with Morrowind, I think. There are several races, which makes it interesting. With Morrowind there was so much to explore, even unrelated to the quests. Blades doesn't truly feel like you have that much freedom, but there's still some side things to see. They alert you when you've found a secret place. That can be fun and annoying at the same time. I think it's interesting that you have your own town, and have to rebuild it after it was destroyed at the beginning. You get to customize it that way. I've read briefly that you can customize jewelry, too. 

National Strawberry Day!

Strawberries have always been soothing to me. Nice that there's a day for them. It's an interesting fruit. The seeds can be an issue for me, but they're not bad if they're cooked in something like pie or cake. 

Finished watching Goodnight DJ on Netflix. Again, it's a Malaysian show in Mandarin. Very much like the Twilight Zone centered on radio DJ's or radio in general. The 2nd season clearly had a bigger budget and instead of a different story every episode, they were 2-episode stories. The episodes were twice as long, too. Very few characters had recurring roles, and some actors played different characters in different stories. Very interesting the way they went about it. I liked it a lot. The campiness in some of the stories might not be for everyone, but I thought they pulled it off. It ended on a positive note. Many of the stories had tragic endings, so this was nice. Each one also had some sort of moral to it. 

I might go back to watching Mind Game next. I stopped a few episodes in a while back. Added another list on the right-hand side of this blog. It's most of the shows I've finished on Netflix. Thought it would be good to keep track of, at least for myself. Some of them I found in the Watch Again section, because I couldn't remember all of them myself. I tend to watch a lot of horror, supernatural, and detective shows on there...A majority of them are from around the world, which is what I wanted. I've started a lot more of them that I'll get back to soon. Plus, there are some new ones on my list. I'm trying to watch one show at a time now, and usually one episode each night. (If they're really short, 2 a night. If long, half of one each time.) Been blazing through a lot of them this way. 

Up to the last level of the Basics 1 unit of Duolingo's Korean course. I'll probably finish that unit next time. Scanned that full body drawing of Shadow, and edited it in Photoshop. Still need to edit more of it, but I'm close to finishing that. Then, I'll decide how I want to color it. Edited more of Alliance. Managed to get through a couple more pages than usual today.

Started reading Neko de Gomen (Excuse Me For Being a Cat). It's an old manga that ran from 1989 to 1990. The style reminds me of Rumiko Takahashi's. She's a legendary mangaka (manga creator) who did Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Mermaid Forest, and many other famous works. I thought she did this one at first, but it's by Akane Nagano. Maybe it's because it was put out a couple of years after Ranma 1/2 started? It was very popular at the time. Anyways, this one is similar to the Fly. They even referenced it in the first chapter. Yayoi's father put his daughter in what was supposed to teleport her to another container. A cat walked in just as he flipped the switch. She ended up merging with the cat. So, now she has cat-like tendencies and whenever she gets excited, her cat ears and tail appear. It's funnier than I thought it would be. Her father teaches physics at her school, and his nemesis is a chemistry teacher who wants to take over the world. He came up with something that turns plants into animals. He poured it on a venus flytrap and it went out of control. It reproduced and was evolving enough to do things like ice skating and hanging out at cafes. Yayoi, with the help of all the cats in town, defeated them. It seems outlandish, but those can be fun. 

In Black Clover, they announced how many stars and rank that each squad earned, as well as who earned the most individually. Stars are given after a job is completed. Some jobs are worth more stars than others. The Black Bulls ended up 2nd. They usually have negative stars. This pissed off a lot of the other squads, especially the ones with the most royalty. Yuno had earned the most stars, but Asta was 2nd. They were ridiculed at first, since they're not royalty and both are orphans. After demonstrating their power, that changed. The king showed up for the first time. Quickly illustrating that in their world the king is a figurehead, and the real leader is the wizard king. Sad in a way, but good that the regular king doesn't do much. He's haughty and has an ego. Asta and the others were forced into training by a new captain of a different squad. They have to run and climb through a field with lava and volcanoes exploding around them. One of the volcanoes has an onsen (hot spring) at the top, which is their goal. Looks like it might be impossible to get there for Asta, considering most people can only get to the top if they have magic. He doesn't have it, however he has anti-magic power. Maybe he'll use that or call on that demon inside him.

In One Piece, everyone was finally reunited again. Luffy can barely move and was half asleep most of the time. The Sun pirates showed up to help the Straw Hats and say farewell to Jinbei. Jinbei has joined the Straw Hats. Germa 66 also showed up and were a huge help to them despite the leader, Sanji's father, trying to say how much of a failure Sanji is as they passed his ship. Luffy thought he was saying good things and just nodded, but wondered why he'd do that. In a way, I agree with Luffy, they were good attributes. Not a soldier, cares about others, loves to cook, kind-hearted, etc. Big Mom's about to eat the cake. Should be interesting to see how that goes. Seems like this arc is finally going to end soon. 

National Pie Day!

There are so many different kinds of pies out there! Interesting there's a day for them. I love cherry, s'mores, lemon meringue, Dutch apple, pecan, chess, mincemeat, banana, cream-based, and more. It's also National Handwriting Day. My handwriting is weird. It's tiny, slanted, and the g/y/p have long tails. It's so tiny that I have a hard time writing big enough for posters, signs, or even name tags. They usually end up being either too small to read, or even weirder looking. 

Got up late and felt sicker than I have been for the last couple of days. Hard to get motivated to do stuff when starting late, and you feel like that. However, I got most of what I wanted to get done anyways. Yay!

Ordered both my Lamotrigine and Lialda. Last time I was charged twice for the Lamotrigine. I know it gets weird when my primary renews the refills. Even though I told her not to order it for me at the same time, it seems she did anyways. We'll see if they try to do that again with it. I'll keep the receipt this time, just in case. It's a headache. The funny thing is at the end of last month she gave me 99 refills to be filled by the end of this year...I only would need 12 for a year. Seems excessive. Maybe it was a statement. I also emailed Ashley about another list of gender therapists. It'd be interesting to see more options.

Finished the Spiritual unit in Duolingo's Italian course. Next one will be the last, and it's called Politics. Maybe I'll start another language next week. Gives some time to decide. I might try Yiddish or Korean. 

In Choujin Gakuen or Supernatural School, a lot more stuff was revealed. It also made me tear up when they killed off a lovable character. I won't say who, since it'll spoil it if anyone's interested. Seems like the world is doomed again. I'm getting close to the end of this one. 

Black Clover was just about a festival. Felt like a fluff episode. I guess they needed that after the stuff they went through. 

In One Piece, Luffy had a new 'gear' transformation at the end that he called Snakeman. Seems like it'll give him a big boost, and some of the manga readers commented that the fight was coming to an end soon with this. Yay! It's been too long. 

I'll watch the last episode of Gab-Dong tonight. I'll give more of a review on it tomorrow. There were a lot of surprises and twists and turns. The copycat is smarter than the original. 

I'm pretty much done with drawing Shadow's legs. They look more 'human' than what I was doing before. Played some Mozart on my clarinet. I like Mozart, but at the same time I don't. It feels like a lot of those pieces were made to troll musicians, but they sound great when played right...So weird. Edited a couple more pages of Alliance, too. 

10th of Shevat

Almost through with the Subj. Per. unit for Italian. Next one's Business. Tried to outline Shadow's other hand. It's in such a pose, it's more difficult to get down. I'll get it eventually, though. Practiced my clarinet. Played Irish tunes this time. Got as much editing of Alliance done as yesterday. Not too bad. 

Read more of Choujin Gakuen or Supernatural School. A lot of things were revealed this time. They bring up often and poke fun (lightheartedly) at Higan's family situation sometimes. It's been so stressful, he's going bald. His wife divorced him suddenly, and he lost custody of his daughter. He's a cyborg. We finally were introduced to his wife. She's the Prime Minister of Japan. She creates cyborgs, which makes me think she created him. That's kind of...twisted. She seems like a cruel person, too. My guess is she also created Yoshino. They also revealed who the Wisdom Emperor is. Someone that was played off as an extra that Adam occasionally asked for help from. He doesn't serve food, but Adam would always go to his shop and ask him for some along with advice. He'd object, but still give him food. Seemed like an odd relationship. The Wisdom Emperor is considered one of the most powerful characters in their world. More powerful than the demon king. When he was talking to someone else later, he said he owed Adam. Why would he owe him anything? Interesting.

There's a local trans meeting tonight. I decided that my 'walk' for the day will be walking from the car to group and back, then walking from the car to Shari's and back. It'd be something. Hopefully, there's a good amount of people there. I also decided recently that I'll allow myself to have whatever and however much I want when I go to Shari's after group. It'll be like a 'treat' meal, in addition to my weekend treat days. I only go there twice a month. So, it's not often. This way I won't be pressured into having just little bits of things. I'm looking forward to it. 

Black Clover just had a recap episode of what's known of the Midnight Sun. It actually was good to see all of it put together like that. There were some things I forgot. They shouldn't have spent much time on the current stuff, though. 

One Piece had another intense episode. The only thing bad about it was Luffy's fight with Katakuri seems to be really dragging on. He's technically been fighting for several months of episodes now. It's just starting to look like there's an end in sight. I get that they're essentially on equal footing and that's one reason why it feels like it's agonizingly slow. Actually, seems more real this way, and Katakuri's a unique opponent. Katakuri was pissed off that one of his sisters shot Luffy in the leg with a silent paralyzing dart (not sure if it's poisoned). Luffy couldn't react in time, his leg gave out under him, and Katakuri stabbed him with his trident through his abdomen. He wondered why Luffy didn't just dodge it in time, considering he's able to predict his moves now. Once he found out, he stabbed himself with his trident, threw his scarf and trident on the ground, and turned it into a fist fight. He felt his honor was tainted and wanted to have a fair fight with him. I like how they both used King's (I think that's the one) Haki, which made his sister and her minions pass out. Took out the interlopers. Smoothie seems to be catching up with the Straw Hats on their ship. However, I have a feeling she's going to get so big, she'll break her own ship. She can't swim, since she's a devil fruit eater. Her ability seems scary. She can squeeze (or slash with her sword) the essence out of people into a liquid, mummifying them at the same time. If she drinks it, she gets bigger and more powerful. I hope she crashes. Big Mom will soon eat the wedding cake Sanji and the other chefs made. Supposedly it's so good, people pass out just from smelling it. She goes on rampages when she has hunger pangs. She won't stop until she gets exactly what she's craving. This time it's that cake. The original was ruined by the Straw Hats and Bege's crew.  

24th of Tishri

I've kept up with my sit-ups. Up to 25 of them twice a day this week. I decided to do my push-ups a little differently last night. I usually do 'normal' ones, but I don't think I had the best form for them. It had been a while since I did them on a regular basis. Plus, my muscles are really weak now, especially in my arms. Having malabsorption issues messes with it. I still occasionally have that. Certainly not as often as I did when I first started having symptoms of colitis. My muscles were slowly weakening beforehand, too. This just made it progress faster. So, I caved and decided to start with 5 of them twice a day again, only for more than a week. Also, doing them with my knees or the 'easier' way. It used to be how they told the girls to do them in PE, which was pretty sexist. Anyways, it's probably perfect for me right now, and to work my way up to the normal ones. So far, it feels like my form is close to what it should be with the knees. Felt right. The only thing I'm finding a little difficult is going down far enough. I'm getting there. 

I'm finding a lot of bugs with Duolingo's Russian course. The recordings are awful most of the time, and there have been cracks in the sound. There are still no speaking exercises. I don't want to start with another course on a different app, and it's mainly to see how much I can remember. It's still really disappointing. It seems they didn't put much effort into it. Certainly not as much as German. Maybe it'll improve as I go further? Hope so.

Read Choujin Gakuen or Supernatural Academy. It's getting even more interesting. The greatest swordsman in the World's Strongest Committee's base apparently knows Adam. She was going to kill him until she saw his face. She's infatuated with him. She's also Tarou's mother. She decided to help his group instead of killing them. She found Yoshino, and Yoshino agreed to joining Supernatural Academy. Yoshino gave Uluru her permanent residency card. Permanent residency cards are sought after in that town. It was a big deal to give up. The leader of the group tried to make Yoshino her blindly obedient puppet. Now she's finally deciding something for herself. Hagi is 'secretly' allowing her to leave. He says he's on no one's side, yet he works for the chairman...I feel kind of bad for him, too. His wife just divorced him because of his work, and he lost custody of his child. Pretty heavy. Even Adam and his group felt bad for him. The real reason there are such harsh rules at their base is because they're preparing to go up against some sort of powerful foe. Don't know much about it yet, other than another group just broke in. They mentioned something like the "day has come". And the chairman seemed much more agitated by them breaking in than Adam and co. 

Managed to edit/read more of Alliance. Word definitely has a different 'look' now. It's going to take some getting used to. At least it's not drastically different. Just enough to tell. Went through more than I did with the old computer. It might not take me long to go through the whole thing. Then, I'll go through Alliance: Dawn. Once I'm done with both I'll reupload it to Amazon, and publish it through Smashwords as well. Might go through Sweet Endless Terror at some point, too. 

Practiced my clarinet. Haven't done it for about a week. Mostly played Mozart pieces. Wasn't too bad. I think I need to relax more when I play.

Watched more of Hinterland on Netflix. I'm close to the end of the 2nd season. There's one more season. It's good, but there's a lot of staring, some long pauses, and lots of scenic shots. It looks amazing on my computer. I can see so many details that I couldn't on my phone. 

Watched Black Clover last night. Vangeance, who's the Golden Dawn's captain, virtually destroyed the Diamond Kingdom's invading mages. Yuno who's in the Golden Dawn's squad, took care of most of the rest. It ended with the possibility that Vangeance might be the spy. Yami (captain of the Black Bulls), obviously suspecting him, asked him to take his mask off. We haven't seen him without it. It'd be kind of sad if he was the one. Not sure what Yuno would do. Plus, Vangeance is one of the strongest mages in Clover Kingdom. There were new opening and ending themes this time. The animation was interesting, but the songs were just blah. 

Watched One Piece. It seemed like they've been really stretching out Luffy and Katakuri's fight. They were even getting annoyed with the fight. It was interesting that it was a rubber man vs a mochi man. Mochi can be very sticky, and he can stretch it far. With Luffy, he can stretch and heat himself up to become 'softer' and more fluid as well as tougher. Except for the stickiness, it was pretty close to Katakuri's abilities. He had a trident, unlike Luffy who doesn't usually use weapons. So, he had more of an advantage. He also has 'awakened' his ability like Doflamingo did. He can turn anything he touches into mochi. I wonder if Luffy will awaken his? That'd be interesting. Katakuri can also 'see' a few seconds into the future, but Luffy can sense what's coming. The episode ended with Luffy being smothered by several layers of mochi, and Katakuri walking away to start what he called his ritual. He knew if they had continued to fight Luffy would somehow upgrade, and he didn't want to sit around waiting for that to happen. (Somewhat rare for 'villains' in the story.) I think Luffy acted like he suffocated to death by it. He obviously didn't, and there was a cut scene showing part of him underneath it. The next episode will be about Katakuri's ritual. Supposedly, not even his family has witnessed or been with him for it. No one knows what he does for it. Luffy's probably going to interrupt him. It'd be the perfect time. I hope they end this part soon, though. 

Youtube:

One Piece:

16th of Sivan

I've felt even more sick today than yesterday. I'm starting to wonder if I have a new trigger food. I felt weird the next day when I had a hot dog a while ago, and I had a hot dog for dinner last night. I know that beef summer sausage is a trigger, but it would suck if it was all types of sausage. I love sausage. (Of course the ones without pork.) So, if it's true, I'll have to eliminate another thing I love...It was hard enough with spicy food. Or, it could have been the unusually sour grapes we got recently. I've been eating those as part of my evening snack. (Last meal of the day.) That might be a bigger possibility. Or, maybe it's not food related. 

Either way, today I've felt really sluggish, warm (not quite fever territory), more drained than usual, sleepy (despite sleeping in), more nauseous than usual, like something is trapped in my chest, abdomen is full (not really bloated, just a very full feeling all over), and an odd achey feeling all over my abdomen as well. Maybe I'm just sick today, and it was starting yesterday. 

Since I slept in, I didn't get to a lot of things. Went through pics relating to what I've made from the cookbook. I've apparently only made Passover stuff from it. There were a couple pics I found that weren't related to the cookbook, but might look good if the others don't work out. I might use the almond and cream torte, popovers, granola, something I got at a cafe, or of my shower curtain. The torte looks somewhat blurry, but I'll see what I can do with it. It looks nice and fancy other than that. 2 of the popover pics have interesting different perspectives. The granola one I found looks good, too. The cafe one was one of my better food pics. It would look interesting on a cookbook. The curtains I thought would be a good background thing if the others don't work out. It seems to go with the 'treasure' theme to me, too. Except for the torte, everything was taken with my phone. My phone takes much better pics than the camera from before. I've also had a bit more practice with it. Next time, I'll go through these pics and see what works best for the cover. I can't tell just from looking at them, at the moment, which one's best. 

Managed to get most of the miscellaneous cleaning done. Didn't get to dusting my room. Tried to groom Rosie, but she walked away after just a couple swipes with the mitt. She later begged me for it again, but I refused. 

Watched Saiki Kusuo last night. This time they introduced another new character. He loves to talk, and does it fast. Apparently it's his shtick. The odd thing is the characters normally speak quickly, and they even mentioned that they've gotten complaints about that in the episode. However, this new character somehow talks even faster. So fast, I started to tune him out both with listening and reading the subs. I think that's the effect they wanted. He apparently is convinced that Kusuo is psychic. It's true, but he doesn't want people who aren't psychic to know. There are added layers of annoyance with that and him desparately searching for 'evidence'. Kusuo's brother actually did something nice and created a robotic cat. Their mother is allergic to cats but loves them, so he thought that would be a good solution. The only issue is it's in a different art style than the real ones are. It's a little creepy. One of the real cats was super creeped out about it and tried to be the better cat. He lost horribly. 

Black Clover had the captain, Yami, of the Black Bulls fight for the first time. He uses dark magic, and he was up against a powerful light magic user. Yami's not only powerful magic-wise, but also physically. He tried to teach Asta more of the physical stuff while he was fighting (things like relying on all your senses at once; not just hearing, sight, etc.), since Asta doesn't have magic. He wasn't sure Asta would actually get it, but he did. Apparently, Yami said he comes from the 'Land of the Rising Sun'. So he's a foreigner (in relation to where they are located in the story), and it sounded like he was referencing Japan. Not just with what he called it, but also what he used to wear and talks about things like Bushido. People seem to think of him as a wild card. He chooses the most eccentric candidates for his squad, too. People that would have been looked over. He often threatens to kill people (including fellow members of his own squad) if he doesn't like what he hears, or if they wake him up. 

For One Piece, they revealed why Sanji left. He was forced into an arranged marriage by Big Mom and his assassin father. He was given an invitation to it, Big Mom had something on him, and he couldn't refuse to go. So, he was captured. Luffy decided that they'd get him back by finding Big Mom herself. They met Cat Viper. He reminds me of Garfield, and I think he's supposed to be an homage to him. He's big, fat, orange and yellow, somewhat lazy, would prefer to play half the time, and loves lasagna. 

2nd of Sivan

Woke up at around the time I wanted to. Yay! Hadn't for the last couple of days because of the heat. It's a lot cooler today, which has been nice. 

I've been thinking about that lunch we had on Sunday with someone Dad knew and her daughter. I might be thinking more about it because of the meeting tonight. I think the daughter might have been a truscum. (Side note: I'm not calling them 'scum'. This is actually the word used for someone like this. There isn't a good alternative.) Truscums are also referred to as transmedicalists. (I could use this instead, I suppose...) They believe that in order to be trans you must have dysphoria, and must be transitioning in some way medically. There's an added layer to it, too. They use terms like 'transtrender' and 'appropriating transness' often. They try to exclude non-binary people, too. They're essentially gatekeepers. They might use similar terms and rhetoric that TERFs do. A TERF is a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Not really feminists, but they take up that banner. There was a comic posted on one of the trans pages I follow on fb that illustrate what a transmedicalist really is in much more detail. Apparently, they are mostly on Tumblr, but there's a small minority offline. 

Anyways, towards the beginning of that lunch, she said she hated the 'transtrenders' and how some people think being trans is cool. She seemed to also think some genders were 'fake'. Then, she said they don't realize that in order to be trans, you must have been bullied in school. I spoke up, saying that I didn't know what I was and tried my best to fit in with the girls. So, I wasn't bullied because of it. That seemed to stop her in her tracks for a moment. She seemed excited to talk about gender dysphoria. I thought it would be cool to talk to another enby (she's genderfluid) about it, but I wasn't ecstatic about it. Then, she went into a lot more detail than I expected, especially while we were eating. Things like wondering what it'd be like to have a penis...She kind of threw me off when she told me not to get a 'man bun'. First, it threw me off because I'm not a guy. Secondly, telling me not to is a bit odd. It's not like I said I liked that look. Plus, even if I did, she couldn't stop me from doing it. Her mom might have been enby as well from the emails she sent to my dad. However, both the mom and daughter looked really feminine. While I get the daughter is genderfluid...it was odd. Dad said the daughter had a totally different look in the past. Something was off about the whole thing. I couldn't place it at the time. It still feels like there was more to it. If she is a transmedicalist, it's even weirder for an enby to be one. I have read that some believe that genderfluid and agender people are 'real' trans people, and they're not enby. Especially if they're transitioning medically. They feel that genderfluid and agender people make sense, and the others don't. (Sounds bizarre to me...) Ok, if you don't understand something, it must automatically not be real? So, as an example, languages you don't 'get' aren't real? It's really messed up thinking. As is how TERFs think. Maybe transmedicalist are really TERFs in disguise trying to tear the trans community apart? There are gatekeepers in the ace community, too. TERFs have issues with aces and aros, as well. Apparently, they're the ones pushing the 'queer is a slur and people shouldn't reclaim it for themselves' thing, too. Like, the person's identity is offensive to them. They really have their tentacles in a lot of things. She didn't really post much on her fb page, but I thought it'd be best to block her. I don't want to associate with someone like that. 

Managed to write a little more of Alliance 3. It's been a while, and I'm glad I was able to get to it. I reworded some things for the cookbook. Also, wanted to change my 'source list' to a bibliography, but realized I don't really have enough info for most of them to make a proper one. I'm kind of a stickler to not doing a half-baked looking bibliography. So, I'll leave it as a 'source list'. At least it'll be there. I also started looking at the layout/template of some of the cookbooks I have. I don't think mine's all that different compared to the ones without pics. I'll look at a few more next time. There's one more thing I want to make sure of, too. After that, I'll start formatting it for both the ebook and print versions. I probably should come up with a title before I do that...Then, I'll look through pics I've taken of what I've made from that album, and pick one for the front cover. Unsure if I'll pick another one for the back cover of the print version, or just have a black background. 

Finished the German lesson from yesterday, as well as the math one. Got halfway through the banking one. There was only one part to the math one. It was really simple. The banking one has been a bit odd, but there's only 2 parts to it. I'm close to the next checkpoint/section on the trek, which I just realized is the last one. After finishing that, I'll go back through it all and level them out. There are 5 levels to each lesson. I'm running through it after finishing the first level at the moment. They started that leveling system when I was about halfway to where I am now. If it had started out like that, I might have leveled them out fully as I went through it. 

Managed to get some cleaning done, too. I vacuumed my bedroom's ceiling. I don't think I've done that before. I might have used the swiffer a little at the edges in the past, though. It was a real upper body workout. (Arms are still hurting.) The only spot I didn't get to was the center. I was a little weary of vacuuming it, because it's a popcorn ceiling. I thought I'd knock off all those little pieces, but I didn't. I didn't think the ceiling was cleaner until I turned out my overhead light and turned on a lamp. The cobwebs were completely gone. It seems like a cleaner and whiter color now, too. I also windexed my mirror. It's not a full length, but it is big. It's on top of my dresser, so in order to clean it well I have to get on top of my chair. I'm too short otherwise...It had been a long time since I last cleaned it. There might have been some dust on it while I used the windex. That might be why it seemed blurrier after wiping it off. It seems better now. Certainly better than before I cleaned it. Next, I'll dust the furniture/wood, desktop computer, printer, and miscellaneous other things. That might take a while, and I forgot about getting Endust. It still can be done without it. Just won't be as nice smelling and seemingly as clean. After that, I'll finally get to vacuuming my floor.

Read more of Bokke-san. I think the style reminds me of En Passant or Anagle Mole? It's weird that it seems so familiar. It's an odd style. Apparently Hino is a cat bokke or cat G-d. They refer to them as G-ds, because there isn't really a being like them and it's easier. It explains why he sprouts cat ears and paws when he transforms. These cat bokke, in the past, were known to leap over valleys, and slash mountains with their claws. That's cool. They met an ice-based bokke that explained more of what Hino is. He attacked them first, though. He found a book at the library that was all about the bokke. The pic for the cat one was naked, but facing away and hunched over. One of the weirdest poses in the book. They haven't shown Hino with a tail yet, but the one in the pic had one. 

Watched more of Mystic Whispers last night. There are only a couple more episodes left, so only one more ghost they'll help. From the preview, it seems like it's a ghost of someone that one of the main characters knew. Of course, they'll have a more personal one for last. 

Watched more of Black Clover. They ended up saving the kidnapped kids in the mountain, but the crazy scientist that wants to study Asta's body started attacking them. She's annoying. 

Also, watched more of the 2nd of Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan. There was a lot of English in this one. Not said, but written down. It surprised me. The first part with that was Kusuo's brother planned a birthday game for him. Every clue was in English. It wasn't broken up and the grammar was correct. That's a bit rare with anime. I know that his brother lives in England, but it still was surprising. His birthday present to Kusuo was fireworks that read out: Happy Birthday, Kusuo! The next part with quite a bit of English was when Kusuo's father was critiquing a mangaka's idea for another manga. Every speech bubble was in English. So weird. 

Watched another episode of One Piece, too. They showed a bit of what happened with the other crew members. They were told to go to a nearby island when they were being attacked on the water by 2 enemies. I wonder how the crew at Dressrosa will meet up with the ones on another island, if their ship is at that other island as well. Maybe the previous king will give them a temporary ship. However, the navigator, Nami, is with the group that went to the island. I guess we'll see. Kaido showed himself, too. He had a business relationship with Doflamingo aka Joker. He's apparently always trying to kill himself. Even the marines have tried to kill him numerous times. He didn't know yet about Joker's defeat. It should be interesting to see his reaction. He looks a lot more powerful.

24th of Iyar

It was another slightly warmer day than expected. It's close to 70 degrees right now. Perfect temp. Seems like it'll be cool enough for a walk after dinner. I, again, didn't get to my after dinner walk yesterday. It was too warm out. Plus, we went out late to get dessert. 

Dad got a few Xfinity internet pods. They help with spreading the connection to other parts of the house. Supposedly, my room had the weakest signal. Yay! It was pretty bad really anywhere upstairs. Whenever I wanted to watch something, I switched off the wifi on my phone, which wasn't the best solution. Now there's a pod in my room, near the kitchen, and I think in my mom's office. Even though there's one in my room, my desktop first connected with the one in the kitchen...I guess that pod is straight down from my desktop. Shorter distance that way? The connection has been much better than usual today. So, it's working. I thought the difficulty with connecting to the internet was my desktop, not that there was too weak of a signal. It would go for months at a time without being able to connect at all. Thus, why I had a difficult time blogging more often. This is an awesome improvement. Maybe I could watch things on my desktop again, too. Haven't been able to for a long time. When I publish my books, that process should go a lot faster with this. 

Wrote more of Alliance 3. Made a source list for all the ones mentioned in the cookbook. There are 53 sources. Quite a bit. Some of those are from family members and friends. According to the ones that had the dates recorded, she was collecting them from 1966 until 2001. 35 years! So long! Really like a time capsule. Even the most recent ones were a while ago. I have a feeling she stopped right around the time she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She already had a lot of recipes, but it feels like it might have had some role. A lot of them are from the early 80's. A lot from Texas. 

Started the animal lesson for German. I probably could have finished it, but lunch took a longer time than expected. I did gain enough points to be counted for the day. I might go back and finish it if I have time later. The words for animals are interesting. I could tell where some of the roots for the English words came from. The word for squirrel is very different. Much longer than most of the others I learned today. How they say owl is cute in a way. I've missed 2 so far in that lesson. One was just a really weird sentence, but I did understand it. With the other mistake, I wasn't familiar with the word yet, and they didn't let me see the meaning of it beforehand. Not too bad.

Started reading a manga called Bokke-san. This one's only 18 chapters. However, at least with the first chapter, it was about 60 pages long. Longer than most for manga. It probably comes out to medium length that way, if all of them are like that. The art reminded me of another manga or anime. I just can't place which one specifically...It's about Hinomiya or Hino for short, who ever since he saved someone as a little kid with his powers, has stopped talking completely. He became close friends with the one he saved that day, Sayu. He usually helps her with his supernatural power. (Usually to trick other people.) One day, a woman's murdered by a 'bokke', and her daughter manages to escape and runs to Sayu's place. Where Hino just so happened to be visiting. While fighting them, he transforms and realizes he's a bokke, too. He started talking again after the villains left. When he transformed, he had ears and what looked like cat or dog paws. Kind of cute. How the mom died was really gruesome. Interesting how dark the story actually is, but they throw cuteness, quirkiness, and humor in the mix. My kind of manga. 

I managed to dust my bathroom with a swiffer wand. There wasn't much this time. What I did find, I think I just didn't reach last time. I thought I'd have time to use Endust on the wood in that room, but the dusting took longer than I expected. Usually, after using the Endust, it smells amazing! A nice citrusy smell. Makes the wood shine, too. I'll just do that tomorrow. 

Finished inking Nico. Started drawing Rakesh's head. Should be interesting to see how he turns out. After I ink him, I'll post Ravel, Nico, and Rakesh to dA and Instagram. That should be soon.

The only other thing I didn't get to last night was watching Mystic Whispers on Netflix. That's ok. I watched the most current episode of Black Clover. I'm liking this one more with each episode. Asta's yelling seems to either have been lessened or I've gotten more used to it. The other characters of Black Bull are quite eccentric and interesting. All of them have something 'off' about them. I like the idea that the main character, Asta, doesn't have magic, but everyone else does. He has the ability of anti-magic. Something that can cancel any type of magic. In that world, that's a powerful thing to have. His sword is cool. He's also physically extremely strong. He feels he has to make up for not having magic, so he trains his body as much as he can. At first, he thought if he trained hard enough, he'll suddenly gain magic. His 'clover' spell book is a 5-clover, which is unheard of. Probably because it just has anti-magic 'spells'. Wouldn't that still be magic? They still haven't explained that part well. 

Watched Saiki Kusuo, and it just keeps getting better. The only issue I had was they seemed to talk faster than usual in this episode. They usually talk fast...Apparently one of the newer characters is lesbian, which is cool. She has a crush on Teruhashi who has a crush on Kusuo. Teruhashi is the most popular person at school, calls herself the most beautiful girl in the world, and always has a literal golden 'glow' around her. 

Watched an episode of One Piece last night, too. Zoro won his fight in an epic way. So, now there are only 2 executives left. Both of which Luffy and Law are fighting. However, Luffy's being stalled by Bellamy who suddenly decided to attack him. Bellamy was betrayed by Doflamingo. He also has felt that Luffy never took him seriously. So, he wants to fight him even though he's already so beat up, he'll most likely die in another fight. He's kind of pathetic at this point. He could have channeled that energy into fighting Doflamingo with Luffy and Law. Trebol is at Doflamingo's side. Another annoying one to get rid of. He ate the snot devil fruit. He's disgusting, even just to look at. Just oozing with mucus. Doflamingo ate the wire devil fruit. His is a lot cooler and deadlier.

1st Day of Sukkot

Wow! It's already Sukkot! It lit. means the Feast of Booths. It lasts for a week. We build temporary structures or huts/booths, and dwell in them during the holiday. Many people eat all their meals in them during the week. Some spend most of their time in it, including sleeping. There has to be an open side and holes big enough in the 'roof' so you can see the stars. It's a harvest holiday. It's supposed to be one of the most joyous holidays. Hospitality is usually a big thing with it, too. People invite others to enjoy it. That includes people who aren't Jewish and are 'strangers'. 

We don't have one up, and I didn't really want it. It's getting pretty cold out there. We used to put one up, and invite neighbors, friends, and members of the local congregations. Usually, we'd invite them to dinner there. My mom had bought a kit that had all the lumber specifications, instructions, braces, bolts, etc. She got the lumber correctly sized, and with the help of others put it together. We still have it, but it's not in good shape. (In fact, it might be rotting.) It's dismantled, of course. Haven't used it since a year before Mom passed away. So, about 6 years. We usually would put tree branches over the roof part. Then, we'd decorate it with pinecones, fake fruit, lilacs one year, and other harvest-themed stuff. 

It's Mental Illness Awareness Week. I never knew about this type of awareness week. It started in 1990, and NAMI or the National Alliance of Mental Illness is behind it. I tend to not talk much about my own mental illnesses. However, after people were speculating about another gunman being mentally ill, it got me fed up. I feel people need to hear more about what it's really like to live with something like this. There's far too much stigma behind it. We're a lot more likely to kill ourselves than go on a killing spree. I can't remember the studies I've seen on it, but it's pretty interesting to see the difference in percentages. 

I guess I can share what I actually have. How else will people learn about them? My main mental illness is type 2 Bipolar Disorder. Type 2 can be quite a bit different than type 1. It's often very hard to diagnose. Type 2's don't get the euphoric high for their mania. Instead, ours makes us easily irritated, quick to anger, have racing thoughts, think we can do a million things at once, and more. Our lows are much lower than type 1's. (It's interesting to see graphs comparing the highs and lows of both.) We're one of the most at risk groups for suicide. The scary part that I've realized with myself and through therapists, is that we tend to not have a reason for being suicidal. I usually hear people say they're suicidal because they're in too much physical pain (like with an incurable disease), because they feel they have no other option, want an escape, etc. Ours isn't really like that. We just have the urge. Therapists have told me that I've probably had type 2 Bipolar since I was a little kid. I started to become suicidal when I was 14, though. Started cutting for a short time around then. I stopped being suicidal almost as soon as I started taking lamotrigine. Became stable/balanced, and seemingly 'normal', as well. It's like my miracle med. Therapy helped a lot along with it.

I also have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), agoraphobia, been sexually abused, anxiety issues, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) tendencies, and probably forgetting one or two other things. 

Agoraphobia is lit. a fear of markets. It's usually referred to as a fear of crowds of people. I can get panic attacks if I'm in a big enough crowd. My pulse increases, feel like I'm constantly in the way, people are judging me, there's no escape, the walls are closing in on me, bouts of nausea, etc. It's not a pleasant experience. The odd thing is it's not as bad when I'm around certain groups of people. Like, a large group of friends, Pride events, and certain festivals. 

Having OCD tendencies is weird. Mainly weird because it's not full blown OCD. I wash my hands until their raw (and sometimes bleeding), I'll check on certain things like locks multiple times, I'll be very careful about what I post online looking at it over and over, and more. It's not always like this. Usually it's when I'm nervous about something. 

Still keeping up with writing almost every day. Up to almost 230 pages in total. (Roughly half each for the sequel and memoir.) That's a lot. For the memoir, the physical health chapter got so long, I had to split it further. IBD has its own chapter now. I didn't realize how much that would have taken up in the physical health one. I feel like I just started the sequel to Alliance. There's so much more the story has to offer. Probably why it's best to make it a longer series. 

Been practicing my clarinet almost every day still, too. I did increase the time to 45 minutes this week. It feels like it flies by now. As I'm practicing more, I'm noticing silly mistakes I've taught myself for years...Kind of embarrassing, but at least I'm noticing them. I tried to correct them yesterday and today, which made me sound a bit clumsy and shaky. I just need to practice more to perfect that. I played Irish tunes during the entire time today. Most of the mistakes I've noticed have been with those. 

Saw the first episode of the new season of Gintama. It looks like they're going back to their gag and parody roots for this one. Seems like a fluffy season, or one to give fans a break from the intenseness of the recent season/arcs. It's even called the Slip Arc. I'm happy with seeing the old-type of Gintama stuff. They say the next season will be the last. I think they're trying to prolong it as much as possible. I'm good with that. I don't want it to end.

Saw the first episode of Black Clover, and it was better than I expected. Mages are granted grimoires, which are magic books in this world, when they're 15. Everyone seems to gain magical powers at a very early age in their world. Asta is one that didn't have a trace of magic before he went to get his grimoire. He seems to yell a little too much. He was the only one that didn't get a grimoire during the ceremony. His showed up towards the end of the episode. It's apparently one of the most powerful. It has a 5-leaf clover on it, which was unheard of. Each leaf symbolizes something. The 5th is demonic, 4th luck, and the others are things like peace, love, and faith. (I think.) His rival, who's somewhat like a brother, got a 4-leaf one. Everyone thought he was the most gifted. I say somewhat like a brother because they were both left at an orphanage at the same time, and grew up together. Some parts seem very cliche, and some are unique and interesting. I'll stick around for this one. 

Started Ousama Game or King's game today. This one looks pretty good. It's a horror anime centered around a survival game. If people don't follow the rules of the game, they'll be punished to death. With just this first episode, 10 students have died. It asks the students to do certain things, and most of the time they only have 24 hours to do them. The main character is the lone survivor of another Ousama Game. He thought that since he won, he could start a new life at a new school. He was sick of it, and didn't want to do his first task. He was ready to die. It was to kiss the girl that has been trying to befriend him. I think he realized it would kill her too if they didn't kiss, and waited to the last minute. The reason why so many students started dying was an order came while they were sleeping. They were told to stay awake at all costs. This seemed really unfair. How would they know if they were asleep beforehand? They were all hanged. Then another student's punishment was to bleed to death, because he was beating up the main character. The text said it didn't order that. It turns out no one knows who or what is behind it. It reminds me vaguely of many other anime. Apparently, the manga has the prequel with the main character in the previous game. I'm slightly tempted to read that.

Recently, started reading the manga Shuuen no Shiori or Bookmark of Demise. It's based on the Vocaloid music video series of the same name. It's a horror one. Also, a survival game. This one is based on urban legends. The most semi-normal main character is A-ya. They're names all start with a letter, and common ending in Japanese. The only messed up thing about him was his obsession with rumors and the occult. Mild compared to the others. Each character's pov seemed more demented. B-ko tried to put up a facade of the perfect girl. C-ta was obsessed with protecting A-ya. He seemed like a stalker. He bugged A-ya's room, was jealous when he talked to others, thought that A-ya needed him for everything, and more serious things. D-ne was truly messed up. She 'loved' B-ko so much she wanted to be her. Just like some themes in horror movies, and some detective shows. A-ya was killed first, and he was the only one who tried to do what the letter told him to do. He didn't want to die. His was to play hide-and-seek by himself. The urban legend this is based on is super creepy. It turned out C-ta saw A-ya following the instructions of the game, and he thought A-ya was an imposter, then killed him. C-ta was soon killed by not reading his letter and talking to someone he wasn't supposed to. B-ko's was an imposter game. D-ne killed her thinking B-ko was a fake, but also wanting to become her. D-ne had a monkey paw. All her wishes were based on becoming B-ko. Her last wish was to avoid her demise. However, she became B-ko, therefore B-ko's demise would be hers instead. So, another B-ko killed her, since hers was on doppelgängers. The legend where if you see yours, you die. Apparently, there are alternate worlds with 'true' endings. I'm about to start reading the 'true' one. I wonder if their personalities will be different? Maybe it'll be with totally different characters? It's very interesting. 

Starting to feel heavier, more intense, pain lately. I'm not sure if it's something I've been eating or if it's unavoidable. I have to call the gastroenterology department soon to schedule a phone appointment with my new gastro (I'll use this with her too, even though she's not an MD). She told me to make one for the end of the month.