Daylight Savings Time Ends

Mood:


Wahoo! For getting an extra hour!Only it messed me up this morning.I was really wide awake at 7:15 according to my cell alarm. So, I told myself it was a little too early. Then at about 9, I looked at my watch (which hadn't been changed yet), and it said 10.So, in the end, I woke up a bit disoriented. Made it a bit hard. It's also National Nachos Day and Saxophone Day. Sounds like an odd mix to me. If there's a sax day, would there be a clarinet one?That would be cool. Don't get me wrong, sax's are cool too, but I don't play one.(Been curious about it, though.) Nachos are awesome! 


I was too tired from cleaning and stuff to make Shabbat dinner. So, we got frozen sweet and sour chicken, and some white rice that the market makes in their display case. I really liked this brand of sweet and sour chicken. Sauce was perfect!We also got a black forest cake. Those are always awesome! Perfect dinner.


The next day, we celebrated my birthday early in Seattle. Went to Uwajimaya, Daiso (like a Japanese dollar store), and the Cheesecake Factory. Also got a huge soft chocolate chip cookie and some grape juice on the ferry over. 


I love Uwajimaya!They have a good variety of Asian stuff, not just from Japan. (Some from other places like Europe, too. Like those awesome Russian cookies.) Didn't get to see everything I wanted to, because Mom was getting tired. Found some of that vertical blocked writing paper I've been searching for.It's a special type of paper, for writing traditional Japanese letters and such. I thought it'd be interesting to try writing my Japanese that way.


Some of the beauty products looked familiar, because of the Japanese ads I've seen. Got hair bands in that area. Not particularly Asian, but most of my bands are broken, so I needed to replace them.They're very strong. 


We needed one more tiny thing in order for us to get a discount on parking. So, Dad and I went searching in different areas. I found their candy and gift aisle and looked through it. Saw they had Shinpachi, Gintoki, and Elizabeth figurines from Gintama in a display case. But, they weren't 'small' enough in price.It was cool just to see figurines from one of my fave shows there. So, I found some chocolate milk candy. Thought I'd give them a try, and they were just right price wise.


After that, I wanted to see what Daiso was like. It was really nice. A little cramped, but nice. Most things were $1.50. It was a really packed store. Interesting hair stuff, more of a selection than Rite Aid.Dad found a mirror for her office. I got a cute journal. Has black cats prancing around the cover, and it says: "The black cat always walks the town elegantly. The other cats watch it enviously, because a black cat is very stylish...A stylish black cat." Cute.


Then, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. It was just over an hour wait. I don't think we sat down until 8. I wanted to go all out, since it was for my birthday. Ordered a virgin pina colada, Mom did too. When it came out, it looked so fancy.Very tall skinny glass, with a cherry and pineapple speared together at the top. The waiter came over and squirted whipped cream on the top. Dad got a sour martini. For an appetizer, we got chicken pot stickers. Really good!


For the entree, I tried their mac and cheese burger. Wanted to see how over-the-top it was. They fry their mac and cheese, plus they put a ton of mayo and extra cheddar cheese sauce (which had a massive amount of garlic in it). That sits on a huge thick black angus burger. They had a bunch of fixings on the side. You don't really need them. The burger was so intense tasting, yet so good at the same time. It was evil.There was like a bucket of fries that came with it. I couldn't finish the burger, and I barely touched the fries. Made for a good lunch. 


For dessert, I ordered their Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake. It was ginormous! Even with the 3 of us sharing. Really good stuff, too!Our waiter forgot that we told him that it was my b-day 3 times. Oh well. I wasn't embarrassed by them, then. Mom sang it anyways. A couple next to us heard, and asked how old I was. I told them, then the lady asked me to guess her age. I said 34, but it was 43. That was kind of creepy to get the numbers right, but not in the right order.They were very nice. By the time we got home, which was around 10:30, I was wiped and in a good food coma.


It was an awesome day! Almost forgot about presents.Not sure when they'll give them to me, but I'm pretty happy right now. Maybe I'll be even happier when they do.There's still my actual b-day on Monday. On mangabullet, they gave me a free subscription until the 15th for my b-day. It'd be cool if dA did that kind of thing, too.

National Dog Day!

Mood:


Wahoo! Dogs are awesome!So they deserve their day. Hopefully, there's a cat day, too?It's also Women's Equality Day. Cool!


I've been kind of busy since last time, and didn't have time to post yesterday.Went to the Hadassah event/meeting/potluck. As soon as we arrived, the hostess' dog came running up to me. Which, I like usually. As soon as people said let's head inside, it scratched my arm pretty good.I still have the marks. It didn't make me bleed, but it broke the skin and felt like a massive burn.It looked so apologetic, and I know it was just excited.So, it's not really intentional. But, it was a fine hello.


The potluck was good.We brought a tuna salad and some crackers to put it on. There was 2 different kinds of tortellini, a rather plain noodle and corn salad, coleslaw, pita and hummus, a regular salad, potato salad, and a couple more things for dinner. The hostess had made her own caramel corn. Oh, it was so good!I probably could have eaten the whole bowl.She also served some nasty ginger cookies for dessert.


Then, we had our business meeting. Which, should have been while we were eating.It ate into some of the event's time. It was about the Mah Jongg tournament we're putting up soon. The person who was planning it, went way too much into detail.Eventually, she asked us if it should be $36 or $40 per person. I personally, wouldn't like to raise the price. But, then again, I don't play, so what do I know?Apparently, everyone else felt the same way. So, we'll keep the price the same as last years. Sounds like we'll have a much better venue, too. It's much bigger, the place is going to cater, they'll clean up everything, too. So, we just need to worry about the game, donations, prizes, auctions, etc. 


The event was our cantor, and a kid I know accompanying her on guitar, leading us in Jewish songs. Had a lot of fun singing.Some of the songs I haven't heard in years. I wanted to stay and sing longer, but the person who was nice enough to drive us, doesn't like to drive when it gets dark. Oh, well. I realized while we were there that I should have brought my clarinet and joined in.Maybe next time. 


Oh, our president for the group was supposed to be there. A lot of people needed her that night. She didn't show up. Doesn't surprise me.Although, if something did happen, I'd worry.First, she doesn't really want the position any more. She was forced to stay in the position, because no one wanted it. Next, she's just weird sometimes, and very disorganized.Nice person, though. I know all of this pretty well, because I served on the board with her last year. (I was the secretary.) She would always skip over a lot of people's reports (not just mine). There's no structure to her meetings. Kind of grated on my nerves.I'm flexible, but we weren't (and still aren't) getting much done.One of the many reasons why I left it.


Yesterday, I went with my parents to Seattle. First, we went to a wig shop for my dad's appointment. They were making a mold on her head, so they can figure out the perfect fit. It was rather amusing to watch her get encased with plastic wrap and tape.The only thing I can't stand in that place is the Christian music in the background. If it's a public space, there shouldn't be any religious music.It wasn't too loud this time, so I could drown it out with my music easily. After that, we shopped a bit in the mall right next to it.


Then, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I've been to it in different places. Like Vancouver, BC and near New York City. I didn't have dinner there before. The menu was amazingly long! (Like 20 pages long.) So many choices. A lot of it looked so good.When I got a soda, it came out in a huge glass. I decided to try their Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. It was heaven!Garlicky and cheesy goodness. The noodles were really good too. Chicken was slightly spiced. I couldn't finish it, because of how big the portion was and how rich the taste was. That's ok, just means I'll have a really good lunch.We got the Brownie Sundae Cheesecake. Oh, it was to die for! Brownie at the base, cheesecake in the middle with chocolate chips, pretty thick layer of fudge on top of that, chocolate syrup drizzled on top, on top of that lots of whipped cream with a tiny amount of almonds, and a cherry on top. Even though my mom and I were sharing it, we still couldn't finish it. So, we have another dessert too! The service was great!


We went to the market afterwards for fruit. I looked at the extracts to see what I could put in my water to flavor it, and wouldn't be something like Crystal Lite. (Which I found out I shouldn't have.) I decided on a root beer one. Mom wanted an orange and a raspberry one. Sounds like it all will make pretty tasty water.


I found an awesome site called ViiKii It's like a global multi-media site. Only, they're mission is to tear down language barriers, so everyone can understand each other. And, learn about other countries and cultures. It's fascinating.Especially, for someone like me. Who loves languages and cultures. It has dramas, movies, music videos, variety shows, comedies, documentaries, and so much more. All from all over the world. There's some from Korea, Israel, the US, Russia, Japan, and many other countries. As a member, you can specify what languages you know and would like as subtitles. I chose English as my main, French as a second, Hebrew, and then Japanese. Which are probably my top languages. The first 2 I know the most, obviously.They're looking for subtitlers too. There aren't too many Hebrew ones, if I knew enough conversational, I'd jump on that.Maybe I'll learn more of it in the future. I can read it, say it, but I might not understand half of it. I guess it's my sort of community. Can't wait to actually use it.


I think I decided on a flavor meme for next time. It's how an oc would react to certain foods. Like savory or sour. Sounds like a lot of fun! I'm thinking of using Ravel for this one. It looks like it would be fun to torture him.Although, he wants to become a chef, so it might be a good choice, that way too.