12th of Shevat

This is my wallpaper for February. It's Allen, the main character, from D.Gray-man. Kind of fits my mood for Valentine's Day. A lot of the month is set up around it, especially at places like grocery stores or in commercials. It promotes amatonormativity, which can hurt everyone, not just aromantic people. It's the assumption that everyone's striving for a romantic partner, it's central (most important relationship), exclusive, monogamous, and part of what makes us human. It ignores little known relationship types, like queerplatonic ones. I would really like to be in one in the future. Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week starts a week after the holiday, so that's something to look forward to. It's perfect timing. 

Tu B'Shevat is coming up Sunday night. That's our new year for the trees. One of my fave holidays. You get to eat a lot of fruit and nuts (not so much for me, since it's a trigger food), appreciate trees, and more. 

The month-long holidays for February are: National Canned Food Month, National Cherry Month, National Potato Lovers Month, Barley Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. Cherries and potatoes are a couple of my fave foods! 

I created an author Instagram account: R C MacDonald I've been basically testing the waters this week. Wasn't sure exactly how I wanted it. It's a mix of topics from my books (fantasy, horror, LGBTQ+, Judaism, cooking, etc.), a little on my personal life, and my book stuff. I might just change the 2nd sentence of my bio to: A writer's world. Not as clunky...My book stuff will be things like a stack of my books, quotes from them, book trailers, author business card, etc. 

The things I didn't create will be from Pinterest and facebook mainly. Of course, I'm crediting them. I'm finding a lot of interesting things on Pinterest for the 'fantasy' part. Beautiful art relating to 'demons' in Alliance. Of dragons, phoenixes, griffins, wraiths, cat demons, etc. Nice eye candy, but when I post them, I'll also give info on characters from the story. For instance, info on Gun with the dragon pics. Or, on Zero with the phoenix ones. That way people get to know the series more. I have plenty of stuff for my colitis, LGBTQ+ stuff, food, some for horror, lots of animals, music/clarinet, and some quotes from other people on boards on Pinterest. Quite a lot of material. 

I've decided it might be easiest to set a theme every day. This is what I think might be best: Monday for fantasy or writing in general. Tuesday for LGBTQ+ things. Wednesday for horror or chronic illness. (They seem to go together pretty well, oddly...) Thursday for cooking. Friday for Judaism. Saturday for animals or more Judaism. Sunday for music. This will change during holidays or awareness weeks. During those, I could post about them. Like, with Tu B'Shevat, I'll post on that during it. Aro stuff during the week of Aromantic Spectrum Awareness week. It might switch up when I have something to share of my books or personal life, too. People will expect certain content most of the time, which should be a draw for some. 

I was posting once a day this week, but I think I'll try posting twice a day next week. Probably one in the morning/early afternoon and one at night. Except, I'll only post once on Saturdays, after Shabbos ends. The 2nd post on Friday will be a little earlier than the rest of the week, too. I think I can have quite a lot of fun with this, and not have to do a lot for it. It'll be a view not only into my books, but my personality and identity. 

I'm posting the same stuff to my author fb page. That might have added things occasionally. Today, I liked many pages as my page. (Fave pages that I already liked on my personal one.) Wanted to see what that would be like. It might be a way for people to get more info on things, as well. Things like Judaism, LGBTQ+ people, IBD, etc. My page could become a resource with that. I couldn't like pages as a page on my phone, which was weird. 

I've been searching for quotes from Alliance, as well as settings/building descriptions. Found quite a lot for the descriptions, and more than I thought I would for quotes. Plan to fill out author interview questions on Smashwords at some point. Really want to start a vlog, too. That would help with more exposure. 

Ordered author copies of all 5 paperback versions of my books from Amazon. I thought it would be much more expensive. With shipping and handling, taxes, and printing/manufacturing costs together it's $26. For 5 books, that's nothing. Just with the printing part, they ranged around $3 to $4 each. I thought that part would be more. Very interesting. I should get it Tuesday at the earliest. They make them as soon as you buy them, so it takes a little time to put them together. I'm ok with that. I'm excited about actually being able to touch and hold them. They're like my babies. I do have a print out of the very 1st rough draft of Alliance. I don't think it was all of it. Having that is very different than an edited (without marks all over it) and finished actual book. 

My memoir, More Than Meets the Eye, is now on Smashwords. It won't be released until the 28th, but it is on preorder. It was approved for their Premium Catalog unusually quickly. I got the 1st approval in about the first few minutes. That's the auto vetter part, where they automatically check the formatting. The 2nd approval is manual and takes a few days for authors who've previously submitted works, and about 2 weeks for new ones. I submitted it yesterday afternoon, and was fully approved early this morning. Probably the fastest approval for one of my books. The only thing I didn't like was they only had a Gay & Lesbian category, not an LGBTQ+ one. Not even a trans one, if they were just split up. Since I'm neither gay nor lesbian, it feels really weird to put it under that. It ignores other people in the community, too. Yet, I did see some authors using it for books relating to other parts of the community. I at least tagged it as LGBTQ. Also, tagged it as agender, asexual, and aromantic. There were very few books under the agender tag, and they were fictional. Similar with aromantic. That might make it easier for people to find. I already have the most page views for its 1st day compared to my other books. There have been 4 sample downloads, too. 

Got tired of playing Oblivion. It really got boring. I don't use that word lightly. The scenery was great, though. So, I've been trying various games on PS4 Now to find something to stick to. The most interesting one so far has been G-d of War 3: Remastered. It's based on a lot of Greek mythology, which is fun to me. Your character is Kratos, and he is seeking revenge against Zeus. The cinematography is really great. Feel like it's a movie even when it's not a cut scene. There are a lot of puzzles in it, which surprised me (especially with the type of game it is), but that adds another interesting layer. First game I played where you get trophies. That's fun. Got one for killing Poseidon. That was pretty epic. Made the seas rise. Also one for incinerating Apollo. I thought they wanted me to save him, but there wasn't a way to do so. He was imprisoned in part of Hades, near the River Styx. The bramble around him made it look like a prison cell. I managed to ride Cerberus and have him spit fire balls. I thought he would only set fire to the brambles, so I could free Apollo. No...The fire immediately engulfed him, and didn't hit the brambles much. It was pretty horrific to watch him. At least, I got his bow and arrows. I can set things on fire with that. I'm trying to defeat Hades at the moment. I don't think I've actually seen him yet. Just a statue, and his wife Persephone in a casket hanging in front of it. There are also notes written by people that were sent there, people praying to seemingly nothing, and a giant in the forge area. Apparently that giant is a friend of Kratos, but is stuck there. I don't remember his name. Interesting details. At some point, I might play Red Dead Redemption 2. It's the prequel to that franchise. My parent really likes that game, and it sounds detailed and fun.

I've decided to stop the Duolingo Scottish Gaelic course. I'm really tired of it, and there's not much content. Half of the units have been leveled out completely, the other half all have the 1st level cleared. Not bad. I'm thinking of starting either Polish or Welsh on Monday. 

I've been having some bad pain days lately. The type of pain I know that's associated with colitis. It feels like part of my intestines blew up on my left side. It's somewhat hard there. Maybe it's from inflammation? My back and other areas of my abdomen feel really sore. Hopefully, it just needs to heal for now. Going to the bathroom a lot more often again, too. It's better than having a lot of that other stuff, on top of it, before I tapered off of Lialda. Still difficult, though.

Happy New Year!

First post of 2019! Yay! It's probably going to take me a little while to get used to seeing that. Hopefully, I'll post more often this year. Did much better last year. Close to twice as many posts than the previous one. Also, hope it'll be a good year. 

Went to a couple's place for a party to ring in the new year. They've been family friends for most of my life, and we usually go to their place for Thanksgiving, New Year's, and Passover. Besides my parent and I, there was the 2 hosts, and 1 other person. That person didn't stay for very long. I know most of the guests that go to these, but didn't know her. They usually have a lot more guests, too. The last few times it's either been just us or one other person. Makes me wonder...Although, one of their dogs is not doing too well health-wise. She has something similar to diabetes and has incontinence issues. She's always thirsty. Sad. Both of those big dogs are so nice and friendly. 

We brought rosemary crackers, spreadable Finnish cheese with dill, chocolate covered raisins and cherries, BBQ potato chips, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), pickled herring, BBQ chicken pieces, raspberry Pim's, and a bottle of sparkling cider. The crackers were pretty good with the cheese. No one touched the chips. That's ok. More for us. Dolmas were gone quickly. Pickled herring is kind of a tradition for us on New Year's Eve. I think half of it was gone by the end. The chicken was good, and only a little was left. We weren't sure if there would be enough cider. They always have it available. That's usually what I have there. Turns out they had more than enough. Not only in the refrigerator, but in the garage, too. I opened ours anyways at some point, and it erupted. Luckily, I was in kitchen when it happened and it seemed like no one was watching. It must have been tossed around in the car. Went through about 2 bottles. Pretty much everyone had some, though. Oh, and my parent brought cava wine. The bottle was rainbow colored. The brand donates some of the proceeds to their local LGBTQ+ groups. They're Swedish. I remember there was a thing about it in the news that it was in response to an anti-LGBTQ+ ad by a vodka company (I think). Pretty cool. Even though I don't drink alcohol (mainly for health reasons), I tried a little. Didn't taste very good to me. Alcohol has always tasted a little weird to me, though. Could be because I'm not used to that taste. I like it in cooking, but the alcohol itself burns off that way. There was a spinach artichoke dip, small slices of bread, peanut M&M's, other types of chips, and pickled green beans as well. 

This is my wallpaper for January. It's One Piece's main logo. It has the Straw Hat's Jolly Roger in the O. A stylized version of Luffy is the i in it. It seems perfect for an anime about pirates. In the wallpaper, they also added the figureheads of both of the Straw Hat's ships. The first one, which is on the lower left, was called Going Merry. She seemed like she had a life of her own. Sadly she ended up breaking down beyond repair. There was a lot of drama between one of the members, Usopp, and Luffy about what to do with her. (Usopp even left the crew briefly.) The 'funeral' for her was one of the most emotional scenes. They sent her off to sea and lit her on fire, all the while the crew was breaking down in tears. She actually spoke and tried to console them as she burned up. It was hard not to tear up. The current one, upper right, is called Thousand Sunny. That one doesn't seem as 'alive', but it's virtually indestructible. Made from some of the toughest trees in their world. It's loaded with weapons, too. One of the members, Franky, who's a shipwright, designed and crafted it along with help from some of the best shipwrights. It's twice as big as Going Merry was. 

The month-long holidays for January are: National Candy Month, National Egg Month, National Hot Tea Month, National Meat Month, National Oatmeal Month, National Soup Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. A lot of good food ones this time. 

This year, I was able to get a Jewish calendar. For the last few years, there haven't been any left at Barnes & Noble, which is where I usually get my calendars. I thought it wasn't that big of a deal considering I can follow it online, but I do like to see the antique pics in the one I usually get. It's from the Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum. The main pic is of a tzedakah (basically charity) box that doesn't have a date. The other pic's of a velvet Torah cover from the 1800's. 

Got an elements calendar for the 'regular' one. This month's on strontium. It's a pretty pic of it. They have all sort of info on it. The atomic number, indicates where on the periodic table it is, melting/solid/etc. points, pics of what it's used for, a detailed info section, atomic emission spectrum, state of matter, etc. Fascinating stuff. I took chemistry (both high school and college level), but we didn't really go into too much detail of each element. It was mainly formulas and reactions. So, to get a more in depth look is nice. It was apparently used in bombs, but is usually not radioactive. It's occasionally used as an ingredient in luminous paints. Some of those are radioactive, but again strontium isn't what makes them that way. Strontium pills are thought to be good for your bones. It does react similar to calcium, but it's unclear if it has any affect on bone growth. 

Got a haircut last Friday. It was the longest it had ever been. My last haircut was just 8 months ago. Not much time in between. It was growing really fast. While I wanted long hair, it was getting too difficult to take care of and kept getting stuck in things. Felt like it was swallowing me and had a limited field of vision. It was so much I couldn't even put it up in bun well. It was so long, the hairstylist had to cut off some of it in order to just wash it. It was quite something to see it all on the floor at the end. It's now roughly half as long. Much more manageable, I can see more around me, it's more out of my face, people can see my face, doesn't fall into my food, don't have to hold onto it in order to eat, and so much more. Looked even better after I washed and styled it for the first time. It's still rather long, so I get somewhat of a similar feel. 

Got my DNA test results back from AncestryDNA. That's been interesting. I'm 51% Ashkenazi (Jews who came from Germany and out to eastern Europe), 29% Celtic (particularly from Scotland), 14% from England, Wales, and 'Northwestern Europe' (that's not very descriptive), 4% from France, and 2% from Sweden. I had no idea about the last 2. This means my mom was 100% Ashkenazi. There are some diseases that only they have or are more likely to have than the rest of the population. That worries me a bit. I didn't realize how concentrated that side was. At least, people can't dispute that I'm Jewish, I guess. They split that side into 2 groups: Western and Central Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe. There's some overlap with them, and I'm not sure why they split them. It was interesting to see the ethnic map.

They also have a history section where you can see where they started on the timeline, and where they immigrated. That timeline goes from 1725 to 1950. They only show the 2 Ashkenazi groups and Scottish part for it. They have dots of where they lived at the time. It's detailed enough to see the cities they were in. Some dots are huge, and that's where they're more concentrated. None of the Ash. groups have info until the 1800-1825 section, and that's with the C/E Europe one. The other group doesn't show up until the 1825-1850 one. I was surprised by where the Ash. groups were from. Sure, I knew about Germany, Romania, Belarus, and Russia; but none of the others. There were surprisingly huge dots in Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The Scottish one wasn't as surprising, but interesting. They immigrated to Australia, Canada (particularly Nova Scotia), and the US pretty early.

Apparently, my family came from/immigrated to 26 countries and a territory. Here's the list: Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, France, Sweden, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Isle of Man. I'm kind of tempted to look into learning more about these places. Like, what's the culture like for Jews in some of them, about the cultures around them, trying foods from them, maybe learning some of their languages, about the Celtic parts as well, music of these areas, and more. That's a little overwhelming. I do have some knowledge of these places, but it didn't seem as personal in the past. Plus, if I ever go on that dream trip in the future where I visit all the countries my family's from, it's going to be a much longer trip than I thought. I could break it up, though.

For an extra $10, they give you results of 18 genetic traits. I did that not too long ago. Most of it was spot on. They thought I had a cleft chin. I don't. They were correct about finger length. My ring finger is slightly longer than my pointer. The hair type one was really laughable. It said I had naturally straight hair. Nope. Very curly. Most of my family has curly/wavy hair, so I'm not sure where this came from. They were right about hair thickness, though. It said thicker-than-average. The iris pattern part was interesting. I know I used to have flecks of gold in it, but can't see it too well now. They said I have rings. Maybe I'll look at them in better light at some point. For skin pigment, they said light to medium skin tone. I have a very light skin tone. Although, parts of me are slightly yellow/olive like. Interesting. The only food sensitivity (of the traits they tested) I have is to sweets. Makes sense. Sweet food has always been really intense to me. Most of the time I can only handle so much of it. If I plan to eat a lot of it (like if I'm at potluck/buffet, and a lot is probably different to me than others), I have to eat it slowly. It's not just the first bite that's intense, it's pretty much every bite. I've actually ended up with some enlarged taste buds after eating 'too much' sweets. Despite this, I do love sweet food. I think I have other sensitivities like that, but they didn't really test for many.

I'm going to try and go on social media less. Most of the week, only checking for notifications, and posting personal stuff (food I eat or other pics to Instagram and dA, personal statuses, sharing posts from here, etc.). Then setting a time during the weekend, or if I'm at somewhere like a restaurant waiting for food, to 'catch up'. However, making sure to not do it for too long. I tried this several months ago. It worked for a little while. Felt a lot better. The problem with this is I end up feeling like I'm missing out on too many things. Things like news in general, friends' stuff, and fun things. So, we'll see how that goes.

Finished watching Persona. It was pretty good. Seemed more real. Cases took weeks at least. Although, I felt like they added a soap opera-feel with some of the drama that popped up. I hate that they left such a cliffhanger at the end. Apparently, there is another season, but it's not on Netflix. Don't know if they'll get it. At least it wasn't as bad of a cliffhanger as Anjaan (an Indian supernatural detective show) I saw on there. That was one of the worst. Although, I just looked at Netflix, and they apparently added a lot more 'new' episodes. (About 50 more. They only had about 15 before.) Yay! At least I know there's more on there. I might watch Gab-Dong next. It's a Korean detective show.

Finished all of D.Gray-man. That includes the more recent Hallow sequel. I think some of the character designs in Hallow were awful or too 'different'. I read that those designs were more faithful to the manga, but it still didn't seem right. Lenalee seemed to be the worst. Her personality changed almost completely, too. Miranda looked odd to me, although she seemed more 'normal'. (Looked like a raccoon before.) Their eyes were 'shinier', too. A bit distracting. I do like that they didn't censor the blood in this one. In the first series, the demons exploded instead of bled. It ended at a weird time. Seemed like a pretty big cliffhanger, as well. Besides that, it seemed decent. I like how many complex layers Allen Walker had. He cares about both humans and demons, despite being an exorcist. He's part demon, too. His past from a very young age was traumatic. He even had a mental breakdown when he was little, after the man who took care of him, a clown named Mana, became a demon. He killed that demon himself. (If I remember correctly.) His 'innocence' (or weapon, to simplify it) activated on its own, and he didn't want to kill him. His personality changed after that. His hair changed, too. In Hallow, he ends up trying to get more in touch with who he really is. We all thought Kanda died, but he suddenly showed up at the end like nothing. Makes me curious about continuing the story in the manga.

12th of Tevet

Saw my primary doc on Monday. She seemed like a different person this time. Not nearly as rude and ignorant. It's most likely the last time I'll see her. It was for my next batch of refills for Lamotrigine and annual physical. 

We started talking about my family history of breast cancer. My mom had it, her mom had it, and one of my mom's sisters had it. So, I'm at a huge risk. I came out to her as agender then. It threw her off big time. Eventually, she asked why I told her. I said because I'll need top surgery, and since I don't want it even masculinized or feminized, or to have nipples. Totally flat. It would dwindle my risk to pretty much nothing. (Nothing will completely eliminate it, but it's pretty dang close.) She was iffy about it. Like, somehow it wouldn't be enough, and I'd have to get mammograms still. How would they do a mammogram on someone who's flat like that? There's not enough tissue. How would it not be enough? Her compromise was referring me to a geneticist to see if I have the markers, I guess. Not sure if I actually will see one. I also felt like something weird was going on with my chest, so she did a breast exam. It felt weird enough that she was basically fondling me...Although, I know it was something that needed to be done. I couldn't look at them. If I look at them for too long, I end up having a panic attack. Hard when you're at risk, or even just doing things like taking a shower. 

She asked me if I wanted to be more masculine. I told her there's nothing there for me. Neither a slightly masculine side nor feminine. I know it's weird, but it's just how I am. Things I might like that are designated men's or women's by society, are just like nice masks or something fun. I don't feel like they affirm or fit who I am. They're just things to me. I haven't really explored much of the men's section stuff (I'm slightly too nervous right now), but just seeing some of it interests me. Oh, the only men's section thing I have are actually sunglasses. Most people can't tell, and it seems pretty neutral. They're one of the best ones I've had, too. Cheaper than the women's ones. I think it'd be fun to make outfits and such out of both the men's and women's stuff together. I like the idea of messing with other people (as long as they don't kill me...), and it'd be refreshing to see something new like that. I'll have many more options as well. 

She asked what I'd want done. When I got to hysterectomy/oophorectomy, she flailed her hands and told me to stop. She thought it was too much and that I'm 'overthinking' it. I'm too young. I know I look much younger than I am, but really? If it's because she thinks I might want babies in the future, I think I'm infertile. I've had so many life-threatening issues with those that I think it'd make it difficult or next to impossible to conceive. Not only that but it might give me a lot of dysphoria. Having colitis complicates it, too. With all this, even if I could become pregnant, the pregnancy itself and giving birth might kill me. Too many factors. I could adopt in the future. I thought about harvesting my eggs, but that's expensive (doubt it'd be covered), and I don't even know how viable they are now. Not only that but I'd still have issues when I decide I want to have baby...So, not only would taking them out be gender-related, but also overall health-related. Also, the IUD was only meant to be like a band-aid. They never meant for me to be on it for so long. It was so they could figure out what actually caused my 8-month long extremely painful 'friend'. It was the only thing that could stop it right away. No one looked into it more, though. If I have a hysterectomy/oophorectomy, I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. No getting the IUD implanted every 5-7 years, and no danger with my 'friends'. Win-win. 

I explained to her that being an agender person with gender dysphoria, anything gendered could trigger it. She proceeded to tell me that bodies are bodies, this is my body, and bodies aren't necessarily gendered. Trying to talk me out of it. True, since I am an agender person, my body is agender. However, there are things that shouldn't be there. I can't think my way out of that. I asked if she would say the same thing to a man with gynecomastia and to just accept it. She changed her tune and was a lot more respectful afterwards. While I'm not masculine, it was an example that she could relate to more. 

I got a reminder to have another colonoscopy. It's been 2 years. Interestingly, the reminder wasn't through KP (my insurance), but Digestive Health Services in Tacoma. I haven't seen anyone from there since. It was from the GI who performed the procedure last time. Anyways, I brought this up with her. She immediately made a referral to gastroenterology, despite her weirdness about it last time I saw her. 

She saw my birthmark, and acted like she had never seen it before. It's huge and on my lower back. In the past, some people have asked me if it's a tattoo, and another one asked if someone was beating me. Really weird. There's a mole on it and some strange hair has cropped up only on that birthmark. She was worried about it. I was more worried about a skin tag under one of my knees. Her nurse took pics of both, and they were supposedly sent to dermatology to see what's going on. I don't need another thing...All in all it was a weird appointment. 

I'm now enrolled in KP's Gender Health Program. They assign you a social worker first to help you navigate it. It seems like they're there for emotional support, too. They told me to wait until that social worker, Ashley, called me. They said it'd probably be in a week or 2. That was on Tuesday. She called me in the late afternoon yesterday. (Surprisingly quick!) My phone deemed the number she dialed as a scam. The number wasn't the same as the one I was given, so I didn't answer. Luckily, she left a message. The number I was given is her personal, or as she called it 'confidential', number. So, it's a bit different.

I called her back today. I didn't expect to talk to her for so long. She was incredibly nice and seems like she could really help me. She didn't say if she's had patients that were agender, but it seemed like she wanted to know about my personal experience as one. That's probably the best attitude. 

We went through a lot of what I'd need, and it was nice just to talk to someone one-on-one about this stuff. She's going to send me a bunch of resources/info via email. She'll help me with getting a new primary that's trained in gender-related health care. She said that my current primary would be harmful for me (at least mentally), after I told her about my last appointment. I need someone that mostly 'gets it'. At least, the trans part. 

She's also sending me a list of gender therapists to see. She said they could also help with other mental health stuff. I have to get 2 letters from different therapists, I think, in order to get top surgery. She said if need be, she can provide one. For bottom surgery, they'd need 1 letter. Bottom surgery for me is weird, though. Considering I think I'd only want a hysterectomy and oophorectomy, it doesn't seem like most. They could do it probably under different reasons, too. I don't know. 

She asked if I wanted hormones. Thing is, I don't know my hormone levels normally. They could be really out of whack with just considering the facial hair (I try to shave it often, so it's not that noticeable) and issues with my monthly 'friend'. I don't know what 'results' I'd want. Not sure if I need it...She said I have a lot to sort through, but we'll take it one step at a time. She'll call me every week or so. Apparently, they're thinking of turning those calls into video-based. Like, through Skype or something. So we both can see each other, and it's more personal. That would be better.

I brought up that I had called the GHP line in a status on Patients Like Me. Someone responded with: "You go girl! You're so brave, and know that you're not alone! I'm sure I'm not the only one that supports you on here!" First, I'm not a girl. In my response to her, I went through what agender means, along with telling her I'm not a girl and I don't want to be referred to by gendered language. I gave alternative examples. I also told her it might have been confusing since I mentioned that she/her or they/them are my pronouns. Haven't had a response from that yet. I might have shut her up...Second, how am I brave? It seems like a weird word to use. I wasn't even saying that I'm the only agender person out there. I wasn't asking people to directly support me, either. That's great and all, but it was just an update. Probably had the most reactions out of all my posts on there. However, I've recently been more active about it. 

I finished watching D.Gray-man. It's not the best anime I've seen, but it was good. That last arc just seemed never-ending. It's like things ended and came together a little too nicely. I'll start D.Gray-man Hallow soon. It's the sequel. The first one ended in 2008, newer one aired in 2016. A long time in between. The newer one is also only 13 episodes, while the older one is 103. Quite a difference. 

Youtube:

One Piece Crack (Cracks are collections of humorous shorts from a series. Sometimes making fun of it, adding things to scenes, short amv's, etc. It can be another window into the series. Found most of these a while back):





One Piece amv:

17th of Elul

Finished the Feelings unit for Chinese. On the only speaking section, I got my highest score ever. A 4.3. I mostly get in the high 3's. I think the highest score you can get is 4.5. I didn't think I would be that great this time. Some of the new words were rather difficult to pronounce. Although, one of them was kind of fun to say. That was: 越来越 or yuèláiyuè. Has a sort of rhythm to it. It means: more and more. Sometimes it's added to certain things like words related to feeling something, and adds a -er and -er to it. So, when it's with the word for 'sad', it turns into 'sadder and sadder'. The Feelings unit is the last one of their course. I'll try to catch up with the review stuff. There are 182 words/grammar points at the moment that it says I should review. Quite a lot. I might go over the characters, too. So, I'll be done with Chinese by tomorrow or the next day. Then, it'll be time to move on to a new language. Exciting! I wonder how many languages I can stuff into my head? I'm just too curious about learning this stuff.

Read more of the manga, Alive. Han's ability is to kill people than take over their body. She has all their knowledge and can blend in well. She can essentially become anyone this way. Interestingly, I think she only took over one woman, the rest were men. Makes me wonder if she felt more connected to them...She was finally caught and killed before she was able to escape to another body. There's another power user nicknamed the Poet. He can control and manipulate others just by touching them. He apparently has part of the 'heart' in him, and is stronger than he appears. He's terrified of men, though. He let the military observe and run experiments on him, as long as they locked him up. At first, no one understood why he wanted to be locked away. They thought it was in order for him to protect others. It seems more likely now that he wanted to hide. Everyone's after him now. He's supposedly a big key to everything. He mumbles a lot, and the military thought he was mentally unstable, but a lot of it makes sense to them now. He wasn't spouting nonsense. Yukie tells Taisuke that when they find the main 'heart' (the one Hiro is encased in at the bottom of the ocean) he should absorb it, and go into an 'eternal slumber' to seal it off. He's the perfect 'vessel', and she thinks it's the only option they have. Taisuke essentially is going to wait and see what happens. If it truly is the only way, he'll do it. It's getting even more interesting. 

Practiced my clarinet for an hour. I played a couple of advanced Mozart pieces, Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and some of the advanced solo classical pieces. I'm surprised how much I can fit into an hour. That's good, because I can make the 'rounds' through my books faster. Therefore, get to repeating pieces sooner, and improving on them more quickly. I can tell that I'm already improving quite a bit since I restarted practicing on a regular basis. Feels good. I might try to find and listen to some of the pieces at some point. To make sure I'm getting it more. Maybe at some point I'll post Youtube vids of me playing. I hate seeing myself on video, so it might just be the sound and some text. I can have people critique it and/or learn from me. That'll be cool. Although, Youtube might not be the best for critiques, considering there are a lot of trolls. I can critique myself through listening to it, too. I've recorded myself playing in the past, and played it back. I could pick up a lot of things from it. 

For cleaning, I did the usual cat stuff, my toilet, and the bathtub. I've decided to get back to cleaning for an hour. I probably did closer to 45 minutes, but that's not bad. I figured that my left shoulder is healed enough. I just hope I don't strain it again. That was the only thing keeping me from it. I decided to try something a little different for the tub. I normally use Comet and water, scrub it all with a sponge, then rinse with more water. It works, but it's tiring. I used Shower Scrubbing Bubbles this time. I don't know why, but I've felt reluctant about using Scrubbing Bubbles products. I let it sit for several minutes like it suggested. The smell was (and still is) nice, and the sound of the bubbles was interesting. They said you could wipe it off with a rag/towel or rinse it off. I rinsed it off using the shower head. It didn't completely lift off that way. I wiped the scummy parts with a paper towel, and it came off easily. Next time, I'll use a towel instead. Tomorrow, I plan to use the Scrubbing Bubbles on the shower walls, faucet/shower head (and other similar spots), and on the vinyl inner shower curtain. I had been wondering for a while about how I was going to clean that inner curtain. It's looking pretty scuzzy towards the bottom. I was surprised to read that Scrubbing Bubbles works on that, too. 

I was going to finally tackle that Dark Healer's head. Then, I blanked on his hairstyle...I'm noticing a rather boring pattern for most of my characters' hairstyles. I want to change that up, too. So, to get more ideas for it, I searched for styles. I came close to finding my 'vision' of him, before I got tired of looking. I'll look into it again tomorrow. I will get to drawing him again at some point.

Went back to watching D.Gray-Man. That was on hold for much longer than Kujira was. Probably a few years. I still remembered a lot of it. I'm roughly halfway through the old series. That one is 103 episodes long. That series originally aired in 2006 until 2008. It's rather old now. However, a new series that's a continuation of the old one originally aired in 2016. Quite a long time in between. I'll probably watch that after finishing the old series. It's much shorter, too. It's a surprisingly dark series. Especially with the last episode I watched last night. Someone commented with a pic of one of the most brutal/disturbing scenes as it was in the manga. It was even more so. Allen thought he saved Suman, but Suman's mind died while his body still lived. Ever the hopeful, Allen thought for sure that he'd find a way to revive his mind somehow. Suman was drooling and staring blankly, which added to it. As soon as Allen reached out to him, one of members of Noah (essentially the strongest demons) appeared behind him. He clapped, said goodbye, Suman, and Suman's upper body burst into butterflies. In the manga, it was an explosion of blood and guts everywhere. Maybe they had to censor it? The emotional rollercoaster with that was bad enough. Allen looked like he was going to mentally break at that moment. He finally 'saved' him, went through excrutiating pain with his arm, was pushed to his limits, saw townspeople die in the process, he kept telling Suman that he'd bring him back alive so he could see his family, and suddenly Suman 'explodes' like that. Feels like all that was wasted. He did get Suman's 'innocence' before the demons got it at least. Although, with one of the strongest ones showing up, and him clearly not able to fight anymore... He might lose that. 

I'm also close to finishing Isekai Shokudou or Restaurant to Another World. It's a comforting and peaceful series. The food looks amazing! A door to the restaurant appears once every Saturday in a fantasy world full of elves, fairies, demons, dragons, dwarves, royal humans, etc. The restaurant is from our world and is 'Western-style', yet they do have other cuisines. It's interesting to see the people from the other world show up, their stories, what food they order, and their reactions. At first I thought it opened up to many different worlds, but apparently it's just one other besides ours. They even showed a map of that world in the last episode I saw. 

Anjaan finally had a reincarnation themed episode. I thought there'd be one much sooner. Especially for an Indian supernatural show. It had a sad ending this time. It started with someone going to a police station with a bag of bones. Saying it was his and that they needed to find his killer. Turned out the person he thought he was the reincarnation of was real, and everything he said was true. They did figure out the killer, at least. I won't spoil the ending. 

I'm trying to be even more balanced with my nutrition today. For the last couple of days, I've been 'off' with a lot of it. I try to plan almost everything out the night beforehand. (Except for dinner usually, because that changes so often. I sometimes plan it when there are leftovers.) I might revise it throughout the next day. Turns out I'll be just 3g over for my carbs. Yay! I'm usually way over that. Protein will be close to 2/3 of what I should be getting daily. 90g is what's recommended. That's a lot better than usual. I managed to pack 38g of it into my lunch. I think that's the most I've had in one meal, and it was really filling. Not sure if I'll ever make it to 90g in one day, though. I'll keep trying. I'm low with my sugar for the day, which isn't good. Fiber is really low. I usually do better than that. I'll end up with just a little more than half of what's recommended for fat. That's unusually low for me. The interesting thing is that my macros section is a lot more balanced than I thought it would be. It's hard to balance all these things and shoot for 1400 (right in the middle of my range) calories for the day. Despite that, I'm making more of an effort with it. 

National Garlic Day!

Mood:

This was Sunday, but I really really love garlic!(It's kind of like on the same level as chocolate to me...) Why not keep celebrating it? The more garlic there is, the better the dish...There have been few times where I've felt there was too much of it in something. Yesterday was the start of the month of Iyar on the Jewish calendar. 

The weather has been amazing the last few days, especially yesterday.It was around 72, very sunny, a slight breeze, and the smell of flowers was in the air. The mountains looked great, too. Really amazing to walk through.

I managed to get both my 2-mile walks in yesterday. Yay!Apparently many people were out walking, too. I guess the nice weather really brings people outside. It was interesting to see. I didn't go nearly as early as I usually like for the morning one. Went out at about 10. That's ok. At least I got out there.It was already starting to heat up, and after doing 2 miles in it, it felt much warmer than it was. I was wearing my black slacks because it was laundry day. It doesn't have any pockets. It was too warm to wear my coat. So, I strapped on my purse instead. (It's nice that it crosses my shoulders, instead of being only on one side.) I need pockets for my keys and mp3 player. Since my purse is rather big, I brought my iPhone both times, too. I threw in my small pocket flashlight for the night one just in case, too. I have a lot of other stuff in it that helps me be prepared for a bunch of stuff normally. So, maybe it worked out better than usual that way.

One guy saw me during the tail-end of my first walk, and said: "I thought you'd beat me to the corner, but your purse probably slowed you down!" I wasn't sure what to make of that.Plus, I had my music blaring, and I was in 'the zone'. It kind of sounded sexist, now that I think about it...I don't think my purse slows me down all that much. (Ended up getting home about the same amount of time as usual.) I don't even remember seeing him, and he acted like he saw me before. I know he also thought I was fast. So...this was odd. Maybe he was trying to start a conversation about my purse? When I'm in the zone, I don't feel I have much time for that. 

I didn't have many people talk to me during my walk last night, just a nod and hello from most of the ones I saw. Towards the end of that walk, Dad called me. I'm glad I brought it with me.We were talking the rest of the way of my walk, and a little after. 

Her surgeon had called me at around 4:30 yesterday, once the surgery was over with. It lasted around 3 hours instead of 2. Most of that last hour was for repairing things from the last surgery. Apparently, Dad had a ring of scar tissue. It was causing her a lot of pain.I'm glad it was taken care of. He told me I wouldn't be able to talk to her for a couple of hours. He said everything went well. 

Like I mentioned before, Dad called me towards the end of my walk at around 8:15. I didn't think she'd be up to talking at all that night. She was a bit groggy and tired, which was to be expected. Her throat was sore from having the breathing tube taken out, and couldn't talk much. I'm glad she called, though. She was able to stomach some broth, too. I'm hoping the recovery goes well. 

I managed to get my 1st walk in today, too. It was a little later than yesterday's 1st walk, but at least I did it!It was slightly chillier than yesterday, which I felt a bit more because my hair was still wet from doing it just before.It felt nice once I really got into the walk, though. People were really friendly this time. I was stopped as I was going through a green belt that has a nice paved trail going through it. It feels like a mini park. Lots of trees, birds, plants, etc. around. Really nice part of the walk. The people that stopped me apparently haven't seen me in a very long time. They said the last time they really talked to me was just before I went to college. They still live near us. They saw me yesterday, and were apparently blown away by my hair. They said they had to talk to me today.They told me my hair was 'simply stunning' and 'gorgeous'. We talked a lot about what's happened in our lives since we last talked. I barely remember them. They were incredibly nice. They said they hoped to see me again when I'm on my walks. They also said I looked like I was glowing. I was starting to blush with all the compliments. I'm not used to that sort of thing.It was nice though.

Yesterday, I decided to go back to watching the anime MAR, instead of continuing the drama Teppan Shoujo Akane. That drama was kind of tiring.I got sick of her dad's friend basically sabotaging every single thing she did. I know he was trying to get her to 'grow' more in her abilities as a chef, but it was getting ridiculous. And, she was growing pretty well on her own through experimenting. She really didn't need his antics every time. The stories were getting kind of stale. Things became too predictable, and unrealistic. MAR is getting a lot more interesting. I'm liking it so far. 

I also watched Fairy Tail. Not sure if I'm liking the current story arc, but it's interesting. Minerva joined a dark guild, and paired up with an interesting partner. One who can turn people into kids. They become as weak as kids, their defense also goes down dramatically, they move like kids, etc. Erza was the first to change. She's very unsteady on the ground now, especially with it being mostly ice. She also can barely hold her sword, and that was the only thing she had the energy to equip. (Her shirt from before hides everything. It basically turned into a dress.) Natsu changed, too. Only he seems weaker than he was originally at that age. He still could use the same 'tricks' he used as a kid, though. He was barely able to keep his clothes on (by holding everything up), and he also had to get rid of his shoes since they were too big for him now. Erza met Minerva and are about to go at it. (Even though Erza can barely stand or carry her sword.) Wendy and Lucy got separated from Gray and the others. Gray's by himself now. Happy and Carla are flying over to look for more clues as to how to revive the frozen town of giants. Flare suddenly showed up to help Lucy and Wendy. Don't know why she was there, and seemed a bit too convenient...

There was a new chapter up for Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler. There wasn't much to it this time. Basically, the 'Green Witch' saved Wolfram for the time being. I'm glad that he looks like he'll pull through. They still need to get him to a hospital or at least treated by someone secretly at one. It looks like Wolfram might still be able to take care of the Green Witch once he sees someone. And, it looks like they made it out of the area, too. So, there might be a new arc soon. That'd be interesting. Maybe we'll learn more about Ciel's family. I think they said that his grandmother had something to do with the Shinigami (or Grim Reapers, or lit. 'Death Gods'). I guess we'll just have to see. 

Yesterday, I also went over and edited the 3rd short story to my nightmare anthology. Only 9 more stories to go through and edit again. It was a pretty trippy one, although most of them are... 

Played my clarinet. Did some tunes from my regular clarinet solos book (I have an advanced one, too), some Duke Ellington, and Gershwin. Started off a bit rocky, but ended up doing pretty well the rest of the time. It's been a bit of a while since I've played last. I think I really need to get to doing it every day, or at least every other day. But, again it was pretty good this time. Rosie seemed to enjoy it, too.

日本語

Studied some of the common compounds for the kanji: 共. 共演 or きょうえん (kyouen): appearing together, co-starring. 共学 or きょうがく (kyougaku): coeducation, coed. 共感 or きょうかん (kyoukan): sympathy, empathy, response. 共産 or きょうさん (kyousan): communism. 共存 or きょうぞん (kyouzon): coexistence. 共著 or きょうちょ (kyoucho): collaboration, co-authorship. 共通 or きょうつう (kyoutsuu): common(ness), community; to be common, be shared; (suf) -wide. 共通語 or きょうつうご (kyoutsuugo): common term; common language, standard language. 共謀 or きょうぼう (kyoubou): conspiracy, collusion, complicity, being in cahoots. 共鳴 or きょうめい (kyoumei): resonance, sympathetic (sound), (being in) sympathy. 共用 or きょうよう (kyouyou): common use, communal use, sharing. I'll be going over more common compounds for 共 next time.

I know I mentioned last time that I'd go over more of the chapter tests on JapaneseClass' site next time, but I felt I needed more of a refresher beforehand. So, I went through the practice questions instead. They threw a bunch of new kanji/vocab at me this time. I tripped up on some, but I've never seen most of them before.I'm always surprised when I get those correct right off the bat. Especially with kanji pronunciations. I can somewhat figure out the meaning behind a vocab question with looking at each 'radical' or smaller kanji parts that make up one kanji. Like 語 for example. There are essentially 3 parts in this one. 言, 五, and 口. 言 basically means to talk, 五 is the number 5, and 口 is a mouth or opening. 語 means language or word. (日本語 is lit. 'Japanese (or Japan) language'. They usually put 語 at the end of a word for a language.) So, 言 (I've noticed most kanji who have this 'part' have something to do with talking) and 口 definitely have something to do with the meaning. But, it's not always that simple.With the kanji pronunciations, it's a bit harder to 'guess'. Although, if it's a compound with one kanji you know, it's a bit easier. They seemed to be testing me a bit more aggressively than usual this way, which is a good thing. Keeps me on my toes.

Finished translating another sentence from that You Maga article. This one was slightly more difficult than last time, even though it was shorter. I also read an article in Japanese on RocketNews24's site. It was about the lady in Australia that stood up for a Muslim couple. Another couple was sitting across from them on a train and was saying some pretty hateful things towards them. It was disturbing. I'm glad that someone who wasn't Muslim stood up for them. The lady who did, ended up saying: "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything." They seemed to be shocked by that. I like how she was trying to explain things in a somewhat calm manner. Trying to educate rather than being violent.

I went back to watching Rurouni Kenshin and D.Gray-man for Sundays. Decided that Arslan wasn't for me, and none of the new Jdramas that I want to see are out yet. Next Saturday, I'll watch the finale of Ouroboros. It's been a great show.I hope it doesn't end badly, although there have already been some crazy developments to the story. Ikuo and Tatsuya have split apart. Tatsuya thinks Ikuo is too close to the truth, it might break him, and he might not end up on his side. Ikuo's beyond pissed about the whole thing. They finally found some major clues as to what really happened, and who was behind it all. They both had made a promise that they'd bring that person down together. In the next episode's preview, Ikuo apparently meets the guy behind it all, and goes crazy. Apparently, the orphanage they both grew up in was basically to gather a bunch of very healthy kids in order to harvest their organs. Whenever they thought a kid was 'ready', they used the excuse that someone finally wants them to be apart of their family or that they needed to go to another orphanage, then they'd take them away. The kids that stayed behind and survived never heard from them again. The guy behind it all might actually be Ikuo's biological father. Also, their teacher, who they cared about so much, might be his biological mother. Might be why Tatsuya doesn't want him to find out. Should be interesting to see what happens next. 

Finally got around to looking for some new music on Sunday. Only found one this time. A couple of weeks ago I found 2. I don't think I found anything 'new' for a few months before that. All 3 are cool, though. Also, finally made a playlist of my top fave songs currently. Ended up being about 72 out of around 350 songs. That's kind of funny.But, these 72 songs are the only ones I seem to never want to skip through. I put the playlist to my mp3 player as well, so I could listen to it during my walks. Probably if I end up occasionally listening to the rest of the songs, they'll seem fresher. 

Oatmeal Cookie Day!

Mood:

This was actually yesterday, but I love oatmeal cookies! They're great with chocolate chips, raisins, or just plain. I've had cowboy cookies which have a lot more stuff packed in. They're good too. But, sometimes the basic ones are the best.

Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day. It's more of a cultural day for me. I played some Irish tunes on my clarinet. Then, made corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes for dinner. Got some soda bread to accompany it. I boiled the corned beef and vegetables for 4 hours. The smell was awesome!It was a big chunk of meat. Although, when I took it out, there was a huge layer of fat on the underside. Made it difficult to cut, and a bit gross to look at. (Kind of looked like a jelly by then, and it was tough.) But, there was still plenty of meat left. The whole thing might be good for at least 2 more meals. I love soda bread, and kind of wish it was sold year-round. It has kind of a unique flavor, and not everyone likes it.

I've been sick for a week.It didn't get bad until around Friday. Before that I just had a really scratchy throat and my sinuses were on fire. It progressed to a very runny nose, scratchy throat at times, coughing (one night I couldn't stop the coughing fits, even with cough drops), being lightheaded, nauseous at times, achy all over my body (like I had been run over by a truck), sleepy, etc. (I still can't seem to breathe very well, and occasionally cough.) It was so bad on Sunday, I decided not to go to the Purim party I was hoping to go to.It sounded like it would have been really fun, too. I didn't even dress up in a costume or something 'festive' at home. Just wore my pajamas. 

The next day, I decided to wear what I would've worn for Purim. Just to make myself feel better. I wore tights for the first time in a very long time. (I don't even remember the last time I wore them.Maybe in my early teens?) These were black, and looked nice and sleek. Felt great. Kind of silky smooth.I had forgotten how they felt. I thought for a long time that I was too 'big' for them. Well, I have lost a lot of weight, but I probably could have still worn them. My legs are very muscular (which I love), so no matter how much I'll lose, they will still probably be somewhat 'balky'. I also wore my old black skirt with the white trim, my new-ish gold thread/taupe colored sweater, a necklace that has my first and middle name in Hebrew (the letters are in black and on wooden looking cubes with a couple of gold/brassy looking beads in between, all on a black thick string), and my gold and purple earrings. Wore my fluffy red slippers with the whole thing. So, at least I was comfortable, and looked nice.Didn't have any green on, though. Oh well...

I decided to start a support thread on Gaia. It's for KoTs/AKoTs or Kids of Trans/Adult Kids of Trans. I actually called it People Who Have Trans Parents Support Thread, since I didn't want people to be confused. Had a few trolls pop in. I tried to combat them at first, but they became nastier towards me.Eventually, one of the posters told me about a way to ban them from it. If you put someone on your ignore list, their posts disappear from your threads. They also can't see them or your posts. I tried to report some of their posts, but you can only report so many posts on a page, and even then it's iffy that a mod would take care of it. Wish you can actually ban them from the site or something. I've seen these people in various other threads. And, a lot of the time the next time I look at those threads, their posts are gone. So, they go away for everyone in that thread. I'm noticing that those same trolls are trying to make their own threads now. Probably because they can't see, and/or post in most of them. Hopefully, one of the mods will find them and do something about it. But, in the meantime, they won't bother my thread anymore. We don't need hate, especially in a support thread. 

There was one person who seemed close to being a troll, but I felt he was really just ignorant. He didn't say anything particularly hateful. Although, it was somewhat insulting. Another person tried to correct him, but he never came back to the thread. Found someone whose partner is a trans man. She said they have a 9 month old, and are planning for another baby. She was curious about my situation, since it'll be different than their children's. So, that was interesting. Another person said that her brother is trans, and couldn't imagine what it'd be like to have a parent who is. That was interesting, too. So far, no one who has a trans parent has posted. (Maybe I really am a 'unicorn'...) After I 'ignored' the trolls, the thread has become somewhat quiet. Maybe it'll become active again during the weekend. 

I got my meds last Wednesday. I feel a lot better now. I did get a response from the pharmacy, but it was I think on Friday or Saturday. They basically told me: "Well, that's what your doctor ordered." I looked at who ok'd the refill, and it's not my current doctor or even the psychiatrist I had before (she moved back to Hawaii). It was someone unknown to me.I was only given a month's worth, but it said on the label that they have ok'd me for 1 more refill. Well, I'll bring this up with my new doctor. Hopefully, I can get them to talk to her if there's a problem, and get my refills through her. I also have to get my IUD replaced. Which I'm sooo excited about...Last time I was knocked out, but I think I can at least try it this way. It keeps me from hemorrhaging every month, and regulates my 'friend'. It's been out of whack lately. I also need my annual check up. So, there's quite a lot I need to go over with her. I need to make that appointment...

Last night, I went to the support group meeting. There was a pretty good turn out. There's a new ally, which is great. So, now there's a handful of us. Had an interesting discussion. Went to Shari's afterwards. I got some scrambled eggs with cheese, and their fruit plate. The eggs were good, although the cheese wasn't melted all the way. They added oranges to their fruit plate. So, now it's slices of honeydew melon, grapes, and the oranges. It was pretty good, too. 

The new ally that was there apparently thought I was much younger than I am. While we were at Shari's, he asked my dad, "So, how old is your little one?" Then, pointed towards me. Little one?That was kind of funny. I told him how old I was, and he was surprised because I'm 3 years older than him. He said it was my voice and face. Now, mind you, I'm still trying to get over this cold, so my voice sounds a bit weird right now. I'm not sure if my face really looks that young.Almost everyone I talk to is surprised by my age. I still get some people who think I look 14.It's almost on the verge of insulting now. Some people don't take me as seriously because of how much younger I look. And, being called 'little one' seemed slightly insulting. Not entirely, but getting there. I know some people who would love to look younger, they feel like they haven't aged well, and then they say they're envious of me. I would just like to look at least closer to my age.Although, it might be because I don't smoke, don't drink alcohol, don't have very much caffeine, don't wear makeup all that often, and try to keep myself generally healthy. Oh, and someone made me feel kind of bad, but I know they were slightly upset about something. So, I shouldn't let it get to me. 

Started watching D.Gray-man on Saturday. I think I remember trying it a long time ago, but only got through 1 or 2 episodes. I think those were actually shown at our anime club in college. It was kind of like a teaser to see if anybody wanted to watch it. I was into other shows at the time, so I didn't continue it. Towards the end of the 19th century, Allen Walker officially joins the organization of exorcists, Black Order, that destroy the beings known as Akuma; mechanical weapons made by the Millennium Earl with the suffering souls of the dead. (Akuma literally means devil, evil spirit, or demon.) Allen has both a cursed eye and an anti-Akuma weapon as an arm, bearing the ancient power of 'Innocence'. Allen, along with his fellow exorcists must put a stop to the Millennium Earl's plan to destroy humanity. The manga began in 2004, and is apparently still ongoing. The anime began in 2006, and ended in 2008. It has about as many episodes as Hitman Reborn did, which is quite a lot. (103 episodes.) Not sure if it'll keep my interest for that long, but we'll see.

Started watching Watashi no Kirai na Tantei on Monday. It loosely translates to I Hate My Detective. Akemi Ninomiya is a hardcore mystery fan. Although she's only a college student, she's very wealthy and owns a building. Private detective Morio Ukai prefers tracking down lost pets and solving adultery cases for wealthy clients, rather than murder cases which usually bring in little money. Akemi rents out an apartment at a cheap price to Morio, and with a little more bribing, he's 'persuaded' into solving cases with her. It's based on a novel. The main characters are played by actors I really like, so that's a plus already. The last memorable one I saw with Hiroshi Tamaki (who plays Morio) as a main character was Nodame Cantabile. That was a while ago. He was awesome in it. Now he looks quite a bit older. A slightly different character, too, which is good. Ayame Gouriki (who plays Akemi) played one of the main characters in Mirai Nikki or Future Diary, and was in Asuko March. I think she's better in this show so far.

On Monday, I went back to reading Hiiro Ouji or Scarlet Prince. They finally had some updates for it. I think they only have a few more chapters up, but it's better than nothing. They went to Akira Okamoto's house to check out a room they might use for the class' Christmas party. He lives in a huge mansion that's been in the family for generations. While planning the party there, Kubo was asked about what sort of games should they have. He suggested a scavenger hunt, and they agreed on it. Later, Kubo had wandered off on his own. When they found him, he had apparently lost something. So everyone considered it as a warm up for the actual scavenger hunt, and searched for it. They searched all over. The one place that hadn't been looked at was the hallway to Okamoto's older brother's room. He likes to keep the hallway dark, made his own coffin bed, and is into watching vampire-themed anime and reading vampire-themed manga. Sounds a lot more like what Mana imagines vampires to be. (Besides the watching anime and manga part. Apparently, Okamoto's entire family is into stuff like that.) A lot different than Okamoto. Still don't know if his brother gets blood donations from hospitals like he does, instead of attacking people. Mana decides to go down that hallway, and bumps into Okamoto's older brother. Should be interesting to see what he's like. 

Wrote some more of the 7th short story to my nightmare anthology. This one should be interesting, since it was an incredibly long dream, and it's a more recent one. It's also one of the trippiest.Played some Irish tunes on Monday. Very fitting for the holiday...Was pretty good this time. Also, finished up the writing meme, and posted it on dA. Here it is: Random OC Meme of Randomness Someone's faved it, and there's a lot of views. A lot people when it comes to literature on there tend to read it, and move on. They don't seem to fave lit. too often. Many writers have brought this up on dA's facebook page. And, they don't stick around much to read stuff that isn't meme related. Writer's have given ideas about how to make lit. more exciting on the site, and many times dA has said they'll look into it.Well, I'm only posting writing memes in terms of lit. now.

Practiced/quizzed myself on kanji/vocab on JapaneseClass' site. I've made it to the day's top 20 a few times in the last few days.Also, got a friend request. Maybe we can study together, challenge each other, etc. That would be cool. I seem to be getting even better on there. Started typing out the next paragraph for me to translate from an article in You Maga. This one has to do with middle ear inflammation. Oh joy!Sounds fun. But, it is interesting to read about some of this stuff. 

Oh, I finally talked with one of our neighbors that recently moved in next door. We went to the same elementary school up through high school. So, it's a bit interesting. I think her husband went to the same high school too, but I don't really remember him.Her husband had asked me about the property lines, I had asked Dad about it that night, and then decided to tell them about where it was the next day. She said it was great to know about it so quickly. They're going to put a fence up, so their dog can run around. They didn't want to accidentally do something that was really on our property. They sawed a lot of trees down in their backyard on Monday. So, it was very noisy and looked kind of messy. Apparently they have an outdoor cat that likes to travel around the neighborhood. It's already been in a fight. He looks unique because of his curved tail. He's also 15 pounds. So, he's huge.Not fat, just really long and proportions are bigger than usual. He scared Rosie the last few times I saw him in our backyard. Rosie is the usual size for a cat, maybe slightly pudgy looking. (Although, that's misleading because she's incredibly muscular.) Weighs around 10 pounds. Our neighbors also have 2 kids, who seemed to want to join in on the conversation. They were cute, but I could tell that they were a handful.So, it was a very nice chat. She said that she's usually home and if I need anything, she'd help. Cool. I'm still debating whether I should friend her on Facebook, and maybe she's doing the same thing because I haven't had a friend request from her...Kind of funny in a way.