2nd of Tammuz

Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, or the beginning of the month of Tammuz. It's a women's holiday. Also a moon based holiday, since we have a lunar calendar. All of the days/holidays start at night, and new months are supposed to correspond with the new moon. I don't think there are any big holidays in Tammuz. I could be blanking on them, though.

Got a response back from the congregation we used to be members of. The admin said they'll add a note to the weekly newsletter. Yay! They'll get a chance to see it. The other congregation hasn't responded yet. Hopefully they'll put it in their newsletter, too. Had very few responses to the AVEN thread. At least, some people have seen it on there, too. I was going to post in other forums and possibly in old online blogs/journals, but decided to give it a bit of a break. Might do that on Sunday. I don't know. 

I'm planning to go back to writing Alliance 3 on Monday. I have many more ideas, and I'm itching to continue. I have other book ideas, but I think I should finish this one before I start another. 

Finished leveling up all of the Basics 2 for German. There was a lot to that one. It was good to go over more of the basics. I was getting a bit rusty with what this one covered. I'm able to pick up more patterns than I did when I started. Plus, they've been repeating a lot with each level in each 'unit'. Apparently, most things that are plural have the feminine the or die (dee). So, the women would be: die Frau (dee Frow), the boys: die Jungen (dee Yung-en), the children: die kinder (dee kindehr), etc. It covered the words for 'are' well, too. Seid (Zyet) seems to only be used with ihr (eer) or you. (You are... would be ihr seid...) Sind (Zint) is used for everything else. Interesting. For the more advanced units I wasn't paying much attention to these things. The first Phrases unit will be next. I find those usually are fun. Maybe the other levels will be different for that one.

Read more of the manga, Hajimete no Aku or My First Devil. I don't like that they paint Jiro as naive or an idiot, because he doesn't think about romance or care. Seems arophobic. It seems to me that he might actually be aro. It's not his fault many of the girls have a romantic thing for him. It's like his family is trying to push amatonormativity on him. I also don't like the aspect that Jiro and Kyouko are both cousins. His side of the family is really pushing for them to get together. The 'slice of life' stuff has been humorous, though. I find it odd that Jiro is supposed to be evil, but he says that they have to be kind to civilians. The 'good' people in the story seem a lot more evil. 

I only got to the cat stuff and laundry for cleaning today. Hopefully I can get to more of my bathroom next week. Rosie wanted me to keep grooming her with the mitt after my arm tired out. I started to walk away and she tried to reach out to me. She has claws, but I think she forgets sometimes. She followed me for a while, too. Seemingly hoping to be groomed more. 

I finally broke through the 800th episode mark for One Piece last night. Yay! I've got 40 more to go in order to catch up to current episodes. I've gone through about 18 years worth of it in about 2 years. (Usually, there are 4 episodes a month.) I skipped the fillers, but there hasn't been many. It won't take me long to catch up. I like it a lot. There are some unique elements to it, some homages to other anime/books, and most of the characters are lovable.  The only thing I haven't liked is that the opening and recap take about 6 minutes. So, you end up with roughly 15-17 minutes per episode. I usually skip that beginning stuff. It doesn't seem long enough.

The current arc I'm on has to do with Big Mom. She's one of the pirate emperors. She loves sweets. So much she's turned her country into various islands that are sweets or snacks based. There's a chocolate one where everything is made of out of chocolate. There are even juice rivers. She lives on Whole Cake Island, and it's cake based. There seems to be a lot of Alice in Wonderland nods with the Seducing Forest right next to her castle. There's even a white rabbit, and a mirror devil fruit eater who can travel and trap people in mirrors. Her mirror dimension is trippy, too. One of Big Mom's ex-husbands looks a bit like Humpty-Dumpty from Alice in Wonderland. (He somehow reminded me of something from Monty Python, as well.) One of the enemies that's giving Luffy a hard time ate the biscuit devil fruit, and can make armored biscuit soldiers. Some of it reminds me of Disney stuff, especially when Big Mom sang a few times. Big Mom has had around 150 children with many different fathers. Maybe that's why she's always hungry? Germa, Sanji's father, has had about 66 children. Sanji's the 3rd son. San means 3. Most of Germa's children are men. The only exception, I think, has been Reiji. Rei means zero. His family abused him horribly in the past. No wonder he never brought them up. The Straw Hats' (Luffy's crew) plan was to rescue Sanji, and get a rubbing from Big Mom's poneglyph. Poneglyphs are big stone blocks that have ancient writing on it. The one she has might have partial directions to Raftel where One Piece supposedly is at or near. Robin, a member of the Straw Hats, is one of the few that can decipher them. She's not with Luffy at the moment, thus why they're trying to get a rubbing from it. She also has been deciphering them to learn about the 100-year gap that the government doesn't want people to know. That entire history has been erased except for these blocks. I think Luffy, along with the members that went with him, are actually going to have to battle Big Mom. They didn't want to fight anyone. She's one of the most powerful characters.

National Strawberry Shortcake Day!

Strawberry shortcake reminds me of summer, so it's perfect for this time of year. Also, reminds me of fair food. I don't think the big local fairs are until July and/or August. A couple of weeks ago I had a strawberry shortcake cake. It had the same elements: strawberries (in jam form), whipped cream, and cake, but put together in cake form. Normally, they're layered, and not put together like that. It was good. The best ones I had were at the fair and they used a scone for the cake layer. I think they used really thick whipped cream, too. It was amazing! 

Created a thread promoting my cookbook on AVEN's forums. (AVEN is Asexual Visibility and Education Network.) I thought it'd be best in their celebration forum. Since, I am happy about it. I think it's something to celebrate. Haven't had a reaction yet. Also, posted a status about it on there. Nothing on that yet, either. I later posted a status about it on Arocalypse. (An aro-based community. Similar to AVEN.) The forums on there aren't very active, and they have a tiny fraction of members compared to AVEN. Sometimes the statuses get a bit more attention than the actual forums. I wasn't sure which of their forums would be appropriate to create a thread for it in. They have less sections than AVEN, too.

I also sent emails to both of the local congregations. Since I copied and pasted what I wrote in Notes on my phone, the font came out bigger than usual. Not bad, but surprised me and might look weird to them. I'm not a member of either of them, but most of the members of both knew me and especially my mom. She made a huge impact with both of them. We were 'official' members of one of them for a while. She would run a Judaica shop for them, was on the board for a while, would tutor Hebrew, etc. She and I were both apart of a Rosh Chodesh group that didn't last long (but came back a few times), Hadassah (this was actually a joint group with both congregations), and I think a Kabbalah group that met a long time ago. All this in addition to going to services. Everyone knew her, and most people loved her. She was very knowledgeable about Judaism, so people sometimes went to her instead of the rabbis. I thought they'd both definitely be interested in this. A couple of the recipes are actually emails from members of those groups. So, they may see themselves in it. Plus, there's a huge Passover and Hanukkah section. In general, they might be interested in it just for that. Someone made it a point to tell me that I should email one of the congregations when I published it. (This was face to face during Thanksgiving.) Haven't gotten a response yet. We'll see what they'll do with it. 

Leveled out both Basics 1 and The for German. There are 3 types of 'the's: feminine die (dee), masculine der (dehr), and neutral das (dahs). It was good to review them. I just remembered that mädchen (mayd-chin) or girl actually uses das and not die. So, a girl is neutral and when she becomes a woman she's feminine? Woman is frau (frow), by the way. Kind (kint) or child uses das, as well. That makes more sense. Junge (yung-eh) or boy uses der along with mann (mahn) or man. Those make sense. The only one that doesn't is mädchen...Next is leveling out Basics 2. On Duolingo, I didn't realize that if you pay a certain amount of gems, you can open bonus 'units'. Idioms and proverbs, and flirting are available for those at the moment. I think they show more when you earn a certain amount of gems. I currently have the most I've had at once. I wouldn't care about the flirting one, but the other one sounds good. 

In the manga, Helck, they made it to another demon castle. They finally got a chance to relax. The demon king there imprisoned a winged human. It seems that they want Helck to talk to him soon. They finally went back to Asuta. Several chapters ago, she was caught by the humans, and that was it until now. It looks like they beat her up and handcuffed her to a wall in a prison cell. Nothing more was revealed, but it looks like the next chapter will continue with her side of it. I like Asuta. She loves to wear men's clothes, and hates wearing anything feminine. She's ok with or doesn't really care when people call her a guy or a girl. She seems pretty enby to me, and cool at that. In an 'extra' or side chapter, her sister tried to get her to wear a dress. It was like pulling teeth. With the dress she ended up with, she asked if it looked weird. When she went to the event she was invited to later, people thought she looked like both a prince and princess. In the eyes of her sister, it seems like she couldn't win. 

In addition to the cat stuff, I managed to sweep up my bathroom floor. It doesn't seem like I did it that long ago, yet there was a lot of litter. They seem to go in there a lot. Tried to sweep the big bathroom rug with a brush this time. I think I was somewhat successful with it. At some point, I probably should launder it. It smells gross. I can't smell it when it's on the floor, though. 

Something's going on with the cats. Tasha has made the spot near the door jam to my room as her new spot. She huddles up to that door jam and watches me happily when I'm in my room. She's also been hanging out in a corner of my room (near a bookcase) lately, too. This isn't normal for her. She's normally too scared and thinks my room or anywhere near it is Rosie's territory. She's terrified of Rosie. However, I think that's changing, too. She's not running away when Rosie walks in. Lately, Rosie has only lightly fought back when Tasha socked her in the face. Otherwise, she seems curious about her. They've been lying down much closer to each other than normal, too. Maybe, just maybe, they're finally accepting each other? That would be great. I think Tasha is trying to get closer to me, too. That's one thing Rosie doesn't like. She's incredibly possessive and protective of me. I'm not used to having 2 cats hanging around me this often. I like it, though. 

30th of Sivan

Last night we went Red Lobster to celebrate Dad's birthday. She got a shrimp cocktail and fried calamari. She loves shellfish, so that was good for her. I got one of my faves, maple-glazed chicken. It comes with a salad, which I had bleu cheese dressing with. It also comes with rice pilaf and a choice of another side. I chose mashed potatoes. The maple sauce also has cherries pureed in it. I could drink that stuff. So good! Since Dad doesn't eat cheese, I got all the Cheddar Bay Biscuits to myself. I only had one, and took the rest home. Had half of the entree and salad. Still was filling. We later went to a local international market for chocolate. She got a very dark orange chocolate. I got birthday chocolate. That has milk chocolate on the outside, and white chocolate on the inside with sprinkles. It was like a party in my mouth for dessert. Interesting that I was the one that chose the 'birthday' one. Although, she loves very dark chocolate, so it wouldn't have been her thing. 

There was a troll that showed up in one of the IBD groups on fb. They made a post about it being a disorder and not a disease. (IBD is Inflammatory Bowel Disease.) They wondered why it was called a disease, when (according to them) a disease is something someone 'catches'. They said when they think of that word they think of STDs. People calmly tried to explain it to him numerous times, and he either called them trolls or twisted their words. People also started listing other diseases, and he said that they should be called disorders, too. It was wild how trollish he was being. In a chronic illness group, no less. We're already going through enough. I've never liked the idea that I have a disease, either. It's hard to wrap your head around at first. Doesn't mean it suddenly changes it. Someone mentioned that it essentially boils down to dis-ease, which is true and I've heard that before. At least, most of the members had a sense of humor about it as it continued.

Also, read an article not long after that about how people with IBD were lobotomized in the past. (Some were also subject to electroshock therapy beforehand.) Doctors considered it to be all in the head connected to mental illness or some sort of emotion. Seems like a fraction of the general public still thinks in a similar way. Apparently the first patient (with IBD) to have it done was in 1948. They were still doing it until the late 80's. That's a long time. No one officially apologized, but one doctor apologized to a few of his previous patients privately. I didn't know how the medical community treated it in the past, so it was eyeopening. There were doctors who were completely against it and tried new treatments, instead. Still, it really messed with people. They still had their disease, but they lost their personalities and then some. Awful. It also makes me worry a little about the 'new' idea that the gut microbiom affects the brain. It seems like the opposite, but along a similar way of thinking. It was odd encountering that troll and reading this article right after. 

Made a post on fb about my cookbook's page. Some people have already liked it. I also tweeted about it, and posted it to Tumblr. So, I'm getting the word out slowly. I'll eventually get to online forums, emailing both local congregations, and maybe some of the old blogs/journals I had like livejournal. Probably will think of other places after that. 

Navient emailed me last night mentioning the income-based repayment plan as an option. They didn't mention it before, and I've already applied for it. Weird. This morning, they said they had my application. I just have to wait for them to approve it. They seem behind on things. I wish they had mentioned this plan long before. I don't think it's a good deal for them. The idea that at some point everything that's left (whether I wasn't able to pay any of it, or just partially) will be completely forgiven. It'll be like wiping the slate clean, and they wouldn't get that money back. Also, with me not paying anything in the meantime, probably doesn't look good either. (Not that I was before...) Rates won't go up or anything during that time, too. 

I got through most of the 5th level of the Basics in German. I'm flying through it. Like I mentioned before, they're just repeating the same stuff over and over again. At least, I'm looking at it differently than when I first started, and it's a good refresher on the very simple stuff. 

Finished reading the manga, Bokke-san. It was pretty good. I'm not sure if I completely liked the ending. I won't spoil that, but Hino's estranged brother wasn't even mentioned until the last couple of chapters. Yet, he had a rather major role in it. Seemed odd. It was a feel-good ending. Most of the loose ends were tied up, too. I wish it was longer. It's only 18 chapters or 2 volumes. They could have done a lot more with it. That's another thing, it seemed like a rushed ending. 

The only cleaning I got to this time was the cat stuff. Through grooming Rosie with the mitt, her lumps are slowly coming out. They've turned white. They seem to almost be at the point of being able to just pull them off. I won't use the scissors, but it seems like it'll be easier to cut them off now. Her fur feels so nice, soft, and shiny now. I think she likes it a lot, too. 

Inked in Antonio's head from Alliance. Still not happy with it, but thought I should move on. Started drawing Doina's head. Hopefully, she'll turn out better. The vision of her in my head is cool. 

International Falafel Day!

Falafels are really good! Especially in a pita sandwich with hummus. It was everywhere in Israel, and I think they had the best falafel. Although, I've had some locally that come close. Falafels are basically chickpea patties. Today's my parent's birthday. So happy birthday to her!

According to fb, I came out as agender on there exactly a year ago yesterday. I thought that was in July. I don't think I was exactly sure at the time. Interesting that I realized during Pride month. Perfect time. It felt like a weight off my shoulders just to know. I've learned a lot about myself and the enby community in the last year. I've shared some of that on here already. 

Created an official fb page for the cookbook. There are some things you can only input on desktop. (Like, the ISBN.) Makes it a bit difficult considering I do most online stuff on my phone. The profile pic's of the Passover popover from the cover. Looks kind of funny this way. The cover pic's the Passover almond and cream torte, and its recipe is in there, too. I decided I might post pics of things I've made from it. The ones I have now are mainly from the Passover section. I might make dishes from other sections in the future, and can post them there. It'll be like a way to advertise, yet have fun and showcase what's in it. If it gets big enough, I'll let fans share their pics of dishes made from the cookbook. It'll be a fun little community thing, too. Not sure how often I'll post there at the beginning. I'm thinking of making a status on fb about the page and ask people to like it. 

A few days ago, I finished the German course on Duolingo. However, I've gone back to the beginning and plan to level everything out. That might take a while. The first several somehow were up to level 3 already. Not sure how. I started going through the first Basic 'unit' today. Almost done with it. They have 5 levels each. This last level has 15 parts to it. Quite a lot. I have noticed that they repeat a lot with each level, at least for this one. I started this before Duolingo switched to the 5-level system, so things might be a bit off until I reach the point I was at once that was implemented. That wasn't that far into it. This 'unit' is about things like the different a's for things. Like, eine for woman and ein for girl. (Odd that girl is masc.) Also, the difference between bin and bist, or am and (you) are respectively. They kept repeating wasser (water) and brot (bread). The pronouns er (he), sie (she), and es (it) were really hammered in, too. I'm breezing through it since I already know this stuff. 

Ao no Exorcist, or Blue Exorcist, finally had another update. It's been a couple of months. Rin got to go back 40 years and see his mother as a kid. He never got to meet her because she died as soon as she had him and Yukio. She came from a tough background. A homeless orphan, who the only 'family' she made were also homeless and died in a fire. They most likely were trying to keep warm and the fire got out of control. The Order eventually found her after she snuck into Shiro's (the person who later raised the twins) shed. She was trying to stay warm and find food. As soon as she said that she could see their dog (obviously a demon, and not everyone can see them), they took her. She met Satan while playing house in a junkyard. The only form he took was of blue flames. They said it was before he developed an ego, and his first intelligent interaction. I find this a bit odd considering it was just 40 years ago. He already had sons by then, but it might have been different in his world. It's no wonder he later became interested in her. Should be interesting to see what actually happened to her. 

For cleaning, I managed to finish vacuuming my bedroom. I worry a bit when I here something loud get sucked up. Is it something important? Oh well. The only thing I haven't been able to find is an earring backing, and if that was sucked up it's not a big deal. It was gross when I found a giant mass of hair under my desk, and it just instantly sucked it up. It looked impressive at the same time. So, now my room is the cleanest it's been in a long time. Yay! Next, I'll start with the bathroom stuff again. 

Went back to watching the Break a couple of days ago. It's a Belgian detective show, which is in French. Some of my French came back to me while watching it. It's kind of slow. A lot of staring and aerial shots. Interesting story, though. 

23rd of Sivan

Figured out the pricing for both versions of the cookbook. The ebook cookbooks seemed so much more expensive than most 'regular' ones. I know that you get more out of cookbooks than regular books, but it was surprising. I don't think I'll ever set my ebook prices in the mid-teens, and that was about average. It's insane, considering we can get up to 70% in royalties with those. If you want it to be in the 'select' program, you have to set it to that. Otherwise, there's the option of setting it to 35%. Different than what it is for paperback. I decided the ebook would be $5.99. Not too bad, considering. I didn't want to cheapen myself. It's the most expensive ebook of the ones I've published so far. I was surprised by the fact that the majority of cookbooks on there seem diet related. Very few 'regular' ones. Maybe it gives mine more of a chance. There were very few cookbooks in general on there compared to other categories. 

Decided that the paperback will be $14.99. Same price as my memoir's paperback, and much cheaper than most paperback versions of the cookbooks on there. There's a smaller percentage of author royalties for paperbacks. Most of the price goes to Amazon for the labor of printing, putting it together, and sending it out. Understandable that they'd need a larger share for that stuff. There's also a set minimum calculated by them for how much they'll need to make it happen. The amount of pages, size, page color (white or cream), cover, type of cover (glossy or matte), etc. are factored in. I think it'll be over that minimum. It's not like it's a huge book. 

Filled out the publishing forms and submitted the ebook version. Apparently, they found no spelling/formatting errors. I thought they would find at least one thing. That's great! It was cool to preview it. Especially seeing the cover there. I think it turned out well. They say that it'll take up to 72 hours to approve and fully publish it. I think it took a lot less time than that last time. Should be interesting to see how it does. I'll fill out the publishing forms and submit the paperback next time. That one has a few more things to it. 

For German, I finished the Abstract Objects 4 lesson. It was another long one. About 10 parts. A bit more difficult than usual, too. I only missed 3 questions. I think the next one is on more pronouns. The one after that is classical music. That's interesting to throw in there. There are only 3 more after that. 

Tried the Italian 5-cheese blend sandwich slices. I'm not sure if I like it. It's smellier and more intense than I expected. I don't usually like when it's like that. Each cheese by itself doesn't seem all that smelly or intense, but I guess if you put them together it's different? Tried it first in a chicken sandwich with mustard yesterday. Today it was the same except with tartar sauce instead of mustard. It was better. Maybe creamy sauces are best with it? 

National Cheese Day!

I love cheese! Just a day devoted to it isn't enough...I guess I celebrated with having garlic and herb Jack cheese spread on sourdough. Recently got Italian 5-cheese blend slices for sandwiches. That sounds really good. 

This is my wallpaper for June. It's another Hitman Reborn manga wallpaper I made a few months ago. I didn't create the art; just put 2 chapter pages together and resized them. The half-siblings (they have the same father), Bianchi and Gokudera, are on the left. Bianchi, aka Poison Scorpion Bianchi in the mafia, specializes in poison cooking. Gokudera is Tsuna's Guardian of the Storm Ring, and has sworn to become Tsuna's right hand man. He's aka Smokin' Bomb Hayato, and he specializes in explosives. Despite his looks and attitude (seemingly like a delinquent), he's a genius and excels at academics. His sister used to test out her cooking on him as a little kid, particularly right after piano recitals. She's immune to her own cooking. So, every time he sees her, he gets physically sick. It was so traumatic, he also swore off playing the piano. They eventually do make up (not entirely though...), but for most of the series there's that tension between them. Tsuna and Reborn are on the right. I thought the summer like one with Tsuna seemed appropriate for this month. 

The weather calendar's main pic's of a rainbow at sunset over cliffs at a Utah national park. The dark clouds around it look really ominous. It's a cool shot. The other 3 smaller pics are of tornadoes in Dodge City, Kansas. It seems like most of the pics are tornado themed...

The month-long holidays for June are: National Candy Month, National Dairy Month, National Iced Tea Month, Pride Month, National Camping 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. Yay, for Pride Month! I haven't gone camping in a very long time, but I remember liking it. 

Apparently, there's a calendar going around where there are specific Pride days for different sexual orientations and genders every day for June. The whole month is supposed to be for everyone in the community, but it is interesting. I have 5 days on it. The 10th for ace pride, 15th for agender pride, 20th for genderqueer pride, 25th for non-binary pride, and 30th for aro pride. All my LGBTQ+ 'identities' seem to be represented. Not many of the lesser known ones were listed, but interesting they came up with 30 of them. I also found it interesting that my 'days' are every 5 days after the 10th. 

I started looking for Pride shirts yesterday. A little late, but I'd also like something to be 'out' with for the rest of the year. So far, there are 2 cool aro ace ones. Made me happy to see at least 2 that were for aro aces specifically. I'm leaning more towards one that has animal skulls, arrows, flowers in the ace flag colors, spades, says aro ace off to the side, and banners. Arrows are an aro symbol. It looks really badass, and like a tattoo design. The other one's of a spade splattered with the ace flag colors. The ace of spades in cards represents aro aces in the community. For that one, unless they know the flag and know about the spade, the meaning's more hidden. Haven't looked much for agender stuff. I'll narrow it down when I'm done looking around online. I wouldn't mind getting one shirt representing 1 or 2 identities, and some sort of accessory like wristbands or earrings for the others. That way I can be 'out' with everything at once, and that seems cheaper. 

I thought about a description for the cookbook. I'm not 100% happy with it yet. Seems too long. I want to mention some highlights so others can get a feel for it. I was going to start putting the print version's cover together, but can't really do that without a description for the back. I'll probably get to the cover tomorrow. Might even finish it. Then, it'll be figuring out pricing for both versions and filling out the publishing forms. That's all that's left. Not much.

For German, I finished the Present 4 lesson. There were 6 parts, and I completed them all in one sitting. It was a lot. Missed about 3 or 4. Not bad, considering. Next is their Fantasy lesson. That only has about 3 parts, so I'll probably at least start the next one after that, too. 

Managed to draw a little today. Haven't done it in a while. Finished drawing Antonio's (from Alliance) head, and I'll ink him next time. I think Antonio's head has a better shape than my previous ones. I'm slowly improving on it. He doesn't quite look like what's in my head, but he's not bad. The next head will be Doina's. She sounds like she'd be cool to draw.

Finished watching Chosen. It was intense and had a good ending, for the most part. I like how they got revenge against the people behind the game. Started watching the 2nd season of Glitch a couple of days ago. Saw most of the 1st season a while ago. I like the idea behind it and where they've taken it. 

Made a list about a week ago of the shows I have on my Netflix list. I put them in order of length. So, Chosen was only 3 episodes and that was the first on the 'list'. Glitch is 2nd since I'm just watching the 2nd season. It's good I made this new ordered list, because I can finally finish most of the ones I started previously this way. There will be a 'schedule' of sorts. I never went back to them because there were other new interesting shows. I decided that if I want to add more shows, I can add them to the list once I get to the really lengthy shows. Shows like Filinta are 100s of episodes long, and if I just watch that I'll never see anything new. Also, made a list for shows to watch during the weekend. Things like nature docs, food, comedy, travel, etc. That way I get to the 'extra' ones, too. Kind of fun to see what I'll see next on the list, as well.

15th of Sivan

Something's been weird with the internet connection today (even with the pods' 'mesh'), so I'm using the blogging app this time. I think it might just be a regional thing, not just us. Haven't used it in a while. It's ok to use it occasionally. 

Finished formatting/creating the print version of the cookbook. I'm surprised I finished it already. Tomorrow, I'll start making the covers. It'll be interesting if I finish it then, too. It won't just be the art, but also figuring out the description. It might be something similar to the preface. Not exactly, but similar idea to it. There's not much left to do besides that and filling out the publishing forms. 

For German, I finished the Abs. Ob. 3 lesson, and started the V. Con. 2 lesson. Both these lessons are long. The first one had 8 parts to it, the 2nd one has 10. Most of the level 1 stuff has 5 or 6 parts. Usually, they increase the number with higher levels of the same lessons, so this is weird. I'm surprised I got as much done as I did. Only missed 3 questions. Not bad. After I finish the current one, the next lesson is on philosophy. That should be interesting. A little nervous they have a skull for its icon. I only have 8 lessons left of the course. However, for most of them, I've only completed the first level. There are 4 more to each lesson. So, even though I'm close to the 'end', it's not truly the end. Probably will take a long time to finish it all. I'm also curious about other languages like Chinese. Maybe even going back to Russian. Studied a little of that in college. 

Read more of the manga Alive. There were too many things going on at once. Everyone was fighting each other. At some point they seemed to be going crazy. An outsider tried to snap Taisuke out of it, but Hiro killed her in an instant. All that was left of her was part of her hair braid, and there was a crater where she had been standing. Taisuke screamed and seemed to 'break' at that moment. He triggered the 'heart' to come out of the lake. It's like a power orb. One of Katsumata's members immediately got it and absorbed it. She soon regretted it, because it didn't 'choose' her. It made her explode, and people could see her past in the black haze. She was annoying, but it was an awful way to go. The orb ended up choosing Hiro. When he absorbed it, there was a bright light, and that's where I stopped. It was also revealed that Katsumata's power is manipulation. He essentially has all his 'comrades' brainwashed. They'll do anything he says. He's annoying in different ways. Taisuke seems to have powered up, too. It seems like it's close to the end, yet there's a lot more chapters to this manga. I'm not even halfway through. 

I normally feel pretty nauseous, but today has seemed especially bad. It was made worse when I heard Tasha throwing up on the banister. Then, even more so when I saw it and had to clean it up. I felt like running to the toilet several times as I cleaned it off. Often when she throws up it's either clear or a hairball. That's usually not bad to deal with. This time was worse. There was actually food and other stuff, and was a lot. It stunk more that way, too. It must have felt awful, and I do hope she feels better now. Cleaning it up tired me out for a while. I didn't need that drama. 

When it was time to groom Rosie, she was in the litter box, so I waited. Like usual, she scratched the bookcase and wall near it after she was done. I stopped her, and she ran out. Then, ran back in and just scratched some more. After stopping her a few times, all she wanted to do was clean herself. So, I told her I wouldn't be using the mitt today. A little while later she begged me to use the mitt. I couldn't say no after a few minutes of her doing that...I give in too easily with her.

In addition to the usual cleaning, I finished dusting my desk. My computer was packed with dust. I hadn't seriously dusted it in a long time. That can be dangerous. I used both a towel and an air duster on it. When I blew the air duster over the fan, it was like an avalanche of dust. Good that a lot of that stuff is gone now. The printer had quite a bit, too. I kept sneezing every few minutes while I dusted today. I didn't sneeze much with the other areas. I guess it shows that it was the worst area so far. It probably was making me sicker. There isn't much left to dust in my room, and I don't think the rest of it is too bad. Needs to be done, but it's not like how my desk was. After I finish dusting, I'll vacuum the room. I haven't done that in a while. Should be nice when I finish that, too. Setting a time to clean every weekday has helped a lot. 

Limiting my social media time has helped me, as well. Facebook was like the biggest time sucker, much as I still like it. Now my eyes are feeling healthier, I have more time for other stuff, and I'm not staying up late on it. That's to name just a few of the benefits I've had so far. I save most of my social media stuff for the weekend, although even with that I've set a time limit. On weekdays, I might post personal posts (my blog, Instagram, personal status on fb, etc.), an article I might have found through my Google news alerts, and check notifications. I don't go through my feeds during that time. I miss a lot of what friends and family post during the week, which is one of the only downsides. I could go through their posts first when I go through my 'feed' during the weekend. That'd be a way to stay on top of it. 

Started watching Chosen on Netflix last night. It's more of a Chinese 3-part special, than a regular show. I think it's a remake of an American one. It's a really intense thriller. It's good so far. It's about a family (parents, son, and grandpa) from China visiting Australia, and the father being forced to play a killing game. The 'chosen' person gets a box with a pic that has a time signature and name of the next person they have to kill. There's a gun underneath the pic. If they don't kill that person, they threaten your family. Another chosen person will be assigned to kill you, too. The father doesn't want to hurt anyone. It's interesting hearing both Chinese and English. Especially, the Australian accent mixed in there. Each part is pretty long, so I'm watching an hour each time. 

National Hamburger Day!

Makes sense that today would be Hamburger Day. People usually are having picnics, out grilling/barbecuing, going to the beach, etc. on Memorial Day. It's usually considered the first unofficial day of summer. It's also National Brisket Day. BBQ'd brisket is awesome, and goes along with the summer food theme. 

Managed to have my own Friday night Shabbos service. I have a siddur or prayer book that I can follow for Shabbos services. It's an old one, and it's definitely not the best. It's something, though. It has 3 different Friday night services. I closed my door during it and Rosie was not happy. Every few minutes she scratched and meowed at the door begging to be let in. I was surprised by how fast the Friday night one went. It might have been because I was the only one and therefore there was no minyan, but it still seemed odd. Minyan is at least 10 Jewish adults that's required for certain parts of the service. (The Torah can be counted if there are only 9 adults.) For example, if you have less than 10 Jews, you can't have the Torah part of the Shabbos service in the morning. You can certainly study it, though. Even if I wasn't following that, there wasn't much more for Friday night. It ended up being around 30 minutes. 

I also did my own Shabbos morning service. This time I left my door open and Rosie joined me. Luckily, she didn't play with my tallit (fringed prayer shawl). Since I essentially skipped half of it, because it was just me, it ended up being about as long as the night one. I might follow along with a synagogue that live-streams their services this coming Shabbos. That'd be nice to do, too.

I did read the parsha (Torah portion) after my Shabbos morning service. I haven't kept up with that for a while. I don't have a Jewish calendar that lists the parshas anymore. I have to look it up online. That doesn't take long. It's just easier when it's right in front of my face...If I were already keeping track, I'd still have to look because there are special Shabbos' that have added parts to read/study. I didn't get to look at commentaries on the parsha, but might do that next time. It's always interesting to look at different interpretations of it. 

I didn't get to doing Havdalah (closing ceremony for Shabbos) this time. Hope to next time. It can be somewhat dangerous if I'm the only one. Considering the braided candle for it makes a huge flame. I'm also getting towards the bottom of the one I got from Israel. You're supposed to hold it most of the time. It is cool to watch, though. I like that Mom made a spice box for Havdalah. It's not fancy, but it seems more special that way. I love smelling the spices. It looks cool when we douse the lit candle in grape juice or wine at the end, as well. 

Went to World Market yesterday. I always find interesting stuff there. This time I got Black Forest Cake Pudding Bars from the UK, artichoke bruschetta, garlic and herb Jack cheese spread, and red cabbage salad from Poland. Haven't had the 'pudding' bars, and I'm not exactly sure what they are like. They sound good. Might have some for dessert later. The bruschetta and cheese are both great. I had them both in a sandwich with chicken for lunch. They go well together. The cheese wedge servings are huge! Low in calories, too. I don't see myself being able to eat a whole one in one sitting. I thought the salad would be similar to the German rotkohl, but it's unique in its own way. It's not as tart and has a strong cinnamon taste. 

I mentioned not too long ago about the 'results' I've been getting while recording it in MyColitis. Pretty much every time I go now it's black. Not a good sign. I'm also getting weird twitching, squeezing, and like a rubber band snapping thing happening in the mid-right section of my abdomen. Most of the time it's just annoying, other times it really hurts. I'm wondering, if I do have an upper GI (gastrointestinal) bleed, that it might be happening in that area. I have to at least tell my primary about this soon. I thought it'd go away on its own, but it's been that color for a while. It's not like I'm constipated, which is pretty much the only other reason for it to be that color. If it was food with black dye, everything that I've eaten for several weeks would have it. I'm actually going more frequently, too.

Another thing I probably should bring up with her is falling asleep while inside any vehicle that's in motion. It doesn't matter if it's a car, ferry, plane, etc. I'll suddenly have a very strong urge to sleep once it's in motion. It's hard to fight it. Sometimes I can do so if someone's talking to me at the same time. However, that doesn't always keep me from falling asleep. I've always been like this, but I think it's getting worse as I age. I don't know what she could do, but it might be worth noting to her. Sometimes, it's actually nice. Especially considering I have such a hard time sleeping normally. I'm wondering if it's particularly bad now, that it might be related to what's going on with my colitis. If it's an internal bleed, I could be becoming anemic. That might make me sleepier. Thus, making it harder to keep myself awake in a car.

Didn't write more of Alliance 3, since I wanted more time to format the paperback of the cookbook. The cookbook's paperback is going to be 6" x 9". About the size of most of my books. The only one that was bigger was the memoir. I thought it'd be a good size, since it's not a very long book. Decided to put the preface after the table of contents for both versions. The paperback's toc is a bit odd. The 'chapters' couldn't all fit on one page. One chapter ended up on the next page. It looks kind of lonely in the middle of the page like that. I suppose it's alright. After copying and pasting a few 'chapters', my computer suddenly decided to crash and go into sleep mode. I panicked, because I wasn't saving as I went. Luckily, Word recovered most of it. It also pissed me off. I would have gotten much further if that hadn't happened. Oh well. I'll do more tomorrow. It'd be cool if I could finish it then. 

Finished the adverbs 4 German lesson, and started the abstract objects 3 one. The adverbs lesson was longer than I expected, but I was surprised I finished it in one sitting, and continued to the next one. Missed a couple of the questions/exercises this time. 

Read more of +Anima. It seems they're finally going to go over Cooro's background. He was the one that started the little group of +animas. Everyone has had their chance to tell their story, except him. If I remember correctly, the manga started with him being abandoned as a baby and taken in by a church. He was already a +anima. Normally, someone has to be in a life or death situation, and the first animal they see, they take on their characteristics. If they saw a fish; they grow a fish tail, gills, have scales, fins, etc. If they saw a bird; they have wings, feathers cover their body, have talons, and more. They can transform back to their human forms. Cooro is a crow +anima. He seems to be the only one who has never felt awful about being one. I wonder if he was the result of an experiment. Someone wanted to see if one could be born as a +anima. That would be interesting. The church thought he was an angel of death, since he has black wings, but he says they still loved him. When asked why he left, he didn't answer. A friend that Cooro knew back when he was at the church showed up. She became a swallow +anima. Another bird one. He was surprised, because the last time he saw her, she wasn't one. 

Along with the regular miscellaneous cleaning for today, I got some more dusting done. I had forgotten to look at a folded up bookcase under my tall dresser. It was absolutely caked with dust. Gross. I dusted my chair, keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, and part of the desk itself. There was a lot of dust on most of these things. My monitor's so much clearer looking. I accidentally tilted it forward a bit, and wasn't sure how to tilt it back at first. It can't bend very much, but it was just slight enough that I noticed it. Next will be my computer, stuff on top of the computer, printer, and the rest of the desk. Should be really nice to see it dust free. 

11th of Sivan

Didn't write more of Alliance. Instead, I wanted to spend a little more time with formatting the ebook version of the cookbook. I'm essentially done with that now. The only issue is really figuring out where the preface will go. Before looking it up, I put it just before the table of contents. However, there's debate about whether it should go before or after the toc. Online, people are saying it's basically up to the author...That doesn't help much.  My preface is short, so it's not like people are going to be wading through pages of it before the toc. I don't think it's even half of a page. If the template for the print version has it as after, I'll switch it around in the ebook to match. It won't be hard to do. This will be the first book I've published with a preface. The others didn't really need it. 

I've also linked all the 'chapters' listed in the toc, and linked each chapter back up to the toc. So, people can click/tap the chapter link, go straight to that chapter, then click/tap the next chapter, and be taken back up to the toc. That will be handy for people. You can jump all over the place. The only thing I hate about bookmarking/hyperlinking is that it makes 'hidden' bookmarks in Word when you're done. So, you have to go through all the hidden ones and delete them. Plus, linking everything takes some time. You have to be careful to make sure you're bookmarking or linking the right thing. If you have more than a few chapters, it gets difficult keeping it straight. This actually has 21 chapters. Really, 20 categories plus the source list. I think that's a little more than my 'usual'. I've never made a cookbook before, so it's obviously going to be different. 

Either after this or Monday, I plan to download the print version's template. If I do that after posting this, I might start filling it in. The bulk of it will probably be on Monday. I'm thinking I might be able to publish this next week. Maybe early that week. It's really not taking long. I barely started the ebook on Wednesday, did most of it yesterday, and then pretty much finished today. Basically, around a day and a half. I think the print will go faster. Then, I'll pick a pic for the cover, and create 2 covers for it. That usually doesn't take long to put together in Photoshop. All that will be left is figuring out the little details and the publishing forms. Not much at all. I'm just amazed at how fast it's going now. 

For German, I went through the politics lesson. It had 6 parts to it. A bit longer than I expected. There wasn't much of anything about their political system. There is a politics 2 lesson later on. Maybe it'll have something about it. I didn't miss a single question/exercise this time. That's pretty cool. I think adverbs are next.

Got quite a lot of miscellaneous cleaning done. Managed to get some dusting in, as well. Dusted the rest of the tall dresser in my bedroom. The dust was really bad there. It looks really nice now. Next will be my desk area. 

I'm up to the last episode of The Rain. With the way it's going, I don't think they're going to wrap it up in one episode. I could be wrong. There's a possibility of a 2nd season, though.

In One Piece, the residents, called Minks, of Zou Island are cute. They seem to be half human half animal. They're very into 'minkship', which is when they rub, bite, lick, etc. people they consider friends or family. Reminds me of the concept of 'skinship'. That people are touch starved. Touching, according to that, brings people together and satisfies it. It was somewhat annoying that they kept clinging to Luffy and his crew, but they also regard them as their saviors, so it's on another level compared to just being friendly. There are different 'tribes' of the Minks. There's a rabbit one, dog, cat, lion, etc. They consider humans to be another type of ape Mink. The town was completely destroyed before Luffy and the rest of his crew arrived. Some of the crew that got there before them were mixed up in that battle and helped the Minks. Not exactly sure how yet. They're taking forever to say what happened. Still don't know what happened to Sanji, but they hinted that he gave Nami a letter and left. I certainly hope he doesn't pull an Usopp, where he quits suddenly. It was funny how the dog tribe went crazy over Brook. He's a skeleton and every time they see him they drool. He's hated being there because of it. I thought it was interesting that Bepo was born there, but left the island as a baby and doesn't remember much. Bepo is in Law's crew. He's a polar bear Mink and has been friends with Law for a long time. It'd be cool if they do more of a background on him and how he met Law.

10th of Sivan

Wrote more of Alliance 3. Gave myself less time with it, yet I ended up writing quite a bit. For the ebook version of the cookbook, I did the front matter, and copied and pasted the body of the manuscript. Every 'chapter' has to have a page break. That takes up more space. The chapters are really categories like meat, fish, drinks, candies, etc. The dedication page is super short. There's a preface page, as well. That one's longer. I figure it's actually shorter than many other cookbooks that have it. There needed to be some background before people dove in. The table of contents hasn't been linked to the 'chapters' yet. That can be time consuming. Probably will do that next time. I was surprised I got the body of it done. That usually takes longer, can be annoying, and is monotonous. I'll have to copy and paste my source list to it, too. I'll link that to the toc. This is going much faster than last time. My computer is running faster and smoother, so that might be why. The original Word document is 102 pages. So far the ebook one is 116 pages. It's going to be quite a difference. However, that page count will vary with different devices. Just interesting to see the difference in Word. Not much left for the ebook. Then, it'll be on to downloading the paperback version's template, and filling that in. After that, it'll be the book covers. Finally, it'll be figuring out details like pricing and the description through the publishing forms of both versions. Then, it'll be published. I've decided not to do the preorder thing this time. I think it caused some confusion with my last two books.

Turns out Dad wants me to add some of her recipes, too. I asked her to write those down. It was mainly going to be the ones that were in the photo album, but if she really wants me to add them, I will. It'll take a little more time to write those out, and add them to the ebook/paperback. As long as there aren't too many, it shouldn't add that much time. I didn't really want to add to it...It has plenty of stuff already. Plus, I feel so close to finishing it.

Edit: I thought about it and briefly spoke again with her. I think I'll make another cookbook in the future based on her recipes. This current one is mainly about Mom and the recipes she collected and put in a photo album. Dad agreed that it might be better to make another cookbook centered on her. I can honor both of them this way. Also, it won't take longer to finish the current cookbook if I'm not going to add her stuff. This will be great for both.

For German, I went through the passive verb and religion lessons. I only missed a couple, because for some reason my eyes blurred and I couldn't see things correctly. I was hesitant about the religion one, but I think they were respectful and not like they were pushing one of them. One of the sentences was funny. It was about a holy potato. I already knew what Jewish was Juden, pronounced as yoo-den. Synagogue is interesting. It's spelled as synagoge and pronounced as zoo-na-goh-guh. I think all religions are masculine words? They use 'der' when putting a 'the' before them. Der seems to be masculine. That was interesting. The politics lesson is coming up soon. I guess they try to throw in what might be 'controversial' for the last section of lessons. I wonder if it'll be about their system. That'd be cool to learn about. 

I got more dusting done in my bedroom. Finished the short bookshelf I started yesterday, did the tall one next to it, did the CD stand next to that, and got to a small section of the tall dresser next to that. Quite a bit. The towel I used was absolutely full of dust when I stopped. More than last time. I wonder how fast I'll get through the rest of it. I think the tall dresser and my desk are the worst with the dust. The desk has my computer/monitor on top of it, and those can be dust magnets. Keyboard, too. There's my printer next to the computer that collects quite a bit itself. At least, I'm finally getting to it.

For drawing, I didn't have much energy for it, but I did think about how I wanted to design Antonio. I also ordered my meds, since I'll need the next batch soon. One of them apparently is out of refills, so they have to get it approved. My primary never renews it until after I order my next one. Her excuse in the past was they won't let her renew it until it runs out. She's the only doctor/medical professional who has told me this. That has always seemed fishy, yet when she does renew it, it's for another year's worth. It'll just add a couple of more days to the delivery date, since they have to get it approved. I like to order from their mail-order pharmacy, when I remember before my meds run out. It's nice that it can be mailed to me. 

National Taffy Day!

Taffy's a fun summertime candy. A little bit goes a long way, though. Interesting that there's a day devoted to it. 

According to the MyColitis app, I've been having an upper GI bleed the last few days. This goes by the color of the 'evidence'...If it's black, that's apparently what it is. Wahoo! I was scared when I started noticing it a couple of months ago, but it wasn't all the time, so I just shrugged it off. Now it's becoming more frequent. I do feel different than my new 'norm' when I'm like this. Mainly that there's a very strong fire in my stomach and/or near it. It's more than just 'heartburn'. Every time I try to breathe, it makes it worse. If it's true that I have an upper GI bleed, than I have more than the colitis. I might actually have Crohn's. The colon can be affected if you have that, too. Gastros haven't been sure if it was UC or Crohn's, but my first one was leaning towards the latter at the beginning. My stomach and duodenum (little part between the stomach and the small intestines) were slightly affected in that endoscopy at the beginning, too. They say if it were a lower GI bleed, it'd be red with visible blood. That'd be more indicative of UC. It's never been that way. So, that's saying something.

I find this app somewhat enlightening as I update it. Things have been changing in general with my gut according to it. I haven't been as on top of inputting what I eat, but I thought I'd do that with MyFitnessPal. Haven't been using that for the last couple of days, though. With recording what you eat through MyColitis, it has the time, a spot to describe what you had, what your appetite was beforehand, and what were your symptoms afterwards. It's a bit more handy in writing specifics about it. MyFitnessPal breaks down the nutrition facts for everything. That way I'm on top of calories, protein, sodium, etc. (Even how much I drink, which is important as well.) However, I never reach my requirement for things like protein. I barely reach half of it most of the time. I guess I should be keeping track in both apps. I also haven't been recording symptoms in MyColitis. I might have a couple of times when the pain was so bad I couldn't walk, but they want to know the day-to-day ones, too. It has a mood section that I haven't been keeping track of either. I got to get on top of those things. Maybe it'll be easier to see if it's a symptom that's causing the bleed, instead. I don't know. 

Wrote a lot more of Alliance 3 than I expected to. 3 pages this time. For the cookbook, I had to rearrange a few things that I forgot about. Managed to start formatting the ebook version of it, though. It shouldn't take me long. I like when I posted on fb about figuring out the title, someone said to save them a copy. I...don't need to. It'll be on Amazon. They have unlimited copies. Even of the paperback version. It was a little weird, but nice that they were so excited about it. I have a feeling many people will want it. She knew a lot of people. I know both local congregations might be interested in it, most of the family I'm friends with on fb probably will be, and it'll be the same with many of my friends. Some of my friends have met her before, and have said she was a great person. That's a lot of people right there. Those people will hopefully tell others and so on. Maybe it'll become popular. 

It'll be nice to eventually get a paperback version for myself. Much nicer than having the photo album. Easier to read, too. I might actually use it more in that form. If I do, I could take pics of the end results, post them on social media, and use it to promote it more. (Might try to make more of it than I have in the past even before I get my own copy.) If I make an official page on fb, I could have a specific place to do that. I can do a lot more with this book.

Did the entire first level of the German 'arts' lesson. It had 6 parts to it. Each part seemed longer than usual, too. I missed 3 of the questions/exercises. Not bad at all. Apparently, some of their h's are silent. I guess it depends on what letters are near it. I'm so far into it, and slowly have noticed this. Also, in the sports lesson, for ski they write it the same but pronounce it as 'she'. That's the first time I encountered that. Normally, k is pronounced pretty much the way it is in English. So, there's something to it. It was cool to learn about music and other art related words this time. 

Read more of the manga, Bokke-san. The art seems to be getting a little weirder as I go through it. Some people have commented that it's too busy/cluttered and difficult to read. I wonder if this is on purpose. Bokke are considered to be really weird creatures and things are hectic at the moment. They met a frog bokke this time. A really perverted one. He can mess with people by entering mirrors or images of any sort. He had a pic of Hino, reached into the pic, and felt around. Suddenly Hino looked like he was being thrown around and then strangled. Apparently, he could molest girls if he took a pic of them. After fighting him, Hino befriended him. It seems that with almost every bokke he meets now, he befriends them after fighting them. It's weird. Hino just wants to learn more about what he is, not fight.

Got more dusting done in my bedroom. I think it was more dust than last time. Finished the dresser, what was on it, the music stand, the top of a short bookcase near the dresser, and the things on top of that bookcase. Quite a bit. I think my TV was the worst. The only time I use it is to play my Sega Genesis, since it doesn't get cable. It's pretty old, too. Does well for old video games. I haven't played those in over a year, though. At least, it's clean now. I was surprised by how dusty the stand was. I haven't played my clarinet in a while, that might be why. I keep forgetting to get it recorked.

Finished drawing Tzvi's head/bust from Alliance. I'm still not completely happy with it. Oh well. I'll ink it tomorrow, and start drawing Antonio next. That should be interesting. Antonio's one of the few humans in the story. 

Watched 2 more episodes of the Rain last night. They're shorter episodes than I expected. Also, it was too warm to go on a walk, so I watched another episode instead. It's interesting. There seems to be a lot of quarreling within the group, and a bit more angst than there needs to be. I think I'm starting to like it. 

8th of Sivan

Wrote more of Alliance 3. I'm surprised how much I was able to write, considering I gave myself a little less time. I think I settled on a title for the cookbook: My Mother's Treasure Trove of Recipes. This way she's mentioned somewhere in the title, and it seemed like her treasure in a way. It fits to me. I didn't want it corny, plain, or too weird. I always save figuring out the title for just before formatting my books. It's a little late. Titles can be difficult. I might have figured out A3's as well. It might be Alliance: Darkness. The last one was Alliance: Dawn. I'm seeing a theme with that series. If I've figured that 3rd one out already, it's earlier than usual. I haven't finished writing the story for that one yet. Not sure how long it'll end up. It's 116 pages long at the moment. Roughly twice that if you factor in a regular paperback size. 

I also started looking at formatting an ebook version of the cookbook. At least, starting to reacquaint myself with the guidelines that both kdp (or Amazon) and Smashwords have. I could probably just copy what I did with previous books. I still remember a lot of the process, but I want to make sure. It should go faster than before, if I'm already pretty familiar with the process. Mainly simply skimming those guidelines. That's enough to remember certain parts for me right away. I've done this process 4 other times...The paperback formatting is much easier, since kdp has a blank template to fill in. However, it's a lot of copy and paste and can be time consuming. It's kind of like that for the ebook, too. I normally use .docx, but both kdp and Smashwords recommend .doc for the document. So, I usually make another one in that format. I end up with 3 different copies of one book. One that's the original, one that's for the ebook, and the final one that's for the paperback.

Finished the German sports and 'perfect 2' lessons. I only missed 2 this time. That's pretty good. The next one is on art. It has 6 parts for the first level. That's a lot. Should be interesting to see what that one's like. 

The manga Alive has been getting really intense. They all made it to the lake. Apparently, if all the power users battle it out, the 'heart' will appear from the lake. We still don't know what that is. Yuta was badly injured. Megu was forced to hold onto Taisuke or she'd die. So, he has to maneuver around and fight with her clinging to him. When she wasn't being mind controlled, she seemed tough and kept coming up with clever ways to escape. Now, she seems so weak and like a 'damsel in distress'. It's kind of annoying. She's the only one there without a power, though. 

For cleaning, I managed to get some dusting in. It looks like I didn't get far, but the area I got to in my bedroom was really bad. There must have been an inch of dust. Not having Endust makes it take a little longer, and sometimes I can't reach far enough into the cracks. It's a lot better now, though. 

Started drawing Tzvi's head/bust from Alliance. I'm not happy with how he looks at the moment. I'll just try to improve on him tomorrow. Haven't drawn in a little while, so that might be why he's not looking right at the moment.

Started watching The Rain on Netflix last night. It's a Danish show. I'm unsure if I like it so far, but it was only the first episode. For most of the episode they were stuck in a bunker. The rain carries a virus. The bunkers are apparently the only safe places. 

Also, watched more of One Piece last night. Luffy and some of his crew finally made it to Zou Island, where the other crew members went before them. Zou in Japanese means elephant. I knew that before, but I wasn't sure if there was another meaning. Turns out the entire island is on the back of a slowly moving ancient elephant. It reminds me of some sort of story that I can't place. The creator was clearly influenced by epic pirate legends, the Odyssey, Gulliver's Travels, and much more. Larger than life/epic stories. I love that sort of thing. Should be interesting to see what the island is really like, and what the rest of the crew is up to. Last time they appeared they were being attacked. They didn't show much of island itself, either.

World Baking Day!

This holiday was on Saturday. I wish I was more into baking. Things have to be exact, and then the end result is like magic. Hopefully, in the future I'll at least try to make challah. My mom used to make it every Friday. The house would smell so good! Muffins and cookies are pretty simple to make, but I'd rather get store-bought most of the time. Cool that there is a day for it.

It was also World IBD Day that day. I posted a status on fb with info and my story so far with it. A couple of people liked it, but I feel like not many read it. I also added a frame to my profile pic. I don't think anyone liked it...Apparently, when I took off the frame, a few people liked that one. It felt like they didn't like that I used that frame. It doesn't matter. It's my page, and I can post/change my pic however I want. It's an important awareness day, especially since I have it. Many people wear purple during it, since the awareness ribbon is a light purple. The only purple thing I wore were purple earring studs. It was something. I also posted a few other IBD related things on there. I didn't particularly like the preview image for the video I shared, but it also showed the reality that many go through. It was of a belly that had a stoma bag or J-pouch (I think that was the type shown). Some people have to have those bags if they have their colon removed. It acts like an external colon and collects waste. I'm terrified of having that sort of thing. The probability of people getting it increases the longer they have the disease. It doesn't mean it's definite, just something people should learn a little about. The video showed a lot of the other realities of it in general, and might have been too much for others to watch. People should know, though. Since it's an 'invisible' disease it's often misunderstood. I got a lot more likes on Instagram with posting my framed pic from fb there. Mostly from other people with IBD. I could tell because some were sporting their bags in their profile pics, and some openly said it on their profile. One commented that we're in this together. That was nice.

Saturday night was the start of Shavuot and ends tonight. It's a holiday to celebrate the Torah. It's also called the Feast of Weeks. (Shavuot's lit. 'Weeks'.) People study Torah, the book of Ruth, Talmud, the Mishnah, the Zohar, and more all night long. Some synagogues hold lectures and study groups all night long. It's like a massive study-in. I didn't do that last night or the night before. I don't think it would have been a good thing for me, health-wise, to stay up all night. I forgot about studying at least a little bit. I like that sort of thing. Another custom is to eat a lot of dairy food. I unknowingly followed that. Had a single serving chocolate truffle cheesecake Saturday night. I forgot it was the start of the holiday.

Apparently, Agender Pride Day was on Saturday. I don't think it's an 'official' day, considering there were only a few websites that mentioned it. I only found out when I stumbled upon a frame for it. I found agender related art through Pinterest, and posted it on fb and Instagram. It had the symbol, which is like a 'no' sign, but not tilted. It makes sense since we don't have a gender. There was a dragon holding up the symbol that was in the flag colors. The flag was in the background. I thought it looked cool. It's a 7-striped flag: black, grey, white, green (like a lime green), white, grey, and black. The black and white both represent the absence of gender, grey represents semi-genderless, and green represents non-binary gender. I think the semi-genderless are the demigenders. I guess they're on the spectrum, like aces and aros have spectra. I don't particularly like that type of green. It stands out a little too much. It seems close to the aro flag, too. Agender people fall under the trans, non-binary, and genderqueer umbrellas. Only one person liked it on fb, and a lot more liked it on Instagram. Most of the ones that liked it were trans (a mix of binary and enby ones). They mentioned it on their profile. That's cool. 

It's great that I'm keeping up with blogging during the weekdays. The last time I posted 11 or more times in one month was towards the beginning of 2014. That's a long time. Go back 3 more years, and it was more like my average amount. Hopefully, I can keep this momentum going. 

Rosie seems to be getting more lumps, so I went back to grooming her with the mitt again. She loves it. Last time I eventually forgot about it. It's so cute when I grab the mitt and she comes running towards me. She was eating Saturday, mid-bite noticed I was putting it on, then ran to me with a few pieces of food falling out of her mouth. She loves it more than food...This time I've decided to go over her lumps with the mitt until she starts to walk away. That way I can work more on getting rid of them. I kept thinking I was going to make her sore, but she stayed with me for a while the last couple of times. A lot of hair is being lifted, at least. Overall her coat looks and feels much nicer. I think the bumps are very slowly softening and coming out. It's going to take a long time until they're gone. Tasha has never had this problem and she's a couple of years older than Rosie. Plus, she has long fur. Rosie doesn't. She is slimmer than Rosie, but it still is weird. 

Wrote more of Alliance 3. Got more than I thought I would done. Looked more at cookbooks to get a feel for how I want the cookbook. I think I'm going to keep it the way it is. It's clean and easy to read. I also brainstormed ideas for a title. Ended up with 6 possibilities: Our Family's Classic Recipes Cookbook, Mom's Treasure Trove of Recipes Cookbook, Recipes From a Photo Album Cookbook, A Time Capsule of a Cookbook, 35 Years of Family Recipes Cookbook, Mom's Collection of Recipes Cookbook. I probably could take 'cookbook' out of the title I pick, too. I'm just unsure about them. I thought I should decide on a title before I move on. Once I do that, I'll start formatting it for the ebook and then the paperback. Things are moving quicker than I expected with this part of the process. I have plenty of pics to choose from for the cover. 

Finished a German future tense lesson, and started a sports one. I didn't miss as many as I thought I would with the future one. The sports one has been interesting. It's also about hobbies. 

Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler's manga had an update. The chapter was short, but at least it moved on from that really long flashback. The flashback was important, but seemed to go on for too long. It explained what really happened to the Ciel we know and his identical twin. The Ciel we know hasn't revealed his true name. He was just referred to as a 'spare' in the flashback. His twin was the real Ciel. They both went through hell and the real Ciel died. With his death, Sebastian showed up and 'our' Ciel entered a contract with him. They burned the place down. Yet, presently, the real one looks very much alive. Apparently, Undertaker brought him back to life. Now, we're not sure if the contract is void if the one that gave up his soul in order to summon Sebastian is alive. That's a big twist. The Undertaker said he did it because he didn't want the Phantomhive bloodline to end with 'our' Ciel. With the contract, it ends with Sebastian eating his soul once his revenge is complete. So, he's already destined to die sooner. I'd like to think he would figure out a way to get out of that, though. He's smart enough. It's unclear what Undertaker's relationship is to the family. There has been hints that he might have been a lover of Ciel's grandmother. Not much else to go on. I wish there was more revealed in this one. I just have to wait another month or 2 to see what happens next...

For cleaning, I mostly did miscellaneous stuff. Things like laundry, taking the garbage/recycling back from the curb, hand washing my eye mask and its bag, cat stuff, etc. Hopefully, tomorrow I can get to dusting more of my room. 

Since my gut hasn't been great, I'm trying to go easy on it today. Thinking about making udon with a mushroom broth. I hate whole or sliced big mushrooms, but I like the taste and sometimes can have them chopped up fine. It's a texture thing. It doesn't actually have mushrooms, just stuff to make it taste similar. Apparently, after looking at the package, they mainly use sardines for the seasoning. I don't normally use seasoning packets for any sort of instant noodles, because of the salt content. However, this seems like it's lighter on it than some. Plus, I've realized that I sometimes don't get enough salt. Those levels are usually low in blood tests for me. On MyFitnessPal, I often don't make it to the recommended amount. So, it's probably ok. Just having the udon and broth would be best on my stomach, I think. I was thinking about adding some old duck bacon, but was weary of it. There's cherry pie, too. That might be soothing. 

International Museum Day!

Museums are important, so they definitely deserve a day celebrating them. The holiday started in 1977, and is coordinated by the International Council of Museums or ICOM. Every year has a theme. Last year's was Museums and Contested Histories: Saying the Unspeakable in Museums. This year it's Hyperconnected Museums: New Approaches, New Publics. 

Today's been roughly the same temp as yesterday, which has been nice. Not very sunny, though. Saw a rabbit in the backyard. Apparently, they've taken over that area. We see them every so often. They're big and fat looking, which is good to see. There's a big black cat that likes to roam the backyard, and I think it caught a baby rabbit at one point. It was sad to watch, but that was the only time I've seen it happen. It's good to see that they're not attacked often. I got up late again, but I'm trying to be kind to myself and not get upset about it. I just try to get what I can done. I also have some sort of cold, so it's understandable that my body would need extra sleep. 

Went through the first German lesson in the last section in Duolingo. The theme was business. I found it interesting that 'ware' (pronounced as: varuh) means merchandise or product. It makes sense that English carried that for words like warehouse or housewares. So, merchandise house or house products. I find the roots interesting. There was one part of the lesson that was a little difficult at first. It was a different way of thinking about a certain thing. I think I only missed 2 or 3 altogether today, which isn't bad. The next lesson is on more future tenses. After that, it'll be sports. I don't think they've covered sports yet in prior levels. 

Read more of the manga, Hajimete no Aku or My First Devil. Jiro has an invention that heats up a room. The problem is it increases the heat over time. It also was made to make the enemy to take off their armor. So, everyone started taking off their clothes. He couldn't turn it off, because it was too hot. The next invention was one where they switched souls. A fellow male student, Kimura, wanted to look like his brother before going out on a date with someone he met online. He had used his brother's pic for his profile. Pochi, the talking dog, was with them next to the machine, and they were about to wait for his brother, when the machine accidentally turned on. Jiro ended up in Pochi, Kimura was in Jiro, and Pochi was in Kimura. Then, Jiro's sister broke the machine, so they were stuck like that. Hits to the head, apparently, switched them back, but it was the classic cliche of switching bodies. They also played Mahjong at one point. Jiro didn't really understand it, but won anyways. They were playing the game with penalties. Whoever lost had to do whatever the winner told them to. They were thinking he'd ask for something really evil and/or perverted. (He isn't perverted, but Kyouko always thinks he is.) He just asked for another round, because he thought it was fun.

Didn't do much for cleaning today. Just the cat stuff and laundry, mainly. With this cold, I really didn't want to bother with dusting today. 

Finished watching Mystic Whispers on Netflix. It was ok. The last episodes weren't as great as the first couple. It was still entertaining. I'm thinking of starting The Rain next. I think it's Danish. I probably should be watching the ones I've already started beforehand, but I'm tempted by it.

Youtube: 

Gintama:

Charlotte:
The song really fits, but the dub of the anime in the last few seconds isn't great. Might be because I'm used to the sub version and like the original VA's voices. 

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom):

 

International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia

Today's International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia or IDAHOT. It's also against other 'phobias' in the community. The organization that started it said they didn't want the name to be too long, and wanted an acronym people could remember easily. It's also against acephobes and arophobes. I'm aro ace. I don't particularly like when others lump them together and call it aphobia. That's literally 'fear of a'. Doesn't make as much sense. Plus, asexual and aromantic are 2 different things (it's somewhat rare to be both), and they get lumped together too often. Often, there is arophobia within the ace community. Some by ace activists themselves, which hurts a little more. I haven't come across acephobia in specific aro spaces online, but they seem to have a quieter presence. Also, it's against enbyphobia, which is also referred to as exorsexism. I'm enby, and while we are under the trans umbrella (and also experience transphobia), there's an added layer of hate against people who aren't apart of the binary. Hopefully, someday, there will be no more haters. I changed my fb profile frame to an IDAHOT theme. Just to let people know about it. Shared that pic on Instagram, too. Some countries actually have special national activist programs going on today. Not sure if the US has any going on. World IBD is coming up soon, too. That would be another good one to raise awareness for.

If I offended anyone with yesterday's post, I apologize. I just needed to get it off my chest, so to speak. I probably won't mention that (at least the word) again. Exorsexism or enbyphobia can be disturbing, especially in your own community. I should have probably framed it more like that instead.

Not many people showed up to the local trans meeting last night. More than last time, at least. With that one there was just Dad, me, and one other person. This time we had 5. One of which hadn't been there in a while. Ze is also enby. Ze/zir are their pronouns. Hopefully, I'm getting that right. There are apparently a few ways to spell that pronoun, and I don't know which way ze spells it. I've heard it before, so it's common enough. With learning German, 'sie' is pronounced as 'zee' (some people spell this pronoun as zee), it's used for she, they, and a formal you. Makes me wonder if this is where that pronoun came from. It'd be interesting. I brought that up, and ze seemed interested in that, too. He is 'er' which is pronounced similar to saying the word 'air' in English. Found out recently that 'er' can also be used for the word 'it'. That sounds somewhat demeaning. Most of the time 'es' (like pronouncing the letter 's') is 'it'. 

Pride came up. We most likely will have a booth. Might have lemonade or iced tea there, as well as candy. That would be nice on a hot day. Not sure how we'll do the clothing exchange. We ended up talking about my ace group, which I didn't expect. That group online has gone quiet since last December. That's a long time. I was mostly the only one actively posting stuff for a while. At some point I got tired of being the only one. No one really showed up to the offline meetings, too. One person that I knew showed up a few times, and yes he is demi and therefore on the ace spectrum, but it felt more like a solidarity thing. I gave up on that close to a year ago. There was one person that joined the online group around November, and was really wanting to jump start the group. I let them try. They posted a few times, and then disappeared. They're still a member, but never heard from them again...We still have 17 online members, and I'm surprised they haven't dropped it. The group last night suggested I still hand out my flyers from last year. If anything, I can educate (there's info on what being ace means on it) or let another ace know that there are others here. I just remembered that I never mentioned the meeting place or time for the offline one, so it might still work. I do mention the fb group. I don't know...I think only 2 or 3 were taken last year. 

I want to get some Pride-related clothes and other merch soon. The only things I have is a 3' x 5' ace flag, a small genderqueer flag, a rainbow wristband (it was free, but it's falling apart), and maybe a rainbow colored strange looking necklace. That's it. Nothing like shirts. One of the members last night brought up that she bought some Pride gear, and that reminded me of it. It'd be cool to have something related to most of my 'labels'. Stuff that I could wear during the rest of the year, too. I can be more out and proud. I do have a list I compiled last year of online Pride-related retailers. I was thinking about it last year too, but never got to it. It'd be great if I did before Pride month this year. Those retailers sell that stuff year-round, so it's not like as soon as Pride season is over they suddenly shut down. However, it is their biggest season, and there might be more deals. 

We went to Shari's afterwards. I don't normally like carrot cake, but I thought I would try theirs. They were out of them. I got their cheesecake with strawberries instead. It was nice, dense, and rich. Smaller than I expected, but that might be a good thing. Tons of strawberries, so that was a plus.

I stayed up a little too late, so I got up later than I'd like. Today has been really cool weather wise, which is nice compared to a few days ago. I feel like I have the energy to do more when it's like this. I woke up feeling sick, though. There's something going on with my nose and throat. My nose especially hurts. I know I get sick easier and more often than I used to, but it's still annoying. The heat may have messed with me. 

Finished the section for German. There's only one more section left, which has 20 lessons. There's a lot more than it seems, because after finishing the first 'level' for those lessons, I plan to go back to the beginning and level out everything. There are 5 levels for every lesson. I somehow already finished 3 levels of the basic stuff, even though I didn't go back yet. Maybe it's because I've gotten so far? 

Read more of the manga, Helck. It's gotten really serious lately. They were going to kill all the winged mutated humans, but have decided to save them somehow instead. Vamirio realized her uneasiness around Helck was really her sensing how he felt. He didn't want to kill his old friends, but was steeling himself in order to save the demons. There does seem to be ways of breaking the king's spell. Edil broke away from it on his own for a while. When Helck hugged Alicia, in the chapter I read, she managed to hug back. She's still in there. Should be interesting to see how it turns out.

Started dusting my bedroom. Did all of my nightstand, the bed's headboard behind it, and part of the dresser under the window. I hadn't washed the shallow silver dish that I use for my earplugs in a long time. It might have caused me problems. It looked shinier after I washed it (instead of just dusting it), which was nice to see. There was a very thick layer of dust on the nightstand. Probably not healthy, considering it's near my head when I sleep. It's better now, at least. 

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.