Tu B'Shevat 5776

Mood:

The holiday starts tonight, and ends tomorrow night. 'Tu' stands for 2 Hebrew letters that add up to 15. (Gematria is a numerology based on Hebrew letters. Certain meanings can be derived from it.) It falls on the 15th of the month of Shevat. (That's where the 'Tu' comes from.) 5776 is the year we're in on the Jewish calendar. It's also known as the New Year of the Trees. People celebrate it by eating fruits and nuts, planting trees, and having special seders. Seder lit. means 'order', but is also a special ritual meal. You go through symbolic foods/drinks in order. Many people are familiar with the Passover seder. For this one, you go through the seasons, try at least a certain amount of fruits/nuts from certain categories, drink at least 4 cups of wine (or juice, if you're like me), etc. Basically showing appreciation of nature.This seder has its roots in Kabbalah and it's having a pretty recent revival. Many people refer to this holiday as the Jewish Arbor Day.

Started tapering down the prednisone last Thursday. I was feeling more and more antsy or jittery, and very sleepy. Sometimes at the same time. Which is a weird feeling. That's gotten a bit better since I went down a pill. My nausea is a lot better, and most of the time it doesn't pop up. I think it's mostly when I eat too fast, now. I still occasionally have joint pain. Not as bad as before, though. I still feel a strange pain in my chest. The same one since I started taking it. I don't think it's a really big thing, and maybe that will go down as I taper more off of it, too. It might have to do with my stomach. I don't know.They did say it can cause stomach pain, but I'm not used to this kind. I have felt a weird muscle pain. I'm not sure how to describe it.I thought one of the times it felt really bad, my upper right thigh was cramping up horribly. No amount of movement changed it. Lasted for a while. It didn't really have a 'piercing' sort of pain, like I would have with cramps. It felt deeper and like it was searing. I've been getting similar pain more often in my upper right arm. Not as intense. I usually notice it before going to bed. I've read that it might affect people's muscles. So, I guess I'll just have to see what happens over time. Also, as I went down a pill, I noticed that I'm getting more headaches. Took me a while to fall asleep last night, because it just wouldn't ease up.

My gastroenterologist wanted me to schedule an actual physical appointment with her for in a couple of weeks. I say physical, because all the appointments since the end of July have been over the phone. It's a trek to get over to that clinic. So, I thought I might try to make one for the beginning of next month, and called them. They said the closest available appointment would be in mid-March. She's apparently very popular.It's quite a ways out, so they said they'd confer with her nurses to see if there could be a closer date. A couple hours later I got a voicemail from them. They said they made an appointment time for me on January 25th. At least a couple of things wrong with this.First, they made my appointment for me, and told me I had to confirm it. I wasn't sure if they threw out the other appointment I had made. They could have just suggested the date, or said call us back we might have a better time. Also, this would make it earlier than even my gastro wanted it to be. So, I called back. The person on the other end was very apologetic, and switched the appointment date to the same March one again. Not sure how my gastro's going to take it. She might be used to that sort of thing anyways. Especially with how popular she seems. 

I have a few things that I might want to bring up while I'm there. It might just be easier in person with some of it. I noticed for a while after I lost so much weight, that my abdomen/belly is going down at a slower rate than everything else. This scared me at first, knowing about Mom's abdominal tumor. I know it wasn't the same, but still scared me.The sit-ups have been helping a bit. Another sign it's not what she had. I noticed about a week ago, that when I turn to the side and look in a mirror, my spine seems to do a weird 's' thing. (Or, something similar.) I never had problems with scoliosis as a kid. We were tested each year, and I was fine every time. But, right where I see the most 'belly' or thicker part, my spine seems to be a lot more concave. I'm actually getting partially defined abs, because of all the sit-ups. So, it was interesting to see. It almost seems like my spine is pushing that stuff out, and making it appear that I have more of a belly than I do. Finding this out at first, I thought it was very interesting, and almost reassuring in a way. But, once I thought about it more, it seems like it sounds a bit serious. I've heard that IBD can mess with your bones in general, possibly stripping away nutrients from it. They can become more brittle this way, too. Some meds for it can actually dissolve bone. So, this got me a bit more worried. I'll bring this up then. It might not be a big deal, but at least she might look into it. 

Another thing I want to bring up: do I really have Crohn's or do I have Ulcerative Colitis? Everything seems to point to Crohn's, including the colonoscopy/endoscopy. Except for that one IBD blood test that indicated I had UC. She told me that test can be inaccurate or produce false positives. So, I want to know for sure.I know that there can be Crohn's that just affects the colon, and UC only affects the colon. The only difference with these, really, is that one (Crohn's) affects more layers of it than the other. Also, Crohn's might be in more patches, rather than one section. If someone with UC has their colon taken out, they're a lot more likely to stay in remission for the rest of their lives. With Crohn's, it might travel, and slow the progression of the disease. This is at least what I've learned so far. According to the colonoscopy/endoscopy, my stomach and part of my duodenum were slightly affected as well. (Not nearly as much as my colon.) This would be more of an indicator of Crohn's. A lot of the treatments are the same, at least. I just would like a more definitive feel/answer for it. Might not get one, but I at least want to try and see. I might ask for a barium x-ray (I think) of my small intestines. Sometimes that helps with narrowing it down. They can't get to the small intestines with the colonoscopy/endoscopy. They can pretty much get to everywhere but that. Or, she may bring up that type of thing herself at the appointment. That might be partly why she wanted to see me in person, too.So, I don't know. 

I finished figuring out descriptions for my nightmare anthology of short stories, Sweet Endless Terror. I realized I wanted to have more of the description down before I sent it off to be published. I'm actually getting pretty excited about it. Just the idea that I'm going to publish a 2nd book is pretty cool to me!It might take a while for it to be fully approved by both review phases. The first one doesn't take long, and it converts the book into multiple ebook formats. I think they dub it the 'meat grinder'. After it passes that, it's available through the Smashwords catalog. The second phase is manual and more in depth. After it's approved through that (it usually takes a couple of weeks for new books), it goes into their 'premium' catalog and gets distributed almost everywhere. Like I mentioned before, I'm thinking of having it as a pre-order first before it goes 'live'. They go through the review processes slightly differently, but you still have to be approved by both in the end. So, I'll see how that goes.  

For Shabbat, I did the same thing I did last time. I stayed off of electronics, and started/ended it on time. It still felt good.Kind of refreshing in many ways. I read about a third of Sanctuary by Faye Kellerman, Friday night. It's a much thicker book than the last one I read from the series. I just started it that night. It's really good, and I didn't want to stop reading it, but I started to get really sleepy at a certain point.I like this one more than the last one, too. The killer's identity is a lot more hidden, and you don't know what they're thinking. With the last one, Day of Atonement, they kept going back and forth between the detectives/family's perspective, and the killer's/kidnapped kid's perspective. It was slightly annoying at times.This one's a lot more straightforward, and it feels like there's more mystery this way. So far a wealthy family of 4 went missing. The mother and father had been found, and were killed and buried in the mountains close to home. The 2 sons are still missing. Something seemed off about the home, too. Another family, don't know if they are related with the current case, decided to stay with Peter and Rina. (Peter's the main detective in the series, and Rina's his wife. She occasionally helps out. Especially when it involves the orthodox Jewish community.) It was a mom and her 5 kids. They were trying to take a vacation away from the dad, since he was acting strangely. The dad was a diamond dealer. Same as the father in the current case. He was killed near his home, and stuffed in a locker. As soon as Peter heard about this the mom and kids disappeared. The car they had rented had stopped on a freeway, and had slashed tires. There was no one inside when Peter investigated. It's interesting that it might be related. I hope they're not dead, too. 

It was also a special Shabbat called: Shabbat Shirah or Shabbat of Song. Both the Torah and Haftarah portions have songs in them. The Torah one looks really interesting in the actual scroll. It's stylized a bit more with wide spaces in between each line. This one's the song sung by the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea, and the Egyptians drowning in it. The Haftarah one has the Song of Deborah. Both of these are pretty violent. In the Passover seder, when we're going over the story, it's bittersweet when the Egyptians are defeated. Basically happy that we're free, but disturbed that anyone died. But, in this part of the Torah, there seemed to be no sorrowful response to it. Maybe the rabbis elaborated on it for the seder. Or, maybe that comes up later...The Deborah one was just very blunt. Some people observe Shabbat Shirah by singing more songs, and playing tambourines. 

Read and studied from the Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides. Maimonides is always interesting, but the type with this book is really small. Might need a magnifying glass next time...The first part was on the concept that we're made in the image of G-d. It's not that we physically look like him. I tend to refer to G-d as him, because I'm used to it. But, many refer to him as her, as well. Some have other pronouns. Just depends on how people want to refer to him. According to Maimonides, it's our intellect. We have the ability to create, think, study the world, etc. That's how we're alike. I've always liked that idea, too. 

Havdalah was a bit easier this time.Might be because I'm getting more used to doing it on my own. I'm noticing that the candle burns up pretty quickly. Not exactly surprising, considering it has multiple wicks. A bit sad, because I got it in Israel.At least it's being used now. 

I started the 2nd season of Haikyuu on Friday. Interesting start so far. Also, the 2nd season of Ansatsu Kyoushitsu or Assassination Classroom started recently. It was really good during its first season. Started watching a brand new anime a couple of weeks ago called Divine Gate. It looks promising. A bit much all at once right now, though. (Kind of similar to Kekkai Sensen that way. They hit you with a bunch of things, and then you understand more as you go along.) Fairy Tail started a new arc called Fairy Tail Zero. It's about the beginning of the guild, Fairy Tail. I like the founder, Mavis, a lot. She's very intelligent, unique, positive, had a horrible childhood, believes in fairies, tends to not wear shoes, looks ethereal, tough, and more. She spent a good chunk of her life virtually alone, except for one friend, on in island. So far this arc has been interesting, too. The current Shogun arc in Gintama has been amazing!Really high quality, awesome fights, nice and short flashbacks, very touching, the humor is still there (although toned down a bit), lots of surprises, and more. It seems to be one of their best arcs so far. I think it'll end during the next episode. Should be interesting to see what happens with it afterwards.

Started a manga called 6 no Trigger, or Trigger of 6 on Monday. (Some translate it to 6 Trigger.) It has a very interesting concept behind it, but has been violent, too. Some of the violent ones can be good. As long as there's a reason behind it. This one's about an assassin, named Tsubame, who shares his body with 3 other people. They switch control of him by switching to different mechanical arms. His appearance changes with each one, too. One of them is a quiet little kid named Penguin, who has amazing sniper skills. Another one's named Washi, and he has a huge gattling gun crafted to his shoulder to mow down his enemies. And, the last one's a woman named Suzume who wields dual pistols. Tsubame prefers rifles and martial arts. Should be interesting to find out how Tsubame got that way. It's a relatively short manga, but should still be interesting. 

Started the manga, Asklepios on Friday. It seems interesting, too. An order has been sent out to hunt down the existence of an Asklepios, a Greek demon G-d of medicine, whom the Church believes is practicing unorthodox methods. Buzz is the head of a family of doctors (I think he's the last one), and the Church believes his family are those demons. So, he's gone into hiding, and has helped people silently along the way. Every time he helps people they sing his praises, and he immediately runs away. He thinks the Church is always out to get him, so he wants to keep a very low profile. He's terrified of the officers that are sent by them to the towns he's stayed at. He also refused to do surgery until someone showed up to protect him, and got shot. She wants him to become more visible, and boldly help as many people as he can. Apparently his family has interesting medical abilities. They can monitor people's vital signs just by looking at them. Buzz seems very skittish, but that's to be expected. This one also seems to be short. 

Also, went to a town hall meeting about the trees that were being torn done in the greenbelt behind us. It was more like a demonstration/q and a thing. A few charts displayed with people to explain, a huge layout of the roads for the neighborhood and area, many officials around those explaining things, and people asked them questions and voiced their concerns. Interesting to see the house blown up like it was, to have a better view of what's behind us, and to see what they plan to do. The mayor was there and talked a bit to us. She had similar concerns. She couldn't be apart of the project, because she lived within the area. But, she can relay concerns, suggest things, etc. now. They do plan to tear down all of the greenbelt behind us. There's going to be a straight long road behind it. The mayor said she'll suggest that they put a fence up on the side that faces the new road. Beyond that road, in the future, there's going to be a new development. They said it'll take a few years for the project to finish. A lot of people seemed concerned about it. Many thought it was inevitable, but still find something wrong with it. Some are concerned they'll end up being flooded. The wood piles that I thought they were going to burn last week, are being turned into mulch instead. That's a lot better for everyone. I wonder if they'd be giving some of it away to the neighborhood? There were also about 4 different kinds of cookies, and water bottles at the meeting. So, yay! Calm people down with cookies and water. 

I got to playing my clarinet this past week, too. Felt good to get back to it. I'm getting closer to finishing the original character expression meme of Junko, from my first novel. Studied a couple more kanji and their compounds. Translated more of the You Maga article. This time it's about what parents should make for school lunches, if anything. 

Hummus Day!

Mood:

This was yesterday, but why not keep celebrating it? I love hummus.I used to be slightly afraid of it for some reason. I think the first time I really tried it, was when my mom made it from scratch for the first time. That was quite a way to start! Hummus is a dip made out of ground up chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and a little salt. You can add things to customize it, but it's amazing by itself! Some people swear by certain amounts of the ingredients, though. (Like some like more tahini, and others like more garlic.) It's used in many dishes, too. It's a Middle Eastern food. When I went to Israel a few years ago, it was everywhere. Some of the hotels had huge tubs (more like vats) of the stuff at the dining hall for breakfast and lunch.It was used in falafel pita sandwiches. (Falafels are fried ground up chickpea patties. So, it's kind of like putting chickpeas with more chickpeas...) By the way, with every shawarma shop, there was a falafel place across the street from it. It was kind of surreal. They had a lot of both shops. Shawarma are strips/shavings of meat (usually lamb, beef, turkey, chicken, or a mixture) that came from a hunk of that same meat that was roasted slowly over an open pit. They put it in pita sandwiches, along with a bunch of other stuff. Similar to gyros. Some also add a healthy amount of hummus to it. Both the shawarma and falafel pitas were awesome!The hummus in general seemed to taste much better than here in the states. (At least, the packaged stuff here.) It's not bad here, but it certainly has a more 'fresh' and savory taste over there. Kind of hard to explain the difference...

Had kind of a rough week.I ended up being painfully blocked up last weekend. It was close to how I felt about a year ago. So, I tried dulcolax in its pill form. It seemed too 'gentle' at first, so the next day I had another dose. It really hit me about that time. I think since I was so blocked up, it needed extra time to go through my system. I'm still feeling its effects.At least I'm getting cleaned out pretty well. Still feels like I have a bit more of it left...

I threw up big time really late Sunday night (or early Monday morning, however you look at it). It was so bad, I almost choked a few times.Seemed to be everything I ate for the last couple of days came up. It takes a lot for me to throw up, because I take omeprazole to prevent it. Had a problem in the past (they never figured out why) where I would throw up all day without warning or feeling like it was going to happen. So, it has to be an extreme urge to do so. I felt quite a bit better afterwards, so I suppose I really needed it. I still occasionally feel like I need to throw up again, but it hasn't happened since. I wonder if that means that it'll happen soon, and it's just gaining more of that urge as time goes by? I hope not. 

I ordered my meds, but was worried about one of them going through. I was out of refills for it. It's extremely important for me.I'd say it's probably a bit more important than the omeprazole. My new primary care doc emailed me, and said she filled out a new prescription for it and that she hopes to see me soon. I haven't seen her yet. I think I'm due for another physical, too. Plus, I have some other things to talk about with her. She said she knows of the importance of this one, and that she wants to help me with staying on it. Also, asked me how I was doing with it. She already sounds 100 times better than my previous one! I was so happy that she ok'd it!I'm thinking of possibly seeing her next month...We'll see. 

Oh, that med just came in the mail today. I ordered 2 months' worth, but got 3 months' worth. That's $3 more. Might not seem like much, but it's not what I was expecting.Also, this med goes stale at the 2 month mark. It loses its potency, and won't do its job. So, it's like giving me a month's worth of bad pills and paying that extra $3 for them...Doesn't make sense.I'm definitely going to email her back now, and take those meds to the pharmacy to get that changed. It's ridiculous. Should get what I ordered, and not more.

Another thing that was weighing on my mind was applying for a forbearance on my student loans. I sent an application form to them at the end of February. They only allow people to send it through the regular mail, or fax it. Didn't hear a thing about it since. In fact, I was still getting warnings.So, I sent out another one a few days ago, and emailed them just before I sent it that day. The next day, I got a reply back saying they located my form from February, processed it, and approved it. Saying I should be good until next February. So, what? Was it just sitting on someone's desk collecting dust during that time? That kind of pisses me off!Although, I'm very grateful that it went through and was approved. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. They recently merged with another company, and changed their name. So, maybe there was some confusion that way? At least, I don't have to think about it now.

I've reread and edited all but the last short story from my nightmare anthology. Kind of cool knowing I've only got one more to go through.Then, I have to put them all together in one document, figure out its overall title, and do the cover art. Yay! 

Started reading Magico on Monday. I rarely say this, but it's really cute! Although, there definitely is a serious dark side. The humor blends will the cuteness. It's not sickeningly sweet, either. There's another series by the same name, but it's about soccer...Seems a little odd. They only differentiate them by the mangaka's (manga artist/creator) name in parentheses next to the title. Emma has a special power/curse in her heart that activated when she turned 16. Apparently, it has the potential to destroy the world. She meets Shion who saves her from a king that was forcing her to marry him. A part of that special power attracts most men to her, and makes most women admire her. The guys of the town were fighting over her. Anyways, Shion saved her and took her to his home that he can transport to through a dragon. They live in a world of magic. He fell for her when they were kids. She was being held captive, and a dense thicket of thorny vines was used as a barrier that kept her from escaping. Along with a powerful guard. Shion was on the verge of starvation, and Emma had snuck out of the house to look past the thicket. She saw him, and he asked her for food. She found a loaf of bread and gave it to him through those thorns, harming herself in the process. The guard found out and may have punished her, too. She doesn't remember this, though. It's kind of sad...Anyways, Shion says the Magico ritual may end the curse, but there are many steps to it. First one is for them to get married. After she attacks him while asleep, she agrees to it. She might be falling for him too. Shion has a talking cat with him, and he sometimes banters back and forth with him. Shion's also supposed to be one of the greatest mages, too. This seems very unique and interesting.

Started reading Hell's Kitchen today. Apparently, Shichifuku Mafia doesn't update too often. I've caught up with everything in that manga. Looks like it might be once every 2 months...Hell's Kitchen is interesting so far. He seems a lot more 'demonic' than Sebastian from Kuroshitsuji. (That's saying quite a bit.) Someone recommended this saying people would like it, if they liked Kuroshitsuji. Dogma is the Earl of Poor Eating, and comes from Hell. Poor eating doesn't quite fit him...He kind of seems the opposite. He wants to eat the soul of a 'true chef', and has tried but failed with the pros. None of them satisfied him. He said they all reeked of greed, arrogance, and ignorance. He eventually chooses Satoru who's a middle schooler who seems to not have any ambitions. He always tries to get average grades, is average at sports, and is limiting himself with everything he does. Dogma wants to train him to be the perfect chef, in order to prepare him as the most 'delicious' soul he's eaten. Dogma can control him like he's a puppet, and has already pushed him into some cooking competitions. Satoru does all the cooking himself, with the help of Dogma giving him directions. (No one else can see Dogma.) He works him mercilessly. If he refuses to do things, Dogma threatens him with letting his minions eat him or sending him to Hell. But, Satoru is starting to get interested in cooking. Dogma has all the knowledge and experiences of the chefs he ate the souls of, so he knows what he's doing. He accidentally got Satoru into an elite cooking school. Satoru just wanted to see if they had free cooking utensils, then he got the idea to see how one of the cooking classes is like. He thought Dogma would find a better candidate if he saw them. That backfired, and Dogma wanted to challenge them. When he won, he thought the others weren't fit enough for it. The head of the department wanted Satoru to attend the school after they won, but Dogma (through Satoru) said no. Later Satoru, after some arguing, accepted the offer. He's the youngest student there now. 

Finished Haikyuu. It was pretty good. I just didn't think that one match would last most of the season. You can feel the pain of the players at the end, though. Very good at conveying the emotions. There's going to be a 2nd season soon. They say online that it'll be in the Fall of this year. I'll probably watch it to see how they improve. 

Went back to watching Bleach. I might stick to it for now. It's interesting. Events around the time I watched it last time shaped the show a bit for me, and I didn't want to go back to it for a while. I think at this point in the story, it's good now. 

National Peach Cobbler Day!

Mood:

This was actually on Monday, but it's one of my fave types of cobbler!I don't see it too often at restaurants, and only occasionally at our local markets. (Like, it's a seasonal thing...) I think cherry, blueberry, a mix of berries, apple etc. are a lot more common. I love peaches in pretty much any form, though.It was National Pecan Day on Tuesday, which is one of my fave nuts. It's a close tie with walnuts. Yesterday was Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. I used to be obsessed with that when I was around 10 up to my early teens.It definitely should be remembered, but what's happening currently (with the Jewish community around the world), for better or worse, is also important. I like to think about more of the positive stuff now. Life is important too.Today's Bat Appreciation Day. Bats are awesome! Glad they have a day devoted to them.

Weather has been a bit odd lately. Monday was rainy, cold, and there was a sight fog. Dark and gloomy looking out. A few days before it was actually somewhat warm. It was cold for most of the rest of the week. Heavy downpours at times. But, at other times, it was sunny. Which was very deceptive, because it made it look warm out.

I managed to get one of my 2-mile walks in yesterday. It felt so nice!The sun was shining, but it was still cold. I went after dinner, so the sun was just starting to set. The mountains looked amazing. They were bathed in a golden foggy glow. The flowers smelled amazing, too. I didn't bump into any of my neighborhood friends, but a cat jumped out of nowhere to greet me. It certainly startled me.It really wanted to be petted. Towards the end, there were more people out. One lady managed to keep up with me when we first met, but did a weird loop-de-loop around an area I usually just walk all the way around. I actually ended up being much faster than her, and when we met up again (she's was actually walking the wrong way), she said: "You're fast! This is quite a work out!" The weird thing is I was going at a somewhat leisurely pace, taking in all the stuff around me.I get a lot of people that tell me on my walk that I'm really fast by myself. I don't know...My 'leisurely' pace when I'm by myself is what I've read to be a brisk walk. Sometimes I feel like going faster, though. It depends on how I'm feeling, and if the music I listen to during them is really energizing/fast/motivating/etc.

I'm doing 20 sit-ups twice a day this week. I feel like the sit-ups are working again. Yay!Also, trying to stick more to the way I want to eat, again. During the holiday I was a bit more lax about it. 

Managed to make every dish I had planned to during Passover. They all were pretty good. Friday night, for Shabbat, I made leek and potato patties from Rhodes. Basically, big and thick versions of leek and potato latkes. It was my first time cooking with leeks. Very interesting. The potato took a lot longer to soften enough to mash than what I expected.(Longer than what the directions mentioned, too.) Luckily, I started pretty early, so it didn't matter as much. I did it early as a precaution, too.They were finished just in time. Not too late or early. Had lots of garlic, which is always a plus to me. 

For lunch last Saturday, I made 'Mina de Espinaka' or Matzah and Spinach Pie. It also had feta. So, it was very similar to spanakopita. This is traditionally made by Greek/Turkish Jews during Passover. I had to scale the recipe down from 8 servings to 1-2 servings. Since there wasn't enough matzah to cover the edges of the pan, it made a golden egg ring around the whole thing.That in itself was interesting. The matzah ended up being kind of hard still (even though they told me to soak them in milk until they were soft beforehand), so it was easier just to hold pieces of it rather than eat it with a knife and fork. It went everywhere, but it was so good!If I were to make it again, I'd add even more feta to it. Parts of it were lacking a bit. 

The holiday ended at sundown during that day. I was starting to go through a bit of withdrawal.Legs didn't feel good, I was getting dizzy, antsy, things weren't sitting too well, and more. So, I really needed a lot of chametz at the very least when it ended. We went to Red Robin to celebrate the end, and for a 'chametz fest'.I got their fish sandwich, side salad instead of fries, and Dad and I had an onion ring tower to share. The sandwich was pretty good, but it looked like it was twice as big as usual.The fillets were huge and had lots of breading. The bun was nice and fluffy. The onion rings were just right with the breading and crispness. I asked for bleu cheese dressing for my salad. The salad itself was good, but their bleu cheese dressing's intense. Similar intense flavor as what's on their Bleu Ribbon burger. After that we went to Safeway, and grabbed cream filled chocolate covered donuts. After not having chametz for so long, they were even more 'heavenly' than usual. So good!A feel so much better now that I'm back to eating normally. 

On Sunday, Dad went through some more of the junk we had in the garage that was on top of a coach. For years, we've piled up junk like fried electronics, dead fans, lamp shades, and other stuff on top of that coach. (It also needs to go, after everything's taken off of it.) She found one of my boxes filled with stuff from when I was in college. Some of the stuff I forgot about. So, it was kind of like a treasure chest.I thought I had lost my little James Dean poster, but it was in that box. There was a grogger or noise maker we use during Purim, only I don't remember ever getting it.It's wooden, colorful, and looks old-fashioned. I'm keeping that, too. Found a dreidel that used to light up and sing as you spun it, but the batteries are dead.It's still a nice dreidel, though. Also, found my bouncy dreidel. It has a big windy pink spring at the bottom, the body is purple, and you're supposed to wind up the top (it's pink and purple) then press the big yellow button and watch it fly. It still works. I remember that it was slightly hazardous to play with in my dorm room or in the hallway.Sometimes I'd let it go from my bed (in one of the dorms I stayed in), which was at the highest part of a bunk bed (there wasn't a bottom part, so I had to climb every time I wanted to go to bed or study up there). It was cool to see it jump up as high as I was and bump into things. Also found my toolbox. I thought I lost it a long time ago. I also didn't remember that my emergency sewing kits were in it. (I've been looking for them for a while.) The tools themselves looked like they were barely used. So, I'm definitely keeping them. There was a piece of paper filled with nice comments from people who were on my dorm (it was a different one, I think) floor that was given to me on my 21st birthday. It was really sweet.I had forgotten about it, too. Just for sentimental reasons, I'll probably keep it. Also, found an old pic of Buster and another of Shadow. Buster was our beagle, and Shadow was a snowshoe cat. Both of whom have passed away.So, I'm keeping those pics, too. They were nice pics of them, and it's good to remember them by. Although, with one of them, the corners are falling apart. 

Dad stuffed a lot of the junk we didn't want in the car, filled it as much as she could, and we took it all to the dump. It was kind of cool to watch how far things flung when you threw stuff on the 'pile' there. Broke a few things when they hit it. Felt kind of good to do.There's more stuff to go through in the garage, and we'll probably go to the dump again at some point to take care of them. We went to Starbuck's afterwards, and I had an iced chai and chocolate chip cookie. I was hungry, and it was really good. 

Later, we went to Safeway to stock up on things. Had dinner beforehand there. I got a rice bowl with sweet and sour chicken, a chicken egg roll, and a drink. The rice is kitniyot, so it was nice to get back to that, too. The sauce to my chicken was very sweet, and there wasn't much 'sour' to it.Most of it went into the rice rather than on the chicken. The person who filled up my order, really drowned the stuff with it. She's always a bit odd. She loves my hair, and usually says so. It feels like it's in a creepy way, like she wants it for herself...The egg roll was slightly burnt, but really good. A neighborhood friend showed up after we had eaten, and tried to talk with us. Neither of us were all that into talking, and she seemed to ramble on and on about things. (Some things that got on my nerves.) She eventually stopped and asked about something, I sighed, and said it's a long story. She seemed to get the picture, and left not too long after that. That's like the 2nd or 3rd time we've bumped into that person at Safeway's lounge area, and all those times it was while we were eating...

Dad spent some of her spring break at home this week. She just left for Arizona really early in the morning yesterday. She's going to have her 2nd and last phase of GRS or Gender Reassignment Surgery done on Monday. I sadly won't be going with her this time. Hopefully, everything will go well.She called me during the early afternoon yesterday saying she made it, and that nothing crazy happened on the way. Although, apparently they took her through a separate line through security. She didn't have to take her shoes and jewelry off. Didn't have to take her laptop out, either. She doesn't really know why she seemed to have special treatment...But, that still sounds cool and a nicer way to go through. She's taking a few days off after she comes back from Arizona to recover. I think it might take a while, even though it's a bit more minor. They said it's a 2-hour surgery. The 1st phase was about 5 hours. I'm still nervous about how things will turn out, but I think she's with good people. The nurses were incredibly nice to me. Hopefully, she'll also get to sightsee a bit before the surgery. 

I went over and edited the first 2 short stories of my nightmare anthology on Monday. They're better than I remembered them to be. Now even more so. I think they were written in 2 very different styles compared to the rest of the stories. Which might make it interesting.

日本語

I studied the kanji: 漁, 共. When 漁 is pronounced as 漁る or あさ.る (asa.ru): to fish; to look for, search for, hunt for, scavenge, scrounge, look through, rummage through. As りょう (ryou): fishing, gathering seafood (e.g. clams, seaweed). ぎょ (gyo) is only used in compounds, not by itself. 共 pronounced as とも (tomo): (pref) together with; same; (suf) (uk- usually in kana not kanji) both, all, neither, none; (uk) including... As ども (domo): (suf) (humble) first- person plural (or singular); (derogatory) 2nd and 3rd-person plural (implies speaker is of higher status than those referred to). きょう (kyou) is only used in composed, not by itself. As 共に or とも.に (tomo.ni): (uk) together, jointly; (uk) (often as ...とともに [totomoni]) at the same time, with, as..., including, along with; (uk) both. Next time I'll go over its list of common compounds. There's a lot. I might be on this one for a bit. But, it's especially important to go over the really common ones, too. 

I went on JapaneseClass' site a few times already this week. Mostly went over the practice stuff. Had a lot of long 'combos' during it, and made it into the top 20 for the day every time. Not bad. Next time I want to spend more time on chapter tests. I'm trying to go back over old ones to get perfect scores. Also, to understand the ones I missed a bit better. Also, looking more at their entries for every kanji, vocab, compound I don't know. They give definitions, pronunciations, how to draw them, what searches look like on Google for that term (that's always interesting to see), practice sentences, news related to it, and other things. It's pretty extensive, and has recently helped in my understanding of them more. 

It's not where I go to when I study normally for each kanji. That's over a few sites. The main list comes from a wikipedia article that has all the jouyou kanji. They're basically the most common. They are a baseline that the Japanese Ministry of Education compiled to be taught for students in primary through secondary school, and list of characters that are permitted on official documents. People who are learning the language focus on it for studying kanji, too. There are 2,136 kanji on the list. (There are a lot more kanji characters out there.) About half of them are taught in primary school, and the other half are taught in secondary school. I've made it to about halfway through what they study in 4th grade. They learn a lot of them by this grade...For every entry, there's usually a bit of history. Plus, how the Chinese use/pronounce it (with different ways in different dialects), as well as the Koreans (they have how they convert it into their alphabet), Vietnamese, Japanese, and a few others. They list their common compounds, occasionally the expressions, and more. It's a pretty good base for it. For every entry they also have a link to more compounds. 

Translated more of a You Maga article I've been going through. I think I have 2 more long sentences to this paragraph. I try to translate it as close to the original meaning as I can. It's very interesting. Read some more articles in Japanese on RocketNews24's original site. I've been reading their English articles for a while, and thought it'd be interesting to see their view on things. The English version focuses on a 'foreigner' perspective, while the original Japanese site is more 'local' centered. It's a slightly different feel. 

Went back to the 2nd season of Hamatora on Tuesday. I'm apparently coming back to a really intense part in the series.It's been a while since I've last watched it. They may have killed off Murasaki, but we're not sure. You're never really sure with any death in that series...Art seems to be becoming indestructible, and has turned a bit crazy to say the least. His number one goal is to kill Nice, although we don't really know why. They used to be really close. People seem to get a bit of a complex around Nice, because he seems to be the best out of all the Minimum holders. Many have tried to become better than him, but have never truly beat him. Art's come close several times during this second season. 

I started watching the new anime called Kekkai Sensen or Bloodline Battlefront last week, and was a bit unsure of it. I really ended up liking it during the 2nd episode this week. It's very interesting, and there's still a lot of unanswered questions.Even about their world as it is and how it came to be. It takes place in New York City. One day it vanished overnight into a mysterious fog. It's now known as Hellsalem's Lot. A breach between Earth and other 'worlds' has opened up over it, trapping New Yorkers and creatures from other dimensions in an impenetrable bubble. They've lived together for years in a world full of crime. A secret society called Libra was formed to keep the 'balance' in town. They all have some sort of special power. Leo, who's a journalist and photographer, is mistakenly recruited into the group. Eventually, they realize his potential, and keep him as a member. He traded his eyes with one of those 'creatures', in exchange (I think) for his sister's life. He can see things no one else can, confuse the enemy by sending out light-based illusions, and other things. He's not the best at fighting, though. He normally has his eyes closed, too. I was wondering why until they talked about him exchanging eyes. His current eyes look really alien-like. I think most of the time he tries to protect them by squinting and sometimes wearing goggles. He has a special monkey, too. They're apparently known for stealing and are extremely fast. (They first met when the monkey stole Leo's wallet.) No human eye can see him when he's running, but Leo can. Many characters are voiced by seiyuu or voice actors who voiced characters from Gintama. So, it's really funny to hear familiar voices coming out of new characters.Plus, this is going on at the same time Gintama came back. And, I think the actress who does both Kagura from Gintama and Happy from Fairy Tail, voices a character in this one. That's 3 happening at the same time. She sounds super busy. But, good for her, if she can do it. This show has a certain jazz-like feel, and I think they also captured a bit of NYC's atmosphere. The animation is really great, and the fight scenes seem to be unique and interesting. Still feels like I've barely scratched the surface with this one, but it's good. 

I'm still unsure about Arslan. I'm not sure why I can't fully get into it.The animation's really top-notch, the story's interesting, and so far I like Arslan himself. I think some of the other characters rub me the wrong way. Some of the characters are drawn a bit oddly, and don't really seem to fit with the other characters' style. It's of course pretty dark. That's to be expected, since it's not the happiest story. I think it may be darker than Fullmetal Alchemist, as far as the story goes. Although, FA was pretty heavy and dark. Feels more 'real', too. The humor seems to be lacking, as well. At least with FA, there was quite a bit of that.I'm only comparing them this way, because they both were created by the same mangaka or manga creator/artist. And, I'm not comparing them based on their specific story lines, because they're quite different. I might drop this one and go back to another anime I've put on hold. 

Went back to watching Haikyuu yesterday. I'm close to finishing the 1st season. Apparently, the 2nd season starts in September. Kind of interesting considering I'm about a year late to it. It'll be interesting to see how the season I'm watching finishes. It's not as great as Kuroko no Basket, but it's good. Both are sports anime. Kuroko no Basket is based on basketball, and Haikyuu is on volleyball. 

I finished reading Pandora Hearts' manga. It was very long, trippy, amazing artwork, kept you guessing the entire time, so many twists and turns, you really start to feel for every character (no matter how twisted they are...And, trust me there are a lot of demented characters in it), some Alice and Wonderland elements, and more. It was a lot better than the anime ended up being. The anime started off just like the manga, but seemed to rush it, and made their own story halfway through. In the manga, they essentially saved the world at the end. There was a point where they made you think that Oz and Alice would never return from the Abyss. Gil managed to outlive most of the other characters since he's a Baskerville, and waited for 100 years for Oz and Alice to come back. They did at the very end. Gil didn't seem to actually age, even though I think the other Baskervilles did. It was a good ending. They got rid of Jack in kind of a gentle way, too. He admitted that he was wrong about Lacie wanting to bring both worlds together. She just loved both worlds as they were, and didn't want to change that. He thought that she was waiting for him, and he'd do anything to fulfill what he thought was her wishes. It was kind of sad in a way. Jack's spirit left his body, and Oz seemed to be able to keep Jack's body. That body will never die out, but is continuously being 'reborn' every time Jack would reach the age he was supposed to die at. His soul would be eaten away a little bit each time. Oz was originally just a plush rabbit, but the Abyss gave him life, and his soul was put into Jack's body when Jack was about to be reborn for the last time. Before he occupied the same body, he was Jack's Chain. Basically a creature from the Abyss that would be like a familiar to its owner. It fights for them, and is forced to obey them through a contract. 

Since I'm going to be alone for Shabbat dinner, I decided to get something only I would love.Dad hates cheese, but I love it. She's not allergic/lactose intolerant, just doesn't like it. I think that's starting to slowly change, though. Anyways, I got a frozen 3-cheese tortellini with pesto bowl. It sounds so amazing!I love tortellini! Shabbat dinner is a little more 'special' compared to the rest of the week. Although, we do have some great dinners normally. I decided to get some blueberry scones for dessert tonight, and for the next few days after. They smelled so good, and I don't think I've seen them too often at Safeway. That'll be awesome, too! They're huge!