Ship of Fools

Mood:

From the Tsubasa Chronicle soundtrack. I think this is usually when they're about to/are traveling through different parallel universes. It's one of the best ones on there. Kind of sad that they might be referred to as 'fools'. I can understand the ship and traveling part. But, I don't really think they're foolish.They just don't know about what it really means to be traveling through these universes. Like, are the people they knew in their world really different in others. They've realized that they may all possess the same 'soul', but they still don't understand much beyond that. And, just because one was a villain in one world, doesn't mean they are in the next. They may be a hero. It's become something more than them just trying to find Sakura's feathers that hold her memories and are scattered to parallel universes.

Went through more of my closet on Sunday. I think I spent about 3 hours trying on clothes and tossing out ones I didn't want.Made another big bag full of clothes for the dump. These ones have things like stains, rips, holes, etc. Not really suitable for charity. Remarkably, I fit into a lot of what I tried on.Some I haven't been able to fit into since high school. It's crazy that I've lost that much weight already. I still don't quite believe it, and yet things back then fit me so well again. I found a few nice dresses, but most are more for warmer weather. I thought I only had 1 or 2 dresses left that fit me, so it was nice to find more.I still fit into one of my high school marching band t-shirts. Also, more for warmer weather, but cool nonetheless. I went through so much of it, and yet there's so much left. I have about a third left of what's hanging in my closet to go through. Then, there's the massive pile of clothes on the right-hand side of the floor of it. Plus, my shoes on the other side. Also, there's stuff on the shelf above the things that are hanging. That doesn't have clothes-related stuff, but I'll still have to go through it. So, there's quite a bit left.Should be interesting. I might go through more during the weekend. Oh, and the clothes that fit, fit differently than they did back in high school. For one thing, I'm bigger in my chest area...I'm filled out more in that area for them. I remember back then I used to be bummed about being too small, so this is interesting. Different experience/look with the same clothes. Fun! 

Last night, I had the pesto tilapia and a vegetable soup. With the soup, I used a vegetable soup blend we got from the same place we get our spices from. It has carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, parsley, and a few other things. All dehydrated. They said that it should cook in the water or broth for 30 minutes to get the vegetables to hydrate again. I added tiny star-shaped pasta to it. It was good, but you could still tell that they were once dehydrated.Maybe it needs more time in the liquid? I added some parmesan to mine, and it was even more awesome! Seemed like a pretty healthy dinner, too. Very filling. 

I tried my eyeliner on again on Sunday. Before that, I hadn't tried it since Halloween. I thought it looked bad back then. I did my upper eyelids. Thought they looked weird, but Dad said she liked them. I'm not really used to the overall look, so I'm not sure what to really expect.After a while, I thought it looked alright, too. So, I decided to experiment further and did my bottom eyelids. I looked really weird.Kind of like a sad clown, or raccoon, or something. Dad said I looked like Ozzy Osbourne. Hmmm...Maybe next time, I'll just try the upper eyelids. Eyeliner is weird. I probably won't use it much. Plus, it makes my eyes look smaller. My eyes are already small looking. (Funny, because I have super long eyelashes.)

I decided to reply to another interesting Gaia thread this past weekend. It was a PTSD support thread. I'm not used to talking about things I might personally be going through on a forum. But, I thought I'd jump in anyways. Much like I was with the trans support group with me having a trans parent. But, I haven't talked much to a therapist about my PTSD. I had 2 that were able to touch on it just before they quit or retired. One psychiatrist who I met once for something, immediately told me I definitely had it. I've never really been able to 'delve' into it. Anyways, I told them about my stuff, and I got a response pretty quickly. They said that how I viewed it was very common. (I used to think that only military people had it.) But, they said I shouldn't compare myself to others, and that my pain is just as 'real'. The first person who responded, had a really long post. Very wordy, but nice. In fact, every post he replied to after each of mine were all very long and detailed. It was interesting. I do plan to eventually talk more about it with my therapist. But, this was nice to see. 

I'm debating whether I should email someone or not.She was the person who invited us to Shabbat lunch recently. She's orthodox. Recently, she was very rude to my dad. She had read some things on a very biased and homophobic site. She said that she read that gays molest children or something. (Really bogus stuff.) She also is confused, and seems to equate trans people with being gay.(Even while we were at their place, she asked me secretly something like 'what's it like having a gay parent?', not trans but 'gay'.) There are some trans people who are gay, but they can also be straight, bi, pan, etc. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation. So, that's been bugging me a bit.Anyways, she told my dad that she won't shake hands with her again because she still thinks she's a man. (Notice, my dad didn't make a move to shake her hand.) That's one of the worst things you can say to a trans person. Basically invalidating who they are as a person. Not to mention we thought they were very nice before. In orthodoxy, they're not allowed to shake hands with the opposite sex. But, I thought 'modern' orthodoxy might be a little different. Anyways, my dilemma is that she wants me to email her. She knows that I want to know more about them, and be more into my Judaism. I kind of feel like maybe it was a brain fart. She seemed to be very easily swayed. So, if she didn't really mean it or came to her senses, what then? She still hurt my dad. I guess saying hello, and talking kind of surface stuff might be ok. But, what if she tries to 'sway' me? It won't work, but it would get very awkward.Plus, I almost feel that if I don't email her, she may think that my dad kept it from me or something. Hmmm...I don't know! Well, at least if I decide to email her, she can't hurt me...I just may correct her sometimes.

I watched the finale of the 2nd season of Jikou Keisatsu or Time Limit Detective. It's probably the series finale, since there hasn't been a new season since. There were some homages to the first episode of the series. I still remember them, even though it's been a while. Like, they mentioned that Kiriyama was wearing his glasses on a Sunday. There was a joke in the first episode where you shouldn't wear them on Sundays. It's like bad luck, and it's rumored that the British follow that too. (Not in reality. Not even sure if it was really true in the show's reality.) I love this series so much!There were so many quirky things to it. Eventually, it lead to lots of inside jokes, that if people who hadn't seen the series heard them, they'd be confused. In this final episode, Kiriyama even played the theme song on a guitar in a Spanish style. It was cool. The killer in this one is one of my fave actresses, too. She's an awesome comedian. The actor who played her husband has been in many of the shows I've seen, too. The killer mistook the person she killed as her husband. Finding out that she killed the wrong person, she felt even more stuck. She was and still is terribly bored of him. She thought she'd be free of him if she killed him. Kiriyama and Mikazuki told her that she should just have an honest conversation about it with him. He was listening in to the entire conversation. Almost felt like he was going to kill her after they left, but they didn't show that. He looked very hurt. Towards the end of the episode, it felt like Kiriyama confessed to Mikazuki in a strange way. He said that the team was more like a family. He went through the possible relationships, like the captain is similar to a kindhearted and funny uncle. He ended with him and Mikazuki as similar to being husband and wife in the family. Just when Mikazuki was going to ask him specifically how he felt about her, an earthquake hit. Didn't last long, but everyone came out to see them, so the mood was gone. I grew to really like the newest member of the team too. I wasn't sure of her at first. I'll really miss this show!

Decided to drop Mixed Vegetables. It seemed to be getting a bit dry. I could sense a lot of angst coming, too. Just don't see where it was headed. The story seemed interesting for a while. It just eventually got old.

On Saturday, I did the practice quiz for attendance on JapaneseClass' site. Did pretty well. For attendance, you have to answer 20 questions for the day. I also decided to do a bunch of chapter quizzes for kanji and vocab. Did well with all of them. Lowest score I got was 82%, but most of the others were in the high 80's and 90's. I'm apparently up to level 4 in kanji, and level 5 in vocab. I'm on the last level for vocab, so there's not much new stuff left of their list. I still have a little ways until I finish all the kanji. I've always been better with vocab. Probably because some kanji have multiple meanings and pronunciations. Some have a lot of strokes as well, and can be hard to distinguish. You can also quiz yourself on everything you've learned plus new stuff with the regular quiz. Kind of a continuation after the 20 questions. The big 'random' quiz reviews some of the stuff you might have come across at the beginning, new stuff, weak words, etc. It's very helpful. I have come across some questions/answers that are spelled wrong, or have the wrong recording. They're still ironing that out. But, with feedback from the community, it goes pretty quickly. We can also challenge others, go through new vocab that people have put up as cards or notes that might not be in the system yet, read articles, see trends in Japan, there's a forum, etc. I'm ranked at 695 on the site. That's out of 45,663 people. Pretty good, I think.Especially since I don't go on there everyday. My attendance 'record' looks kind of funny that way. 

deviantART faves: Random OC Meme of Randomness Draw My Life Meme I did not make these! The first one's an oc (original character) writing meme. Kind of similar to one that I've done before. It puts your oc's in weird situations, and you write out how they would react. I love those sort of things.The second's a drawing meme that's about the artist themselves. I haven't done one of those before, so that might be cool to do. It asks you what life was like for you in kindergarten through high school. Plus, asks where you're from, and an intro. 

Overload

Mood:

By Bloodgroup. Probably one of the best songs I've heard from them. I discovered the band through Lastfm. They're a 4-member electro-pop band from Iceland. They have a very interesting sound. They debuted in 2007. Dry Land, the album that this song is on, has been one of the most successful albums in Iceland since its release. The vid for this is a bit weird, though...It's of one of their live shows.

Jikou Keisatsu was really off the wall this time. Hilarious, though. This time they let Mikazuki investigate the case virtually on her own. She's such a goofball normally. Kiriyama had fallen down a flight of stairs, which resulted in him getting a concussion and forced to stay at the hospital. It all happened when they were interviewing the first person. Who ended up being the killer in the end. Mikazuki tried to video tape every little detail she could of her investigation. She went a little overboard. The episode started with a crazy/trippy dream she had. But, it helped her solve it with a little help from Kiriyama. This time she was the one who explained everything, Kiriyama (when he felt well enough to leave the hospital) acted as her assistant, and she was the one to give the 'I won't tell anyone' card to the killer. She was so happy about it, and I'm kind of glad they let her do it. The case was about a grandmother, who after finding out her son-in-law was beating her daughter and granddaughter (who was just a baby at the time), stabbed him to death. She only wanted her family to be safe. She was very senile by the time they interviewed her, although at times when they didn't suspect her yet, it seemed she was acting. She was trying to forget it all, like it was just a bad dream. I kind of feel sorry for her. But, she won't be arrested because the statute of limitations was up.

In Log Horizon, they defeated the goblin king and most of its minions, if not all. (Not sure if they'll get a reward, since it was towards the end of the episode.) Rudy was saved by Shiroe. Shiroe had come up with a magic contract that would make it so Rudy became an Adventurer if he signed it, and he'd have to join his guild. But, according to the contract, he had to die first as an NPC or People of the Land. Then, he'd be brought back to life at the cathedral like every other Adventurer does when they die. Without Shiroe's help, he would've died. People of the Land aren't supposed to be able to 'revive'. When they die they really do die. There's no coming back. So, it was an interesting work around Shiroe came up with. I wonder if he can save others this way?Also, if they become Adventurers, does that mean they become real in the outside world? Very interesting. I'm liking this series more and more. There seems to be a lot more logic to it than other anime shows of a similar genre. It brings up some interesting philosophical questions too. 

Wrote more of the 6th short story from my nightmare anthology. It's getting to the scary stuff. Played my clarinet. Did some of the general classical solo tunes, jazz tunes, and klezmer tunes. Wasn't too bad. Had kind of a rocky start, but ended up sounding pretty good. 

日本語

Studied a couple more compounds for 氷, and the kanji 表. 氷河 or ひょうが (hyouga): glacier. 薄氷 or はくひょう (hakuhyou): thin ice. When 表 is pronounced as おもて (omote): surface, face (i.e. the visible side of an object); front (of a building, etc.); outside, exterior; appearance; public. As ひょう (hyou): table (e.g. Table 1), chart, list. As 表する or ひょう.する (hyou.suru): to express, show. As 表す or あらわ.す (arawa.su): to express; to represent, signify, stand for. 表れる or あらわ.れる (arawa.reru): to appear, come in sight, become visible, come out, embody, materialize; to be expressed (e.g. emotions), become apparent (e.g. trends, effects).

Finished translating another paragraph from the You Maga article I've been going over. This part was on hand, foot, and mouth disease in children. Kind of a disgusting topic, but interesting. This whole page is part of a long featured article on diseases in children, especially ones for parents to be aware of that are common in the US. Another part of the article is on development, hygiene, etc. All having to do with parents who recently moved to the US, and some of it is comparing to things from Japan. It's very interesting. But, the whole thing runs for several pages...

Read some online articles in Japanese on Mainichi's site this time. I usually look at Asahi's. Both are big newspaper companies in Japan. Mainichi Shinbun is The Daily Newspaper, and Asahi Shinbun is The Morning Sun Newspaper. Mainichi tends to have a more liberal slant. Asahi's not conservative, it just affiliates a bit with the left. So, it seems a bit more neutral, I guess. Anyways, I read some of Mainichi's articles on the Olympics. They have a huge featured section for it, complete with medal counts. Maybe next time I'll look at the more day to day kind of stuff.

National Chocolate Cake Day!

Mood:

I love chocolate with pretty much anything!There's such a variety of chocolate cakes out there. Makes it interesting that they made it vague like that. Probably my all-time fave cake in general would be Black Forest. I love it so much!Had it a few times as a birthday cake. What's better than putting one of my fave fruits, cherries, together with whipped cream, and chocolate? It's like the perfect dessert to me. 

Finished watching Tokyo Bandwagon. It was a really good series. Overall, it had a very positive feel/message. I wish it had continued though...They kind of rushed things in the last 10 minutes. Ganato, Ao's father, decided to try and live longer. Don't know if he started treatment or not, but he left for a while again. (Beforehand, he had agreed to getting treatment when Ao tried to convince him. There were many people that tried to convince him, and he may have just caved with Ao.) Ao and Suzumi had a baby. It went from her finding out (about a couple of months of being pregnant already), to having the baby be a few months old in a really short amount of time. Ao's brother Kon and his wife Ami also had a baby at the same time. So, it was a 'double pregnancy'. They looked really miserable in the snippets they showed of them being pregnant. Ao and Kon kept thinking something was wrong with them every few minutes. They found the book that Ao's grandmother was desperately searching for. She was searching for it even while she was dying. It was very important to the family. It was her father's diary. Apparently it had been stolen. Aiko, Ao's sister, went on an exhibition with her paintings in London. Mudoch suggested it, and Fujishima tagged along. Murdoch had wanted to go alone with her. They are still fighting over her. But, they're civil about it. She didn't know they felt that way until the last couple of episodes. I think she felt as a single mother, no one would want to be with her. (She might have actually said that during the first couple of episodes.) So, things ended up really nice for everyone.

I also finished Kasuka na Kanojo or She's Faint. I liked it a lot. Not one of my absolute faves, but it was good. The ending was kind of mixed for me. They made this huge deal about Akane leaving and going to heaven. Then during the last few minutes she said she was too distracted by life/earthly things, she couldn't leave. She first went to a castle, and realized she hadn't seen as much as she wanted to of the world. Good to have her back, but not so great having us go through all that while thinking she's leaving. Kamiyama had actually died for a brief amount of time. While he was a ghost he appeared in his apartment with Akane. Since he was a ghost as well, he was able to touch her and interact with her more. He had previously confessed that he loved her. He said he wanted to stay a ghost so he could be with her. She wanted him to live a good long and happy life. After some talking to, he came back to life. He managed to change the way students and teachers look at each other at his school. When he started, there was a great deal of distrust on both sides. In fact, he had felt that if he didn't help solve a student's personal life/crisis or care about their well being, he could avoid conflict with them and just teach. It came off as cold. He cared about one student during his second year of teaching, tried to help her but made things worse, and she attempted to commit suicide. He didn't want to feel that pain again. But, ever since he met Akane, all that changed. He thought more about his actions when he wanted to help a student. He basically grew along with his students. 

Dad and I met with a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. The only experience I had with Orthodox Jews was with my aunt's family. They're (at least she is, might be slightly more lax now) Ultra-Orthodox. It's like super super strict. About as strict as you can get. Modern is apparently quite different. They don't try to monitor what you say, even to their children. They're more open to things, and really not as extreme. It was very interesting to me. I almost feel like I 'connect' with it. At least, from what I've read and how they interacted. There's apparently a new term floating around online called Reformadox. It sounds very similar to this. I feel like I need a stronger connection of some sort to my Judaism, but not sure if I'd go Orthodox. I like being Reform, since you can decide how strict you want to be about things. A lot of people say you can pick and choose. The weird thing is it doesn't sound like many want to 'observe' as much or know as much as I do. So, I don't know. I'm betwixt in between right now, I guess.

Anyways, we chatted, enjoyed a really nice Shabbat lunch, went for a walk around their neighborhood (met some of their neighbors, they were very nice), went to a lecture on gematria (a Jewish system that assigns numbers to the Hebrew alphabet. The numbers in a word or phrase add up to a certain number that may hold some symbolism or show a connection to other words or phrases. I read that the word chai (life), its 2 letters added together is 18. So, some people feel that 18 is a lucky number because of that. Others can be about the number of days in the year in a word. It's fascinating stuff. Not sure if I believe much of the superstitious side. 13 by the way, is also a lucky number for us.) and how some words in English seem to have connections to Hebrew ones, did Havdallah (ending mini-service for Shabbat) at their place, and left pretty late. Didn't know we'd be there for so long.Their kids were pretty rambunctious, but nice. They had 3. Earlier they had a friend join them for lunch, so that was nice for them, too. 

We also had a chance to peek into 2 Orthodox synagogues. (I think it was my first time in one.) They were basically across the street from each other. One was an Ashkenazic one. Ashkenazic Jews come from German and eastern European ancestry. (I'm an Ashkenazic Jew.) The other was Sephardic. Sephardic Jews come from Spanish/Mediterranean ancestry. (Some are from northern Africa, and a lot of South American Jews identify as Sephardic.) Despite Sephardic Jews covering a larger area, the Ashkenazic Jews outnumber them in population. There are also several other cultural divisions between Jews, but these are the main ones. The Ashkenazic Jews came up with Yiddish (a mixture of German and Hebrew), and the Sephardic ones came up with Ladino (a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew). They all have different dietary laws when it comes to holidays like Passover. They also have different customs/traditions. Even when speaking Hebrew, they have slight differences. Like a 't' sound becomes an 's' sound, or vice a versa. It's all very interesting. Anyways, it was interesting to see that they were divided that way. The family we were with for the day likes to go to both. Both of the synagogues are huge! 

In Jikou Keisatsu it was about an identical twin being murdered. The twins were adopted together, and acted in a drama once they were old enough. Eventually, they found out they had 3 other identical sisters. So, they were actually quintuplets. One of the original 2 had wanted to have the others live with them. The other one didn't agree to it, and blew the money that they were saving up for them on gambling. The one that wanted to live with all of them killed the other as soon as she found out. She used her sisters to her advantage by acting like she had many alibis. The police were too confused with the case. They even questioned if the one that was killed was actually dead, since the body disappeared. The surviving main sister got into acting in horror movies/shows, even though she was terrified of stuff like that. Directors hired her for these roles since they figured she was 'cursed' because of her sister. The other sisters would have fun acting like their deceased sister's ghost and posing for photos and such. They loved to make people guess who was who. The weird thing is only one of them wears glasses, so that one's easier to guess, unless she takes them off...It was funny, but probably not as funny as last week's.

In Log Horizon, they're still strategizing about what to do with the goblin king and its minions wreaking havoc. The princess of the People of the Land got enough nerve to step in and give her piece. It was the most useful. The reps for the adventurers and the People of the Land's lords were at odds with each other. It's interesting that an NPC/the princess has stepped in and actually wants to personally persuade adventurers to volunteer to join an army to fight the enemy. The preview shows her going to Akihabara, one of the main adventurer towns. It's the town Shiroe revitalized after the 'Apocalypse'. She seemed very surprised by it all.

Started watching Ranma 1/2 on Friday. I remember hearing about it for a very long time, but I never actually watched it before. I had seen amv's (anime music videos) of it, but that was it. It's created by the same person who did Inuyasha. I used to be really into watching that show, then it got very old. Ranma is drawn in a similar way. Or, I should say Inuyasha is, because this is older. I think in most of the creator's works the characters all have similar designs. She's one of the most successful female mangakas. Popular not only in Japan, but worldwide. All of her works have been translated in many languages. Ranma's manga started in 1987 and ended in 1996. The anime started in 1989, but after 18 episodes, they canceled it due to low ratings. One month later, the series was relaunched and went until 1992. The relaunch ended up being 143 more episodes. It's a monster of a series.There's also a few movies to the series. One of them was a 2011 live-action one. That would be interesting. I'll just see how this one goes. Ranma and his father Genma are martial artists who traveled to the 'cursed training ground' of Jusenkyo in China. While there, despite the warning of a Chinese guard, they fall into the cursed springs. Genma falls into one that a panda had drowned in. Ranma fell into one where a Chinese girl drowned. So, every time Ranma is doused in cold water, he turns into a girl. Every time Genma is doused in cold water, he turns into a panda. If Ranma's in contact with hot water he changes back to being a guy, and Genma turns back to being human. Genma engages Ranma to Tendo Akane. She says she absolutely hates boys. Ranma wants to find a way to undo his curse. 

Wrote more of the 5th short story for my nightmare anthology. I might be done with this one. I have to edit it again and fix one thing that I know of. So, other than the editing, I'm done with this one. Next, is the 6th! Yay!

Played my clarinet. Did a lot of Irish tunes. Sounded better than last time. 

日本語

Studied more compounds for 発. 発展 or はってん (hatten): development, growth, advancement, unfurling; expansion, extension, enlargement. 発熱 or はつねつ (hatsunetsu): generation of heat, (attack of) fever. 発破 or はっぱ (happa): explosive blast (in construction, mining, etc.), blasting. 発表 or はっぴょう (happyou): announcement, publication. 発憤 or はっぷん (happun): inspired, stimulated, roused. 発明 or はつめい (hatsumei): invention. 発令 or はつれい (hatsurei): official announcement, proclamation. 発露 or はつろ (hatsuro): appearance, expression, manifestation. 発作 or ほっさ (hossa): (med) fit, spasm, attack, seizure. Translated more of a You Maga article. Next time, I'll put the paragraph all together, and make it so it makes sense in English. Read a few articles in Japanese on Asahi's site.  

National Cheese Lover's Day!

Mood:

I love cheese!To have a day devoted to it is awesome! This was actually yesterday, but I like it so much why not celebrate it for an extra day? There are certain types I can't stand. Things like cottage cheese, brie, and some of the really smelly cheeses. Some I can only have if it's mixed in something. But, I love the majority of them. I've gotten hooked on a new cheese I tried recently called boursin. It's really good. I tried the garlic and herb one. Apparently, it's one of the most popular cheeses in France. I can see why.Yesterday was also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He was a great and inspiring civil rights leader.

Got up early today. Earlier than I was expecting.Even though I went to bed late, I couldn't sleep. Might have had maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I was wide awake at one point, and couldn't fall back asleep. So weird. 

On Sunday, I suddenly felt a weird itch around my ankle. I didn't think much of it, and scratched. Then, I felt unusually cool and like some sort of fluid was coming from that area. For a moment I thought that maybe I popped a pimple or something. Then, I looked down at it. Blood was streaming down it.I kind of freak out whenever I see my own blood. I eventually get a weird dizzy, sweaty, nauseous, faint thing going on. I've fainted before from getting my blood drawn.Apparently, I had scratched a weird leaf pattern, or maybe it was a bite. Can't really tell. I quickly found the largest band-aid I could find, and used it. It wasn't enough, and had to use another slightly smaller one to cover the rest of it. I still don't know what that was about. It's not everyday people bleed like that. My nails were cut pretty short, and I don't think anything bit me...Rosie (one of our cats) likes to bite me, but I don't think she did it around that time. Plus, it usually doesn't draw blood. They're more like love bites.

Finished watching Kyoukai no Kanata or Beyond the Boundary. It had a very trippy ending. It was good though. Even though I liked how it turned out, the last minute didn't seem very logical. More like a way to make the fans happy. She was supposed to 'disappear' or die, but suddenly appeared at the very end. They didn't explain that. Some people are coming up with their own interpretation, and I guess it leaves it open for people. Just a little unsettling, yet a feel good ending. Very mixed. It seems that they could make another season, but I'm not sure. It'd be nice, and they might explain more. What if she's not really herself or he was dreaming? That's even more unsettling.

Started the 2nd season of Tsubasa Chronicle. Sakura finally decided to do something for the group in order to get another one of her feathers back. She entered a race where the winner gets the feather. According to this parallel universe, it grants immense power. They said enough to power an entire city. All of the participants are people they met through their travels to different universes. They still think that they look the same, but aren't the same people they knew. Apparently, that theory is going to change soon. According to the people that keep watching them. Still don't know who they are. They have plans to stop the group from finding all the feathers, though. 

Jikou Keisatsu was hilarious!Funnier than usual. I liked the restaurant they visited. It's called something like 'Fast Restaurant'. Everything is ready super quickly. For some, even before a customer has walked in. The owner knows exactly when someone will have an accident (like they spill something, burn their mouth, etc.) and gives them things ahead of time. She also closes early, but reopens the restaurant for the next day, an hour later. That was probably the best part of the episode. The hypnotist stuff was funny too. Shizuka wanted to find a way to fall asleep and she read about a hypnotist. She had a session with her, and found out that it was her old best friend from high school. The assistant to the hypnotist had a much stronger hypnosis and told Shizuka that she's an accomplished singer. So, in her head she was making it big, but to everyone else she looked like a fool. Turned out her friend was the murderer. But she did it as a minor, and like all the usual cases, it had reached the statute of limitations long ago. Kiriyama was a better hypnotist than her. She thought she could hypnotize him, but she was already under his. While they were hypnotizing each other, there were some really trippy backgrounds. They were sitting around a dinner table, and one background was a beach, another a surreal-horror theme, I think another one they were in the sky, etc. Made it even more funny.

Log Horizon has gotten even more interesting. The goblin king is planning to destroy everything/everyone in his way. Usually when it was just a game, there was an event where everyone had to kill him within a week. If they didn't, the goblins would multiply exponentially, he'd start moving from his castle and attack people, and the 'fish' goblins will multiply as well at the coasts. So, everyone would end up being surrounded. If they killed him during that week, the adventurers would be rewarded with very rare items. They were too worried about making their own lives better, they didn't know that the week was up for killing the goblin king. His minions aren't usually hard to kill, but the problem is the sheer number of them. Shiroe shared his info that he gathered on what happens to adventurers when they die. Crusty said it makes sense, because he's died enough times to realize that he's lost some memories of the outside world already. Since he forgot those memories, he's not sure how many and what they were specifically. He does know that he had a cat in the outside world, but can't remember its name or what it looks like. Sad. The 'kids' group from the camp (we don't know how old they really are, they're just low-leveled adventurers. The camp was to help them level up.) is off to battle the goblins that are heading to a defenseless town. They still haven't really explained Rudy yet. He might be apart of a group of People of the Land that are warriors (they rival the strongest adventurers). 

Toshi Desetsu no Onna was kind of sad. It was about a teacher who was in charge of the female dance group at the school, some were already apart of national idol groups. She had fallen in love with one of the stars of the group. They would meet during breaks in the girl's bathroom. Eventually the girl, Miki, tried to break it off, but the teacher first thought if she can't have her she would kill herself with a pair of scissors. Miki tried to stop her and the scissors went into her, killing her instantly. Another member of the group, who everyone thought hated Miki because they were 'bitter' rivals, was targeted by the teacher. The teacher thought she had influenced Miki's decision to break up. She wasn't successful with killing her though, and she survived. Miki's rival really loved her, and never hated her. The reason why the UIU were investigating it was because of an urban legend of a ghost that inhabits the 3rd stall of the 3rd floor's girl's bathroom. They say if you knock 3 times on the door, say "Hanako-chan, let's play", she'll come out and kill you or something. They didn't really know what happens when she answers it. Apparently, they basically proved that it was true. But, the ghost wasn't evil, and honestly wanted them to get to the bottom of the case. She even appeared as a regular student to them telling them about the teacher's secret meetings, rumors, and what they would do. Even Tsukiko was terrified of it by the end. But, why be scared of such a helpful ghost? She seemed nice, too. 

In Rurouni Kenshin, they explained more of Megumi's past and what her connection to an opium ring is. She, like her father, was once a regular doctor. The head of the ring had told her father to make opium for them. After a while, he stopped and refused to make anymore. He killed him, and made Megumi do it. She was told to make a new type of opium that's even more addictive and deadly. She refused to make it and ran away. Then, she found Kenshin and the rest of his group. The character's a bit over dramatic. Everything with her seems over the top. I feel sorry for her, but it makes it hard to take her seriously. She wants to go back to being a doctor. The opium ring finds her, captures her, and takes her to a guarded mansion. Kenshin and the others are going to bust in and save her. 

For Pandora Hearts, I still have a ways to go until I catch up to where the anime left off, but I'm getting there. I've always liked Break, but he seems even creepier in manga-form. He called Oz a creepy brat. Coming from him, it's a little odd. But, Oz is a bit weird anyways. At times he can seem creepy and not really himself. He's the key to knowing more about the Abyss, and possibly opening and closing it. So, everyone wants him. His clock 'seal' (looks like a tattoo) started to move. If it makes a full rotation, he'll be sent to the lowest level of the Abyss. Nobody knows if people can survive there, much less make it out. You're basically doomed. I don't think it made a full rotation in the anime. Maybe I'll find out what happens if it does. 

Wrote a bit of the 5th short story of my nightmare anthology. There's definitely more to this one than there was in the nightmare it's based on. I'm starting to like it, though. 

Curried Chicken Day!

Mood:

This was actually yesterday, but I love chicken curries!There are so many different kinds out there, and a lot of countries have their take on it. I kind of celebrated it without knowing it last night. Went to a Nepali/Indian restaurant called Delhi Palace for dinner. They have complimentary papadums. I got some chai, vegetable samosas, saag (spinach) naan, and chicken tikka masala with rice on the side. It was very good!One of my fave curries is chicken tikka masala. They might make one of the best ones. It's tart, slightly sweet, slightly sour, a bit tomato-y (although you can't taste much of it), and very rich. It's good stuff.

Earlier that day, I found a 'regular' calendar in the half off section in Barnes and Noble. Got one that explores a different region of Italy each month. It has a little blurb about the area, map, and each day has a pic. Those pics are locations from that region. So, it's like you're taking a trip there everyday. This month it features Venice. And, apparently today I'm still at a glass blower's shop.Some pics stretch for a couple of days. Don't know why I'd stay around a glass shop for two days, but ok. Earlier in the month they have you going to a concert one day, going on a gondola another, to a market, to a museum, and a few other places. I was torn between this, or a similar Ireland one, or an LOLcat thing. The cat one looked like it'd be funny. They must have had more 'exploring' countries calendars, but ran out of the others.But, Italy is cool. Ireland is interesting, too. Maybe next year I'll get a different country type one. 

While at Barnes and Noble, I finally got my birthday present.I wanted a cookbook called Jerusalem. Its won awards, and is very popular. It's all about the different cuisines/cultures that make up Jerusalem. One of the coauthors is from the Jewish side, and the other one is from the Muslim side. They also interviewed and researched on the cuisine of the Christians of the area. Although, they didn't end up with too many of their cuisine. It's mostly Jewish and Muslim/Arab cuisine. The pics are really cool and well done. Some of them reminded me of the brief amount of time I spent in Jerusalem itself. They have recipes for falafel as well as shawarma. There were shops that only sold one or the other everywhere. At one point, you could see a similar restaurant competing with one of them literally across the street. I loved both.They have several recipes for hummus. I love hummus! And, it was everywhere. For some reason the hummus in most of that country seemed far better than what I've had back in the States. They have several tabouleh salads, special desserts from both cultures (and some that are shared by both), lots of soups, some breads, and more. They also give a history about the foods, and the culture around them. It's a rather big book. But, a lot of the recipes look really good, and I really want to get back to 'real' cooking.I probably should do more dishes from my recent Asian cookbook too. I love cookbooks. In the future, I'll probably have more of those than regular books. (It's already getting close to that.)

Jikou Keisatsu had another interesting case. This one was about 2 mangakas (manga artists/authors). They ran out of ideas one day, then while sitting around and feeling depressed one of them came up with an idea. It was a character that was called something like Melancholy Muppet. The 2 worked on creating a design for it together. They made their character into dolls and sold them. Nobody wanted them at first, so they acted out stories with it to little kids. It became a hit after a while with the kids. Eventually, the media caught wind, and they were able to get enough money to produce a storyboard anime with it. One of the creators died, and the detectives were baffled by it. The other one got an assistant, and that one shortly died after a new character was created. (She claimed she was the creator, not the person who had died.) They find out that the first one was a total accident. She was very scatter-brained and would do things like accidentally wear her shirts inside out, and put things down in the midst of cooking (she put a live octopus on the stairs that was going to be made into a dish, ran around with an egg that read 'mine', left a hot kettle on a wooden floor, etc.). She just fell down the stairs. (The egg and octopus didn't help, either.) The assistant was threatening to go public and tell the media that the character was rightfully hers. So, the mangaka pushed her down the stairs. The new assistant would have probably been next if the case of the murdered assistant had gone cold. She was careless about that, and Kiriyama was bugged at the time. So, the police caught her. So, this one was slightly different than usual. All of the characters they came up with had negative emotions. One was melancholy, another too tired to do anything (I'm Beat, Bunny), and the last one was angry (Puffy or 'Puchuu' Boy). They made them look cute, though. 

At the end of the episode for Log Horizon today, we found out that Rudy's not a regular player. There are hints that he's an NPC or People of the Land. He started as being an annoying character, but turned out to be really sweet and kind. The opening sequence basically shows him collapsing. I hope he doesn't die. For them, it really might be death. They don't get revived at the cathedral after they die like the adventurers. It's the end for them. They were tugging at the audience's and characters' heart strings with him, so it'll be sad if he dies. Shiroe found out that there is a drawback for adventurers after they 'die' too. They slowly start to lose their memory of the outside world. And, there might be even more to it. The lower leveled group (the one with Rudy) finally made it through a dungeon by learning more about each others' skills before running in. Now the creatures or 'monsters' (they have another name in-game, that I can't remember) that the adventurers usually kill are suddenly growing drastically in number. Shiroe also learned that those creatures came during the first 'Apocalypse'. That's what the adventurers call what happened when they suddenly were stuck in the game. (Can't leave it, and their characters' bodies feel like their own.) The creatures had lost all of their memories from before they appeared in that world. They've been wiped out so many times, they said it's a wonder if they have any memory of anything anymore. That's kind of sad. But, they don't really know much about them either. There have apparently been 3 Apocalypses. The story behind the game is sounding scarier and scarier. It seems more intricate and disturbing than what Sword Art Online had. It seems to be a more intelligent one too. Sword Art Online had its good points as well, but it just can't really compare to this one.

Started writing the 5th short story from my nightmare anthology. This one seems like it'll be the scariest and most gruesome so far.Funny how it was one of the shortest nightmares I had, but it certainly left an impression. I still feel a bit weird about it. It'll be even weirder to write it out. This one seems to be in a style I'm not entirely used to. But, almost every story so far has been 'different'. This one might only have one character in it. Should be interesting to see where it goes, and if I go further or in different directions than the actual dream. This anthology just feels like it gets more fun as I go.

Played my clarinet. Did some Mozart pieces, and some pieces from one of my solo books. Wasn't too bad. Fumbled in some interesting spots, and I was more 'into' it this time. 

日本語

Studied some more compounds for 倍. 倍 is generally pronounced as ばい (bai). It means: double, twice; (suf) times, -fold. 人一倍 or ひといちばい (hitoichibai): more than others, redoubled, unusual. 倍音 or ばいおん (baion): overtone, harmonic. 倍加 or ばいか (baika): doubling. 倍数 or ばいすう (baisuu): multiple. I also studied the kanji: 箱. It's generally pronounced はこ (hako). Occasionally, it may be pronounced as そう (sou). But, it's really not very often. In compounds, はこ(hako) often might become ばこ (bako). It means: box, case, chest, package, pack; car (of a train, etc.); (suf, ctr) counter for boxes (or boxed objects). Translated more of a You Maga article. Read an article in Japanese on Asahi's site. This one was about baking during winter. When the author feels restless during the winter, they find that baking helps. They had a recipe for 'Hot Biscuits'. They looked really good. I don't usually look at their cooking section. So, that was interesting.