I've always liked the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
The creators of the holiday say they chose this day because there's a slip of paper in his hat that reads: "In this style 10/6." They knew it was really an order to make a hat in that style, that costs ten shillings sixpence. But, they said that everyone knows that time is money, and therefore money is time. The holiday started in 1986 in Boulder, CO. In 1988 it became a national holiday. It's supposed to be a day where people recognize the reality that is nonsense, and the silliness that is sane. It's also National Noodle Day. I love noodles!
Almost any kind. I'm a little weary of cellophane or glass noodles. They're like the only ones I know I don't like. 
I picked this before I knew there was a Mad Hatter Day this month. I just wanted something that looked Halloween-ish. Would have thought that there would be more of a selection like that for Kuroshitsuji wallpapers.
It's a rather dark, psychological, and gruesome at times one. (Of course there's a lot of humor, too. Mostly dark humor, though...) The Undertaker is rather demented himself, so it's fitting that he'd be the Hatter. He's a rogue Grim Reaper or Shinigami, but most of the time there's only hints of this. Still haven't read or seen much about that. He's only known by his profession, and his face is never fully shown. He's an informant for Ciel. He finds Ciel amusing, and enjoys helping him out. But, has great disdain for the Queen. (Ciel works for the Queen. He's sometimes called the Queen's Watchdog.) He spends a lot of his time in coffins, too. Sometimes he asks for people to tell jokes or do something silly in order for him to give them info. (Much to Ciel's dismay, most of the time.
) He also has a creepy laugh.My Italy calendar features Florence this time. It's the capital city of the region of Tuscany, and the most populous city in Tuscany. There's a lot of history behind it that it's famous for. The main pic's of Michelangelo's David sculpture. It was placed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria in 1504. Apparently, it was replaced with a replica in 1873, and the original was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia. For today's pic it's of a restaurant menu placed outside with tomatoes hanging in front of it.
My Jewish calendar's main pic for this month's of a painting called Show Box, Sukkot; by Martin Engelbrecht and Jeremias Wachsmuht. It's on paper; from Augsburg, Germany; 1750. An interesting painting. It has a bunch of sukkot or sukkahs lined in a couple of rows. There's not much light left in the sky, and the sukkot are casting shadows on the ground. They're apparently near a large body of water, with the waves in the distance. Each sukkah seems to be full of people. 2 people are just outside of 2 of them that face each other. One seems to be leaving, the other entering another one. Maybe they sneaked out or something? This is interesting too, because of how old it is. Everyone's wearing clothes that were 'normal' for that time period. They look pretty dressed up looking at it now. A sukkah is a 'booth' that's like a makeshift shelter we stay under during Sukkot (or the Feast of Booths). It's like a harvest festival that lasts for 8 days. Some people sleep in them during that time. But, most have their meals in them, invite people over, and sometimes just to sit there enjoying nature. (There's of course a short service to start it off in it.) That's coming up. In fact, it starts Wednesday night. The second pic's of a lulav holder, by Zelig Segal, made out of bronze, from Jerusalem; 1983. The lulav is a mix of a few plants that we combine and shake in all directions while we're in the sukkah. I don't think I've seen a holder like this one.
The month-long holidays are: National Apple Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, National Cookie Month, National Dessert Month, National Pasta Month, National Pretzel Month, National Seafood Month, Bat Appreciation Month, German-American Heritage Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, LGBT History Month, National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, Spinach Lovers Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. A lot of good food holidays, again! Bats are important, and should have some appreciation. I think they're awesome! I've never really been scared of them like some people are. I'm part German, so it's celebrating my heritage this month, too. The Italian-Americans and Polish-Americans should definitely celebrate their heritage, too. Good to at least bring awareness to LGBT history. Interesting how it's book and cookbook month. I love cookbooks! They're fun to just look through. Plus, making the recipes can feel like it teleports you to other countries.
Yom Kippur (or Day of Atonement) was Friday night through Saturday night. A lot more people showed up for this one than for Rosh Hashanah. Some people barely recognized me, since it had been at least a couple of years from the last time they saw me. The congregation seemed to really like that we were there. A couple of people already told me that we should go more often to their stuff. They're a lot nicer towards us than the other congregation. A lot more friendly, too.
I had an eye exam in between the last of the morning services and afternoon services. I had a new optometrist that looked at me. He gave off a very creepy vibe. He didn't say much at first, just directed me. When he was writing things down, he was humming something odd. I told him about how my eyes, especially the right one, sometimes feel like there are spikes going into them. It only lasts for a little while, but it's really painful. He didn't give me an explanation. But, he did move unusually close to my eyes to get a better look at them. Maybe he was confused by that, too? At one point, he asked me if he could use my lap as a desk...
He also refused to let me put the sample contacts in my eye. He wanted to do it. He batted my hand away when I went to just lightly touch my eye through my eyelid.
He was very surprised by how much my right eye's prescription has changed. So, it's no wonder I was seeing blurred and sometimes double lines while watching TV or reading. After he gave me the sample ones with the new prescription, I've been seeing things much clearer.
I don't have to squint or feel the need to rub anymore. Interestingly, the samples were from different brands for each eye. Before going to my eye exam, we looked for someplace to have lunch. I'm exempt from fasting on Yom Kippur, because I have to take meds and food helps with balancing them in my system. (It's not just because one may upset my stomach if I have it without food.) Without these meds, it'd be essentially life threatening to me.
So, they're very important. They do say if you have a medical condition, are pregnant, elderly, or a little kid it'd be a sin to not eat. To everyone else, it's a sin to eat during it. (I still feel odd eating during it, since for a good chunk of my life I was able to fast.) Anyways, we found one of the few restaurants, called Mongolian Grill, that were left in the food court of our local mall. My eye exam was also at the mall, so it made it pretty easy. The only other thing, I think, is Subway now. Which is sad, because until pretty recently we had a Cajun, Italian, Japanese, and a few other cuisine places.
Even Hale's Ales is gone...I got their Mongolian chicken with noodles. It was really good!
Although, I think the chicken could have been cooked a little longer. The sauce was good, but puddled underneath everything, so in order to really taste it you had to mix it up some more. There were lots of vegetables that stayed pretty crunchy, too. The noodles were really tasty, as well. We grabbed some tabouli for the Break-the-Fast potluck. People seemed to like it. There was an interesting assortment of things there. Pizza, a couple of regular salad greens, tortellini, mac and cheese, other stuffed pasta (not sure what it was filled with, so I skipped over it
) crackers and smoked salmon spread, 2 large homemade challahs (both circular, because of the High Holy Days. One had raisins, the other was plain), a few kugels (they're like casseroles. I hate the original sweet kind. I love the savory potato one, but didn't see it), a vegetable platter, coconut macaroons, bite-sized chunks of brownies (3 different kinds: regular, cinnamon, and powdered sugar), stale honey cake, lots of fruit, and several other things. Seemed more of a variety than other places I've been to.
The only thing I didn't like was the seating arrangement. They arranged it so pretty much no one could get out. The tables were closely packed together, and there wasn't much space to pull your chair out. I felt trapped when I wanted to go up a second time to pick over things (mainly to get dessert type things).
Many people ended up with this dilemma. People ended up standing up and folding their chairs up so others could squeeze by. Some people who have a hard time getting up and down couldn't move from where they were too well. So, I had to really squeeze through with them. Good thing I've lost so much weight. I think I would have gotten stuck somewhere if I still had it.
There was still a little of the tabouli left when we went home. It's good with lunches and snacks. So, it's nice there was more. The next thing is to celebrate Sukkot on Sunday at one of the members' houses. There's a potluck lunch after a very short service. Sounds like it'd be nice to go to. We'll see. Log Horizon is back!
One of my fave anime shows! It delivered on its promise for returning this Fall. This one was a bit confusing though. Shiroe needed help with financing Akihabara. The fees for running the facilities each month were way more than anyone could afford. So, he met with one of the leaders of a clan that's responsible for the game world's economy (they own the banks), are behind the ability to teleport between areas, and several other major roles. They are the ones that leave money after a monster has been defeated and treasure chests. So far, they can't borrow or lend money. (They keep saying that'll break an ancient treaty.) Shiroe found the clan's cache of coins in a huge lake inside a cave. He ended up challenging the clan's leader to get the money. They kept flashing between what happens in the future, and the present stuff. They ended the episode with Shiroe and Akatsuki saying they both had died. Kind of confusing. I know that they don't actually die when they 'die', they just lose memories of the outside world. Last season they did bring up the idea of what happens when you lose all your memories of the outside world? The in-game people do die, although Shiroe found a way to save them. The whole story is fascinating. There are so many layers to it.
Finished Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus. It was pretty good, and stuck closely to what was in the manga. I think they said they'll do the Book of Murder one next. It's based on the arc in the manga I just recently finished. It'll be cool to watch this one. They made you believe that Sebastian had died in this one. But, like I suspected, it was all for show. (He's a demon, I highly doubt he could be killed so easily.
) Also, helped with the investigation. (Freed up Sebastian to look more into it.) I think I liked this one even more than the circus one. We recently got Apple TV, and it's pretty amazing! I was impressed by the iPhone as it was. Now I can project whatever I'm watching on my iPhone to our TV. Awesome!
So, I don't have to watch on a tiny screen. And, it's much bigger than my computer monitor too. I can watch most of my dramas and anime shows on the TV now.
