Mood:
Peaches are tasty!
Nice that it has its own day. I could eat peaches every day and not get sick of them.
Speaking of which we still have some peach pie. That'll be a nice way to celebrate.
It's been kind of cold today. It reached 80 yesterday. Really nice. Odd to go from that to about 65.
Really strange weather. Parents left yesterday for their trip to Victoria, BC. I hope they're having fun. It's been kind of relaxing to have the house to myself. (Plus, the cats, can't forget them.
) Rosie's been incredibly needy, but that's to be expected since there aren't 2 more people there to give her attention. Tasha seems to be showing herself more on the banister. Kind of nice to see her. She looked really happy last night.
Made some pizza for dinner last night. It was good!
Had some of the peach pie for dessert. The pizza will make some nice lunches for me. I'll make the fish pieces, mashed potatoes, and some sort of vegetable tonight. Sounds good.
Mom didn't feel well enough to go to services on Saturday. But, I read the portions. I've actually gotten back into that. Yay!
The Haftorah was very poetic again. Kind of interesting imagery. I can't believe that we're getting close to Rosh Hashanah (our New Year). It's a little less than a month away!
So, we're winding down to the last portions of the Torah for the year.
Played some of the Sims 2. Got my sim to propose, and later to marry a sim he's been seeing for a while. I was a little bored with him being alone, and he was finally making some money.
I think I'm going to make him work on his other points, and then he can switch to a new career. I'm at the highest rank for the sports track. It'll be interesting if he manages to go through all the career options.
Found some more music yesterday!
So, look forward to those! Mostly went through some classical music. I'm starting to get a small taste for it. Used to think I hated it. Even though I loved to play some of the pieces.
Found only 2 online Swiss recipes: apple roesti, and salmon Basel style. Most were either cheese/cream based or muesli. I would have loved the cheese/cream based things if I was by myself or with just mom. Dad hates cheese or creamy things. Muesli is ok, but it's essentially oatmeal based with fruit, nuts, and or yogurt. I can do that normally without the recipes. And I would like more dinner/dessert type things, anyways. I'll try to look for some Austrian recipes online next time.
Finally started a letter to my penpal in Japan. She just sent me a postcard with almost no writing on it.
I got a bit nervous last time I tried to send her a letter. Mainly, because she was in the area hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami. She gave me a really depressing postcard just after it happened. How do you respond to something like that?
Well, I'm trying to write back in a positive way. Asking briefly if she's doing ok and has everything calmed down a bit. Then, going into light things like how was the weather this summer, have you ever traveled, thanks for the chopsticks, etc. She probably doesn't want to talk too much about it anymore. I wouldn't.
It'd bring up too many sad and disturbing memories. Anyways, I hope she'll like it.
This is the beginning of my Masada pics. The start of the hike. Looked amazing even from there. Already has a fave on dA! Wahoo!
Watched D no Arashi. Ohno did a report on a deep blue lake in a cave. That was pretty cool. But, I think I would have gotten stuck at some point. There were extremely tight spaces. A few times, they almost lost the cameraman.
(That guy was brave!) I think Ohno almost got stuck too. Matsumoto finished up his segment on the prosthetic finger. It really was an emotional moment for everyone when he showed his family. They even added the mole he had in exactly the same spot. Next time, one of them will do a report on someone who had cosmetic surgery on their face.
Watched the finale of Letter Bee Reverse. Which seems to be the finale of the whole series. I'm going to miss it!
It was a good ending, but there's still so many loose ends. Like, will Lag ever meet his mother? Or, will the doctor finally find a solution and be able to restore people's hearts? What is Lag, really? I could go on and on. But, there are no indications that there will be a 3rd season. The first one actually had a trailer for the 2nd one. This one didn't. So, I don't know... I guess I won't spoil the ending by saying too much about the episode.
Their world, stories, characters, etc., were all very interesting. And, it really drew you in. Awesome art for the most part, too.
Played for an hour again. This time played some Irish tunes. The ligature's feeling better and better. I really like it.
It smells every so often, but it's been much better than the cheap metal ones. Really high notes are easier to get to. Even though I didn't have that much of a problem. Don't have to blow as hard normally, too. Got about halfway through translating a sentence from the article I'm writing out from You Maga.
deviantART faves: (Get ready for a lot!) Sugarless Ice Cream Cone Cakes Sweet Japan Xolga and Mr. Toko 9 Xolga and Mr. Toko song list Dunt wurry... Choco-orange cake slice Osmiorniczka z ryzem (Octopus with Rice) Sea-salt Caramels Lime Coconut Souffle I did not make these! Most of these are just some amazing pics of dishes. Third and fourth ones are from someone I watch on dA. It's a very funny, interesting game. Makes you think. Sad that she ended it with the 9th episode. It was really trippy. Nice that she listed the songs that were used. The fifth one's a cute Lolcat drawing.
Mood:
By Hotel FM. This was Romania's entry for the Eurovision 2011 contest. It placed 17th. But, I think it should have placed higher.
A fun, and yet again, motivating song. About making changes in your life. Even simple things like smiling more, can make a difference. The story behind the band itself's interesting too.
For most of the day, it's been dreary and cold.
It was finally was starting to look like it'd be warm out, but it was late in the afternoon so that didn't last. Next few days look cold too.
I decided to start posting my Israel pics again.So, everytime I don't post a food related pic, it will be an Israel one. There will be a pic everyday this way. This is one of the first things we saw when we entered the Bedouin camp. It's a bathroom. Looked interesting. Nice to know where that is right away.
This was during my 2nd day. Or, 3rd for the rest of my group. I have a ton of desert pics coming up. So look forward to that!The desert was pretty impressive.
Watched D no Arashi. This time they did a report on prosthetics. A guy lost his index finger while on the job working with machinery. He's very self conscious of it. His daughter got tired of him hiding it so often, and convinced him to get a prosthetic finger. Jun was very respectful to him and this woman who showed them a prosthetic breast. She was getting it retouched. The color apparently fades, and every few years they have to fix it. She had to have her breast removed because of breast cancer. It really was an interesting segment. Next, Aiba did a report on hijiki. Apparently, over there not many people pay attention to what it is, and where it's grown. They just use it as seasoning or a snack. We have some at home, so this was really interesting. Some people thought they came from the mountains, but they're a type of seaweed.So, that was funny. They look like long strands of hair just before they're dried. Totally different looking. Every bit of the plant's edible. Including the buds coming off of it. I'm really loving this show now. Interesting, and you get insight into people's lives.
In Letter Bee Reverse, Gauche had an encounter with Lag's mom. She sucked out his heart though, and essentially turned him into Noir. I'm getting more intrigued as to who his mom really is, and who he is as well. Why would his mom feed on people's hearts? A lot of loose ends that I hope they tie up in the last 2 episodes.
Played some Beatles and Irish tunes. For some reason, I didn't have much confidence today. Wasn't too bad, though. Still need to work a bit more on cycling my breathing.
Started another manga called Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge. Or, what it says in the pic, Crime Edge of Cutting and Severing. This one was highly recommended by many people on mangafox. It's really weird, funny, and yet really awesome. Kiri seems ordinary, but he has an obsession with cutting people's hair. (Really more like a fetish.
) One day he meets Iwai, who inherited a curse where no one can cut her hair. She got the nickname 'Hair Queen'. Kiri finds out his scissors, called Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge are the only thing that can cut Iwai's hair. Their meeting started an old murder game to kill the 'hair queen' using the cursed 'killing goods'. Kiri's going to try his best to protect her. The owners of these 'killing goods' have sudden impulses to kill people. Each one of these owners had a relative that was a murderer, and they inherited their signatures. Like Kiri's, I think it was his father used to cut people up to pieces with those scissors. Another owner's relative used poison on hospital patients. It sounds so demented, yet interesting. Nicely told, too.
Finished writing 2 sentences from the first article in the June issue of You Maga. It was kind of interesting. Made chili and cornbread muffins for dinner. Used a recipe from a microwave cookbook for the chili. Thought that was cool. Well, I'll talk more about it tomorrow.
deviantART fave: APH-BLACK I did not make this! It's a cool drawing of England from Hetalia. Interesting style.
Mood:
Yay! For ice cream sandwiches!One of my faves. What's better than 2 cookies and ice cream sandwiched in between?It's also National Night Out.
It's been nice weather wise the last couple of days. And, supposedly, the rest of the week will be nice too.We finally get a little flash of summer. I'm surprised at how long its been since I last posted. Got to get back into it!
This is this month's wallpaper. This time it's Vocaloid-themed. I don't think I've had this theme yet as my wallpaper.But, I found a lot of other cool ones. So, look for those in the future!It has Miku at the desk, Len, Rin, Kaito, and Meiko. I feel like this sometimes. Kind of funny, and seems more 'real' than some.
This is my Japanese woodblock calendar for August. One of the most famous ones.
Kind of cool. It's Hokusai's Great Wave. It was published sometime between 1830 and 1833. It was the first in his series called '36 views of Mount Fuji'. It depicts a giant wave threatening boats near the prefecture of Kanagawa. My Jewish calendar has a fancy ש or shin for this month.
These are the month-long holidays: American Adventures Month, Celery, Fennel, and Cactus Month, Golf Month, Mushroom and Onion Month (wow, 2 things I don't like...), National Panini Month, Orange and Papaya Month, National Catfish Month, National Peach Month. Some are important causes, some are to make you think and appreciate things you may take for granted, or they're just fun. I'm surprised at the short list this month, though.
Went to a Hadassah meeting last week. It was nice to see people again. Some I haven't seen in months. Mainly, because we haven't had a regular meeting/event in a long time.We mostly discussed our Mahj tournament that's coming soon. I'm not into Mahj, but planning the favors and food appealed to me. So, why not? I tried to give them my opinion on that stuff too.
The food was interesting. Had a really tasty gazpacho, with some croutons, sweet peppers, onions, carrots, and jicama on the side. So you could put what you want in.
If it was warmer out, it would have been even better. The hostess also made some salmon with catalina dressing. Would have been good, but she didn't cook it enough.There was also crackers, homemade bread, some Asian cashew noodle salad, cole slaw (we brought), and some other things. For dessert, there was cherries, cookies, M&M's, and Werther's candies. Tasty stuff!
I think on last Wednesday, we went Pho T&N. I decided to try something new.
I usually get their version of what's essentially yakisoba. It's obviously called something else, though. This time I got their grilled chicken rice noodle bowl. It comes with a salad taking up about a third of the bowl. It was enormous! But, really good.
First time I couldn't finish something from there. Made a pretty hefty lunch as well. Next time, I think I'll try their chicken with coconut curry. Sounds tasty.
Started another drama last Thursday called Q.E.D. Shuumei Shuuryou. The QED stands for Quod Erat Demonstrandum. I'm not translating that from the Latin. Shuumei Shuuryou, means completion certificate or proof of completion. It's a very interesting detective/mystery series. The drama's based off of the manga of the same title. Touma Sou graduated from MIT by the age of 15, and for some reason has decided to go through high school. Mizuhara Kana's, a curious girl, and a classmate of Sou's. Her father's a detective. Kana and Sou try to solve mysteries together.
Started another variety show yesterday. The last one had horrible video quality. It has to be pretty bad in order for me to stop watching it.So, I started D no Arashi. Yet another one from the band Arashi. (Arashi just means storm.) The D for this one stands for documentary. It seems even more interesting than the previous 2 I've watched, so maybe I'll keep this one.
Each member goes on a different assignment. A lot like they're reporters. This first episode they had the leader of the group, Ohno, go investigate a forest. Supposedly, it's a place where a lot of suicides happen. And, word was going around that there isn't any cell phone reception in the woods. So, he walked for like 2 hours through it. The whole time he had a pretty strong signal. He saw some medicine wrappers, clothes, a bloody knife, etc. Kind of scary.
He was supposed to go alone, but chickened out, and begged the cameraman. He later finds out that there's a cell phone tower right outside the woods. So, of course it'd be strong. Sakurai went to the bank with someone who won over 10 million yen, to collect it. He was kind of scary, because he would scream out to everyone, and even made him put on a sash, saying that he won the money.Later, he pulled a prank on the poor man. And, while at his apartment, they tried to 'make it rain' money. I don't think I like him as much.
This is one of their older variety shows, but it seems good so far.
Since Mom wasn't feeling well enough, we didn't go to services on Saturday.We went to a BBQ that afternoon, though. It was at someone's place, that my dad knows. It was weird. Not sure if I liked it or not.The host and his family are strange to begin with, but some of their friends seemed even stranger. There was a girl who was into anime, so I assumed we'd get a chance to talk or something. But, she stayed next to her mother, got bored enough to go on her laptop, and eventually started drawing when her mother got upset. She was much younger than me, too. I think she would have had a different attitude towards it, maybe not the best either.Her mom didn't know much about food, and acted strange towards most of it. They had a techy friend show up too. She seemed more normal, and then she stayed longer talking to me than I thought she would. She loved the idea of my novel. Just a tad too much.
She also couldn't quite figure out my dad. The food was weird too. Gumbo (which we don't eat), falafel (Usually love it, but tasted nasty), tongue, Israeli couscous with preserved lemon (nasty! Sounds like it would have been awesome), huge pieces of barbecued chicken, lots of chips, potato salad, hot dogs, hamburgers, oysters (another thing we don't eat), and some other things. They had twinkies tiramisu and blueberry bread pudding. Again, not the best, but ok. I feel that when the people and food are weird, I end up talking weird. It just feeds on itself.
On Sunday, met someone on mangafox, who lives in Port Orchard. So cool that he lives so close!Not only that but he's traveled through Poulsbo quite often. If things go ok, we might meet tomorrow at JJ's. I recommended it. He'll be the first person I met online to meet face to face.We have a ton in common, too.
Went to my psychiatrist's appointment on Friday. I was thinking, that maybe I needed to do something about the dosage, or refill every month. Seemed like it wouldn't be as potent after a month and a half. But, she thinks it's more about stress and my 'monthly friend', than my meds. She thinks eventually the stress piles up, and it feels like I'll explode or break down when my monthly friend shows up.She said even a healthy person would feel this way with what's going on around me now. She says I need to focus more on my health and helping myself out, before I help others. That way I can be stronger for them. Makes sense, but it's easier said than done.
I have been trying to sleep and walk more. She said those are good steps to prevent that weirdness I get just before my next refill. She also told me that sometimes I might want to take a day just for myself. Kind of to recharge, I guess. I feel like I'm being selfish that way though.
She said if I manage to do this, and I still have issues, we'll talk about dosage. But, I also have a feeling she's right about this.
Also, got a new watch.
Haven't had one in years! Feels funny.I always had ones with leather straps. This one has metal links. Has an interesting catch in the back too. Took a bit of time to figure it out. But, kind of makes it fun.Looks more like a fancy bracelet with a bubble in the middle, than a watch. Nice. Sad that it doesn't have indiglo or some sort of light, like my other watch did. But, other than that, it seems good. Even has the date.
I might start posting my story, Alliance, on mangafox. I've seen a couple of other people I know make a thread for theirs. They seem to be very active in that section, too. It might be because the community as a whole's more into writing?Maybe people will actually comment on it. I'm a little nervous that since it's so active, I'll get people telling me it's horrible. But, no one has sad so on other sites. So, we'll see.
Oh, supposedly, Hetalia's going to have another 'extra' episode in mid-September. I really wish it came back with the next season already!Also, I'm almost done with watching Letter Bee Reverse. It's getting intense. I'll miss this series. The whole series has been longer than I expected it to be. It seems so original, and the story's so interesting. Maybe I'll read the manga, and compare. I don't know.
deviantART faves: Nordic Sweets At the Moment- Making Friends I did not make these! First, this is why I like Hetalia. You can do anything with the fanart. This one is showing the different national sweets from the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark. It's creative, and interesting. I like how the artist challenges people to guess the sweets. I don't think I even know all of them. Second, I've felt like this before at the start of semesters at school. Particularly, college. It's so true.
Youtube:
A really amazing amv of various anime. I haven't seen one this amazing since I was last on animemusicvideos.org. That was a looong time ago. It's perfectly timed, and the scenes seem to fit. Even if you're not into anime, I think you can appreciate this:
