Dope Headz

Mood:

From the Liar Game soundtrack. The Jdrama was great, but the music may have been even better. This was when either they didn't know the result of a game, or they were double crossed, or realized they couldn't beat the other players. Just when things got out of hand. One of the best tracks, too. I love the layering of all the parts of it.

I was referred to a gynecologist to talk about putting me under to have my new IUD inserted. I called her assistant last week. Didn't get a word from her. So, I called her again today. I have to have it done soon or I might start hemorrhaging again.I don't want to do that for 8 months straight again. In the message I tried to convey how serious this would be for me. Hopefully she'll understand and will get back to me soon. Otherwise, I'll ask for another referral...Since she didn't call back today, they say they're off on Fridays. So, I'll have to wait until Monday to see if she calls me back. It makes me a bit nervous.The receptionist at their women's clinic told me that I have to talk to the doc's assistant in order to get an appointment since it's a referral. Puts me in a weird spot.

Started watching the new Jdrama: Alice no Toge. Or, Alice's Thorn. So far, the first episode was really good. The main character is played by one of my fave actresses, Juri Ueno. She's awesome.She's extremely versatile with her roles. I think she became really popular through her role as Noda or Nodame in Nodame Cantabile. This is a totally different character. Pretty cool to see. (There are several of my other fave actors in it, as well.) It's about Asumi Mizuno's revenge on the doctors that killed her father. Their 'punishments' so far have been based on what happens to some Alice in Wonderland characters. Her father gave her an English version of the book for her birthday shortly before he died. He said he wanted her to be as strong and resilient as Alice was. During the 15 years after her father died, she became a doctor. Mainly so she could help others who were wronged by corrupt doctors, and to shed light on their mistakes. Her main objective during that time was plotting her revenge. (She just started working at this hospital, which makes carrying out her revenge much easier.) So far, she hasn't killed anyone, although I kept thinking she would. The first 'punishment' was based on what happened to Humpty Dumpty in the story. The second one I think was based on the Red Queen. Humpty Dumpty was the head of the nurses. After punishing him, he was forced to help her with anything she wanted. The Red Queen was a doctor who worked in the gastroenterology department, along with Asumi. She only thought of patients as lab rats for her to experiment on, not necessarily to save. She even said you can't be called a doctor unless you've killed at least 3 people on the table. (She killed many more than that.) In the end she swore that she'd never work as a doctor again. Before letting her go, Asumi tattooed the name of her father to the doctor's belly so she'd never forget that he had a name. And, wasn't some number or rat. She's rather elaborate with her revenge so far.She has a huge wall filled with pics of people who may be involved with her father's death. Should be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Naruto Shippuden still is on that Kakashi arc special. It's been a while since they've actually gotten back to the story.I've decided not to watch it until they do. I don't need to see Kakashi's past rehashed a million different ways. They say they won't go back to the actual story for another couple of weeks. This is the longest special I've heard about, really.They actually say that it's a special and 'filler'...I don't even think they're trying anymore. Which is sad, because it's really good when it's not a filler. They probably just don't want to end it, and are milking it for all it's worth. 

In Hitman Reborn, Ganma tried to torture Gokudera in order to get info on Tsuna. He didn't know about them traveling to the future, their past selves replacing the future ones, and in Ganma's present Tsuna (who becomes the 10th Vongola boss) and Reborn are dead. At least, that's what people have reported. The Millefiore are trying to eliminate the Vongola family in their 'time'. This is 10 years into the future. Hibari, who's in the pic shows up and overwhelms Ganma. They bring Gokudera and Yamamoto back to the base through Hibari's entrance to it. He has his own section, and since he hates crowds, he normally only allows a certain amount of people to enter his area of the base. His area looks more like a traditional Japanese home, while the main Vongola base looks like a clunky bunker. His side's entrance starts at the Namimori shrine. (Namimori is the town.) Somehow that just fits him so well.He's one of the few people who didn't switch with his past self at the moment. (He'll be the last one that does, at least that's the way it was in the anime.) No matter how old he is, he's just awesome. Even his 'present' self is amazing. No one can really take him down. (Actually, apparently 'nothing' can take him down either. Even when he's been given a powerful poison that'll paralyze an elephant.) I love how Ganma said that he couldn't tell if Hibari was an ally or enemy of the Vongola, because of the limited intel and rumors. He's Vongola's Cloud Guardian, so of course he sides with them. But, he mostly thinks about his own interests. Like keeping the 'order' in Namimori, and if you break one of his rules somehow. That's how the Cloud Guardian should be, though. Kind of helping from afar, or an outside entity. One of his catch phrases is "I'll bite you to death". He says it quite often. He calls some of his opponents herbivores as well. Anyways, they meet up with Fuuta and Bianchi from the future. Later, they decide that they may have a little time to train, and Reborn suggests that the 3 of them have new tutors. Yamamoto will train with Reborn, Gokudera will train with Bianchi (she's Gokudera's sister, and every time he sees her face without anything on it like sunglasses he faints), and Tsuna with Hibari. I remember that it was a pretty interesting match-up in the anime. Particularly with Hibari training Tsuna. He gets a huge boost from it. 

Wrote more of the 8th story of my nightmare anthology. Might have hit a small block, but I don't think it'll take me long to figure out what's next. Played my clarinet. Did some Gershwin tunes, and pieces from my advanced classical solos. Sounded a lot better than I expected. It was nice. 

日本語

Studied the kanji: 面. Pronounced as either おもて (omote) or おも (omo): face, surface; (おもて only) mask (esp. a noh or kyogen mask). As づら (dzura): (suf) looking like a..., acting as if a... As めん (men): face; mask, face guard; surface (esp. a geometrical surface); page; (suf) aspect, facet, side; (ctr) counter for broad, flat objects, levels or stages, e.g. in a video game. As つら (tsura): (often derog. or vulg.) face, mug; surface. 面会 or めんかい (menkai): meeting (face-to-face), interview. 面識 or めんしき (menshiki): acquaintance. 面積 or めんせき (menseki): square measure, size (e.g. of land), area, surface. 面前 or めんぜん (menzen): presence. 

Did the practice stuff for attendance on JapaneseClass' site, then went through a good chunk of my vocab oblivion list. The stuff that you haven't gone over in about a month. Then, I also did one of their reading quizzes. I haven't taken too many of them before. I could tell that area needs improvement, because there were some words that were translated incorrectly.Not many people use it, but it is interesting. They give you a chunk of an article to read in Japanese, a list of common kanji/vocab that's used in the article, and then you can quiz yourself on them after looking through. I think for these they should test more on your comprehension, not just on the kanji and vocab.Since, someone could just see the list, and go right to the quiz without even looking at the article. I might bring that up. These articles are current and from various news sites like NHK, Asahi, Mainichi, etc. I normally just read the articles straight from the site, but wanted to try this out again. The one I looked at had to do with the Ukraine.

Golden Rule

Mood:

From the Liar Game 2 soundtrack. The entire series had some awesome music behind it. Plus, the 'games' were pretty clever. Kind of wish there had been another season...

Had a pretty crazy weekend. On Friday, I got to see a cousin I hadn't seen since I was 4. I barely remembered her. She was in Seattle with her partner for a convention. So, we went over to meet her at a Starbucks near her hotel. It was great talking to her for a few hours there. Then, we went back to her hotel, and met her partner and their friends that tagged along. Very nice group of people.One had a particularly heavy New Jersey accent, but I thought that was cool. We talked for a while there, then my cousin went with us (my dad and I) to Trans Pride. We had missed the march, but the rally stuff was still going on. So, we had a bit more time to chat, and be together. My cousin left about halfway through. 

After the Trans Pride thing, we really needed something to eat. So, we tried a place called Chipotle. I had heard about it a while back. It wasn't too bad. I ordered a burrito bowl. For the meat, I said I'd have the chicken. It wasn't ready, and the only other options were shredded pork or beef. I told them I'd have the beef, and they proceeded to throw a bunch of pork on there.I don't eat pork products, so it was very unsettling to me. I told them to stop, and managed to get her to realize I wanted beef instead. But, that meant starting another burrito bowl. Anyways, the end product was good. The corn salsa was interesting. A tad bit more cilantro than I'd like, but still ok. We got home really late after all this. 

The next day was my 10-year high school reunion from late afternoon to around 10. That ending time was pretty lax. I was incredibly nervous at first, but it seemed like a lot of other people were as well. Got to see and connect with a bunch of friends I had in high school, which was great. Got to know more about some of the people I didn't really see or hang out with much. Met some of my classmates' partners. That was interesting. It was really hot inside, and we all ended up sweating like crazy.Some stayed out on the balcony most of the time. 

There were appetizers laid out for a while. Kind of seemed too fancy for me.There was a cheeseball thing with something on top of it, and a toothpick going through it. Tasted awful. I like cheeseballs, so I was surprised that it tasted so bad. Tried like a caprese kabob thing. It was skewered with a cherry tomato, basil leaves, a cube of mozzarella, more basil, and another tomato at the end. Good, but kind of odd. Didn't try the others, because they didn't look very appetizing to me.

For dinner, there was salad with some vinaigrette on the side, asparagus, dinner rolls, roasted potatoes, and I had wanted the salmon 'dinner'. Seemed like the salmon was what a lot of people chose. Almost everything tasted great, except the salmon seemed pretty dry.Grilled salmon can be awesome, but not so much if cooked too long. Dries out all the goodness. Dessert was pretty good. I had the chocolate cake with raspberry filling. There was a white cake version. The alcohol section was really crowded. So, I'm glad that I don't drink. Felt like everyone else did.There was a huge thing of water, and another huge thing of punch. So, that was a nice alternative. 

There was a slideshow, but people and the balloons kept getting in the way, so I couldn't see much. Luckily, they posted the slideshow online, so I can actually see it. Funny to see everyone's high school pics. Even funnier to see their pics from before high school. I didn't send any pics in, so I was surprised that I saw myself in a few of them.

There was some music playing from when we were in high school, and just a little before. Some of it played by a live band (a couple of classmates are members of it), and some other music playing when the band isn't. Someone pulled me up to the dance floor, and started dancing with me, quite a bit into it. No one was dancing up there at the time. After sitting back down and being coaxed up there again, people started to gather and dance up there. It was fun, except for the part where someone was really bumping and grinding, and running his hands over me.I could tell he was drunk, but it was weird. Oh, and he kept twirling me. I was cool with it for a while, then I became kind of nauseous from it. 

There was an incident towards the end of the night where one of our drunken classmates took out the American flag from its holder, waved it around, and started trying to poke people with it.He eventually was forced out. 

Everyone was amazed that I had a published a book. One of my classmates heard about it, and essentially advertised it to almost everyone else. It amazed me. A lot of people said they'd actually buy it, but no sells yet. (Had a ton of views the day after, though.) We'll see. The one who told the others about it, said he recognized that I'd be famous and why not tell people? Me, famous?Kind of crazy, but amazing. 

There was only a few awkward moments. I know one person that used to have a crush on me, and he seemed very awkward around me. Almost wouldn't look in my direction, even while we talked. (I think he at least tried to...) Another awkward moment was when I talked to what was a close friend while we were in high school. She seemed really nervous, wouldn't look at me while we talked, didn't talk much, and left pretty quickly. I thought there would be a lot more awkward moments for me, but there really wasn't. Most people seemed more mature, friendly, and genuinely wanted to know what was going on with me.Managed to take a few pics. Still haven't put them up yet. My band director was there, too. But, every time I went to say hello to her, she was bombarded with my other classmates. Oh, well. 

I managed to get a pretty nasty blister from that night on my heel. I rarely get blisters on my feet, but I was wearing my 'wedge' short heels. Did a lot of standing, walking around, and dancing in them. I guess it was worth it, though.

On the following day there was a reunion picnic. I could not get myself to go, because of how hot it was. It ended up being in the low 90s. Dad didn't go to Pride because of it. And, honestly, I think that was wise. I kind of wanted to go to that as well. So instead, we went to a movie theater to stay some place where there's AC. We saw Monsters University. It was cute, and really funny. Good to kind of veg out on.Then, we went to Hale's Ales for dinner. (When it's that warm, it's hard to even think about cooking at home.) Hale's Ales also had AC. I got fettuccine alfredo, and some iced tea. The fettuccine had some shavings of red bell pepper on top, and came with some garlic bread on the side (had a ton of garlic 'chips' on top). So, made for a very garlicky, but good dinner and a lunch the next day.

On Monday, we went to Barnes and Noble for a bit. It was about the same temp as Sunday. I suggested we have some of the canned salmon mixed in with some salad greens, we can put whatever other vegetables we want, with croutons, and dressing. Came out awesome, and didn't heat up the house. Plus, it was mostly healthy for us.

Yesterday was slightly (not by much) cooler. We went to where the support group meets, and found out that the door to the room we use was locked. So, we went directly to Shari's. Not really the best place for confidential stuff, so it was more of a social time. I had another pie shake. This time it was the caramel pecan pie crunch version. It was amazing!Maybe not as awesome as the S'mores one, but really good.

Today was slightly cooler than yesterday, but still pretty warm. Dad made something from the new Italian cookbook she got from Barnes and Noble on Monday. It was pretty good. Not quite sure if I wholeheartedly liked the pasta part, but it was good. The chicken was definitely good. 

Found out that one of the largest, probably closest communities I've been a part of, was shutting down. They have part of the site devoted to a good collection of anime, another part for drama, and a really nice forum. The forum is what I think I'll miss the most. Very intelligent people, friendly, warm, and have had some good times debating with some. It's kind of like a group of close friends suddenly disappearing. The note they had on the site seemed very suspicious to me.Like it was hacked or something. Someone suggested that they might be joking with us. I hope so, although it really doesn't sound like them. A lot of people are crying out or are outraged about it on other sites. I'm surprised at how many people really used these sites. Found some more drama sites, and forums related to it and/or anime. (People have been suggesting other places.) So, I'll have some places to go to, if it really does shut down completely. 

Also, found a new site through Dad (who heard it from someone else) called PatientsLikeMe. It's rather extensive with what you can put up. Basically, it's like a community to find similar people, and to document your progress with your conditions. I'm kind of surprised with how many 'conditions' I have. I knew there were a lot, but it feels different when it's all in one place. My 'primary' condition is Bipolar II Disorder. I also told them that I'm interested in advocacy. I find that there is too much of a stigma with many of the things I have, and I'd like to change that somehow.I'm not used to being open about it, but I think I should be. At least a bit more. There's a section for putting up your 'treatments' (meds/therapy/etc.), charts, lab and test results, conditions list, 'MyCycle' (for tracking my 'monthly friend'), etc. There's even a thing to track your mood each day. There's an overall weekly questionnaire that's more in depth, measures your symptoms, and gives you more of a picture of how things are going each week. There's a forum section with tons of sub-forums. Some are geared just for Bipolar II people, some for women, some for people who've had clots, etc. They first suggest forums based on what info you've given them, but you can look at the overall list. It looks like a very interesting site. I think I can easily get lost on there. Every time I go on there, I seem to forget about some sort of 'condition' I have. Already have quite a bit down, though.

Oh, in our town we celebrate 4th of July a day early. Kind of funny. I can hear the fireworks going off from downtown. Anyways, happy 3rd of July!

Youtube:
A funny Cuticle Tantei Inaba amv:

An awesome Gintama amv, featuring Kintoki vs Gintoki:

Another really cool amv (has various anime in it):

Desert Road

Mood:

From the Liar Game season 2 OST. I loved this Jdrama!The music was amazing.

Today's been a bit warmer than yesterday. Yesterday must have been a fluke or something. Since, we're pretty close to what was forecasted. It felt really chilly yesterday. 

Otenki Onee-san was interesting. Abe was wrong for the first time about the weather. She thought a dust devil had lifted a man up, and dropped him on a hospital roof, killing him. What really happened, was the guy had fallen from high up on the stairs somewhere outside. As he laid there on the concrete, he saw an 'upside down rainbow'. He thought he'd show it to a little boy at a hospital, so even though he was severely wounded from the fall, he texted the boy at the hospital telling him to meet him on the hospital's roof. He wanted to show him the rainbow. Once the guy made it to the roof, he collapsed and died. Later, while Abe and Aoki are telling the boy what happened, they see that same upside down rainbow. Kind of was cool and sad at the same time.

Naruto Shippuden was another 'filler'. I feel like truly calling it that. (Some of the ones that they've marked as fillers, didn't really seem that way to me.) I didn't get anything interesting from it. No progression of the story, no character building, really. I hope they get back to the action, and actual story soon.In Hitman Reborn, they did a special thing for New Year's. Much like what they did in the anime. 

Edited more of that last panel of that drawing meme. It's looking a lot better. I had drawn myself with my main character, Shadow, from Alliance in this one. My hair looked horrible, before I edited it today. Now it looks semi-decent. It's funny drawing myself in my 'style'.At least it's just my head...That's another thing. My head turned out much smaller than Shadow's.Didn't mean for it to happen that way. Oh well. 

日本語

Went over more compounds for 実. 実らなかった努力 or みのらなかったどりょく (minoranakatta doryoku): fruitless (resultless) efforts. 事実を曲げる or じじつをまげる (jijitsu o mageru): (exp) to falsify a fact. 実を言えば or じつをいえば (jitsu o ieba): as a matter of fact, to tell the truth. 実業学校 or じつぎょうがっこう (jitsugyou gakkou): vocational school. 実験 or じっけん (jikken): checking, inspecting. 動物実験 or どうぶつじっけん (doubutsu jikken): experiments on animals. Tried another new language site, but didn't really like it. It's called busuu. Not even as good as nciku was.Couldn't use too many of the features, since I opened a free account. They didn't even have a kanji section.Looked at it, because someone suggested it on one of the forums I'm on, a while ago.  Oh well, it was worth a shot.

deviantART faves: Chibi Maker 1.1 Nijuunis Wardrobe Meme BLANK First, an interesting flash game where you can customize a chibi. Lots of options for clothes and expressions. Second, another interesting drawing meme I might fill out in the future. This one you can either draw yourself or an oc in different outfits. Like for sleepwear, everyday, casual, etc. 

Youtube:

2 cool amv's featuring many different anime shows:

A nice Gintama amv, about a pretty recent touching/amazing story arc:

A hilarious Gintama vid, featuring Katsura's running gag:

The Force of Gravity

Mood:

By Nakata Yasutaka from the Liar Game soundtrack. I love the music from the Japanese drama, Liar Game.All of the tracks really set the tone of the series. I think this was when someone lost during a round, or was kicked out of the game. Like the realization was too much for them. Like, most of the tracks, it sounds powerful and emotional. 

Well, I found out that I'm allergic to the antibiotics they gave me, for after they took the cyst out of my back.I was very sick on Saturday. Violently threw up a lot, had a fever, and generally ached all over. Odd thing is, every time I went to the clinic for something last week, I had a fever. They kept writing it off as nothing. Like something was wrong with their thermometers or something. I should have taken that as a hint.

Anyways, I decided to stop taking them. Not a good idea to keep taking them if they make you sick.I did feel a bit better. But, had a nasty pressure headache that started that night and continued throughout Sunday. Fever is totally gone. I'm still experiencing some neck and rib pains. I could see how my ribs would hurt after throwing up like that. My stomach is still doing somersaults, but I haven't thrown up since Saturday. It especially feels bad if I don't eat for a while. Although, sometimes it feels like I got razor blades in there just after I eat.Taking Tums and ibuprofen has helped a lot with these things, though. I'm hoping I'll 'get over' the side effects soon. I read up on it a bit, and apparently a lot of people are really allergic to sulfur-based antibiotics. Some can be so allergic they choke or suffocate from throwing up so much, and some get nasty blistery rashes. I think my symptoms sounded relatively mild compared to others who have reactions. 

Today, I plan to go through all the Passover stuff we had from last year. I glanced a little at them yesterday, and I could tell quite a bit of it isn't good anymore.I also will look at recipes for things I usually make during Passover. Like Passover granola, matzah toffee, popovers, etc. And make a list of things to replace what I tossed, and the normal stuff I have during the holiday. Like kichel (egg puffs with a little sugar on top), matzah crackers or Tam Tams, gefilte fish, chips, etc. 

I decided on not going to one of the congregations' seders. They're asking for quite a bit of money for it. I could probably 'negotiate' or something, but just the principle of the whole thing feels weird.I understand asking people for a little money, because you have to pay for renting the facility, caterers, etc. But, when you have a huge turnout every time, and ask for even more money, it doesn't feel right. You also ask people to bring a dish in addition to what the caterers make. The other congregation's seder is free, and is a potluck. We also usually go to a seder at a friend's place for one of the nights. We might have one at our place, too. If that's the case, I might make a dessert. Dad's thinking of making a lot of the meal. Which is all good.So, we'll see how this year's Passover turns out... Oh, and it doesn't seem that the Hadassah group in the area, is going to do a women's seder this year. That group seems to have fallen apart. Which is sad, but doesn't surprise me. I really liked the women's seder.

Losing an hour, because of Daylight Saving Time, throws my body off track even more. Wrote a bit more of the final chapter of Alliance. They finally subtitled the second to last episode of Monsters!I love that series, and would like to be able to finish it. There's only one more episode. Cuticle Tantei Inaba just keeps getting funnier. In the first part this time there was a lot of goat references. And, for the second part both Don Valentino and Inaba's group were lost in the woods. A woods renowned for the amount of suicides that take place there. I think there's a similar place I saw featured in one of Arashi's variety shows. (Probably D no Arashi.) The 'leader' of the band had to go there to see if it was haunted. A fan had asked them to investigate the area. Inaba had done a similar thing with tying up ropes to make sure he didn't get lost, and to use as a quick 'lifeline' to pull out of there. 

Mix Vegetable was kind of hard to read, because both of the main characters found out they had the same intentions towards dating the other person. Just for the name and a leg up in the patissier or sushi business. Hayato said that Hanayu is useless to him now. I think Hanayu had started to actually fall for him. Hayato seemed pretty tense around her afterwards, too. 

日本語

Today I went over the kanji: 歯 and 詩. 歯 is most often pronounced as は (ha), or し in mostly compounds. It means tooth or teeth. These are the common compounds from the list I use: 仮歯 or かし (kashi): false tooth. 臼歯 or きゅうし (kyuushi) or うすば (usuba): molar. 歯列 or しれつ (shiretsu): row of teeth. When 詩 is pronounced as うた (uta) it's: modern poetry. When it's pronounced as し (shi) it's: a poem, verse of poetry. The only compound was: 詩歌 or しいか (shiika): Japanese (and Chinese) poetry.