I love peanut butter, but a little goes a long way. My fave is crunchy with extra pieces. Feels like I'm actually having something substantial. However, that's a type of trigger food for me now. Fortunately, I can have the creamy version, but it's not the same...Peanut butter's very versatile. Good in many different sandwich combos (not just with jelly), makes an awesome sauce (The Thai/Vietnamese ones are addicting!), used in many desserts, in stews, and so much more.
This is my wallpaper for March. It's some of Midoriya's (aka Deku's) class at UA in Boku no (My) Hero Academia. Deku is on the front left corner. Thought it would be a fun one. I think it's a play off of one of the ending sequences. The month-long holidays for March are: National Celery Month, National Frozen Food Month, National Noodle Month, Irish-American Heritage Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. For my Jewish calendar, the main pic's of a bronze statue of people standing on a ledge and what looks like a wall on the side. It's titled Exodus. It was made in 1950. It's a little strange looking. The smaller pic's of a embroidered velvet Torah mantle from 1966. They don't feature such recent stuff that often. For my elements calendar, it's Mercury this time. I've always found mercury interesting. They mention how dense it is and that people can float on it. They also mention how people were so into it before they realized it was toxic and could drive people crazy. They show mercury batteries, a pool of it for the main pic, an old ceramic flask for holding dental mercury, and tuna sushi mentioning how mercury can accumulate in large fatty fish like tuna. For Korean, I've made it to level 3 of Basics 2 in Duolingo. Going faster than I thought I would. I might end up finishing before the 3-month mark I shoot for for languages. Maybe I'll go back to it in the future to study it longer. I've thought about writing out the sentences, and possibly saying them into speech-to-text to see if I'm saying them right. Also, to get sentences down. That might prolong it a little. Would be interesting to write the language out, too. Edited more of the full-body drawing of Shadow. The lines looked too thick, so I started thinning them down with his hair. Had to zoom in closely. Might take me longer, if I do this for the rest of it, but I think it looks better already. Edited more of Alliance. Made it to chapter 15 today. There are 20. This was much faster than I expected. Also, counted how many pages I've gone through this week. I don't usually. Went through 12 pages for the ebook and 18 pages for the print version. I've been lagging behind lately on it, but this week it seems like I got through a lot. Yay! Hopefully, next week it'll be the same or more. My Roommate is a Cat has been great so far. They really captured how cats actually behave. Showing what life was like for Haru as a stray was surprisingly dark for a rather light-hearted series. One of her siblings died, 2 were taken in by a large family because they were curious, the cats that looked after her and her siblings were most likely killed by crows (they implied it), and she lost track of her remaining sibling. It was cool that he ended up being adopted by the girl from the pet store, Nana, that befriended Subaru. She lives in the same neighborhood. Haru was able to meet her brother when she became stuck to Nana's key chain after she had left Subaru's. She was giving him advice on how to properly feed Haru. (She was getting a little pudgy.) Subaru couldn't get the key chain off himself, and just ran after her with Haru in his arms. She asked them over so she could help Haru. Haru and her brother will get to see each other in the future. The most recent episode reminded me of one of my close friends in junior high through high school. Hiroto is essentially a male version of her, and he's a close friend of Subaru's. His behavior, personality, the way he interacts with both Subaru and Haru, usually bringing his mother's food to Subaru's (often my friend's mom would give her food and occasionally other things to give to me), etc. sounded so much like her. It was uncanny. She was like a whirlwind, but a good person too. Youtube: Mix:
I love peanut butter! A little goes a long way, though. It goes with a lot of things. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are great. Peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches are even better. It's good in savory dishes, too. I can only have the smooth kind, because the bits in the crunchy one upsets my gut. I liked that one a lot more...Felt like there was more substance to it. At least, I don't have issues with it in this form. I have to stay away from whole or chunks of nuts, too. Although, I occasionally break this by having a tiny amount to try something new, and regret it later. It's nice that I can have smooth butter versions of them. Felt so weird today. Most of the day, I've felt like throwing up and passing out simultaneously. Not a good combo. I don't know what's going on with me. Plus, both sides of my abdomen have been cramping up since I went to bed last night. Made it super hard to sleep. I couldn't find a comfortable position. I usually get that weird crampy thing only one side at night. Usually, I can find one position to sleep relatively comfortably in. It doesn't normally last for the entire next day, either. My primary still hasn't gotten back to me with a new referral to see a GI closer to where I live that's out-of-network. Doesn't sound good to me. Finished Duolingo's Italian course. The last unit was on politics, which was interesting. I might, in the far future, go back through and max out the levels. However, I still don't see the point in that. For the next language, I'll probably use a different language learning app. Duolingo's pretty limited still with what languages they offer, and other apps might actually be better. HelloChinese was on another level compared to Duo. They went into a lot more detail with the grammar, pronunciation, speaking, etc. Also, had fun games in addition to the regular course. They have a podcast discussing the language and culture, as well. They're fb page's pretty active, and they've given me a Top Fan badge. I don't know why they gave me that...I've only liked their stuff. Haven't commented or shared anything from it. The Mango app has an extensive amount of languages. I was surprised that they have Yiddish, and both Irish and Scots Gaelic. Hard to find those. They seem to get more detailed and have notes on cultural stuff, too. There's also LingoDeer for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. I might use that for Korean, if I do it next. Might look up other apps to get a range of choices. These look promising, though. Since I started learning new languages every 3 to 4 months, I've gone through German, Chinese, and Italian now. Tried a little bit with Russian, but Duolingo's course was awful. Might go back to that in a different app in the future. So many already! Yay! I still remember a lot of the German and Chinese courses, too. There wasn't much progression with Helck. However, it was interesting to see the 'extras' on the story of piuy (aka piwi) and the witch that found him. He's always saying he's not a bird, yet he looks like one. When the witch taught him to say hello when greeting someone, he said it to everyone he saw. He was terrified of people before. He also screams everything. He must be older than he seems, since he was with the witch long before joining Helck and Vamirio. I think he might be one of the legendary creatures, but hasn't 'evolved' yet. That'd be cool. I think he'll have more of a role towards the end. I might be finished with drawing Shadow's feet. I'm not too confident about them. Although, they're at a weird angle. Next, will be his clothes. Edited a couple more pages of Alliance, again. More errors than last time. Played the last piece in the Mozart book on my clarinet. It's the only piece that Mozart made specifically for the clarinet. He finished it just before he died. I like when they have info notes on the pieces. It's also one of the most difficult pieces in the book. Fun to start off with. I also did some of the Clarinet Solos book. That one's interesting, because they mix difficult pieces with really easy ones. Finished watching Gab-Dong. It was really well done. The actor who played the copycat, Lee Joon, was great! The copycat's name is Tae Oh Ryu. He seemed to really get into his role. It'd be interesting to see him in something else. There were so many twists and turns. The only issues I had were using the aro psychopath serial killer trope, the staring..., and the way Detective Ha treated Dr. Oh at some point. I knew why Ha acted that way, but it still seemed unnecessary and rude. It had a surprising ending. They made you really feel for Tae Oh, which was interesting. They brought up some moral dilemmas, and debated whether psychopaths should be treated as human. Interesting psychological elements to it. The music was very fitting. Also, the cinematography was amazing! My new computer has a quality picture itself, but the cinematography added to it. You could see the pores on the actors' faces, stubble, veins in their eyes (had a hard time looking at some of them, because they were particularly veiny), dust, and so many other minute details. Felt more 'real' that way. The only weird part with that was they censored things like book titles, knives, posters, and shirts by blurring them out. I think some of the other Korean shows I've seen so far have censored things like that, too. The next show I'll go back to tonight is Cheo-Yong. It's another Korean drama. This time it's a supernatural detective one. I watched 3 episodes of it a while ago. I only stopped because I wanted to finish watching others that I had started beforehand. It'll be interesting to go back to. It has 20 episodes, like Gab-Dong does. Tried watching Grimms Notes yesterday. Not sure if I like it. The animation seems lackluster for some reason. I like the concept. In their world, everyone's born with a book of fate. Most people have everything about themselves and what life they'll lead written in it. Everything from birth to their death. There are those that have blank books that help keep those fates the way they were meant to be. Chaos Tellers, who also have blank ones, try to rewrite those fates. Oftentimes, turning the owners of those books into creatures. This first episode was based on the story of Red Riding Hood. It makes me wonder if each episode will focus on a different story from Grimm's Fairy Tales. My Roommate's a Cat was really cute. This time Haru was going crazy trying to 'protect' her human and home from Subaru's parents' ghosts. It played on the idea that when cats are going crazy or suddenly stare intently at nothing, that they see ghosts. Eventually, those ghosts turned to their human forms and thanked Haru, then disappeared. (Subaru didn't see them.) Haru was flabbergasted, but proud she protected the home and her human. Subaru finally started petting her. She was wary of it at first, but then it felt warm and comforting to her. It was weird to her especially because she was originally a stray. She licked his face while he cried, because she thought he was terrified of the weird ghost wisps going around. What really happened was that he realized how much his parents actually cared about him, and he'd never be able to thank them because they're dead. His editor is a huge cat lover, and has decided to 'meet' every day with Subaru at his home to see Haru. I have a feeling it's also to check up on him.
Finished the V. Modal unit in Duolingo's Italian course. Started and almost finished with the Cond. Per. one. Only had a few mistakes this time. Oh, now every time I see my Dove body wash and shampoo/conditioner, I think of the Italian word that's spelled the same way but pronounced differently. (Pronounced: doh-vay.) It means 'where' in English. Feels like it's asking me where every time I use those... Read more of Helck. Haven't read it in a while. It was revealed that they're in an apocalyptic distant future. I thought it was just a fantasy world. They do occasionally mention their year. Apparently, the 'poison air' surrounding the demon empire is radiation from nuclear fallout hundreds of years ago. Both the demons and humans revere a people called the Ancients in their texts. That's us. They were trying to come up with better and more evolved humans. The experiments went horribly out of control, and they had to nuke the area. (I'm not sure if it was all of Earth.) Few survived. I think the demons are actually mutated humans. That experiment, which seems to have been some sort of virus, was passed on to the ones that call themselves humans now. They've been testing it, and the ones that survive turn into winged soldiers that never die, but eventually lose their minds. The others turn into 'monsters' and are exterminated. A lot of it makes sense now. However, I'm still not sure how the 'king' controls the soldiers with it. I didn't know they'd go so deep with this. It started off like a light-hearted comedy, but turned seriously dark quickly. There's still plenty of humor, though. Tried to mess with Shadow's torso again. It's slowly turning out the way it should. I still have to shape it to how I want. Might take a while. They do say that it takes practice to get that stuff down. Practiced my clarinet. Played more klezmer. Edited more of Alliance. Almost to the 11th chapter. Yay! Started watching Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue or My Roommate is a Cat (sometimes translated lit. to: My Housemate is Sometimes on My Lap, Sometimes on My Head). It's about a mystery novelist, Subaru, and a cat, Haru, he took in. He found the cat at his parents' grave. (They both passed away at the same time, I think.) The novelist hates people, and before he met the cat, he was only interested in books. He doesn't know much about cats. Haru was a stray, and had a tough life up until then. It was interesting that they showed her perspective, too. This was better than I thought it would be. With the first episode, it seemed very much like my relationship with Rosie. He forgets to eat sometimes, and Haru kept trying to give him hints to eat. Putting pieces of her kibble at his bedroom/office door a few times, scratching at the door, and then dragging her food bowl to it. Eventually, after scolding her for being too distracting, he passes out. A little later, in a half conscious state, he grabbed cat food from the bowl, ate it, and went on a weird writing rampage on memos near him. She was surprised, but proud to have 'saved' him. One of my occasional symptoms with colitis is not feeling hunger. It happens even when I'm in remission. I sometimes forget to eat because of it. (I usually try to set an alarm when I feel like that.) Rosie will meow at me while I'm in my room, and sometimes scratch at the door. If I get up, she'll bite my pant leg and try to drag me with her. Once I go downstairs, she'll run to her food bowl, make like she's going to eat, stare at me, stare at the refrigerator, and then back to her bowl. She'll repeat this until I start making something. If I don't, she'll eventually grab me again. She sits patiently on the hard floor next me as I make something in the kitchen. She'll then follow me to where I eat, wait a moment to make sure I'm eating, and then walks away. If I don't finish my food, she runs back to me, and lays against me (not letting me get up) until I finish it. She does a similar thing normally, but not as demanding about it. She's very happy when I eat, too. I think she thinks she keeps me alive or something. It's cute, nice to have a creature care about me so much, yet kind of creepy at the same time. She seems to do more than what Haru did. Some people commented that what Haru did wasn't realistic. It seemed pretty real to me. The creator probably based Haru off their own cat. Maybe they're not cat owners? Also, cats aren't all the same. I was surprised by Rosie doing that, too. Finished watching The Ancient Magus' Bride. I liked some of it, but there was a lot that was problematic. Plus, it seemed...pretentious. There was a lot of hype when it came out. I waited to watch it, because there was way too many other anime that I wanted to watch that season. They tried to make everything whimsical and magical. It fell a bit flat and seemed forced on that front. People were praising the music, but I found it too overdone. The art was great. The main problematic part came at the very beginning. A suicidal 15 year old girl, Chise, being sold to an emotionally stunted 500 year old male demon, Elias. Then, telling her to be his apprentice and that she's his bride. He doesn't understand the concept behind what a bride is. A lot of people felt uneasy about this. They even tried to explain it away in the show. Then, proceeded to romanticize it. Some people were defending it and saying it's a fantasy world and things are done differently. That's weak to me. It sends a creepy message. Not to mention a lot of the 'good' characters either tried to kill Chise or kidnapped her. They brought up a lot of Celtic folklore, but it seemed like they didn't do much with it. Kind of like spewing it out and having it there just because it seemed cool. Some of it they actually did incorporate, but not much. I really liked Ruth and Silky (aka Silver), though. Silky was once a banshee. She cried out so long, she lost her voice. So, she did a lot of grunts and such. She takes care of the house. Ruth is Chise's familiar who's a black grim. He has dog and human forms. The last episode seemed forced, rushed, and somewhat gag-inducing. I'm not regretting watching the whole thing, but it left a weird aftertaste. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I won't watch a 2nd season if there is one.
