National Blueberry Pie Day!

Mood:

I love blueberries, and putting them in a pie makes the whole thing awesome!(This was actually yesterday, but it can still be celebrated!) For some reason, I used to have a hard time thinking that you could make a pie with blueberries. Like it sounded too indulgent to me, and couldn't possibly be true.More indulgent than cherry pie. It was a similar thing with mince meat pie. I guess it was with things I wouldn't expect in a pie...

I managed to get my 2 2-mile walks a day in for about a week. Towards the last few my shoes and socks essentially died on me.My shoes lost their cushion, the heel part of the soles are making deep holes, they've become very loose, etc. Since I'm still losing quite a bit of weight, my socks that were stretched out to fit for what I was before (some I thought were pretty new, until I go through it in my head and realize they really aren't), have become very baggy and fall off easily. This is a weird combo.So, my socks end up wadding down to the ball of both my feet. This leaves my heel open to the air, since the shoe has become loose. One of those walks was when it was very windy, and I could feel it go straight through to my bare heels.The soles of my feet were a very dark red and looked extremely irritated after those few walks, too. I used some foot calming cream or 'remedy' when that happened. It felt much better after. 

So, while trying to rack my brain about using different shoes, the only options I have are either my winter boots or summer-like shoes. I sometimes get blisters if I walk in my boots for too long, and they hurt after walking for a short time. So, that wouldn't have been a good choice. Most of my 'keds' and varying forms of them looked beaten up, and had some sand in them. (Why sand?) I decided to use my nice and comfy sandals. Or, at least, they usually are. I went for a walk with them to test them out. It felt fine most of the way. About 3/4 of the way, my feet started to really hurt, and in my right leg the lower calf started to hurt too. When I got home, and looked at my feet, they didn't look as irritated. But, there were some red bumps that seemed to be about to turn into full-blown blisters.A couple of them actually ended up on the side of my toes. I used the foot remedy again, they stung a bit, but felt better afterwards. So, the sandals were not good either. 

The pain in my leg amplified the next day, which was Monday. It was like my leg was going to fall off, and someone was stabbing me with a hot poker and moving it around.I noticed last night that there was some bruising around the area. I realized that I probably pulled or strained a muscle. I've had those before, and they're very painful. Most of the time they go away within a few days, though. Usually happens if I push myself too hard with things like walking too much at once. I don't want to 'ease' into it, though.It feels so nice to do the whole thing! The pain has gradually been diminishing by today, but I'm still resting it. 

On top of getting new shoes and socks, I also need to get jeans. The jeans I have currently have holes in the lower part of the butt area. Funny, because nothing rubs in that area.The butt is actually made for someone bigger than me, so it slides down all the time, and I'm constantly pulling it back up. I think that movement has made it get holes over time. That's the only thing I can think of. It's a weird area. I've never filled it out. My butt's kind of like a pancake.I think it was more so after my tailbone injury a while back. I also can't 'high step' or walk the way I used to. Had the injury during marching practice in college, and that was the end of marching for me, considering I couldn't do high steps afterwards. It'll probably never be the same. It's just slightly off, and usually no one notices it.At least I can walk, run, etc. Anyways, the jeans were also made for someone that's slightly more 'curvy'. (Wider hips, more butt, etc.) Not necessarily bigger. Although, now since I've lost weight, it's really for people who are bigger than me. They were poorly made too. It started to fall apart about a week or 2 after I got them. But, there were no holes until pretty recently. Makes it hard to walk with. The holes aren't visible yet, but it still makes me feel self-conscious.The holes are only slightly visible if I pull them up. But, they're saggy and way too baggy if I don't. Not really my kind of 'style'. 

Dad made it back home safely last Thursday. She rested a bit over the weekend. She said she wasn't feeling much pain when she got home, but she's feeling it more now.I hope things get better for her soon. I don't like when anyone's in pain, let alone my parent. She said she feels complete now, which is awesome.

I went back to watching Ranma 1/2. One of the recent episodes I watched seemed to be the closest to a trans theme. (I've heard many trans people like the show for a variety of reasons. I could also see why some wouldn't like it now that I've watched a good chunk of the series...) More so than the rest of the time. Ranma was hit very hard over the head, and confessed that he always felt that he was a girl but was too scared to tell anyone. He said it felt like waking up, when he saw himself in his girl-form after being hit. I suppose normally there is a trans like theme in the way he mostly wants to stay a guy, but keeps changing into a girl. He feels horrible when he's stuck as a girl. (Although, he does seem to be getting used to it.) They attributed the feeling like he was a girl thing this time to him being hit over the head. But, he said things like he's always felt like a girl...It was very interesting, but a bit sad that they played it off so easily. I also think a lot of the family's reactions might be more 'real', but they don't hate him. They're just unsure as to how to go about stuff like that, so they try to make it humorous. 

I also went back to watching Ansatsu Kyoushitsu or Assassination Classroom. I was going to take a break from it in order to try out some of the new shows, but a lot of the new ones seemed to be flops to me.This show has gotten much better with every episode. It was starting to lag before I picked it up again, but now we're getting more into the action. I'm liking the characters a lot more, too. Karma is just an awesome character all around. I like the ones that are kickass and twisted. Nagisa's getting more interesting. They also answered what many viewers were wondering. Whether he's a guy or a girl. (Doesn't really matter that much?) Koro-sensei made a pool for the class, and they went swimming. When Nagisa showed up in his swim trunks topless some people were surprised. He does put his hair up in kind of a 'feminine' way, talks softly and calmly, is short, and looks kind of weak. And, apparently to some that equals girl, but nope they were wrong. They started the series off with the premise that he was the main character, too. But, then proceeded to focus on other characters. Kind of interesting. Nagisa also seems to be the most deadliest. You'd think Karma would be, considering how vicious, calculating, manipulative, etc. he can be. But, no one expects Nagisa to do anything. Kind of the nice and friendly quiet type. He's so good at keeping his cool, that his victim won't know what happened until it's too late. While smiling he can calmly walk up to them, then with a quick fluid motion wrap his body around them, then he attacks from behind. Kind of like what a snake might do. Their 'PE teacher' (he's really just there to help hone their assassin skills and train them in order to kill Koro) finds him the scariest and most likely to assassinate someone. Most of the time, Nagisa's constantly scribbling down weaknesses Koro might have. Some laugh at it, but it's come in handy numerous times. 

Kekkai Sensen or Bloodline Battlefront has been awesome!I didn't like the other new shows (that weren't sequels). It's kind of like a hidden gem. The first episode didn't seem all that great, and a lot of the story seemed to be shoved in our faces way too quickly. But, it got much better. It seems like it's a pretty complex anime overall, but I like the ones that make you think, keep you on your toes, etc. Plus, the animation is amazing! I'm still unsure if one of the characters, White, is really a ghost or not. She's probably pretending. Leo has sometimes told her that the nurses at the hospital are looking for her. She usually hangs out at a cemetery near that hospital. People can see her...I don't know. Not sure what's up with her yet. I like that one of the main characters, Zapp, is darker skinned. There aren't too many good characters like that in anime, and especially as a main character. (There are some, just not many.) Most are pretty light skinned. I like to see diversity in them too. There are other side characters who have darker skin tones as well in the show. Zapp is also voiced by the seiyuu or voice actor who voices Hijikata from Gintama. It's interesting to hear that voice come from Zapp, but it definitely fits him. I really like his character, although he seemed a little too abrasive at first. He has several cool abilities (most of which are based on his own blood), is Leo's partner (he acts kind of like a guardian, always watching over him. Although, sometimes he likes to mess with him), a kickass attitude, is very passionate, and more. Vampires were introduced last time. Libra thought for a while that at most there would be 13 in the city. Leo used his eyes and said there were hundreds of them towards the center of town underground. They were able to capture one, but 2 of their agents were severely wounded. They were able to help them because of Leo's eyes. The vampires don't show up on video or pics, and most can't see them when they're face to face. He can see people's auras, and vampires apparently have an intense red one. It'll be interesting to see what happens next with this anime.

Finished watching Ouroboros. It had a really sad and disturbing end.It could have gone so much better. I kind of had a feeling it wouldn't end well from the beginning, but this was just crazy. It was really good until the end, though. Every episode was intense, they threw in some humor, the story had a lot of twists and turns, and more. I really feel like that was the worst way to end it...I won't say much about the ending, because I don't want to spoil it, and it was just too disturbing to go over. 

So, now I'm not watching any Jdramas at the moment...Kind of sad, considering that's how mediocre this drama season is.Not that many great sounding new shows out there. So this season for both new anime and drama is kind of lame. Although for the season as a whole, Gintama came back even better than before. But, that's a continuation of an anime, not a new one...

Started watching One Piece last week. I was really reluctant to try this one. Mainly because there's so much hype about it, it's a really long series, the art is a bit off-putting at first (xxxHolic's art gives off a similar feel, but turns out to be awesome. It's not the same style, but also takes a while to get used to), and various other things. I can already see some similarities to Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail's art, at least in the manga, is kind of similar too. One Piece's manga is about 2 years older than Naruto's. (That's saying a lot...) Starting in 1997, and is still going. The anime started in 1999 and is still going, too. As of right now, there's 692 episodes, plus several films and specials. So, this is probably the oldest series of the big 5 anime. Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Hitman Reborn, and Fairy Tail. They're long-running series that usually rank at the top on anime rankings. Bleach and Reborn have ended. So, maybe it's just the big 3 instead now. Although, Gintama is rising through the ranks, as well. Maybe that's added to the list now? It's not older than One Piece, though. It's the top best-selling manga in history. It's popular around the world, and has won several awards. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, whose body gains the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. Also, about his diverse crew of pirates called The Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy explores the ocean in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as 'One Piece' in order to become the next Pirate King. It's ok so far, and better than I expected. I guess I'll have to watch more in order to get more of a feel for it.

Started reading Tegami Bachi or Letter Bee last week. I've watched both seasons of the Tegami Bachi anime, and some of its specials a while ago. I remember reading that the manga was quite different. For one thing, apparently allies were actually villains in the manga. So far, it seems to be going like it did in the anime. Although, I think I read that the manga's and anime's plot diverge from each other early on. The last season of the anime ended in 2011. The manga is still going. It started in 2006. So there's at least a lot more to it than what was in the anime. The chapters seem to be pretty long so far, too. Letter Bees are couriers that deliver important letters and packages (which carry a part of the sender's heart) throughout the land of eternal dusk, Amberground. Gaichuu are giant insects that feed on the hearts or feelings of humans. The story revolves around Lag Seeing, who was born on the Day of Flicker, when the man-made sun went momentarily dark for unknown reasons. It follows his ambition to become a Letter Bee, to find Gauche Suede (he was the Letter Bee that was in charge of 'delivering' him to his aunt. Lag ended up looking up to him) who disappeared, and to find his mother. Letter Bees usually bring Dingos to fight/protect alongside them. They're usually dogs or cats. Niche insisted that she'd be his Dingo, so he agreed to it. Niche is kind of animal-like. Her hair's famously known as the 'Golden Sword', and she can manipulate it like powerful blade-like tentacles, which are also capable of lifting things several times her size. She has bear-like forearms that are usually covered up. She can sniff the air for any signs of danger. She hates wearing pants or even underwear. But, when Lag makes her wear a new pair of his underwear, she ends up never wanting to take them off. Saying she wears them for Lag's sake, and that he's the first male to make her wear pants. They end up looking huge on her, and kind of like baggy shorts, but at least she agreed to wear something to cover herself up. She also has a 'pet' named Steak. He was also from a circus that Niche was about to be forced into participating in. It was full of exotic animals, which later escaped when Niche broke herself free. Steak likes to sit on her head. He's a bit of an odd animal. She also calls him her emergency food supply. The world itself is pretty unique. 

Also, started reading Midori no Ou (lit. Green King) or Verdant Lord. It's interesting so far. It's set in the near future when Mother Nature has decided to fight back against all of human encroachment. Vines and foliage entangle cities around the world, and large wooden creatures called Arethusa rampage through them. The main character is Shin Souma, who came from Japan to New York City to visit his twin brother Ken. Ken is a scientist that was experimenting on little kids. He felt they had a higher understanding or were in-tune with nature, and that somehow they might be able to control what was happening with their findings. He also sent for a 'delivery' by plane of one of those Arethusa creatures in order to observe it. It busted out of the plane, and began wreaking havoc throughout the city, but is able to communicate with the kids. Shin got mixed up in everything when he tried to save the kids. He suffered injuries that were lethal. Ken showed up and injected him with something, and he woke up alone and with not much pain. Apparently he injected him with something that encourages the growth of plants in his body. Half his face looks like the Arethusa's did from before. His arm has changed, too. He ended up saving the kids in the forest that was near the compound, but people chased after him hoping to capture, kill or experiment on him. Ken is just watching everything unfold from a helicopter at the moment. One of the kids saved him, and called the Arethusa that was delivered earlier over. The next thing he knows, he's waking up in a hospital bed with restraints. The doctor that was there said at most he might have a year left to live. The 'plants' have become essentially capillaries throughout his body. There's no way to get rid of them. They're just going to continue to grow, and the doctor doesn't know what will really happen if it does. The doctor seems ok, and he didn't do anything to the kid that saved Shin. 

Went over and edited the 5th short story to my nightmare anthology. This is probably one of the most gruesome, and hard to sit through.The weird thing is with the original version of this nightmare, it felt so real. Only 7 more stories left. 

Played my clarinet. Did some jazz and Irish tunes. Messed up a bit at the beginning, but the rest was great. 

日本語

I studied the kanji: 協. It's usually not used by itself. Just in compounds. It's most commonly pronounced as きょう (kyou), but on rare occasions it's かなう (kanau). It means: co-, cooperation. 協会 or きょうかい (kyoukai): association, society, organization. 協議 or きょうぎ (kyougi): conference, consultation, discussion, negotiation. 協賛 or きょうさん (kyousan): support, mutual aid, cooperation, approval, authorization. 協奏曲 or きょうそうきょく (kyousoukyoku): concerto. 協定 or きょうてい (kyoutei): arrangement, pact, agreement. 協力 or きょうりょく (kyouryoku): cooperation, collaberation. 協和 or きょうわ (kyouwa): concord, harmony, concert. Did some of the practice and chapter quizzes on JapaneseClass. Was pretty good. Translated another sentence from that You Maga article. Read a couple of articles in Japanese on the original RocketNews24. There was also a new compilation of Japanese commercials on Youtube. I like that the person behind that account compiles current ones every 2 weeks, and then posts a vid of them. They end up being 7 to 10 minutes long. Most of them are without subtitles, which is great for me. It gives me a chance to see it being used as is, and to use the knowledge I already have. It's a bit more of a challenge with ads, because they tend to talk really fast. Sometimes the text that comes up in certain ads doesn't stay on for very long. Those 7 to 10 minutes can be quite a workout for my brain. Their ads are pretty entertaining, too. Some are really bizarre, but not as many as most people would expect. 

National Garlic Day!

Mood:

This was Sunday, but I really really love garlic!(It's kind of like on the same level as chocolate to me...) Why not keep celebrating it? The more garlic there is, the better the dish...There have been few times where I've felt there was too much of it in something. Yesterday was the start of the month of Iyar on the Jewish calendar. 

The weather has been amazing the last few days, especially yesterday.It was around 72, very sunny, a slight breeze, and the smell of flowers was in the air. The mountains looked great, too. Really amazing to walk through.

I managed to get both my 2-mile walks in yesterday. Yay!Apparently many people were out walking, too. I guess the nice weather really brings people outside. It was interesting to see. I didn't go nearly as early as I usually like for the morning one. Went out at about 10. That's ok. At least I got out there.It was already starting to heat up, and after doing 2 miles in it, it felt much warmer than it was. I was wearing my black slacks because it was laundry day. It doesn't have any pockets. It was too warm to wear my coat. So, I strapped on my purse instead. (It's nice that it crosses my shoulders, instead of being only on one side.) I need pockets for my keys and mp3 player. Since my purse is rather big, I brought my iPhone both times, too. I threw in my small pocket flashlight for the night one just in case, too. I have a lot of other stuff in it that helps me be prepared for a bunch of stuff normally. So, maybe it worked out better than usual that way.

One guy saw me during the tail-end of my first walk, and said: "I thought you'd beat me to the corner, but your purse probably slowed you down!" I wasn't sure what to make of that.Plus, I had my music blaring, and I was in 'the zone'. It kind of sounded sexist, now that I think about it...I don't think my purse slows me down all that much. (Ended up getting home about the same amount of time as usual.) I don't even remember seeing him, and he acted like he saw me before. I know he also thought I was fast. So...this was odd. Maybe he was trying to start a conversation about my purse? When I'm in the zone, I don't feel I have much time for that. 

I didn't have many people talk to me during my walk last night, just a nod and hello from most of the ones I saw. Towards the end of that walk, Dad called me. I'm glad I brought it with me.We were talking the rest of the way of my walk, and a little after. 

Her surgeon had called me at around 4:30 yesterday, once the surgery was over with. It lasted around 3 hours instead of 2. Most of that last hour was for repairing things from the last surgery. Apparently, Dad had a ring of scar tissue. It was causing her a lot of pain.I'm glad it was taken care of. He told me I wouldn't be able to talk to her for a couple of hours. He said everything went well. 

Like I mentioned before, Dad called me towards the end of my walk at around 8:15. I didn't think she'd be up to talking at all that night. She was a bit groggy and tired, which was to be expected. Her throat was sore from having the breathing tube taken out, and couldn't talk much. I'm glad she called, though. She was able to stomach some broth, too. I'm hoping the recovery goes well. 

I managed to get my 1st walk in today, too. It was a little later than yesterday's 1st walk, but at least I did it!It was slightly chillier than yesterday, which I felt a bit more because my hair was still wet from doing it just before.It felt nice once I really got into the walk, though. People were really friendly this time. I was stopped as I was going through a green belt that has a nice paved trail going through it. It feels like a mini park. Lots of trees, birds, plants, etc. around. Really nice part of the walk. The people that stopped me apparently haven't seen me in a very long time. They said the last time they really talked to me was just before I went to college. They still live near us. They saw me yesterday, and were apparently blown away by my hair. They said they had to talk to me today.They told me my hair was 'simply stunning' and 'gorgeous'. We talked a lot about what's happened in our lives since we last talked. I barely remember them. They were incredibly nice. They said they hoped to see me again when I'm on my walks. They also said I looked like I was glowing. I was starting to blush with all the compliments. I'm not used to that sort of thing.It was nice though.

Yesterday, I decided to go back to watching the anime MAR, instead of continuing the drama Teppan Shoujo Akane. That drama was kind of tiring.I got sick of her dad's friend basically sabotaging every single thing she did. I know he was trying to get her to 'grow' more in her abilities as a chef, but it was getting ridiculous. And, she was growing pretty well on her own through experimenting. She really didn't need his antics every time. The stories were getting kind of stale. Things became too predictable, and unrealistic. MAR is getting a lot more interesting. I'm liking it so far. 

I also watched Fairy Tail. Not sure if I'm liking the current story arc, but it's interesting. Minerva joined a dark guild, and paired up with an interesting partner. One who can turn people into kids. They become as weak as kids, their defense also goes down dramatically, they move like kids, etc. Erza was the first to change. She's very unsteady on the ground now, especially with it being mostly ice. She also can barely hold her sword, and that was the only thing she had the energy to equip. (Her shirt from before hides everything. It basically turned into a dress.) Natsu changed, too. Only he seems weaker than he was originally at that age. He still could use the same 'tricks' he used as a kid, though. He was barely able to keep his clothes on (by holding everything up), and he also had to get rid of his shoes since they were too big for him now. Erza met Minerva and are about to go at it. (Even though Erza can barely stand or carry her sword.) Wendy and Lucy got separated from Gray and the others. Gray's by himself now. Happy and Carla are flying over to look for more clues as to how to revive the frozen town of giants. Flare suddenly showed up to help Lucy and Wendy. Don't know why she was there, and seemed a bit too convenient...

There was a new chapter up for Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler. There wasn't much to it this time. Basically, the 'Green Witch' saved Wolfram for the time being. I'm glad that he looks like he'll pull through. They still need to get him to a hospital or at least treated by someone secretly at one. It looks like Wolfram might still be able to take care of the Green Witch once he sees someone. And, it looks like they made it out of the area, too. So, there might be a new arc soon. That'd be interesting. Maybe we'll learn more about Ciel's family. I think they said that his grandmother had something to do with the Shinigami (or Grim Reapers, or lit. 'Death Gods'). I guess we'll just have to see. 

Yesterday, I also went over and edited the 3rd short story to my nightmare anthology. Only 9 more stories to go through and edit again. It was a pretty trippy one, although most of them are... 

Played my clarinet. Did some tunes from my regular clarinet solos book (I have an advanced one, too), some Duke Ellington, and Gershwin. Started off a bit rocky, but ended up doing pretty well the rest of the time. It's been a bit of a while since I've played last. I think I really need to get to doing it every day, or at least every other day. But, again it was pretty good this time. Rosie seemed to enjoy it, too.

日本語

Studied some of the common compounds for the kanji: 共. 共演 or きょうえん (kyouen): appearing together, co-starring. 共学 or きょうがく (kyougaku): coeducation, coed. 共感 or きょうかん (kyoukan): sympathy, empathy, response. 共産 or きょうさん (kyousan): communism. 共存 or きょうぞん (kyouzon): coexistence. 共著 or きょうちょ (kyoucho): collaboration, co-authorship. 共通 or きょうつう (kyoutsuu): common(ness), community; to be common, be shared; (suf) -wide. 共通語 or きょうつうご (kyoutsuugo): common term; common language, standard language. 共謀 or きょうぼう (kyoubou): conspiracy, collusion, complicity, being in cahoots. 共鳴 or きょうめい (kyoumei): resonance, sympathetic (sound), (being in) sympathy. 共用 or きょうよう (kyouyou): common use, communal use, sharing. I'll be going over more common compounds for 共 next time.

I know I mentioned last time that I'd go over more of the chapter tests on JapaneseClass' site next time, but I felt I needed more of a refresher beforehand. So, I went through the practice questions instead. They threw a bunch of new kanji/vocab at me this time. I tripped up on some, but I've never seen most of them before.I'm always surprised when I get those correct right off the bat. Especially with kanji pronunciations. I can somewhat figure out the meaning behind a vocab question with looking at each 'radical' or smaller kanji parts that make up one kanji. Like 語 for example. There are essentially 3 parts in this one. 言, 五, and 口. 言 basically means to talk, 五 is the number 5, and 口 is a mouth or opening. 語 means language or word. (日本語 is lit. 'Japanese (or Japan) language'. They usually put 語 at the end of a word for a language.) So, 言 (I've noticed most kanji who have this 'part' have something to do with talking) and 口 definitely have something to do with the meaning. But, it's not always that simple.With the kanji pronunciations, it's a bit harder to 'guess'. Although, if it's a compound with one kanji you know, it's a bit easier. They seemed to be testing me a bit more aggressively than usual this way, which is a good thing. Keeps me on my toes.

Finished translating another sentence from that You Maga article. This one was slightly more difficult than last time, even though it was shorter. I also read an article in Japanese on RocketNews24's site. It was about the lady in Australia that stood up for a Muslim couple. Another couple was sitting across from them on a train and was saying some pretty hateful things towards them. It was disturbing. I'm glad that someone who wasn't Muslim stood up for them. The lady who did, ended up saying: "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything." They seemed to be shocked by that. I like how she was trying to explain things in a somewhat calm manner. Trying to educate rather than being violent.

I went back to watching Rurouni Kenshin and D.Gray-man for Sundays. Decided that Arslan wasn't for me, and none of the new Jdramas that I want to see are out yet. Next Saturday, I'll watch the finale of Ouroboros. It's been a great show.I hope it doesn't end badly, although there have already been some crazy developments to the story. Ikuo and Tatsuya have split apart. Tatsuya thinks Ikuo is too close to the truth, it might break him, and he might not end up on his side. Ikuo's beyond pissed about the whole thing. They finally found some major clues as to what really happened, and who was behind it all. They both had made a promise that they'd bring that person down together. In the next episode's preview, Ikuo apparently meets the guy behind it all, and goes crazy. Apparently, the orphanage they both grew up in was basically to gather a bunch of very healthy kids in order to harvest their organs. Whenever they thought a kid was 'ready', they used the excuse that someone finally wants them to be apart of their family or that they needed to go to another orphanage, then they'd take them away. The kids that stayed behind and survived never heard from them again. The guy behind it all might actually be Ikuo's biological father. Also, their teacher, who they cared about so much, might be his biological mother. Might be why Tatsuya doesn't want him to find out. Should be interesting to see what happens next. 

Finally got around to looking for some new music on Sunday. Only found one this time. A couple of weeks ago I found 2. I don't think I found anything 'new' for a few months before that. All 3 are cool, though. Also, finally made a playlist of my top fave songs currently. Ended up being about 72 out of around 350 songs. That's kind of funny.But, these 72 songs are the only ones I seem to never want to skip through. I put the playlist to my mp3 player as well, so I could listen to it during my walks. Probably if I end up occasionally listening to the rest of the songs, they'll seem fresher. 

National Almond Day!

Mood:

This was on Monday, but why not keep celebrating it? Almonds are very versatile. They can be cooked in so many different recipes, and are great by themselves. You can have them plain, roasted, salted, seasoned, etc. There's even such a thing as almond 'milk'. (If it doesn't have actual milk in it, I feel odd about calling it 'milk'.But, it's good.) It's very healthy, too. It was also Presidents' Day. 

I hope people who like Valentine's Day had a great one. I was going to say 'those who celebrate', but it sounded weird.I've always felt odd about the holiday for many reasons. One, I was dumped on Valentine's Day over the phone several years ago...So, that's kind of soured it a bit for me.Another reason is that it really is a 'religious' holiday. No matter how commercialized its gotten (and I know it's over-the-top with that), it still has those origins. There's a reason why 'Saint' is in the name. Since it's not apart of my religion, I feel even weirder about it.Some Jews will ignore the whole thing because of this. Jews already have a similar 'love' holiday, but it's a very minor one. (It's Tu B'Av or the 15th of the month of Av. Some refer to it as the Jewish Day of Love. It's in the summertime.) The only thing good I see in Valentine's Day is the sales on candy/chocolates. 

I still haven't been feeling too good.I'm a lot better than when I went to Urgent Care at the end of last month. But, whatever I have, seems to be lingering still. The Imodium has really helped. I followed the first dose's instructions with taking 2 pills at once. Couldn't go for about a week...Then, the 'problem', pain, and nausea came back after that. So, I took one pill after waiting a little while. Thinking things would equal out on their own. No such luck. With one pill, it was a lot better on my system. It felt more normal. I might have to take another one soon, though. That stuff is powerful!Maybe whatever I have really is on its way out, but it's just taking its sweet time.

Went to the support group last night. Had a really big turnout. A lot of people hadn't been to a meeting for a while. Interesting discussions, too. We went to Shari's, like usual, afterwards. Had their turtle sundae. A 'turtle' is chocolate, nuts, and caramel combined. There was a very large brownie at the bottom with caramel and nuts mixed in. On top of that, there was a HUGE scoop (more like a mountain) of vanilla ice cream. Whipped cream topped that. Chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, and pieces of nuts were drizzled/sprinkled over everything. The brownie was amazing!Way too much ice cream for me...If it had an amazing flavor to it, I might feel otherwise. 

Before that we went to Taco Time for a quick dinner. We had been out for most of the day. I haven't been there in a long time. I got my fave, which was the bean soft burrito. It's so good!It has pinto beans mashed up, lots of cheese, and quite a bit of enchilada sauce stuffed inside a flour tortilla. It's huge! At least to me it is.Since I got the combo, it comes with some mexi-fries. They were pretty good too! It all was so satisfying, I was fighting off sleep afterwards.I looked it up later, and found out the burrito is a lot less calories than I expected. The mexi-fries were almost as many calories. It's good to know for in the future.Maybe I'll just get the burrito and a drink next time, too. I only had 2 meals plus that brownie for the entire day. Knowing that, I think it was probably a good idea to eat everything I got for dinner. I still have to be smart about how little calories I might have, too. 

We went on various errands for the rest of the day. Dad had a 4-day weekend. I finally deposited the check my grandpa sent with a Hanukkah card during the holiday. I just have to figure out what I want for a Hanukkah present for myself, now that it's in the bank. I'm thinking of the seasons expansion for the Sims 2. There will actually be seasons for them. As it is right now, it's like a perpetual spring with no rain.With this, there'll be rain, snow, falling leaves, changes in temp, other types of weather, along with the seasons, etc. They also get more clothes, new items, new house furnishings, plants, etc. I was also thinking about the pets expansion, but if it's just enough for one, I'd rather have the seasons one. Seems like so much more to it. 

Managed to write more of the 12th short story to my nightmare anthology. I've seemed to break through my block on it, and have more of a clearer picture as to how I want it to go. Not sure how it'll end up yet, though. 

Last week I also managed to practice my clarinet. It felt so good to get back to it!Hopefully, I can get back to it on a regular basis. Did some jazz and Irish tunes. Played well enough that Rosie sat up close on the bed next to me. She usually loves it when I play. It feels a bit weird, yet nice, to have a furry fan like that...

Also, got around to studying more kanji. The more I learn, the more interesting it gets.One of them had its handwritten short-forms listed. It has like 16 strokes, so it can get tedious to write out over and over. So, they have some simplified versions for writing it. Looks nicer and cleaner simplified, too. Also, did pretty well with the practice part and quizzes on JapaneseClass' site. I'm going to look into the Japanese version of RocketNews' site. I love their English version. Sometimes the English one has translated articles from the original Japanese one, but most of it's original. So, there will be more stories on the original. It may be more interesting to read than asahi's or mainichi's site. Trying to cover more of the reading part, too. 

Scanned all of the drawings of my original characters' outfits/accessories, and the Hanukkah themed one. (It features Shadow, who's the main character from my novel, Alliance.) I'll go over them a bit in Photoshop, but it probably won't take long until I post them to dA. Still trying to decide if I want to post each characters' stuff individually, or by page. I technically have 20 characters, but 2 of them have 2 different 'forms'. It ended up being 5 pages of characters...I guess I'll decide on it at some point. Getting closer to finishing with editing the exaggerated emotions meme with Junko (another character from Alliance) in Photoshop. It's taking longer because I didn't color it in, and the smudges/marks/etc. show up more that way. So, there's some cleaning up to do. But, it seems to be getting easier. After the editing, I'll get to put each drawing into the correct spaces on the meme. There's 24 of them. The number of small drawings might also be another reason for it taking so long...

The movie/special I'm watching now is Oriento Kyuko Satsujin Jiken or Murder on the Orient Express. (Last time I watched Pandemic.) It's a 2-episode special, but each episode is like 2 1/2 hours long. So, I'm breaking them into chunks. Watched the 1st episode. It's an interesting adaptation of the original Agatha Christie novel. I don't particularly like the detective's voice, but the rest of it has been good. I like Agatha Christie stories. They're fascinating. I have a video game called And Then There Were None based on the novel of the same name. It's interesting, too. Haven't played it in a while. 

Finished watching Guu Guu, the Cat. It was a pretty good miniseries. The mangaka (creator of the manga) had a very active imagination. It looked like she was hallucinating every so often. Occasionally, I couldn't tell what was 'real' and what was imaginary.Anyways, Guu Guu lived to be 15 years old, and he died just before the mangaka was going to receive an award for her work that was based on Guu Guu. It was bittersweet that way. She ended up with 13 cats. I don't see how people could take care of that many...This is based on a true story, and they gave out the real life info about the mangaka, Guu Guu, and her cats at the end. Guu Guu helped her overcome depression, and got her motivated to draw again. In real life the mangaka was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at some point, and she feels she wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for her cats. They gave her the courage to keep living, and to be adventurous. They slightly hinted about the cancer in the miniseries. She seemed rather bitter about it in the show. Partially because she would never be able to get pregnant. She became depressed again once Guu Guu passed away, but with looking back at all her cats, she couldn't feel that way for long. They cheered her up. So, it was a bittersweet, but good, story. I'm kind of interested in the manga now. Can't find it anywhere, though.

Since I noticed some of Smoking Gun's missing episodes were up, I'm back to watching it. The only one that's still not up (from when I last checked) is the finale. But, I'm hoping that by the time I get to it, it'll be up. It's a good show, and I'm glad that I might finally be able to finish it soon. 

Ouroboros has only gotten better. It's not nearly as 'cheesy' as it started out as. (Someone commented that it seemed too cheesy after the 1st episode.) It has a lot of depth to the story, and the characters are very interesting. It seems like with each episode they get a very tiny clue (seemingly insignificant until the next episode) about what happened the day their teacher from the orphanage was killed, and who was behind it. Their teacher had some dark secrets, too. They usually have this view that she's very pure, but that changed with Ikuo remembering what happened just before she was shot. He had blocked out the memory until a recent case brought it all back. 

Parasyte has been awesome!With the most recent episode, they messed with everyone's emotions. Apparently Reiko, who's a parasite, ended up with a maternal instinct that most parasites haven't expressed before. She was more into studying humans, and finding out why they behave in certain ways. Her host ended up pregnant, and she kept the baby after she gave birth to it. It's a perfectly normal human baby. At first, she was turned off by it, and thought several times about 'getting rid' of it. But, something kept drawing her to it. Over time that feeling grew. Parasites so far aren't known to possess emotions like humans do, so she surprised herself. She even picked up laughing. Her maternal side became so strong, she refused to let a private investigator kill it. She stabbed him immediately through the heart and grabbed the baby. The detectives on the case caught up with her, and started firing their guns at her. She was able to lengthen and harden her hair that wrapped itself around the baby, protecting it. She didn't resist or fight the detectives. Shinichi was there, because she asked him to meet with her, saying it was important. He was watching it all unfold around him, and as she's still being shot at, she tried her best to walk towards him. Eventually, the detectives realized she wasn't fighting back, and stopped firing. She gave Shinichi the baby, saying that he should protect and take it to a safe place. With that, she passed out and died. So sad. I didn't expect her to end up being a 'good' person. She was pretty vicious towards her own kind the night before...But, they were going to kill her. I think she was very misunderstood, too. Shinichi was picked up by the police to give his statement about what happened. They found his father and he's under their protection now. They know that he knows about the parasites. But, they certainly don't know about Migi yet. Migi is a parasite that only made it to Shinichi's right hand, instead of traveling to his head and gaining control. He seems to be very intelligent, and has a wicked sense of humor. Migi's cells have intermingled with Shinichi's in other parts of his body, and it's affecting him physically and mentally. The police wanted Shinichi to identify if a convicted serial killer at their jail is a parasite. They told the serial killer to tell them if Shinichi is one or has some sort of special ability against them. At the very end of the episode, there was a possibility that Shinichi and Migi may have been found out. The convict knew something. But, they left us hanging on that. It's like one of the worst cliffhangers ever!

Dad got an amaryllis plant bulb recently as a present. The plant's been growing in the kitchen ever since. It's gotten so huge! It finally has bloomed, too. The flowers are bigger than I expected as well. They're a pretty red color. It's been interesting watching it grow.I have this weird feeling that it may take over the entire kitchen. It's pretty impressive as it is.