3rd of Iyar

Rosie had a vet appointment yesterday morning. Her matted fur had gotten so bad, we couldn't cut those patches out anymore. She also got a sore the night before under a patch of it. We weren't sure about her teeth, since she seemed to have a painful tooth not too long ago. When that happened, she was also doing something weird with drooping an ear to the side. She was due for a physical. So, she really needed to be seen. 

They shaved all the matted fur off. Almost down to the skin. It was very deep. The wound looks worse than it is, but they told us it was healing well on its own. Just in case, they gave us anti-microbial wipes to keep it clean. Telling us to dab it twice a day. They noticed she had gained a little more weight. Last time we were told she was a little overweight. Not good. Although, she's mostly muscle. She's very active. They ran some blood tests and we'll find out the results in a couple of days. Interesting to see that they're basically the same tests humans have done. Obviously with different norms. She also had her nails trimmed. She's been trying to pull them out lately. Sounds like she had a day at the spa.

She didn't put up much of a struggle with getting into the carrier this time. She might have been groggy, since it was in the morning. Didn't seem as traumatic, either. Maybe she wasn't groggy, and just realized that the carrier's not a bad thing? I don't know.

She seems a lot happier. She's still hugging me a lot. I've decided to use her grooming glove first thing when I go downstairs in the morning, and as the last thing I do downstairs at night. That way I can stay on top of keeping her fur nice. Especially as it grows. I didn't start using that glove when she was completely without matted fur (I think she's had them since we got her, it just wasn't as bad), so this will probably help a lot. I'll dab those wipes on her wound at around the same time. Easier to remember that way. 

I decided to feed her a little differently. She eats every time we're in the kitchen. There are 2 bowls. Originally one for Tasha and one for Rosie. Rosie has taken them both over (Tasha has a food bowl on the banister over the stairs), but I think Tasha sometimes goes down for a snack when we're all asleep, or she doesn't want to wait for one of us (obviously if Rosie's not there). She can't jump up there on her own anymore. So, I think it's wise to keep both bowls there for now. I'm giving Rosie less food at a time, only waiting until she completely finishes those bowls, cleaning them, and then giving her a little more. Before I'd fill them up to the brim, and halfway through she'd ask for more. If I'm constantly adding to it throughout the day, it ends up being too much. I waited until there were crumbs left today, cleaned them, and filled them about half as much as I normally do. She was not happy that I waited so long to give her more. She didn't seem disappointed with the amount. So, we'll see how this goes. It'll be hard to ignore her. She bites when I don't give her more right away. Cleaning it more often might encourage her to finish what she already has. It's just harder to clean them with what's going on with my hands/wrists. 

With Duolingo's Korean course, I'm halfway through the Seasons unit. I've decided to only finish the 1st level of each unit after I got more used to the alphabet. Seem to be doing ok that way. They added a 'league' section. I'm currently in the silver league, despite skipping some days lately. In fact, I'm in the top 10. Once you're still in the top 10 by the end of the week, you advance to the next league. 

Finally finished erasing and thinning the lines of that full-body Shadow drawing in Photoshop today. Only took me so long because I haven't been doing it often. Next, I'll connect some of the lines that weren't connected before, then I might color it in. If I color it in, I might add shading to it, too. It'll be interesting to see the final product. It already looks better than my previous full-body drawings.

Finally managed to get to some editing of Alliance today, as well. It's a little embarrassing, but I haven't done that in almost 2 months. I want to finish that soon. Hopefully I'll get to it more often now.

Watched Ghoul on Netflix. It's a 3-part Indian horror miniseries. There was a lot to it. They marketed it as a zombie show. It wasn't. The 'monster' was a summoned Arabic demon. With every person it bites, it can change it's appearance to look like them. I think it even can carry over the personality and memories of that person. Essentially creating a clone. It makes it's victims confront their guilt. If they're completely innocent, it won't touch them. One character in it was, and the demon seemed to protect him. The main character was a strong Muslim woman who was an interrogation officer. India was taken over by a brutal regime. People were assigned to certain sectors based on their religion. The ones who came to power were Christian and oppressed everyone else. They publicly burned books, restricted what teachers/professors could teach, interrogated people for no reason, punished people for being 'fake' Christians, etc. They were like Nazis. It was set in a not so distant future. It was interesting that despite being treated poorly, the main character still believed in the government. She even turned her father in. He was a professor and just wanted to educate his students more than what was on the syllabus. I'm not sure if I'm happy about the ending, but overall it was pretty good. 

Started watching Perfume on Netflix. It's a German detective show. Only 6 episodes, so more like a miniseries. The murder was rather brutal. The killer cut out her scent glands. As well as most areas that had hair. Cut off all the hair on her head. (Leaving her scalp intact.) The killer seems to be turning those 'pieces' into perfume. The only thing I'm not liking about it is the sex scenes. There are quite a lot and I've only seen the first episode. Maybe there will be less in future episodes? 

Voice

Mood:

By Perfume. I just found out why they call themselves perfume...The original 3 members all had the kanji character for fragrance in their names. (One dropped out almost right away after they formed the group. Another girl replaced her a year later, and has been with the group ever since.) So, it makes sense. I don't like too many of their songs, but there are some good ones. The band is very popular worldwide. They use elements of electronic dance music, synthpop, and house music. Some have called their 'style' techno-pop. This is an interesting song. Basically talking about getting in touch with our inner voice. The video is kind of fun and creative.

Went to the support group last night. Had one new person, so that was nice. During the 'discussion' part we kind of went off on tangents that weren't entirely relevant.Seemed like everyone was kind of distractible this time. For some reason me being a 'unicorn' kept popping up.Since I'm the child of a trans person, I'm apparently considered one. Since many think we don't exist. We're magical!~Kind of funny. Oddly I haven't seen very many of us either. I'm not sure if I've ever talked with another 'unicorn'. I've heard of others, but they seem to never go to these things. Which makes me feel even more 'unique' and/or alone.Anyways, they were talking about how I should apparently get a unicorn horn and wear it during meetings and to any other trans things I go to. I would think that would be distracting in itself...One person showed me one that was from Etsy. It was very elaborate. I didn't know that they'd have such over the top ones.

After the meeting we went to Shari's. I was just going to have scrambled eggs with cheese, and a fruit platter. But, I was kind of suckered into getting the new pie special this month as well. It has chocolate ganache, strawberries, and strawberry jam in it. It was really good, although intense.I had BBQ sauce with my eggs. The sauce was a bit spicier than I'd like, but was still good. The eggs and fruit would have amounted to a decent amount of calories for a small meal. Which is what I'm trying to get back to. The fruit platter had strawberries, melon slices, and grapes. It seemed like a huge amount of them to me, but was also a good mix.

Most of the rest of the group that joined us there was trying to make me have a laughing fit.Sure it's more than ok to laugh, but when it gets to be a long time it's not that great. Also, I've thrown up from laughing too hard before.You can actually die from that. Won't go into detail on how, because it's disgusting. Usually just before that I can't breathe either. It's like my lungs shut done from all the violent movement around it. All that can be serious.Even after we told them this, they essentially said we don't care and continued to try and get me to laugh harder. That's just cruel.I was having a hard time eating my pie during all this. 

日本語

Studied the kanji: 落. It tends to be pronounced as らく (raku) in compounds. As 落ち or お.ち (o.chi): slip, omission; outcome, final result, the end; (usually in kana) (often as オチ) punch line (of a joke). As 落ちる or お.ちる (o.chiru): to fall down, drop, fall (e.g. rain), sink (e.g. sun or moon), fall into (e.g. light or one's gaze), be used in a certain place (e.g. money); to be omitted, be missing; to decrease, sink; to fail (e.g. exam or class), lose (contest, election, etc.); to crash, degenerate, degrade, fall behind; to become indecent (of a conversation); to be ruined, go under; to fade, come out (e.g. a stain), come off (e.g. makeup), be removed (e.g. illness, possessing spirit, name on a list); to fall (into someone's hands), become someone's possession; to fall (into a trap), fall (for a trick); to give in, give up, confess, flee; to fall, be defeated, surrender; to come to (in the end), end in; to fall (in love, asleep, etc.); to consent, understand; (comp) to crash, freeze; (of animals) to die; (of fish when it gets cold) to move the depths. As 落とす or お.とす (o.tosu): to drop, lose, let fall, shed (light), cast (one's gaze), pour in (liquid), leave behind; to clean off (dirt, makeup, paint, etc.), remove (e.g. stains or facial hair), lose, spend money at a certain place, omit, leave out, secretly let escape; to lose (a match), reject (an applicant), fail (a course), defeat (in an election); to lower (e.g. shoulders or voice), lessen (e.g. production or body weight), worsen (quality), reduce (e.g. rank or popularity), speak badly of, make light of; fall into (e.g. a dilemma or sin), make one's own, have one's bid accepted, force surrender, take (e.g. an enemy camp or castle), forcefully convince, press for a confession, deal with; (comp) to download, copy from a computer to another medium; to finish a story (e.g. with the punchline); to finish (a period, e.g. of fasting). I'll go over it's common compounds list next time. This one seems to be used a lot. Although, 'fall' (and words relating to it) can be used for a lot of things in English as well. 

Practiced my kanji/vocab on that JapaneseClass' site. I made it to the 2nd highest rank for the day, but it was early in the morning. Someone probably beat me right after. But, it's still nice.Started translating the current section from an article in You Maga. The topic kind of gives me the creeps, but I'm also kind of interested in what they say about it.Read an article in Japanese on Asahi's site about how a lot of the most popular books in Japan are criticizing China and South Korea. And, as a result there was outrage online from people on social media outlets. There was a meeting of publishers recently to discuss the problem. Saying they don't support hate speech, and are looking into it. They may take those best sellers off the shelf. One person said it was about time they are at least discussing issues like these. Very interesting on how they're dealing with it. 

There's a channel on Youtube that I subscribe to, that puts out vids of commercials from Japan every couple of weeks. It's really cool.So, I watched the one that was just put out a couple of days ago. It was just about as weird and interesting as always. There were a couple of them this time that are also shown here in the US. So, that was interesting to see. I kind of want to try those fruit ice cream ball things now.They sound good. Came up with more sentences to practice my Japanese with. It was kind of fun, and it's coming quicker/easier for me. 

Rurouni Kenshin is getting more and more intense. It certainly seems like a mature show now. (drug references, violence, etc.) It started off kind of lighthearted. But, it's also getting more complicated and better, including the animation. They're finally delving more into Kenshin's past. This time they introduced the Shinsengumi, which was a special police force. (Shinsengumi lit. means the New Squad.) He had a few run-ins with them. A lot of them were corrupt. Historians have described them as a 'ruthless murder squad'. (They're also featured in Gintama. They do seem slightly corrupt, yet good at heart in that show. Kind of hard to describe. They also have similar names to the actual people that were in it, their characters are loosely based off of them.) Currently in the story, they've disbanded, though. One of the main squad leaders works as an assassin for hire. His next 'job' is to kill Kenshin. They've fought before, but it ended up being a tie. Kenshin made a vow not to kill people anymore. But, he's unsure if he'll be able to keep that if he runs into him. That former squad leader already fought Sanosuke to send a 'message' to Kenshin that he's serious. Sanosuke didn't stand a chance, but luckily will pull through. 

Wrote more of the 9th short story from my nightmare anthology. I keep thinking it's ending soon, and then I come up with more.I really do think it's close to ending this time. It's the longest one so far. Might take out a little when I edit it after I finish the writing part. Although, it's not really that long. We'll see. 

Played my clarinet. Did some Gershwin, tunes from my advanced classical solo book, and some tunes from my general jazz book. Didn't make that many mistakes. I'm getting better and better as I go. 

Drew out all of Nico's clothes/accessories. (Nico's from my story, Alliance.) He has a lot of accessories, and 2 different outfits. It was kind of fun, though. Next time will be Rakesh's stuff. That should be interesting. Edited more of the exaggerated expressions meme in Photoshop. Finished the first 'sad' panel. Started editing the second one. Weird to see Junko this way. (Junko's also in Alliance.) Fixed up Shadow's face, and am in the process of drawing his hair. That's been one of the hardest things to draw of him.(He's the main character in Alliance.) But, maybe I'll come up with a better design for him this way.

Shinigami-kun has been kind of a tearjerker.You learn to really grow fond of the person who's about to die, and then it gets even more emotional when they do. No. 413 is still struggling with not giving in to sympathizing with humans. With the episode I just watched, he did pretty well. But, his supervisor ended up sympathizing with one of the humans. She was supposed to stop an unscheduled death of a woman who was trying to kill herself. The person that was supposed to die was running a marriage scam and leading on several women. It was especially easy for him, because he had a little daughter. He had a relationship with the woman who tried to kill herself, and then stopped all communication with her. Thinking she would never have anyone, and that no one cares about her, she was serious about ending it all. Yet, she was an extremely successful businesswoman who was in charge of a women's magazine that was about strong women. Women who aren't dominated by men, and who can do perfectly fine without a man in their lives. Finding out that he'll die soon, he called her again. He didn't want his daughter to be alone. Later, she said she knew she was being used, but was using him in order to feel like she was living a dream. They finally settled their differences, fell in love, and got married with only 24 hours left for him to live. His daughter genuinely liked her, and she was able to take custody of her since they had just gotten married. The shinigami's supervisor sympathized especially with the woman. She tried to rewrite the date of his death for a year into the future, so the couple could be together for a little longer. For her punishment, both her's and 413's life candles diminished a lot. Usually it was 413's problem, but he thinks better of her now. She's usually so mean to him. The Devil is waging an all out war on the shinigamis. He's making their candles blow out by tricking them into things. The next episode looks like he'll go up against 413 again. Should be interesting. 

Nee

Mood:


Or, Hey. By Perfume. This was one of the songs SHaYK performed at the Aki Matsuri. They even did the same dance, although Perfume obviously did it better. (Really fancy and cool footwork.) Thought it was kind of cute, but didn't like it at first. But, it really grew on me. I think that can be said with most of Perfume's songs. They're kind of addicting.Most of their songs have the same feel. I got a couple more of them already. Might look around for some more. The group started in 2001. It's a 3 member techno-pop girl band, and all of them were 11~12 when they started. They first debuted in their hometown, Hiroshima. They have been breaking records after records with their singles. In 2008, the single 'Love the World' debuted on the Oricon sales chart at #1, becoming the first techno song ever to do so. Breaking the record of #2 set in 1983 by Yellow Magic Orchestra. Perfume has become one of the most influential Japanese bands.

(PV) Perfume - Nee (Video Oficial) - The best video clips are right here

This is my wallpaper for the month. Might change it when it gets closer to Halloween.It's Katsura and Elizabeth from Gintama. Haven't had a Gintama themed wallpaper in so long!This one's perfect for this time of year. Next to Katsura, it says: 紅葉が美しいなエリズベス. (Kouyou ga utsukushii na Erizubesu.) The autumn leaves are beautiful, huh Elizabeth. Cute.They're such weird, yet lovable characters.


My Japanese woodblock calendar, isn't as impressive as most months. The artist would visit strange or memorable bridges. This one was a bridge where half of it was made of stone, and the other half of wood. When they were making it, they couldn't agree on whether it should be made out of wood or stone. So, they did both.


Here's this month's month-long holidays (It's a lot this time!): National Apple Month, Bat Appreciation Month, Class Reunion Month, Eat Better, Eat Together Month, Emotional Wellness Month, Gay and Lesbian History Month, German-American Heritage Month, Month of Free Thought, National AIDS Awareness Month, National Bake and Decorate Month, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, National Kitchen and Bath Month, National Popcorn Poppin' Month, National Protect Your Hearing Month, Pear and Pineapple Month, Photographer Appreciation Month, Pizza Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, Rhizomes and Persimmons Month, Rhubarb Month, Sausage Month, Spinach Lovers Month, National Cookie Month, National Dessert Month, National Pasta Month, National Pretzel Month, National Seafood Month. Some are important causes, some are to make you think and appreciate things you may take for granted, or they're just fun. Interesting holidays this time. 


It's been pretty cold this last weekend. It just now reached 60 today. And it looks kind of dreary out there.I got a new hoodie!It's black, and feels nice and fluffy on the inside. My old one's really worn out. So, this was really nice.


Saturday night, I ate at a place I haven't been to since I was in high school.They've expanded a bit. It's called Chung's Teriyaki. I got their beef one. It comes with a side of some cabbage and noodle thing. The beef has a ton of rice under it, and there's another scoop full as the other side. They sprinkle sesame seeds on the top. Really tasty sauce!Huge portion.I barely could eat half of mine. Made for a rather large lunch the next day, as well. 


D no Arashi was very interesting, again. The first report was on the tallest elementary student in Japan. He's taller than me!They sent the shortest member of Arashi to do it, so you can see the extremes. (He's actually about my height, so not that short. It might be for guys, I don't know. It's not enough to tease him though.) The 6th grader was 186 cm or about 6'1''. (I don't think even my dad made it quite to that. And, this kid's still growing!) He helps the teachers with cleaning windows and reaching for things no one else can get to. He likes to play basketball too. The other one was on the day a convict is set free after serving some time. Interesting to hear his wife's perspective. They only got through half of that story. So, next week we'll actually get to see him. They'll also do a report on a transgender dad and her family. (Hmmm...this one might hit closer to home than their last trans thing.) That'll be interesting. 


Gintama was weird, but hilarious! It was about a dating sim, that if you fantasized about the character long enough, she'd come through to the real world. Shinpachi, at the beginning, was unhealthily pulled in by the game. Constantly talking, playing, etc with it. Gintoki decides that he wants to snap Shinpachi out of it. Kondo tells him he can't do so, unless he gets sucked in as well. Gintoki ends up with the ugliest/callous girl in the game. Who shows no feelings towards him. Kondo tells him he should go to a tournament based on the game. If he wins, he may bring Shinpachi back to reality. Funny thing is, a bunch of the other male characters that they know show up. Sa-chan was the only female with a sim, but she turned hers into a Gintoki look-a-like. Sougo showed off his sadist side. Gintoki started to feel even more creeped out when he realized all the guys basically put their fetishes on display. Gintama also had new opening and ending songs. Maybe I'll like them more with time, but personally, I liked the last ones more.They also mentioned that Gintama has been back for half a year now. It feels like it just came back still. 


Finished Ao no Exorcist on Sunday. They have to make a 2nd season!It was an awesome show! I've read on anime news network that its been green-lit for an upcoming movie. Yay! Something at least.It was kind of an unsatisfying ending. They stopped Satan from taking over the world, but he could still come back. Plus, there's still some mystery behind Mephisto, and Satan's other 'children'. We still didn't get to find out who that kid who's a ventriloquist really is. He only talks through his puppets, and he looks blind to me. Also, just know that he's connected to Mephisto. So many things left unanswered, and so many other things they can do. This series can easily be one of those long ones. At least 60 episodes. We'll see.


Played my clarinet. Actually sounded pretty good today. Chirps actually sounded like chirps. Finally! I'm really liking that new solo book we got. Really fun!


They finally updated Afterschool Charisma! That chapter only took me 5 minutes to read. Wait for so long, only to finish the chapter in 5 minutes?! What's up with that?It was about Kai's background and his clones. Interesting story to read about clones being cloned from clones. Kuroe seemed cruel back then. 

In Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, Kiri and all the high school boys were under some sort of mind control. They had been told to attack any girl they see. Since the building was locked, and Iwai was trapped inside, they went after her. The killing good was called Pet Whip of Submissive Butchery. It's power is domesticated whipping. It only affects men. The vice president was the author. She hates men with a passion. Iwai was able to snap Kiri out of it. And, he starts to fight the vice president. Apparently, the original killer would beat his victims into submission, and starve them to death. Very sadistic, and one of their more disturbing killing goods.


deviantART faves: Gintama- oops Sparrow Brillian Jewel The Bird Spirit bird StupidFox- 56 I did not make these! First, Gintoki and Takasugi being scolded when they were kids. I like Gintoki's expression. He was funny even then. Second and fifth, from an artist I watch. She's practicing how to paint birds now. Really awesome paintings! She's always been great. Third, a hummingbird painting by another artist I watch. Fourth, an awesome looking drawing from yet another artist I watch. I usually don't like the way she does realism. But, this was cool. Sixth, another funny installment of StupidFox.