Mood:
Simchat Torah lit. means 'Rejoicing in the Law'. Torah is commonly translated to mean 'law', but also means 'teaching'. Today celebrates the last parsha or weekly Torah portion of the year, and the first parsha of the year starting the 'cycle' again. That beginning parsha of the year is read this Saturday. Some spread the parsha out for the entire week, but the parsha is chanted out loud at the synagogue during services. And, most people study Torah on Shabbat. For Simchat Torah, we sing and dance around with the Torahs at the synagogue, eat candy, sometimes the adults drink schnapps, read parts of the end and beginning of the scroll, and most synagogues roll out one of them and the congregation holds onto it as it is completely unrolled so everyone can look at it. You have to be careful not to touch the areas with letters. Or, really anywhere but the edges. The oils from our fingers can damage it. The parchment part is made out of lambskin, and writing is handmade by a skilled scribe using ink. It's a special style of writing Hebrew, too. Also, they omit the vowels...It's pretty impressive to see it totally unrolled. It's easier to move it to the beginning this way too. Some places eventually have the congregation dance with the Torahs out in the streets just outside the synagogue. It can be a pretty fun holiday.
I haven't gone to a Simchat Torah thing for a few years, though. I'm still sick, and don't want to be around a lot of people while on a higher dose of the new med. So, it wouldn't be a good idea to go this year. Don't want to feel worse...
Also, we have a mini family Torah scroll. Complete with a cardboard arc it sits in. Even has a little yod, which is a pointer shaped like a hand with the pointer finger extended. It's the only way to keep your place without physically touching the letters. I think it has a tiny chest plate or shield, too. (Also, has it's own cover.) Kind of cute. Since it's mini-sized, it can be a bit difficult to actually read. It'd be interesting to just go through, though. It's also National Noodle Day, Mad Hatter Day, and National German-American Day. I'm part German. So, yay!
Celebrating more of my people that way. Noodles are awesome! I could probably eat them all day. The Mad Hatter is one of my fave characters from Alice in Wonderland. I think I remember reading that it's a day where the 'normal' is crazy, and the crazy stuff is normal. Kind of an interesting way of looking at things.
This is my wallpaper for October. It's Xerxes Break from Pandora Hearts. Back when he had long hair, and seemed a bit crazier. I think he's one of the most complex characters of the series. There were moments where you didn't really know which side he was on. Break was one of the first ones to go into the Abyss, meet the 'Will of the Abyss', and come out alive. He changed history in order to save someone (by asking the Will to help him), only to find out it didn't work out in the end. He also offset everyone's 'destiny' by doing so. The Will took out his eye during his meeting with her, and she gave it to Cheshire. (Originally was Alice's cat. Yep, like Alice in Wonderland...
It's a big theme throughout the series, although it certainly has it's own unique story line. Might even be more twisted than Alice in Wonderland.) He loves sweets (sometimes he just eats sugar cubes), and usually has a doll on his shoulder named Emily. The doll sometimes talks. He's a bit of a trickster, incredibly manipulative, was once a knight and is a very skilled swordsman (his cane can turn into a sword), doesn't physically age, and is probably the strongest in the Pandora Hearts organization. The Mad Hatter is his Chain. He's one of my favorite characters. Anyways, I thought this was perfect for a Halloween-like theme.
My Paris calendar features the Eiffel Tower. Particularly around autumn. Cultural exhibits, shows, and movies fill the event schedule around it at this time. The European Cultural Heritage Days are held there at the end of September. Nuit Blanche or White Night is an annual night arts festival during the first weekend of October.
My Jewish calendar's main pic features a Torah shield, anonymous maker, made out of silver, Germany; 1750-1800. Torah shields go over the covering for the scrolls. Usually, there are some beautiful designs. Some have removable plates that have holiday names written out in Hebrew. This one seems to be stuck on Shavuot. I would have thought they'd find one with Simchat Torah on it (if it had to have the removable plates), to go with the theme, since the holiday is during this month. But, that's ok, it's Torah related.
The design is pretty cool, too. It's cool they found one that's so old. Especially from where it came from. Doesn't look that old, either. The second pic's of an etrog box, made by Piet Izak Cohen, out of silver and felt, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 1995. An etrog is a citrus fruit kind of similar to a lemon. We use it during Sukkot which recently ended. (It's an 8-day harvest holiday.) Some make jam out of them, and some let it shrivel up and use it as decoration. My mom would occasionally do the latter. They become really hard like rocks, and turn into a dark orangey color. (We had 2 sitting around for a few years.
) We have a nice etrog box still. It's made out of a dark red wood, and has yellow/gold lettering and a design of an etrog on the top. The inside is lined with red velvet. It's been a long time since I've used it. This one's kind of a modern design, though. Looks like it's made in the shape of the fruit with loops as a handle. It has writing going down the sides of it. Not my style, but interesting to see.
The month-long holidays are: National Apple Month, National Caramel Month, National Cookie Month, National Dessert Month, National Pasta Month, National Pretzel Month, National Seafood Month, American Cheese Month, Bat Appreciation Month, Corn Month, German-American Heritage Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, LGBT History Month, National Cookbook Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, Sausage Month, Spinach Lovers Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun.
I've been sick for the past week.
I started to feel like I had a bit of a scratchy throat that Wednesday night. That feeling happened at the tail end of going to a potluck/social thing with a support group. It just felt really scratchy the rest of the night. I didn't really cough, but it was a weird feeling.
The next day, it started to really hit me. I never had a fever during it, although my temp was unusually high for my norm. My 'norm' is around 96.2. I think my highest temp during it was like 98.9. Not really fever range.
Had an extremely runny nose (I was going through tissues like crazy!
), face felt like it was on fire most of the time (my sinuses might have been full)
, headaches, sensitive to certain things in the air or light (couldn't really tell. But, my eyes became really watery after being out for a while one night), and general aches all over. I had one night where I couldn't stop coughing, but that was it.
Dad was sick a couple days before me. Hers seemed a bit different. She had a horrible hacking cough, and things progressed until she went to the ER. They told her she had acute bronchitis, and told her to have benadryl and, I think, some sort of inhaler. They kept asking if she had asthma. That's kind of scary in itself.
She seems a lot better now. In fact, it seems to be out of her system. (Hopefully it is!)
I'm still slowly getting over mine. It feels like it's almost gone, but my nose is still weird (more stuffed up rather than runny, although it does occasionally get that way still. Sometimes it's hard to breathe with it while I'm eating or something. It's also very sore), my throat feels a tad sore, and I get slightly dizzy at times. I just want it to be totally gone already!
I think the reason why it's taking longer than usual, is because I've upped the dosage of azathioprine. That probably also helped with getting me sick in the first place. My immune system was already taking a hit from it. Interestingly, I got sick only about 8 days after starting this new dose...I've decided to keep track of when I get sick in the future, to see how common it'll be. I'm going to try to be a bit more diligent, but there's only so much you can do, and I have kind of a morbid fascination with it right now. I usually don't get sick that often. Maybe once a year. But, I've gone for years without being sick, too. So, I'm just not used to it.
I spent Yom Kippur at home, and joined services online. It was very interesting. Thought I wouldn't get much from watching it online, but I did. I also had a plethora of choices (services, study, talks, etc.) to choose from throughout the day. I only really paused to eat. Almost felt like it was more engaging this way. Also, some synagogues have really beautiful sanctuaries. Some congregations actually put handouts and prayer books up in a pdf file so the people watching can follow along. I might try out a different synagogue every Shabbat to see the ones I like the most. It's a handy tool for people who are immunosuppressed, live where there isn't a synagogue anywhere near them (one person commented that they watch every service at one of them, and they come from Germany. The nearest synagogue from where they are is at least an hour's drive. Cool to hear stories like that, and who they can help), etc.
Yizkor on Yom Kippur was a bit difficult to sit through. Yizkor is a memorial service. Essentially, it's for anyone who has lost a loved one. People share stories, there are poems, prayers, etc. Parts of it made me think of Mom, and every so often I thought maybe I should skip it, thinking it might be too much. But, I actually sat through the whole thing. The last time I went to a yizkor service was about a year after she passed. That was about 2 years ago. I remember walking out of that one about a third of the way into it. It was too much.
I went to my eye exam appointment today. The optometrist was kind of pushy. I was trying to fill out the paperwork, and she grabbed it from me. After some talking, I got it back and filled out most of it. My right contact lens has been bothering me for the last couple of days. It won't focus all the way. Things are really blurry in that eye. This makes the good side kind of overcompensate, leading to some headaches.
It's been hard to watch TV sometimes because of it. Luckily, it was time for my annual exam again. Normally, I get an optometrist who's kind of a creepy old guy. This time it was a really pushy woman who wasn't listening to a thing I said.
There's never anyone who's 'normal', is there? We went in and started the exam with the cover one eye and tell me how far down the list you can read thing, then the other eye. My eyes seem to be really bad, because I couldn't read much passed the 3rd line with my left, and only some from the 2nd on my right. This was with my contacts in.
We had to stop a few minutes into that, because there was a problem with something, and I won't be able to have it done until next month. The optometrist said she could at least tell that I might need a different prescription. That's good to know that it's not just in my head. It's strange that it seemed to have only gotten weird the last couple of days, though. Makes me wonder if it's just the contacts themselves?
Oh, well. I guess I'll find out next month.
Lately, I've been trying to go back to bed early, again. It's helped a bit with getting over my cold. (There was one day that I spent most of it in bed, because I was feeling so horrible.) Also, feels nice to go to bed at a somewhat decent time. Yesterday I started up my sit-ups again. I'm doing 10 of them twice a day this time. Starting kind of light, since I'm not entirely out of the woods yet with my cold. Hoping to at least get one 2-mile walk in tomorrow. But, if I'm still sick and don't get to it, it'll be ok.
I've finished formatting my nightmare anthology. Now I just have to do the cover art before I send it off to be published. I might give the whole thing a once over one more time before I actually submit it.
I already have an idea of what I'll do for the cover art. I might use an old drawing of Max from my first novel (has no relation to this novel). He's a skeleton demon, and I have a drawing of just his head (or skull, however you want to look at it), and one of his entire body from head to toe. I might use his skull for a main part of it, and maybe take out a few of his other bones to scatter around it. I'm thinking of having kind of a dark blue color with a lighter color of cloud-like swirls in the background. Then, the title over it. Thinking of blending in the bones somehow. Just enough to still make them out. (Photoshop will be my friend throughout this...) This shall be another interesting project for it. I already have the parts, I just have to turn it into something. I also have some ideas of how to market it better than I did with the first one, and this one seems better all together than the other one. Certainly easier to explain, too.
Mood:
Yay! Awesome that there's a day just for desserts.
I don't think it's very good to eat desserts all day long, but it's nice to appreciate them. Although, I kind of feel fruit can be used as a dessert, and you can have a decent amount of those in a day.
It's also the 6th day of Sukkot. I didn't do anything for it, and probably won't for the remaining couple of days.The only celebration I would have gone to was on Sunday. But, you had to RSVP beforehand, and before Sunday I was feeling horrendous.I don't think I would have been able to sit through it with how bad I was feeling. Simchat Torah is on the 17th. Basically a day for celebrating the Torah. Marks the end and beginning of the Torah portion cycle, too. We read from it, dance (usually with a Torah), have candy, and some congregations unwind the scroll completely around the room so everyone has a chance to look at it. It's quite impressive seeing it totally unwound.Not sure if I'll go to the congregation's one (the one where we attended their High Holy Day services. They're a lot nicer than the other one we used to frequent), though. I guess we'll see.
Oh, and happy belated Thanksgiving to people from Canada.
It was yesterday. Yesterday was Columbus Day for us, which I'm not all that fond of. The Seattle school district is calling it Indigenous Peoples' Day. Not really sure if calling it that is good either. (I'm definitely for a day honoring Native Americans, though. If not more. Maybe it should be on a different day? One where it's not counter or anti another holiday. It seems to be a disservice to them this way...
) It sounds odd. Might be better than Columbus Day at least...
My stomach was feeling a lot better by Sunday, but for most of last week I was really hurting. Felt like my stomach was on fire, and it had a million pins and needles inside.
I thought I'd be fine almost immediately after taking my omeprazole, but it took a while to work through my system. I'm glad that it feels more normal now, at least. I guess omeprazole is more important than I thought.The other med I have is even more so, though.
Decided to restart my sit-ups at 10 twice a day this week. I missed too many recently.
I would have probably been up to about 30 twice a day this week, if I hadn't skipped so many. Doing that many after not doing it for a while is not very wise. Haven't been very good about my 2 2-mile walks either. Tomorrow I'll definitely do both of my 2-mile walks!
I'm still sticking pretty closely to the way I want to eat. Although, Friday's dinner, when Shabbat starts, tends to be my lax meal where I allow myself to eat how ever much I want. I've read that it's good to do this once a week. Kind of to give your body a break, jump-start your metabolism, and to reward yourself. (Sometimes Saturday's lunch or dinner is also one of those types of meals.)
Rosie has a hard time cleaning her backside close to her tail, so lots of thick clumps of fur tend to get matted there.Every so often we have to cut them out with scissors. I did it Sunday. (Dad held her down, which was a great help. Claws can be scary.
) They were so big, I kept thinking I was going to accidentally cut into her skin. I don't ever want to hurt her, and that sounds horrible.
I luckily got them out without cutting into her skin. My fingers always feel oily and are stinky after doing it, but I'm happy to help her. She seemed so much happier afterwards. And, was extra clingy later.
Apparently, there was a marathon going on right outside our house Sunday morning.
When I woke up I heard cheering and clapping. And, I got up earlier than usual. (Just couldn't sleep, so why not get up then?) It was odd because it sounded so close. I knew our neighbors weren't there, and for a minute I thought it was from the high school stadium. I peeked outside, and saw some runners coming down the street and people in other driveways cheering them on. It was really foggy and cold out. Kind of not the best weather for one. And, I've never seen one held in our neighborhood before.
Started watching Hero (2014) on Wednesday. Apparently this is like the 3rd season. But, the first one was in 2001, there was a special in 2006, and the 2nd 'season' was in 2007. Huge gaps of time in between each one.I might watch the other seasons after this one. It's very interesting. Kohei Kuryu is a prosecutor at the Josai branch of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. He acts and thinks differently compared to other prosecutors. His attire is a lot more casual, too. When offered a new case he tends to first visit the crime scene to look at things with his own eyes. He scrutinizes every detail, and finds things that were overlooked by the police. He's been a prosecutor for 13 years. Chika Asagi is his new assistant. So far his 'methods' have irritated her, but have made her think more about how not everything's as it seems. It's a hilarious show and quick paced. There's a lot of suspense too. It almost felt like a play as they were coming in out of their offices, and talking one after the other. The perspective of the camera is interesting at times too. The actors are all awesome!
Most I've seen in many other dramas. They're big stars in Japan. Especially the main character's actor, Takuya Kimura. Everything he's in seems to be awesome! He's one of the more versatile ones too. Able to do many different types of characters, and isn't really typecasted. In fact, in Ando Lloyd he played a cold unemotional robot, and the next minute he played a very emotional bumbling professor. That's hard to do. Although, I have noticed that he tends to play really intelligent or standout characters. But, that's not necessarily typecasting. He's not always a prosecutor/other law professional, or a scientist, or a villain, or the 'good' guy, etc. He usually makes you feel for the character even if they're a ruthless criminal. There are very few actors that are that good. In Japan, I think 2 of the few others might be Shun Oguri and Hiroki Narimiya. All 3 are definitely at the top of my list of fave Japanese actors. They seem to have the most diverse roles.
Time Spiral has been interesting. I think the actors are overly dramatic.
And, Gackt hasn't been acting that great. He may be a good musician, but not sure about his acting skills...(He was the base for the voice of the Gakupo vocaloid. So, he's big.) But, then again it might just be the character. He's rather creepy at times. The main actress hasn't been that great. Every little thing is overacted with her. She's usually pretty good. So, maybe it's the director? The story's very interesting. I'm mainly sticking around for what happens with the story, rather than the acting. Gackt's character, Shuya, is desperately trying to change the past. He's from 2020, and no matter what he does, his sister dies before that. Everything he does is centered on his sister. They led you to believe it was the female lead, Natsuki. She was kidnapped when she was little. The kidnappers had mistook her for her friend, Kentaro. She was wearing his clothes at the time. Apparently, without Shuya saving her from them, they kill her. And, he made a deal with her mother that if he saves her, she'll come up with some sort of med that'll save his sister. It works, but his sister usually ends up dying 'by accident'. Like having alcohol with her meds, dying in a fire, a car accident, etc. Every time he goes back in time his body weakens. Now, they're toying with the idea of what happens when Natsuki dies. Apparently in the many scenarios he's already gone through, there are hints that he married Natsuki. So, that would be tough for him, too. She's also in love with Kentaro now, and he was about to propose to her, but Shuya got in the way.
Fairy Tail seems to be doing fluff stories now. That's reasonable considering how long the last story arc was. The most recent episode was on how Bisca ended up joining the guild. I like learning about the characters' back stories. She's one of the minor ones, but it's still interesting. She's really changed her looks from when she first joined. And her only 'friend' was a rat she named Sonny. Apparently, she was an immigrant, but I'm not sure if she was using that as an excuse to get away from Erza. She's married and has a kid now, so it's quite a turn around from back then. Her husband's into using guns with his magic, too. She still has that rat, but it sits under her hat so people can't see it. (She used to hide him in her cleavage...
) I wondered why she's always wearing it. Her daughter's cute, although slightly annoying at times.
In Kuroshitsuji, Ciel along with Sebastian go to the Aurora Society's meeting on the cruise ship. They had to do a ridiculous pose in order to get in. They were serving super expensive water, too. The Undertaker (in the pic above. Don't usually see him without a hat) is apparently a member. Which surprises Ciel, but they don't really know much about him. He tells them that the main hospital that the Society is based on is a big customer of his. They had a presentation on their new 'breakthrough' of bringing back the dead. A teenager had died recently, and the family was so distraught they begged the hospital to bring their daughter back. They were supposed to demonstrate her coming back to life, being exactly as she was before. It went horribly wrong, and they ended up making a zombie instead. Ronald Knox, one of the newer Shinigami or Grim Reapers, showed up and mowed her down telling people to aim for the head next time. His 'scythe' is an old-fashioned lawnmower. I was reading something about their scythes or their chosen weapons, and someone commented that they didn't have these things at the time. Wasn't historically accurate. I looked around, and it turns out everything that they used was there at the time. Even the chainsaw. So, the mangaka (the creator of the manga) seems to be pretty accurate with it to me.
She goes into great detail with being accurate with things in the series, it would surprise me if she messed with that. It takes place in the late 19th century. Maybe they thought it was the late 18th century? Anyways, Knox ends up fighting Sebastian saying it's one of his duties to save the souls from demons like him. While they fight, the head of the Aurora Society runs away to the storage area of the ship. Ciel goes after him. Snake loved the food so much, he took some to his snakes to eat in their cages in the storage area. Ciel bumps into him and Lizzy, his fiancee. They end up getting cornered by zombies that broke out of their coffins in the area. Sebastian saves them just in time, but he looked like he was dancing in the zombies' blood as he 'elegantly' and easily attacked them. Ciel had a flashback to when he was abducted. Sebastian said they were unusually soft for being human. They found the head of the Society again, and he told them that there were 10 times as many in another storage area on the other side of the ship. He didn't expect them to turn into 'monsters'. This is getting more and more interesting. Where's the Undertaker during all this craziness? And, I wonder if he supplied the coffins?
Watched the Kuroshitsuji special: Ciel in Wonderland. Apparently, Ciel is Alice. He was in the wallpaper I posted earlier this month, too. I thought he was the Dormouse, with what he's doing. It was hilarious, and a little more 'mature' than I expected. But, it was pretty good. Sebastian was the White Rabbit. The Red Queen was Ciel's aunt, Madam Red or Angelina Dalles. Perfect for someone who was obsessed with red, and it was nice to see her again considering she was killed off during the first season. All the Shinigami, except for Grell, were at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Mad Hatter was indeed the Undertaker. Grell was the Cheshire Cat, which was perfect. The 'cards' in the house of cards were what he looked like when he was a butler. All of them were the same. He looked kind of dull back then, and he was Madam Red's butler. The Dormouse ended up being Lizzy. Which to me was an odd choice. She's way too cheerful and energetic.They had the Dodo too. It was played by Lizzy's maid. Lau was the caterpillar, which was perfect because he's into drugs (specifically opium). His partner and personal assassin was a mushroom. She rarely speaks. I won't say much about that scene, but it seemed more bizarre than most Alice in Wonderland parodies have been, but fitting somehow.
Wrote more of the 11th short story from my nightmare anthology. I think I'm getting close to finishing this one. At least I have an idea of where it's headed now.
Played my clarinet. Did some tunes from my general solo book, Duke Ellington tunes, and Gershwin pieces. Stumbled a bit, but again I haven't been playing on a regular basis for a while. Getting better though.
日本語
Studied the common compounds for the kanji: 英. 英気 or えいき (eiki): great wisdom, excellent disposition; strength (to face something), willpower, energy. 英語 or えいご (eigo): English (language). 英国 or えいこく (eikoku): Great Britain, the UK. 英断 or えいだん (eidan): resolution, decisive judgement. 英和 or えいわ (eiwa): English-Japanese (e.g. dictionary). 英知 or えいち (eichi): wisdom, intelligence, intellect. 英雄 or えいゆう (eiyuu): hero, heroine, great person. 石英 or せきえい (sekiei): quartz. 英文 or えいぶん (eibun): sentence in English, article in English, English text.
Practiced my Japanese on JapaneseClass' site. Did pretty well, even though half of them were new this time. The site shut down suddenly for maintenance at some point. (There wasn't a warning beforehand.) So, I watched half of another lecture on bunshu or Kanji 'makers', or radicals, or 'sub sections'. They're the kanji parts broken down. If you know them, you're more likely to understand an unfamiliar word's meaning. It even adds more meaning to familiar words. A very handy thing. I'm still in the part of the lecture series on the history of how these 'parts' changed or evolved over time. Apparently, after Commodore Perry arrived, his influence ended up changing their writing system. A lot of the Japanese can't read things like memorial slabs that were written the 'old' way. Some of the 'parts' have changed dramatically. It's fascinating actually. But, maybe for me, since I have an interest in linguistics and cultural anthropology.
When my stomach was really bothering me, I played a little of the Sims 2. I based a new family off of Ciel's 'family' in Kuroshitsuji. The only character I didn't make was Tanaka. He's of Japanese descent, and the older looking previous butler for the family. Who still works as a house steward. Doesn't do much while Sebastian is in charge, but Sebastian respects him the most. He was there the night Ciel's parents were killed and was stabbed in the back trying to protect him. He rarely speaks, and if he has to step in as butler again he almost rivals Sebastian. I was surprised they didn't have an eye patch for Ciel. (They had plenty of other things in the eye wear section...) They didn't have his type of clothes either, so I went with something he might wear as a teen in more modern times. I remember a while back downloading red 'demon' eyes for it, too. They were perfect for Sebastian. His hair looks somewhat close to the character's from far away. His clothes are much closer to what they might be in the story. Don't really have anything close to Finny's hair, but his personality and clothes are pretty close. There wasn't any maid outfits for Meirin, but there was something that looked close. Her hair is red, but they don't have the style that she wears. So, I had it as maybe she took her short pigtails down. First character I put glasses on, too. Bard looks somewhat close. I was surprised that they didn't have a chef's outfit, that would have been perfect. I found a cheat through one of my apps on my iPhone, where you can give them however much money you want.
So, I let them have a lot, and started messing with their house. Their house is huge now! It's 3 stories and rather big around. They have a huge pool in the back, and a big garden complete with a pond near it. It was kind of fun putting it together. Might do more to it in the future. I've never been able to mess with it this much before. The money makes sense because Ciel's from a wealthy family. Haven't really let them enjoy things too much yet, either.
Watched Cabin in the Woods last night. Wasn't as great as I expected, but was certainly entertaining at times. Didn't like the end. It was sudden, and not all that logical. I loved that the remaining 'victims' let out all the 'nightmare creatures' from their chambers to have them attack the organization behind it all. It was just revenge for both those victims and the creatures. One of them was a unicorn, which most people don't think of them as 'nightmarish', but this one was brutal.
Definitely knew how to use it's horn and hooves. Now that I think about it, they do sound like they can do some damage.
Also, watched Smilla's Sense of Smell. I liked it until the end. Seemed very anticlimactic, and kind of unreal at the end. It's an interesting story, though.
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