Or: Evil 3- The Other Side of Murderous Intent. This is from the first Rurouni Kenshin soundtrack. It's one of the fighting themes. Really cool sounding.
Except for the "Danger Zone" part, and it being repeated. The beats and guitar riffs are great and bold. Awesome music to listen to while on my walks...
For the last couple of weeks, I kind of stopped doing my sit-ups.
I was trying to clean my gut out, so it's understandable. Didn't want it to be even more upset. Now that it's better, I decided to get back into it this week. But, instead of starting at 50 twice a day like I have been when it's been a while, I'll start with 10 twice a day. Basically starting from scratch again.
I think it's harder to rush into it with the 50. And, might not be all that healthy for me to begin with. Might bulk me up more in that area. I remember when I started these sit-ups, I slowly added more little by little each week. (I would do that when I started with the 50, but it seemed a lot more each week that way.) I felt a bit leaner this way. I eventually got up to 90 twice a day, but it didn't feel that way because I slowly reached that point. Adding 5 twice a day to each week really helped make it feel almost effortless. It still felt like a workout afterwards, though.
So, hopefully it'll work out like that again. I've been sticking more closely to my walks at least. But, I still have to make it a habit to stick to those 2 2-mile walks a day.
Things would go a lot smoother if I did. It's hard sometimes when it gets warmer, and I have to remember to go in the morning and late afternoon. Times where it's not the warmest. Went on one 2-mile walk yesterday. (Almost 2-miles, it was a bit too warm for me to finish...
) I was going to go out again, but my feet hurt. Apparently they're not used to sandals yet.
(I wore sandals the day before, so I felt it yesterday.) Hopefully, tomorrow I can do a full day's worth of walks.I'm also sticking more closely to the way I want to eat, too. Looking at labels more closely, and at the nutrition info restaurants post online. Even if some are surprising with the amount of calories, it just means I'll be able to have it for a longer period of time.
I feel really good when I stick to the calorie range I set for myself for each meal. I'm not starving myself, and in a way it feels like I get to eat more or enjoy it for a longer time. Kind of makes me appreciate it more. While we were out at Costco on Sunday, we bumped into a couple of people we knew. They said they could tell I lost even more weight from the last time I saw them. Which I think was only a couple of months ago.
Kind of made me feel better. They told me that I have a very beautiful face, and that the rest of me is getting more so as well. I'm flattered, yet at the same time feel odd about this. I wasn't beautiful before? Or, am I just looking even better? I think it can always be tricky when people 'compliment' others like this, but I always try to think that it's meant in a positive light.
I do feel a lot better now that I've lost all that weight, and that in turn might have made me look better too. I did lose over 100 pounds.
That was the last time I accidentally looked at my weight from a recent doctor's visit. That's like a mini person.
According to that, I'm slightly less than I was at the end of high school. Might be more so now. I looked at the upcoming new season of Jdramas, and none of them looked appealing.
So, I might go through my unfinished dramas list. A lot of them are updated, and have the rest of the series on the recent site I've been using. I might also look at the list of ones that were previously unavailable, but are up on this site as well. They'll still be 'new' to me.
Should be interesting. Feeling a bit indecisive about which to start yesterday, I just watched an episode of Switch Girl 2 instead. The second season, I think, has been a lot better than the first. Rare to find a show like that.
Fairy Tail has been awesome!
Not sure exactly what will happen. The 'future' Lucy went back in time to try to stop a horrible event from happening. Still don't know entirely what happens in her 'time'. She said that 10,000 dragons will wreak havoc on the town while the Grand Magic Games are still taking place. But, she's not giving many specifics about it. So, Jellal and the princess' knight are weary of her. They feel that she's not telling the truth, and that she might be setting up some sort of trap. Something took over Rogue as he was about to give up and let Gajeel win. It kept referring to itself as a simple shadow, but it possessed Rogue. He's a shadow-based Dragon Slayer, so why doesn't he just eat it or something? Gajeel eventually does eat most of the shadow emitting from Rogue, but he's normally an iron-based Dragon Slayer. So, he gained another special power from it. Interesting. It certainly surprised whoever this 'shadow' really is.Finished editing the 9th short story of my nightmare anthology. Ended up still being the longest story in it.
But, it still fits under being a short story. I get to move on to the 10th one next time. Kind of cool to see that.
Not sure how many I'll end up putting in. I thought 13, but I'm unsure. Played my clarinet. Did a lot of Irish and klezmer tunes. Stumbled a few times, but wasn't bad.
日本語
Studied the kanji: 旅 and 両. When 旅 is pronounced as たび (tabi): travel, trip, journey. Pronounced as りょ (ryo): 500-man battalion (Zhou Dynasty Chinese army). So, pronouncing it as りょ (ryo) is not used all that often by itself, but is used mainly in compounds. 旅先 or たびさき (tabisaki): destination, goal (of travel). 旅路 or たびじ (tabiji): journey, route of journey. 旅人 or たびびと (tabibito): traveler, wayfarer, tourist. 旅館 or りょかん (ryokan): ryokan, Japanese hotel, inn. 旅行 or りょこう (ryokou): travel, trip. 両 can either be pronounced as りょう (ryou) or ふたつ (futatsu). りょう (ryou) seems to be more common. I tend to think of 二つ for ふたつ (futatsu), and I've seen it more often used this way. (Has pretty much the same meaning...) When it's used as a prefix: both (e.g. both shoulders, etc.); ryo (obsolete unit of currency); (ctr) counter for carriages (e.g. in a train), counter for vehicles. 一両 or いちりょう (ichiryou): one vehicle. Next time I'll cover more of its compounds. There are a lot of common ones listed.
Also, practiced my kanji/vocab through JapaneseClass' site. Did pretty well this time.
Tried to take a kanji chapter test, but the site kept having issues and wouldn't let me finish it. I tried to finish it many times. Sometimes their new system gets stuck on certain questions. I hope I can finish that one soon, though.
It's a simple one, and I might have gotten one wrong out of the whole thing. Not bad.
Also, read an article in Japanese on Asahi's site. It was about a defect in a personal massage chair. It killed 5 people before the company was told to recall them.
(And, injured many others.) Apparently, the cover would fall off and expose the rollers inside.
Sometimes, when it was exposed, the rollers would get caught in the clothing the person was wearing and just continue to pull until you turned it off. So, it strangled them to death. So scary!
Last Saturday, one of our local congregations had their last services led by our current rabbi and a luncheon afterwards to celebrate his time there. He's going to Colorado, I think. Kind of seemed like he was forced out...
The new one will lead his first service in a couple of weeks. He apparently had spent most of his life in Germany, and led a congregation there. His wife is originally from this area, though. He sounds interesting.
Anyways, I was hoping to go because it was his last time. Then, we just couldn't go to it. I realized that it might have been for the better.
I really don't feel like I belong with that group anymore. They're not that inclusive, and tend to judge others behind their backs. (Not a very Jewish thing to do.) Mothering me and treating me like a mini version of Mom, wasn't cool either.
Ever since Mom passed away, it seems that the congregation is falling apart. Apparently, we're not the only ones who felt this way towards the congregation.
There are many other reasons people have told me lately about why they've decided to leave it.
It's sad, because we've been with this group for most of my life.
The rabbi that's leaving was there for about 10 of those years. Before that, we had a lot of student rabbis and cantors step in. And, traveled around from church to church since we didn't have a synagogue of our own. Even further back, I still remember the rabbi from when I was starting out with Sunday school there. I think he was there until halfway through my time in Sunday school. I remember his 2 sons were only slightly older than me, and occasionally in good fun, would tease me. We still didn't have a place of our own. Although, we rented out an actual elementary school for our Sunday school. It was interesting. So, I do have a lot of fond memories of the congregation over the years, just not of recent times.
At least I have those. I'm also 'friends' with both the rabbi I knew back in Sunday school and the one that's leaving, on facebook. Kind of funny. I'm hoping to eventually look at places in Seattle. So, I'll see if there is anything better. I've already been to at least one of the places I'm thinking of. I think they're the ones that hold the annual LGBT Pride Shabbat. That's actually really fun, and they seem incredibly nice.
We got some more awesome stuff at Costco and another local store on Sunday. There was a huge thing of individual chicken salad cups. I think it's 8 of them. I didn't really think about the part that it uses Greek yogurt instead of mayo.
So, it's a bit more 'sour' than I'm used to for something like that. That's ok, I can just add sweetener, sugar, or honey. They're pretty good sized servings too. It seemed like so much to me that I ended up only using half of one serving on a sandwich already, had the other half later for a snack that day. It seems like a lot, but isn't very many calories. That's a good thing.
Also, got hummus that was in 16 individual serving cups. It has a good amount per thing, too. I love hummus!
It's good in sandwiches as well, and isn't bad with the calorie count either. Got a ton of awesome fruit. I love cherries, strawberries, grapes, plums, etc. Got a small watermelon, and it still looks big to me. That should be good, too. Also, an interesting Asian-inspired salad mix. Apparently it doesn't come with the greens. You have to add it yourself, but it was pretty good. I think if I had it without the dressing, it'd be kind of bland, though.
The dressing was sesame seed based.
Also, got a big bag of my fave chip variety bag. They only have 2 variety 'themes': classic and flavor packed. I don't know about you, but 'flavor packed' sounds a lot better than 'classic'.
It has regular crunchy cheetos, BBQ potato chips, sour cream and onion potato chips, Spicy Nacho Doritos, Cool Ranch Doritos, Chili Cheese Fritos, and I think that's it. But, it's a nice mix. (Plus each one is an individual serving. So, I don't have to count them out or anything.) The nacho Doritos aren't that spicy, so I can allow myself to have it. (I have to stay away from spicy foods. Long story...
)
Also got a pack of 4 breakfast sandwiches. The type of 'bread' that's used is a croissant. It has cheddar cheese, fried egg whites, and a turkey sausage in it. It's really good.
I think I've had their English muffin version a while back, but this one's better.
Also, went back to playing the Sims 2. I kind of forgot that I had just made a family last time, but didn't make a house for them yet. It's a 3-generation family. 2 grandparents, 2 parents, and 2 teens. Not used to playing with the grandparents' generation, so that's been interesting. (Also, with 6 people at once.
) I made their house pretty big at first. Realized it was WAY out of their price range, and had to take out things and cut things down. It looks a bit more cramped. But, I can expand it once they make money. (Which should be quick if they're all making something.) Had to put a lot of the kitchen stuff outside for the time being. And, instead of a stove I was stuck with giving them a BBQ grill. They seem to love making hot dogs, and the neighbors seem to like them because of it. Everyone managed to find a job in the newspaper except for the son. Nothing interested him. (He wants to go into the science career track.) I'll have him check again the next day. The grandpa wanted to be in the criminal field, so he's starting on that path. The mom wants to become a cop, and she's starting down that road, too. Should be funny to see what happens with them.
Both the daughter and father are going into athletic careers. And, the grandma hopes to become a chef. Interesting. I kind of tried to base it off of my main character and his sister's family. They're the teens. Makes it even more interesting.
Since I haven't watched a Japanese movie in a while, I decided to watch Platina (or Platinum) Data. It was much better than I expected.
One of my fave actors, Kazunari Ninomiya, plays the lead. He's also a member of Arashi. I find their acting better than their music. Although they do have some great songs, it's just that their acting seems to exceed that. All of the members have won some sort of award for their acting. The movie is set in 2017, the Japanese government is trying to secretly control the DNA of its citizens. Ryuhei Kagura is a top scientist in the field of DNA analysis. He works at the DNA analysis institution run by the National Police Agency. When the inventor of the DNA analysis system is murdered (along with her assistant), Ryuhei's DNA is found at the scene. Ryuhei becomes the prime suspect and then a fugitive. A veteran detective, Reiji Asama, goes after him. (He later helps Ryuhei out, and gets to know him better than he knew of himself.) It's a very intense one. Lots of twists and turns. Also, deals with mental illness. Seemed like that was just a side thing until close to the end. It was a very complex and interesting story.
The movie's based on a novel of the same name.
Also, practiced my kanji/vocab through JapaneseClass' site. Did pretty well this time.
Tried to take a kanji chapter test, but the site kept having issues and wouldn't let me finish it. I tried to finish it many times. Sometimes their new system gets stuck on certain questions. I hope I can finish that one soon, though.It's a simple one, and I might have gotten one wrong out of the whole thing. Not bad. Also, read an article in Japanese on Asahi's site. It was about a defect in a personal massage chair. It killed 5 people before the company was told to recall them.
(And, injured many others.) Apparently, the cover would fall off and expose the rollers inside.Sometimes, when it was exposed, the rollers would get caught in the clothing the person was wearing and just continue to pull until you turned it off. So, it strangled them to death. So scary! Last Saturday, one of our local congregations had their last services led by our current rabbi and a luncheon afterwards to celebrate his time there. He's going to Colorado, I think. Kind of seemed like he was forced out...
The new one will lead his first service in a couple of weeks. He apparently had spent most of his life in Germany, and led a congregation there. His wife is originally from this area, though. He sounds interesting. Anyways, I was hoping to go because it was his last time. Then, we just couldn't go to it. I realized that it might have been for the better.
I really don't feel like I belong with that group anymore. They're not that inclusive, and tend to judge others behind their backs. (Not a very Jewish thing to do.) Mothering me and treating me like a mini version of Mom, wasn't cool either.Ever since Mom passed away, it seems that the congregation is falling apart. Apparently, we're not the only ones who felt this way towards the congregation.There are many other reasons people have told me lately about why they've decided to leave it. It's sad, because we've been with this group for most of my life.
The rabbi that's leaving was there for about 10 of those years. Before that, we had a lot of student rabbis and cantors step in. And, traveled around from church to church since we didn't have a synagogue of our own. Even further back, I still remember the rabbi from when I was starting out with Sunday school there. I think he was there until halfway through my time in Sunday school. I remember his 2 sons were only slightly older than me, and occasionally in good fun, would tease me. We still didn't have a place of our own. Although, we rented out an actual elementary school for our Sunday school. It was interesting. So, I do have a lot of fond memories of the congregation over the years, just not of recent times.At least I have those. I'm also 'friends' with both the rabbi I knew back in Sunday school and the one that's leaving, on facebook. Kind of funny. I'm hoping to eventually look at places in Seattle. So, I'll see if there is anything better. I've already been to at least one of the places I'm thinking of. I think they're the ones that hold the annual LGBT Pride Shabbat. That's actually really fun, and they seem incredibly nice. We got some more awesome stuff at Costco and another local store on Sunday. There was a huge thing of individual chicken salad cups. I think it's 8 of them. I didn't really think about the part that it uses Greek yogurt instead of mayo.
So, it's a bit more 'sour' than I'm used to for something like that. That's ok, I can just add sweetener, sugar, or honey. They're pretty good sized servings too. It seemed like so much to me that I ended up only using half of one serving on a sandwich already, had the other half later for a snack that day. It seems like a lot, but isn't very many calories. That's a good thing.Also, got hummus that was in 16 individual serving cups. It has a good amount per thing, too. I love hummus!
It's good in sandwiches as well, and isn't bad with the calorie count either. Got a ton of awesome fruit. I love cherries, strawberries, grapes, plums, etc. Got a small watermelon, and it still looks big to me. That should be good, too. Also, an interesting Asian-inspired salad mix. Apparently it doesn't come with the greens. You have to add it yourself, but it was pretty good. I think if I had it without the dressing, it'd be kind of bland, though.The dressing was sesame seed based.Also, got a big bag of my fave chip variety bag. They only have 2 variety 'themes': classic and flavor packed. I don't know about you, but 'flavor packed' sounds a lot better than 'classic'.
It has regular crunchy cheetos, BBQ potato chips, sour cream and onion potato chips, Spicy Nacho Doritos, Cool Ranch Doritos, Chili Cheese Fritos, and I think that's it. But, it's a nice mix. (Plus each one is an individual serving. So, I don't have to count them out or anything.) The nacho Doritos aren't that spicy, so I can allow myself to have it. (I have to stay away from spicy foods. Long story...)Also got a pack of 4 breakfast sandwiches. The type of 'bread' that's used is a croissant. It has cheddar cheese, fried egg whites, and a turkey sausage in it. It's really good.
I think I've had their English muffin version a while back, but this one's better. Also, went back to playing the Sims 2. I kind of forgot that I had just made a family last time, but didn't make a house for them yet. It's a 3-generation family. 2 grandparents, 2 parents, and 2 teens. Not used to playing with the grandparents' generation, so that's been interesting. (Also, with 6 people at once.
) I made their house pretty big at first. Realized it was WAY out of their price range, and had to take out things and cut things down. It looks a bit more cramped. But, I can expand it once they make money. (Which should be quick if they're all making something.) Had to put a lot of the kitchen stuff outside for the time being. And, instead of a stove I was stuck with giving them a BBQ grill. They seem to love making hot dogs, and the neighbors seem to like them because of it. Everyone managed to find a job in the newspaper except for the son. Nothing interested him. (He wants to go into the science career track.) I'll have him check again the next day. The grandpa wanted to be in the criminal field, so he's starting on that path. The mom wants to become a cop, and she's starting down that road, too. Should be funny to see what happens with them.Both the daughter and father are going into athletic careers. And, the grandma hopes to become a chef. Interesting. I kind of tried to base it off of my main character and his sister's family. They're the teens. Makes it even more interesting. 
One of my fave actors, Kazunari Ninomiya, plays the lead. He's also a member of Arashi. I find their acting better than their music. Although they do have some great songs, it's just that their acting seems to exceed that. All of the members have won some sort of award for their acting. The movie is set in 2017, the Japanese government is trying to secretly control the DNA of its citizens. Ryuhei Kagura is a top scientist in the field of DNA analysis. He works at the DNA analysis institution run by the National Police Agency. When the inventor of the DNA analysis system is murdered (along with her assistant), Ryuhei's DNA is found at the scene. Ryuhei becomes the prime suspect and then a fugitive. A veteran detective, Reiji Asama, goes after him. (He later helps Ryuhei out, and gets to know him better than he knew of himself.) It's a very intense one. Lots of twists and turns. Also, deals with mental illness. Seemed like that was just a side thing until close to the end. It was a very complex and interesting story.The movie's based on a novel of the same name. 
