Shavuot

Mood:

Well, I didn't stay up all night studying Torah, but was up for a while.I think I stopped at around 12:30am. Studied some of the Mishnah from a site that has compiled about half of it. Which was very interesting, but made me very sleepy. The Mishnah's a huge body of literature where a group of Rabbis debate/teach oral laws and traditions. It's also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It reflected debates between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE. It also teaches the oral traditions through examples. They go into great detail with things, but that makes it fascinating as well as tiring to read. I love that kind of stuff.There weren't many laws/traditions already in place for women. Almost sounded like they weren't sure what to do with them. It's separated into 6 'orders' or sections. 

I also read that for a while, women were prohibited from studying the Mishnah. Kind of disturbing.But, many Rabbis went against this, and said it was 'optional' for women. I remember in my private Jewish philosophy class that we studied a bit of the Mishnah. (Took the class when I was 14. So, quite a while ago.) Although, I was the only girl in the class. Made for some amusing times.

I've had a few dairy things too. Some chocolate milk, some milk in my oatmeal, and some creamer in my tea. It's something. I'd love to have something like cheesecake, which is traditionally eaten. But, we don't have any...It's not a must, but any excuse to have dairy stuff is all awesome to me!

On Cartoon Kat-tun, they discussed what you can order through delivery. Their guest this time loves to get stuff through delivery. They wanted to look at things that weren't food related, because that'd be too boring. Plus, most of the things they saw on the list were pretty expensive. So, they 'ordered' a quiz show, and cheerleaders. It was pretty hilarious watching the whole thing unfold. First, the quiz show people showed up. They gave everyone little buzzers and light signals. Brought in their own table, a quiz 'book', etc. It was pretty elaborate. The contestants get to choose what the prize will be, and if they want, a punishment for the loser. They said they can easily do all this in someone's apartment. Koki was losing, and halfway through the cheerleaders came in. They did a hilarious routine to cheer Koki up. He lost the game in the end, so his punishment is to be a part of a 'celebrity delivery' thing. Don't know what he'd do at someone's apartment or home. It was all a much more hilarious episode than the previous ones have been. I think they ordered more things from the 'delivery' services. It's also interesting to see what you can get. Their guest said she sometimes orders a mani-pedi.

Earl and Fairy has been interesting so far. They introduced Brownies and Spunkies. Also, talked about fairy circles. Starting to like this anime a lot. Not sure if I 'love' it yet. But, I like the Scottish folklore stuff. 

In Tripeace, they started the war against Xyece by flying and ramming their hammerhead shaped submarine, that's their headquarters, into Xyece's headquarters. Nana is now in Shiro's group as 2nd in command. Of course, he has to keep the charade of him being a woman up. Otherwise, she'll turn on him. For some reason, she seems to have a soft spot for other strong-looking women. I'm surprised that she still doesn't know that it's him and not 'Nanako'. Belial seems to have gotten himself into a pickle. Hope he can get through it.

Played my clarinet. Did more of my advanced solo pieces. Also, finally switched to a 'new' reed. I haven't switched to another one in a while. I say 'new' because we got this pack of about 10 of them at least 2 years ago. I consider them still good if I haven't used them yet. Sounded much better. My reeds tend to last for a long time. Still sounded like I needed to practice more, but it wasn't bad. 

Decided to drop The Silmarillion. It was getting boring, and it went into WAY too much detail.So, I decided that my next book from my list will be The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C Matt. I've always thought Kabbalah was interesting. (The real Kabbalah, not the fake commercialized stuff.) It's short, too. Read that it's really a beginner's book. But, that's fine. It'll still be interesting.

日本語

The kanji for today was: 者. Pronounced as もの (mono): (rarely used without a qualifier) person. As しゃ (sha): (suf) someone of that type or nature, someone who does that. 新聞記者 or しんぶんきしゃ (shinbun kisha): newspaper reporter. 人気者 or にんきしゃ (ninkisha): popular person. 愛国者 or あいこくしゃ (aikokusha): patriot. 愛読者 or あいどくしゃ (aidokusha): subscriber, reader, admirer. 悪者 or わるもの (warumono): bad fellow, rascal, scoundrel, ruffian, (the) bad guy(s), villain. 芸者 or げいしゃ: geisha. 配偶者 or はいぐうしゃ (haiguusha): spouse, wife, husband, partner. 被害者 or ひがいしゃ (higaisha): victim, injured party, sufferer. 利用者 or りようしゃ (riyousha): user, end-user, consumer. 担当者 or たんとうしゃ (tantousha): person responsible, person in charge. 忍者 or にんじゃ: ninja. 医者 or いしゃ (isha): doctor, physician. 若者 or わかもの (wakamono): young man, youth, lad.

Love!

Mood:

By Hebe Tien. Hebe is a Taiwanese singer, actress, and TV program hostess. She's also a member of S.H.E. I already liked a few of S.H.E's songs, but never looked into the members' solo songs before. (Or even that they had them.) Lastfm suggested it, and I curiously checked it out. She has an amazing voice. I'm also rather new to songs that are in Chinese. (Whether from China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong.) They sound very interesting. It's another music avenue to explore, I guess. Anyways, not only does the song sound beautiful, the lyrics are interesting too. Even if they're repeated over and over again, it doesn't get old. It's about how everyone loves everyone else, but why don't people love themselves. The main part is saying, "I love you, you love her, she loves her, she loves him, you love me, I love him, he loves him, he loves her." Kind of an interesting part, too. The video's kind of cool.

It's still pretty cold out. I saw a couple of days ago, that there's a possibility of snow next week. Oh joy.The last couple of days I've been doing my walks a little later than usual. But, I hope to get back to the time I was doing before. I don't feel quite as safe when it's after sunset.Today's been weird mood wise, because for a while I'll feel happy, and then I feel a bit depressed. Not terribly depressed, but somewhat down. I don't really know why. Oh well. 

Started watching Dinner Tuesday. At a famous Italian restaurant, the chef and owner, collapses from a heart attack and slips into a coma. No one knows if he'll ever wake up again. The restaurant starts to go through a rough patch. The sous-chefs and manager (the owner's daughter) try their best to keep the restaurant running, but the amount of customers drops drastically. Saori, the manager, then decides to hire an extraordinary chef Esaki as the restaurant's new head chef. He focuses more on taste then tradition. He visited the restaurant as a customer the day before he started working there. He was very disappointed. It'll be interesting to see what he does to change the restaurant. The drama also gives off a warm atmosphere, which is enjoyable. I haven't totally fallen for this one, but I'll stick around to see what happens.

On Cartoon KAT-TUN yesterday they had a veteran actor. One that's been big in Japan for decades. The members of Kat-tun apparently grew up watching his work. Also had Aly and AJ (I've never heard of them, even though this was several years ago...) from the USA as guests on their 'secret briefcase' segment. They didn't seem very bright, although they did try to joke with the band members. So, I give them that. They gave Kat-tun Hello Kitty themed shirts with Aly and AJ featured in that style. Kat-tun gave them huge exercise balls or 'rodeo' balls. 

In Fairy Tail, Yukino was humiliated and thrown out of Raven Tail for losing a fight once. She was forced to strip off all her clothes in front of everyone, and remove her guild mark with her magic. She ran over to Fairy Tail's inn, and was willing to give up the last 2 keys Lucy needed to complete her set of celestial spirits. Lucy declined. Not knowing what to do or where to go, she broke down just outside of Fairy Tail's inn. Natsu had rushed to her trying to apologize to her, thinking that she was upset because of something he did. He found out what they did to her, and busted into Raven Tail's inn. He was furious and seemed much more powerful than usual. It ended with him challenging their guild master. 

Started reading Tripeace a couple of weeks ago. Nana has experienced extreme amnesia, and has forgotten his real name. After witnessing the unjust deaths of 3 children he met while traveling, he vows to eradicate all wars. In the most current chapter that I read, he stops children who started a 'war' over a cat. He said it was like a test run. That's all I know from what I've been reading. In the description they say he joins a group of activists called Tripeace, whose members stop at nothing to bring peace to the world. They apparently have lots of different weapons. And, they'll use violence in order to achieve peace. That sounds like it'll be interesting. Nana's kind of a funny character, but I like him already. 

At the cafe yesterday, I had a small hot chocolate. The barista who was filling in for the one that's normally there, added a ton of chocolate. More than what I usually get. That was a nice surprise.Practiced my kanji, drew a Tu B'Shvat thing and started drawing the assassin from my story, transposed an Irish tune, read more of The Silmarillion, and started rewriting the letter to my penpal. And the last couple of days, I've managed to play my clarinet some more. 

Youtube:
Another cool Gintama amv:

Banana Lover's Day

Mood:

Banana's are awesome!I always have one with breakfast or lunch. There's many ways to eat them too. Banana pie, banana flavored drinks, bananas in coconut milk, etc. are all great. 

I finally got my bike to a shop that'll fix it up. I haven't biked in about 10 years. But, for some reason, the last year or so I've had dreams about it. They've only gotten stronger. Kind of freaky.But, I used to love riding my bike. It feels like you're not really working out, until you're off of it. It's amazing to feel the breeze, and going over dips with it. I love my bike, but it was in the garage the whole time. So, things were eating the handle bars and seat. The tires were slashed as well. If I still want to ride it, it has to have some work done. It'll be ready at the end of the 1st week of September. Can't wait!

On Saturday, my dad and I went to the county fair. It was a lot of fun!Hadn't been there for about 10 years. We shared a huge sized curly fries and peach lemonade. I was amazed at how big they were. Later, I got some cotton candy. Haven't had that in over 10 years. It was awesome!Couldn't eat a lot of it, but that just means I can savor the awesome for a little longer. ;) Dad got a funnel cake with blueberry sauce, powdered sugar, and whipped cream on top. Had a couple of bites of that. It was really good too! 

We mostly went around and saw the animals. Saw the horses, cats, dogs, poultry, cows, rabbits, and more. That was nice. I've always had a soft spot for animals. (Even wanted to major in animal science...Didn't work out though.) Took a lot of pics of them, too. Then we looked a little at the vendors and rides. None of the rides really appealed to me, and the stuff I was interested in at the booths were really expensive. Oh well. Nice to see anyways. Managed to get a little sunburn while I was there. I never tan. I burn instead.

Yesterday, we went to a nail salon. Dad had a pedicure and French manicure. She wanted to look nice for when she goes back to work soon. Plus it was a good deal. It took 2 hours!I almost fell asleep by then. She's never had a French manicure. (I haven't either.) So, it was interesting. 

We were hoping to get some Noah's Bagels after that. But, the place the GPS took us to was called Einstein Bagels. So, we got those instead. They looked pretty good. Then, we started to get hungry, and decided to go to Applebee's. The waiter was a bit odd. But, nice. I had the orange chicken. It was pretty good, but a little bit spicier than I expected. Nice that it had a bunch of vegetables and some nuts, too. There was so much, I had to take about half of it home. Got a chocolate mousse shooter for dessert. I love those, because they're small. Just enough to hit the spot, and not feel heavy.It has oreos, chocolate mousse, chocolate chips, and whipped cream.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but started Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) a couple of weeks ago. I've watched the anime version. Wasn't too fond of the design style, but really liked the story. I hated the first episode of the drama when I tried it a few months ago. But after trying it again, so far, from the 2nd episode on it's been great. Has a ton of actors that I like. That's a plus, at least. This started out as a shoujo manga. (I tend to not like that style anyways. There's very few mangas/animes in this style that I like.) Makino Tsukuchi is the only poor student at Eitoku Gakuen, the school for the ridiculously rich and privileged that is ruled by the Flower 4 or F4, a group of guys who come from extremely powerful families. The leader's Tsukasa, Rui's an introvert, Sojiro's a player, and Akira's a 'madam killer' with ties to the underground. If you get on their bad side, you're brutally bullied. Makino gets on their 'bad side', and is bullied by everyone. She refuses to stop going to school, and they call her a tough weed. She declares war on the F4. Her number 1 enemy of the group, Tsukasa, ends up getting romantic feelings for her. Her crush, Rui, seems to feel something too, but left to be with someone in France. 

Just started reading The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I like Shakespeare, but I knew most of what was in the collection. The ones I hadn't read before were slightly dry. So why not change to another book? I've read the Hobbit a long time ago, and thought it might be good. I'll see how it turns out.