Mood:
By the Young Dubliners. The Young Dubliners are an American Celtic rock band, formed in LA, in 1988. Their music is a fusion of traditional Irish instruments and folk songs with modern rock. Really cool and interesting band. The band was founded by 2 Dublin natives, Keith Roberts and Paul O' Toole. Eventually the band grew and now has 5 members. (Paul apparently quit, and there were other musicians that quit over the years.) They were influenced by bands like Thin Lizzy and The Pogues. I like this version of the Irish folk song.
Apparently, the original's from the 19th century, and the words were written down by D.K. Gavan, "The Galway Poet", for the English music hall performer Harry Clifton, who popularized the song. (Clifton lived from 1824-1872.) The song is fast-paced and about the many troubles and travails that the protagonist encounters during his travels.
My birthday was on Friday.
Kind of did things that I really enjoy doing during the day (going on forums, games, reading, watching Jdramas/anime, etc.), as like a personal celebration. Then, I had BBQ pulled chicken on a kaiser roll sandwiches and a huge 'birthday' salad for Shabbos/birthday dinner. The salad had mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, shredded red cabbage, craisins (dried cranberries), and croutons. I used one of my fave dressings, Caesar, for mine. The kaiser rolls were really hard on the outside and very soft inside. So, it really soaked up the sauce. It was all really good!
I was told that there would be a possibility of cake, as well. But, they didn't have my fave cake available, which is Black Forest. (Chocolate cake with cherry filling, whipped cream, and cherries on top. All my faves, chocolate and cherries, combined!
) So, we had chocolate eclairs instead. Still pretty awesome, though. Dad was talking about putting the number of candles that make up how old I am now on the cake. That might be a fire hazard...
It still might happen, because we might get a cake to celebrate it again soon. It might be there next week. Hey, it's still my birth month...
On Saturday, we did a couple of errands in the morning, and then went to Mizuki Buffet for lunch. That place is amazing!
They have such a selection of stuff. The dessert section seems to change quite often, and had a lot of good stuff this time. (One of the most interesting ones was a green tea tiramisu cake. Another was banana pudding in a small chocolate cup with sprinkles and a grape slice. Looked like some sort of intricate scene.) I got a strawberry ramune with it. It was kind of loud, so apparently the waitress at first thought I said lemonade. Interesting, because the people who created ramune came up with its name as a play on that, even though it's a soda company.
I asked if they had any flavors besides the regular one, and all they had was strawberry. Not a bad flavor though. I normally have tea or water, but it was my birthday, and I thought I could splurge a little because of it.
We went to Uwajimaya afterwards. It's a huge Asian supermarket. Another amazing place! There are so many things to see there.
They have their own bookstore, food court, salon, etc. Their bakery, deli, seafood, and produce sections are always interesting. They have some Russian and German things along with the main Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. stuff. We got some assorted Russian cookies. A few years ago, we had that same brand's cookies with cherries and they were really good! (They actually are imported from Russia. It's cool!) We saw maybe 85-90% of the store before we got tired and stopped looking at things. Not too bad. I wanted to tour the International District on top of that, but, again, we were too tired. Saw Little Saigon on the way to Uwajimaya in the car, at least.
That was interesting.
Wanted to go to the Oak Table the next day, but I had fizzled out by then. Already ate quite a bit at the buffet as it was...I'll post pics of what I got at the buffet, and the cookies on fb and dA soon.
I actually completed a birthday/Hanukkah wishlist a day before my birthday!
A little late for birthday presents, but it can also be used for Hanukkah. I only managed to think of 4 things that I wanted. I have a hard time thinking about what I want sometimes.
I'm still getting in touch with my own preferences for things, or even just about myself in general. I thought I'd want some better more vibrant/vivid eye shadow colors. The eye shadows I do have barely show up. Some have asked me if I'm wearing any eye shadow when I wear makeup. Maybe it's my skin color or something...
There's also something I wanted for a while which is an anthology of Japanese stories in Japanese vertical text. It has the English translation after each one.
And, the last 2 things were both expansions of the Sims 2. One introduces pets, and the other introduces seasons. Two things that'll make it feel more 'real'. Normally, the game is in a constant spring-like season. It'd be interesting to see other ones. (Especially interesting to see things like rain, the leaves changing, snow, etc. It's too stagnant right now.
) Plus, both of them add more clothes, decorations, furniture, garden tools and plants, goals, etc. With the pets one you have a wide range of cat, dog, bird, hamster, or fish breeds to choose from. You can even make your own. I love pets, so that would be a welcome addition.
I'm hoping to get back into my fitness routine. Been kind of lax about it lately.
Decided it might be better to stick with a certain amount of sit-ups twice a day for a month, instead of a week. I started the 'month' last week with 10 twice a day. Thought I should start over at a simple amount, again. I was kind of waffly about it last week, but I'm trying to be more strict this week. Next month I'll do 15 twice a day. Just like I would have if it were weekly. (Adding 5 twice a day each week. Now, it's every month.) I think being more gradual with it might be better for my body, too.
I want to get back into my 2 2-mile walks as well. Didn't really work out today, but I can do it tomorrow. Also, trying to get back to being better about looking at my calories for the day. I was a bit more lax about it lately, for obvious reasons, but I feel like I should get back into it.
Finished watching Time Spiral. The story was very good and interesting. The actors seemed to overact it, though. I thought it was going to have a bad ending until the last 3 minutes or so. Everything turned out alright in the end. No one was killed off.
Finished watching the first season of Hamatora. If I hadn't known that there was a 2nd season, I'd be pissed.
It seemed like one of the worst ways to end a show. Nice defeated Moral, and Art showed up looking very much alive on the boat they were on. Moral was still alive, and Art shot him in the head. So not like him.
It ended with Art putting his gun to the back of Nice's head, fade to black, and the sound of a gunshot fired. We don't know if he actually shot/killed Nice or what. Everyone thought that Moral had killed Art when they faced off alone earlier. They fought over someone's grave, and with that episode, the ending scene was Art bleeding out while Nice was trying to call him. They said that he was always trying to make up for not having a Minimum power. Does he suddenly have one now? Did it awaken when he was on the brink of death? People with Minimums are kind of like the X-men. They have special powers, and are sometimes ridiculed by the general public because of it. One of them even had a Hulk-like ability. Only he turned purple, and it was 'given' to him. He wasn't one of the people born with it. Nice can move at the speed of sound, Murasaki has super strength, Birthday can use electricity if he absorbs a power source, Ratio can harden his fists to be as hard as steel, another one can predict things 10 minutes into the future with her laptop, another can teleport people to a certain distance, etc. All of these ones were born with it. There are hints that Art and Moral might be brothers or have some sort of other relation...Moral was a really disturbing villain. There are few that really make your skin crawl like he did.
He would steal the original Minimum users' brains, and inject the chemical serum that has components of those powers from those brains into someone who sought power. They usually felt weak and useless beforehand. He'd use them to wreak havoc. He had a tech savvy person broadcast signals that only teens could pick up on urging them to seek power from him. She was finally captured, too. His reason behind everything was to make everyone 'equal' by giving the weak power. Also, he used some of it on himself. He felt that Nice was lonely with how powerful he had become, and therefore he needed someone who was on the same 'level'. I'll start the 2nd season soon. There's no way I'm leaving it like that...
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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