National Chocolate Cake Day!

Mood:

I love chocolate with pretty much anything!There's such a variety of chocolate cakes out there. Makes it interesting that they made it vague like that. Probably my all-time fave cake in general would be Black Forest. I love it so much!Had it a few times as a birthday cake. What's better than putting one of my fave fruits, cherries, together with whipped cream, and chocolate? It's like the perfect dessert to me. 

Finished watching Tokyo Bandwagon. It was a really good series. Overall, it had a very positive feel/message. I wish it had continued though...They kind of rushed things in the last 10 minutes. Ganato, Ao's father, decided to try and live longer. Don't know if he started treatment or not, but he left for a while again. (Beforehand, he had agreed to getting treatment when Ao tried to convince him. There were many people that tried to convince him, and he may have just caved with Ao.) Ao and Suzumi had a baby. It went from her finding out (about a couple of months of being pregnant already), to having the baby be a few months old in a really short amount of time. Ao's brother Kon and his wife Ami also had a baby at the same time. So, it was a 'double pregnancy'. They looked really miserable in the snippets they showed of them being pregnant. Ao and Kon kept thinking something was wrong with them every few minutes. They found the book that Ao's grandmother was desperately searching for. She was searching for it even while she was dying. It was very important to the family. It was her father's diary. Apparently it had been stolen. Aiko, Ao's sister, went on an exhibition with her paintings in London. Mudoch suggested it, and Fujishima tagged along. Murdoch had wanted to go alone with her. They are still fighting over her. But, they're civil about it. She didn't know they felt that way until the last couple of episodes. I think she felt as a single mother, no one would want to be with her. (She might have actually said that during the first couple of episodes.) So, things ended up really nice for everyone.

I also finished Kasuka na Kanojo or She's Faint. I liked it a lot. Not one of my absolute faves, but it was good. The ending was kind of mixed for me. They made this huge deal about Akane leaving and going to heaven. Then during the last few minutes she said she was too distracted by life/earthly things, she couldn't leave. She first went to a castle, and realized she hadn't seen as much as she wanted to of the world. Good to have her back, but not so great having us go through all that while thinking she's leaving. Kamiyama had actually died for a brief amount of time. While he was a ghost he appeared in his apartment with Akane. Since he was a ghost as well, he was able to touch her and interact with her more. He had previously confessed that he loved her. He said he wanted to stay a ghost so he could be with her. She wanted him to live a good long and happy life. After some talking to, he came back to life. He managed to change the way students and teachers look at each other at his school. When he started, there was a great deal of distrust on both sides. In fact, he had felt that if he didn't help solve a student's personal life/crisis or care about their well being, he could avoid conflict with them and just teach. It came off as cold. He cared about one student during his second year of teaching, tried to help her but made things worse, and she attempted to commit suicide. He didn't want to feel that pain again. But, ever since he met Akane, all that changed. He thought more about his actions when he wanted to help a student. He basically grew along with his students. 

Dad and I met with a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. The only experience I had with Orthodox Jews was with my aunt's family. They're (at least she is, might be slightly more lax now) Ultra-Orthodox. It's like super super strict. About as strict as you can get. Modern is apparently quite different. They don't try to monitor what you say, even to their children. They're more open to things, and really not as extreme. It was very interesting to me. I almost feel like I 'connect' with it. At least, from what I've read and how they interacted. There's apparently a new term floating around online called Reformadox. It sounds very similar to this. I feel like I need a stronger connection of some sort to my Judaism, but not sure if I'd go Orthodox. I like being Reform, since you can decide how strict you want to be about things. A lot of people say you can pick and choose. The weird thing is it doesn't sound like many want to 'observe' as much or know as much as I do. So, I don't know. I'm betwixt in between right now, I guess.

Anyways, we chatted, enjoyed a really nice Shabbat lunch, went for a walk around their neighborhood (met some of their neighbors, they were very nice), went to a lecture on gematria (a Jewish system that assigns numbers to the Hebrew alphabet. The numbers in a word or phrase add up to a certain number that may hold some symbolism or show a connection to other words or phrases. I read that the word chai (life), its 2 letters added together is 18. So, some people feel that 18 is a lucky number because of that. Others can be about the number of days in the year in a word. It's fascinating stuff. Not sure if I believe much of the superstitious side. 13 by the way, is also a lucky number for us.) and how some words in English seem to have connections to Hebrew ones, did Havdallah (ending mini-service for Shabbat) at their place, and left pretty late. Didn't know we'd be there for so long.Their kids were pretty rambunctious, but nice. They had 3. Earlier they had a friend join them for lunch, so that was nice for them, too. 

We also had a chance to peek into 2 Orthodox synagogues. (I think it was my first time in one.) They were basically across the street from each other. One was an Ashkenazic one. Ashkenazic Jews come from German and eastern European ancestry. (I'm an Ashkenazic Jew.) The other was Sephardic. Sephardic Jews come from Spanish/Mediterranean ancestry. (Some are from northern Africa, and a lot of South American Jews identify as Sephardic.) Despite Sephardic Jews covering a larger area, the Ashkenazic Jews outnumber them in population. There are also several other cultural divisions between Jews, but these are the main ones. The Ashkenazic Jews came up with Yiddish (a mixture of German and Hebrew), and the Sephardic ones came up with Ladino (a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew). They all have different dietary laws when it comes to holidays like Passover. They also have different customs/traditions. Even when speaking Hebrew, they have slight differences. Like a 't' sound becomes an 's' sound, or vice a versa. It's all very interesting. Anyways, it was interesting to see that they were divided that way. The family we were with for the day likes to go to both. Both of the synagogues are huge! 

In Jikou Keisatsu it was about an identical twin being murdered. The twins were adopted together, and acted in a drama once they were old enough. Eventually, they found out they had 3 other identical sisters. So, they were actually quintuplets. One of the original 2 had wanted to have the others live with them. The other one didn't agree to it, and blew the money that they were saving up for them on gambling. The one that wanted to live with all of them killed the other as soon as she found out. She used her sisters to her advantage by acting like she had many alibis. The police were too confused with the case. They even questioned if the one that was killed was actually dead, since the body disappeared. The surviving main sister got into acting in horror movies/shows, even though she was terrified of stuff like that. Directors hired her for these roles since they figured she was 'cursed' because of her sister. The other sisters would have fun acting like their deceased sister's ghost and posing for photos and such. They loved to make people guess who was who. The weird thing is only one of them wears glasses, so that one's easier to guess, unless she takes them off...It was funny, but probably not as funny as last week's.

In Log Horizon, they're still strategizing about what to do with the goblin king and its minions wreaking havoc. The princess of the People of the Land got enough nerve to step in and give her piece. It was the most useful. The reps for the adventurers and the People of the Land's lords were at odds with each other. It's interesting that an NPC/the princess has stepped in and actually wants to personally persuade adventurers to volunteer to join an army to fight the enemy. The preview shows her going to Akihabara, one of the main adventurer towns. It's the town Shiroe revitalized after the 'Apocalypse'. She seemed very surprised by it all.

Started watching Ranma 1/2 on Friday. I remember hearing about it for a very long time, but I never actually watched it before. I had seen amv's (anime music videos) of it, but that was it. It's created by the same person who did Inuyasha. I used to be really into watching that show, then it got very old. Ranma is drawn in a similar way. Or, I should say Inuyasha is, because this is older. I think in most of the creator's works the characters all have similar designs. She's one of the most successful female mangakas. Popular not only in Japan, but worldwide. All of her works have been translated in many languages. Ranma's manga started in 1987 and ended in 1996. The anime started in 1989, but after 18 episodes, they canceled it due to low ratings. One month later, the series was relaunched and went until 1992. The relaunch ended up being 143 more episodes. It's a monster of a series.There's also a few movies to the series. One of them was a 2011 live-action one. That would be interesting. I'll just see how this one goes. Ranma and his father Genma are martial artists who traveled to the 'cursed training ground' of Jusenkyo in China. While there, despite the warning of a Chinese guard, they fall into the cursed springs. Genma falls into one that a panda had drowned in. Ranma fell into one where a Chinese girl drowned. So, every time Ranma is doused in cold water, he turns into a girl. Every time Genma is doused in cold water, he turns into a panda. If Ranma's in contact with hot water he changes back to being a guy, and Genma turns back to being human. Genma engages Ranma to Tendo Akane. She says she absolutely hates boys. Ranma wants to find a way to undo his curse. 

Wrote more of the 5th short story for my nightmare anthology. I might be done with this one. I have to edit it again and fix one thing that I know of. So, other than the editing, I'm done with this one. Next, is the 6th! Yay!

Played my clarinet. Did a lot of Irish tunes. Sounded better than last time. 

日本語

Studied more compounds for 発. 発展 or はってん (hatten): development, growth, advancement, unfurling; expansion, extension, enlargement. 発熱 or はつねつ (hatsunetsu): generation of heat, (attack of) fever. 発破 or はっぱ (happa): explosive blast (in construction, mining, etc.), blasting. 発表 or はっぴょう (happyou): announcement, publication. 発憤 or はっぷん (happun): inspired, stimulated, roused. 発明 or はつめい (hatsumei): invention. 発令 or はつれい (hatsurei): official announcement, proclamation. 発露 or はつろ (hatsuro): appearance, expression, manifestation. 発作 or ほっさ (hossa): (med) fit, spasm, attack, seizure. Translated more of a You Maga article. Next time, I'll put the paragraph all together, and make it so it makes sense in English. Read a few articles in Japanese on Asahi's site.  

Special Illusion

Mood:

This is one of Fran's character songs from Hitman Reborn. He has an interesting voice. And, like a good majority of the male characters (including the main ones), he's voiced by a woman. She sounds pretty talented. And, somehow I find it cool that there are so many female voice actresses that were apart of it. In the anime itself, there aren't that many female characters. Anyways, Fran is one of my fave characters from the series.He didn't really have much screen time, and I've got a ways until he appears in the manga, but for some reason I really like him. He's Bel's partner in Varia. He replaced Viper or Mammon, and Bel told him he had to wear a frog hat to signify it. He loves to mock/verbally attack other members of Varia in kind of a calm demeanor. He especially likes to provoke Bel. And, Bel is constantly throwing knives at him. He's come up with nicknames for members of Varia. Like Bel's is 'Fallen Prince', 'Old Lightening Pervert' for Levi, and others. He's kind of a prankster, and specializes in illusions. This song fits him so well.

In Tokyo Bandwagon, it turned out that Ao's father has cancer of the voice box or larynx. That's pretty disturbing for most people, let alone a singer. At first, he told the doctor to act like it was just a stomach ulcer when they talked to the family. The doctor told them that he'll stay for a little while at the hospital to get better. That was a lie, and after about a day he checked himself out then went missing for 5 days or so. The doctor had told him that if he gets surgery to get rid of the cancer, he might lose his voice. He has this thing about saying what 'love' really is about all the time. (Says the love part always in English.) He said that dying isn't love, but taking away his ability to sing isn't either. Really sad. He turned the doctor down about the surgery, but from the preview of the next episode, he might go through with it. He did say that the song he sang at the end of the episode might be his last.

I tried to start one of the new anime shows this season. But, sadly none of them looked that great.I had high hopes for Pupa, but it turned out to be really horrible. They had kept postponing it. It was originally supposed to air during the summer of last year or something. Ended up only being 4 minutes. About 2 and half if you cut out the intro and outro.Just a lot of crazy stuff thrown together with seemingly no rhyme or reason. A lot of people commented saying that the manga is far better. So, maybe I'll give that a shot in the future. 

I also tried Hoozuki no Reitetsu. It seemed very bland. It's supposed be a dark comedy series. The premise seemed interesting. Hoozuki is the aide to the great king of Hell, King Enma. He resolves various problems that come up in Hell. (And, there are many different divisions of Hell, so he's usually very busy.) He tends to be calm and very sadistic. When he has time, he has several hobbies, and loves to visit zoos and such. He loves animals. He raises goldfish flowers. And, since it's Hell, you can count on it being at least a little trippy. I got all the references and jokes, but they fell kind of flat. It's kind of like a very watered down version of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, which I absolutely loved. That kind of dark comedy is great. But, water it down too much and it has no substance.I also tried Witch Craft Works, but I only lasted about 5 minutes into it. One of the main characters' breasts seem to grow every time it panned over to her. It seemed very cliche too. So, since I didn't find any new ones for this season, I might start watching Ranma 1/2 next week. 

In World Embryo, Riku had to duel Rena, his new partner. He didn't know anything about being a Jinki user and she easily beat him. But, at least he found out how to use it. Riku is unique in that the kanshu took over most of his being, and yet he still has his ego intact. So, in a way he can become stronger than her. So, now she's training him. Should be interesting to see how it turns out. 

Wrote some more of the 5th short story of my nightmare anthology. It's getting creepier and creepier.Should be interesting how this one ends up. It's definitely 'different'. 

Played my clarinet. Did more of my advanced classical music solo book, and some jazz tunes. Sounded pretty good this time. Drew the entire 'sad' section of the meme for Junko. It was odd to see her exaggerated sad expressions, since it's so not her. But, eventually she does have to be sad. She did have a tragic, weird, and mysterious past. 

日本語

Studied more of the kanji: 発. If pronounced as はつ (hatsu): (n, suf) departure, departing (from...), departing (at time...); sending, sent (by...), sent (at...); (ctr) (also ばつ [batsu]) counter for gunshots, bursts of gas, etc.; counter for bullets, bombs, etc.; counter for blows (punches). As 発く or あば.く (aba.ku): reveal, expose, uncover. As 発つ or た.つ (ta.tsu): to depart (on a plane, train, etc.). Occasionally, it may be pronounced as ほつ (hotsu) in compounds. 発案 or はつあん (hatsuan): idea, suggestion, initiative. 発意 or はつい (hatsui): idea, suggestion, plan. 発育 or はついく (hatsuiku): (physical) growth, development. 発煙 or はつえん (hatsuen): emitting smoke, fuming.

Hai wa Hai ni

Mood:

Or: Ashes to Ashes. Some people have been writing out the romaji as Hai ha Hai ni. The 'ha' is pronounced 'wa', since it's used as a particle. But, I've read that some people are confused about the title. In the original video, they give the title out in romaji, too. So, they should just use that...(I think the confusion might be that the title's written in katakana the rest of the time, instead of hiragana or the kanji. It's just not used as often. Normally it's for foreign words/companies/etc. But, can be used to emphasize other words.) Anyways, this is sung by the Kaito vocaloid. I love his songs (he's one of my favorite vocaloids), but people tend to make his songs comical. Which is fine, but it's good to hear the serious/cool ones too. He has a nice vocal range. This one is kind of sad, yet sounds amazing. 

In Tokyo Bandwagon, Ao and Suzumi got married. It was kind of overshadowed by a reporter getting a 'scoop' on Ao's birth mother. Apparently, she's a famous actress, and wanted him to have a better life. So, she allowed his father to raise him. He's a rock star, and she also felt she couldn't be associated with him in public. Kind of sad. His father would send pics of Ao to his mother once a year. They were usually pics of him celebrating his birthday with the rest of the family. Anyways, this reporter repeatedly threatened them about going public with the whole thing. Ao never was actually told who his birth mother was by the family before. But, the reporter mentioned it to him, and he retaliated by punching him. Eventually, they managed to get the reporter to stop and not to publish his big scoop. Instead he was reassigned to work for the rock music section of the company. (It was bought out by a friend of the family, so he could pull the strings in the background. Basically cornering the reporter, and showing him how powerful he really is.) The rock music section was Ao's father's suggestion, since the reporter used to write articles pertaining to that music scene. The wedding itself went off without a hitch. His mother managed to watch it, and was even in the family wedding photo. She had told them that part of the wedding ceremony would be a good setting for a scene from her movie, and that when she thanked them, they encouraged her to be in the photo. It was kind of a touching episode. She never came out and told him who she really was. The episode ended with Ao's father coughing up blood, and collapsing. I hope he isn't dying or anything like that. They had finally resolved their differences. 

I decided to drop Toradora. The only characters I liked were the 2 main ones. They seemed to have been growing closer to each other, but both of them are in denial of it. Kind of painful to watch. Especially when their crushes don't like them romantically. It just doesn't seem to be progressing much. It's cute at times, but just 'eh' most of the time. Sad, since so many people seem to gush over this series. I can't seem to really get into it.

World Embryo has been very interesting so far. Much better than I expected. Plus, I thought it was going to be short, but apparently it's not. Funny how the author refers to the first 2 volumes of the manga as a 'prologue'. There was a ton of stuff in that prologue. We still don't know who or what Neene is. (The little girl in the pic.) She's growing up much faster than a human would. She also 'hatched' from an egg Riku found. The egg was surrounded by Kanshu, so she has something to do with them. Kanshu are humans who get infected by some sort of virus that's transmitted through cell signals. (Or, if you're bitten/attacked by one.) It turns them into weird grotesque 'monsters', and they go off on a killing spree. People who knew them before start to forget about them. The Kanshu themselves have forgotten who they were. Riku was forced to kill his childhood friend, Youhei. Before a person gets totally taken over, they have the option of becoming a Jinki user. Jinki users get weird little metal balls implanted into their hands. This prevents the infection from spreading further, and they can use it to awaken what Kanshu they have and turn it into a weapon. They fight the Kanshu that way. But, if the 'ball' is taken from them, they must be exterminated. They'll revert to becoming a full Kanshu otherwise. Riku has joined the Jinki users organization, and his partner is now Rena. Rena was Youhei's partner. There are Jinki hunters, as well. The main one so far is Takao. He's trying to locate the source of the infection. He's a ruthless mass murderer, and kills anyone who gets in his way. He tried to take Neene and Riku, saying that their power will aid in his search for it, and to defeat it. They managed to get away though. It'll be interesting to see what happens next. 

Finished writing the fourth short story to my nightmare anthology. I think I like this even more than my other ones. It's a little bit longer, though. Fun to write. Should be interesting to see how the next one turns out.

Played my clarinet. Did some more klezmer tunes, and some 'advanced' Mozart pieces. Sounded pretty good this time, too. 

2nd Day of Hanukkah!

Mood:

Happy Hanukkah!Hope people had a good Thanksgiving yesterday, too! It was pretty weird and nice to have both on the same day. We went to our friends' place like usual for Thanksgiving. Ended up being 6 people this time. 

We brought some pickled herring, crackers, and dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) as appetizers. And, a salad with the main dinner. Salad had mixed spring greens, cherry tomatoes, dried cranberries, and shredded carrots. They smoked their turkey again. Also, there was homemade cranberry relish (which I don't care for), cranberry sauce from a can (I love this stuff!), stuffing (this time they didn't have a second one without the chestnuts. Had to pick out a couple of them, but it was still good), latkes (potato pancakes. A staple for Hanukkah), homemade applesauce (to go with the latkes), asparagus, sweet potato pie (nasty to me), and another thing I'm probably forgetting. For dessert we had homemade pumpkin pie, homemade brownies, and for the first time in a while store-bought whipped cream. They usually make their own whipped cream for the pie. I don't think their homemade one has much of a taste. It's very bland. So, this was pretty nice. 

We started with lighting the candles for Hanukkah. The hostess had just recently found a dragon menorah. It was pretty cool looking. She decided to give that one to me to light. She used a smaller and more traditional looking one. I couldn't remember the melody for the blessings over it right away.For a lot of holidays, you sing it a little differently than usual. I remembered the one for the second blessing, at least. 

After that, we got to chat for a while, giving time for the host to get things ready. After dinner, we played a round of Trivial Pursuit. I thought, like usual, that I wouldn't get a lot of them. But, this time was different. I was on a roll. A lot of the answers came to me really quickly. My team won!Yay! The hostess had brought out some dreidels to play with for after Trivial Pursuit, but it was too late by the time we finished. I'm hoping to get to it at some point during the holiday. We have raisins I can play it with. Heck, some people use matchsticks. But, I'd like to use something I could eat. Makes it more fun.

Tokyo Bandwagon has been really interesting. They pack a lot of stuff into each episode. And, everyone seems to be connected in some way. Even the 'situations' that are brought up don't seem like they'd be connected until towards the end of each episode. I'm really liking it so far. 

I'm liking Toradora more than I expected. Plus, I like that the voice actress who's the voice of Taiga, is the same one who voices Kagura from Gintama. Gintama is one of my fave anime shows. But, it sounds kind of funny for some reason coming from this character. She acts somewhat similar to Kagura. Anyways...This episode was truly hilarious. They made really good use of facial expressions. Hopefully, it continues or gets even better with its humor.

Finished writing the 3rd short story from my nightmare anthology. This one ends a bit abruptly, but it could be like an endless loop if people read from the beginning again. That's a bit scary in itself.The original nightmare it's based on didn't have that element. Each story has something quite different to it so far. But, I think that's a good thing. Keeps the readers guessing as to what will happen next. Next time I'll start writing the 4th one. Cool that I'm that far into it. Not sure how that one will play out, either. 

Been playing my clarinet. Yesterday was the only day I didn't play. Today, I played some Hanukkah songs. Then, I did some klezmer tunes. Sounded pretty good. As I played the Hanukkah songs, they were playing inside my head. It's weird when this happens.Sometimes, I try to play the way it is in my head, and then I mess up. So, for things like this I have to tell myself to actually look and pay attention to what's written. 

日本語

Studied 3 kanji today. The first one was: 庭. When by itself, it's pronounced as にわ (niwa). When in compounds, it's usually pronounced as てい (tei). It means: garden, courtyard, yard. The second one was: 笛. When by itself, it's pronounced as ふえ (fue). In compounds as: てき (teki). It means: flute, bagpipe, clarinet, piccolo, pipe, recorder, whistle. The third one was: 鉄. When pronounced as くろがね (kurogane): iron. As かね (kane): money (although the most common usage for money is 金, pronounced the same), metal. As てつ (tetsu): iron (Fe); strong and hard (as iron); (abbr) railway; (pref) railway enthusiast. 地下鉄 or ちかてつ (chikatetsu): underground train, subway. 

National Baklava Day!

Mood:

One of my fave desserts! It's so good!This was on Sunday, as well as Homemade Bread Day. Homemade bread is pretty awesome, too. Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It memorializes those who have been brutally murdered just for being trans, or in other words, themselves. Many remember people who have committed suicide as well. I heard a good explanation from someone recently saying society murdered the ones who committed suicide.

Finished watching Kakushou today. It was pretty good. Not the best, but good. Had a pretty good ending, too. Left it wide open for a second season, which is nice. 

Finished reading Tripeace today. I can't believe I finished it already!It's a really good manga. And, the last 'showdown' was awesome. It'd be cool if they made this into an anime, along with O-Parts Hunter (aka 666 Satan), En Passant, and Buster Keel. (Supposedly Buster Keel's still on-going, but they haven't updated in a long time.) All of them are awesome. I think they could have kept Tripeace going for a while, even though they resolved pretty much everything having to do with Nana, the main character. They even revealed Shiro's past. But, we still don't know much about the other members of Tripeace...

I started watching Tokyo Bandwagon last Friday. It's much better than I thought it would be. I think it's an instant fave.Has a lot of my favorite actors. It's set within a secondhand bookstore named Tokyo Bandwagon, located in a suburb of Tokyo. The bookstore has a small cafe, and the exterior of the building is old. There's a large family that has lived there for the past 4 generations. (They also treat their 2 cats as family.) The family loves to solve their customers' problems, and have quite a few of their own to solve. Ao Hotta, the main character, is a 26-year-old freelance travel agency guide. Sometimes Ao's grandmother narrates. She's a ghost who watches over the family. All the characters have their own quirks. Apparently, this is based off a novel of the same name. 

Started watching Hard Nut last Saturday. I really like this one already, too. Kurumi Nanba is a student majoring in math at a prestigious university. She's viewed as a bit of an eccentric person due to her poor communication skills, but has a genius level intellect. Tatsuhiko Handa is a detective. They work together to solve difficult cases. She reminds me a bit of the main character in 'Weather Girl' or Otenki Onee-san, but with a lot more personality. And, she's much more logical. 

Started Rurouni Kenshin or Wandering Kenshin. Also known as Samurai X and Wandering Samurai. This is one of the 'classics' of anime. It's right up there with Ranma 1/2, which I hope to watch in the future. (Ranma 1/2 is an older anime.) I think I started watching a couple of episodes in my college anime club, but stopped after that. It's a good show, though. Himura Kenshin is a vagabond with a dark past and sunny disposition. Not a ronin, but a rurouni, he was never a samurai, but a highly skilled assassin in the Meiji restoration who in the turning point of the war simply walked away. His travels lead him to Tokyo in the 11th year of the Meiji era, where he befriends a female kendo master, a former thief, a brawler, and a doctor all with their own secrets. Together they fight off the enemies from Kenshin's dark past that he can't escape from. The manga started in 1994 and finished in 1999, the anime started in 1996 and ended in 1998, there was a novel later, and there's been several movies. A live-action movie was recently put out. It looked interesting. The only thing that throws me off a bit is Kenshin's voice. He has a female voice actress. Sometimes it sounds fine, but other times it doesn't quite fit.Just takes some getting used to, I think. He makes some interesting startled sounds too. Oh, and he uses a reverse blade, mostly knocking out his opponents instead of slashing them down. He can kill people with it if he uses enough force, and fights in a certain way. 

Started watching Toradora (also called Tiger x Dragon) last Friday. It's been interesting so far. Can't quite tell if I really like it or not.Despite Ryuji Takasu's gentle personality, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent. For his second year of high school, the class he's been rearranged into put him together with his best friend, Yusaku Kitamura, and his hidden crush, Minori Kushieda. Along with these 2 comes Kushieda's best friend, Taiga Aisaka. Her delicate appearance contrasts with her brutal personality. Secretly in love with Kitamura, Taiga agrees to help Ryuji with his love interest as long as he helps her get closer to hers. I can already tell that Taiga and Ryuji will get together. Apparently, she's nicknamed as the tiger and he's nicknamed as the dragon. 

I've apparently lost another pant size. That's 4 pant sizes from my heaviest weight. Pretty good, I think.I feel much lighter and more 'awake'. Even my watch is really loose. It doesn't stretch, unlike my previous watches that had leather bands. This one is metal. I'm up to 85 sit-ups twice a day for the week. I'm surprised I can do that...I'm still hoping to start doing my 2-mile walks twice a day. I think I can start that off as a habit tomorrow. I've been off and on with my walks for a while. Feels weird when I don't do them. Decided to get up even earlier this week. It feels nice, oddly. Feel like I have more of a day. I just have to remember to still go to bed early. 

Got some new cute gloves recently. They're like a mitten and fingerless glove hybrid. I think that's very useful. They have an owl design with little pompoms on top as its ears. Other people like them, too. Only wish the top mitten part was a bit thicker to keep my fingertips warmer. It's gotten really cold lately. Well, cold considering what we normally get. Some places have dipped into the high 20s. 

Dad and I have been invited to an orthodox family's place for shabbat dinner. I'm a little nervous about it, but it was very nice of them. Dad had worked with their kid, and on the same day they invited us. Apparently, their kid's name is the same as my middle name. We think it might have influenced it a little. I think it's pretty awesome that it's the same. I love my middle name.Some people have a hard time saying it, because it's really in Hebrew but transliterated into English. English doesn't have the same guttural sound. 

Also, for Thanksgiving we're going to the same place we usually go, at a friend's place. We're bringing someone with us. She's originally from Ireland, but has been living in London. She's visiting the area to research for her novel that she's writing for National Novel Writing Month. The book will be based on stories influenced by the area. Pretty cool. It's also going to be Hanukkah and I'm not sure if our friends are going to do anything for it in addition. They're Jewish, too. Should be interesting, anyways.

The 3rd short story for my nightmare anthology is getting really interesting. I'm far passed the point my dream ended on this one. Not sure where it's going. 

I've also been playing my clarinet everyday this week. I'm hoping to continue that, even practicing during the weekend. In fact, for a longer time during the weekends. I'm sounding much better, and it feels really nice again. I've also been more aware of how I play pieces. Still getting faves on dA for the pic I recently posted. Didn't think it was that great...

Studied 2 more kanji today. One is a very common one. That has a bunch of compounds, but it's starting to make a lot of sense now. I plan to go over more grammar stuff during the weekends, too. I tend to grasp it, forget a little, grasp it again, etc. I want to break that. I'm still pretty good in general with it, but I want to get everything down pat. There's a lot to it. Also, want to focus more on verb forms. Plus, actually practicing more sentences.

deviantART fave:
Bred-n-bu-er I did not make this! This is a hilarious drawing of slices of bread eating a stick of butter. They have very expressive faces. Kind of sad, yet so funny. I love the cute/funny and dark stuff. Discovered this actually through dA's facebook page.