National Tortellini Day!

This holiday was yesterday. I love tortellini! They're like pillows of awesomeness! They go with a lot of things, too. It was also World Radio Day yesterday. I hardly ever listen to the radio now. I used to listen to it a lot. It's been that way since I started listening to things like Pandora, last.fm, Apple Music, etc. It's sad, in a way. I think radio as most people know it, is dying out. 

It's Valentine's Day. To me, it's a problematic holiday for many reasons. One of the most obvious is because I'm aro ace. This holiday promotes romantic and implies sexual love. Pushing amatonormativity everywhere. I don't have either of those. It's like rubbing it in my face every time I go out. I do experience a very strong platonic love, so celebrating that would be great. Still advertisers would like to promote a certain type of love. So, as much as I would like it to be for all types of love, it's not played up as such. Many aro aces do have it as a day to treat yourself or be with friends. It still feels weird. Many aro aces have vented about Valentine's Day in the aro ace group I'm in on fb. There were no posts for a while until now. So, it's difficult.

Another reason is my ex-boyfriend dumped me on that day. It was over the phone, I was still recovering from being hospitalized, and he was on the other side of the state. Probably one of the worst times and ways to do it. This was a long time ago. He had made such a big deal out of the holiday before, his friends told me he was thinking of proposing, we were together for 2 and a half years, and it seemed to come out of no where. Some aro aces apparently feel good after breakups, but it hit me hard. I was very platonically and emotionally attached to him. So, every Valentine's Day is like a reminder...

It's also technically a Christian holiday. It is, after all, named after a saint. While it's been heavily commercialized, it still has this other meaning to it. This has always been a bit unsettling to me. I'm not Christian, I'm Jewish. In Judaism, we do have a minor holiday celebrating love called Tu B'Av. It's a bit different, though. 

I do like the candy and chocolates. Especially, when they go on sale the next day. I don't really like flowers. I think roses are cool looking, but wouldn't want to have them as a present. Flowers don't last long, and make a mess. I've always felt that way about them. If people need a romantic symbol, I would think a flower is weak. It would seem the relationship or the way they felt about each other is fleeting and messy. That doesn't sound good. Candy and chocolate nourish people and tastes good. That's better symbolism, I think.

I'm up to 89 pages in total with writing both Alliance 3 and the cookbook. That's quite a bit in a month. I also skipped a few days. I'm up to the meat section in the cookbook, and it's making me even more hungry every time I go through it. I've noticed there are quite a few recipes from friends of her family and family members in this one. (A couple of the names aren't familiar to me.) Those have been interesting. Often, the recipes aren't with exact measurements for those. Instead it's things like a dash of this, a layer of that, half a jar of this (not saying how many oz are in that jar of something...), etc. This has also seemed like an interesting time capsule. A lot of the recipes are from the late 70's and early 80's. One in this section was from 1969, and it was obviously typed up on a typewriter. Even if people aren't interested in using such old recipes, it's interesting to see what was considered 'good' back then. There were a lot of Bisquik recipes from 1977. That's really old. They luckily listed the oz in the cans of stuff from back then, and how many grams of other things. That way it can be easier to figure out even if sizes of stuff have changed over the years. The mixes and other stuff might have changed a bit too, though. I guess people could look that up as well. I'm even interested in making some from this section.

In 2 days, the preorder period will end for both ebook versions of Alliance: Dawn and More Than Meets the Eye (my memoir). I won't know how they did until then. I think people would be more interested in the ebooks first, since it's cheaper. I pretty much get the same amount in royalties either way. I'm nervous about it. Once the preorder period is over for both, I'll add links to the side of this blog to them. Just like I did for the first 2 books. That way people can always check them out. This blog might get a little more messy looking. I think I remember seeing that I can add another page. So, maybe I'll do that in the future, and post some of this stuff from the sides on there.

AVENues did do a piece on my memoir, and that issue, called Aces in the Media, was put out a couple of weeks ago. They interviewed me, which was more like a form full of questions to fill out. They also added the excerpt I gave them. I'm not sure if it was a good one, but it was on how I felt in a romantic relationship, if I remember correctly. I thought it'd be best to use something from the aro ace chapter, even though I do refer to being aro ace throughout. They also asked if they could use my cover art in it, and I agreed. I'm new to that sort of thing. Hopefully, my part was done ok. I still haven't had the nerve to look at it yet. The next issue is on aces with mental illnesses. Interesting, since I also have mental illnesses...They want aces like me to tell their stories before their deadline. I'm wondering if I should? It's like lately they're putting out issues that relate more to me than usual. Obviously, besides the ace part.

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but I started a few playlists on Apple Music based on my books. One's for the Alliance series, another for Sweet Endless Terror, and the last one for the memoir. The easiest one has been Sweet Endless Terror. Basically, looking at any horror or suspenseful music for that. Might look at each story's theme in the future, too. (Space, hearts, classical for going back to a certain time, obsession/stalkers, etc.) Alliance hasn't been as easy. Although, there are a lot of themes in that one. Like, fantasy, slight horror, what it means to be human, demons, specific demons (medusa, phoenix, dragon, etc.) in it, peace, hate, hardship, and so much more. I think the problem with that one is there are so many different themes to look at. I haven't really touched the memoir one much. I might add music that was popular throughout my life. Maybe themes based on the chapters? All this sounds fun, and I haven't looked that often into any of them. It's kind of to connect more with my writing. It'd be interesting if I created a playlist for the cookbook, too. Wonder what would go in there? I guess there are food related songs, but not many. Maybe songs from the 70's and 80's? Fun stuff. 

Still learning German. Some of it has been frustrating, but most of the time it has been fun. They say things in odd ways. A lot of it has reminded me of Yiddish, and I'm glad I know some of that. I know that Yiddish is a mix of German, Hebrew, and a little Russian; but I can actually see where some of the words come from. I just got through the travel section in Duolingo. That one was 6 sections long, which is one of the longest ones. I think next is either another one on the body or numbers. Should be interesting.

Youtube:

I wanted to see if there were any amv's with anime I saw a while ago, and if there were any of my fave manga based music videos or mmv's. Even though I like a lot of the newer anime stuff, these were something different to watch. The manga ones give off an interesting effect. It was kind of cool to see how many I found. 

Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) manga:

Akaya Akashiya Ayakashi no (Of Red, Of Light, and Of Ayakashi) manga:

Tripeace manga:

xxxHolic:

Tsubasa (Wings) Chronicle: 

Shiki:

Gintama:

Boku no (My) Hero Academia:

National Almond Day!

Mood:

Yay for almonds!They're not my fave, but they're pretty good. (My fave nuts are walnuts and pecans.) Great for cooking with, too. Almonds are very nutritious. They originated from the Middle East and South Asia. Yesterday was National Gumdrop Day. I love gumdrops! 

Last night I kind of had my own little Valentine's Day celebration. Tried a garlic bread pizza for dinner, and had some Valentine's Day chocolate truffles for dessert. They were so amazing!Never tried the combo of garlic bread and pizza put together. It was like heaven! The truffles were on sale, since it was the day after. They were so good too! Still have more of them left. After that, I messed around a bit with playing games online and doing quizzes/polls on fanpop. It was fun.

By the way, I recently joined fanpop, and I could probably get sucked into it for days. It's nuts. I have so many things that I'm a fan of, so there are lots of things I can do on that site. I had heard about/glanced at it before, but never joined. They also have pics, wallpapers, forums, articles, questions people need help with, and more with each 'club' or thing that you're a fan of. You can earn props, medals, and bottle caps as you go. 

This morning, we went to Starbucks for brunch. I don't usually go there for a meal. Got their mozzarella, basil, tomato, and pesto on a focaccia bun panini. Had a small vanilla frappuccino, and a banana with it. It was all very good.The drink was like having ice cream, and took forever to melt enough to really drink.I try to have new flavors of their frappuccinos when I can. I really like their salted caramel, white chocolate and strawberries, and chocolate chip ones. Their specials this month are flan related. I hate flan, so I couldn't try the new stuff. Oh well.I got a chance to really get into the book I'm currently reading as well. There were some pretty funny stories this time. Hope there are more of those.

Today, I went through all of my bathroom stuff. It was quite a project.Found some things that were from when I was a baby. Like, the ear syringe my parents used on me back then. No one wants that now.Also, there were a ton of lotions, bath gels, shampoos that I didn't like, soaps I wasn't fond of, hair gels I used while at the end of elementary school until the end of junior high (maybe longer...not sure), conditioners, and more. It was crazy. I did find some really old bath salts that didn't seem to have been opened, so I might still be able to use them. Also found a portable shower head. I think we used it on the cats for their baths. (We don't bathe our current cats, since they're still pretty good at cleaning themselves.) So, I rediscovered several things I had forgotten about.But, I also tossed out most of the stuff I had in there. It just was cluttering up the whole thing. Now, the cabinets in there look pretty bare, which I haven't seen in ages...

Strange Games

Mood:

This is Fai's theme from Tsubasa Chronicle. (Sometimes written out in English as Fye or Fay. Fye would make more sense for the English. But, Fai is the original romaji.) It's one of my faves from the soundtrack. The music to Tsubasa Chronicle is amazing.A lot of the tracks sound like they're for an epic story, and/or have some Middle Eastern and Indian influence to them. (It is pretty epic. They go off on a journey through many different parallel worlds. Cultures are different, too.) Many people have praised the series for its music. This fits Fai so well. 

Hope people are having a great Valentine's Day. Again, I'm very mixed about it, so I haven't done anything 'special' for it.Might have some Valentine's chocolates and have a nice dinner by myself tomorrow. Not sure if I might get chocolates tonight or tomorrow...That's basically all that I'll be doing for it. Might do my nails, I don't know.

It's also Purim Katan, or Little Purim. A very minor holiday. In leap years, when there are 2 months of Adar, Purim itself is celebrated in the 2nd month of Adar, so it is always one month before Pesach or Passover. The 14th day of the first month of Adar is Purim Katan. There aren't any specific observances for it. However, people are urged to celebrate the holiday, and should not mourn or fast. It's so minor, I don't hear much about it. 

Purim (the regular one) is a much bigger holiday. Purim literally means 'lots'. Haman, the villain behind the story, casts lots to choose the date he'd issue the order to massacre the Jews in the kingdom. It's supposed to be one of the most joyous and fun holidays.We dress up, eat candy, listen to the story (there's something for the audience to do for every name that's mentioned in the story. For instance, they say boo/stomp/use groggers or noisemakers when Haman's mentioned), the adults are told to drink enough so they can't tell the difference between Mordecai (the hero) and Haman (the villain), eat special cookies that are made to look like Haman's ears or hat, and some congregations have carnival-like games to play too. This year one of the congregations is doing an 'Anatevka' themed one. Basically, dress like people from Fiddler on the Roof, or people from similar places. The other congregation's having it after a bat mitzvah at an art museum. They said specifically to dress up as real people. It seems more 'strict' and not as fun. I don't know which one I'd go to, if I were to go...The Anatevka one sounds more interesting. They're even having traditional food from that area, readers will be reading in that accent, and more. I also don't know who I'd dress up as. They said you could just be a peasant or something.

In Atami no Sousakan, the mayor's daughter put herself in danger by investigating the ceramic club. Apparently, it's a teen prostitution ring. The girl's go there to make ceramics, guys come in and watch them at work. Whoever they like the most is called on and taken to a back room with the guy. The woman who runs it knows her, and was very suspicious when she said she just wanted to make some pottery. She hid a camera in a purse, and made a live feed for Hoshizaki. He scolded and thanked (since they have some evidence now) her later about the whole thing. But, before that she was stopped by the yakuza boss her dad works with. They threatened her until she said she really just wants to blackmail him. They wanted in on it. She's really just a girl who wants to be noticed and be taken seriously. So, she does dangerous stuff, can seem very selfish, and kind of bitchy. The only thing they were able to gather from the cassette tape was a strange sound. Hoshizaki thinks data was stored on it somehow. The teacher may be behind the girls' disappearance. She also has been in a relationship with one of the only 2 guys in the class. He was the one that modeled naked for the girls in their sketch class before they disappeared. This is getting more and more interesting.

In Ranma, things were a bit awkward. Ranma kept having nightmares about Kuno. Akane's sister, Nabiki, decided to take pics of Ranma in female form. Then, took some of Akane. Kuno asked to see her, and told her to give a doll to the pig-tailed girl he fell for the other day. (That's what he calls her.) That's when Nabiki told him that she has pics of Ranma. She wouldn't let him have them for free, though. (She loves money, and can become very manipulative in order to get more.) She said he can get them if he buys her food at various restaurants that day, and that each one has a price on top of that. He took her everywhere she wanted to go, and paid for them all. Later, she told him that she had pics of Akane. He paid for them all, as well. It was kind of creepy. Later, Ranma and Nabiki try to explain Ranma's situation to him. He misunderstood, fought Ranma, and Akane joined in after she found out about the pics. It's kind of sad that even after showing him, he still doesn't get it. He thinks Ranma is oppressing her or something.

In World Embryo, they revealed the backstory behind Amane. She had been mentioned throughout the whole thing by Riku, and was very important to him. I'm surprised it took them so long to reveal her story. It was kind of sad and a bit long. But, in a nutshell, she basically was his stepsister who died at a hospital. Her death had something to do with the Kanshu that attacked it. (Riku still doesn't know, at this point, what that something was.) She appeared before him almost as a ghost before she faded away. They never found the body, just a lot of blood with DNA that could be linked to her. Riku had fallen in love with her. Odd, because her sister married his father. So, Amane would be both his stepsister and aunt. She's not related by blood, though. Still a bit creepy. Neene has an uncanny resemblance to her. So, he is especially protective of her. Oh, and Neene had another growth spurt. She's growing super fast. Soon, she'll probably look, act, and think like someone Riku's age. He thinks if he can raise her until she's fully 'matured', Amane might come back through her. It just gets creepier...But, interesting. 

Wrote more of the 6th short story to my nightmare anthology. Played my clarinet. Did some more tunes from my general solo book, Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and some of the general classical solo tunes. Was pretty good this time. I apparently only had one 'new' reed left. Looked at it, and it had a huge crack going down a side. So, I stuck with my old one for now. Hopefully I can get more soon. 

日本語

Studied more compounds for 筆, and the kanji 氷. 筆記 or ひっき (hikki): (taking) notes, copying. 執筆 or しっぴつ (shippitsu): writing (e.g. as a profession). 筆順 or ひつじゅん (hitsujun): stroke order. 氷 pronounced as こおり (koori): ice. Pronounced as ひ (hi): hail. As 氷る or こお.る (koo.ru): to freeze, be frozen over, congeal. It's sometimes pronounced as ひょう (hyou) in compounds. 氷山 or ひょうざん (hyouzan): iceberg. 氷雨 or ひさめ (hisame): hail, ice storm. 氷雪 or ひょうせつ (hyousetsu): ice and snow. 氷海 or ひょうかい (hyoukai): frozen sea, icy waters. 氷点 or ひょうてん (hyouten): freezing point. 

Bloody Prince

Mood:

This is another one of Bel's character songs from Hitman Reborn. I think out of all the character songs I've heard from the series, I like this one the most. It shows how sadistic he can be. The video I found of it is a bit odd, but I like that it has the lyrics in both romaji and English. 

I felt really horrible last night.Felt worse when I woke up. Decided to sleep in, thinking it'll help a bit. I think it did, but I slept in later than I expected...When I got out of bed, I felt very lightheaded, had a massive headache, and was lethargic. Almost like I was anemic. (I would know what that feels like since I basically hemorrhaged out for 8 months a while back.) Felt a bit better after having brunch, but I still feel a bit lethargic. (The headache comes and goes, too.) Maybe my 'friend' is coming...Or, I'm not taking in enough iron. Either way, it's kind of a pain.

The Olympics have been interesting. The opening ceremony was a bit bizarre. Some of it looked really cool, while other parts made me think they were high halfway through or something.Interesting way that they showed their history. They edited a lot out...Kind of important stuff too. But, I guess like they said, it's just their oversimplified take on it. They do have a complicated history. Putin kind of scares me. Seeing him at the opening ceremony, and again during one of the women's figure skating programs was odd. Even ignoring the stance he takes on LGBT rights, he looks creepy.I've already heard some pretty crazy stories about their hotels, as well. One of the craziest, to me, is the water. They even told their customers to not wash their face with it. What happens when someone takes a shower with that water? If you can't, how do you stay clean?Also, heard about all the stray cats and dogs they're killing. It all sounds insane. Some of the stories I'm not sure if I should believe, or people are making it sound worse than it is. People are told to not use the internet, because they will most likely be hacked right away. Even the way some of the courses were setup is too dangerous. But, so far most of the actual events I've seen have been great to watch. 

I also read that Sochi is taking this opportunity to appeal to their Jewish visitors/athletes. They've setup 6 Jewish info centers, brought 12 more rabbis in (they already have one), they have a Jewish Community Center (JCC), they've asked all the hotels in Sochi to serve kosher food, everything including individual services are available in 6 different languages (English, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, French, and German), and they have a synagogue but will also have services at 2 hotels. Even their JCC has a slogan saying 'welcome home'. Jews are slowly returning to Russia, but this seems like they are almost desperate to get more. It's very interesting, though. 

Valentine's Day is coming up. I have very mixed opinions about it.I love the candy, chocolates, and the idea of celebrating love. But, having been dumped on that day, and being single puts a huge damper on it. (I've actually been ok with being single. Sometimes it's actually nice, but it's the seeing lots of couples get lovey-dovey on that day that gets to me.) Some people have called that day Anti-Valentine's Day. But, I think that's kind of spiteful and mean.Maybe for me it should be called Chocolate and Love Day? The love part doesn't have to be romantic. (And, we should probably show our love everyday, anyways.) Even the full name of the actual holiday has always bugged me a bit. St. Valentine's Day. It has Christian roots, and I'm not Christian.I get that its been so diluted now that it's basically a commercial holiday, but it still can be slightly unsettling to me. A lot of Jews apparently feel similar. (Just read an article recently on it.) Not sure about people from other religions...

I finally got to watch the finale of Monsters on Sunday. They didn't post the finale for so long, I kind of gave up on it. I was looking through the new site I'm using, and they had it. Apparently, it took a while for them to upload the finale, as well. Several months after it initially aired. I loved this series so much, so when I saw that it was up, I had to watch it.I figured out who the killer was almost at the beginning of the episode, which was long before they had an inkling of who it was. But, I like the process they go through to get to the truth. It's rather entertaining. Especially to see how both the main characters act towards each other and the people they investigate. It seemed like, evidence-wise, it was a difficult case. It's one thing to know who did it, it's another to actually have the proof to back it up. It ended with Hiratsuka leaving a letter for Saionji to find. Saionji recently had a nightmare where Hiratsuka left a letter saying he'll never come back. There were cobwebs all over the storage room Hiratsuka uses as an office. In this actual letter, he said he left to investigate a 'personal' case, and will eventually come back. If they make a sequel to this, we might actually find out what he personally wanted to investigate. I kind of doubt they will, but it'd be nice. 

Watched the second season's finale of Toshi Densetsu no Onna or Urban Legends Woman, yesterday. It wasn't as great an ending as I had hoped. They treated it like it was just another case. A not all that exciting one. At the end of the episode she left to find proof of an urban legend in China, with the CIA. She still has many connections with the US. They left it so open, and with a 'business as usual' attitude, that it could easily have a 3rd season. We still don't know who she occasionally talks to. She has his mascot doll, he calls her (she never calls him, she doesn't know his number), apparently he's constantly watching her, gives her gifts, and she's talked about him like he's her boyfriend or something. And, yet she's never met him. They barely touched on it this season. The very last part of the episode was him calling her saying that he's surprised that she's still working with the Americans. He seemed kind of angry. But, that wasn't really a good enough cliffhanger for me. I don't know...

I've been writing more of the 6th short story to my nightmare anthology. Also, besides today, have been playing my clarinet. Did a lot of klezmer tunes, some classical solo tunes, and tunes from another solo book. Sounded pretty good. Did the 'tired' section of the expression exaggeration meme. Junko looked kind of cute. Next is the optional/difficult half, which starts with a 'worried' section. I don't really know why they called it the difficult half of it. Well, at least now I'm halfway through. Junko's cat ears seem to change in size as I go. Kind of funny.

日本語

Yesterday, I continued to study compounds for 美, and started studying the kanji 鼻. The main meaning for 美 is beautiful. (美 is surprisingly fun to write. At least, it is for me.) 美術 or びじゅつ (bijutsu): art, fine arts. 美女 or びじょ (bijo): beautiful woman. 美人 or びじん (bijin): beautiful person (woman), beauty. 美声 or びせい (bisei): beautiful voice. 美談 or びだん (bidan): moving tale, impressive tale. 美点 or びてん (biten): virtue, charm, merit, good point. 美徳 or びとく (bitoku): virtue. 美男 or びなん (binan): handsome man. 美容 or びよう (biyou): beauty of figure or form. 美貌 or びぼう (bibou): beautiful face, good looks, beauty. 鼻 means nose or snout. By itself, it's pronounced as はな (hana), and in some compounds it's pronounced as び (bi). I'll start studying its compounds next time. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mood:

Happy Valentine's Day!I have somewhat mixed feelings about the holiday.I was dumped over the phone on this day several years ago. But, I love the candy/chocolates, sentiment, flowers, etc. Even doing stuff with family and friends can be fun.I also feel people should surprise each other with their love more than once a year. There's also a similar holiday in Judaism. But, it's not nearly as commercialized. Some Jews don't even know about that one, since it's so minor. Anyways, hope it's a good one regardless.Dad and I got a huge heart full of truffles to share, since neither of us has a significant other to really share it or get something from them. Tasty stuff.

Been feeling pretty bad the last couple of days.Worn down, cheeks all red and burning, sleeping in a bit, and other stuff. Almost sounds like I'm coming down with something...I hope not!They told me to be especially careful just after getting my flu shot for 2 weeks. It'll be 2 weeks tomorrow. They said it wouldn't be fully effective if I got sick before then. Yay!Had a weird and scary dream about mom, which also set the mood for yesterday. Dad had a really horrible day yesterday, too. (Much worse than mine.) Someone might have stolen her jacket, and the jacket had her keys. So, she couldn't drive back from the ferry dock. Had to catch the bus. She took my copies of the car keys, and hopefully things are better today. I'm oddly feeling much better today. Hopefully that keeps up.

Watched Ouran High School Host Club. I'll give more of a description of it next time. It's eerily similar to the anime. It's weird to see them try to do the same stuff in a drama.But, I'm getting used to it more, and it's kind of fun now. 

Naruto Shippuden is getting really exciting. Naruto joined Gaara and the tsuchikage in the midst of battle. He has a ton of new moves. Which makes it more fun to watch. I love how the reanimated shinobi are basically screaming at the Allied Shinobi Forces to seal them up. Most don't want to fight, but are forced to because of the jutsu they're under.

In the manga, Hitman Reborn, I just read the part where they introduced Dino. Basically the same way as in the anime. The ending extra comic they have sometimes, was a bit more risque. Well, in the sense of what they referred to. Kind of funny. Not sure why they didn't put it in the anime, it would have been a much more hilarious end to that 'episode'. Maybe it was too much for TV or something...

Still brainstorming a place name for my story. (Might be close to figuring it out. We'll see.) Played my clarinet. I'm doing that once over thing I told myself that I'd do before. Since I feel I've 'perfected' all of the tunes in my klezmer book enough, I'm doing a once over for everything in the book. Just to see how much I really have improved. So far, it's been really great seeing the difference to how I used to play. After I go through this book, the next one is Mozart. Those should be fun to go over. It's an 'advanced' book, so it might take me a while, too.

Also, made an appointment to see my psychiatrist. I want to ask her if losing so much weight influences what meds I'm taking. Because sometimes I feel slightly 'off'. Not enough to really worry about, but it'd be nice to know why. Or, if it's just stress or something. Made another appointment to see my primary care doctor. Haven't had a routine physical in a long time, and I want to discuss how to go about replacing my IUD. So, lots of things to ask/discuss with these people.

日本語

The kanji I went over today is: 根. When pronounced as こん (kon) it means: stick-to-itiveness, perseverance, persistence; (math) root. As ね (ne) it's: root (of a plant); root (of a tooth, hair, etc.), center (of a pimple, etc.); root (of all evil), source, origin, cause, basis; one's true nature. Kind of seems like they use their word for root similarly as we do in English. Very interesting.

I'm thinking of making a blog where everything's in Japanese. It'll probably have short posts, but will give me practice. Like that person suggested on a forum for self-study. Might look for more Japanese penpals, as well. Ones who are more willing to correspond through email instead of through letters. Email is much quicker. Or even, through instant messaging. 

Purim is coming up. The story of Esther is told, there's candy, you get to make lots of noise, get to dress up, adults get to drink a lot (so much they can't tell the difference between Haman the vilian, and Mordechai who's one of the heros), etc. Many try to compare it to Halloween. (With only the candy and dressing up in common.) It's a really fun holiday. Anyways, one of the holiday-related sweets is Hamantaschen. They're little triangular cookies with a myriad of different fillings. Really the sky's the limit with what types of fillings you can use. Some say they resemble Haman's hat, another one that it's his ears. Either way, they're tasty cookies! I was thinking about making some this year. I did it one or two other times, and it was fun. Usually I like the chocolate, apricot jam, and strawberry jam ones. But, I've seen some other ideas for them on some Jewish sites I'm signed up with. Might do a filling I've never tried with them. Also, thinking about making a cauliflower curry that I found on one of those sites. It sounded so good. I'll see if I can find it again...

National Almond Day

Mood:


Almonds are good. Just not my favorite nut.(I love walnuts and pecans.) Nice it has its own day, though. They're very healthy. Apparently the almond tree is native to the Middle East and South Asia. But, today, California produces 80% of the world's supply of almonds. Interesting.


Wow! It's been a while since I've posted...Suddenly became a bit hectic for a while there. I'll try to get back to posting more often.


We celebrated Tu B'Shevat (or literally '15th of Shevat') last week. It's our New Year's for the Trees. Had 2 people over for the seder part. One came over for dinner before we started with things. It was all really nice again.Always more fun with guests, too. We still have leftover fruits and nuts. You're supposed to eat at least 15 different types of fruit. At least one of them should be something you either haven't had in a long time, or something new. You're supposed to have 4 glasses of wine (or in our case grape juice), for each season ranging from dark red, red with a little white, white with a touch of red, and white. Each fruit/nut group signifies something as well. One of my favorite holidays.


Didn't do much for Valentine's Day. I have very mixed feelings for that holiday, so to me it's good I didn't do much for it.Parents went to a fancy restaurant during the weekend before. So, that's nice. Mom got me some Ferrero Rocher. I haven't had that in years. I kind of forgot what it was like. Soooo good!


I've managed to practice almost everyday this past week. Couldn't practice the full hour that I wanted to yesterday, because I had my weird shoulder pain come back. That's ok, got about 45 minutes done by then, so it's not too bad. I'm sounding much better than before. Feels good.


I've realized my shoulder pain might just be a nasty cramp around my left shoulder blade. It feels pretty similar to what you might get in your leg, only slightly more painful.When it's 'worked out', I feel the throbbing numbness I get after my regular cramps as well. Hopefully, it'll stop happening soon. Went a few days before without it happening, so maybe that's a sign?

Watched the movie, Paradise Kiss. It was surprisingly good. It's based on the anime, which is based off of the manga. Yukari is a high school student who's tired of constantly studying. She comes across a group of fashion designers in need of a model for their Paradise Kiss clothing label. (She was scouted by one of the members, and basically forced to become their model.) She's put off by the group's eccentric ways, and doesn't know much about the fashion world. But, soon she starts to admire the way they think and work together. I glimpsed at the art in the manga/anime, and it's not my style. But, the story's great. The way it was done in the movie was really good. Great actors, and music too.

Started watching 11 Nin mo Iru, or Odd Family 11. It's pretty funny. Minoru's a cameraman with little skills in his profession. His wife, Megumi, runs a cafe, but there haven't been any customers for a while. They have 8 children. Kazuo's the eldest, and believes he should sacrifice his own personal interests for the greater good of the family. He takes up a bunch of part-time jobs in order to help his family. The youngest son, Saiko, starts seeing a ghost. She's Minoru's previous wife, by the same name, Megumi. She had 7 of the kids before she died. (I think?) She was jealous of his current wife at first, but after hearing how they met, she changed her attitude. Weird how the only kid who can see her is not her son.

Also started watching Attention Please. I thought it'd be really lame, but it's actually pretty good. There's a couple of actors I like that are in this. So, that's a plus. Yoko's a headstrong tomboyish girl who loves rock and roll, but hates dishonesty and has never worn high heels before. A chance comment by one of her friends causes her to aim for the job of a cabin attendant on an airline, which is completely out of character. Although she also feels that the work's not up her alley, she prepares for the exam with vigor, and miraculously passes the test. She thought she was immediately a cabin attendant after that, but she still has some harsh training to go through. 


I've been watching an episode of Fairy Tail every day for the last week or so. Trying to catch up to the current episodes. I'm getting pretty close.I wasn't that far behind, but I thought it'd be nice if I was up to date. Finished a pretty awesome, yet long, arc. Now Gajeel has his own 'cat' or Exceed (Panther Lilly). Carla has the ability to predict the future. (She thought it was just 'planted' memories from Edolas.) Her mother's the queen of the Exceeds, but she didn't feel that she could tell her right away. Happy met his parents, and I think he somehow knows it without them saying anything. The Exceeds went back to Fairy Tail along with the others. And, they're now living next to the guild. They just started another 'arc', this time on the S-class exam. 8 pre-selected participants go up against the current S-class mages. So, they have to defeat at least Erza and Gildarts, the 2 strongest mages in Fairy Tail.They each get to choose a partner that wasn't selected. Natsu's going with Happy (big surprise there...), Levy's with Gajeel, Mest chose Wendy (that's more of a surprise), Juvia's with Lisanna (I'm surprised she was selected, although she's pretty cool), Cana's with Lucy, Gray's with Loke (weird since Loke's a 'spirit'), and there's a couple others. 

Started reading Kuzumoto san Chi no Yonkyoudai, or the Four Kuzumoto Siblings. It's really good so far. It's funny, has a lot of action, cool skills, interesting story, etc. What more could you want?The Kuzumoto family consists of 4 brothers with supernatural powers. They're selected to be the 'Supernatural Management Team', a grouped tasked with preventing any abuses of supernatural power that would cause a disturbance to the ordinary people of the town, or allow the discovery of people with supernatural powers. The story centers on the main character 14-year old Sora (the 2nd oldest), and how he and his brothers work to protect the peace in their town. Sora, by the way means 'sky', and they play with that a bit. He uses air. They call him an airhead as well. The youngest is 7 (who doesn't talk much), then there's a 13-year old, and the eldest is 23. I like their personalities.


Worked a lot on editing the heritage meme in photoshop. Got Mom's side (with their mochi) pretty much done. About a couple more left of Dad's, then I work on the America mochi, and myself. Then, I put it in the meme itself. Yay!Feels like I'm almost done with it. Took me long enough... 


Also, working on drawing my dragon inspired by Chinese dragons. It's looking cooler the more I work on it. The head looks a bit dog-like, though. And, it looks almost water-based, since it has webbed feet and long fin-like things coming off its body. I'm just going with the flow, and seeing how it looks. I guess it'll be more original and interesting this way.


Managed to get a little writing done for chapter 15. Right now, I'm trying to figure out a name for the local park in the story. I'm trying to come up with it the same way I came up with the name for the restaurant. Where I take a word like 'nature', and look it up in different languages. Then, I try to combine them in various ways. It comes up with some cool sounding names, and it's kind of random. (That's why I like doing it this way.) I've got about 4 good sounding names for it. Hard to narrow them down. I also had another burst of ideas for the story. They usually come at night, while I'm trying to sleep. That's why I leave a notebook next to my bed. Helps me so much!I'm having fun drawing Fray's face, too. He seems to be the 'easiest' one to draw. My idea of him is so clear.Weird how some of them are like that. I have to think about those others more often, then. 

Started reading Hamster, yesterday. It's so funny, yet cute. It's about hilarious observations and stories about the author and his hamsters. Doesn't feel like the typical manga.


Found out that the person we invited to dinner before we did the seder for Tu B'Shevat, went to the same high school and is just a year older than me! I knew she looked familiar! She's the barista at the cafe where we go on Wednesdays. We talked a lot yesterday about high school and what people are doing now. She still sees a couple of my old classmates. It feels so weird, but I haven't talked about that stuff in years! But, it was fun. 


Youtube:
This reminds me of Buster. I guess any beagle would, but this one looks kind of like him: