National Banana Lovers Day!

I love bananas! They're one of my 'safe' and calming foods. Not just an ok food for me. I could probably eat them all day, but that wouldn't be wise. I try to have one every morning. Good source of potassium. They're also good in pies and other desserts. There was a great Indonesian (I think) recipe from online that I made several years ago that was bananas cooked in coconut milk. It sounded gross, but was amazing! Only gross because of the idea of hot bananas. A local Thai restaurant has a dessert that's a grilled banana engulfed with rice cake, peanuts sprinkled on top, and coconut ice cream on the sides of it. I love it! Haven't had it in a while, though. Maybe if I get it in the future, they can leave off the peanuts. 

Yesterday was National Dog Day. I miss Buster, our beagle. He got into a lot of mischief, but was very sweet. He was very intelligent. Could figure out any puzzle he was given in, at most, a minute. He passed away during my 1st year of college, I think. In fact, I was on the other side of the state at school at the time. Shadow, our cat at the time, loved him. She would clean him after every walk. He was scared of that at first. All the dogs that saw him during our walks loved him, too. 

Got my hair dyed on Friday. They had to bleach and tone it first, otherwise it wouldn't have shown. It took 6 hours instead of the 4 hours they estimated. It was interesting to see my hair as blond briefly. My stylist used a violet red color for my roots, then used the colors I wanted for the rest of it: purple, green, and blue. I've already explained most of the meanings for them on here. Realized one more for purple. The IBD (as well as Crohn's and UC) awareness ribbon is purple. So, I could also raise awareness for that if people ask. The colors were for me to personally represent parts of myself. Since my hair's still falling out and I was starting to get a lot of white sprouting up, I thought it'd be a perfect time to dye it. My stylist even noticed the main growing bald spot and was surprised by not just that but the shape of it, too. It's like a large ring on the middle of my head. I feel hollowed out there. I can see it even more now, and it's becoming more visible. I can't hide all of it anymore. I like how the coloring came out, though. The first wash after shocked me at first. As soon as I put my head under the water, it was like a cascade of color. (That was just the water. No shampoo yet.) She didn't tell me much about what would happen during the first wash after. It stopped bleeding into my hands after that, which was a positive. The color stayed in my hair, but washed away from my scalp. It still has a weird residue-like texture. It's better than it was with that, at least. Interesting to see it styled my way. I still have towels wrapped around my pillows in case the color rubs off on them, like she suggested. I might do that until after one or two more washings.

On Sunday, I went with my parent to the Woodland Park Zoo. Went to the Point Defiance Zoo back around my birthday in November, so why not go to another one? I hadn't been to the Woodland Park Zoo in a very long time. It's much bigger than the other one. In fact, according to the iPhone Health app, I walked close to 10,000 steps or a little over 4 miles by dinnertime. Most of that at the zoo. I still didn't get to everything. Of what I did get to, about 1/4 of the animals weren't visible. I was a little disappointed by that, but maybe the temp was too high for them, they were tired, had checkups, or something. I heard quite a few people complaining about that. I was surprised most of my pics turned out so well. Some even better than what I could see when I was there. The lighting was awful for pics outside, the bats had the worst lighting inside, some animals hid really well, and some were really far away. I could barely see the elk, but took pics of what I thought were them anyways. Turned out clear and like I was right next to them after editing them. The lion was hard to get, too. He faced away from people and glanced briefly for about a half second back at us. Managed to capture that. Then, he got up and walked around quickly. Despite being further back than so many people at the time (they rushed to the glass as soon as they saw him moving), I managed to capture 2 more pics. After editing, the last pic of him came out the best. You could see his muscle tone. 

We had a late lunch at their restaurant. I wanted a chicken Caesar wrap, but they were out. So, I got chicken strips with fries and a root beer. The strips were much better than I expected. They were crunchy, didn't have too much breading, flavorful, and the chicken was cooked just right. Fries were ok. There were too many for me to eat in one sitting, so my parent ate what I couldn't. We had a snack a little later at their cafe. Shared a big soft pretzel, and I had apple juice. I was very thirsty by then. The juice was in a tiny can. Not even a cup of liquid. Didn't quench my thirst much. Went to IHOP on our way back home. I was absolutely thirsty and hungry. Ended up downing about 3 or 4 big glasses of iced tea. Helped a lot. Got their regular buttermilk pancakes combo. The top pancake was slightly undercooked, but the bottom one was just right. I added butter pecan syrup. One of my faves there, and haven't had it in a very long time. They gave me a huge glob of butter on top of the pancakes, despite telling them to leave it off. I scraped it off and put it to the side. My sides were: scrambled eggs with cheese, turkey bacon, and hash browns. Those were all very good. Might have been the hunger, though...

On Saturday, we watched Cloverfield on the big TV. I didn't remember the party scene at the beginning being so long. I like the rest of it, though. This was probably my 4th time seeing it. It was one of the few monster movies that I thought would be great on there through Netflix. We were thinking about Jurassic Park or the sequels, but I didn't see it on there. Anyways, it was also great for testing out the new sound system. I thought the movie was even better this way. I could actually see the monster more and it felt more immersive. 

Got back to my Dutch today. It's been a few days. Yet, I stayed in the same league as last week. Finished the Buildings unit, and am almost done with the Future one. Next will be Recreation. 

Managed to figure out and draw Junko's hairstyle. I don't think it's exactly as I have it in my head, but it's not bad. I think it's close. Looks better than previous designs of it. I'll get to drawing the rest of her body next time. At least, the top half. Should be interesting. 

Edited more of Alliance. Went through 4 pages of the ebook and 6 pages of the print version. Pretty good. It's flowing more as I read it again. Still finding mistakes, so it should only get better. 

International Tiger Day!

This holiday was yesterday. Tigers are one of my fave animals. More specifically, the white Siberian tiger. It's a day to raise awareness for tiger conservation. It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit. 

I forgot to mention last time that I got new jeans. I was wearing my oldest pair for a while beforehand. The ones I mainly wore on laundry days. The 'newer' pair had a huge hole, so they had to be thrown out. They were also a couple of years old, the oldest pair was a few years older. I'm still in the 'Misses' department instead of 'Women's'. Women's is for the bigger sizes. Yay! I've gone back up a size, though. The pair last time was the same size I was in high school. Maybe keeping up with adding more exercise will help.

I've decided to switch up my strategy for my walks. I thought just before dinner would make it easier. However, that's often around the time when it starts to cool off during a hot day. It's often still too hot for me. So, I decided that right after breakfast or brunch would be best. It's usually not too bad then, and it'd probably fit for any season. I remember in the past I'd get up early enough to do one of my walks around sunrise. Easier to do that during winter. I'd also take a walk at sunset. This way I'd have incentive to go out. Might change to that sort of thing during fall and winter. If I do it after breakfast, I might be able to motivate myself to go again later in the day, too. I started this new way today. Was going to yesterday, but I was doing laundry for most of the day. Went out for a while for shopping and dinner. Probably got enough walking in with just that stuff anyway. 

I thought about planning my meals for the week on Sundays. This way, at least for dinner, I wouldn't waste time thinking about what to have. I can plan out those Pinterest recipes then, too. 

There have been 'new' visible symptoms of whatever's going on lately. I've had a weird blister-like or 'waxy' patch on one of my fingertips for a few months. It started small and barely noticeable. Mainly it was through touch, not much to see. It's grown and thickened over time. Much more visible and almost looks plastic-like. Takes up roughly 3/4 of that fingertip now. I've started to get more on other fingertips. They seem to be growing and thickening faster. They don't necessarily hurt until I grip something with them. Then, it's a searing pain. They're not callouses. I definitely know what those feel like on my hands. They're quite different. 

My knuckles and skin have gotten shinier and tougher. I've also found lumps near some of my knuckles. They're growing. Most of the time they don't hurt. They just feel weird. There's another lump on the back of my neck that isn't growing, but is bigger than the others. Wonder if that's an enlarged lymph node?

I've also been getting weird flakes coming from the edges of my right eyelid. It seemed like it was around my tear ducts, but the flakes are slowly coming out of the upper middle edge area, too. I don't think I have ducts there. They're getting bigger and harder to pluck out. 

Looking most of this stuff up, it seems I might have scleroderma. (Sclero is lit. 'hard', and derma is 'skin'.) It seems to fit even more than when I thought it was dermatomyositis (a skin and muscle disease). Especially, with these newer symptoms. It tends to start with joint pain, joint swelling, redness on the face and scalp and other areas, and muscle pain/weakness. That's how mine first started, that I know of. It often progresses slowly at first, and is misdiagnosed at the beginning. I haven't been tested for it yet. One of the few that I haven't had. 

I almost wonder if I've been experiencing symptoms for longer. It can also cause collagenous colitis, which is a type of microscopic colitis. It's a more rare form of IBD than UC and Crohn's. A collagen band wraps around the colon while it's being attacked like colitis in general, with the ulcers/sores eating away at it inside. It creates scarring in the colon, too. The GI that told me there was a lot of scarring in mine was slightly puzzled at first by it. It would explain that. It also can cause LPR or larynpharyngeal reflux, which is what they said I probably have. It can cause dysphagia, too. It can affect the lungs, which makes me wonder about the lung issues I had a long time ago. It stiffens and hardens skin, blood vessels, the lungs, heart, the digestive tract, etc. It would explain a lot if that's what it is. 

I plan to make an appointment to talk about this stuff with my primary doc soon. At least someone on my 'team' will know about it. My next rheumatologist appointment is at the end of September. That's a long time, but it's the soonest they had. I plan to make an appointment to see a dermatologist, too. Hopefully, it'll be for sooner and they might be able to help before that other appointment. 

I plan to get back to playing my clarinet in September. My hands are still in a lot of pain, and I think my circular breathing is a bit more difficult now. Hopefully, it'll either calm down more by then, or I'll be on some sort of treatment to help. Even if it's the same, I'll try to push through it, but not push myself too hard. Hard to find that balance. I'd like to work up to practicing for an hour each time, too. Haven't played since February, because of this stuff. Long time for me. When I was playing more regularly, I thought it'd be great after a certain amount of time (playing more up to par) that I'd listen to recordings if there are any of the pieces I play. After a while of doing that and playing those pieces again, I was thinking of recording myself. Then, I'd play it back and try to correct things more. Eventually, I'd post the more 'perfected' recordings as vids to youtube. I don't want to share an actual vid of me playing. I'd probably mess up. It'll be interesting to read the feedback from it. I'll have to filter out the trolls. 

I'm also thinking of doing my own vlog on youtube in September. I tried once, but my phone wasn't the best for it. I now have a webcam built into my 'new' computer. (It'll be a year old this October. I think that's still new.) I've never used it, so it'll be something to test out. It should be better. I've always had a weird thing about seeing/hearing myself in media. Even after losing so much weight and having my hair styled the way I want. This might help with that. I'll do an intro vid, then some vids about what some things mean (like aro, ace, etc.), details, and my story with things. Then, either go over topics people ask about or updates on my life. Some ideas for it, at least. I'm thinking of doing it once a week like many youtubers. 

I want to be more observant, so I'll try going in steps. Little things at first like, at the very least, lighting the candles/blessings at the start of Shabbos (Friday night). Doing that either before dinner at home, or if I eat out, when I come home. I can have my own services with the siddur or prayer book I have, or follow online streaming ones. The online one I tend to use the most is Central Synagogue in NYC. Might try others in the future, but it's a beautiful building and I like most of their services. They stream them live every Friday night and Saturday morning. So, you know they're consistent. They're archived, too. So, if you miss when they streamed it, you can still catch it. That's handy considering they're 3 hours earlier. Start with doing the Friday night ones every time. Then, add Saturday morning ones. Read the weekly parsha, eventually do Havdallah (the ending ceremony), and more. The siddur I have also has weekday prayers. More observant Jews pray 3 times a day. (Morning, afternoon, and evening.) I might add that, too. They're shorter than the ones for Shabbos. We'll see. I might add in the blessings before and after meals in the distant future, as well. I've just been off and on with Shabbos stuff. Sometimes I'll go for a few months without even lighting the candles. I feel I need to change that. I'll also try to cut my social media time more that day. Eventually, it'll be great if I stayed away completely from it then.

Since I've been immunosuppressed, and my current med works similarly, I've stayed away from going to shul. (Shul is Yiddish for synagogue.) I felt weird about our local ones as it was at the time, anyways. The last High Holiday services I went to, which was just after starting my 1st med for colitis (azathioprine, which is a strong immunosuppressant), I was very sick afterwards. I think that was the last time I went to services. I'm not taking that risk in the future. Even if I did things like put a high-grade hospital mask on and sat as far as I could from people (and told them not to hug me), it wouldn't seem right. There's also still that risk. I feel even more nervous then before when I'm in a very crowded room in general because of it. Before being on immunosuppressants, I only had to handle having agoraphobia, which is bad enough. 

I'm going to try and cut down on social media during the rest of the week, too. It's just felt like too much. I still want to stay on top of it, so I'll go through it occasionally. I'll time it in small chunks. I'll always check notifications if I have them, and will post personal stuff like statuses, my blog posts, art, check-ins, etc. the rest of the time. I might go through more of my feeds when I'm waiting for food or something. This will help a lot. It already has a bit this week. 

I got my haircut recently. I was hoping to get it dyed at the same appointment, but they didn't have the time. They cut it a little shorter than I expected. I told her shoulder length, and she did it a little shorter. Took off 6" or 7". About 4" or 5" of that was from the 7 months in between. It's been growing faster than it used to. It's falling out a lot more than it used to, as well...Makes it feel a little weird. The bald spots still aren't that visible unless you lift up certain patches of hair. A shorter style is good for the summer, but next time I might say a touch passed the top of my shoulders. They had a 'color consult' at the end. I want to have purple, green, and blue in it. I imagine those colors being a mixture throughout. Hard to describe, I guess. I was able to show them something similar from a Google search in pics. Some call it a mermaid style or oil slick. They'll bleach my hair first, then tone it and add color. Everyone there sounded so excited about it. Even about the concept. Those 3 colors are in the LGBTQ+ flags I'm under. They told me they get a lot of enby clients that get theirs dyed. For many people it's a thing because that's what they can have control over, and may be able to afford more than the medical stuff for transitioning. It'll be my first time, and I wanted something different. Also, the hair loss makes me feel like doing something fun with it for the time being. Getting more of those white hairs, too. Lots of reasons for me, actually. They told me it'll take 4 hours. That'll be interesting. I'm having it done next month.

World Rat Day!

Mood:

Yay! One of my favorite animals!They should be celebrated, even though many people consider them to just be pests. But, they're amazing as pets. I will post eventually about more songs. Just haven't felt like it, even though I've found a lot more interesting ones.I'm also trying to post more often, like I used to.

Watched the finale of the drama version of Ouran High School Host Club. It was rocky at the beginning, but the rest of it turned out pretty good. It's not phenomenal, but not bad either. I really didn't like the actor who portrayed Honey. He looked really demented, and more deformed than in the anime. Plus, his voice didn't quite seem to fit.The actor who portrayed Tamaki is always amazing at whatever role he takes. And, he seems to be in a lot of things. His appearance didn't really 'scream' Tamaki, though. Oh well, made for an interesting take on the character. The twins were perfect. They looked/acted the most like their anime counterparts. The actress who portrayed Haruhi was ok. Wasn't really great, but not bad. I'll be watching the movie next. 

Naruto Shippuden was another filler this time. I rarely actually say 'filler', because I consider the manga and anime separate entities. They may have the same plot, but the anime is an 'adaptation'. Meaning it's a take on the manga, so it's not exactly like it. I love to see different takes on things. But, even just looking at the anime, it seemed like the last couple have been fillers. Nothing happens during them. It's gotten so bad, that some of the sites where I watch it have put up [Filler] next to the title of the episode.These fillers are mostly just flashbacks. A couple of weeks ago it was getting intense again with the 'real' episodes. Maybe that's why they made fillers, to take a little break from the intensity. There was a new opening and ending this time. So, that was nice. Another goofy one for the ending...

In Dear, nothing much happened. In the chapter before, Kisara had kissed Chiruha. Ever since then, she's apparently been hiding from him. Everyone has been keeping watch over Chiruha's bedroom, making sure no one comes to kidnap her again. Things seem to be tense for everyone. Subaru, according to the kidnappers, was behind it all. So, Purino, Carol, Komomo, and Kurenai are shocked by it. At the end of the chapter, a couple of new suspicious people came to the door saying hello to Kisara. They'll probably try to take Chiruha, as well. I guess I'll see. 

Watched Brave last night. It wasn't as great as I was expecting. Just about the only thing that really stood out was her hair. They did pretty well with some of the stuff like the highland games, and clan meetings. But, the plot seemed a bit...weak to me.I don't know, something about it didn't sit well with me, too. Oh well, it was good to try. 

I put all the extra Passover stuff back where I had the stuff from last year. I'm keeping certain things where they are for now, because I'm still finishing them up. Stuff that I'd gladly have after the holiday, anyways. So, stuff like chocolate covered matzah, mandel cuts (biscotti like things) with chocolate drizzle on top, fruit (jelly) slices, macaroons, my homemade granola, etc. I also did some cleaning in my bathroom. Kind of tired from those now. 

日本語

The kanji I went over today were: 持 and 式. As 持つ or も.つ (mo.tsu): to hold (in one's hand), take, carry; to possess, have, own; to maintain, keep; to last, be durable, survive; to take charge of, be in charge of. As 持ち or も.ち (mo.chi): (suffix) hold, charge, keep possession, in charge; wear, durability, life, draw; (suffix) usage. As 持てる or も.てる (mo.teru): to be able to possess (hold, get, etc.); to be well liked, be popular, be pampered (spoiled, doted upon, etc.); last; possessed; possessing riches, having wealth. And, when in compounds, it's pronounced as じ (ji). 式 is pronounced as しき (shiki). It means: style, ceremony, expression, formula, equation, function, method, rite, ritual. Here's its compounds (the other one didn't list any): 式次 or しきじ (shikiji): program of a ceremony. 式辞 or しきじ: ceremonial address. 式日 or しきじつ (shikijitsu): day of a ceremony or event. 式典 or しきてん (shikiten): ceremony rites. 式服 or しきふく (shikifuku): ceremonial dress. 儀式 or ぎしき (gishiki): ceremony, rite, ritual, service. The next kanji that I'll work on has a ton of compounds. Should be interesting. 

Banana Lover's Day

Mood:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hug Your Cat Day

Mood:


I think it should be everyday!It's good to encourage it, though. It's celebrated worldwide. The holiday was created to show some love to our cats. And, to raise awareness of the benefits for both the cat and the person. It tends to make not only the cat feel better, but you as well.I have 2 cats, so I guess I should give them more hugs than usual today.It's also National Macaroon Day. I'm a little iffy with macaroons. I'm mostly ok with the coconut ones.

In Fairy Tail, since the clock hand was stolen from Lucy, they decide to investigate her father's mansion. There haven't been any buyers since his death, therefore it's abandoned when they arrive. Lucy thinks she'll try to save enough to buy it in the future. It still has family heirlooms mixed in with the junk. They go through everything, and when Lucy's looking through her father's library, she finds a book titled 'To My Daughter'. It's completely blank, but they realize that the title's an anagram. Once they figure that out, it leads them to a picture book about time and the 'starry sky'. They get attacked when they find it. Once the enemy glances at it, he says he memorized it and returns it. One of the other enemies, named Dan Straight (yeah, not such a creative name, and not funny...), falls for Lucy and shrinks Natsu. Happy stomps on Natsu by accident. Dan leaves without turning Natsu back. Should be funny during the next episode, seeing him like that again. People keep commenting saying it's a 'filler' arc, but I still think it's part of the story. Not much filler to it.  


Played some more Irish tunes on my clarinet yesterday. I'll probably do some Klezmer tunes today. I'm thinking about becoming a private clarinet tutor. They say the only requirement you need is experience in playing the instrument. I have 17 years experience. I think I definitely qualify in that department.I'm thinking of starting with beginner students. And, help a little if intermediate players are stuck on something. Also, I think I can help people from all age groups if they're starting out. (Not just little kids.) I've heard a lot of private tutors work with their students from their own homes. That'd make it easier for me, as well. I have a lot of ideas for it, and what to put on a flyer to send out. The more I think about it, the more awesome it sounds to me!I love music and the clarinet, and I'd be happy to share that with people. Plus, it wouldn't be too bad to make some money from it.Have to figure out rates and stuff as well.

In Anagle Mole, Luchiru fights the other majin that was assigned to kill him. Luchiru beats him and wins in the end. He kept saying Luchiru was inexperienced, weak, and would never amount to much. Chiwa found Luchiru and Kyousuke in the pouring rain. The pic's of what happens when she sees them. 


Almost done transposing my Irish tunes. It's cool to see how many I've done already. I'll probably move on to the Beatles' songs next. Started reading the Merchant of Venice from my Shakespeare collection book. Interesting so far. Not sure if I like it as much as the Comedy of Errors, though.

日本語

The kanji for yesterday was: 弟. Or: おとうと (otouto), てい (tei), だい (dai), で (de). It means younger brother, faithful service to elders, or younger male. Interesting that otouto is usually used, the others are usually in compounds. When referring to another's younger brother, you say otouto-san (弟さん). When addressing one's own younger brother, you say their given name. Contrast to when addressing one's own older brother, you use an honorific onii-san (お兄さん). 

deviantART faves: Passed Out. Commission: Fledge I did not make these! First, a cute pic of a ferret sleeping on his own litter. He looks so worn out. Second, a drawing by another artist I watch. It's of someone else's original character. I love almost anything he does. Not too fond of some of the ecchi stuff, but the rest is amazing.

Youtube:

An interesting look at what animals 'say' from various countries. Like we say oink for a pig. Or, woof for a dog. I love languages, so this was kind of interesting to me. I knew most of it, but some I haven't heard before:

Snow Storm

Mood:


It was just crazy!They told us that there would be a 'chance' of flurries on Monday. It was heavily snowing throughout the day.Then, there was heavy winds, so we had snow drifts. And, of course, later it was freezing. So, right after we ate dinner at 6:30 the power went out.Our system can't handle that sort of storm. It was out for about 27-28 hours.


It was very cold yesterday. Not having power took away our main source of heat. And, during the day it was in the low 20s.The wood stove helped a bit, but I was still freezing. I had a sweatshirt, a bathrobe, jeans, socks, slippers, a scarf around my head, and a blanket on all day, while I was next to the fireplace. Seemed like I'd be roasting. 


We're lucky that we have a gas stove, too. So, we used matches to light it and heat up soup, and water. So, at least we had soup, tea, and hot chocolate during the day.Oh, and we had ravioli last night. I was bored most of the day, and that first night. Did a lot of reading, crossword puzzles, watching stuff on my mp3 player, playing solitaire, etc. Mom lit candles, oil lamps, and we used our electric lantern and some flashlights. Made it even better in that room with the fireplace. 


Our area's so bad, we made it to the national news.The roads still look like sheets of ice. Not only that, last night it was in the low teens to single digits. Wahoo!50,000 people were without power, and some may still be.  I feel really bad for them. 


At first they got the power on for about 2 minutes last night. Then, it was for an hour. The next time, it stayed on. It felt like they were teasing us, even though I know what was probably going on. They're trying to get everyone's power on by Thanksgiving. I think if people didn't have power on Thanksgiving, it would ruin the holiday. So, I hope they get it by then.


It was so cold, our windows froze over.Those chickens I talked about last time, looked like the were going to freeze to death out there. They kept screaming. Eventually, Dad went out there and tried to direct them to the farm. I hope they made it.


We were thinking of going to the store today. Since, we're running a bit low on food, and we're supposed to bring an appetizer to our friends' place for Thanksgiving. Mom was thinking of making those tasty sausages in a blanket. Originally called 'pigs in a blanket'. But, we use all beef Lil' Smokies and crescent rolls. They're addicting.Mom just talked to them, and we don't have to get the stuff today. Hopefully, tomorrow we can get our normal food stuff?


Our friends smoke their turkey. It's really good!They also make a cranberry relish, which no one actually likes. Their stuffing's usually not too bad. They make 2 batches, one for with chestnuts, and the other for without. Also, they make a sweet potato thing with marshmallows and pineapple. Looks tasty, I just can't stand sweet potatoes.They always make these tiny compact brownies too. Very tasty! Supposedly, there are going to be 8 of us. I think that's a smaller turn out than it usually is. I'll definitely have something to be thankful for...the power! 

It's Snowing!

Mood:


And, it's starting to stick. It's pretty and all, but makes it hard to move around, either on foot or by car. I'm not particularly happy about it.I'll have to break out my winter boots soon. We also have 3 chickens looking confused and cold in our backyard.They're not ours, just random chickens. I know we have a farm behind us, but there's a vast field, wire fence, and a green belt in between. Pretty difficult to make it here.A few months ago we had a chicken wandering around in the same area. Something's up. Oh well. They're entertaining.I hope they find their way back home eventually. 


It's World Hello Day! So, Konnichiwa! (こんにちわ!) Nihao! Shalom! Bonjour! Kalimera! Aloha! Hola! Hallo! Buon Giorno! And, hello to everybody out there, however you say it!My kind of holiday. It's nice, promotes world peace, and it's like a linguist holiday combined!


Went to services yesterday. Apparently, our cantor was in marching band too!It was cool to talk about it with her. I loved marching band so much! Started at the end of junior high on up to a couple of years in college. It was like a second family to me.Only problem I had was with my high school band director. We think she may have been anti-semitic. She also wouldn't let me join jazz band, because she said clarinets don't belong in it. Hello? What about Benny Goodman?! The only good thing with her, is she finally let me become section leader my last year.The section leaders in college, immediately told me I was good enough to play first and be section leader at my audition.I just didn't get enough confidence to try out to for section leader at that level. Of course it can be rough and a lot of work out there, whether on the field or marching down the street, but it was worth it.I only stopped because I almost broke my tail bone as we were about to rehearse on the field.Anyways, I couldn't high step anymore. It was very sad.Our cantor played the flute. She loved marching too. 


Our Rabbi's drash was about Jacob wrestling an angel, and the name change to Israel. (So, it went from 'heel' to 'one who wrestles with G-d'.) He said in order to become an adult, everyone goes through a 'dark' period in their lives. (Referring to him wrestling in the dark alone.) I agreed with most of it. I also got to say hello to the newborn baby.He's(?) really cute, and was staring at me for a while. 


Konkatsu was hilarious! They decided to do a Cat Fans' (really should be Lovers') Party. Where they exchange photos of their cats and talk about them. Somehow, following that plan, it would bring people together. But, it didn't turn out like they had planned. A guy who's like the president of the company's right hand man, shows up with his actual cat. All the girls go flocking to him, while the guys are sitting around looking dejected. Kuni tells him he'll have to take the cat somewhere else, and tries to hold him. The cat somehow escapes in the scuffle. So, they tell everyone the real party is to Search for a Cat. Nice save. They find the cat, and successfully got people together. 


Played a little of the Sims 2. Finally, put stuff on their walls and floors.For a while it was the plain stuff they give you at the beginning. Now it looks kind of cool. Some walls have a stone pattern, some have wooden moldings, etc. It was fun! But, I love how the first time I had everything set up perfectly, the power went out and I didn't save before it happened. Partially my fault and the weather's!


I watched Gonzo today. It's getting really intense, suspenseful, and just all around good. Sad that there's only one more episode.I truly will miss this one. Maybe I can look at the actors and what dramas they were in afterwards. And, add those to my growing to-watch list.


I had a lot of ideas for my story last night, so I decided to type them all up. Just so they're easier to get to.Seeing all these ideas together, it's looking really good. But, I still have to work a little more on character development before I can continue. 


I also joined another group on dA. Called Flavor Photography. Really has some tasty, and awesomely done pics of food.May be better than the Art of Food group I'm a part of. They also have some recipes.