National Authors Day!

Mood:

This holiday was yesterday. Yay! A day just for authors! They should be appreciated more. I'm not just saying that because I am one.Authors have the ability to create worlds, open people's minds, to educate, give people an escape, etc. Pretty amazing!It was also National Vinegar Day. I love vinegar! It makes some dishes more intense and flavorful. Also, one of my fave types of potato chips are salt and vinegar. Malt vinegar is good with fish and chips. Some people say that vinegar is the 'secret' ingredient they use for baked goods. 

This is my wallpaper for November. It's my birth month. So, I usually use a fun, party-like, feel good, beautiful, etc. one. I think this goes with a laid back feel good one, and is perfect. It's Rin and Kuro from Ao no Exorcist or Blue Exorcist. Kuro also has a much larger form. He's basically a cat demon that becomes Rin's familiar. I don't usually find very many good AnE wallpapers, but I did a couple of months ago. You can look forward to some more of those in the future. Also, the anime version is coming back for a 2nd season. The anime ended in 2011, and is coming back in January. That's a long hiatus.The manga started in 2009 and is still going. I'm up to date on that. I remember the anime diverged at some point from the manga, and had an original ending. I'm not sure if they're going to go back to the manga, if they can, or it'll just be something totally different. A lot of stuff happened since it diverged from the original plot. I guess we'll see. Still exciting.

My beagle calendar has one sitting on some grass near a body of water, looking on. The info blurb is about their temperament. The fun fact mentions that a beagle was mentioned in Shakespeare's 12th Night. 

My Jewish calendar features a tevah cover, has an anonymous maker; made out of silk, metal thread, copper; from Persia; 1600. I actually had to look up 'tevah cover'. I don't think that term is used that often. It's a cover for a reader's desk. It looks really worn down, but I'm surprised it's from 1600. It's got a floral pattern. Kind of reminds me of a Persian rug design. It also features a parochet, made by Coenraads; out of velvet, cotton, glass, and metal threads; from Rotterdam, Netherlands; 1875. Parochets are curtains that cover the Torah ark. Often times these are switched to a white versions during the High Holy Days. This one's mostly red with a golden-looking design. In that design there's a slightly unrolled Torah, with lots of writing underneath it (It's so small, I can't read it), interesting banner that encompasses it with tassels on the sides, then a stylized crown on top of that, what looks to be stars at the very top with an interesting border separating the stars and the rest of it. Kind of cool. 

The month-long holidays are: Georgia Pecan Month, National Pomegranate Month, Banana Pudding Lovers Month, National Adoption Month, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo). Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. I love all those food related ones! I don't think I could write an entire novel in one month.That's what NaNoWriMo is about. That's a monumental feat. Even if you're going for the bare minimum amount of words for it.

My birthday's on the 7th!Coming up fast! Not sure what I'll do for it. Might do a somewhat low key one like last year. Probably will celebrate during the weekend. I kind of got an early present this past weekend. It's an adult dot-to-dot book. I found it at Barnes and Noble, which was the same place I found an adult coloring book a couple of years before. That coloring book was designed by a tattoo artist. Most of them are really cool looking even before coloring them in. I wouldn't personally want a tattoo (for many reasons), but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the art.This dot-to-dot book seems complex and intricate. Probably would be good to focus on when I'm in a lot of pain...There are animals, landscapes, famous artworks, monuments, etc. that are featured. Some of them have over 400 dots, and some have 2 different lines. One with numbers, and the other with letters. Sounds fun to me. They also encourage people to color them in after completing each one.

I was going to be a pirate for Halloween. Didn't have the makings for one, though. So, I ended up going with an ace flag color theme. All the clothes to it were/are really big on me. Kind of felt like I was swimming in it, but it was still fun.Used the cat gloves from the costume I wore last year. I don't have too many grey colored things, and the pads to those gloves are. I was going to use my octopus earrings and matching necklace for the pirate costume. I wore them with this one instead. They're silver, so I used it for more of the grey part. Tried to use all the colors for the eye shadow, but they didn't really stand out.Found the most purple-like lipstick I had, which was really fuchsia with 'blue pearl'. Used quite a bit of foundation to make my face look whiter than usual to follow it. It's normally pretty white. I usually have to get either ivory or porcelain colored foundation.My face also turns red quite often, so it looks like I'm blushing most of the time. I think I ended up with more of the black in my costume than the other colors. I'm ace, so that's ok with me. The black stands for asexuals or aces. Also, we got Halloween candy just for Dad and I. We stayed in, turned out the lights (that way we didn't have trick-or-treaters), and watched things. I think we watched an episode or 2 of Glitch, which is really interesting. I watched the Lazarus Effect after that. It wasn't that great. Seemed it had some potential at the beginning, but it went off the rails quickly.

I had some spanakopitas for dinner on Halloween. I love spanakopitas! They were from Costco. Turned out pretty good. I cooked them in the oven, like they suggested. Ended up really crispy and flaky on the outside, and soft on the inside. They're packed full of the spinach and cheese filling. (In case you didn't know what it was, and there was more filling than I expected.) Each one was filling in itself.Still have quite a lot left in the box. Of course, I had some candy for dessert. We got these candies: candy corn, mini mounds bars, twix, snickers, milky ways (dark and regular), and 3 Musketeers. The last 4 were a bagged mix, and bite sized. We both love candy corn, which apparently is rare?I can only have a few of those at a time, because of how sugary they are. The only candy I don't really care for are the mounds bars. Those are Dad's favorite, so she can have them. I mixed them up in a big bowl, and after having some for dessert, bagged them all together. So, yay! A fun mix!

On facebook, I posted my thoughts on people telling me they see my mom through me. I've posted in the past about that on here. I mentioned it on fb this time, because I was starting to get a couple more people telling me that phrase. It's incredibly creepy.Anyways, some people commented about how people look like their parents, and there's no helping it. That wasn't the point of it.There's a difference between looking like your parents vs seeing them through you. I think some people also don't want to admit that most of my physical traits are actually more like Dad's. They want my mom to still be there somewhere, and force that image on me. That's not cool. Not cool for anyone.I did look a lot more like her when I was little, and was even told that we looked like sisters. As I matured, I've looked more like Dad. Also, this saying gets somehow even more creepy with the context that my mom was very sick for a while. Their image of her might be different, but this still frames it a bit more for me. If she hadn't been sick for so long, it wouldn't feel like that. Although, it still would be odd. I'm still glad I put that post out there. It's been eating at me for a while.

I went back to watching Naruto Shippuden recently. I stopped because of all the 'fillers' that seemed pointless. I'm only about 3 months behind at the moment, but I can skip the pointless episodes now. (I've skipped a lot of them already.) There are lists for those fillers. So, I'll catch up pretty quickly. Especially if I watch 2 at a time. The episodes aren't that long. (It's the normal length of just over 20 minutes without the opening and ending.) They say there isn't much left of the story, anyways. The manga finished a while ago. There's even a movie, I think, about what happens after the manga. At the point I'm at, it's really good. Even the animation seems high end to me. (It's ranged with quality in that throughout the series.) Almost making the characters seem real. I didn't forget the main story either, which is only getting better. Kind of the reason I'm going back to it is to see how it turns out.

Youtube:
A Naruto Shippuden amv:

A Pandora Hearts amv:

National Black Forest Cake Day!

Mood:

This holiday was yesterday. One of my fave cakes!I even had a black forest cake for my birthday back in November. What's better than having chocolate, whipped cream, and cherries all made into a cake? A few of my fave things. It also looks pretty. Last Friday was National Pecan Day. One of my fave nuts!I think it's a tie with this and walnuts, for me. 

I wore part of my Halloween cat costume during the day for Purim. Just the punk looking black ears (the ones with a bunch of silver studs), the spiky collar, and some silver cat earrings. The earrings seem to have an 'I don't care' sort of attitude. Just wore regular clothes with it. Thought it'd be fun to have something on for it.I read one of the megillot (plural for megillah. Has the story of Esther) I have, watched a couple of music vids, and watched a Purim spiel. A Purim spiel is a play based on the story. The Purim spiel I watched was actually broadcasted from a synagogue. One of the Reform ones that broadcasts their services so people can feel like they are there, when they physically can't be. Really cool for people who might be worried about getting sick when they go to a synagogue. Especially when it might draw a big crowd.I'm still a bit weary of big crowds, knowing how easily I can get sick now. Theirs was funny and cute. Basically Broadway themed. Some Cats, Phantom of the Opera, etc. parodies. They had someone imitate Donald Trump for the Haman role.Haman's the villain. The songs were hilarious, and most of the time they did great with them. The kids were slightly off, but not bad. (The adults played the main roles. Many congregations have the kids do the whole thing.) I kind of felt like I belonged there, since there were cats in the play. All in all, it was a nice Purim. 

Yesterday I watched the last episode of the 2nd 'season' of Fairy Tail. I think it should be more like a 2nd 'series', since it was just over 100 episodes. (Also, has a different look compared to the 1st season.) Same with the 1st season. The last episode seemed a bit lacking.And, kind of teased us. Acting like a new arc was just starting. I think I read that Fairy Tail will be on hiatus for a while. Not sure exactly how long. Should be interesting to see what happened to the members after Fairy Tail disbanded. We only know what happened to Lucy and Natsu. Apparently, if I really want to find out before it comes back, I can read the manga. I like the anime a bit more. But, then again, I only read the first few chapters. The designs and how things are laid out might be different at this point in the manga. 

It appears Gintama's going on hiatus after this week's episode, too. This is my top fave anime, so I'll be more upset about this one.Although, I think in order to keep up its greatness, they may need some time off to lay out and plan more stuff. These last couple of story arcs were really intense and depressing at times. They've killed off 2 major characters already. The 2nd one happened during last week's episode. It was surprising. He was painted as a villain for one of the arcs a while back up until that episode. He really wasn't. He even wanted to help the 'good guys' in the end. Actually made me feel something for him. I didn't really care for him much when he was first introduced. A lot of things about him made more sense in the end, too. Both the 'elite' police and the Shinsengumi united in order to defeat the enemy. (They normally hate each other.) Apparently, Shouyou is alive. Or, at least he seems to be. He also seemed to be the enemy's boss. But, Gintoki was forced to behead him in the past. I'm thinking maybe this 'imposter' just has his head. But, he smiles just like Shouyou did, and has the same memories. Even moves similarly. It seemed to mentally break Gintoki when he saw that his teacher was still alive. Should be interesting to see how they end it.

I'm almost through with MAR, too. It appears that 3 main characters were killed off in 2 episodes. For some reason, I think they might have been whisked away to the real world. But, they did disintegrate in their world...I don't know. I think the king of Chess is really Ginta's father. (Ginta's been told that his father was killed in battle.) He's finally shown himself, only he's masked. A couple of the characters said the way he talked and fought was familiar. Also, I think he's the one that's suddenly bringing landmarks from the real world to theirs. They already had the Eiffel Tower fall in the middle of a field. Plus, some famous statues. The queen of Chess wants to kill all humans in both worlds. What is she then? Or, does she want to kill everyone but her and that king? She seems to be the most powerful character in the whole series. Maybe more powerful than the king. She also managed to clone the princess, Snow, and put her in the real world. Koyuki, who's from the real world, is possibly the original princess. Both of them can sense what's happening to each other in either world. That part's really interesting. Snow felt like a fake when she found out, though. 

Apparently some people think IBD is essentially just about 'bathroom problems'.I noticed this when I talked to someone who I thought had a similar thing, recently. I've also read some questions that were asked on a Crohn's forum, that were similar with the subject. I've read articles and other forum posts (from that same forum) explain that it's a lot more than that. Some blogs, too. Many of us, no matter which IBD we have (Crohn's or UC), have extraintestinal issues on top of it. Extraintestinal manifestations have to do with things outside of the intestines. So, here are some of mine. My hair's starting to fall out again, although slower than it did last time. My nails have become much softer, bend easily, crack easily (already had one of them crack straight down the middle), and grow quickly. My skin seems to be doing something weird. Hard to describe. Sometimes I feel so full, I don't want to eat. Yet, this might be before I've eaten anything for the day. There's no food in my system at that time. I know I have to eat in order to take my meds, but if I didn't have to have food to take them, it'd be a different story.I get sick a lot more often. This is mainly because of the meds I'm on, but this contributes to it anyway. I also feel a lot more tired and weak half the time. I think people should realize that there's a lot more to it. Not to pity others, but realize it's not just a 'bathroom problem'.I'm also nervous to take heavier/more potent meds than what I've already had. Maybe it'll be the opposite of what I'm thinking will happen, and they'll help with the extraintestinal issues, too. That would be awesome! 

I'll ask my gastroenterologist about referring me to a nutritionist at my next appointment with her. I'll ask her, because I'll have to have someone that knows how to deal with people who have IBD. Some have never dealt with that. My primary care doc might not know where to start. It might help to talk to one for most of these things. I already know some of them are caused by malabsorption problems. So, a nutritionist can help more with those. Like, tell me to have a certain amount of protein, which would probably be more than the average for someone who doesn't have that problem. I know some people have to have more calories than people who don't have IBD. I don't really want that. It might be hard to keep up half the time. But, I guess I'll just have to see what happens with that. My primary doc also wanted to schedule an appointment. My yearly physical is coming up, so it might partially have to do with that. It's scheduled for a week after my gastro appointment. She's also trying to keep track of what's going on with me. 

On Saturday, I went to the democratic caucus for the first time. The only other time I might have gone to a caucus was when I was little. I certainly wasn't of voting age back then, though. This was held at my old high school. I hadn't stepped foot on that campus since I graduated. It was a bit weird.Many things had changed. I know when I attended there was a lot of construction going on. So, it was interesting to see parts of the finished product. We all met in the gym. I think the gym was different, too. Like it wasn't there when I went. (I think we had a different one.) Maybe it was the layout? Our precinct seemed pretty large, and luckily started out near the entrance. I knew some of the people from it. At least, 4 neighbors and one person I went to high school with. Might have been 2 more members from the neighborhood I'm semi-acquainted with. But, I found out a lot of the neighbors I didn't know were there, too. It was nice to see. The majority were for Bernie Sanders, including me. Some people ended up switching from Hillary Clinton or undecided to Sanders after some discussion. Some people seemed to be a lot more passionate than me, so I let them speak up about Sanders. Clinton's side was interesting, too. Everything was kept civil, which was great. Sanders actually won our state, Alaska, and Hawaii by a landslide. It was close to 75% for Sanders and 25% for Clinton for our state. That's pretty good.


Thinking it was so nice and sunny looking out on Sunday, I decided to go for a walk. It stayed nice out until about halfway through it. It started to really downpour, and got heavier until I got home.I was absolutely soaked, but it felt good. It wasn't really cold rain, which might be why it felt good. Felt like I had a natural shower. But, my coat, which isn't made for rain, is still slightly damp. I also wanted to take a pic of the gorgeous view we get of the mountains, but the clouds rolled in. You could barely see them. So, I took a pic of the trail through a green belt I usually go through. There was a robin that made it into the pic. Didn't realize it was there until after I had taken a few shots. It was funny and cute.I tried to get a pic of a squirrel that was darting around, but it was too fast. Ended up just getting bushes with weird grey blurs under them.

Decided to try out Smashwords' self interview feature. It was interesting. They have questions already prepared, or you can add your own. You can flip through their questions, too. So, you don't have to answer all of them. I decided on: What are you going to write next? I mentioned possibly a memoir, a sequel to Alliance (my first novel), or a detective novel. Those are essentially the ideas for my next novel I have at the moment. The only thing I didn't like was after every question you answer, you have to save and then 'publish' it. Why not just have it be submitted with one click?Also, you get an email every time. Even if you just edit that one answer, you get another email with the same info. You can have up to 10 questions and answers. I only did one. Had to go back to edit it, though. Each one goes to their author's interview section. People get to see the newest first on there. So, it's like a little bit more publicity.

Got to playing my clarinet yesterday. Played for the full 45 minutes. (Hopefully in the near future, I'll get it up to an hour.) Felt good. I got to get back to playing it on a regular basis. I continued with the way I planned to do my practices, last time. Where I go over something repeatedly until I improve on the areas I always mess up on. The way I used to practice. It can be tiring, though. Did pretty well, anyways. Didn't have to stop and repeat things that often. I could tell that there was some improvement, too.

日本語

Studied a bit more of the kanji 残, and the kanji 士. When 残 is pronounced as 残す or のこ.す (noko.su): to leave (behind, over), bequeath, save, reserve. As 残り or のこ.り (noko.ri): remnant, residue, remaining, leftover. When 士 is pronounced as さむらい (samurai): warrior, samurai. As し (shi): man (esp. one who is well-respected); (suf) person (in a certain profession, esp. licensed), member. 騎士 or きし (kishi): knight. 士卒 or しそつ (shisotsu): officers and soldiers. 戦士 or せんし (senshi): soldier, combatant, warrior. 博士 or はかせ (hakase) or はくし (hakushi): (usu. はくし [hakushi]) doctorate, PhD, Dr. (as a title); (usu. はかせ [hakase]) expert, learned person. 武士 or ぶし (bushi): warrior, samurai. Interesting that there are a couple of ways of referring to samurai. Took one of the vocab chapter tests on JapaneseClass' site. Got about 93% on it. Not bad.Also, this one tested less vocab than the previous one. The one before that had about 150 words/phrases. This one had about 67. Quite a difference. It'd be great if they spaced the amount of vocab evenly for each chapter. Oh well. I didn't miss a single one from the practice part this time. Translated another line from a You Maga article.  

Read an article in Japanese on RocketNews24's original site. It was about Hanami or sakura viewing. Apparently, having lavish banquets under the sakura trees while they're in bloom is becoming popular. Normally people have casual parties. They usually drink a lot, too. The author of the article mentioned how much it sucks when you brought the alcohol to those banquets, and there isn't a bottle opener of some sort. So, there's a new ring (like you put on your finger) out that's designed to be used as one. I think there are other ways of opening it, besides getting a fancy ring...He said it looked cool, though. 

Tomorrow night should be fun.Since it's the 5th Wednesday, the support group's going to have a potluck. This time at someone's place. It's usually a nice social thing. A 5th Wednesday doesn't pop up that often. We usually bring some KFC chicken tenders. Although, one of the times we brought donut holes. I think donut holes would be better...Either way, it'd be nice.

Pumpkin Day!

Mood:

This was yesterday. I used to hate any dish that had to do with pumpkins. I would even steer clear of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. For some reason, I slowly started to like it over time. I seem to have changing tastes as I age. Used to love mushrooms, now I can't stand their texture. (The flavor's still fine.) I also used to hate cheesecake, until I tried some at summer camp. Anyways, maybe I finally had a good slice of pumpkin pie or something.Now, it's the only squash I'll eat. Who knows, maybe that'll change in the future. I find some of that pumpkin spice stuff (especially the Starbucks latte) kind of fake. Doesn't taste as 'authentic' as the real thing. Although, I found a nice pumpkin spice tea that's made with actual pumpkin in it. It's a heavy flavor, but good. (Kind of like drinking pumpkin pie, only without the calories...) It was also Pretzel Day and Mincemeat Pie Day. I've always liked pretzels and mincemeat pie. I was perplexed by the name of the pie before I tried it. I've heard other people hate it with a passion, and people warned me that it's an 'acquired' taste. I don't see why.It's a fruity/buttery/spice mix of things in pie form, essentially. What's wrong with that? The original pie, I've read, did have meat in it. But, the modern version doesn't. Today's National Potato Day. I absolutely love potatoes!Could probably eat them with every meal. 

Good news! I'm back on my insurance plan. Yay!Found out on Friday. So, knowing I still had to get a blood draw this month, yesterday I went to the lab to have it done. Apparently, they didn't have the order in from my gastroenterologist. She put it in at the end of last month, like she did the previous month. They didn't even have her name in my records. This was a little unsettling...They did have my primary's name, but that was it. They called my gastro's office about it all, and told me to come back tomorrow to try it again. Interestingly, there were 2 lab techs there, instead of the usual one. Maybe one of them was in training? 

While I was there, both Dad and I decided to get our flu shots. We checked-in with the front desk, filled out some paperwork, and waited for the nurse to come get us. We saw the people at the front desk clear out and close their booths. So, after waiting a little longer with no one coming to get us, I saw a sign about the flu shots and when they were being done. We had checked-in at about 4:45pm. The sign said they stop doing them at 5pm. By the time I looked at that sign it was already 5:02. So, I went back to the lab to see what we should do. They said to keep the forms, and get that done tomorrow, as well. So weird, though. They shouldn't have checked us in and given us paperwork to fill out, if no one was there to administer them...It's a waste of time that way. 

I also sent an email to my gastro about it all last night. Just as another heads up. I thought even if just her team gets it, it should be good. She was pretty quick at responding. Last time I tried to email her, I got one of her nurses. But, this went directly to her. I like when it's a direct thing. The go-between can mess things up by accident, or not know much about my records.She said she just put in a new order, and I can get it done within the next few days. Hopefully, that includes today. She apologized for the inconvenience, and said she was glad I'm covered again. I don't know why, but I keep thinking she's going to respond to my emails/calls in a negative way. She never has. In fact, her response is usually very nice and warm. 

My IBD might be 'flaring' up again. It's not nearly as bad as it was a couple of months ago, at least. It's still worse than it's been for the last month or so. (Also, seem to be dropping things more often. Not sure if that's related or what, though.) It scares me a bit. So, it's the perfect time to run that blood work. Maybe the azathioprine isn't working as well, even after upping the dosage? Maybe going down to a smaller dose for the balsalazide wasn't a good idea? (I'm so sick of this one, though!They're huge plastic capsules, and 3 at a time. At least with azathioprine it's one tiny tablet each time.) I don't know. The tests will help to see what's going on now. Hopefully, the sed rate is still going down. It measures inflammation, and can be an indicator to see if the disease is in remission. It was still really high last time, but it was slowly going down from what it started with. I still find it fascinating to see the results. Even when they're 'normal'. 

Saturday night I went to a fun Halloween party. I won one of the games, wore a costume, had snacks (Dad and I brought potato chips. 2 kinds: garlic, and BBQ), other people had alcohol (I can't drink alcohol because of my meds mainly), watched some weird and interesting youtube videos, and chatted. It was a bit sad that the person who invited me on facebook was sick and couldn't really attend. There weren't that many people there, but that can be nice in its own way, too.

During that day, Dad and I went to go get costumes at 2 local stores. I wanted to be a unicorn, but nothing seemed to work with it. One place had a weird light-up unicorn horn, and the closest the other place had were My Little Pony things. Not really enough.Dad wanted to be a pirate wench, but nothing seemed to fit. Kind of threw us both off. I looked around to get some more ideas for a costume at the last place, and landed in the cat section. 

After looking in that section for a while, I decided to be a punk-like cat.Found some black cat ears that had a lot of different studs on the inside part of the ears. On a corner of one of the ears there are small chains hanging off of it. A pair of black fuzzy fingerless gloves, as well. They have silvery paw pads in the palm area. Although, they seem to be slightly off-center. They're nice and cozy. A black choker with silver studs/spikes around the band, and a silver heart that hangs from it. So, it's like a collar. I was surprised it fit. In fact, I could have it on the tightest part and it'll probably still be fine. A black 'fancy' cat tail that has a glittery pom-pom at the end. It has some sort of joint inside, so you can move it around. So, you can show more emotion with it. It's nice and long, too. Kind of bounces as I walk. And, finally a small black eye mask, that apparently didn't fit. Or, more accurately, the elastic band was placed so oddly, I can't figure out how to really unravel it enough to put it over my head. Although, I don't know if it's supposed to be double banded...That would be for an awfully small head.I'll check it out again for Halloween. I kind of like it without the mask now, too. But, if I can figure the mask out and it actually fits, I can use it for future costumes. It's the only thing that didn't 'fit'. 

I wore those accessories with my black short sleeved v-neck sweater. It's the longest sleeved black shirt I have. The sleeves are actually now close to halfway down my arms. They used to be (before I lost so much weight) half as long, the rest of it used to be smaller on me, too. It looks the most fur-like, too. Also, wore my black pants. They've gotten rather baggy on me, too. The sweater and pants are actually 2 different shades of black. The sweater being slightly lighter. But, cats can have different shades/colors in their fur, so it still goes with it. I wore my black tights under that. I'm really not used to wearing tights anymore. These were actually slightly big on me. I wore my black flats for the shoes. They kind of have a nice ruche pattern. Dad had found a witch's dress (I think) we had at home to wear. It might be different on Halloween though. Don't know. 

I think I might wear nail polish with that outfit on Halloween. I have a duo nail polish thing where one side is a very dark purple (almost black) color, and the other side has confetti. The confetti has some bigger pieces than the glitter stuff. It's called Nail Art: Moon Candy. It'll be like I have shiny claws. Last time I did this nail polish, I didn't wait long enough for the dark purple part to dry before I put the confetti stuff on. It was kind of a mess.So, we'll see how that turns out this time.

We've been invited to friends of the family's wedding anniversary party on Halloween. I think it's a costume party, but can't seem to find the paper version of the invitation to double check.The email didn't say much. I just know that they needed to know how many people were coming beforehand, because it's going to be catered. Sounds fancier than what I originally thought, but it is a big thing. At the very least for celebrating their anniversary. I'm not even sure if it'll actually be at their place. We usually go to their place for Thanksgiving, occasionally a night of Hanukkah, New Year's Eve, and a Passover seder. I guess I'll find out more later. I'll try to take or have someone take pics of me in costume. Most of the time, I'm cool with having my pic taken if I'm in a costume I like on Halloween. It's different the rest of the year. Also, a week after that is my birthday!Yay!

I've gotten back to my sit-ups for the last couple of weeks. This week I'm doing 20 of them twice a day. Hope to get back to my walks, too. It'd be great if I can do the 3 2-mile walks a day. But, I'd be fine with getting my usual 2 in. 

Finished watching Rurouni Kenshin. The last episode was kind of a waste.They kept teasing the fans throughout it. They put real life pics in the background occasionally. That looked a bit bizarre. The last story arc was a bit disappointing, too. Someone commented that there's an OVA that is truly the ending. Like I mentioned last time, I'll go through all the movies and OVAs, as well. The live-action movies should be very interesting. I've heard all 3 of them are considered some of the best anime/manga to live-action movies. It can be difficult to pull off.

I colored in the skull and candle drawing I did for my cover art in Photoshop. Also, figured out a background color and effect. I still want to color the drawing manually with colored pencils. Just to compare the Photoshop version with it. I might make 2 different cover arts for it. One with the colored pencils, and the other with the Photoshop one. Also, to compare to see which is best. I have somewhat of an idea for the title's font and its color. Hopefully, it'll be as clear and as neat possible. So, people can be drawn to it. 

Hopefully, I'll get to posting here more often again.I translated more of part of a You Maga article recently. It's about info for Japanese families that are living in the US. Many have questions about the school system, health care, etc. It's been interesting so far. Sounded better than I expected when I played my clarinet recently. Studied some kanji and quizzed myself on JapaneseClass' recently, as well. 

Read a lot more of Day of Atonement by Faye Kellerman. It's been interesting so far. I have a feeling that the killer or the people he's mentoring are about to kill a little kid that went missing. I don't want that to happen, but it's looking like that. Also, Peter found out that his mother is a friend of Rina's ex-husband's family. It's the first time he's seen her. He was adopted at birth, and he searched for her for years, but gave up. He thought she hated him, and apparently she thought he hated her. So, both of them thought it was a lost cause. She was only 15 when she had him, and she said her true love was his father. But, her father didn't like their relationship, and gave her an ultimatum. So, she left him behind. He later died. When he died, all his religious books and most of his belongings were sent to Peter. He hadn't met him yet, but was about to. When his mother first saw him, she passed out. Peter dropped the plate of food he had and just froze staring at her. He now knows he has half-siblings. That part has been very interesting. 

Youtube:
A Fairy Tail amv based on the current arc (which has been pretty epic):

Another hilarious Gintama amv:

A cool Kekkai Sensen amv:

2 more Gintama amvs (the last one shows the serious side of the show):