5th of Tishri

This is my wallpaper for October. It's Gilbert or Gil, who's sometimes referred to as Raven (because of his 'chain'), from Pandora Hearts. This seemed Halloween-like. Pandora Hearts as a series fits well with the holiday. It's loosely based on Alice and Wonderland, complex, some horror, and very dark. The anime didn't really do it justice. I might switch it to something else halfway through the month. 

The month-long holidays for October are: National Apple Month, National Caramel Month, National Pasta Month, National Pretzel Month, Bat Appreciation Month, LGBTQ+ History Month, German-American Heritage Month, National Cookbook Month, Spinach Lovers Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun.

Rosh Hashanah was Sunday night until Tuesday night. It was our New Year (lit. translated to Head [of] the Year), and the first month is Tishri. For RH, we eat honey and sweet things for a sweet year. We eat round challah (an egg bread), which has many meanings. One of them that I like is that it represents the life cycle. Time isn't truly linear in Judaism. Instead, it goes in cycles. We're just starting another one. There are also things like Tu B'Shevat which is the New Year for the Trees. There are technically 4 'New Years', but RH is the main one. I 'attended' the 1st night and 1st morning/afternoon services online. Central Synagogue in NYC live-streamed it all, like their Shabbat ones. It's also the start of the High Holy Days or Days of Awe. That goes for 10 days, and ends with Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement. During those 10 days, it's supposed to be a time of deep introspection, asking forgiveness, how we can better ourselves and the community, and more. The day after RH ends is a minor fast day called the Fast of Gedaliah. I've never observed it, and can't even if I wanted to. I did eat less than usual on Wednesday, though. Some people think it's a warm-up fast day for YK, but it's really remembering the assassination of Gedaliah, who was a governor of Judah. YK is considered to be the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar. It's considered the Shabbat of Shabats. (Shabbat being our day of rest.) We're supposed to fast from sunset to sunset. 25 hours. It doesn't just mean no food, but also no drinks, gum, etc. I can't fast because of my meds and colitis. They say if it'll harm your health, it'll be a sin if you do so anyways. I still feel guilty about it almost every year. Children are also exempt from fasting. 

The elements calendar features copper this time. There's a mini periodic table made out of pure copper, copper in bullion form, a weave chain made out of wired copper, and a brass, which is a copper alloy, ring. It's a very useful element. 

I looked at the test results that recently came back. The x-rays appeared normal. Even though my hands certainly don't seem normal. The lumps are soft tissue-based then, which is better than them being something like calcium deposits. My fingers look more twisted, but they said it looked fine in the x-ray...Pretty much everything but one test came back as normal or negative. The ANCA titer was a strong positive. They said the pattern may suggest 2 rare diseases, but other aspects might go along with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), and a couple of other autoimmune diseases. He did warn me that it might pick up on my colitis and be positive that way. The scleroderma blood test noted that getting a negative result doesn't necessarily rule it out. ~20% of patients with scleroderma have positive results for that one. That seems like a small amount. They suggested other tests to try. I'm thinking of asking about those in an email to my rheumatologist. I still haven't made a dermatology appointment, and they might order more tests. My rheum. told me depending on the results, my next office appointment with him would be in 6 months. If the scleroderma test had come back positive, he would have made a phone appointment. He also briefly mentioned lupus and how he didn't want to start treatment for that before they tested for other things. I don't think that's what it is, but at least he seems to be trying to help me. Hopefully, he'll agree to running those other tests.

I've also been getting weird red fluid filled sacs in my mouth. They're not particularly painful, but annoying and a little off-putting. One of the most recent ones showed up right next to where the jaws hinge together in my right cheek. Really far back there. I thought it was a wad of food or something. That's kind of kept me from enjoying food, and deciding to eat less on Wednesday. Most of the time those sacs show up on my lip. The area inside that rubs against my teeth. They end up popping after a while (probably from the rubbing), letting out stuff, and leaving behind craters. I don't think the one near my jaws has popped yet. Although, it does taste weird sometimes. 

I apparently am going to be a social media and camera person for the local trans group. I'm going to create Instagram and twitter accounts for the group. They already have 2 facebook groups. 1 public page, and 1 secret group. Those are essentially covered. There are admins and mods there, and quite a few active people. We just don't have any other social media presence. Not everyone uses facebook. We can't even access the old website, for a variety of reasons. One of the facilitators is going to create a group email account, then I'll create the Instragram and twitter accounts with that. Nice I won't have to use my personal email. I'll also ask members of the secret group on fb, once I've created those other accounts, if they have other social media suggestions. I think these are the main 3 that are the most popular, but I'd still want input. I'll create an image for Instagram to share every time we have a meeting coming up, and maybe one for when the facilitators won't be available (that's rare). With twitter, I could just type that out. I'll create images for events and other announcements, too. I can take pics of the group at special events, like Pride or ones that we create, and post them to those accounts. Of course, I'll ask people before I take the pics if they're cool with being in them. That's important. We could have a record of what the group has participated in this way. I'm thinking of also posting things that are trans related, possibly memes and articles, there as well. That way those accounts can still seem active. We only have 2 or 3 meetings a month. It might be nice to see things in between. I love taking pics, and since I'll be taking them, I might not be in a lot of them. I'm happy with that. Oh and I'll mention if people want the location, they'll have to pm those accounts. It's a safety issue if the exact address is listed publicly. We might need to change to a different room anyways, since a class was meeting Wednesday night in our room at that time. We thought it was cleared up already, but they might need to be 'reminded' every quarter. It's at a college currently. 

Finished watching Kimetsu no Yaiba. The animation was amazing! Apparently, the next story arc will be a movie. They ended it with them making it on a train for their next mission. Only Zenitsu knew what a train was. It takes place during the Taisho period (1912-1926). Tanjirou grew up in the mountains and Inosuke is used to living in the forests. So, of course they aren't going to know much about it. Inosuke thought it was some sort of demon and tried to attack it as soon as he saw it. It's interesting that they sneak in some of the modernization and cultural shifts that were going on at the time. Hopefully, there will be another actual season after that. There were a lot of twists and turns. 

Finished watching the last season of Fairy Tail. It was ok. Somehow the last season didn't seem as great as the previous ones. Fairy Tail's manga started in 2006 and ended in 2017. The anime started in 2009. It's had a lot of breaks between seasons. A lot of people thought the last battle ended too soon and too easily. However, Natsu had the power of all the dragon slayers against that final villain. That was a huge power-up. Some made fun of it because the magic coming off of him at that point was rainbow colored. Saying it was too 'gay' or something. I don't mind the idea of LGBTQ+ community defeating the most powerful villain...I'm surprised they didn't say it looked more like a Power Rangers thing. People also didn't like the idea of friendship giving them boosts. Like friendship is magic. As corny as it sounds, I like that, though. I felt that they considered the guild members as family, not just friends. In fact, the series mentioned that numerous times. That's a stronger type of bond to me. Many fans were pissed off that Natsu and Lucy didn't kiss at the end. I have a feeling Natsu might be aro ace. Lucy obviously isn't. She expected him to kiss her at the end, too. Instead he said that they'll be best friends forever. That was pretty awesome in my view. Many stories that have a boy and girl as protagonists make them end up as a romantic couple. This was a good break from that. They seemed to hint at another season at the end. Even though this was supposed to be it. I don't think I'll watch it if there is.

Finished watching Darr Sabko Lagta Hai or Everybody Feels Fear on Netflix. I liked it overall. Some of it was overacted, corny, and low-budget. Some of the stories were based on Hindu mythology, and others on Indian culture in general. That was really interesting. The 'scariness' was more psychological. Each episode ended with an uneasiness and hints the story never actually ended. I thought that was a smart way of doing it. The last story was the goriest and most brutal. I didn't like that one as much as the others. 

Started watching the 2nd season of Radiant and Ascendance of a Bookworm. I still find it interesting that Radiant is an adaptation of a French manga. There are hints of French culture, history, and humor in it. Ascendance of a Bookworm is another isekai (different world) anime. This genre seems to just be getting more popular every season. It's about a librarian who absolutely loves books. She died one day, but as she was about to she begged that in her next life she'd be able to read all the books she wanted to. Reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode where a man who loves books ends up in a post-apocalyptic world with just books around him, however his glasses break. So, he can't read any of them. She woke up to find that she was reincarnated as a frail little girl. In their world, there are no book stores. Only the very rich can afford books. Each copy is made by hand. Very similar to what it was like before the printing press in our world. Most people in theirs are illiterate. The only thing they can read are numbers for things like prices. She did find one book, but the shopkeeper wouldn't let her touch it. It was too valuable and her reaction was too suspicious. She's decided to write and make her own books instead. Haven't gotten to it, but apparently she has some sort of magical powers in that world. I tried another isekai yesterday, but couldn't stand more than 5 minutes of it. 

Started watching The Truth Seekers on Netflix. It's a Singaporean detective drama, mainly in Mandarin (there's a little English and Japanese). It's aka Cold Case Investigators. Bai Qingxiong, a veteran cop, creates a detective agency that specializes in solving cold cases. He was tired of not bringing closure to the families of the victims in such cases. At the moment, they meet at a Japanese restaurant that his wife owns. Looking at the opening, it seems like they might get an actual place for it eventually. Each case might affect them personally. In this first one, one of the detectives, Huang Yuyang, was in a relationship with the main suspect briefly. That main suspect was actually the one that hired them to solve the case. I guessed right on who the real killer was. Yay! It looks like the main suspect from that case (he wasn't the killer) will join them. A couple of the actors look familiar. I haven't watched too many Singaporean dramas, but I looked up one of the actors and he was in Against the Tide. It'd make sense that I'd remember him since he played a main character.

Youtube:

One Piece:


Dr. Stone:

Kimetsu no Yaiba:

25th of Iyar

Went to the local trans group meeting last night. There wasn't much of a turnout. I think there were 4 of us. One of them was there as a speaker to talk about their group called TARP or Trans Advocacy in Rural Places. They're based in Seattle, but travel around the state. I think he is the founder of it. It basically educates trans people living in rural communities in Washington state on their legal/civil rights, support, advocacy, professional training, support for documents (like letters for certain surgeries), etc. They sound like a good resource. The handout was pretty detailed on a lot of things. 

They mention changing the gender marker to x with certain documents. X being used by some states (including Washington state) as a generalized marker for non-binary people. I'm glad some have something now. They don't in the state I was born in, Kentucky. So, I can't add it to my birth certificate, which is sad. There are some enby people that don't like it, because that's technically not their gender. It's an umbrella term. Someone has suggested a fill-in 'other' blank space. If it was specific, I'd probably have an A as my marker. It does seem odd that people who are binary can be specific about who they are, but enby people can't. It's considered too 'complex'. Still, I find having the x is better than having to choose between 2 things I'm definitely not. To simplify it, I can see why they'd want one letter for the 'others'. Maybe there should be a fill-in option if there has to be anything. Normally, the 5th Wednesday is a potluck and/or movie night. We didn't know how many people would be there, though. 

Went to Shari's afterwards. It was just my parent and I this time. Normally, it's an after group social thing. That's ok. Not many people went this time. My dysphagia has gotten bad enough lately that I'm weary towards eating. So, I tried to have something soft and easy to eat. I think in the future I'm going to try to be better about eating a certain way, so it'd be easier to handle. I got their pancake combo with scrambled eggs and hash browns as sides. Had the pancakes without butter (I hate having a huge mound of unmelted butter on my pancakes) and with syrup on the side. It was pretty good. The hash browns gave me a little trouble, but weren't bad. I have to remember to cut things into smaller pieces, especially with things like pancakes. Got a slice of their special pie of the month: butterscotch. It's amazing! It has a chocolate crust, maple flavor layer over that, butterscotch pudding on top of that, whipped cream, and a sprinkling of shaved chocolate. Since it was a cream pie, I thought it'd be easier than the other pies. I think it was. The filling seems like the consistency that they suggest meals should be for people with severe dysphagia. It should be like a thick milkshake or pudding. I hope it doesn't get to the point where I'd have to eat like that for every meal. (Mine's definitely not severe.) They use the blender a lot, and there's a special thickening powder specifically for people with dysphagia that also is high in calories and nutrients. Many people lose weight and have a low appetite, so it's easier for them to get what they need nutritionally with what little they can manage if they mix that in their meals. 

I got an im this morning that had a voicemail (not from the actual person, just something they shared) that was basically meant to be uplifting and empowering. The sentiment was great. The way it was worded was not. It was aimed at Christian women. Referring to people as sis, mentioning that Jesus is with you, and that G-d is within you (I think...). It was bizarre to me. I'm not a woman and I'm not Christian. There is no Jesus in Judaism, and our views of G-d are different. So much going on there. I know the person who sent it didn't do it in a malicious way, but it sure didn't change the way I felt about it. We later talked about it and she apologized and didn't mean to be offensive. For some reason 'offensive' is not really the word I'd use for it. Offensive would be using derogatory words, maliciousness, and essentially going out of your way about it. That wasn't it. I don't particularly like being misgendered. That's worse than the religious part. I think I've been desensitized to that sort of thing. However, the closest example (for the misgendering) I have is how would a man like that sort of message if it was sent to him? Would he feel ok with it referring to him as a woman? Using language like: "Hey sis!" It was just ignorance. It's cool if you understand and correct yourself in the future. How are people that mean well going to understand if no one tells them in the first place? I like to take that stance with a lot of things. 

So much of my hair's coming out, I dread washing and styling it now. If I don't, it just collects and sheds more. I know that if it's going to come out, it will whether I wash it or not...It's still scary, though. Found some bald spots today. They're bigger than I expected. Luckily, I have longer hair covering them up right now. They're still not visible unless you lift that hair up. Not sure how long it'll be until it fully comes out at this rate. 

Started Duolingo's Dutch course. It seems much easier than I expected so far. It seems like they use the gutteral 'ch' sound more than in German. I think it's similar to how often it's used in Hebrew. They write it as a 'g' instead. It's been a little difficult remembering that. Like good in Dutch is goed. It's pronounced like choot. (Again, ch being like the ending of Bach for those that don't know.) Quite a bit different. Apparently, oe is like oo in English, but oo in Dutch is like oh in English. That's another thing to keep straight. I was having trouble pronouncing hij, which is he in English, until I looked more into it. Ij is pronounced like ei or ay. So, hij sounds like hay. Ever since then I've gotten the pronunciation right for words with ij in them. I have to think a little differently with it. I like that they have speaking exercises. That's helped a lot.

Started watching the 2nd season of The Rain on Netflix. It's a Danish show. Basically, the rain has a virus in it that's lethal almost on contact. It's a bit more complicated, but it's the gist. There's a group of survivors trying to make it to Sweden, thinking it's better over there. The 'rain' has impacted most of Scandinavia. We don't know about Sweden yet. Some of it's pretty outlandish, but it's good. 

Youtube:

Fairy Tail:


Boku no (My) Hero Academia:

Mix:

One Piece:

National Popcorn Day!

This holiday is actually on Saturday, but I won't be blogging that day. I miss having popcorn so much! It's one of my major trigger foods. It's a common one among IBD patients. If I have it, my belly bloats up with so much gas, I look either like I'm pregnant or swallowed a beach ball. Like many things, it also triggers intestinal cramps, abdominal pain, and more. It's pretty bad for me. Diet for us is mainly about managing these symptoms and trying to prevent them, or at least lessen how often they happen. It has nothing to do with the disease itself, just the byproduct of it essentially. I loved kettle corn. It's popcorn tossed in sugar, salt, and oil. It was one of my faves. So was caramel popcorn. There's a big variety out there. I never was really into eating it at a movie theater. I was more into the movie than eating things. (Tend to eat candy or something before the movie starts.) Plain popcorn is also low in calories. For other people (those who don't have IBD), it's rather healthy. 

There was just my parent, another facilitator, and I at the meeting last night. Not really a meeting. It was nice to talk casually for a bit, though. That other person gave my parent a 'half-birthday' present. She talked about making it last time. She made oatmeal mincemeat (filling for the pie, no actual meat) cookies. There was also homemade mincemeat filling (I think). One of my parent's fave pies is mincemeat pie. It was really nice of her. Pretty tasty, too. 

It was just my parent and I at Shari's afterwards this time. I had biscuits and fruit for my 'snack' part. There was a lot fruit, and even though my teeth aren't hurting as much because of that toothpaste, it was too cold for me. I had a few pieces. It was a cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and orange mix. I think it's seasonal. In the past, it's had grapes and strawberries. The biscuits were great. The raspberry jam was even better. Almost felt like drinking it...For dessert, I had carrot cake. It's super popular, and usually they've run out of it by the time I order it. So, that was a nice surprise. It has one of the lowest calorie count of their desserts. The slice is rather small, too. I was going to have something more substantial, since I wanted it to be a 'treat' meal like my weekend treat days. Didn't feel like much else, though. Maybe next time.

Finished the Subj. Per. unit for Italian on Duolingo. Only 5 more units to go. Tried to outline Shadow's hand better. Next time, I'll look closer at examples. Practiced my clarinet. Played Irish tunes. Seemed better than last time. Got to editing Alliance, too. Managed to get a walk in. This time I did the 2nd loop like yesterday, but the direction I would normally go. It was drizzling out. Not enough to bring my new umbrella. It was cold out, again. 

Read more of Helck. It kind of hurt to see Asuta being tortured so much. However, she's a spy. She acted like she couldn't stand it to get intel, and get her torturer close enough to attack him and take the keys. She's smart and tough. She's been trained in how to get out of worse. It was great to see her get to him. It shocked and terrified him so much that he passed out. 

10th of Shevat

Almost through with the Subj. Per. unit for Italian. Next one's Business. Tried to outline Shadow's other hand. It's in such a pose, it's more difficult to get down. I'll get it eventually, though. Practiced my clarinet. Played Irish tunes this time. Got as much editing of Alliance done as yesterday. Not too bad. 

Read more of Choujin Gakuen or Supernatural School. A lot of things were revealed this time. They bring up often and poke fun (lightheartedly) at Higan's family situation sometimes. It's been so stressful, he's going bald. His wife divorced him suddenly, and he lost custody of his daughter. He's a cyborg. We finally were introduced to his wife. She's the Prime Minister of Japan. She creates cyborgs, which makes me think she created him. That's kind of...twisted. She seems like a cruel person, too. My guess is she also created Yoshino. They also revealed who the Wisdom Emperor is. Someone that was played off as an extra that Adam occasionally asked for help from. He doesn't serve food, but Adam would always go to his shop and ask him for some along with advice. He'd object, but still give him food. Seemed like an odd relationship. The Wisdom Emperor is considered one of the most powerful characters in their world. More powerful than the demon king. When he was talking to someone else later, he said he owed Adam. Why would he owe him anything? Interesting.

There's a local trans meeting tonight. I decided that my 'walk' for the day will be walking from the car to group and back, then walking from the car to Shari's and back. It'd be something. Hopefully, there's a good amount of people there. I also decided recently that I'll allow myself to have whatever and however much I want when I go to Shari's after group. It'll be like a 'treat' meal, in addition to my weekend treat days. I only go there twice a month. So, it's not often. This way I won't be pressured into having just little bits of things. I'm looking forward to it. 

Black Clover just had a recap episode of what's known of the Midnight Sun. It actually was good to see all of it put together like that. There were some things I forgot. They shouldn't have spent much time on the current stuff, though. 

One Piece had another intense episode. The only thing bad about it was Luffy's fight with Katakuri seems to be really dragging on. He's technically been fighting for several months of episodes now. It's just starting to look like there's an end in sight. I get that they're essentially on equal footing and that's one reason why it feels like it's agonizingly slow. Actually, seems more real this way, and Katakuri's a unique opponent. Katakuri was pissed off that one of his sisters shot Luffy in the leg with a silent paralyzing dart (not sure if it's poisoned). Luffy couldn't react in time, his leg gave out under him, and Katakuri stabbed him with his trident through his abdomen. He wondered why Luffy didn't just dodge it in time, considering he's able to predict his moves now. Once he found out, he stabbed himself with his trident, threw his scarf and trident on the ground, and turned it into a fist fight. He felt his honor was tainted and wanted to have a fair fight with him. I like how they both used King's (I think that's the one) Haki, which made his sister and her minions pass out. Took out the interlopers. Smoothie seems to be catching up with the Straw Hats on their ship. However, I have a feeling she's going to get so big, she'll break her own ship. She can't swim, since she's a devil fruit eater. Her ability seems scary. She can squeeze (or slash with her sword) the essence out of people into a liquid, mummifying them at the same time. If she drinks it, she gets bigger and more powerful. I hope she crashes. Big Mom will soon eat the wedding cake Sanji and the other chefs made. Supposedly it's so good, people pass out just from smelling it. She goes on rampages when she has hunger pangs. She won't stop until she gets exactly what she's craving. This time it's that cake. The original was ruined by the Straw Hats and Bege's crew.  

Girl Scouts' Birthday

I was in Girl Scouts for a while. A Brownie and then Junior. I still have both vests. Even though I wasn't really a girl, I really enjoyed being in it. (I didn't know I was agender when I joined.) You could choose not to do the supposed 'girly' stuff, which is a plus to some. I learned a lot through them. I tried to get as many badges as I could, so both vests are pretty full. The only thing I didn't like was some of the 'religious' aspects. They started almost every meeting with a prayer, and we did 'holiday' projects. (As in Christmas and Easter stuff.) I think they're different now. They tried to 'accommodate' me by telling me to say Jewish prayers and sit out for those holiday projects. Didn't really feel right. More like isolating to me, and missed the point with people who weren't Christian. What would they tell an atheist who wasn't apart of any religion? They didn't get it. I loved camping with them, and we went to an awesome all day and sleepover event at the science center. A lot of good memories. Today celebrates the day in 1912 that the first Girl Scout group (with 18 girls) officially was registered in Savannah, Georgia. 

I finally embedded Alliance: Dawn and More Than Meets the Eye's Amazon previews on the right hand side of this blog. It's interesting to see all 4 books together like this. If you're on the mobile version, you won't see it. You have to switch to the web version for it. At least people could still see it on their phones. The previews have samples of each. I can only embed their ebook versions. Maybe after I get the next 2 published I'll create a page and move them there. Or, move other things. Otherwise it's going to get much more crowded. 

There was a local trans group meeting last Wednesday. We were doing a clothing exchange. There were a lot of clothes that the group has already collected. We don't have a permanent place for them, which makes it difficult for the person who currently has them. I thought there would be more people. It was about 7 this time. I wanted to look at both the masculine and feminine things. I think I might like some masculine things, but haven't really explored. I know I like a lot of feminine stuff. I think my ideal 'expression' might be a mix of the 2. That would be fun, and I can mess with others. One of the members knew about this, and really wanted me to look at the men's cologne. I'm not much of a perfume/cologne person. Plus, my skin is very sensitive so it's a little iffy with me. I used to wear a 'women's' cologne called Ambush. They stopped selling it locally years ago. The smell was great. Not really that flowery, or seemingly feminine. More spicy (I guess?) and had a slight citrusy thing going on. Hard to describe. It was one of the best, though. I also loved my grandpa's cologne as a kid. Not sure if he uses it anymore, but it was Old Spice. I could try that in the future. The colognes I looked at were different, and one was way too strong. 

I only found one thing there. A thick and long velvety skirt. I can't wear most normal-length skirts because my legs are so short. They end up dragging on the floor. Sad, because I like long skirts. This ends right at my ankles, which was good. I like velvety skirts, too. Haven't had one in a while. It has a nice downplayed floral print, and is a dark brown (almost black) color. The only problem is that it's a little too big around the waist. I'll have to pin it. It's fraying a little in the waistband, and there are no tags for size and cleaning. Still, not bad considering. 

What we wanted to do for Pride in July came up. Of course we wanted a booth. I came up with the idea at the end for having a clothing exchange there, too. We could get rid of more of it, and might reach more people. They thought it was a good idea. I was unsure of it at first, just thought I'd put it out there. I'm glad they thought it was a good.

Finished drawing those wings I mentioned in an earlier post. They're not bad considering I haven't really drawn in a while, I'm not used to drawing wings, and not used to different perspectives. It was good practice. The first set of wings weren't as good as the other 2. Or, at least, I didn't like the style as much. I tend to like to draw a lot of detailed and tiny things. I put too much detail in that one. I might take a pic of them tomorrow and post it to Instagram. Then, scan the drawings, clean them up a bit, and post that version on deviantArt. Since it's more of an art place to me, might be good to put a 'clean' version up. I don't know. Depending on the pic, I might post that to dA, too. Their app isn't great, but easy to submit things quickly. I'm unsure if I'll post all my future drawings on Instagram, too. It'd be interesting to see what another audience thinks of them. So far the only drawing I've shared there was the identity one. The one with an ace flag in the background, a heart in the aro flag colors on top of it, and the agender symbol in black on top of that. People seemed to like it on there.

8th of Tishri 5778

Rosh Hashanah or our New Year started on the night of the 20th, and ended the night of the 22nd. The 2nd day is usually not as big. Many people don't go or even have services that day. I think I only 'attended' the first evening and first day's services online. It was with Central Synagogue in NYC. I liked most of it. There were a couple of weird songs in English that I skipped over. It still feels weird to have so many rabbis and cantors leading, a choir, and an organ playing in the background. The drash (sermon) during the evening and the one in the morning were both great. The retired cantor that volunteered to help, was amazing. His voice was so soulful, and somewhat in a more traditional style. I think he did the same thing last year, and it was just as great. 

Tomorrow night's the start of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. One of the holiest days of the year for us. Like usual, Shabbat starts that night, too. Yom Kippur is sometimes referred to as the Shabbat of Shabbats. So, it's even more so this way? I'll attend Central Synagogue's online services again for it. Most people are told to fast during the holiday. Can't have food, water, gum, etc. The ones who are exempt from that are little kids, people who are pregnant, the elderly, and those with health conditions. If these people do fast, it's as though they sinned. Just like it would be for someone who eats when they aren't exempt from it. I have to eat something with my meds, food helps regulate it as well, and it's not good to fast when you have colitis (unless a medical professional instructs you to). I still feel guilty that I have to eat during that day. 

I'm up to 205 pages, altogether, with writing the sequel to Alliance and the memoir. (100 for the sequel, 105 for the memoir.) It's roughly twice that for paperback versions. Yay! That's good considering I started writing both in mid-May. I also didn't write for a few weeks, because it was so hot (not good to have my desktop computer on in the hottest room of the house) and I was sick. I wrote about half as many pages the first month, and for a while didn't write on Sundays. (The only day I don't write is on Saturdays, before it was both days.) It's the first time I'm writing two books at once, and I'm progressing much faster than I did for the other two books. (Alliance took the longest...) I wonder how much longer it'll take me to finish both? Not sure if one will be longer than the other. There's also the editing and reformatting...Still, it's exciting. It's a milestone for me.

I like how both books are turning out so far. The sequel has been unpredictable, but still follows the plot well. A little too well at times...Things that seemed unrelated are coming together. Makes it more fun and interesting. I'm remembering more parts of my life than I thought with the memoir. The topics for chapters have worked well for it. I'm in the midst of writing the physical health chapter. It's already longer than I thought it would be.

The non-binary facebook group I'm apart of has been interesting. I might look for a more active one in future, though. Most of the posts have also been intros and selfies. Not really much to them. One topic that came up was being non-binary and sexual/romantic attractions. If you had sexual/romantic attraction, what word would you use to describe it if you're not binary? Like, could someone be gay or straight if they weren't binary? This can be slightly controversial. Some people said they go by the 'genitals' that might interest them sexually. If they're afab (assigned female at birth) and are attracted to women, they'd call themselves lesbian. Similar with amab (assigned male at birth), and attracted to men feeling they're gay this way. Or, with afabs attracted to men, being straight. (And, vice a versa.) This can be a bit problematic on many fronts. Would trans men or women be included in this even if they might not have the 'matching' genitals? Why reduce it down to genitals? It seems so cold. Also, the non-binary person themselves is not a man or woman...Many non-binary people take issue with this. Many use the labels androsexual (or androromantic), gynesexual (or gyneromantic), and skoliosexual (or skolioromantic). That's sexually/romantically attracted to men, sexually/romantically attracted women, and sexually/romantically attracted to non-binary people. It seems better to me. Skoliosexual can be a bit controversial outside of the community. Since it's hard to tell until they tell you, and non-binary people might congregate together more...It still sounds complicated. I'm glad I'm aro ace. I don't have to deal with that. Also, with the strongest attraction I do feel, platonic (it's different than being 'just' friends...), I'm pan. I'm attracted to people this way regardless of gender. It's good to know for qpr's or queer (or quasi-) platonic relationships, which I would love to be in. So, even with this attraction I don't need to think of the right label. It's already applicable to me. I'm attracted to men aesthetically, though. This way, I guess, it'd be andro-. Hardly use that sort of attraction, though. It's not as important to me. 

Another topic that came up recently was in a comment to a post. They told the person they aren't trans. They're non-binary. They went into this weird thing about how we don't have gender dysphoria, and don't need surgeries. Apparently, there isn't 'treatment' for us, too. There was so much wrong with their comment and many people jumped in to correct them, including me. We are under the trans umbrella. Trans just means you identify as a gender that's different than the one you were assigned at birth. That boils down to anyone who isn't cis. Sure, some non-binary people might feel uncomfortable with being under the trans umbrella, and not identify with that community. That's completely up to them, but they don't speak for the community. 

I'm afab (it feels like it should be 'was', but I've only heard it as 'am'), and agender. I'm not a woman (and never was, although sex is different), therefore by definition I'm trans. It took me a little while to realize this, though. For a while I thought trans people were binary. They had to be transitioning in some way, too. This was wrong. I remember reading that the person who came up with the trans flag, made a point in saying the white stripe represented non-binary identities. This made me feel a bit better about it. I just mostly see binary trans people at trans meetings and events, so it's easy to feel like you don't belong this way. 

Many non-binary people experience gender dysphoria, and some binary trans people don't. I mentioned recently on here about how I feel about my breasts. I think I'm dysphoric about them. They don't feel right, and weird me out sometimes. I don't feel it as bad as some people I've read about, but I think it's there. Some people who are afab and agender, want mastectomies. Some I've read want their...downstairs...to be smoothed out surgically, too. (Don't know what that's called.) That seems unique to agender people. Maybe some androgynous people do as well? There are specific ways that non-binary people can transition. I'm just starting to learn about it. It's fascinating, even if I don't go that route. 

By the way, I noticed that comment was eventually deleted, and the person might have been banned. They're very strict about the rules. They don't even allow allies. Especially, not cis people. They have a separate group that allows allies. Both binary trans people and cis people. There was a cis person that made it into the group that's an exclusive space for us, and she complained about people negatively posting about cis people. The thing is many people have been semi positive about cis people. There are some that, understandably, vent at length about cis people. They need this sort of outlet, and to talk to people that understand. So, she immediately was attacked by lots of people. A few mods stepped in, suggesting the other group. She proclaimed that she'll quit the group since we hate our allies so much. It was strange. If you're an ally, you have to realize people are angry about how they're treated. They don't hate you specifically. They hate the system, the world is set up for binary people, and it seems most cis people are against or at least think they can debate our very existence. They understand binary trans people more than non-binary ones. So, you can see how this can affect the community. Even some binary trans people try to invalidate our existence, yet they're just a very small vocal minority. 

Rosie recently went to the vet's for a check-up. She hadn't had one for 5 years. Basically since Mom passed away. She's the worst of all the cats we've had about getting into the carrier. (We thought Drifter was bad enough about it.) Dad managed to get her in after a major struggle. She threw up a little, pooped, and peed in the process. She was that scared. It was painful to watch. We think she may have been abused by her previous owners by making her stay in a carrier for far too long. She may have had to use it as a bathroom sometimes. Which might be why she claws at things after using the litter box. She may have tried to get out of a carrier once she did her business in it. That makes me feel worse somehow... 

Anyways, she's a little overweight, just like Tasha. So, the plan is for both of them to have weight loss cat food soon. Her teeth were unusually healthy for her age. She's about 9 or 10. We got her around my birthday in 2011. She's updated on her shots now. They clipped her nails, too. She felt better afterwards, and has become even more loving towards me which is kind of creepy in a way. Mostly nice, though. 

3rd of Av 5777

Rosh Chodesh Av was on the 24th. There's only 2 holidays during this month. One is a fast day and considered one of the saddest days. I might go into it more on or around that day. The other one is supposed to be one of the happiest days. 

A few days ago, I was selling a bunch of stuff I had accumulated on Gaia. I really needed to clean up my inventory, and it's a great way to make gold. I like to use their 'dumpster dive' to not only find interesting stuff, but to sell expensive things I don't want. It's kind of a 2-for-1 thing. A lot of that stuff people actually buy real money for, but you can get it for free (if you're lucky) or a gold amount on the market that has other users selling stuff. If you know the system, it's great. I always sell stuff just a little less than the lowest price it's being sold at. It helps a lot. I've been selling things pretty quickly, and have made about 6 billion gold in that amount of time. 

Anyways, someone pm'd me asking if I could lower the price of something by a lot. Not only do I try to go lower than the market is selling them, but I usually have the option as buy only. Once it is listed, I can't change the price. It's fixed. People can choose the options of bid, timed bid, barter, barter among their friends, etc. Those are more fluid. Plus, with lowering it by so far, I'd cheapen myself. It sold while I was asleep anyways. 

She later pm'd me asking to be my friend. Saying we had a lot in common. I thought: sure, I might as well. I don't really know them, and it'd be nice to have another friend on there. The first post of hers was super long. It looked like a wall of text. Me being someone who wants to get to know others more tried to respond with as much as I could. I either write very little or a lot, depending on who I'm talking to. With every post, hers seemed to get longer. I felt I don't have time for that sort of stuff. She also repeated herself word for word several times. Almost like she was copying and pasting. That seemed suspicious in itself.

She said she was 18, and joined Gaia when she was 10. Gaia doesn't let anyone join unless they're 13+. A lot of the stuff can be too much for kids younger than that. Even then, some of the items can be very mature. I've been surprised sometimes. She said she loved my blog, even though she just found me. Yes, my blog is listed on my profile, but she couldn't have had the time to read much of it. She went on and on about her depression. Don't get me wrong. I understand and am cool with talking about it, but at some point you should talk about something else...Also, bringing G-d into it felt strange.

I later looked at her profile. The background had warnings about 3rd party viewers or something. She had a HUGE wishlist. Took up about half of her profile. There wasn't much info on her. Oh, I think I tried to check her profile before we were friends, but only friends could see it. There wasn't really anything to hide...I looked at her forum posts, and noticed she was posting every single day for several hours at a time, and every minute during that in a giveaway thread. You can't post every minute on there. There's a time limit between posts that you can't post a thing until it's up. It's like 5 minutes each time. It's supposed to keep spammers away. Plus, that seems weird to me. I understand trying to get items that way, but that's overkill.

I think she was fishing for info from me. I only told her things I'm willing to share with most people. Not like I gave her my address. I'm glad I stopped responding after I realized, and blocked her. If she's reading this, and it was a real account, I'm sorry. It just seemed too fishy for me. Reading/writing that much every time, for a conversation, was a bit much. So, hopefully, I wont get an angry comment. At least, I'll be the only one who sees it (I have it set to moderate comments before publishing), and I can block her on here if need be.

Lately, I've been getting a lot of likes/follows for my Alliance fb page. That's been really cool. A couple are from the Philippines, one's British (they actually liked Sweet Endless Terror, too), one's from South Africa, and I think another one's Nigerian. All these in the last couple of weeks. Sounds like they're from all over. Makes it more interesting. 

I tried to make a meetup group for the local ace group. I went through the whole process of setting up an account for myself, then looked into making one. Apparently, it costs each month to make your own group on there. I could somewhat understand if we already had several members that were regulars offline, and we were taking dues or donations. The offline group hasn't been active, so there's no money for this sort of thing. That's kind of why I wanted to make a group on there in the first place. To get more members...I'll look into other sites that are similar but free in the future. I'm disappointed with meetup now.

I've kept up with writing both the sequel to Alliance and the memoir. I'm doing both each day now. I think I'm writing them about twice as fast as before this way. Makes me happy. Although, this means I essentially have to think twice as much while I write, too. Thinking about it while typing is the same as before, but then I have to think about the other one sooner. I'm trying to take a break between them, so I don't burn out. 

Recently, it seemed Netflix had completely wiped my list off. That list that is really long, but full of interesting international stuff. So, I decided to redownload it. It wouldn't except the password I had. A couple of days later, I tried it again with a slightly different password and got in. All of the things on my list were still there. Yay! I've decided that I might treat myself with a show of some sort after I finish writing for the day. Most recent ones I've started have been a Belgian detective show called The Break, and another Singaporean detective show called Against the Tide. Both have been surprisingly good. 

The Against the Tide one is about a famous mystery/fictional crime author. He's fascinated with psychology and studied a little of it in college. Apparently, in the current case, a murderer is copying everything from one of his books. There's also a psychologist who's helping with the case. Her client was killed. She seems like she's a main character. She finds criminals interesting, and tries to find out why they act the way they do. There are actual detectives, too. Ones a huge fan of the author, and the other seems like a real jerk. I hope they change that in the future. It loosely reminds me of Castle. I feel his look has a similar vibe to it, too. 

The Break seems to be about a detective who goes to extremes to get answers. No one else seemed to be into the current case. (Except for his partner.) They kept labeling it a suicide. One of the characters has a ton of Nazi memorabilia. He might be the culprit. They also keep flashing to the future where he's talking to a therapist, and he seems to be involuntarily stuck there. Something big happened. 

Finished watching Uchouten Kazoku 2 or The Eccentric Family 2. I ended up not liking Benten as much as before. She always had a dangerous side. She turned out to be bitchy, too. And, not in a good way. Yasaburou, one of the main tanuki brothers, was going to be cooked into a hotpot. Same thing happened to their father. He ended up being saved, and the humans in the Friday club that held that dinner annually, will most likely never be able to do it again. Yasaburou finally agreed to marrying Kaisei. She looks much younger than him. It seems a little weird that way. The only thing that kept him from agreeing was every time he'd see her, he'd transform from his human form back to his original tanuki form. In their culture, they say if this happens they're made for each other. He has an extreme case of it, though. It's usually not every time. The grandma was so cute. She was just a giant white ball of fluffy fur with a head that almost disappeared. She seemed to always be tired, and would take frequent naps. I think she lived in the forest. 

Youtube:

Kuroshitsuji (these are either just making fun of it in a lighthearted way, or making some already funny scenes even funnier):
Gintama:

International Non-Binary People's Day!

This holiday was on Friday. It's to celebrate non-binary people, what we contribute to the world, and awareness of the issues we face. The person who started it chose this day because it's right in between International Men's Day and International Women's Day. They found out that the date in numerology equals 3. So, another meaning for non-binary people. I think they mentioned that we're often lumped in with women, but we aren't women. Another way to refer to someone who's non-binary is nb or enby. I kind of like enby. It sounds cute. Also, the plural form is enbies, which is better than writing out or saying the whole 'non-binary people (or genders)' thing. There are so many more genders under this umbrella term. Agender people fall under it simply because we're neither man nor woman. We're still outside the binary. There are also other genders like genderfluid, demigender, bigender, pangender, and so much more. 

There are apparently subcategories under agender that I'm just starting to learn about. Really interesting stuff. Even with just looking at it from an anthropological standpoint, let alone for myself. I'm starting to watch more youtube vids and read more about enbies in general. I've also come across some nasty hate towards them. Not directed specifically at me, but I recently read an article by a TERF. TERFs are Trans-Esclusionary Radical Feminists, often shortened to rad-fem's. They aren't real feminists, and they're extremely hurtful to trans people in general. They think trans men are somehow betraying them, and trans women are 'forcing' their way into women's spaces. It gets a lot nastier. That's very mild compared to some of the horror stories I've read. 

Anyways, I hadn't read anything on how they view enbies specifically. It was really bizarre. It wasn't particularly nasty, but was quite rude and seemed to try and invalidate them. They used quotations every time they wrote out non-binary, trans, and other identities. (Made the article look even more messed up.) Saying that enbies make the "trans" community look bad. That the ones who were afab (assigned female at birth) are just confused. Like, they don't know there are many different types of women out there. Why not be a tomboy or something? They brought up how using they as a pronoun is grammatically incorrect. I've got news for them, it is correct. When you don't know someone's gender, people tend to use they without thinking. For example: Who are they? They wanted [something]. What are they doing? It's not hard. 

Genderqueer is essentially the same thing. It's just some people are uncomfortable with associating with the word queer. Totally understandable. I like the idea behind it (not using it as a slur), and reclaiming it. Many people use that word to describe the LGBTQ+ community, because it's easier than writing/saying the acronym. I recently heard another person say that maybe we should use Pride to refer to the community. I don't know...I like queer more. Although, if anyone from the community doesn't like me using that word around them, I won't use it around them. Oftentimes, people use non-binary in general instead of genderqueer. Although, I've seen people write/say both. Technically, we are all non-binary in the community. With genderqueer, I can see that it might be a bit confusing if people just see it. They might think: "What does this really mean?" So, maybe it's more of an in thing? Kind of confusing...

I went to our local Pride fest yesterday. Got a really nasty looking sunburn on my neck and a little down my back. My face is sunburned, too. It's really uncomfortable. It's my own fault, though. I didn't use sunscreen. I even have a little travel sized bottle in my purse. I think most of the time that it's not going to work. Oftentimes it doesn't. I usually get sunburned anyways. Maybe not as badly, though. 

I put a Planned Parenthood temporary ace tattoo on my cheek for it. I got it from them at the Seattle Trans Pride. It was surprising to see. People kept looking at it, and a few people asked if it was temporary. I don't think anyone asked what flag it was. Many people complimented on my earrings. Almost every time I go out I have someone compliment on them. They're big silver cat face earrings. They have kind of an I don't care attitude. I thought one person was going to rip them off. They kept saying how much they absolutely loved them. I've never been really good about complimenting people unless something really catches my eye. So, I end up saying thanks, nodding, and not complimenting them back. It's odd because many women tend to reciprocate comments after one of them does it first. I'm not a woman, so I wonder if that's why I'm not that good at it...I think it can be a very gendered and cultural thing to do. Not necessarily complimenting first or in general, but trying to reciprocate a compliment to be polite or something. So weird. I guess I try to be more genuine with that sort of thing. It might seem rude to others, though.

There was an ace flag up with the other flags scattered around the park. That was one of the things that made me happy. There was also a glass-based booth that had certain flag colors worked into the glass pieces. There were some pendants like that, but I think the only one that was ace themed was a little shallow plate. Looked cool, but didn't sound useful. It would have been cool if I saw a glass pendant with the colors. There were apparently some trans ones. I think Dad got one of them. It was cool looking. I didn't really look for my other 'identities' or parts of me.

There was a flag booth. I think I got my huge ace flag from the same place last year. The guy there is weird. I asked him about an aromantic flag. He swore he had it, and went searching for it. He looked for a while, and I said I'd come back later. About an hour or so later I come back. He says he couldn't find it in the booth, and I can go through the extra boxes behind his booth to see. I did that a little while, and got nothing. He seemed upset that he didn't have it. He apparently left it behind. So, I asked him if he had an agender one. He didn't. I asked him if he had a non-binary one. He didn't. (That was surprising.) I asked him if he had a genderqueer one. He had those. A big 3' x 5' or a smaller one was all he had. I wanted to have an even smaller one. (Not sure how big this one really is.) I settled for one of the smallest ones he had. 

I posted a pic to both fb and Instagram. Today, one of my followers commented: "Not to be a negative Nancy, but that's the Suffragette flag, though. lol" I looked it up, and yes it looks exactly like the UK suffragettes' flag. I also looked up info on the creator of the genderqueer flag. Since they were from the US, they didn't know about that UK flag when it was created. They created it off of other sexuality and gender flags, off of many meanings for the colors (that community could understand), etc. 

I mentioned this stuff, and that maybe they should do their own research on why the genderqueer flag is the way it is. There are many flags that look the same. Plus, this is a global symbol, unlike the UK flag. That's a big difference. There are only so many combos for a tri-colored striped flag, too. Nobody owns these colors. As the exchange kept going, I felt odd that I had to defend one of my communities' flags. Also, they said we should honor the UK suffragettes somehow if we're taking their flag...What? How? I don't even know where to begin on that. I eventually blocked them, because it was tiring, they were missing the point, and seemed to only get more bitter. First time I felt like someone was trying to get me to defend a flag. It's still going to be the official genderqueer flag whether they like it or not. Has been for a while. 

I got a cheeseburger for lunch there. It was pretty good. Well seasoned. Had Doritos Nacho Cheese chips with it. The chips might not have been a good idea, considering I'm supposed to stay away from corn products. Later, I got a root beer float for a snack. I think they knew what flag I was carrying, and said ma'am in a weird way. Really forceful, and somewhat indignantly. Like, making some sort of statement. It was odd. Eventually, their ma'am started sounding like mom. I was starting to laugh in my head, which made it a bit better. I don't have much of a problem with ma'am, as long as it's not said rudely. I know they're trained to say it. I'd definitely prefer a more gender neutral way of being addressed by them, though. They are quite a few out there that they can use to refer to customers. 

As soon as they gave the root beer float to me, it erupted out the hole in the cover. It was a sticky mess. I cleaned off the excess, and noticed the other people that had ordered it after me had the same surprise. Not very pleasant. I wanted to wait for Dad before I sat down with my float. She was getting a sausage for a late lunch. Eventually I couldn't stand much longer, and went to the covered picnic tables. She told me her sausage took 35 minutes. That's a long time! When I got my hamburger from the same place, I think it took about 10 minutes for it. It was towards the beginning, though. There was also a pizza truck. They brought their own pizza oven. I felt too warm for that. I thought there would be another food truck/booth. Oh well. Apparently, a store across the street from the park was giving away snow cones for free. That liked tasty, but I was too full from the other stuff at the time. 

We did go to Elmer's after that. I needed some place cool, and semi-quiet. I think Dad felt similarly. Someone at Pride kept screaming in a high-pitched voice, and I think they also had a whistle. It was annoying when they were right next to me. Could feel my ears pop. The music seemed like it was at decent volume, though. 

I put up a group flyer, for the local ace group I started, on the bulletin board. Saw a lot of people stop to look at it. That was great. I left some info sheets at the Pride info booth. The area for the pamphlets/info sheets was off to the side and kind of hard to see. I thought no one take them, and didn't really care. One person did take a copy, though. Having someone take at least one copy was amazing! 

There's an ace info site that has free info sheets you can download. They say what asexuality is and basically what it doesn't mean. It also lists their site's address, which is great. They're somewhat newer than many of the other sites I'm familiar with. I follow them on fb, though. They tend to be better than AVEN as far as their fb pages go. Anyways, I used that and added an 'other resources' section under it in Photoshop. By the way, Photoshop's an amazing tool! Made some interesting things through it. 

I listed a bunch of sites, and added the local group at the bottom. I mentioned these: AVEN, Asexuality Archive, Pieces of Ace, Demisexuality Resource Center, Asexual Stories, The Asexual Agenda, and Apositive. I wanted to add one of the more scientific sites that I know, but apparently it hasn't been active in a while and seems to be shutting down soon. That's sad. It listed a bunch of research papers/journals on it for free. I think even the person running the site had authored some of them. Another one I wanted to share was the Carnival of Aces. I might have forgotten about them...It's a group of ace authors/bloggers that write about a topic relating to asexuality each month. People not in the group are welcome to participate. Some are non-fiction and some are fiction stories/poems. Haven't really read those stories, though. It's different than Asexual Stories. That's lit. aces sharing their life stories. Hopefully I didn't give out too much info to people.

One person requested to join the group on fb later. Not sure if they were the ones that took the copy or if they were someone who saw the flyer. Found out they're 15 years old. That's young. I just hope it doesn't turn into a youth group or something. I want aces of all ages. Maybe if we get big enough, we can split it into a youth one and an adult one. Young aces face some different issues than adults. There are many things both groups face, though. It'd be awesome if we get a member who's much older than me. Everyone also has a voice and different perspective, too. I want people from all over the spectrum. It'd be cool if some were aro, like me. I'd have an added layer in common with them. Even better if they were agender. Triple A's are rare...I didn't plan to be that rare. I wish it wasn't. 

I called the GI department back to schedule an appointment. All their gastros don't have anything free on their calendars. An assistant is free, though. She's kind of like a specialist. They said she can do almost everything but surgery. That's not bad. This will also be within network. That will help with a lot of things. The closest appointment she had was for the end of next month. I agreed to that. The receptionist sounded worried that there wasn't something sooner. I told her about my situation. She said she has gone through something similar. She told me that if it gets even worse, I should go to the hospital. She wanted to keep talking after we said bye. I think she wanted to make sure that I was ok enough to wait for a little over a month. She seemed kind. I hope this assistant is more knowledgeable and cares about my symptoms. That last part is very important. It's not like I'm complaining for fun. They have to be aware of what's going on. I also still have a tendency to think that if I don't think about it, it's not there. That makes me less aware of it. Used to be much worse. 

Finished watching Kabukibu or Kabuki Club. I liked it more than I expected. It was cute. My fave mangaka group (one of the few I know, but they're awesome!), named CLAMP, had a hand in it. They're a group entirely composed of women. They make interesting manga. One of their trademarks is out of proportioned limbs for characters. That was somewhat of a turn off the first time I saw xxxHolic. I just wasn't used to that style. The rest of the art is usually amazing. For this show, the characters looked more 'normal'. They played a minor role in it, so that might have been why. It was an interesting view into the world of kabuki theater. It seemed they played around a bit with gender, too. That was fun to see. One of the female actresses has a very masculine look to her (she was also in drama, and many of the girls in it kept falling for her as well as some of the guys), and one of the male actors has a very feminine look. They both act normally very much like those, too. I think there was a character that seemed genderless. It was difficult for some fans to tell at first what gender he was. He didn't seem to care much about gendered stuff either. He had a very minor role, though. That was interesting. It'd be cool if there was a sequel.