28th of Tevet

I managed to cook again on January 18th! (I do want to try to cook every Saturday.) Yay! I wanted something with sausage that time. The recipe was also from a pin on Pinterest called Cheesy Kielbasa Pasta. I had to tweak it quite a bit. They were out of beef kielbasa, so I used beef smoked sausage. It was 12 oz instead of a pound, too. I think it was plenty. I used more of the prepared diced onion from the week before. That cooked to basically nothing just like the dinner the week before. I added a lot more garlic. Added twice the amount of Italian seasoning, because I used regular canned diced tomatoes instead of Italian style diced tomatoes. I think it just needed more seasonings and garlic to match it. I used regular chicken broth instead of reduced-sodium. There was also milk, penne pasta, a little black pepper, and shredded cheese. They had the exact combo mentioned for the cheese, and it was also exactly 2 cups which was what it called for. At the end, they have you add salt and more pepper to taste. I didn’t need more salt because of the regular chicken broth. Added just a little more pepper, though. It ended up really good. Nice and flavorful. According to the recipe it made 6 servings. Like the last thing I made, I did my own 6 servings. I just was giving myself whatever amount I wanted. The last serving was just a little less than the rest, but that’s ok. I like that I was close with it. It was pretty much the same that week.

I was sick starting on last week’s Monday and Sunday night. I couldn’t sleep very well the night before Monday. Just before I went to bed, Sunday night, I checked my temperature. It was at 100.3°F. I had a sore throat, too. I checked my temperature in the morning the next day and it was 100.9°F. So, it was still going up. At some point, I was really sweating and couldn’t get comfortable. I checked it again just before lunch, and it was down to 98.8°F. My norm is around 96.6°F. I was getting there. I don’t know how I got sick. I try to be aware of when I go out somewhere. It’s kind of rare for me to get sick like this. I still feel a little sick. My throat still gets sore occasionally. Cough drops kind of helped. I’ve stopped having them on a regular basis. Got more just in case. Managed to feel good enough to really get to my bed bath today. I also didn’t do my walks most of the time I was really sick. Didn’t make anything on Saturday night. Still felt sick enough I couldn’t do it. I looked at and decided on 3 more interesting possible recipes for the next few Saturdays. So, I did something about it.

I finally got something from Social Security. I think they approved me to continue with it. However, they’ll take about $98 from what they pay me, because they say they overpaid me. It was every month’s amount they were giving me. I think they did it because I didn’t know something was a ‘resource’. I was never asked about it either, until they saw it. They said I can try to get a waiver. If I do, there are 2 things to it: it has to feel unfair, and a hardship. It does feel unfair, but it’s not really a hardship. I got ssi in order to get healthcare. (I can appeal it, but it’s kind of a long process.) It’s weird that they’ll also be increasing the pay most people get this year. I think they’ll pay me next at the end of the month. At least I still have it.

Today, I did 4 or 5 lessons on Duolingo’s Spanish course. Finished all 3 quests for the day. Finished this month’s challenge/quest a while ago. I’m in the Diamond League now. It’s like their highest league. I was in it last week as well. I wasn’t able to be promoted. I was 13th in it at the end. (If you’re promoted you go into a Diamond League tournament.)  I ended up at 1st place today. Maybe I’ll be promoted this time? I’m impressed, because it’s such a competitive league. 

Started watching (a week from last Sunday) Connected. The 1st episode was on surveillance. How we watch everything, and what it teaches us. It wasn’t a bad thing. Very interesting. I started watching the new season of The UnXplained with William Shatner this Sunday. When I’m done with that, I’ll go back to Connected. I decided a while back that Sundays I’ll watch documentary/non-fiction/other shows. That’s been interesting.

We went to Central on Sunday. Yesterday we went to Petco and Safeway. Bananas have looked really awful the last few weeks we’ve looked. Found some ok looking ones on Saturday at Central. I got Colby Jack cheese from the deli a week ago. I’m tired of their meats, so I'm making more cheese sandwiches. Apparently, people had won both Powerball and Mega Millions, so both were pretty low. I still got tickets anyways. Even though they’re really low, I’ll still get more than enough to live off of it if I won. Sunday night I tried Central’s broccoli cheddar quiche for dinner. It seemed to be the right size for one person. It was saltier than I expected. Other than that, it was pretty good. I also found a very small red velvet cupcake. Usually I see such big ones, it was almost refreshing to see such a small one. It was very rich and decadent tasting. I was running really low on cereal (had like an 1/8 of a serving left), so I’m glad we went to Safeway to get more yesterday. I was also out of my turkey bacon. Had my last fruit cup yesterday. Got more of the mixed fruit in black cherry gel and mandarin oranges in orange gel. Those are good. Not sure why the mixed fruit one seems soupier. We ran out of big black bags. We especially need them for the puppy pads and trash each week. I also wanted them to start going through the stuff on my old bed. I’m going to throw most of it away. Except for the sherpa blanket. I haven’t really needed it yet this year, but it’s nice to have and soft. Since I was going through cough drops really quickly, I decided to get more. Last time I had the cherry store brand version. This time I got Halls’ black cherry. Hopefully they’re good. They have the same amount of menthol. We got more puppy pads. She really goes through them. We went to Petco this time. Got a toothbrush. It’s been longer than it should be with one brush, so it was time. I never know what to get so I got a medium. It apparently helps whiten teeth. My old one said it flosses as well. I doubt that. I had Safeway’s broccoli and chicken penne Alfredo for dinner yesterday. I think it’s better than Central’s chicken fettuccine Alfredo. The sauce is better and there’s no green onions. It also has broccoli. Good to have a vegetable. I also got their tiramisu cake for dessert, which I had half of as my last snack yesterday. It’s one of their best cakes. Although, I really love their Biscoff cookie butter cake. That’s amazing!

I got weird letters in the mail on Friday. They made me worry that I was kicked off of Medicaid or Apple Health. Most of the letters were from Washington Health Plan Finder. So, I called them today. They said I probably have it through Washington’s Healthcare Authority instead. Since I already was on it, they declined me getting on it through them. They said, to be sure, call Healthcare Authority and gave me the number. It was to their customer service. They had an automated thing that checked my status. (It was a little hard to hear.) It said I’m still on it. Thank goodness! I was really worried.

Last Thursday I had an xgeva and doctor’s appointment. I took the Access bus to and from it. Apparently, when my parent came home earlier than me, she said Rosie was crying for me. That was nice. I didn’t think she’d do that. I know she’s close to me, but she had my parent there. Anyways, the xgeva injection was slow and painful. Everyone was running late at the clinic.

I managed to get my primary care doctor to make a referral to get a new hospital bed. I got a call the next day saying they can deliver one that day. Super fast! I wasn’t ready. I moved it to February 3rd. I also made another appointment to take my old hospital bed the same day. I have to find a way to get rid of my old regular bed first. (They don’t move other beds.) That bed is also not good. My parent suggested the Got Junk people. That might be good and easy. I’m a little nervous I might not have a bed if the new one doesn’t work out somehow. It’ll probably be fine. If I don’t have a way to get rid of my old bed by Friday, I’ll call them and reschedule. It’ll be nice to sleep and be in my room again. I need to get a surge protector/power strip for the outlet near my bed. I’ll need it for the bed, iPhone charger, watch charger, and lamp on the nightstand. I need to dust at least near my bed, too. At some point, I might take down my ace flag and get a small TV mounted in that area. That might be nice. 

Pinterest (I did not make these. Just sharing):

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National Cherry Pie Day!

This holiday was yesterday. I love cherries, so putting them in a pie makes them even better! Haven't had it in a while, though. Finding a good cherry pie locally can be difficult. They tend to have what I call sugar or 'gel' packets. Basically large globs of sugar. Not the best. Sometimes those are good, but really shouldn't be there. They mess up pecan pie often, too. Either too few nuts, too dry, too much filling, etc. I sadly can't have that anymore, even if it's one of my faves, too. 

This week hasn't been great health-wise. Monday, I had one of the biggest migraines I've had in a very long time. The 'aura' for mine are often auditory. Usually thudding sounds. When it happens, it also feels like blood is spurting from my head. There's a lot of pressure, too. That part usually lasts a while, and gets really annoying. Not really painful. As soon as it finally stops, the massive painful headache starts. At this point, I'm also sensitive to light, certain sounds, cold (more so than usual), and certain foods. Usually this phase doesn't last long. Maybe a few hours. This time was different. The headache finally died down on Wednesday. However, the after effect was stronger than usual, too. I get sick to my stomach, feel like I'm in a fog, still sensitive to a few things, and fatigue sets in like I had been through a marathon. This phase usually lasts for an even shorter time than the headache. I was still in it when we went to the local trans support group that night. Another headache, that felt similar to the migraine one (but there was no aura beforehand), started after having the banana cream pie for dessert at Shari's after group. The bananas in it were still frozen. Might have triggered it? It was bizarre. 

It felt like I was finally starting to recover around noon yesterday. A few hours later, I decided to try a new game on the PlayStation 4 called The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. A detective/horror game. Sounded fun. However, the clues had text that would light up near them. If you clicked 'inspect', what he thinks/observes comes out as text quickly and swirls around. Occasionally repeating over and over. Sometimes, it wants you to find a certain clue by clicking '???', and then those question marks swirl around wildly. They combine when you've found something. There's some jerking around of the camera, too. It eventually made me so nauseated, I came very close to throwing up several times after I stopped playing. Stomach was really upset for a while, and felt like the acid was burning through it. So, I laid down, trying to calm it down. Felt like I couldn't look at a screen (like the computer or iPhone), couldn't color in my 'adult' coloring book (it's a book based on designs of a tattoo artist, which is usually fun), or really much else; for fear that I'd throw up or start another headache. So, I just closed my eyes and sat there. Eventually, I had fallen asleep for about 2 hours. Felt better afterwards. Today's been pretty good so far, but I'm trying not to trigger anything. Trying to be kinder to myself, too. 

I'm thinking of looking into chest binders again. I don't think the one I have worked too well. I also stopped wearing it when my health issues got worse, and it was hurting more. Things don't seem as bad as they were when I was on Lialda (that's not to say things are fine. I still have awful health stuff), now. So, I thought it'd be an ok time to look into it again. Plus, they're bothering me more than usual lately. I'll go with a different brand this time. I have an Underworks one. I've heard gc2b and Shapeshifters are good, so I'll look at those, along with any other brands I find. I want something long, so it stays put and doesn't roll up or anything. Similar to my current one. I don't want the weird string feeling rubbing up and down my back, and the weird puckering it does around the neck area. Maybe something that gets me even flatter? I don't know. 

Sunday was the start of Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week. I've been posting something aro related for every morning post on my author account on Instagram. A couple of people have stopped following me during it, but I've decided not to care about that. This is a part of me, and if people don't like it or don't want to be informed, so be it. All the better, actually. I've gotten a lot of likes from fellow aros on a lot of those posts, which has been nice to see. Some have added a couple of those posts to their stories on there, tagging me as well. My evening posts are still following the pattern I'm trying to set. For normal weeks, I've 'assigned' certain topics for the days of the week. Some having 2 topics for the day. That makes it more interesting, I think. 

I also recently found out that there's an aro ace flag. It was created at the end of 2018, so it's rather new. 2 shades of blue for being aro ace and the aro ace spectrum, and our experiences. Blue was chosen because it is between the aromantic green (in that flag) and asexual purple (in that flag). White for wholeness, as well as aro aces who are aplantonic (don't experience platonic attraction), nonamorous, or not seeking a partnership of some sort. Yellow is for love and relationships that exist outside of conventional romantic and sexual relationships. Orange is for community. It's in between green and purple in the other direction on the color wheel. Much more colorful than the current aro and ace flags, which is nice. I think it looks snazzy. 

There's also an oriented aro ace flag. I saw this a while before this 'new' aro ace flag. An oriented aro ace is someone who experiences other attractions strongly. Many go by this for queerplatonic relationships. Before I heard about this, I read that people were just saying what their 'queerplatonic' attraction was. This seems to encompass more, though. There are many other types of attractions. I'm an oriented aro ace. Specifically, a pan aro ace. My strongest is platonic, although I might rephrase that as queerplatonic, since it feels like something even more (hard to describe). I have potential to be attracted to people of all genders this way. I would love to be in a queerplatonic relationship or qpr in the future. The problem is trying to figure out how to get a partner for one. It's not like dating, and that makes me cringe. I'm slightly romance-repulsed, although not as strongly as my sex-repulsion. Probably more romance-averse...I have read about some people that are trying to create a site that's based on finding queerplatonic partners, and for aro aces specifically. I don't think there truly is anything like that out yet. It's hard, especially because not many know about this sort of relationship, and it might seem...weird at first to others. It's also hard to know who actually wants to be in one. Then, there's if you're compatible, like with most relationships. I've heard that going to aro and ace group meetings has helped many people find partners for it. The closest one to me is in Seattle, and they recently changed the name from Seattle Aces to Seattle Aces & Aros. Through their facebook group, they seem to be sincerely trying to include aros, too. They're not just changing the name. It's not really local for me, though. They only have one meeting a month, but do have events throughout the rest of the month. Some of them sound fun.

Anyways, that flag is also pretty new. Created a few months before the aro ace one. Dark blue is for the shared aro ace experience, grey for the aro ace spectrum, white for orientations within the community (bi aro ace, gay aro ace, pan aro ace, etc.), and teal for non-romantic and non-sexual attractions. It's nice looking, too. Still more colorful than the current aro and ace flags. 

Got the author copies of my paperback books last week. So nice to actually see them in print! They're like my babies. They had some scuff marks, which I wasn't happy about. The matte finish on the 4 that had it felt weird, but that might just be because they're new. The glossy finish for Sweet Endless Terror was nice, and really fit well with it. The only other issue I see with them is the font size. I went with what was suggested, but it's bigger than I expected. Might be good for the cookbook, but the others...I'm not so sure. The font's not incredibly large, but maybe it's just a slight size too big than what I'm used to. I think the memoir is the only one that ended up slightly smaller in font compared to the others. Maybe it's the size of the books. If I change the print's font to something smaller, I'll have to change the formatting, change the cover size, etc. It's not a simple change. I'll just stick with it for now. Seeing them all stacked up really shows how much writing I've put out there, too. It's impressive to me to see it all like that, even if they're not really huge books. Alliance is the thickest, like I expected. Alliance: Dawn comes close. Also, understandable. 

Youtube:

One Piece:


Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun (Toilet-bound Hanako-kun):

Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer):



Boku no (My) Hero Academia:

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom):

13th of Tevet

I've leveled out all the units up to the 1st checkpoint of Duolingo's Scottish Gaelic course. Leveled out meaning all of those have 5 crowns, or have gone through all 5 levels of each unit. Started the 2nd level of Phrases 2. There are less units in this section. So, it feels like it's going by quickly. I'm currently at 16th place in the Obsidian League. I doubt I'll make it to the top 10 by the end of the week, but we'll see. 

I finally finished editing all 5 of my published books yesterday. Wahoo! Still haven't gone back to writing that unfinished sequel to Alliance. (It'll be the 3rd in the series.) Might get to it soon, I don't know. 

The cookbook, which was the last one I edited, had the least amount of errors. I really just added a couple of words and changed a couple of letters. Nothing big. Kind of made me hungry going through them. Gave me, or maybe reminded me of, another idea to promote it. That being, making a lot of the dishes I haven't yet. I can't really do the complex stuff, but there's a lot of simple and easy things. I can share pics of them to places like its fb page, Instagram, twitter, etc. It'll give a way for people to actually see what it'll look like. There are no pics in it, except for a Passover popover on the cover, but that's different. It's actually harder to publish/format with pics in the manuscript. More expensive for customers, too. 

The most errors were probably in Alliance. That was my 1st book, so I get that. It was a bit annoying, though. Alliance: Dawn was much better, but still had quite a lot of mistakes. Surprisingly, my 2nd book, Sweet Endless Terror, really wasn't bad. Not many mistakes. I had to add and update quite a few things to my memoir. Things changed, but I didn't add too many current stuff, just changed my thoughts on some of it. Maybe in the future I'll write another one, but that'll be a while. 

I started checking the formatting today. Wasn't sure if the newer version of Word changed them or something, so I want to make sure. Finished checking both the ebook and print versions of Alliance. I wasn't expecting to finish it today. I have a feeling they'll all go pretty quickly. There really were no errors in formatting. I realized and changed a few things with the front and back 'matter' of the ebook, and a little of the About the Author section of the print. I don't really want to give away my personal fb page, and yet I had it listed. I had both Kindle and Smashwords editions listed at the top, which would not only be too much to look at for the beginning, but both places don't like to have other 'distributors' listed. (Both call themselves distributors, and the authors are the publishers. Gets a little weird considering I have to get approval from them.) Plus those will be specific editions. It just would have made more sense this way. I might have had it different when they were in the Kindle Select program. That's exclusive, and they're strict about it. I might update the extra stuff in the future when I make new accounts on various social media platforms for it. People can actually interact more this way. 

I'm apparently still sick. It's a lot better than it was, at least. Nose is still runny, woke up with a sore throat that never really went away, abdominal pain, etc. Tried a half dose of the severe DayQuil stuff this morning. First time since Sunday having it. Hasn't helped much this time. Maybe it's just the tail-end of it? Hopefully. Getting a little worried about it. 

I'm going to try ordering my meds tomorrow. I don't know what's going on with my insurance. There wasn't a denial letter, but I haven't gotten anything about it. I noticed about a week ago that they still have my insurance card on Kaiser-Permanente's site. (Haven't looked back since.) Maybe it still hasn't completely transferred. I know they're covering vision and dental for me already, which I haven't really had either of in a very long time. Another side of this is before I ordered lamotrigine in October, my refills went from like 90 to saying as needed until mid-December. After that, no more refills. My primary doc never asked me to make an appointment to renew those refills for it. She does that once a year. Apparently, she can't approve more than a year's worth (over 90 refills each time doesn't make sense...I order 1 a month), and they have to test my blood to see if it's affecting my liver and other things. Not hearing from her makes it even weirder. I'm hoping if I order them, they can talk to my doc about it before approving more refills. If they can only do like 1 or 2 and want me to see my doc to get more, I will. That med is a lifesaver. So, it's not just the uncertainty of my insurance, but of being able to get an important med, too. 

Youtube: 

Boku no (My) Hero Academia:

10th of Tevet

For Duolingo's Scottish Gaelic course, today I leveled out of the Pets unit and started the 2nd level of Weather. Again, there are 5 levels or 'crowns' to each unit. Weather is the last unit before the first checkpoint. So, I'm cruising through it all again, despite now clearing all the levels each time. I think it might end up being 2 months in total with the language. I try to shoot for 3 months with each one, but at least it'll be closer this way. Couldn't get promoted to the next league last week, so I'm still in the obsidian one. Yesterday, I made it to 1st place. Today, 6th. I'm just trying to stay in the top ten long enough to advance. Surprised I managed 1st place on Monday, but that was the 1st day. 

Edited more of the cookbook. Went through the Cheese, Vegetables, Crepes/Pancakes/Waffles, Passover and Hanukkah sections. Next is Cakes. That was 14 pages of the ebook version, and 32 pages of the print. It really wasn't as much as it seemed, since many sections were short. 

Started drawing Vincent yesterday, and planning his pose. Hope I don't take as long as I did with drawing the others. In my head, he looks like he'd be fun to draw. 

I'm still sick with a cold, although much better than a few days ago. I'm trying to stay away from the severe DayQuil (Safeway version) as much as I can. Haven't had any since Sunday, I think. So, doing pretty good with that. Still taking NyQuil (again, the Safeway version) at night. It does give me some relief from the symptoms and helps with sleep. I'm trying to get back to things, too. Hard to focus on things while sick. 

Apparently I'm going to see a dentist for the first time in around 14 years on the 17th. I'm a little nervous about that, but I probably should see one as soon as possible now that I'm covered. My parent will have the same one. This one will be new for her, too. Her previous one was really rude. Hopefully, this one will be good. I'm guessing they'll do a deep cleaning with mine. I'm nervous that they'll look in my mouth and be shocked by it or something. My teeth don't seem that awful, but I'm neither a dentist nor hygienist. I used to love going to the dentist, because it honestly felt good to have someone poking around in there. Like, an itch I couldn't scratch. Felt really clean afterwards, too. As long as I didn't see much of what they were doing, I was fine. I might ask for them to take off the dental glue that held my permanent retainer. A few years ago, the wire to that broke off a little and became a spike pointing towards my tongue. So, I had a nurse at Urgent Care rip it out. (They will probably not like hearing this.) The only thing left of it is the glue. It's like having hard rice granules stuck to your teeth all the time. Annoying. 

Started playing an interesting game app on my phone called Obey Me. It's a dating sim. Even though I'm aro ace, I find some of them interesting. One of the artists I follow on deviantART had a few of them that were like parodies of the stereotypical ones. They were hilarious. I also find them similar to choose your own adventure type stories. Interesting to get characters to fall for you, too. Anyways, this one's about you being transported to a demon realm called Devildom. You're an exchange student at a demon school, and it's a year-long program. There's only one other human (which they've hinted might not actually be one) and 2 angels in it. I guess to promote harmony amongst demons, humans, and angels. Interesting concept already. You have to stay with 7 demon brothers, each are an avatar of the 7 deadly sins, in their dorm. One of the objectives, that I've noticed, is making pacts with all of them. Normally, pacts are made in exchange for your soul, but they said have you exchange other things that they really want. So far, each one has lived up to their avatar. (I've only made pacts with 3 of them: Greed, Envy, and Gluttony.) With Greed (aka Mammon in the game), you find his missing credit card, for example. There's mystery, a lot of humor, intriguing plot, and more. The English is surprisingly good considering a Japanese company put it out. They have Japanese voice actors speaking in Japanese but subtitles in English, so you still can understand them if you don't know the language. There are dance games where a 'surprise guest' might appear at the end and might give you presents. As you raise your 'intimacy levels', you get to interact with them more. You also get a special phone in the game that has apps and you can have one of the brothers as an assistant on the 'home screen'. It's a little creepy this way, but cool at the same time. They can call, message you in the messenger, mail you things, etc. Lots of elements to the game. The art is nice, too. 

Another awesome part is they don't refer to you in a gendered way. The ones behind the game purposefully made it as inclusive as possible. I've seen some gay cis men and trans people giving positive reviews because of it. They either refer to you by your name or as that human, human, you, that one over there, etc. Being agender, it's nice to be referred to without gendered language. Seems refreshing. They're not overly romantic either. They seem more 'real'.  

Started watching Marianne. It's a French horror/mystery series on Netflix. It's basically about a famous horror writer (Emma) that goes back to her hometown, and finds out the evil spirit of a witch (Marianne) that haunted her dreams, and is in her books, is wreaking havoc in the real world. Seems a little too close to home for me, which adds another scary element. If characters from Sweet Endless Terror became real...that would be even more terrifying. Even some of the demons from Alliance, might be too much. Yet, the idea is fascinating to me at the same time. The change in scenes are separated by pages flipping, and each new scenario is actually a title in one of her books. Things like Going Home when she's on the way to her hometown. She brought her assistant to help her. Marianne wants her to continue writing the series, but Emma wants to stop and write a different type of story. So, it's a bit like the movie Misery that way. 

Happy New Year!

Hopefully, this year will be amazing! The 2010s were rocky for me, to say the least. Some really amazing moments, and some of the worst. Being sick at the end of 2019, just goes along with how that year was. I plan to post more often on here, again. I might get into vlogging on youtube. I've been meaning to try it out, but haven't gotten the guts to do it yet. I have a webcam built into my new (I still feel like it is) computer, so it should be easier than doing it on my phone. I want to get back to medically transitioning this year. I'll feel a lot better mentally, which might help me 'cope' with the other physical health stuff. I want a new primary doc, rheumatologist, etc. as well. My current primary doc misgendered me at the end of my last appointment, and made me feel awful about something else. The rheumatologist doesn't seem to know how to order lab tests, which I think is a real problem. Hopefully, I can see a dermatologist and a new gastroenterologist. Plan to do a lot of promoting my books after I republish them. (The revised versions.) Making business cards, author pages/sites, book trailers, and more. So, there's already a lot of things planned for this year. 

This is my wallpaper for January. It's Zenitsu from Kimetsu no Yaiba or Demon Slayer. He's annoying at times, but when he's in battle-mode, he's pretty cool. His personality completely changes. Seems like a part of him goes to sleep. He has a lightning-based ability after being struck by a lightning bolt. It affected him so much that even his hair and eye color changed. Thought this was an interesting and elegant one. 

The month-long holidays for January are: National Candy Month, National Egg Month, National Hot Tea Month, National Oatmeal Month, National Soup Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. 

I actually forgot to get new calendars until today. Ordered another Jewish Historical Museum one. The museum is in Amsterdam, and many of their pieces come from what was once the local Jewish community in that area. They also have some from around the world. I really like their calendars, and get them most years. Each month they feature pieces from the museum. It's also a good one to keep track of the Jewish calendar. Our calendar is mainly lunar-based, so holidays seem to change every year in relation to the 'regular' calendar. In reality, they are always the same on ours. Although, some years there are added months for a similar thing to leap years, but most of the time it's the same. The regular calendar doesn't list many of the holidays, and some of them can be inaccurate. It also has the parsha or Torah portion for each week, which is handy. I also ordered another elements calendar. I liked that this past year, so why not get it for this one. They go into a lot of detail for each element. The example pics of things with that element are interesting. I'm surprised that Amazon expects them to be here in 2 days. That's really fast. 

I've been sick with a nasty cold since Saturday. Maybe a little of Friday, too. Although, I just had horrible back pain then. I wonder if it was like a warning beforehand? My back still hurts, but it's not as constant or as intense. This is much worse than when I was sick right after my birthday (Nov. 7th) for a month. I had a breather for about a couple of weeks in between. My nose has been running like crazy, painfully sneezing a lot, coughing attacks, occasionally feeling like I can't breathe, sore throat, and more. It's been so bad, I've resorted to using Safeway's version of DayQuil and NyQuil. Recently started the severe version of the DayQuil, and that's been working a lot better. Using both feels like I'm drugged up a lot of the time, although the illness also makes me feel weird. I've been able to sleep lately, at least. Hopefully, I'll get over this soon. I feel like I'm putting some things on hold because of it. I might try to get at least one 2-mile walk in a day once I beat this. I'm itching to try that again.

I found out recently that I have vision and dental coverage now. Wahoo! I haven't seen a dentist in roughly 14 years (since I wasn't covered), so it'll be interesting to see one now. I might shock them. Vision has been weird. I haven't really had it either. They say I might have, but couldn't access it for some reason. Supposedly, I'll still have health insurance, too. I'm a dependent on my parent's plan, and they changed to a new system that goes into effect this month. I saw that I still had coverage documents right before New Year's. Checked it again afterwards, and those documents disappeared. My card was still in their system and other things indicated I was still covered. There was no denial letter, so I'm guessing I simply have to wait and see. I have a feeling it'll take some time for everything to transfer. Makes me anxious, though. Hopefully, it'll be sorted out in the next couple of weeks, since I'll need to order meds around that time. 

I finished the first level of all the units in Duolingo's Scottish Gaelic course. There really wasn't much to it. I try to stick with languages for at least 3 months at a time. It was barely a month's worth when I finished it. So, I'm trying to level out all the units now. There are 5 levels or 'crowns' to each one. Almost done with the Pers. Det. (Personal Details) unit. Only 3 more units until the 1st checkpoint. There are 2 checkpoints. 3, if you count the very end as one. I don't think this will last 3 months, but it'll be better than just a month. I'm now in 8th place of the Obsidian League. There's only one more league. I don't know what that one's called. I've never gotten this far with the leagues.

Finished editing the memoir. It had more errors than I expected, but still better than the others so far. The only one left is the cookbook. This should go pretty quickly. Then, I'll check the formatting of all of them. Haven't done much with drawing lately, since I haven't had the motivation with being sick. 

We normally go to a family friends' (they're a couple) place for New Year's Eve. The same people that host Thanksgiving dinners and Passover seders. Someone that we all knew passed away recently (I was shocked by it), and their dog has cancer (I think). A lot of things at once, so they couldn't do it this year. That's ok. We had our own party. Had snacks off and on from around dinnertime until midnight. Had chips and French onion dip, pickled herring on rosemary crackers, butterflake rolls, gelt (chocolate coins I still had/have from Hanukkah), a 'rainbow chip' (like M&M's, but smaller) cookie, hot chocolate, and sparkling apple cider. (Probably forgot a few things.) Most of it I don't have very often. Forgot that I also got white cheddar Babybel snacks to have a 'new' cheese for the new year. I haven't had that version of Babybel's cheeses. Oh well. I can have it now. 

Rosie seems to be back to her old self. Eating and drinking normally. As far as I know, she hasn't been throwing up. She's been incredibly loving and purring a lot. She knows I'm sick, and has been trying to help me. She's been trying to get me to eat more than usual. Kneading my legs and cuddling up close to my head, which isn't as normal. Every time I have a painful sneeze, when I'm lying down, she checks out my nose. Cute and annoying at the same time. Tasha's even been more loving towards me lately. Greeting me often, asking to be petted, begging for my food, etc.  

Youtube:

One Piece:






One Punch Man:

Mob Psycho 100:

International Tea Day!

I love tea! There are so many different kinds out there. I mostly only drink water or tea. More tea than water, at that. Just got some more tea: Bengal Spice, Salted Caramel, and Gingerbread. The 1st one's technically herbal, with no actual tea leaves. It tastes a lot like chai, only more of certain spices. One of my faves. I also like different types of actual chai. The other 2 are seasonal blends. I'm surprised at what blends they can create, and be so close to tasting like those flavors. There's no added sugar or calories, which makes it nice to have a taste without that added in. I also like mint, orange spice, green tea, black tea, chamomile, Earl Grey, cinnamon, hibiscus, jasmine, and more. I usually add Splenda to it. If it's something like chai, I occasionally will add a little milk. 

I ended up at 5th place on Duolingo's Emerald League. So, I was promoted today to the Amethyst League. Yay! Didn't get a reward besides that this time. Only the top 3 get more. Made it to 2nd place today. Maybe I'll stay in the top 3 until the end of the week this time. In their Scottish Gaelic course, I finished the Hobbies and Travel units, and a little bit of Feelings 2. 

Found some facial expressions, ears, and eyes examples for drawing Vincent. When out in public, he looks like he has a bit of an attitude, so that should be fun to draw. With people he feels safe with he's softer, kinder, and feels he can be himself. It'd be interesting to draw him again with that difference. 

Finished editing Sweet Endless Terror. Started editing my memoir, More Than Meets the Eye, yesterday. Each chapter deals with a different topic. First one was on being aro and ace. The 2nd one, that I did today, was on being agender. My views and what I've done for transition-related stuff have changed a little. I was unsure about a lot of things when I first wrote it a couple of years ago. Now, I'm more positive on how I feel about it, my gender dysphoria, transitioning, etc. Interesting to read what I wrote back then. Tried to update some of it without changing it too much. Didn't need to change much for the aro ace one. That was a plus. 

Finished watching Dr. Stone. It was better than I expected. I like that they tried to add real science to it, although there was quite a bit of fantasy/sci-fi, too. They didn't make Senku, the 'scientist', heartless either. He did many things that only benefited the village rather than himself. The 'mentalist' (he was more into psychology, and fighting with it) turned out to be a better person than he appeared to be at the beginning. A 2nd season is confirmed. Looks like it'll be about the fight between Tsukasa's army and Senku's village finally. This season was mainly a setup for it. The last big project of his was creating smartphones. They weren't really like our modern ones. More like a glorified huge phone (with several pieces) you can haul around places. He said it would be the key to the war, since communication is vital. They'll only have 2 'phones'. I think they're going to need more than that. Tsukasa essentially has brute force and many more people. Senku hasn't revived anyone from stone since the beginning, and the village he found is small. They were probably the only humans on the planet for thousands of years that weren't encased in stone. Many generations of them without knowing other people. They thought the 'stone people' were statues, not actual people. Tsukasa isn't an idiot, either. Should be interesting if Senku and his village can do anything more beforehand and how this will play out. 

Ordered some things on Amazon yesterday. I really needed some of it. It's handy that way. Last time I got earplugs was 2 years ago. Didn't realize I was going through them that slowly. Probably not healthy that I used a pair for a couple weeks at a time. I wear them every night, because Rosie likes to scratch things loudly after going to the litter box. My bedroom is facing a 3-way stop, so there's traffic noises sometimes. There's also construction work going on really early in the morning. Birds can be really loud. Lots of reasons. I'll try to switch out pairs more often this time. This probably had compounded my ear issues, too. 

I have Eustachian tube issues. Basically the tubes in my ears are backwards. Creates all sorts of issues, and has gotten more severe over the years. It produces too much earwax, air pressure changes hurt (makes it fun on planes and being in a car going up through the mountains), sometimes my balance is off, and other things. Sometimes it gets so bad, I can't hear. I've been told to use an earwax cleaning kit at least once a month, if not more. I end up doing it maybe once every few months. Not good. Plus, with those earplugs packing it in more, it's a recipe for disaster. With the kit, you add several drops of a peroxide (and something else, can't remember) solution in an ear, wait for a while with your head tilted, then tilt your head the other way to let it 'drain' over the sink (it 'melts' some of it, which is what most of the fluid is), then flush it out with a warm water filled bulbous syringe. Repeat for the other ear. I decided to get another 'kit', and that I'd try to do it more often. I haven't actually gotten my ears clear in a very long time. I usually manage to get some of it out, at least. I plan to leave the solution in my ears longer in the future. I was doing it for 7 minutes each ear. Apparently, if your ear is really compacted, it's recommended online to leave it in for at least 18 minutes each ear. So, I'll try that. It's painful yet eventually a really nice feeling when they're completely clear. It makes a fizzy popping sound just before. I can hear so much more after, it's almost too much. 

I also ordered a purse. My current one is a couple of years old. I think I got it around the time I got the earplugs. It's the same kind/style/color. It's really a great purse, so why not get the same thing again? It's tough, the zippers have stayed intact, it can hold a lot yet flatten to almost nothing, good over-the-shoulder messenger-like one (I prefer those), color's nice, etc. The only problem is the material starts to pucker and fray after about a year and a half. It'd be good to have one without that again. 

I decided to try Nyquil Saturday night. I wanted some relief from that weird cold/cough. The coughing attacks often happen while I'm in bed. Although, I still get them occasionally during the day. Sneezing a lot still, too. Back hurts sometimes because of it. That first night, I slept well for the first time in a long time. Last night, I was good until around 4:45am. Started hacking again. At least, I still got more sleep than usual. Hopefully, it'll work like the 1st night tonight. It really burns...Has more alcohol than I remembered. I used to use Delsym instead. That doesn't have alcohol and tasted like orange soda. This covers more things, though. I don't have to take Tylenol with it, because it has it already. Apparently, it also has the main ingredient that's in Delsym. 

15th of Kislev

Today, I finished the About Me and Phrases 3 units, and started the Body one in Duolingo's Scottish Gaelic course. I'm starting to get the hang of how they say things. A lot of the words aren't pronounced the way they appear. Some letters turn silent, some turn into ph/f or v sounds, de sometimes is pronounced as je (or something similar), e can sometimes be like ye, and it seems some words add a letter that's not written. Like, Alba, which means Scotland. It has an 'ah' sound between the l and b. There are patterns that I'm seeing, though. Makes it more interesting. At the end, I was at 6th place in the Emerald League. They seem to be more with it in this one. It'll be interesting to see where I land on there at the end of the weekend. 

I finished shading the drawing of Junko on Wednesday, then posted it to deviantART and Instagram. I think she turned out better than Shadow. Surprised someone put it in their fave collection on dA, and quite a few people liked it on Instagram. I started looking at design ideas for Vincent yesterday. Found some hairstyle examples and hair color codes. Today, I looked at eye shapes and sizes. Next, I'll look at eye color codes. I'm doing a similar thing, but more detailed, of what I did with Junko. Made a separate 'notes' doc on my phone, then find and copy/paste pics of examples or tips on drawing certain features (divided by category) to it. It's like a special character sheet for him. I didn't look at color codes for Junko beforehand. This way I might already have an idea for that long before I start coloring. Looking at some of these examples and how-tos, I feel like I'm learning more about it, which is a nice plus. 

Today, I finished editing Paralysis from Sweet Endless Terror. It was 11 pages of the ebook, and 29 of the print. There's only one more story left. 

I apparently pushed myself too much with doing 2 2-mile walks a day. Had to stop to rest a little after Monday. My feet were on fire, and something was going on with my back. Both of which have only started to improve greatly today. Maybe I'll try the 1 a day thing again? I really want to get back to it. Not only that, but my cold symptoms have intensified. Had a hard time sleeping last night because of the coughing and feeling like stuff was stuck in my throat. Cough drops didn't help. I've had this 'cold' for a month now. (I don't think I've ever had a cold that lasted this long.) Trying to force myself to do those walks might have made those symptoms worse, too...

Recently there was an executive order that sparked a conversation on whether Judaism is a nationality. Judaism is many things, but it's certainly not a nationality. Like I've read from some comments, Judaism doesn't really fall under what the modern Western concept of religion is. It's more. It is a religion. It is a culture. There are many ethnic groups under the umbrella. For example, Ashkenazi have ancestry of Jews from Germany (Ashkenazi lit. means Germany) and eastern Europe. Sephardi come from Jews that came from Spain (lit. means Spain) and the Mediterranean. There are Kaifeng Jews (from China), the B'nei Manashe (from India), Ethiopian Jews, Mizrachi (from the Middle East), etc. Lots of groups from around the world. Each one has their own 'flavor' to traditions, customs, and foods. Even to how some speak the prayers in Hebrew. Plus, some ethnic groups created their own languages based on Hebrew and common languages around them. Like, Yiddish and Ladino. There are different diet restrictions for Passover. Some Sephardim (plural) make fun of Ashkenazim with how much stricter we are. It's also a philosophy. We've had many famous philosophers in the past. We're taught to question everything, which might be why many of us are scientists, too. We don't have a blind faith. There are even atheist Jews. Some are even Orthodox. There's mysticism, Kabbalah, (not everyone is into it) we even have certain ways to meditate, and something similar to yoga as well (not exactly and not as well known). There are many different branches of Judaism depending on observance and certain values. I'm a Reform Jew, and within that observance can vary greatly. It's basically what makes sense to you, and rationalizing things more. (There are core concepts that we agree on.)  Also, we're very into social justice and tikkun olam or 'repairing the world'. Some branches aren't into that or interpret tikkun olam differently. I have thought about being Modern Orthodox. I feel a little in line with them, as well. Not completely, and I can't really be as observant as they are, but there are some things that 'speak' to me. There's also a culinary tradition to Judaism. There's just so much to it. 

So, yeah, technically the religion category doesn't really fit. However, it is not a nationality. My nationality is American. I could say my ethnicity is half Ashkenazi and the other half mostly Celtic. That would be accurate. If it's deemed as a nationality, it hearkens back to the Nazis and Russia when they declared it a race/nationality, and therefore they were not true citizens of the countries they were from. The dual loyalty idea came out of this, too. Really freaking scary stuff. I needed to write about this somewhere. A facebook status didn't seem quite right, but on my own blog seems perfect. 

Youtube:

Hataraku Saibou (Cells at Work):

Zombieland Saga:

Boku no (My) Hero Academia:


One Piece:

8th of Kislev

Finished the Clothes and Pets units of Duolingo's Scottish Gaelic course. I'm really breezing through. I think if it really is a short course, I'll go back through everything and try to completely level out each unit. Each one has 5 levels or 'crowns'. With each crown, it's supposed to get harder, but I tend to get tired of that by the 3rd one. Once I get the basics like alphabet and such down, I usually just complete the 1st level of each. Maybe they have speaking exercises at the higher levels. I'll see. I made it to 2nd place today in the Ruby League. I don't normally make it up that far. The top 3 at the end of the week not only get promoted to the next league, they also get a chest filled with gems. I think since this course rewards you with red lingots, I'll get a certain amount of those. Either that or xp? Other courses use blue gems. I'm not sure what the difference is between those 2 gem systems. 

I finished coloring in the drawing of Junko in Photoshop, and today I continued with shading. I did her other ear (cat ear, since she's a cat demon), and some of her hair. It's a little annoying, because if you go back over something, it darkens it. If I remember I can erase the 'shading' part without erasing the drawing, I can try to shade it without being very precise and without stopping for certain parts. Adds more to clean up after, but that's ok. I like the 3D effect it gives with shading. Looks more 'real'. After I finish shading, I can finally submit it to Instagram and DeviantArt. Then, it's to drawing the next character. I plan to try and keep doing something related to drawing every day. 

Today, I finished editing Obsession from Sweet Endless Terror. That's 10 pages of the ebook, and 28 pages of the print. It's longer than the other 3 have been. Is This Real? and Heartless were pretty well done, I have to say. Only a few mistakes, and the flow of both was great. Trippy, but all of them are. They are based on my nightmares after all. I don't think they were the most out there ones. Obsession was good, too. Maybe not as good, but up there. (Especially the ending.) Probably the most graphic and brutal story so far. The Head's probably my least favorite story. Interesting to go through these again.

Started a new diet for Rosie last night. As soon as she finished her food, I cleaned her placemat, water bowl, and food bowls. Gave her some fresh water. Then, I measured out what's a recommended daily portion for a cat with a 'normal activity' level, and added one to each bowl. This was a portion based on the cat food that we use. I decided the 'normal' one, because she can be very active at times, and it might be a good one to switch to. The low activity one might have been too much of drastic difference. I put a portion each in the 2 bowls, because it seems Tasha has been eating from them, too. They were originally supposed to be for both of them, and then they attacked each other so often, Tasha had to have her own food bowl over the banister. Otherwise she wouldn't have eaten. She's been braver and more 'normal' the last couple of years. Almost to the point now where she should have been when we 1st got Rosie. It wouldn't be fair to only have one daily portion if both are eating from it. I'm watching to see how long it takes her (and Tasha occasionally) to finish it all. So far, so good. If it gets completely eaten by tonight, I might add another portion to them. Hopefully, this will help Rosie. Tasha has been getting thinner, and Rosie seems to be getting bigger lately. 

Part of my face seems to be numb or paralyzed. Can't tell exactly. I can't smile or move my mouth like usual. It feels tight, too. I hope it's a temporary thing. I also still have cold symptoms. It's been over 3 weeks since I started feeling it. Longer than my usual for being (temporarily) sick. I'm not coughing as much, but still get nasty attacks. I've coughed so much that it threw my back off causing lots of pain. Since I'm coughing less, it's not causing as much back pain. That's a plus. My nose gets super runny at times, and I'm sneezing a lot still. Although, there are signs I'm getting better overall. It's just taking forever. 

My parent and I were the only ones that showed up to the local trans support meeting on Wednesday. Sadness. A positive was that we could leave early to get a late dinner at Shari's. I got their special pretzel roll cheeseburger with tater tots. Last time I tried to get it, they gave me a vegetarian patty. This time they got it right with actual beef. It was really good. Simple comfort food. I also tried a slice of one of their special holiday pies: triple-layer pumpkin cream. It has a layer of cheese pie filling (it's looser and creamier than cheesecake), pumpkin pie filling, and a top layer of cream. It was heavily dusted with nutmeg. The pie itself had a ton of pumpkin pie spice. So much, it was like a slap in the face at first. It was much better than expected. 

Youtube: 

Fukigen na Mononokean (The Morose Mononokean):

Satsuriku no Tenshi (Angel of Death):

Hataraku Saibou (Cells at Work):

Boku no (My) Hero Academia:

Zombieland Saga:

D.Gray-man:

One Punch Man:

27th of Cheshvan

Went to a Trans Day of Remembrance event on Saturday. The actual anniversary of it is on the 20th. It's a day to remember trans people who were murdered in the last year. Usually people read their names, the countries they came from, and how they were killed. Some of the names are unknown, and some of the causes of death are unknown. The majority are usually trans women of color. I think I read that there were 22 that were reported in the US, and 311 altogether worldwide this year. Again, these are just the ones that are reported. Some countries don't report it. (Like, Russia or Iran.) Sometimes they're overlooked, too. It's difficult to sit and listen to each one, but it is important. They didn't go through the whole list of names. The people that wanted to say them could (usually taking 1 or 2 names each), but that didn't cover them all. 

I didn't like that it was so binary. No mention of enby people, and no inclusive language. Saying things like: "We remember our trans brothers and sisters." What about your siblings who were non-binary? Enby people are murdered, too. I totally understand the focus and spotlight being on trans women of color, since they're the most targeted. That's definitely a thing that needs to be said. However, it also felt like some of the time they forget other trans people are killed, too. Not only that, but many amab (assigned male at birth) enby feminine people are mistaken as trans women. That's a problem, as well. 

After the names, there's usually a time for people to comment or bring up stories. Some stories about living trans people, as well as family/friends who were killed or died some other way. I think hearing about trans people that are living also helps people. This time they skipped this section, because they didn't feel there was time. Instead, they had a panel on politics. I think there was only one trans person out of the 4 people on that panel. The whole event was basically ran by cis people, and the panel seemed geared to them more. Many trans people take issue with this for something like TDoR, myself included. I know one of the people that helped set it up is trans, but she only spoke for little bit at the beginning. It was different last year. She seemed to have more of a role then. The panel seemed...inappropriate to me. I can't seem to pinpoint exactly why, but it didn't seem right at such an event. The comments/stories section would have been best. Oh, it's not really much of a panel discussion if only 2 people from the audience got to ask questions. 

I had to leave for a little bit, since a huge coughing attack popped up. I didn't want to leave, but I didn't want to disrupt it, either. As I headed out of the auditorium towards the bathroom, people tried to talk to me. I couldn't respond much. Hope they didn't think I was rude. When I made it into the bathroom, I finally allowed myself to fully cough it out. It was so bad, I thought I would throw up. I didn't, luckily. That incident was embarrassing. After getting back there, the coughing was slowly coming back, but I was determined to stay and able to not make much noise. I'm still sick. It keeps lingering and it's annoying.  

I've managed to both continue fixing the drawing of Junko in Photoshop, and finished editing Alliance/started editing Alliance: Dawn every day for a little over a week and a half. I normally don't do them on Saturdays, because of Shabbat. However, Shabbat ends a little after sundown, and that's still rather early this time of year. So, why not after that? I usually forget on Sundays or want to do other things. I think since I did it on a Saturday, I remembered it more. Junko's looking much better. I'm still thinning/straightening lines and taking away messy areas. I feel like I'm powering through Alliance: Dawn. Decided to go through a chapter a day, instead of maybe 1/2 of one a day. Went through all of chapter 5 today. That was 10 pages of the ebook, and 14 pages of the print version. It's a lot, but it feels like I can be more focused on it. I forgot about the time travel-like aspect in this one. Not revealing much about that. I like how the story progresses in this one more than the first. The first book is more of an intro to their world for readers, I guess. This one's definitely darker, too.

24th of Cheshvan

I've been sick since my last post. Probably a cold. I suspected I came down with something in that one. It's still lingering on. Having coughing attacks, runny nose, and sneezing a lot. I know my body's trying to get rid of it all, but it's difficult to sit through on top of those 'mystery symptoms' I've had for a while now. I also know it can take longer to get over simple things like colds, while on something that works similarly as an immunosuppressant for my colitis. 

Made an account and played a little on the PlayStation 4 on Monday. That was my first time on it. We've had it for a few weeks. I played a Sonic game, which was like a blast of nostalgia. I have a Sega Genesis that's still in good condition, and one of my first games was Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I think that actually came with it. This one has similar levels, but is mostly 3D. Different options for actions, too. Apparently Sonic has a doppelganger in this one. Also, tried G-d of War. The graphics are amazing. Not sure I liked how often the controller vibrated. I died in kind of an annoying part. My son has to shoot arrows at a giant monster at certain times (have to press a button each time for his shots), and I have to attack that monster on my end (hitting other buttons). The monster kept going after me instead of getting distracted by my son. One of the son's last lines was: "Don't leave me all alone in this world!" Makes it seem even worse. He seems to be constantly looking for his father's approval and praise, too. Sad. He doesn't get it much. I want to download Morrowind, but it looks like they don't go back that far in the Elder Scrolls franchise on there. (I could be wrong.) They do have Oblivion which was a sequel to that. I don't think I ever played it. It might be similar. That'd be fun. I didn't go back to it after Monday, because I've felt worse since then. Maybe this weekend. 

Finished editing Alliance. It was the 2nd time in a row. I hadn't edited it since I published it until recently. So, about 5 or 6 years in between. Long time. There were so many mistakes, I'm calling it a revised edition. I shaved off 3,000 words. Looks like it'll be a smoother read now. Not sure how many pages less. The print is made from a template that's for around 300 pages, and I think it was a couple of pages over that. It's now 298. Ebook is now 206 pages. I think it was quite a lot more beforehand. It's still my longest book out of the 5 that are out, from what I remember. After that, I immediately started editing Alliance: Dawn, the sequel. I like how this one is laid out more, it's jam-packed with stuff, and there doesn't seem to be as many mistakes so far. Although, I feel embarrassed that I misgendered my main character towards the beginning...It's like stabbing my baby. (It was just in one sentence, but still...) Hopefully, no one brought that up in the reviews. I haven't looked at that stuff since I started all this editing. At least I caught and corrected it. This one started with 147 pages for the ebook, and 220 pages for the print. Not bad. It's also 9,000 words less than A1 ended up with. Easier already that way. I went through all of the 2nd chapter today. I seem to be cruising through it. 

Still correcting/editing the drawing of Junko in Photoshop. (Again, Junko's a character in Alliance.) Straightening and thinning out the lines, and taking out things that shouldn't be there at the moment. I don't know why, but I seem to have given her a human ear in addition to her cat ears. (She is a cat demon.) That was easy to correct. I can't believe I forgot to draw her tail. It dawned on me a couple of days ago. I could think of it as hidden behind her. She does have a knee out, so maybe it's behind that. I could draw it as a side thing in the future. I might draw her previous cat form, too. 

Finished Duolingo's Dutch course. I'm unsure as to which language I should start next, so I'm taking at least a week-long break from it. (Might be 2, depending on how I feel.) Here are the ones I might learn next: Hindi, possibly going back to modern Hebrew (it doesn't have vowels written out, which makes it a little more difficult than what I'm used to), Gaelic, Welsh, Thai, or Vietnamese. Quite a mix. So far, I've recently gone through these Duolingo courses: German, Italian, Korean, and Dutch. I used HelloChinese for Mandarin after the German course, which was probably one of the best language courses so far. They recently had a huge update adding twice the amount of units. I might go back to that someday. I tried Duolingo's Russian course, but it was too glitchy. I thought it'd be fun to familiarize myself with that again, since I took it in college. Loved it back then. I feel lucky that Duolingo has so many options, and they add languages every few months. Some languages are great on there, and some...not so much. 

Another anime I'm rewatching is Vandread. It originally aired in 2000. I watched it in my college's anime club. Probably around 2005. It was already 'old' by then. However, the concept I think was ahead of its time. It plays with gender a lot. It takes place in the future, where men and women have been segregated to 2 different planets for a few generations. They fight each other occasionally. The women have no problem with keeping up their population, since they've figured out a way to have children without men. If I remember correctly, they can only have girls, though. I think the men are having a harder time with that. The women don't seem as militant, either. Both genders have created their own fables of each other. Men depicting women as monsters. Women depicting men as aliens. The main character, Hibiki, gets stuck on a male battleship after female pirates take over it. He wasn't even supposed to be on it. Someone bet him to steal a high-tech robot, so he snuck in. He's just an engineer. A few of the other men that were supposed to be there get stuck, too. It's interesting to see their initial reactions to each other, considering they haven't met the other gender before. 

I also decided to watch the original Hunter x Hunter. That started in 1999. Saw some of it with that anime club, but we stopped to watch something else at some point. I never went back to it. So, it's one of those that I 'dropped' but am going back to now. I forgot about it and there were so many new interesting shows coming out. HxH is a pretty long series, especially if you put that first series (62 episodes), plus an OVA that's 30 episodes long, plus the series that started in 2011 (148 episodes) together seems like quite an undertaking. (That's not counting a couple of movies.) Nothing like One Piece, but still a lot. I'm willing to try it again. 

Youtube:

Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler):

Fairy Tail:

One Piece:


One Punch Man:

16th of Cheshvan

My birthday was on the 7th. Went to a Thai place for dinner that night. Managed to get the last order of tofu spring rolls. They run out of those really quickly. Often there aren't any left by the time we get there for dinner. Got the most mild chicken pad Thai without the 'garnish'. A lot of the garnish is tough on my gut, especially when it's not cooked. I have issues with nuts, too. They throw quite a bit of peanuts on it usually. Understandable, but not good for me. It was pretty good. Felt like I got the 'meat' of it without the 'fluff' this way. Got their grilled banana rice cake for dessert. It normally comes with coconut ice cream, but they were out. They tried to give me mango sorbet instead. Definitely not the same. They had to take it back. I love the banana thing. They wrap a banana in a rice cake, grill it, and then drizzle coconut syrup on top. Looks nasty (bug-like), but is amazing! 

During the day, I had my own laid-back celebration. Played Fate, which is an old rpg. Made it to a level deeper in the dungeon. I think I'm the furthest I've ever been, at level 42 of it. My character level is probably the highest so far, too. My reputation is Famous at the moment. There are apparently more levels to that. I like that they have pets. You can choose either a cat or dog at the beginning. Then, at some point you can find fish that will turn your pet permanently into some sort of monster. Normally, if your pet eats a fish they turn into a monster for a certain amount of time. So, technically, there are more pet options. I still have a cat. Named her Rosie, so it's like the real Rosie is with me. She's really strong now, too. There's the option of male or female characters, however they both wear the same things and there's really no advantage to being either. With all the armor and such on mine, you can't tell what gender they are. I like that aspect.  

After that I watched some of my fave youtube vids on the big TV. That was fun. It was nice that AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network) made a thread wishing me a happy birthday. Hung around the forums there for a while. 

Saturday, I went to the Oak Table for brunch. That's one of the places I really wanted to go to for my birthday. To me, it's a great place to celebrate things like birthdays. Really good food and they have some spectacular signature things. Some of it is really worthy of taking pics of, like their apple pancake. It's like a huge souffle with apples inside and caramel/cinnamon pieces or crust on the outside. There was a long wait. (One of the few things I hate about going there.) I got their smoked salmon eggs Benedict. I can't have regular eggs Benedict, since it usually has ham. This had an English muffin, smoked salmon, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. Came with 4 small pancakes. It was delicious. The eggs Benedict itself was probably the perfect size for a breakfast. Very filling, too. 

After that, we went to the Naval Undersea Museum. Hadn't been there since my teens. For planning my birthday, I wanted to visit things like museums that I hadn't been to in a while, and some things I never have. That list ended up much longer than I expected. That's ok. Gives me ideas to go to places in the future. There's a lot of stuff at the NUM. Some of it seemed too cramped with things. 

Saw Doctor Sleep at a local movie theater after that. It's a sequel to the Shining. Basically about what happened to Dan after the events that took place there. It was better than expected. Despite her being a villain, I liked Rose the Hat. The actress has an interesting background. I also liked Abra. She seemed stronger than Dan is as an adult (she's a teenager), and sometimes smarter. The actress who plays her was really good. I liked the nods to the Shining movie throughout. For example, the music played when they were heading to the hotel. Ghosts from the previous one. I read even the Overlook Hotel set had to be entirely redone to look like the original, since the original had burned down. 

Monday, my parent and I went to the Seattle Aquarium and Pacific Science Center. The aquarium was smaller than I remembered. I think it's been 7 years since I was last there. Didn't have my iphone at the time. (Didn't have a smart phone at all.) They had all gender restrooms. That was cool to see. Had a turkey sandwich with potato chips at their cafe. It had an everything bagel (had seeds, so not the best for me), artichoke aioli, roasted turkey, spinach, tomatoes, and olive tapenade. Really good. 

The PSC seemed to have dropped in quality. Hadn't been there in probably a longer time than the NUM. I remember the dinosaur exhibit was in a larger room and had more things. I especially remember that because when my Girl Scout troop (I think it was actually with troops from around the region, there were a lot of us) slept over there, they put us in the dino room. (This was in the 90s.) It was big enough to hold so many people. What I saw on Monday wouldn't have been big enough. That was an amazing trip back then. It was a little scary to sleep next to the animatronic dinos at the time. I'm glad some of them still move. We also went to a laser light show, the planetarium, and watched movies at the theater, as well as had free reign of the rest of it. It was an awesome experience back then. Anyways, the nutrition/health area wasn't the same either. I was disappointed with the naked mole rats' enclosure. I think we saw them the first year they had them. They were in a deep table filled with dirt, and you could look at the sides into their chambers. I think there were things poking out of the dirt on top to get a better look. It was cool and interesting to see. Now, they're in something that looked like it was for hamsters, gerbils, domestic rats, etc. It looked sad. They weren't kicking up and digging in dirt anymore either. It was like pieces of paper. Didn't seem right. The butterfly exhibit was nice. The butterflies kept resting on the path, which made it difficult to walk along. One of them landed on top of my head. My colorfully dyed hair probably made me look like a plant. I would have liked them to land on my hand or something instead. A place I can actually see them. I don't regret going, despite the quality decreasing. 

Another thing that was on my list was the MoPop (Museum of Pop Culture), which is right next to the PSC. I remember it as the EMP (Experience Music Project). It's apparently been renamed a few times. I've never been there. My parents did once. Sounds like it has more than just music related exhibits. I read that they have a horror exhibit, a new one on Minecraft, a fantasy/sci-fi one, etc. They still have music ones like one on Kurt Cobain's influence on music, Jimi Hendrix, punk, rock, and more. Sounds like it's really packed in there. Maybe sometime in the distant future I'll go there.

With being in such crowded areas, I seem to have come down with something. It's not like it's really horrible (although worse than yesterday), but I keep sneezing, coughing, have a stuffy nose, sore throat, and am dizzy. That's kind of a risk of doing stuff like that, since my meds work similarly as an immunosepressant would. Adds a bit more stuff to what I'm already dealing with. Feels like a punishment for having fun...

I decided yesterday to try a new 'schedule' with eating. Eat every 1 1/2 hours, splitting my meals in half. So, for instance, having cereal with milk for a 'first' breakfast, then a banana 1 1/2 hours later. Basically the main part, then my usual fruit later. For dinner, the main part, then dessert later. With the 'extra' times, I added having water. I'd end up getting more fluids this way. I've heard it's easier to digest things if they're a little at a time and frequent. Many people with colitis do a similar thing. This way I get the same amount of food, too. I don't really get hungry, either. Half the time, I don't feel hunger (even after not eating most of the day), but this helps even more with those other times. It really is like snacking all day. Getting up late and days where I eat out at restaurants or spend it mostly out somewhere will be different. I'm not sure why I didn't think about it this way when I was first told to eat smaller and more frequent meals. Might help with my dysphagia (trouble/painful swallowing), too. Less food to worry about at a time. This respiratory thing has been messing with my dysphagia. It's hard enough. Having a hard time even taking my pills.

I've decided to rewatch some of my fave anime and give another chance to ones I dropped. I still have some of my usual time 'slots' vacant. For instance, nothing on Mondays, and some days with just one episode of a current anime. I prefer 2 or 3 different anime, one episode each, daily. Most anime is a little under 20 minutes without the openings/endings. Really not much. I decided to go with oldest ones first. According to the date they were put out. Yesterday, I watched an episode of Cardcaptor Sakura. That came out in 1998. Really old school, and it apparently has some LGBTQ+ elements. One of the first ones that was open about it. I love CLAMP, even if their style is a little weird. It's an all-female manga creator group. I think this was one of their first projects. The characters in this one appear in other series like Tsubasa Chronicle. In fact, at least that, Cardcaptor Sakura, and xxxHolic are considered to be in the same universe. I only dropped CS before because it seemed too long. The original is 70 episodes long. The sequel was in 2018 and 22 episodes. Must have been an anniversary thing. There are a couple of movies, too. It's not as long as some of the others I've watched. 

Watched the first episode of Excel Saga. I absolutely loved it when I watched it back in college. I think that was in 2005. It came out in 1999. I think my ex-boyfriend introduced it to me. It has similar humor as Gintama, or I should say Gintama does. Since it's older. Probably got inspiration from it. It seems to have influenced a lot of other anime, too. Like, there's a common trope where a character dies by being hit by a truck. One of the first times Excel dies is by being hit by a truck. (It's in the first few minutes, so not spoiling it.) I like the Miss Universe character. She has the ability to bring characters back to life. She's constantly busy saving them. I remember the one that died the most often was Hayatt. She's an alien and apparently the atmosphere on Earth makes her sick. She's constantly coughing up blood. I remember the last episode was controversial, because there was a lot more violence, sexual jokes, and all around craziness than usual. It actually never aired on Japanese TV, and was sneaked into the DVD. I saw that and it was really outlandish, but fun in a weird way. The whole series is certainly not appropriate for kids. They parody a lot of things, like Gintama does, too. ES is short compared to CS, with only 26 episodes. Shorter than I remembered. 

In addition to CS and ES, I watched the most recent episode of Radiant 2. It's getting intense. I'm wondering about Seth's past or who he really is more now. 

I only have about 2 more units left of Duolingo's Dutch course. Not sure which language I'll do next. Cleaned up more of the drawing of Junko in Photoshop. Finished editing chapter 17 of Alliance. Only 3 more chapters. Managed to practice my clarinet yesterday. It's harder with being sick this way. Did advanced solo pieces, and some jazz. 

The most recent chapter of Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) was way too short. In fact, it felt like an abrupt ending. There was a big cliffhanger. I like that Meirin's backstory is finally being revealed. The other servants had theirs shown a while ago. So far, it's showing her childhood and eventually will get to how she met Sebastian and Ciel. She's extremely farsighted. Her parents died not long after they immigrated to England (I think they came from Ireland, although they haven't said yet), and she was forced to live on the streets as a little kid. She survived with other homeless kids by shooting pebbles from a slingshot at a long distance, and hitting earrings/jewelry of the rich women just right for them to fall. Her friends would chat up the women and steal the jewelry when it fell, then they'd exchange them for money. They were able to eat because of this. She was treated like one of the boys. Looked pretty masculine, too. I think she was forced into being an assassin, and then Ciel was just one of her targets later. She did mention she was an assassin. She prefers to be a sniper, but she fights in other ways as well. She's a cool character.