Mood:
Wow! It's halfway over! It only gets more difficult to follow the 'diet' of Passover as it gets closer to the end.
Feels like it's been going forever already. Still feel a bit tired from the cooking and preparing for mainly our seder.
Tried to make something nice yesterday for dinner, but it didn't turn out too well.
It was a matzah meat pie that people from Rhodes, Greece, and Turkey eat traditionally during Passover. Sounds great, because that area of the world has some of the best food. I think it was just a bad recipe. The top part became extremely hard, the meat mixture seemed dry and didn't keep its 'form', and the seasonings weren't the best. I was looking forward to making it.
Came from the same book that I looked at for help on roasting an egg. The egg never seemed to really look 'roasted'. It had little brown spots, so I know it was. I guess the book isn't very good...Maybe just good for reference stuff? Maybe sometime in the future, I'll find a better recipe for it. (Dad made me feel even weirder after her reaction to it. I know she was probably just tired, but it still felt weird.) So, anyways, its kind of set the tone for today as well.
I felt a little better after having some of my Passover noodles for lunch. I put some ketchup, parmesan, sweet basil, dried onions, garlic, and 7-spice (or shichimi togarashi) in. It was really good.
Might have put a little too much 7-spice in, but it made it zesty too. I've always been the only one who could stomach these noodles, let alone love them. But, this brand was one of the best I've had. The noodles tend to turn into glue, if you cook them a minute too long. And if they're cooked right, they still have a little hardness to them inside. A lot of people don't like the texture.
The only thing I don't like about them is they sit in your stomach like lead for hours after.
I finished writing the story part of Alliance yesterday! Huge thing for me!
Been working on it for a while. I'll have to really celebrate after the holiday. Edited a lot of the last chapter today. Next time, I'll print out that chapter, and edit it again through the paper version. Sometimes I can see mistakes easier this way. After I get this chapter edited enough, I'll have to edit the entire thing. At least a couple of times. I might make a dedication page, figure out the author's info section, and the cover art after that. Then, I have to figure out if I want to self-publish. (It's looking more and more likely that I will.)
Played a little of my clarinet yesterday. I felt so rusty.
Did some Mozart tunes. I'll get back to the way I was before, soon. Edited more of the drawing meme I'm working on.
In Asuko March, Nao's mother visited. She wants to take Nao to Singapore with her to get a better education abroad. After a lot of going back and forth, and her mom collapsing from fatigue; her mom realizes that Asuko's the best place for her. Both Aruto and Tamaki are fighting over Nao. Momo's starting to soften a bit on Nao. Since Nao saved her from a group of guys. Sad that there's only one more episode left.
In Hetalia, they featured more of Belgium and the Netherlands. I really like both characters. Belgium feels like she has to become stronger, because she's surrounded by men. Netherlands is very into trade, and his finances. He's kind of sneaky the way he does things sometimes. Like buying a bunch of fish from one country, pickling them, and selling them off to another country at a higher price. I liked Belgium's facial expression when she tried a waffle that countries from around the world call a 'Belgium' waffle. She was very disgusted, and said people should try the real thing at her 'home'.
Gintama was awesome! Even if it was a touching story, they always seem to make it awesome and hilarious. Sadaharu was angry at Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi for not feeding him. (Gintoki was a little ticked, saying it's tough trying to take care of everyone.) So, Sadaharu ran away. While he was wandering the streets he met a little puppy. He was about to eat it, then remembered how he arrived at the Yorozuya's door step, and took pity on it. It was very frail, and soon became sick. But, Sadaharu tried to look after it. Finding fish in the river, trying to ask residents to take them in, protecting it at night, etc. Eventually, it seemed that the puppy had passed away. Sadaharu didn't look too great by then, either. Gintoki found them, and took them to the vet. Apparently, Gintoki just wanted to be a little tough on him, to show him what it's like to care for someone. The puppy survived, too. Its previous owner had died, but his grandchildren were notified by Gintoki, and they took the puppy in. Gintoki's a genius! He's always been, but its really come out with the last couple of episodes. Although, he tries to act idiotic, he's far from it.
Mood:
Another track from Fairy Tail's first soundtrack. Still has some of the Celtic/rock sound. I still love the blends and the overall sound of this soundtrack.
An awesome fighting tune, too. Also, perfect for a lot of the characters. A cool Fairy Tail amv that features it:
Posted another pic from the fair to FB and dA. It was of another horse. Its eyes were kind of interesting. Iryu Sousa was touching, yet again. Seemed to be a more complicated story than last time.
In Bleach, Ichigo, Orihime, Sado, Ishida, and Yoruichi make it to Soul Society. They almost didn't make it. But, thanks to the quick thinking of Orihime, they made it safely. The Shinigami live in Seireitei, and as soon as Ichigo finds out where it is, he runs towards it. He's immediately stopped by a huge gate going up, and a giant who's the gatekeeper named Jidanbou. Jidanbou uses an ax at first to smash the ground and create a barrier to keep the others from interfering. At first he slashes at Ichigo multiple times with that one ax. Nothing hits or really fazes him. So, he uses 2 axes at the same time. Ichigo smashes both and knocks Jidanbou to the ground. As a mark of respect for beating him, he opens the gate for Ichigo and his group. The 3rd Division captain, Gin Ichimaru, is there to greet them on the other side, much to Jidanbou's dismay.
In Fairy Tail, Makarov went to a guild master meeting, leaving Mira in charge. Lucy was trying to decide on a job to take from the request board. And, if she's sticking with Natsu and Happy as a team. Gray actually smokes in this version...(I don't remember him ever doing so in the anime.
) He also seems even more perverted. They introduced Loki. I miss seeing him as a regular character in the anime. Instead, of coming out of the spirit world occasionally. They also introduced Erza. She always seems cool, yet clueless. Funny that way. She's extremely strict about things, and no one wants to mess with her. Since she's considered one of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail.
Played my clarinet. Did some pieces from my advanced solo book, and some Irish tunes. Wasn't too bad today.
Edited and posted chapter 17 of Alliance. I like how it turned out. It's actually one of my shortest chapters. I don't really have a set limit to pages for each one. So, it's interesting where I end up.
I'm already getting more ideas for the next chapter.
日本語
The kanji for today is: 図. Or: ず、と、え、はか.る (Zu, to, haka.ru). It means: diagram, accidentally, drawing, map, plan, unexpected, illustration. Worked on more compound words for 引. 引力 or いんりょく (inryoku): attraction, affinity, magnetism. 延引 or えんいん (enin): delay, procrastination. 吸引 or きゅういん (kyuuin): absorption, suction. 牽引 or けんいん (kenin): hauling, tow, pull, drag. 拘引 or こういん (kouin): arrest, custody, seduction, abduction. Went over a Japanese lesson from my book again. Got most of the answers correct! I'm getting into the tough stuff of the book, so it's even harder to concentrate on the answers, and what's being brought up. Just registered for the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), again. A bit nervous about the test in December. But, not too much, considering I feel a lot more prepared.
I'm taking the lowest level again.
Started brainstorming about my next drawing. I think I'll do a sunset scene at Unity campus. Unity is the made-up university in my story. I wanted something to do with colors again. And, I love to draw sunsets. So, we'll see how that will turn out. Also, did a little bit more of this last section of the meme. Kept messing up my main character's face. I think that's a sign to stop and do it again tomorrow or some other time.
Made something for the first time in a long time! I love to cook, so not being able to do much of it because of my shoulder, was really difficult. I made teriyaki chicken with rice, and a salad for dinner tonight. We still had some teriyaki sauce left from the last time we made it. Usually, a bottle of it is good for 2 meals. The salad was an 'Asian Kit Salad'. It came with lettuce and some other vegetables, some cranberries, wonton strips, and a sesame orange dressing. Really good stuff.I'll probably post a pic of it all tomorrow on FB and dA.
Mood:
By Another Infinity ft. Mayumi Morinaga. This is the 11th ending theme song to Fairy Tail. Cool, peaceful, yet sad all at the same time. It features Lucy. The lyrics seem interesting as well. Talking about how the world used to be, before we made huge cities and such. Somehow it sounds like how I've been feeling lately, just the mood of it at least.
One of their better songs.
We're still getting cards, and people are nice enough to still be making meals for us. It's supposed be like that, but it's still nice that they put the effort in and cared.(A lot of them have been homemade.) Tonight someone made us some lentil soup and lots of little cornbread muffins. It was so good!They suggested we put a little balsamic vinegar in the soup, saying it makes it even better. And it did!
Yesterday, someone gave us some roasted turkey, an interesting Mediterranean inspired rice salad, and some eggs from her chickens for me. That's fresh eggs.
Really good stuff. Haven't had the eggs yet. I heard that someone might make a chicken pot pie for us on Friday night. Nice.
It's funny, because the universe or G-d must not want me to leave the house until the shiva week's over.I was hoping to go to that cafe I usually go to on Wednesdays, the one that Mom went to for her Mahj group. I just liked to have a place to study things in a different environment, and not in front of the computer. Anyways, I asked if one of the members of the group could drive me. She said something came up for her and a couple other members, so they're postponing this week's to Friday and she'd be happy to drive and see me then. That's cool with me, but a bit odd. Another friend told me that she'd be more free on Saturday rather than Thursday. Shiva would end Thursday night. It's kind of creepy.
I kind of feel like it's been good for me to stay at home for now, though.
I've been getting back to playing my clarinet. It's been kind of therapeutic for me. Wasn't too bad today. Might have been better if I had broken in my new reed a bit more. It always has to be played with for like 4 or 5 times before it sounds and feels normal.Could also be because I let this pack, as soon as we got it, get a little warped on a hot day in the backseat of the car.Oh well, at least they get back to normal after a little while.
Posted chapter 15 of Alliance to dA. I've already started working on 16. I have to decide soon when to end the first novel, and start the next.
I want the first one to end on a cliffhanger so people will want to read more.
Still has so many ways it can go.
I've decided on the next meme, and did some prep for it. I plan to fill this one in: Amazing Character Art Mad-Lib I know it's really long, but I think it'd be interesting. I have more than enough characters for it. It needs 8.
Started to work on Kenta's face. Fray and Sin's came out pretty good. Kind of close to what I envisioned. Also, worked on the character info to my last character, Doina. She sounds cool. I might add a new character soon.That makes it close to 20 characters!
But, the characters make the story. Started a description of the student union building from the story. I'm thinking of first drawing diagrams of the exterior and interior, and then what it actually looks like. It'll be a great project for me to learn how to draw buildings/architecture in detail. I've done diagrams of buildings before, when I was in my high school fashion and interior design class. So, I have a little background on the 'outline' phase. I have to figure out how to do the actual building, especially if I want to do the manga version of the story.
Fairy Tail was kind of pointless. Natsu trying to pick a fight with Laxus, and it ended in like 2 seconds. They had a festival leading up to the 'duel'. They found out that the thing that Lucy's dad wanted to give her is a clock hand. That was basically all there was to this episode.
Anagle Mole's been really interesting so far. Kyousuke knows that Luchiru's not human. I'm starting to suspect maybe Kyousuke isn't either. He mentioned that he's an 'Anagle Mole', but won't tell Luchiru what that means. Since Kyousuke found out that Luchiru's not human, another spy from underground was sent out to kill him.
Even though I didn't go to the cafe, I still did the stuff I normally would. Studied downstairs at the dining room table, so it's still a different 'environment'. And the only electronic I used was my mp3 player, like usual. So, I read a bit of the April issue of You Maga, transposed an Irish tune, finished reading the Comedy of Errors from my collection of Shakespeare stories book (which I thought was pretty good), looked up some more descriptive words for my story in a dictionary (didn't find anything...), and finished a crossword puzzle. Not bad.
Mood:
Yay for sandwiches!It's also Culture Day or Bunka no Hi (文化の日) in Japan. It's a day of promoting culture, the arts, and academics. Festivities typically include art exhibitions, parades, festivals, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars (some of which don't have to be Japanese citizens). Schools hold a culture festival, as well. Cool! Sounds like my kind of day.
I've seen 'culture festivals' being portrayed in Jdramas and anime shows. It sounds fun.
This is my wallpaper for the month. Not sure if I'll change it later...It's Vocaloid themed. Chibi versions of Meiko, Gakupo, Len, Rin, Luka, and Miku are celebrating Kaito's birthday. He looks a bit overwhelmed with stuff.
Cute though. This is the only good birthday themed wallpaper I liked this time. By the way, only 4 more days! I'll celebrate sooner, though.
My Japanese woodblock calendar isn't as impressive as in previous months. Just stormy looking. And still don't have a new Jewish calendar, so I'm using the tiny 4 month on one page thing at the end. Can't read it too well. But, I think Mom and I will have new ones soon. (Pretty soon we'll have to get the normal calendars, too.
)
Here's the month-long holidays: Adopt a Senior Pet Month, Epilepsy Awareness Month, International Drum (Percussion) Month, National Adoption Month, Georgia Pecan Month, National Novel Writing Month, National Peanut Butter Lovers' Month, National Pomegranate Month, National Roasting Month, Vegan Month, Good Nutrition Month, National Pepper Month. Some are important causes, some are to make you think and appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. I think there's less this time. I love peanut butter!
Drums/percussion's cool too! Pecans and pomegranates are awesome!
Some areas around us are experiencing record lows. And, they were forecasting ice pellet showers last night. Wahoo!
It usually doesn't get like this until at least the end of the month.
Went early to Poulsbohemian yesterday, because Mom was meeting someone. I grabbed my lunch from a crepe place near it. First time there. Ordered the Scandinavian, which has smoked salmon, capers, lemon juice, spinach, and some cream cheese. It was pretty good, and seemed really big to me. Just wasn't too sure about their whole-wheat crepe.And, there was a huge glob of cream cheese in one area, an area with just spinach, and the fish wasn't mixed in either. I really wanted to try 'the Works', but I needed something more lunch-y, instead of dessert.The Works had whipped cream, nutella, nuts, I think bananas, and other stuff. Plus, I think they use a different kind of crepe for desserts. Oh well. Maybe next time, we could grab some soup from Poulsbohemian, and then grab a dessert crepe.
I got a lot done at the cafe. Transposed an Irish tune, wrote out another big section of You Maga, read, drew, did a crossword puzzle, came up with more ideas for Alliance, and went through part of their dictionary. All within about 4 and a half hours. Also, got to talk a bit to the barista and her friends.
I needed some time to cool done after all that, so I played around a bit on Facebook. By the time I was done, it was getting pretty late. I made Japanese curry, so we had dinner a bit later than we'd like.
Added too much water, so it was too runny. I forget, if you're making half the package, you do half the ingredients and a little less water. I think I've done that before.This time I used chicken, tiny potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. Good stuff, still. I might make mac and cheese tonight, since it's just Mom and I. Not sure...
I was the primary person to hand out candy this year. Mom was very sick, and Dad had something after work. Some of the little toddlers were so cute!
They had problems getting up the stairs. I wanted to help them, but they were determined to do it on their own. Rosie was surprisingly better than I thought she would be. She stayed on the ottoman watching patiently as the trick-or-treaters came to the door. (We had the wooden door open, so it wouldn't keep closing on me. So, there was just a glass door closed.) They saw her and kept telling me how adorable she was. When I was trying to eat dinner, the kids were starting out, so every time I'd take a bite, I heard our doorbell.
I hate when kids try to grab all the candy from the bowl before I get a chance to give it to them.Only a couple of those though. At one point, there was a line all the way out into the street.I think they liked our selection. With some of them saying, "OMG! They have Skittles!" or "I'm eating my Twix now!" Kind of a nice feeling.We only had 12 pieces left in the bowl. Last year it was like half the bowl. So more kids this year. But, I saved some pieces for us before I gave the candy out. So, we had plenty for ourselves.
