National Walking Day!

Mood:

Walking is really good for your health. Read a while back that it may be better than running. Anyways, good to celebrate something that's good for you like that. Maybe I'll walk a bit more today. 

Yay! Passover ended at sundown yesterday! I like the holiday, but sometimes it feels like it drags towards the end. So, now I can eat chametz again!

This is my wallpaper for the month. Not sure if I'll use it for the entire month or not.It's Kagura, Gintoki, and Shinpachi from Gintama. Kagura's using Sadaharu as a stole. (Must be a baby version of him, because he's such a big dog...) Kind of a nice festive looking wallpaper. Not sure if I like the colors in Gintoki's yukata.But, the rest of it looks nice.

My spice calendar features lemongrass this time. My Jewish calendar features a basin by Abraham Warnberger II. It's silver-gilt; from Augsburg, Germany; from 1670. There's also a 'spice tower', maker's unknown. Made out of silver; from Germany; 1800-1900. The spice 'tower' or a lot of the time called a box, is used during Havdalah. Havdalah marks the end of Shabbat, which is after sundown Saturday night. There's some pretty ornate spice boxes out there.Then, there's a painting titled The Sabbath of the Simple (Suite II-8), inspired by Hasidic Tales by Martin Buber, made by Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman. The painting is on paper; from Groningen, Netherlands; from 1941. Looks kind of sad. I always like to see the really old stuff. They're very interesting.

The month-long holidays are: National Garlic Month, National Grilled Cheese Month, National Soft Pretzel Month, Frog Month, International Guitar Month, National Garden Month, National Kite Month. Some are important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. I love garlic!Nice there's a month devoted to it. Grilled cheese, and soft pretzels are pretty tasty too. Frogs and gardens kind of go well together. Kites can be a lot of fun. So, seems like a fun month.

Went to the support group last night. Had a huge turnout, which was very nice. Dad and I were going to share pics of ourselves. A while back the group said that everyone should share their old pics of themselves. Kind of to get to know people better. I had spent an hour looking for things I could bring, and found a huge brown album with my baby and little kid pics. Plus, an album of mine with pics I took while I was at a NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth) event. Which was a blast!And, it also has pics from a trip to Victoria, Canada that my marching band went on. I think both these 'events' were when I was around 15 or 16. Still looked a lot different. Anyways, Dad took up all the time we set up for it. Which is fine. One of the members said he really wants to see the pics that I brought, so I better show them at the next meeting. I didn't think they would really care about it...

Went to Shari's after for dinner. (It's always a pretty late dinner. Like, not getting our food until around 9:30pm at the earliest.) I decided to get the most chametz-y thing on the menu, since Passover ended while we were at the meeting part. I got their fried chicken and waffles. The chicken is heavily breaded and fried, then there's the waffles, and the gravy probably had some flour in it. Just about as chametz-y as it comes.

Also, one of the most calorie-loaded on the menu. But, I luckily am still doing my 'new' way of eating where I'll usually eat half of what I get at restaurants. Sometimes, if it's big enough, I'll eat only a third. I also didn't eat much that day. So, it wasn't as bad.The chicken had a light 'honey' syrup. Barely could taste the honey.The gravy was a bit odd tasting, but not bad. If there was more of it, I think it would have made me sick. Made for a nice brunch today. Of course, I added real honey to the chicken this time. I think since I was born in the South, I love fried chicken with honey. It's just a thing they do there. Also, had a slice of a s'more's pie for dessert last night. It was awesome!

In Hitman Reborn, Tsuna came in to the rescue, while Mosca (a robot) was going berzerk. His 'family' was in danger. He beat Mosca, but found out the 9th boss of the Vongola family, was tied up inside. Seemed like they made him kill the 9th. I kind of expected something like that was happening. Maybe Tsuna will go crazy and beat up Xanxus? Sounds like it's getting more interesting. Sad that the 9th might be dead though. He was the one who appointed Tsuna as the 10th leader of the family in the first place. Yesterday, I also read some more of Fairy Tail. It's the Deliora arc. It was really cool in the anime, it'd be interesting to see how the manga has it. I'll probably watch the last episode of the anime today. They're going to take a hiatus for now. Not sure when it'll return, but the mangaka was hinting at it coming back at some point. So, we'll see. It's a really good show, it'll be sad if it truly ends now.

7th Day of Passover!

Mood:

Only one more day. Ends at sundown tomorrow. So, I guess while we might be at Shari's tomorrow, after group, I'll have something chametz-y.Chametz is  basically things that aren't kosher for Passover. Like, breads, pastas, cakes, rice, corn, different grains, etc. (Some of those only Ashkenazic Jews take out from their diet. Calling the other 'stuff' besides the leavened things, kitniyot.) So maybe I'll have a burger, or some pasta thing, or maybe pancakes...This is the point when it becomes difficult to continue. Mom occasionally would end it a day early. But, I don't know if I want to. 

It's also April Fool's Day. DeviantART actually had an interesting idea, that'd be kind of cool if it were real. It was about a dating site related to deviantART called deviantHEART. Saying they can match you with another artist through their questionnaire, and what you'd like to see in a match. Cute idea. Of course, since it was an April Fool's thing, they match you up randomly.Some people were matched with deactivated accounts. Some got artists who rarely put stuff up. Mine was a guy from Spain, who apparently has an obsession with Avatar: The Last Airbender and South Park. Much younger than me, too. I tried to fill it out a few times with different answers, and it always paired me up with this guy. Interesting though. I kind of like what they did last year more. With the cat 'empire' taking over. That was fun.And, there were contests, changes to avatars, cat art work everywhere, etc. Like they put a lot of effort into it. The one this year seems kind of half-baked. Oh well. Next year might be fun. 

Started up this week with doing 20 sit-ups twice a day. I think I'm going to try adding 10 to both times each week, instead of what was the norm of just 5 to both times each week. Might catch up to what I was doing much quicker. And, may even see results faster. Did my normal 2-mile walk today, too. Felt good to get back to it.It was really sunny out, so that was nice. Decided that since the sunsets are at weird times now, I'll do it a bit earlier. It's still beautiful out, if I do it at the time I did today.Couldn't wear my sunglasses, because apparently there's a crack in the frame. Part of that crack has actually cut through, and if I were to wear it, it'd be cutting into my cheek. Not cool.Once the holiday is over, I'll be able to eat more normal. So, I can get back to what I was doing before. So, it feels great to be getting back to my fitness stuff. 

In Cartoon KAT-TUN, the guys were on tour. One of their stops was in Sendai. They arrived a day early, not really knowing what was in store for them. Started off as a punishment game for Ueda and Kame, or as the new 'nickname' for the pair was dubbed KameDa. They lost at a cooking competition against the other guys. Their punishment was to be an AD, or people that essentially do everything for the band. Like hold up cue cards, make restaurant reservations, ask in person ahead of time if they can film in various places, get drinks and food for the band, carry the bands things, etc. Only they of course made it especially hard on KameDa. They tried cow tongue, visited a shrine (one of the other tourists thought they were a rock band named TOKIO. Kind of funny to see their reactions to it), were welcomed with leis (KameDa didn't get them, though), got drinks at a local stand somewhere (they didn't even know exactly where), etc. For the cow tongue, KameDa were forced to cook it for the band, and themselves. Then, through janken, or rock, paper, scissors they decided that Nakamaru would be a new AD. Ueda was able to get out of it. Kame was forced to stay as one. In the preview, Nakamaru was forced to deal with his fear of heights by bungee jumping. That should be interesting. I like these sort of 'specials'. A lot more than what they were doing the last few episodes. Even more than their normal stuff. It's fun to get a view of what life may be like in these areas. They speak to real people, many of whom don't know about the band; go to some interesting local attractions, and get a sense of the culture in the area.

In Hitman Reborn, it was the last fight for the rings of Vongola. Hibari vs. Mosca. Mosca's really a robot that was supposed to be indestructible. Hibari proved it wrong. The fight was over in a matter of minutes. Hibari is freaky! But, cool. Tsuna's training more. I just know he'll have to fight Xanxus soon. Even though Tsuna's 'family' won, and he's already disqualified from fighting, Xanxus will try something. In Mix Vegetable, Hanayu realized Hayato really did feel something towards her. But, he tends to do stupid things around people he likes, and that confused her. I'm glad that they might get back together. Simply because they're interesting as a couple.

Practiced my clarinet today. Did some Mozart. Still sounded rusty, but better than last time. I'll get there. 

Printed out chapter 20 from Alliance. Read a little bit over it in that paper form, and already found some mistakes. I like that 'process' of looking at it again this way. I catch even more stuff. I took down all the chapters I had on deviantART and AnimeCrazy forums. Those were the last 2 sites that had the chapters up. I made sure to make a copy of some of the constructive criticisms and nice comments from deviantART before I deleted those deviations. That way I know what they commented on before. I loved having feedback from people on it. Helped quite a bit. I never had all the chapters up, either. It ended up being 174 pages in Word, or about 348 in normal book form. Interesting, not sure if it sounds like a lot or normal for a fantasy/sci-fi novel. Might be less or a bit more after I edit a lot of it. 

Scanned the last 2 panels of the drawing meme. So, after I edit them in Photoshop, I can paste them on the meme and submit it to deviantART. It'll be the 'individuals' section. I like that the artist decided to have broken up versions of the original meme. Each section can be submitted by itself. Otherwise, it would take me forever. Also, in the future, I might color it.

日本語

I worked on the last compounds for 事. 工事 or こうじ (kouji): construction work, construction. 食事 or しょくじ (shokuji): meal; to eat. 人事 or じんじ (jinji): personnel affairs, human affairs, HR, human resources. 知事 or ちじ (chiji): prefectural governor. 判事 or はんじ (hanji): a judge. 無事 or ぶじ (buji): safety, peace, quietness. 返事 or へんじ (henji): reply, answer, response. 物事 or ものごと (monogoto): things, everything. 用事 or ようじ (youji): tasks, things to do, errand. 理事 or りじ (riji): director. 事改めて or ことあらためて(kotoaratamete): (expression) anew. 見事 or みごと (migoto): splendid, magnificent, beautiful, admirable; praiseworthy act, feat, commendable deed. As お見事 or おみごと (omigoto) it's: well done!, bravo! Next time I'll move on, and work on 2 'new' kanji. One of them has some compounds listed too. Certainly not as many.