National Fluffernutter Day!

Mood:

Fluffernutters are awesome!Probably not too healthy, but awesome nonetheless. It's a marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwich. Haven't had one in a long time. It's also National Pierogi Day. I love Pierogies! Especially potato and/or cheese ones. Good stuff. It's National German-American Day, too. I'm part German. So, yay for us!

Senryokugai Sousakan has been interesting so far. I've seen it be translated as Detective Designated for Assignment, but I think a better one would be Strength of an Outsider Detective. Her names Chinami, she's a complete outsider to the squad, and is treated as such. But, she outranks almost everyone, and is extremely bright. She just has never really had training out in the field. The squad is ordered to keep her away from going out into the field. She asks them beforehand to treat her like a rookie. She always finds her way to the case at hand, and manages to solve them with the help of Kyosuke, a detective who becomes her partner and is supposed to keep an eye on her. He's skilled in karate, and teaches it at his teacher's dojo. The first couple of episodes started with her bizarre dreams, but they had meaning to a case later. Kyosuke's teacher, who he also lives with, always says something relevant to the case in a zen way, I guess, before they've dug into it. The other detectives on the squad seem to be warming up to her already.

I decided to put Rurouni Kenshin on hold in order to try one of the new anime shows for this season. (I don't even think I'm halfway through that series...It's long. Good, though.) Started watching Gugure! Kokkuri-san. Gugure is basically saying 'Google it!'. The story revolves around a little girl named Kohina. (She's on top of the instant noodles in the pic holding a coin.) She ends up summoning Kokkuri-san (a fox spirit. In the pic he's the middle one in blue), through an old seance game. (Kind of like Ouija, but with a coin.) At first he merely intends to haunt her, but soon becomes worried about her eating habits and overall well-being. Now he haunts her in order to protect her. She's emotionally detached, and refers to herself as a doll. Not human. She lives in a shrine by herself with no parents or guardians to take care of her. She only enjoys eating junk food. Specifically instant cup noodles. She had quite a collection of them, before Kokkuri got rid of most of them. She may look vulnerable, but she's capable of taking down people who are 3 times her size including Kokkuri. Really hilarious series!The humor reminds me of Cuticle Tantei Inaba, a little Gintama, and maybe a touch of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Goodbye Mr. Despair). They've barely introduced the dog spirit or inugami, but he's seen in a box labeled 'oranges'. And, has howled like a dog. I think at one point he yells something like 'take me home!'. He looks human right now. (He's 2nd from the right in the pic.) This looks promising. Hopefully, it keeps it up. 

In Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), Snake has joined the Phantomhive's staff as a footman. He was about to seek revenge against Ciel (came close and was the uninvited guest in the murder case. He killed one of the guests thinking it was Ciel. No one else, besides Sebastian, realized), but Ciel managed to deceive him about what really happened to the other members of the circus. Instead of telling him that he and Sebastian ended up killing everyone, he said that they knew that the members were kidnapping children, and those members knew they were on to them so they ran away. Snake didn't know that they were kidnapping kids. And, Ciel left out the fact that they were using those kids' bones for making prosthetics. Snake was one of the few of that troupe that didn't have a prosthetic of some sort. He felt the circus was his only home, and he had nowhere else to go. Feeling betrayed by them as well, he accepted Ciel's offer to join him. He has scales all over his body. He has at least 9 snakes (most, if not all, are venomous. Probably a lot more snakes than that from when he introduces himself to the staff...They're crawling all over the place) that stay with him most of the time, and they speak through him. He gets nervous easily, too. He rarely speaks unless its to relay info through his snakes. He's one of my fave characters in the series. I'm glad they didn't kill him, although I'm surprised that he joined them.Ciel's fiancee's family is going on a cruise ship, and a shady organization called Aurora is meeting on the same one. They've been buying people to experiment on. It's a medical organization, and one of the main hospitals claims that it can revive the dead. So, Ciel's forced to investigate it further by joining her on the cruise ship. He was worried about her as soon as he heard what ship and day the meeting was going to be held. This will be Snake's first time going somewhere with Ciel and Sebastian in his new position. The other staff members will have to stay behind to protect the manor.

In Pandora Hearts, it's been kind of confusing. Things are being revealed quickly, and even the characters are taken aback by it all. Oz met his father while he was still in the ruins of Sabrie. His father treated him like he was nothing. Basically, like before his coming-of-age ceremony. Gil runs after him expecting to kill him, but Break stops him in the nick of time. Just before that, Break was torturing one of the Baskervilles to get more info out of them. He walked away after suggesting that they should be friends. I think he's tired of the whole thing. Oz felt more himself again once Gil, Break, and Alice came back. Apparently, Glen Baskerville can be brought back to life. He originally would travel from body to body every so often. Then, Jack interrupted him during the ceremony being done on Gil 100 years ago. (That's when Gil gained the Raven chain, because that was all that could be transferred at the time.) Jack cursed Glen by splitting up his own body, and saying that he couldn't come back without finding all of Jack's 'parts'. Those parts have apparently turned into memory fragments, instead of actual body parts. The Baskervilles apparently own the Abyss, too. One of them just got through the Abyss, and was just informed that it's 100 years later. She looked terrified. I'm not sure where they're going to take this. I'm still confused as to why Oz's existence is a sin in the first place. (That's why he was tossed into the Abyss at his Coming-of-Age ceremony.) Although, maybe it is to the Baskerville's because he's Jack's vessel now. 

Wrote more of the 11th short story to my nightmare anthology. Not sure where I'm taking this one, but it's been crazy, fun, and interesting to write so far. I think when I was more on a roll, I might have had the ending of it in sight. But, it's been a while, and might be going in a different direction.I did decide that this won't be the last one to the anthology. I think there's at least one more I can do for it. I might make it the shortest. I don't know. 

Played my clarinet. Did some Mozart pieces, and some from my clarinet solo book. Wasn't too bad considering I haven't played in a while. Not that many mistakes, just a few slip ups. But, if I play it regularly, I should get back to the way I was before and improve from there.

日本語

Studied the kanji: 胃, 印, 英. 胃 or い (i) means stomach, craw, crop, paunch. Since there's only one way to pronounce it, it makes it easier. 印 pronounced as いん (in): seal, stamp, mark, print; (abbr) India. The full name would be 印度 or いんど (indo), so the kanji in this one is used phonetically which is called 当て字 (ateji) or 'called upon characters'. There's no underlying meaning to the kanji this way, just for how to pronounce the word. Which can be confusing at times...As しるし: mark, sign; symbol, emblem; badge, crest, flag. As 印する or いん.する (in.suru): to stamp (one's mark, etc.), seal; to leave (one's footprints, etc.). Most of the time 英 is pronounced as えい (ei). (On rare occasions it's pronounced as はなぶさ (hanabusa), which is used as a term in botany.) It means England, English, British, Britain. Did the practice quizzes on JapaneseClass' site. Was pretty good. A little rusty with some words I haven't seen for a while, but not bad. Made it to the top 20 ranking for the day. My overall rank is going up pretty quickly. Wrote out more of part of a You Maga article. It's the last section of this part. Soon I'll write out the last couple sentences, then start translating bits of it. I'm glad I'm nearing the end of this section. It's like a special with many mini articles that are apart of it. Interesting so far.

My meds were a little late.I finally got them yesterday. But, I ran out of my omeprazole the day before. The main reason I was put on that was because of me throwing up all day for no reason, and not feeling it coming on. It just happened. The doctor was amazed, and couldn't figure out why it was happening. So, he tried this on a whim. It works great!I haven't had a problem with it since. Although, it makes me wonder why I had that problem.Anyways, I've gone without it for a day before and seemed fine. So, I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. My stomach felt like it was on fire halfway through the day. It was so painful, that's all I could think about.I also started to feel like I was going to throw up at one point. When I checked the mail and found out my meds were here, I quickly took an omeprazole. It helped a lot, but I still feel a slight burning sensation. This is after I took another one at my normal time in the morning. I technically had 2 doses within a 24-hour period. Doesn't sound good when you're only supposed to take 1 a day. But, I needed it so badly yesterday. And good thing I got my other meds before they ran out. I had ordered these things at the beginning of last week. It doesn't normally take that long...

I didn't go to group yesterday. Dad had scheduled an appointment just before it, and wouldn't have had time to swing by the house to get me. I still didn't feel too great at the time, so it was probably good I didn't go.I tried some frozen bulgogi for dinner yesterday. The brand was a bit odd. They used brown rice instead of white sticky rice. There was quite a bit of mushrooms and mushroom flavor in the vegetable and rice medley part. The sauce and beef were really good, though.It was good to try, at least. I normally love bulgogi, but overall this was a bit weird. I also shaved my legs again.I'm trying to get back to making it a habit. It feels good to have smooth legs. Haven't had them this smooth since maybe the beginning of high school. Also, watched something during the time we'd normally have the meeting. So, I was all good with things during that time.

Mad Hatter Day!

Mood:

I've always liked the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.The creators of the holiday say they chose this day because there's a slip of paper in his hat that reads: "In this style 10/6." They knew it was really an order to make a hat in that style, that costs ten shillings sixpence. But, they said that everyone knows that time is money, and therefore money is time. The holiday started in 1986 in Boulder, CO. In 1988 it became a national holiday. It's supposed to be a day where people recognize the reality that is nonsense, and the silliness that is sane. It's also National Noodle Day. I love noodles!Almost any kind. I'm a little weary of cellophane or glass noodles. They're like the only ones I know I don't like. 

This is my wallpaper for October. It has the Undertaker from Kuroshitsuji (or Black Butler) dressed up as the Mad Hatter. I just realized Ciel's in it as the Dormouse sitting on the saucer the Undertaker is holding.I picked this before I knew there was a Mad Hatter Day this month. I just wanted something that looked Halloween-ish. Would have thought that there would be more of a selection like that for Kuroshitsuji wallpapers.It's a rather dark, psychological, and gruesome at times one. (Of course there's a lot of humor, too. Mostly dark humor, though...) The Undertaker is rather demented himself, so it's fitting that he'd be the Hatter. He's a rogue Grim Reaper or Shinigami, but most of the time there's only hints of this. Still haven't read or seen much about that. He's only known by his profession, and his face is never fully shown. He's an informant for Ciel. He finds Ciel amusing, and enjoys helping him out. But, has great disdain for the Queen. (Ciel works for the Queen. He's sometimes called the Queen's Watchdog.) He spends a lot of his time in coffins, too. Sometimes he asks for people to tell jokes or do something silly in order for him to give them info. (Much to Ciel's dismay, most of the time.) He also has a creepy laugh.

My Italy calendar features Florence this time. It's the capital city of the region of Tuscany, and the most populous city in Tuscany. There's a lot of history behind it that it's famous for. The main pic's of Michelangelo's David sculpture. It was placed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria in 1504. Apparently, it was replaced with a replica in 1873, and the original was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia. For today's pic it's of a restaurant menu placed outside with tomatoes hanging in front of it. 

My Jewish calendar's main pic for this month's of a painting called Show Box, Sukkot; by Martin Engelbrecht and Jeremias Wachsmuht. It's on paper; from Augsburg, Germany; 1750. An interesting painting. It has a bunch of sukkot or sukkahs lined in a couple of rows. There's not much light left in the sky, and the sukkot are casting shadows on the ground. They're apparently near a large body of water, with the waves in the distance. Each sukkah seems to be full of people. 2 people are just outside of 2 of them that face each other. One seems to be leaving, the other entering another one. Maybe they sneaked out or something? This is interesting too, because of how old it is. Everyone's wearing clothes that were 'normal' for that time period. They look pretty dressed up looking at it now. A sukkah is a 'booth' that's like a makeshift shelter we stay under during Sukkot (or the Feast of Booths). It's like a harvest festival that lasts for 8 days. Some people sleep in them during that time. But, most have their meals in them, invite people over, and sometimes just to sit there enjoying nature. (There's of course a short service to start it off in it.) That's coming up. In fact, it starts Wednesday night. The second pic's of a lulav holder, by Zelig Segal, made out of bronze, from Jerusalem; 1983. The lulav is a mix of a few plants that we combine and shake in all directions while we're in the sukkah. I don't think I've seen a holder like this one. 

The month-long holidays are: National Apple Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, National Cookie Month, National Dessert Month, National Pasta Month, National Pretzel Month, National Seafood Month, Bat Appreciation Month, German-American Heritage Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, LGBT History Month, National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, Spinach Lovers Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. A lot of good food holidays, again! Bats are important, and should have some appreciation. I think they're awesome! I've never really been scared of them like some people are. I'm part German, so it's celebrating my heritage this month, too. The Italian-Americans and Polish-Americans should definitely celebrate their heritage, too. Good to at least bring awareness to LGBT history. Interesting how it's book and cookbook month. I love cookbooks! They're fun to just look through. Plus, making the recipes can feel like it teleports you to other countries. 

Yom Kippur (or Day of Atonement) was Friday night through Saturday night. A lot more people showed up for this one than for Rosh Hashanah. Some people barely recognized me, since it had been at least a couple of years from the last time they saw me. The congregation seemed to really like that we were there. A couple of people already told me that we should go more often to their stuff. They're a lot nicer towards us than the other congregation. A lot more friendly, too.

I had an eye exam in between the last of the morning services and afternoon services. I had a new optometrist that looked at me. He gave off a very creepy vibe. He didn't say much at first, just directed me. When he was writing things down, he was humming something odd. I told him about how my eyes, especially the right one, sometimes feel like there are spikes going into them. It only lasts for a little while, but it's really painful. He didn't give me an explanation. But, he did move unusually close to my eyes to get a better look at them. Maybe he was confused by that, too? At one point, he asked me if he could use my lap as a desk...He also refused to let me put the sample contacts in my eye. He wanted to do it. He batted my hand away when I went to just lightly touch my eye through my eyelid.He was very surprised by how much my right eye's prescription has changed. So, it's no wonder I was seeing blurred and sometimes double lines while watching TV or reading. After he gave me the sample ones with the new prescription, I've been seeing things much clearer.I don't have to squint or feel the need to rub anymore. Interestingly, the samples were from different brands for each eye. 

Before going to my eye exam, we looked for someplace to have lunch. I'm exempt from fasting on Yom Kippur, because I have to take meds and food helps with balancing them in my system. (It's not just because one may upset my stomach if I have it without food.) Without these meds, it'd be essentially life threatening to me.So, they're very important. They do say if you have a medical condition, are pregnant, elderly, or a little kid it'd be a sin to not eat. To everyone else, it's a sin to eat during it. (I still feel odd eating during it, since for a good chunk of my life I was able to fast.) Anyways, we found one of the few restaurants, called Mongolian Grill, that were left in the food court of our local mall. My eye exam was also at the mall, so it made it pretty easy. The only other thing, I think, is Subway now. Which is sad, because until pretty recently we had a Cajun, Italian, Japanese, and a few other cuisine places.Even Hale's Ales is gone...I got their Mongolian chicken with noodles. It was really good!Although, I think the chicken could have been cooked a little longer. The sauce was good, but puddled underneath everything, so in order to really taste it you had to mix it up some more. There were lots of vegetables that stayed pretty crunchy, too. The noodles were really tasty, as well. 

We grabbed some tabouli for the Break-the-Fast potluck. People seemed to like it. There was an interesting assortment of things there. Pizza, a couple of regular salad greens, tortellini, mac and cheese, other stuffed pasta (not sure what it was filled with, so I skipped over it) crackers and smoked salmon spread, 2 large homemade challahs (both circular, because of the High Holy Days. One had raisins, the other was plain), a few kugels (they're like casseroles. I hate the original sweet kind. I love the savory potato one, but didn't see it), a vegetable platter, coconut macaroons, bite-sized chunks of brownies (3 different kinds: regular, cinnamon, and powdered sugar), stale honey cake, lots of fruit, and several other things. Seemed more of a variety than other places I've been to.

The only thing I didn't like was the seating arrangement. They arranged it so pretty much no one could get out. The tables were closely packed together, and there wasn't much space to pull your chair out. I felt trapped when I wanted to go up a second time to pick over things (mainly to get dessert type things).Many people ended up with this dilemma. People ended up standing up and folding their chairs up so others could squeeze by. Some people who have a hard time getting up and down couldn't move from where they were too well. So, I had to really squeeze through with them. Good thing I've lost so much weight. I think I would have gotten stuck somewhere if I still had it.There was still a little of the tabouli left when we went home. It's good with lunches and snacks. So, it's nice there was more. The next thing is to celebrate Sukkot on Sunday at one of the members' houses. There's a potluck lunch after a very short service. Sounds like it'd be nice to go to. We'll see. 

Log Horizon is back!One of my fave anime shows! It delivered on its promise for returning this Fall. This one was a bit confusing though. Shiroe needed help with financing Akihabara. The fees for running the facilities each month were way more than anyone could afford. So, he met with one of the leaders of a clan that's responsible for the game world's economy (they own the banks), are behind the ability to teleport between areas, and several other major roles. They are the ones that leave money after a monster has been defeated and treasure chests. So far, they can't borrow or lend money. (They keep saying that'll break an ancient treaty.) Shiroe found the clan's cache of coins in a huge lake inside a cave. He ended up challenging the clan's leader to get the money. They kept flashing between what happens in the future, and the present stuff. They ended the episode with Shiroe and Akatsuki saying they both had died. Kind of confusing. I know that they don't actually die when they 'die', they just lose memories of the outside world. Last season they did bring up the idea of what happens when you lose all your memories of the outside world? The in-game people do die, although Shiroe found a way to save them. The whole story is fascinating. There are so many layers to it.

Finished Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus. It was pretty good, and stuck closely to what was in the manga. I think they said they'll do the Book of Murder one next. It's based on the arc in the manga I just recently finished. It'll be cool to watch this one. They made you believe that Sebastian had died in this one. But, like I suspected, it was all for show. (He's a demon, I highly doubt he could be killed so easily.) Also, helped with the investigation. (Freed up Sebastian to look more into it.) I think I liked this one even more than the circus one. 

We recently got Apple TV, and it's pretty amazing! I was impressed by the iPhone as it was. Now I can project whatever I'm watching on my iPhone to our TV. Awesome!So, I don't have to watch on a tiny screen. And, it's much bigger than my computer monitor too. I can watch most of my dramas and anime shows on the TV now.