Monday, February 17, 2014

Overload

Mood:

By Bloodgroup. Probably one of the best songs I've heard from them. I discovered the band through Lastfm. They're a 4-member electro-pop band from Iceland. They have a very interesting sound. They debuted in 2007. Dry Land, the album that this song is on, has been one of the most successful albums in Iceland since its release. The vid for this is a bit weird, though...:iconusaplz:It's of one of their live shows.

Jikou Keisatsu was really off the wall this time. Hilarious, though. This time they let Mikazuki investigate the case virtually on her own. She's such a goofball normally. Kiriyama had fallen down a flight of stairs, which resulted in him getting a concussion and forced to stay at the hospital. It all happened when they were interviewing the first person. Who ended up being the killer in the end. Mikazuki tried to video tape every little detail she could of her investigation. She went a little overboard. The episode started with a crazy/trippy dream she had. But, it helped her solve it with a little help from Kiriyama. This time she was the one who explained everything, Kiriyama (when he felt well enough to leave the hospital) acted as her assistant, and she was the one to give the 'I won't tell anyone' card to the killer. She was so happy about it, and I'm kind of glad they let her do it. The case was about a grandmother, who after finding out her son-in-law was beating her daughter and granddaughter (who was just a baby at the time), stabbed him to death. She only wanted her family to be safe. She was very senile by the time they interviewed her, although at times when they didn't suspect her yet, it seemed she was acting. She was trying to forget it all, like it was just a bad dream. I kind of feel sorry for her. But, she won't be arrested because the statute of limitations was up.

In Log Horizon, they defeated the goblin king and most of its minions, if not all. (Not sure if they'll get a reward, since it was towards the end of the episode.) Rudy was saved by Shiroe. Shiroe had come up with a magic contract that would make it so Rudy became an Adventurer if he signed it, and he'd have to join his guild. But, according to the contract, he had to die first as an NPC or People of the Land. Then, he'd be brought back to life at the cathedral like every other Adventurer does when they die. Without Shiroe's help, he would've died. People of the Land aren't supposed to be able to 'revive'. When they die they really do die. There's no coming back. So, it was an interesting work around Shiroe came up with. I wonder if he can save others this way?:iconchibiaustriaplz:Also, if they become Adventurers, does that mean they become real in the outside world? Very interesting. I'm liking this series more and more. There seems to be a lot more logic to it than other anime shows of a similar genre. It brings up some interesting philosophical questions too. 

Wrote more of the 6th short story from my nightmare anthology. It's getting to the scary stuff. Played my clarinet. Did some of the general classical solo tunes, jazz tunes, and klezmer tunes. Wasn't too bad. Had kind of a rocky start, but ended up sounding pretty good. 
日本語
Studied a couple more compounds for 氷, and the kanji 表. 氷河 or ひょうが (hyouga): glacier. 薄氷 or はくひょう (hakuhyou): thin ice. When 表 is pronounced as おもて (omote): surface, face (i.e. the visible side of an object); front (of a building, etc.); outside, exterior; appearance; public. As ひょう (hyou): table (e.g. Table 1), chart, list. As 表する or ひょう.する (hyou.suru): to express, show. As 表す or あらわ.す (arawa.su): to express; to represent, signify, stand for. 表れる or あらわ.れる (arawa.reru): to appear, come in sight, become visible, come out, embody, materialize; to be expressed (e.g. emotions), become apparent (e.g. trends, effects).

Finished translating another paragraph from the You Maga article I've been going over. This part was on hand, foot, and mouth disease in children. Kind of a disgusting topic, but interesting. This whole page is part of a long featured article on diseases in children, especially ones for parents to be aware of that are common in the US. Another part of the article is on development, hygiene, etc. All having to do with parents who recently moved to the US, and some of it is comparing to things from Japan. It's very interesting. But, the whole thing runs for several pages...:iconwtfromanoplz:

Read some online articles in Japanese on Mainichi's site this time. I usually look at Asahi's. Both are big newspaper companies in Japan. Mainichi Shinbun is The Daily Newspaper, and Asahi Shinbun is The Morning Sun Newspaper. Mainichi tends to have a more liberal slant. Asahi's not conservative, it just affiliates a bit with the left. So, it seems a bit more neutral, I guess. Anyways, I read some of Mainichi's articles on the Olympics. They have a huge featured section for it, complete with medal counts. Maybe next time I'll look at the more day to day kind of stuff.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

National Almond Day!

Mood::iconwarmandcomfyplz:

Yay for almonds!:dummy:They're not my fave, but they're pretty good. (My fave nuts are walnuts and pecans.) Great for cooking with, too. Almonds are very nutritious. They originated from the Middle East and South Asia. Yesterday was National Gumdrop Day. I love gumdrops! 

Last night I kind of had my own little Valentine's Day celebration. Tried a garlic bread pizza for dinner, and had some Valentine's Day chocolate truffles for dessert. They were so amazing!:iconchibispainplz:Never tried the combo of garlic bread and pizza put together. It was like heaven! The truffles were on sale, since it was the day after. They were so good too! Still have more of them left. After that, I messed around a bit with playing games online and doing quizzes/polls on fanpop. It was fun.:iconheroamericaplz:

By the way, I recently joined fanpop, and I could probably get sucked into it for days. It's nuts. I have so many things that I'm a fan of, so there are lots of things I can do on that site. I had heard about/glanced at it before, but never joined. They also have pics, wallpapers, forums, articles, questions people need help with, and more with each 'club' or thing that you're a fan of. You can earn props, medals, and bottle caps as you go. 

This morning, we went to Starbucks for brunch. I don't usually go there for a meal. Got their mozzarella, basil, tomato, and pesto on a focaccia bun panini. Had a small vanilla frappuccino, and a banana with it. It was all very good.:iconfrancisplz:The drink was like having ice cream, and took forever to melt enough to really drink.:iconkikuplz:I try to have new flavors of their frappuccinos when I can. I really like their salted caramel, white chocolate and strawberries, and chocolate chip ones. Their specials this month are flan related. I hate flan, so I couldn't try the new stuff. Oh well.:iconpolandplz:I got a chance to really get into the book I'm currently reading as well. There were some pretty funny stories this time. Hope there are more of those.

Today, I went through all of my bathroom stuff. It was quite a project.:iconsleepygreeceplz:Found some things that were from when I was a baby. Like, the ear syringe my parents used on me back then. No one wants that now.:iconlietplz:Also, there were a ton of lotions, bath gels, shampoos that I didn't like, soaps I wasn't fond of, hair gels I used while at the end of elementary school until the end of junior high (maybe longer...not sure), conditioners, and more. It was crazy. I did find some really old bath salts that didn't seem to have been opened, so I might still be able to use them. Also found a portable shower head. I think we used it on the cats for their baths. (We don't bathe our current cats, since they're still pretty good at cleaning themselves.) So, I rediscovered several things I had forgotten about.:iconchibiaustriaplz:But, I also tossed out most of the stuff I had in there. It just was cluttering up the whole thing. Now, the cabinets in there look pretty bare, which I haven't seen in ages...:iconchibiswedenplz: