Joker

Mood:

Sung by the Gakupo vocaloid. I think this is the original version. There are many other vocaloid covers of it. The first one I remember was Miku's, but for some reason it sounded odd to me in a female voice.This one's better, and he puts an even more sinister sounding spin on it. I didn't realize how 'mature' it was until I looked at the translated lyrics.(The video's lyrics are written oddly, but you get the idea from it.) I suppose it's more referencing/implying things, than actually saying them. Some people have speculated that it's about killing someone, until they looked more closely at the lyrics.I love the sound of this one, and it's kind of fun. Gakupo seems to not be nearly as popular as the other vocaloids. Which is sad, because he can sound so awesome! 

On my walk last night, I saw a family walking their pet rooster like a dog.Leash and everything. Kind of funny to see, yet entertaining. It's interesting what I've seen on my walks since I've restarted them. The night before I saw a little boy who was riding his bike with, what I assume, was his brother who was only a couple of years older. The first time he saw me he said hi. The next time he said: "Do you know my mama?". The next time after that: "Could you be my mama?" I was on the verge of laughing at that point.His brother jabbed him hard in the shoulder. I didn't know what to say to those, so I acted like I didn't hear it because my music was too loud or something.Do I look like a mama or something? Or, maybe he liked the way I looked? Weird. 

Did my nails yesterday. Haven't done so in a long time. According to the bottle, this time it's: Deep Bordeaux. Kind of has a coppery metallic sheen to it, as well. It's fun and pretty.

Rurouni Kenshin is getting even better. I'm on the Kyoto story arc. I think the new live-action movie is based on this arc. So, maybe I'll watch that after. (Might want to watch the first pretty recent live-action movie beforehand, though.) The anime started off kind of innocent and lighthearted, but has definitely matured since. There's still plenty of comedy, but it's more serious/mature at other times. The characters have matured a great deal, too. The 'villain' is interesting. He's based off of a real person in the past. (He was like a loose canon in the real shinsengumi. From what I've read, people never really knew what he was going to do. He'd suddenly kill people around him, including his colleagues, for no reason. Usually when he was drunk. He was assassinated by one of his closest friends, on orders from the government.) In the anime, he became too strong for the government to handle and they tried to burn him alive. Kenshin is his predecessor as a 'man slayer' or battousai. The villain, Shishio, survived the fire but his flesh was badly burnt. So, he's always in a lot of bandages. He's not as sensitive to things as he used to be. So, he can touch something that's on fire or even frozen and not have a problem. His body heat temp is much warmer than the average person's. He even admitted that it cooked his brain and other organs a bit. He's planning to gather all the strongest of his 'allies' in order to bring down the government. They only agreed to it because they want to overthrow the government too, not necessarily because they like him...In fact, some hate his guts. He plans to set off a bunch of fires in different areas of the city at the same time. He thinks it'll get out of control and burn the government officials who live there alive. (It was the capital back then.) Kind of his payback. He wanted Kenshin to join him at one point. Kenshin is definitely against it, and has already fought and nearly killed 2 allies of Shishio's. Kenshin asked the guy who taught him about his specific sword techniques, to teach him the final moves of it. Eventually, he learned them. He wants to become strong enough to defeat Shishio on his own. It seems more personal for him, since Shishio was supposed to be his 'successor'. He's learned that he doesn't have to have his battousai mentality anymore when going up against such strong opponents. The final sword technique can kill if the opponent moves in any way. Otherwise, it can paralyze them, too. He swore a long time ago to not kill anymore. Trying to atone for what he's done in the past, for the rest of his life. He thought he had to break that vow until he was reunited with his teacher. 

For Pandora Hearts, I think I've gotten passed the point where the anime diverges from the manga. There's still a lot more to the manga, too. So, that's kind of exciting. A lot more things are being answered/revealed. Oz, Alice, and Gil decided to go back to what's left of Sabrie. Around the Abyss there were crumbling buildings, the people living in poverty, Pandora has a small headquarters there (haven't seen it yet), and there's a church that's been taking children in who have lost their parents because they were illegal contractors. Once the clock on their chest does a full rotation, they get sent to the lowest section of the Abyss. No one has ever come back from that. Contractors are people who have made a contract with a being or 'chain' from the Abyss. The illegal ones do it without Pandora's permission. Every time they call on their chain, the clock on their chest moves its hands. So, it shortens their lifespan. Oz is an illegal contractor, Alice being his chain. Although, we're starting to find out that she was actually human. Might be why his clock seems to be a little different. Alice apparently has an identical twin, the only thing that's physically different is her hair. It's white instead of black. That twin, also called Alice, is the one who's in control of the Abyss. She's also called the Will of the Abyss. I can't tell if she made up the Abyss, or she actually controls it. Everything seems to be based off her toys, and the room that she resides in looks like the chain Alice's room before she was killed. She even has Cheshire there, who was the chain Alice's cat when she was human. I'm still confused as to if they really are different...Like, they may be the same person, just a split personality. Or, the Will of Abyss is her 'crazy' side? I don't know. Another odd thing is apparently Gil and Vincent were originally from Sabrie before it went into the Abyss. (The 'tragedy' happened over 100 years ago.) Anyways, Oz and the others decided to explore near the 'hole' after they reunited with Eliot and Leo at that church. The Abyss seemed to pull them in, and separated them from each other. Alice, so far, has seen a younger version of herself. Gil saw a younger version of himself, too. Oz felt an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, and came face to face with Glen. (He's in the pic.) Glen's the head of the Baskervilles. He was once Jack's best friend. They've never shown him before. The Baskervilles were the ones that put Oz into the Abyss the first time, and tried to kill him not too long ago. He probably felt nostalgic because Jack's ghost or spirit lives inside him now. They look oddly similar too. When Oz sees Glen for the first time, Jack says: "Oz, I hope you can stop him, my one and only friend." Stop him from doing what?Interesting. 

Wrote more of the 11th story to my nightmare anthology. It's pretty violent and gruesome. Probably more so than the other stories so far. Yet, it's kind of fun to write. I just came up with another idea recently for another story to add to the anthology. It's kind of unique considering I was actually awake for it. It was something I heard a while ago. (Like a couple of years ago.) It might have just been fluid moving in my ears, but it sounded like a ghostly/ethereal choir.I have some issues with my Eustachian tubes and too much fluid in my ears at times. So, occasionally I hear weird sounds, but I usually can tell what's normal and what's not. This wasn't the normal sound of fluid moving...And, it kept going on and on. Not only that, but it got louder over time, too.I might end it with that one, I don't know.

Played my clarinet. Did some Duke Ellington, Gershwin, pieces from my advanced classical solos book, and some tunes from my general jazz book. Sounded better, but still made a few mistakes. Not bad, though.

I practiced writing out sentences in Japanese. I'm thinking in the future of posting them to my blog that's in Japanese. (The sentences have pretty much been about current events with me. So, it'd be similar to what I post on here.) I haven't posted much to it, but apparently people look at it, and have liked it. Practiced some of my kanji and vocab on JapaneseClass' site. I'm really moving up the ranks there.Got a friend request from a guy in Columbia. He seemed to be new to it. So, now I have 3 friends on there. All from around the world. Cool. 

Colored in more of the drawings of my characters', from Alliance, outfits/accessories. Also, cleaned up in Photoshop more of Junko's (from Alliance) 2nd 'angry' panel in the exaggerated expressions meme. Her eyes look a little odd in this one.Although, this is supposedly in between the extremes of just angry and furious. Sometimes it's hard to draw the in between ones. I like her really furious look though. It's funny.

Shounen Onmyouji has been interesting. So far, it's not the best, but it feels like it's just warming up. (Only have seen the first few episodes.) So, I'll stick with it a little longer. Although, it might be one of the first ones I switch over to a new show for this coming season. There seems to be a lot of promising ones for this fall season.I even read recently that Kamisama Hajimemashita is going to have a 2nd season. I didn't expect that to have another season.Can't wait to see the 2nd season of Log Horizon, too!That one seems to be much better, though. There are a few brand new shows that look interesting: The Seven Deadly Sins, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, Gugure, Parasyte, World Trigger, and Donten ni Warau. It actually looks like there will be some good Jdrama shows, too. Here's what I might check out: Gu Gu Datte Neko de Aru, Sakura, Time Spiral, Zainin no Uso (Criminal's Lie), and Massan. I might get to add them to my empty drama slots, and I'll have to put the anime I put in place of them on hold. I can go back to them in the future.

National Grandparents Day!

Mood:

This was actually yesterday, but I think grandparents should be celebrated the rest of the year, as well. I only have one left, but he's awesome!I hope he had a great day yesterday, whether he knew about the holiday or not. They've gone through a lot, and it's great to hear about their experiences and the wisdom that they've pass down. 

On Saturday, we went shopping. I needed better shoes for the High Holy Days. The ones I usually wear have kind of an annoying thin and short wedge going down the middle going from heel to toe. Sometimes it feels like I'm on stilts when I wear them.Most people can't even tell they have a wedge. 

For the High Holy Days, it's not good to wear leather.So, you have to be sure of what the shoes are made of. I wear a metal watch normally, so that's not a big thing for me. It's also best to wear cream or off-white colors during Yom Kippur. For Rosh Hashanah, somewhat happy colors are ok as well. So, purple, warm browns, reds, etc. are good. 

I'm wearing what I usually do for the beginning night service of Rosh Hashanah: a dark purple short sleeved dress. It's kind of fitted at the waist, and flowy. I'll probably look better in it this year.Thinking I might wear black tights with it. Still not used to the idea of tights. It's been so long since I was able to wear them again (wore these once but not to anything, and they fit great. Before that I haven't worn tights in years), but I think it might look good. Might be good for if it's cold, too. I think black shoes would go best with all that. I'm going to be standing quite often, so something flat too.

We looked at a local Payless. At first, I thought ballet flats would be perfect, but they made my feet feel weird.So I looked at the regular flats. Found some styles I really liked, but they didn't have the right sizes at the moment. Speaking of shoe sizes, I found out while I was there that I really did go down a half size. Some shoes were perfect at the 7, but others I needed a wide in. I haven't been a 7 in a long time. I remember at some point while I was in high school I was a size 6 in some of the dressier shoes. I doubt that'll happen again. But, 7 seems to be for everything at the moment. I tried on some of the 7 1/2's just to see, and I was swimming in them. 8's were worse. (It feels like it was not too long ago that I almost had to go up to a size 8.) This just seems crazy to me.While losing weight, I expected to drop clothing sizes, but not really shoe sizes.

Anyways, we decided to try the other Payless at the mall. They had the right sizes for me, and the exact same styles. Yay!I decided on a pair of velvety looking black flats. There's like a bit of a roucheing thing happening for decoration on top. I was thinking of a similar one that had a bow instead, but for some reason it didn't feel as comfortable. It seemed like the same 'style' just with a different decoration.Even with the pair I chose, I still needed heel pads in order to keep them in place. It was still just slightly too big for me. But, the regular 7 was just a little too snug. So, I had to stick with the wide. (There's obviously not something between a regular and a wide...) The pads aren't too bad. Might not have placed them exactly right, but they help. I think those will look good with the rest of the outfit. 

I also have jewelry that's purple-themed that Mom and I found when we got the dress. I'll probably wear the same shoes for the following day of Rosh Hashanah. That and my black skirt with white trim, and one of my nice purple shirts. One of which is really long on me now.

We went to Red Robin for dinner that day. I got the Banzai Burger. Haven't had this one for a very long time. It was huge, but good.So good that instead of saving the leftovers for the next day's lunch, I had it for my night snack that same night. Our waitress was a little flaky, but nice. She did say that she was outside for a while during her break. It got into the 90s that day.

We were having issues with the internet and cable yesterday, and went to Starbucks to use their connection. Found out later that the cable company we use was having major issues. It got better that night. I was able to do some things on my new iPhone too. Got my usual at Starbucks, a tall iced chai. (Light on the ice, because they always load it with too much, and barely any drink.) They did well with it this time.

Went to Safeway afterwards to stock up again. I'm just amazed with the size of things in their bakery.We got their berry strudel this time. They have 10 of them in a large box. (Really cheap, too. Cheaper than the chocolate eclairs.) They're hefty looking, and very filling. Tasty too. We were out of a lot of fruit. But, managed to get a lot of them there. Also, I decided to try smoked Gouda. It's much better than I expected! It even smells good.

I've changed my mind about going to that local synagogue's services for the High Holy Days.I thought to myself: "Do I really want to be around people that were kind of toxic towards me (and others)?" Doesn't seem like I'll be able to focus on the actual holidays that way.So, now I'm thinking of looking into some synagogues in Seattle for it. I'll see where this goes. It certainly will tie-in with the New Year theme. Something new. Who knows, maybe I'll find ways to attend that synagogue's regular Shabbat services in the future if I like it enough.

I'm doing 15 sit-ups twice a day this week. I think I can keep them up now. Went for my 'morning' walk. Sometimes hard to do on laundry days, and it ended up being around lunchtime. But, at least I did it!Hopefully I can get my last one in. Hoping to do that when it's closer to sunset. Bumped into a neighborhood friend this time. We talked for a while, and she gave me a lemon-cucumber. She doesn't know much about them, either. I think her mom gave her them from her own garden. I've never had them. Looked them up, and they are a type of cucumber, but seem to taste sweeter. They're kind of in the shape/color of a lemon, hence 'lemon-cucumber'. They say it's good in salads. We recently got some salad, so it might be good to try with it.

Gochisousan has been interesting so far. At first, I thought they were speeding through her life faster than I expected but they've slowed it down again. She's starting to get interested in cooking, and she might have fallen for a student from the university who is staying with them temporarily. She's not very used to dealing with guys, because she goes to an all-girls high school. She does have a brother, but it feels like she rarely talks to him. In the last episode Meiko was trying to get the university student to eat natto. He refuses to even touch the stuff. She came up with several different combinations of it in order to get him to at least try a bit. (One was spicy, one had umeboshi (pickled plum) mixed with other seasonings, and more.) It looks nasty, and I've heard it smells bad, but I think I would at least try it. Some of the best things look gross at first.

In Fairy Tail, Natsu was able to destroy the time portal. Once he did, all the dragons that came through it disappeared. The 'future' version of Rogue did, as well. He didn't think that they would be able to destroy it, so he looked like he was in complete shock as his body glowed and seemed to slowly vaporize. The Future Lucy's body disappeared, too. She was killed by Future Rogue, but something of her was still there. After she disappeared, it seemed that she had a dream or maybe it was her version of 'heaven'. She landed in a golden wheat field, and the rest of the guild came up to greet her. Natsu said something like: "Ready for more adventures?" The present Lucy seemed to have known or felt what happened, and cried a bit. Next time they'll get to celebrate, so that will be a nice break from the heaviness. This whole story arc was really long. It'll be interesting to see where they take it from here.

I'm glad that I've gotten back into reading Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler).I kind of missed it, and I'm not sure why I stopped it a while back. It's only gotten better. I'm realizing that the creator or mangaka tries to be as accurate as possible to what life was like in London during that time period. (Currently, from where I am in the story, it's 1889.) She goes into such minute details, that translators have to clarify later. And, you can look these things up too. This current story arc is about a 'locked room murder'. There's an ophthalmologist who writes on the side. He's hoping to one day be successful, but has only been published in certain magazines/newspapers that aren't taken seriously. He's invited along with a bunch of other people to Ciel's mansion. The other people seem to be very wealthy and well to do, so he feels like he sticks out like a sore thumb. But, he seems to be the most 'normal'. Anyways, one of the guests is murdered in a locked room. The only suspects have been narrowed down to Ciel himself. (Although, the writer suspected the butler, Sebastian, and the maid, Mei, at one point in his mind.) But while Ciel was chained to a bed with the writer on the other end, another murder happens. This time it's Sebastian. I find this almost comical because he's a demon. He can't die that easily.Plus, he seemed to know beforehand and gave the Help their orders for the next 3 days. I think it's all staged. Might be so the writer gets ideas and publishes a bestseller, or they're messing with everyone. They were ordered by the Queen to entertain them. I know that Ciel and Sebastian can act so well that they fool other people. If he is dead, I'll be mad (not in the crazy sense).It was a lame way to kill off your main character. He was stabbed through the chest with a fireplace poker.

Wrote some more of the 11th short story to my nightmare anthology. Previously, I didn't realize that I had barely started it. But, it's already turning out to be very interesting, albeit very twisted. Nightmares should be twisted, though.

Played my clarinet. Haven't done so in a very long time, so it felt good. Messed up a few times, but wasn't bad. Pretty good for someone that stopped for a little while. I did some Mozart pieces, and some from my advanced solo book. 

日本語

Studied 2 kanji: 案 and 以. When 案 is pronounced as あん (an): idea, plan, thought; draft plan, motion, rough copy; expectation. When pronounced as つくえ (tsukue) it can have the same meaning as 机 (pronounced the same): desk. When 以 is pronounced as 以て or もっ.て (mot.te): (conj, exp) with, by; by means of, because, in view of. When pronounced as い (i): than, following, or more, more than, or less. This pronunciation tends to be used a lot in compounds, and not as much by itself. Also, read that the hiragana い letter was originally based off of the kanji 以. Very interesting. 以遠 or いえん (ien): beyond, further than. 以下 or いか (ika): not exceeding, and downward, ...and below; below (e.g. standard), under (e.g. a level); the below-mentioned, the following, the rest. 以外 or いがい (igai): with the exception of, excepting. I'll go over more of its compounds next time. Tried to do some practice stuff, quizzes, etc. on JapaneseClass' site. But, they were down for maintenance. 

Continued with writing out that You Maga article I'm translating. This'll be the last section of this part. It's about what to do when a young kid has the flu. I've got a little more to write out, then I'll start translating it, and finally make it logical in English. Also, read an article in Japanese about Hello Kitty. The whole thing about how she's 'not' a cat. Even Japanese people were shocked by that statement. They later reiterated and said that Kitty is an anthropomorphic version of a cat. Neither being one or isn't one. Very bizarre. I liked reading the Japanese view on it. They also reported about how Snoopy tweeted out things like "I really am a dog!" in response to the news. I don't know if anybody really knows anymore. Although, that anthropomorphic theory makes sense. She'd still be considered a cat in my eyes, though.