Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Manga reviews for this month... and so on.

I only read one volume of Oresama Teacher and I loved it. So funny! I also liked the clear, clean-cut artwork. The characters were a bit more nuanced than many of the characters I have read about before, as well. Must read it all.
Man, I love Natsume Yuujincho. You should watch it on Crunchy Roll or read it. I read it first, haven't tried watching it yet. Of course it errs on the sentimental side but it is still enchanting and it draws the reader in. Not too many original characters, I'm sorry to say but the ones they have are good. I liked the art as well.
Also have read about 5 volumes of Sayonara Zetsubou sensei. Interesting but a bit too vicious for me. Also so much Japanese cultural satire that the pages at the back are so many to try and read. Too much for me. I don't want to be saturated in satire, especially international satire. Toooo muuucchhh. Artwork was very good though. Quite different to the usual.

Milk Powder Musings

Well, today I was walking home (I have a cold and yes, of course because I had to go out, it rained despite the weather report implying, IMPLYING, mind you, that it would not necessarily rain today), and as I was walking home, I saw two Chinese ladies chatting away, and they were carrying 6 bags of milk powder between them.
Some people will not care about this at all. But for some reason even though I am not always curious, today I felt very curious looking at them and I wanted to know what they would make with all of that milk powder. And I wish I had thought to ask them, because I like to know things. Even irrelevant things like that.
It's part of the interconnectedness of all things that I like to catch a glimpse of now and then. I bet that somehow, on a massively broad holistic level, it matters. To someone, or something. I bet.

Anyway, I don't think I necessarily enjoy Edward Gorey's stuff but he inspired me to work on my art more. I was thinking of making prints but I don't know how exactly. It's funny, I can learn most things online, even a language, and mostly for free if I look hard enough. Because everyone wants to share what they know, whether to show off or help others or both, or some other reason. But I feel like I'm not doing things properly somehow if I try to learn that way. I feel -guilty. Yes, guilty.

So even though I could learn how to use Microfoft Offish (censored for fun) for free online in detail, I walk for about an hour(both there and back is about an hour, so really it's almost two hours) to go to a computer course and learn there. I hate it because I have caught a cold twice in 6 weeks and I'm sure that the people there are making me sick. Spreading germs! STAY HOME, fool. STOP MAKING ME SICK!!! Dumb people, spreading GERMS!
I'm a bit cross about it because I hate being sick. I hardly know anyone who enjoys it but making obvious statements is a good way to be accurate. Most other important things are never accurate enough to satisfy me.

I am so hungry now. I want a sandwich. And a shower.
But not at the same time. The bread would certainly fall apart.
Never eat while taking a shower unless the food is in a tube. Like astronauts!
I must try that. But it is uncomfortable for me to try and brush my teeth whilst in the shower, so eating will probably be just as weird. Maybe I won't bother more than just the once. Ok bye.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Healthy!

Well, it seems that if I ate 5 mussels a day I would get my daily supply of iron and also omega 3. Or nearly. Too bad I don't eat any kind of flesh if I can help it. That includes shellfish... so sad. I kinda wanna try it. It will most likely give me bad stomach pains anyway. Such a shame.
Anyway, I did a quick bitta research and found out that the MLP (My Little Pony) I owned when I was younger was most likely an Applejack (the original My Little Pony not the new one). And I think my sister owned a Cherries Jubilee pony. I also owned a Tiny Bubbles baby sea pony. Argh I miss it... I miss them all.
I think my sis had more ponies, I may recall a fuzzy one and a unicorn one or a pegasus type (or both). But I think I only had one or two compared to her several.
Well, just wanted to write that down and say I want my pony back... I loved that pony. Had it for YEARS, even into my teens. Miss you, babe. Waaah!!! I don't even know why I care...
I also miss my Barbies. I had a Kenyan one and a special Teresa one who looked like she was from Latin America or something. She was my fave because she had a streak in her hair, and her hair was slightly shorter than other Barbie's hair. You know what though... Paul, Sindy's (remember Paul and Sindy? So cute, both of them, different company to Mattel, I think) anyway yeah, Sindy's boyfriend was always way hotter than Ken or Derek or whoever else Mattel made. Those losers.
But the My Scene dolls were actually a lot better. The boys looked a bit too much like girls but whatever, you can't have everything, and they were better than the original boys.
Good call, Mattel. Liked the My Scene gals and guys. I haven't really been paying attention to toys lately, I wonder what's new. I know I hate Bratz and Moxie girls. Lame. They have no noses... freaks. Nice clothes though.
Ah well, I don't play with toys but it is interesting to see where they are going. In case I ever do have kids, I want to make sure I know what's good.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Philosophy, of sorts...

There are so very many beautiful things in this world which pass us by so swiftly that we cannot even touch them, but they touch us. Then, as we turn, they are gone, and we try so hard to recover from the experience.
Words, thoughts, ideas, dreams, smells, sights, sounds, sensation.
The inferno of my mind both blazes wildly and burns steadily, in turn.
When we structure our speech from an early age, we are slowly building language about ourselves like a fortress. It protects us and cages us, we use it as a tool to communicate but in that same instant it also functions as something that masks our meaning. We are separated from the very people we wish to reach, even as we reach them. We speak, and others translate, but our translation is subtly different to theirs, so we can never truly understand each other. It is so maddening.
This is not what I meant, nor what I wanted to say. It is almost close.
Sometimes I struggle with this kind of thing. I can usually say, 'I'm hungry.' I learned that.
But if I want to truly express myself, and I don't even mean my feelings, but how I think, my thought processes, these fundamental things are unable to be expressed by words or tone of voice.
Perhaps colours would help. But there are not enough resources for showing all of the colours I would need to try and demonstrate what I want to say.
I am always aware of the crudeness of my expression. I comprehend so much, and some of it is very complex, but expressing it is almost impossible.
Dissatisfying. Vexing.
Frustrating.
Desperate.
I will not give up yet.
I yearn to be as great as I may never be able to be.
I long to be able to look at what I have written and be satisfied. Even if I say to myself; 'I need to work on it still, but it will do for now,' then that is good enough. But I cannot even say that.
A sea of inadequate, clumsy words.
I am drowning.
But that is only a momentary lapse.
After I shake my head a little, I become sensible again.
I may live in eternal longing for something, but in the end, in order to continue to exist, one must look at the everyday things and put aside one's deepest fundamental needs because that is what being imperfect is about.
Fallen creatures in a fallen world.
We scrape a living to get by, day after day.
Survival for another moment, one way or another.
I do not have the killer instinct that is so popular in movies and other media.
I am not in possession of any kind of strength or magical power like many people wish for (and sadly, I am not being melodramatic at all). I will not even waste my time going after those things.
I want something that will last forevermore.
I want to be sensible.
Part of being sensible means admitting your own weaknesses and the darkness of life.
If you can philosophically accept these things, then you may be able to survive anything.
Just take everything as it comes and let it cut right through you, then bind yourself up and carry on.
If you try to fight in this world, most likely you will be destroyed.
Even if you are the best or the strongest, there will always be others lined up ready to try and topple you. So it is not good to hold your worth to your position.
I am an embodiment of that sad lack of ambition.
Part of me screams that I am wasting my life, because I have potential to do more.
But it is ignored by the majority which states flatly, 'Potential is great but without passion and drive, it is nothing. Also, having a lot is useless if you can't help others.'
I'm partly pleased at my own lack of progress in life. A sharp, bitter laugh at the world.
But that laugh turns to a sob so quickly. Ah... no more depressing music at night...
My point is... or was, that I am torn between my sensible, logical mind, my hopeless, dark character and my philosophical abstract soul.
A truly difficult tug o' war.
Nobody is really winning so far. But nobody is losing either. Since I dislike competitivity (I think that is not a real word but hey), I am not displeased with the three-way draw so far.

Arrowroot

Well, I was curious about it because in my country we have a biscuit called the Arrowroot biscuit... yes, yes, I know it seems like a clumsy statement.
Anyway I decided to look up Arrowroot online and see what it was and what it is supposed to do for a person's health.
Here is what I found.
To sum up the two main sites I looked at:

Arrowroot is mainly used as a starch thickener.

Health Benefits of Arrowroot

Arrowroot is very light on the stomach and in Victorian times used to be concocted into a drink and given to convalescing patients, or as a jelly to babies being weaned. However, it has been established that its calorie content is low. Due to this fact, nowadays arrowroot enjoys great popularity among calorie-conscious dieters.

http://healthrecipes.com/arrowroot.htm

This is a good page about thickeners, link below.

  • Cornstarch is the best choice for thickening dairy-based sauces. Arrowroot becomes slimy when mixed with milk products.

  • Choose arrowroot if you're thickening an acidic liquid. Cornstarch loses potency when mixed with acids.

  • Sauces made with cornstarch turn spongy when they're frozen. If you plan to freeze a dish, use tapioca starch or arrowroot as a thickener.

  • Starch thickeners don't add much flavor to a dish, although they can impart a starchy flavor if they're undercooked. If you worried that your thickener will mask delicate flavors in your dish, choose arrowroot. It's the most neutral tasting of the starch thickeners.

    http://www.foodsubs.com/ThickenStarch.html

    Actually, I found all of this to be mildly interesting. :)