yumekochan

[yumekochan]

So I might have fibromyalgia.

I can recall being constantly sick with something or another probably since 2003.  I went off to college at CU, stayed in the dorms, and suddenly I was sick all the time.  No surprise, right?  Dorms are a cesspool, after all.  But it continued after I graduated.  I’d get sudden flashes, like I was feverish, only for the thermometer to say my temperature was normal.  So many times I went to the doctor, feeling fluish, only for them to say I just had “a virus” and needed to get some rest.

Then on July 23rd, my 16-year-old cat got out of the apartment.  To make a long story short, on the 26th I claimed her body at the humane society, with them having put her down on the 24th due to age and health issues.  I’d known she was dying.  It was obvious; she’d lost so much weight in the last two years, she seemed to only want to go in the kitchen (resulting in me having to have a pee-pee pad in there at all times), and she was getting constipated increasingly often, despite me mixing pumpkin into her wet food.  I knew she was dying, but I wanted to ease things along.  I wanted it to be my call.  And the humane society took that choice away from me.

It broke me.

Immediately after finishing the paperwork for PK, physical symptoms started.  I got an aura, a warning sign of a migraine, but for the first time, it didn’t progress to full kaleidoscope-vision mode.  It stopped with just me having spots in my vision, but enough to keep me from being able to drive.  Then the headache started.  Then my left arm went numb.  Then the left side of my face.  The numbness got better but didn’t go away, and so the next day I went to urgent care, where I was told I was NOT having a TIA, but a conversion disorder -- essentially, emotional stress manifesting physically.  I was prescribed hydroxyzine and was told that if I didn’t feel better by the next week, to follow up with my PCP.

You may think it strange, but I heard PK talking to me while I was doing night shift at work. Always between 4AM and 5AM.  The first thing she told me was, “I died happy.”  She’d say other things in the following days, like how she faced death with dignity, that I wasn’t to blame for anything.  She also told me, “Go to the doctor” literally five minutes before I started feeling pain in my chest.

Ah yes.  Costochondritis.  I’ve met you before.

This was the third or fourth time I’ve had this damn thing.  I went to the doctor, was told to take Aleve for the pain, and to call back next week if I still felt the same or worse.

Did I mention that PK also said, “You’re going to get very sick very fast”?  Yeah, she did.  And I did.  Body aches, increasingly worse.  Truth be told I’d had them for a while, starting with my hands aching, then my knees and elbows.  But now it was all over my body.  It was a flu body ache without the flu.  And Aleve nor ibuprofen could touch it.  I left work several times on the verge of tears from the pain.

So on Tuesday, three days ago, I went back to the doctor.  I saw a girl who had only started there last week; I preferred a fresh face who wouldn’t have any preconceived notions about me.  I had suspected for a while that I had fibromyalgia.  And to my surprise, she agreed.  She said there was a long wait for a rheumatologist, but in the meantime, she could start me on Cymbalta.  I agreed.

Oh my god, I felt it right away.  After that first dose, despite the nausea from the pill, I felt the pain leaving me.  I didn’t realize how much pain I’d been in until it was gone!  It was wonderful!  I’ve taken several more doses since then, and the pain has continue to stay away for the most part (except my elbows still bug me a little).  The fatigue, however, remains a problem, and it was a problem during my shift last night.  But it’s amazing what one pill can do!

I follow up with her in one month.  I can’t wait to tell her she’s saved me!

Still, this diagnosis...I think it’s a sign.  It’s my body telling me to slow the eff down and take care of myself for once in my life.  I’m always go-go-go, so it’s going to be hard.  It might take a while for my husband to understand, too.  But at least now when I say I’m not feeling well, he’ll know I’m not just saying that to get out of work or get attention.  I mean it.

On the upside...does this mean I get to splurge on bath stuff now?

[yumekochan]

So many expressions in three seconds

[yumekochan]

Here’s a little article about meeee

[yumekochan]

Chaliapin Steak Don from Shokugeki no Souma

After making Nikumi’s A5 Roast Beef Don, of course I had to make Souma’s version that won the Shokugeki! One regret I have for this dish is not dicing the onions smaller - and it’s almost impossible to make the larger onion pieces pile up into a nice pyramid on top. Anyway, we were really hungry, so plating was secondary. This is quite a quick easy dish to make, (except for the onion chopping) and can be made in one pan! (I know with my username I shouldn’t be complaining about chopping onions, but…)

(Also, the amount of rice here might be a bit much for some people, but I was planning to only use about 1 ¼ cups for this dish, and keep the other ¾ cup for lunch, but this dish was so delicious and I had extra sauce so we ended up eating ALL 2 cups of rice.)

Follow me @onionchoppingninja for more recipes and check out what I’ve made in my Recipe Archive!

Ingredients (for 2)

2 Steaks (I believe Souma used sirloin. I used tenderloin…. but it was cheap and had been sitting in the freezer for 6 months.)

5-7 medium yellow onions, diced as finely as you can

50g butter

Sea Salt, to taste

1 glass red wine

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp potato starch

pickled plum paste or 3 pickled plums

1.5 - 2 cups uncooked short grain rice

Chopped spring onions, to garnish

Method

1. Score the steak with cuts diagonal to the grain of the meat on both sides.

2. Sprinkle sea salt on both sides of the steak, and bury in the diced onions for an hour. 3. Meanwhile, wash and soak the rice. After 30 mins, set it to cook on the stove or in the rice cooker. (rice to water ratio: 1: 1.1 or 1.2) 4. Remove steak from onions, and heat up some olive oil in a pan (enough to cover bottom of pan). Test to see if oil is hot enough by throwing one onion piece in. 5. Sear all sides of the steak, and cook on each side for about a minute, covered. 6. Remove from heat and let sit, covered, on a plate. 7. Meanwhile, with the same oil, saute the onions until brown, and put in a bowl. 8. Melt butter in the pan. 9. Add wine and soy sauce and simmer. 10. Make a slurry with the potato starch and some water. 11. Turn off the heat in the pan, an immediately stir the slurry in. Keep stirring until equally viscous, or it will start to clump up. 12. De-seed the ume and mix with the rice, or squeeze a little of the paste into the rice.

13. Begin plating. Put the steak on top of the rice, then pour the sauce over.

14. Try to make a mountain of onions above it and garnish with the spring onions!

15. Enjoy and think that you should have made 3 cups of rice instead….

[yumekochan]

Holy cow

How did I actually get to this point? 1,000 followers seems absolutely crazy. Thank you to everyone who’s followed me for my random BJD antics and endeavors. I know I don’t always get around to talking to all of you, but I hope that I can get back into to the swing of things now that life is calming down.

Anyway, to celebrate, I want to do a little giveaway!

The Prizes

A free faceup with eyelashes and 4 glue-on piercings included

A free manicure with 2 nail decor items included

A free pair of resin handmade eyes

The Rules

You must have a legit doll for me to paint. I do not work on recasts.

You don’t have to follow me, but you can if you want to!

One like and one reblog per person (so 2 entries per person)

You will pay for both shipping to and from me. I’m located in the US.

No giveaway blogs

One winner will be chosen and will be contacted through the messaging system AND ask to be notified

If I don’t hear back within 48 hours I will draw a new winner

And that’s it! The giveaway goes until September 15th, 2016.

Thank you again, everyone!

[yumekochan]

Anyone in Orlando or has followers from the area please!

AB, O+ and O- blood donors needed ASAP!!! Due to the shooting overnight, the hospital and blood bank is critically low right now for donated blood. If you are able, please go this morning to donate at one of the locations below. This valuable gift you can give is a direct way to help those injured from this tragic incident. The Orange, Osceola, and Seminole locations open today are:

Orlando - West Michigan Donor Center 345 West Michigan St #106 Orlando, FL 32806 Phone: 407-835-5500 Fax: (407) 835-5505 Sun: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Orlando - Main Donor Center 8669 Commodity Circle Orlando, FL 32819 Phone: (407) 248-5009 Fax: (407) 455-7570 Sun: 7:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Apopka Donor Center 131 North Park Ave Apopka, FL 32703 Phone: (407) 884-7471 Fax: (407) 884-7475 Sun: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Kissimmee Donor Center 1029 North John Young Pkwy Kissimmee, FL 34741 Phone: (407) 847-5747 Fax: (407) 847-9605 Sun: 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Oviedo Donor Center 1954 West 426 #1100 Oviedo, FL 32765 Phone: (407) 588-1291 Fax: (407) 365-9982 Sun: 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Lake Mary Donor Center 105 Waymont Ct #101 Lake Mary , FL 32746 Phone: (407) 322-0822 Fax: (407) 328- 1119 Sun: 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM

[yumekochan]

A little rant

Copied from my FB:

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last few days, which is generally a bad thing, because my mind tends to go weird places. Well, here we go. A weird place.

I have PDD-NOS (though it's easier to just call myself autistic or an Aspie). I also have PTSD. Whether people know that or not, they are generally put off by me, and my thinking over the past few days has me realizing it's been that way my whole life. They're quick to call me sweet, but just as quick to call me weird. Kirstin's mom called me "strange." At various stages I was able to hang out with Miranda, Lanae, Lisa, Rachelle, and Kate, but eventually we grew apart. I guess that happens, but I think it's just 'cause I'm off-putting. It bugs me to this day that Tiffany and Jamie's mom would never let me inside their townhouse beyond the entryway, and I think it's 'cause she just plain didn't like me. She let their other friends in, but not me. I was eight years old, but yes, I was aware enough to know I was being treated differently.

Whether family or anybody else, they'd always come to my birthday party, but I'd very seldom get invited to theirs. Since the shooting, all bets have been off. I've practically become a leper, it feels like. And in more recent years, I get left out of stuff because everyone would just talk about their kids and I'm the only female in my generation who hasn't had a kid (and has no plans to).

My interests are anime, BJDs, cats, cosplay, and Fiesta. Hard to connect IRL with somebody over those.

I'm awkward; i'm bad with eye contact; I tend to speak my mind, for better or worse; I stutter and talk too fast when I'm excited; I can't read body language very well. Mentally I can swing from 14 to 32 in an instant. Yeah, I baffle people, I'm pretty sure. I'm even certain that some people just plain don't like me. And I'm gonna have to learn to be okay with that. I'm not gonna try to curry favor with anybody if they don't wanna take the time to hang out and get to know what makes me tick a little better.

[yumekochan]

Even as a Japanophile I’m not entirely familiar with the emergency numbers, so I had go Google them.  Here’s what each of them are for:

110: Police (Assuming N-Police in the BGC universe rather than AD Police)

119: Fire and ambulance

177: Weather forecast

117: Speaking clock

Heck if I know why they’ve got the square root symbol and stuff there though! ;)

The public phone system in BGC has inrigued me since we saw Priss make a call in the last episode, but this is the first time we’ve gotten a good look at the system and I’ll be damned if I know what’s going on. Looks like Linna is using some sort of a credit card (featuring Luffy from Gall Force as a singer?) in order to purchase a call. And what is up with the keypad? I know people that can barely handle their smartphones today. If you have to start doing square roots and math in the future to place calls, 98% of the people I work with are so screwed.

[yumekochan]

[yumekochan]

[yumekochan]

What are your first words upon coming face-to-face (or face-to-boob) with her?

[yumekochan]

[yumekochan]

Hi hi, this is Amanda!  I Googled myself and found you’ve been very busy transcribing my videos!  Wow, that must take a lot of work.  There is one BIG thing I need to correct you on regarding my fanfics, though.  My main character’s name is Yumeko, not “Hugh Mecco.”  Lol ;)  No harm done.

Amanda Stair Duran - Testimony of a Columbine Survivor Pt. 8a

TRIGGER WARNING. I’ve tagged this for molestation and self-harm trigger warnings. If you reblog this, please do the same. This video will be pretty intense to a lot of people. Btw, Amanda mentioned in the comments that the guy is six years older than her.

(Links to parts 1-7b at the end)

LINK TO VIDEO PART 8a

PART 8a TRANSCRIPT BELOW

Keep reading

[yumekochan]

A GoFundMe for BJDs? You bet!

I don't expect anyone to actually donate, but hey, my purse strings are tighter than I like them to be, and I'd hate to see my little project stall, so...;)

http://www.gofundme.com/hl6fr0

[yumekochan]

I don't have experience with AS at all.  My experience (body-wise) has been Dollfie Dreams (my husband favors them), DZ, AoD, and Dollstown.  While sometimes I cringe at the thought of the money I've forked out for certain bodies (*cough*Dollstown*cough*), that certain body is solid as a rock and a wonder to behold, and it really would be a shame to settle for a body that just isn't quite what you're looking for, right? :)  I really could stare at that AS body for days, and it's definitely more what I have in mind for Linna than any other body I've found.  Time to start saving (after I get Priss a body first!).

Just when I thought I was set on using Oasisdoll Yaoyue with a Mirodoll body, I go and discover this 62cm body, belonging to Angell Studio…

…followed by a sculpt from the same company, named Lan (blank, then with the factory faceup)…

*flail*

It would be far cheaper to get the…

[yumekochan]

Got accepted to grad school!

Last month, just before my birthday, I got accepted to UCCS' master's program for TESOL!  Yay!  Now comes the part where I gotta find money to afford it.  Yes, there's loans, and I've been offered loans, but truth of the matter is, I'm still paying off my loans from when I got my bachelor's, and this will only put me further behind.  It's for a good cause, but still...

Anyway, I've set up a GoFundMe page to try to raise some money to offset the costs.  I got my first donation today; here's to (hopefully) many more! :)

http://www.gofundme.com/caofhg