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Am I the only one who is deeply saddened that over a million gallons of oil is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico on Earth Day of all days? It just doesn't seem fair... Plus, they're saying 11 people are still missing but with the oil rig sunk, is it really possible that any of them are alive? I hope those families sue that company's asses for their lost loved ones and they have to use all of their revenue to clean up this ecological disaster. Oil spills are nasty, nasty things to clean up and I shudder to think of all the wildlife that's going to be affected by this...

Anyway, in completely unrelated matters, I am continuing my manga read. I've moved on from Ookiku Furikabutte (seriously, am I the only one beside Hanai and Abe who wants to hit Mihashi? He drives me insane but people seem to love him!) and went back to Area no Kishi. When this manga gets longer, they should seriously make an anime out of it. I'm sure it would make me cry insane amounts of tears since the manga itself did so the first time I read it.

The funny thing is, I had no idea it was such a tragic story so I was completely unprepared. It made me think it was about two brothers enduring through it all and making it so they could play soccer together as the perfect team. And the thing is, I forgot what this manga was about since it's been like half a year since I last read it. So I went back to the beginning to try and refamiliarize myself with it only to fall into the same trap as last time! It was only after I started having hopes for it that I realized what really happened and what was going to happen if I continued to reread it... I couldn't bring myself to do it so I skipped to after it... *sigh* I don't want to cry again...

It actually reminds me a bit of Wild Striker (or Hungry Heart, whatever it's called), which is stupid because it's not like it's anything like it -- the main characters are totally different, as are the side characters and circumstances aren't the same... The only thing it does have in common is soccer and the fact that the main character is living in their brother's shadow. And there's a bit of a dark past for both them. In any case, I'm enjoying it. Gah, I wish there were more chapters of Area no Kishi... :(

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Mmm...there's nothing like some warm, freshly baked cookies. This time I made some spiced oatmeal raisin ones. No rum, since I'm saving it for next time. This time, however, I added some spices to my base recipe and wanted to see how it tasted before I tried adding some rum into the mix.

They're delicious, by the way. No pictures since they're currently cooling on the wire rack but they're just how I like them -- hard and crunchy on the outside, moist and chewy on the inside. Absolutely perfect. And now that I've done the oatmeal raisin ones, I'll probably have to whip up a batch of sugar or chocolate chip... I had intended on chocolate chip but that was last week when I was craving chocolate hard (so much so that I broke into my stash of baking chocolate and ate it straight up -- it was bad) but didn't have enough butter or eggs to make them. And then when I went and bought butter and eggs, I suddenly didn't want to eat any more chocolate... -_-;;;

I realized last night, Mother's Day is in two weeks... What shall I do? A cake is customary in our family for these sort of things even if we don't necessarily celebrate the holiday per se... I'm thinking about a Chinese style cake with a fruit filling and decorated with fruit. We have these lovely oranges that I think would be perfect for it. And I could go and buy some kiwis and strawberries and I think it'll look fantastic. I'm not really sure what to do about the frosting though... Chinese cakes use this white frosting that is much lighter and much less sweeter than their Western counterparts. Some say it's just stabilized whipped cream that's been sweetened slightly, and I even heard it might be a meringue buttercream. I'm just a little bit freaked out at the thought of adding hot syrup to whipped egg whites so I think I might go with the stabilized whipped cream since I do a pretty damn tasty whipped cream if I do say so myself. But working with gelatin... I'm also not very psyched about possibly letting the gelatin set too long and having it solidify. ><

Ah, we'll see what I decide on... I still have some time left until I have to decide after all...