My friend wrote a great article about this based on his experiences with his ex. It's worth a look:
http://www.growyourgame.com/articles/relationships/how-do-i-get-over-my-ex/
Bit of shameless friend-promotion there!
My bf discovered that cayenne pepper works nicely to mix things up a bit - it burns further down the throat. Wasabi also burns in your nose which is interesting. I had some really potent stuff in Tokyo and could barely eat the sushi because if the nose-burning wasabi. It's like breathing in...
My sister's really in to it and really good at drawing now - she's like you, started out ready and then has got great at drawing over the past couple of years through practice. I went o Japan over the summer and brought her back some real manga stuff and she was so excited! I'll see if she...