Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO3200 “Waiting for the Movie” Austin, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today my new set of ukulele strings arrived in the mail! After that debacle yesterday at Guitar Center, I guess mini-karma came into play and my Amazon order came a day early, and on Sunday, no less. I strung up my ukulele and it sounds so much better! And the low-g sounds really good too. The reason why I wanted to make the switch is because I wanted to play one of the songs from Kiki’s Delivery Service, and the tabs/lesson I found uses the low-g. I’m making some good progress on learning the song so I am pretty happy.
I really enjoy playing the ukulele because I think it sounds nice and relaxing, plus it’s only got four strings so my brain can understand it. A regular 6-string guitar is too complex for me, I’m not embarrassed to admit. 😆
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This evening we all went to see Avengers: Infinity War. I won’t give away any spoilers but I’ll just say that the interaction between the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor was so funny. Easily my favorite part of the film. I’m really not that big of a fan of superheroes, but Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor are my favorites so it was cool to see them together.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2500 “Dinner” Cedar Park, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today was a tiring day… I didn’t have a chance to sleep in because Bay had an SAT test at 8 am, so I needed to make him breakfast and drive him over to the high school, 25 minutes away. After that I went to the local library to vote in the city elections, then I went back home to pick up Koa and take him to the high school for his percussion contest.
I had a couple hours before picking up the kids so I went to Strait Music to see if they had a set of special ukulele strings. The set of strings I wanted is called “Low G” because the G is an octave lower than standard ukulele tuning. That particular string is a heavier gauge. Anyways, Strait Music didn’t have it in stock, so I called Guitar Center to see if they did. The salesman there confirmed that they had it in stock, and I specifically asked if it was “Low G” and he said yes. So I made the drive over, which was not an insignificant one, but when I arrived, they only had the regular sets of ukulele strings. The guy said, “Sorry about that. I don’t really know about ukuleles.” I was pretty pissed. 😤
Ugh. Anyways, I headed back home, then picked up Koa from the contest, and then made the trek over to the other high school to pick up Bay.
When we got home, Mariko had returned from work and we had some time to relax a bit before some friends came over for dinner. It was so delicious! We had a Korean-style dish with chili paste, mochi, veggies, chicken, and cheese. Accompanying that was an assortment of Korean veggies and then chawanmushi. And as a bonus, our friends brought over some uni! I was so full, but so tired too from a long day.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec, ISO3200 “May the 4th” Cedar Park, 2018
こんばんは。May the Fourth Be with You!
In honor of Star Wars, I wore my one and only Star Wars shirt, a Uniqlo shirt that my family bought for me when they were in Japan. I still love the design! But there are seemingly random numbers on it, which must have some significance, but I don’t know what they refer to. 2, 1, 3, 3, 8, and 5. Maybe one day I’ll find out.
Today I also learned that SCANDAL will be having a concert in Dallas on September 16th! Unfortunately, I will be in China on a tour. But I’m not that bummed out because I have already seen SCANDAL in concert twice. They are pretty great, though! If you want to see a great show, go catch them on their US mini-tour!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/9 sec, ISO800 “Bread Fails” Cedar Park, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going?
The past few days, Mariko has been baking a ton and sharing/selling bread to friends. And sometimes (not often) she has a bread fail… which is great for me because while the bread might not look perfect, it tastes great. 😀
The photo above shows some of the bread fails, but they still look great, don’t they?
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/340 sec, ISO200 “Blue Sky Coming” Cedar Park, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going?
For the past few years, I’ve been simplifying my life in many different areas, both large and small, for instance, my camera gear, decluttering my closet, book collection, and tidying up my home workspace. But another area that I enjoy simplifying is my digital life. There are many areas of our digital lives that have gotten so cluttered and complicated, and I’m going to write about the ones I’ve identified and worked on. For tonight I’ll start with bookmarks.
I’ve been online since the early 90s, and I’ve been saving, organizing, and filing away bookmarks ever since I started using NCSA Mosaic. That’s a couple decades worth of bookmarks! Of course, I don’t keep everything, but I’d say that my collection of bookmarks has hovered at around 3 year’s worth, growing and shrinking as I find time to delete obsolete ones.
But just this past week or so I’ve been going through them and ruthlessly decluttering. First, if I look at a link and don’t know what it is by name alone, I’ll delete it. It’s obviously not important enough to keep if I don’t even know what its name is referring to. I won’t even check to see if the link is active.
For the second pass, I spend a few moments thinking about if I’ve clicked on the link within the past few months. If not, I delete. This clears out a ton of links to old hobbies that I am no longer interested in, DIY repair links to things that I’ve already fixed, shopping research for things I’ve already bought, etc.
After that, my bookmarks collection is really streamlined!
But what is the benefit of having a stripped-down collection of bookmarks since keeping them doesn’t cost anything? Well, I believe that even if a bookmark is in a hidden away in a folder, it still occupies a bit of space in my brain. But by consciously deleting the link, it frees up that space and gives a bit of closure – I know that the bookmarks folders don’t have anything obsolete or useless in them. No loose ends!
I also think that when I know I’ve streamlined the bookmarks, I’ve simplified my life and jettisoned those things that aren’t essential to me. It’s sort of a digital representation of letting go of real things that are not useful to me any longer. When I look at the folders that are lined across my bookmarks toolbar, I can see right away what’s important to me, and it kind of keeps my priorities in line. For instance, my folders are Blogging, Music, 日本語, Work, Art, Fun, Photo, Kids, Wellness, and Finances. And some subfolders are Travel, Reading, and Motorbike.
And a little technical bonus: because Chrome bookmarks sync across my entire account, when I clean up on one browser, the rest of my devices get cleaned up too. It’s like magic. Cloud magic! 😄
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Today’s photo is of the clouds breaking up to reveal clear evening skies.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/3.6, 1/80 sec, ISO3200 “Spring Planting” Cedar Park, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Can you believe it’s May already? It seems like it was just February. Or March! And the weather is warming up lately, which means it’s time to plant some herbs and peppers. 🌶️
Last year we had a couple pepper plants growing on the deck, and it worked out nicely because it was a lot easier to harvest jalapeños when the plant is just a few feet away from the door. Our in-ground gardens down below are in mosquito-land, so I avoided harvesting peppers when we used those…
So this year, we have a jumbo “Mucho Nacho” jalapeño plant, one ghost pepper plant, a wheelbarrow full of herbs, and some basil in another pot. I had planted Scotch Bonnet seeds in that pot, but Mariko didn’t realize it and put her basil in there, so I will have to plant more seeds in another pot. 😕 Oh well.
Anyways, I am hoping we have another great harvest. It’s so nice to be able to grab a jalapeño or two whenever we need some extra hotness. 🔥
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/20 sec, ISO3200 “Favorite Meal” Cedar Park, 2018
こなばんは。 How’s it going?
Tonight Mariko went out to a movie with a friend, but before she left, she prepared my favorite meal for us: oyakodon (親子丼). I’ve mentioned it before, but the word “oyakodon” means “parent and child donburi”, and it refers to it being chicken and egg. Kind of macabre, but oh so yummy!
Anyways, Mariko prepared the chicken, onion, and broth and left the covered pan on the stove for us to finish cooking. I basically just had to add the lightly beaten eggs and cook until the desired doneness. Sometime we’ll top it with nori (seaweed) and/or scallion, but tonight, we just had it plain with a bit of hot pepper. To me, it’s a perfect meal!
When I lived in Japan I used to go to a bento place called Hokka Hokka Tei. It was fast, convenient, and inexpensive. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of oyakodon back then, my favorite dish was a similar one called “katsu-ju”, which was breaded pork cutlet with egg on rice. Mmmmm! If I remember correctly, it was one of the more expensive items on the menu, at around 500 yen. But if I was short on cash that day, the noriben was also yummy, and only something like 220 yen. I miss those days!
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In other news, I caught up with Segodon (episode 10 currently) and am still enjoying it. The character Princess Atsu (played by Kitagawa Keiko) is the subject of another Taiga drama from several years ago, Atsuhime (hime=princess). I’m going to start watching that one too, but at 50 episodes, it’s going to be a long haul. 😀
I hope you had a nice Monday!
またね～
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