New Kala Soprano Ukulele

"Two Sopranos" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/70 sec, ISO3200
“Two Sopranos” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I received a new ukulele as an early birthday present (the one on the right in the above photo). It’s another soprano ukulele by Kala, just like my pineapple ukulele. Why did I get the same size instrument? Well, I want to put a low-g ukulele string on the new one so I can play a couple of songs that require it in the arrangement. I have a concert-size ukulele that is strung with a low-g, but I really love the soprano size. And I am impressed by the quality and value of my Kala pineapple ukulele, so I decided to get the same brand.

Although the new KAA-15S Kala ukulele is the same size as my old one and uses the same type of Aquila strings, it sounds a lot different – deeper and more resonant. But we’ll see how it sounds after I change out the string when it arrives separately.

As far as looks go, I definitely prefer the pineapple shape, and the color is nicer to my eye. And the cream-colored binding on the edge is beautiful. The new Kala is a dark mahogany with no special binding, but it does have a fancy etched rosette (which I am not too fond of). It still looks nice, but not particularly special to me. Maybe it will grow on me in time. 🤔

"Standard and Pineapple" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/30 sec, ISO3200
“Standard and Pineapple” Cedar Park, 2018

I’ve tried videoing a couple practice sessions and it is so hard to get a good take! When the camera is on, everything changes… 🤣 Anyways, I’ll post a couple to my YouTube channel when I am happy with them. But it seems like a good experience to try to play while the camera is on. It’s a strange kind of “no-pressure” pressure situation if that makes any sense.

Well, I hope you had a nice Friday!

またね~

Burger Lunch

"American Lunch" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO1000
“American Lunch” Austin, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going? Today I met a friend for lunch for a burger and fries. We sometimes visit Hat Creek Burger Company on Thursdays because they have a special on the beer: only $1! Of course, since it’s a lunch break, I just have one, but it’s funny to see how groups of people who work nearby really load up on the beer!

Besides that, the burgers are pretty good, and I always enjoy meeting with my friend to talk about our respective families and band kids, and also camera gear and our latest travels. Fun times!

"Bench Seating" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/280 sec, ISO200
“Bench Seating” Austin, 2018

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

New Feiyue Shoes

"Shoes and Kitty" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
“Shoes and Kitty” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How are you?

Today something I have been waiting for arrived in our mailbox: new shoes! I fell in love with Feiyue sneakers when I was in China and brought a pair of white ones back with me to the States. However, they were quickly claimed by Bay (but I am happy he likes them!) so I was looking for some replacements. There are plenty of sellers on eBay and the prices were very reasonable – I bought these black sneakers for about $16 including shipping!

They are really comfortable and lightweight, but they don’t seem very durable but I think they are designed to be very flexible. It’s strange but the padding on the soles is biased towards the middle of the foot, so you feel very unstable… or you can think of it as giving you extra agility. 😆 After all, these are the sneakers favored by parkour enthusiasts and martial artists, not skaters.

Anyways, I love the look of the gummy soles even more than the white soles of the shoes that Bay took from me. And I had to tie the laces in the same way I’ve always tied them, which is simply that the pattern of the left and right do not match. I don’t remember when I started tying them this way, but it’s just something I always do now.

"New Shoes" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO3200
“New Shoes” Cedar Park, 2018
"New Shoes" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
“New Shoes” Cedar Park, 2018

By the way, we don’t wear shoes inside our house normally – the only exception is with new shoes. 😀

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

New Driver and Percussion Concert

"New Driver" Pflugerville, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/3500 sec, ISO200
“New Driver” Pflugerville, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today Bay took his driving test and passed! So now he has his provisional drivers license and can legally drive by himself and have one passenger with him. 🚗

Instead of using a driving school, I taught him myself using the “Aceable” parent-taught program. It was a lot cheaper than the regular driving schools, but you need to have some discipline (and nerves of steel at first) to go out and practice consistently and keep records. I used Google Calendar to keep track of all the hours we spent, so it wasn’t too difficult.

I’m not sure if Koa and I will do the same thing or if he’ll go to a driving school. We’ll see!

Speaking of Koa, he had a percussion concert in the evening. They sounded really good for their first live performance of the pieces, and they have another month to prepare for their show up in Indianapolis, so I think they will do awesome up there.

"Percussionists" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
“Percussionists” Cedar Park, 2018

I hope you had a nice Monday!

またね~