daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Overnight the temperature here dropped about 45 degrees (F). Just yesterday I was running around the neighborhood in 90° F heat but today it was only 45° F! And the sunny sky has been replaced with clouds and rain. It’s a real bummer.
But, I cooked a big pot of chili the other day, so we warmed ourselves up with chili-dogs for dinner. 😆
I hope you had a nice Monday!
またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going?
My Sunday was a super-relaxing day, and much welcomed! The highlight was getting a coffee at a friend’s coffee house which I had never been to before. It’s actually Sa-Tén’s second location, and it’s in the old Komé location. So it wasn’t the first time I’ve ever been in the building, just not as a coffee house. Anyways, the drink was yummy as I knew it would be.
After that, I stopped at Kinokuniya and treated myself to a couple of books that I’ve been wanting for a while now. They are both very inspiring and as I am still searching for a style of artwork that I enjoy creating, it’s fun to try new things. And art books are a great way to study techniques and styles. Much better than online, in my opinion.
After returning home, I went for a run around the neighborhood which was so stress-free. I mean, I had no time constraints, and I don’t push myself to keep running if I don’t feel like it. I just listen to my body, which mostly means paying attention to any kinds of aches or pains that might arise. But even if I am feeling good, I’ll walk for a while too since it’s a nice way to observe things around the neighborhood.
It’s funny to think about the different levels of interaction with the environment you can have while traveling. In a plane, you are pretty much cut off from the environment. In a train, you can see the land slipping past. In a car, you can go slower, and stop sometimes, but there’s still glass between you and the environment. On a motorcycle, you experience the sights more closely, the air and temperature changes, all the smells, plus the sound of the wind. On a bike, it’s similar but of course much slower so you can look around a lot more. Running is even slower and you concentrate more on your body condition. Then walking it when you are most connected to the environment and can observe things in a very calm time-frame. Like, you can see and hear everything, and when you watch that car going down the street, you know that the driver is insulated from the environment you are in. I know I am just rambling. But these are the types of things that go through my mind when I am running and walking. 🤷♂️
I hope you had a nice day, and thanks for sticking with this post until the end!
またね～
こんばんは。How are you tonight?
As you can see, I worked on a new drawing today. I’m still in love with Eguchi Hisashi’s artwork and I refer to his books for inspiration. I just love the style.
For today’s drawing, I skipped the pencil and paper and jumped directly into Adobe Illustrator. I was worried that I might have forgotten some of the sketching-specific tools in Illustrator, but happily, it all came back to me instantly. 😀
I hope you had a nice Saturday!
またね～
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. 🤔
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～
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!
I hope you had a nice day!
またね～
