Category: Slice of Life

Hitting the Beach on Grand Bahama

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"Beach Colors" Port Lucaya, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/340 sec, ISO200
 “Beach Colors” Port Lucaya, 2016

Today we visited Grand Bahama and docked at Freeport, then took a taxi to Port Lucaya to shop and hang out at the beach. 🌊 There were plenty of water-sports 🏄 to take part in, but several of the family decided to ride the Banana Boat. They said it was super-fun! I decided to just relax on shore, and swim 🏊 a bit. It was a hot day and the water was nice and we saw a lot of relatives who made the journey over to the same beach.

Back at the ship 🚢, we showered and then went to a family get-together in one of the lounges. 🍹 On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons we reserved the Outrigger Lounge for a couple hours and the family members passed around the mic  and everyone introduced themselves, mingled, and listened to some family history. It was fun, funny, and touching, because we also took pause to remember the family members who had passed away recently (and no-so-recently). 🙏

One fun activity we enjoyed was a “Family Trivia” game, where you had to answer questions about family members, and get signatures. For instance, one of the items was “Who has the longest hair in the family?”. You can see in one of the pictures below one of the kids measuring my mom’s and my cousin’s hair. It was a good activity for the younger members of the family to get to know everyone. 👍

After the gathering, we all headed to the Crossings restaurant where we had dinner each night as a large group. The food was pretty good, and we ordered double-appetizers and entrees! It was fun to visit with the immediate and larger family. After the meal, it was time for karaoke 🎤 and then dancing 💃 at the Dazzles night club! I think we may have hit the Sky Club Casino 🎲 as well, but don’t quote me on that. 😝 And then midnight buffet anyone? 🍔 Of course!

When I arrived back at my cabin, there was a cute towel-animal waiting for me. A nice surprise and a good way to end a wonderful day.

"Bahamian Sunset" Atlantic Ocean, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/220 sec, ISO400
 “Bahamian Sunset” Atlantic Ocean, 2016

Note: This post was written on 8/3/2016

Hello from Miami

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"Ready for Take Off" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/12 sec, ISO3200
 “Ready for Take Off” Miami, 2016

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?

Today I am writing this to you from Miami, Florida. I have started my vacation!

The flight from Austin went through Atlanta, and it was a nice trip. I sat next to a young man who is in the midst of his pilot training and he told me a lot of facts about commercial aviation, including some of the history of McDonnell-Douglas, models of airplanes, and also some of the shop-talk and nicknames of planes. It was quite fascinating! I hope he can achieve his dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot! ✈️

I arrived in Miami safely and was picked up by relatives and then we all had a nice catch-up dinner with family at my cousin’s house where we are staying. It was especially nice for me because I only see my parents and brothers once a year at most, so seeing them as part of our larger (100+ people) is quite a treat! I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

Tonight’s photo is of the younger generation showing everyone a drone. One of the boys just returned from Jamaica, where they used the drone to take aerial photography as part of their activities. It was really cool to see one in action! Fascinating to say the least!

I hope you had a great day, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

PADI Turtle

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"PADI Kame" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
 “PADI Kame” Cedar Park, 2016

Hello!

Today’s photo is of my PADI diving certification card, which I received waaaay back in 1996, while on our honeymoon in the South Pacific. I have the card with me because I am starting my vacation tomorrow in Miami! 🌴 Most of the time we’ll be cruising in the Caribbean, so I honestly doubt we’ll have the chance to scuba, but it’s good to be prepared, isn’t it?

Well, more from Miami if I can fit in the time to blog!

Take care,

– B Barron Fujimoto

Dark Sky

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"Moody Skies" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/950 sec, ISO400
 “Moody Skies” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hi all, how’s it going today?

Tonight’s photo is of the sunset taken from the window at home.

I wasn’t happy with the color that was captured, but I did like the shapes of the clouds, so I decided I would make it into a black and white image. I used Nik Silver Efex Pro to create it, and applied one of the fantastic presets that they have available (I think this one is “Film Noir 2”). I then tweaked the vignette a bit and voila!

Have a nice evening!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

My Fasting Experience

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"On Her Perch" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/110 sec, ISO200
 “On Her Perch” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

These past couple weeks, I’ve been water-fasting quite a bit, with a 72-hour fast and a couple of 48-hour fasts. The rest of the days I just ate at dinner time. It’s been a great experience, and I feel a lot healthier! 😃

One of the main benefits for me is that I get a nice sense of control and self-confidence over food. The food industry is so powerful and influential, and they want us to eat more and more, so it’s been great to regain control and realize that I don’t have to eat as much as they tell me to. And I’m not going to die if I skip a meal!

It’s funny, but for as long as most of us have lived, we’ve been told to eat three meals a day (and then several small meals a day), that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, etc… but really, where did these rules come from? It’s been so ingrained in our culture that you need to eat eat eat. So if you mention that you are fasting, people are appalled and can’t understand. The belief is that it is so unhealthy, but where did that information come from? ❓

People have been fasting forever, and some of our wisest people recommended fasting for health. It’s really quite fascinating!

The first time I fasted, it was difficult, but once I broke through and completed a 36-hour fast, it became much easier to fast whenever I wanted. The sense of empowerment is incredible.

Anyways, enough about that. There’s so much more I want to say, but I’ll save it for another time. Please check it out all the information on water-fasting if you are interested!

Tonight’s photo is of Yuzu, our calico cat. Both cats love to jump up to the exercise bike’s handlebars and hang out there. It reminds me of a jungle cat, relaxing in the tree. What do you think?

I hope you had a nice weekend!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto