Category: Slice of Life

A night at the ballpark

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Round Rock, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO640
 Round Rock, 2016

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

This evening, Koa and I went to the Dell Diamond in Round Rock to see the Round Rock Express take on the visiting Iowa Cubs. We bought discounted tickets because the Little League Koa plays in has a special promotion. It was only a dollar off each ticket, but it was fun to go to the ballpark and watch some minor-league baseball.

Tonight was opening night, and also Fireworks Friday, but we didn’t stay til the end because it was getting very late and Koa has Japanese school tomorrow morning so no fireworks for us. But Koa had a great time hanging out with friends, playing in the “Kids Zone” where they have a basketball court and also a radar-gun so you can see how fast your pitches are. Koa was clocked throwing 51 mph heaters. Pretty impressive!

Round Rock, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO500
 Round Rock, 2016

The Dell Diamond is a very nice ballpark, just like a MLB stadium, just on a smaller scale. General admission tickets for sitting on the lawn are only $7 so it’s a good deal. But the food is like an MLB park. $10 for a large beer! Ouch. I passed on the beer tonight…

It was a beautiful clear evening, but the great weather will not last long. On Sunday a heavy storm will move into town bringing hail and nastiness. If you live here in Central Texas, take care and stay safe!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

Pizza day

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

Today I met a couple friends at a pizza place we like to visit. It’s an all-you-can-eat place, and the style of pizza is deep-dish which I love. I mean, I love all kinds of pizza so hmmm… I don’t know. But Conan’s has great atmosphere and it is nice to chat with friends and indulge in calorie-rich food! 🍕 Always a treat.

Today’s photo is of our kitchen just before we had dinner. I thought the light had a nice quality to it, so I used the Fujifilm “Astia” film simulation, which is more accurate than Velvia, but has a more subtle color to it than standard Provia. Astia was used a lot for portraiture and I do like the quality of it.

Anyways, it’s very late (for me), so I will sign off and try to get in a couple pages of reading. See you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

A quick post

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO400
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello!

As you can see from the title of this post, it’s going to a be a short one. The reason is because I am reading a book “Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City” and I am itching to get back to it. So far, it’s a lot of fun! I enjoy Young Adult fiction a lot. It’s a nice change of pace and mixes up the rhythm of things. 📔

Today’s photo is of one of the fish tanks at the pet store. Bay and I went there to buy another Tiger Barb for our 10-gallon tank. We just have two of them, and they are not getting along, but I read that Tiger Barbs are schooling fish and they do better when there are several together. The guy at the pet store said the maximum he recommends for our size tank is only 3, so we just bought a single fish. Happily, it seems like the three are getting along pretty well! よかった! 🐠

Also, our Malaysian Trumpet Snails seem to be healthy and eating away at the algae. Not enough that it looks cleaner, but I am expecting the snails to multiply their number and become an army of aquarium-cleaning monsters. Hopefully that happens soon.

OK, how was that for a quick post? 😮

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Grey day

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/10 sec, ISO1250
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Good evening!

Right now (9:50 PM) it is raining outside ☔, and the forecast according to Bay is for heavy downpours starting around midnight. I like the rain but I am hoping that Koa’s baseball game tomorrow evening will be unaffected by the weather.

Tonight’s photo is not grey like the weather, but pretty colorful owing to the fact that I used the Velvia film simulation on my X100T, and the Instax prints have deep, rich colors. I really love the look of the Instax film… there is a nice depth to them. Almost 3D. And I love the little dark vignette-like border around the edges where the color meets the white border. It really looks like you are peering into a window or down into a pool! (ok, use your imagination a little!)

Tonight, one of Mariko’s friends came over to watch a Japanese horror movie called “Tomie Unlimited”. I don’t usually like horror movies, but I watched the first 15 minutes or so and it was fun! There was a kind of gory part at the beginning, but it was so over-the-top that it was funny. I’ll have to finish watching the movie soon. (I had to take Bay to his piano lesson so I couldn’t continue the movie)

Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/10 sec, ISO3200
 Cedar Park, 2016

Well, time for bed!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

 

Monday monday

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/10 sec, ISO400
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello! How was Monday?

Mine was super busy… not only with work, but I had to take my car to the shop to get the starter replaced. Of course they found several other things that needed to be fixed, but I declined on all of them. They weren’t super-critical so I will look for a mechanic who can do the job for cheaper. Anyways, that was an unexpected expense and caused me quite a bit of stress.

Also adding to the stress level is my workload, which is pretty high. The highest ever for me. I inadvertently took on a huge multi-month project which started out as one simple task but then mushroomed into several large projects. It is crazy how it just got out of control, but it has pretty much become a full-time job. And then I have my regular work to do, and then my workload from another group, which is pretty crazy. It’s like in the past year, my workload went from one full-time job, to 1.5x, then a few months ago, it went up to 2.5x. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to do my primary job… these other tasks have tight deadlines and honestly, who else is going to do them? It’s pretty ridiculous.

But, like I said before, it’s mostly fun work… there is just too much of it! I guess I am having too much fun? Wait… that’s not right!

Haha, anyways, it’s so out-of-control I just have to laugh sometimes. And this project will end this month (yeah, right) and I should go back to my 1.5x workload, and then hopefully manage it down to a regular level.

But when it comes down to it, my life is pretty good, you know? I have a lot to be grateful for.

And speaking of good, tonight’s photo is of our dinner table. Mariko made a delicious Japanese curry, with yummy steak. You can see the kids reaching for the meat! It was awesome!

Take it easy, and have a restful evening!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto