Skateboarding on Vacation

On the Strand
On the Strand

After getting our new skateboards last summer, Bay and I decided that we should take our boards when we travel and go skateboarding on vacation. So for our Christmas trip to visit my family in Los Angeles, we packed up the boards and brought them. Actually, I only brought over my trucks and wheels since I had an old deck at my parents’ house, while Bay brought over his whole skateboard.

The first day we were there, we rode to the park and skated around there. My old deck is a real ’90s style, with a squared off tail (and tail guard!) and front of the board goes a bit wider. It is such a comfortable cruiser shape! I loved riding it again!

On Christmas Eve day, we all went to the Strand. Most of the group was on bikes, but my oldest brother, myself, and Bay rode our skateboards. I also borrowed some rope from my dad because I was anticipating being towed by one of the bike riders. And as you can see from the photo above, we made good use of the ropes! Riding on the Strand brought back so many memories. It was なつかしい!(nostalgic)

The only thing I would change is that instead of bringing my Bones wheels, I’d bring the OJ’s instead. The softer and quieter OJ’s would have been more comfortable and easier on the ears than the hard Bones.

When the vacation came to a close, I was going to bring my old deck back to Texas but decided to just bring the trucks/wheels home. I’ll leave the deck in California for the next visit!

Camping at Choke Canyon State Park, TX

The day after Thanksgiving we took the kids camping to a new place for us: Choke Canyon State Park. It’s located between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, about three-hour drive from our house. We really enjoy camping and since we have all the gear it’s easy to go spur-of-the-moment. Going the day after our Thanksgiving feast wasn’t a problem at all. We went basic with the meals, just stopping at the supermarket to fill up our cooler with steaks, breakfast sandwiches, bread and deli meats/cheese. And of course we had to have s’mores!

The campsite was pretty nice, but it’s mostly RV campers and only a couple of people in tents. But it was ok. The only downside was that most of the RV campers left the lights on at their campsites all night. Plus there was also the constant hum of electric appliances. It was kind of fun seeing all the lights strung up at the campsites (I have never camped at an RV area before). I only wish they would have turned off the lights when they went to bed. It would have made the star photos a bit better.  But, the bathrooms there were super-clean since I think most of the people at the campground prefer to do their business in their RVs. Just a guess.

Anyways, the camping was fun as usual, with a nice campfire, steaks, and s’mores. I bring my BBQ grill when we go camping, so we have a nice controlled cooking fire, and then we have the campsite fire pit for the larger campfire.

I woke up at about 1:30 AM and decided to take some photos of the night sky. Luckily I remember to bring the tripod on the trip! It was a lot of fun! I wish the kids would have joined me, but I didn’t really want to wake them since they were snug in their warm sleeping bags. I did manage to get a few decent photos and see one shooting star before retiring back to the tent at 2:30.

The next morning after breakfast, we headed down to the lake and did a little fishing. We didn’t catch anything or even get a nibble, but we were able to see a huge alligator sunning himself on the bank. It was pretty impressive!

The camping trip was just one night, but it was fun and nice to visit a new place. I can’t wait for our next camping trip! Please enjoy the photos below.

Snacktime, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Snacktime, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Our Campsite, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Our Campsite, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Around the Campfire, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Around the Campfire, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Night View, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Night View, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Night Sky, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Night Sky, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Writing with Light, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Writing with Light, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Morning, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Morning, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Big Gator, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Big Gator, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Fishing, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 10mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO50
Fishing, Choke Canyon State Park, 2014

Life Scene: First Visit to Japan

I have been in love with Japan for a very long time now, I think it started when I was 12 and I saw the miniseries Shogun on television. I was fascinated with the setting and the characters. I may be mistaken, but the character  thought that … was super cool, and I believe the character Lady Mariko was my first crush. Ever since then, I have been a Japanophile.

From that time until my mid-twenties, I spent a lot of time watching Japanese dramas, listening to Japanese bands, and visiting Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. But it wasn’t until I visited Japan that it really changed my life.

In 1995 I went on vacation with my parents to Tokyo. It was about a 5-day trip, and my parents acted as tour guides for me since they had visited Japan a few times before. We saw so many cool sights including Shinjuku, Tsukiji, Asakusa, Nikko, and Kamakura. It was such an amazing trip! Tokyo was everything I thought it would be: fast-paced, crowded, clean, and modern. It’s funny to think about it, but I remember feeling like that should be my home.

Tsukiji Breakfast
Tsukiji Breakfast. That’s me at 27 years old! My dad is the guy wearing sunglasses.

And when we returned back to the States, I felt what I think is homesickness. Isn’t that weird? But even though I was only in Japan for 5 days, I missed it so much and I was in a blue mood for a couple weeks.

At that time I was working at UCLA and was enjoying my life but after my trip I knew I had to move to Japan. It was a certainty. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I decided to give myself half a year to move there, and after I made the decision, my blue mood was instantly replaced with excitement.

More on this story to come…

 

Morning Ride

Looking Out Over Inks Lake
Looking Out Over Inks Lake

I’m pretty lucky that I live on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, which has some really fun roads to ride. This morning I rode Route 1431 from our house in Cedar Park to Marble Falls, then up to Park Road 4, which goes past Longhorn Caverns State Park, and then on to Inks Lake State Park, where I took these photos. It was so much fun, that I turned around and rode the same way back home, and made it in time for lunch! It was a total of about 150 miles round-trip and a fantastic way to spend a Saturday morning.

Kiki Resting in the Shade
Kiki Resting in the Shade

Morning Osanpo (Walk)

Morning Osanpo
Morning Osanpo

I took the photo above early in the morning when I was taking a walk from our hotel room to the outside onsen. It was probably about 6am and Mariko and the kids were still asleep, and I could have just stayed in bed as well but I really wanted to make the most of our stay so I made the sleepy walk along the path.

Just do it

One of the things I am trying to do is to be more active. By active, I don’t mean exercise, but rather if there is an opportunity to do something, I want to take it rather than just stay in and relax. The problem I’ve had in the past is that it is difficult for me to get started doing an activity. Once I am actively engaged in that activity, however, I almost always have fun and it is worthwhile. But just taking that first step has been a barrier. I’m not talking about a large project or adventure, but more like daily things. For instance, I always remember my brother Kevin would ask me to go golfing, but I would be hesitant to go. I’m not sure why, but I would rather take the “safe” option and stay home. But of course when I went golfing, I had a lot of fun and couldn’t wait to go again. Kevin mentioned something about that… how I should just get off my butt and go. (Not his exact words)

Let’s go

Back to my vacation… I arrived at the outside onsen and joined several other guests to enjoy watching the sunrise over the mountains, which was a pretty dang cool thing to do! But it didn’t stop there… after I returned to the room and changed into my regular clothes (and the family was still sleeping), I decided to go on a short hike. The hotel we stayed at has a few trails of varying lengths that start near the entrance so I took a short one, which led to a small stream and waterfall. I thought I might see a few other guests on the trail, but I ended up not seeing one single hiker. (I found out later that there was a longer, guided hike that left earlier.) The hike itself was good, but it was already starting to get muggy and I was constantly in motion trying to keep the mosquitoes at bay, and spider webs out of my face. However, I am glad I went for the hike. It was a new place that I would probably never go to again, I got some exercise, and I created some lasting memories.

I’m glad that I am making decisions that lean towards taking action rather than ones that follow the “safe route”. We only live once, and thinking of all the possible memories and experiences that we are missing makes me a little sad.

Sunrising
Sun Rising
Pathway
Pathway
Morning Sky
Morning Sky
Forest Stream
Forest Stream