Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO200 “New Band Kick-off” Cedar Park, 2019
This evening, Koa’s High School Band held their Parent Preview Concert at the nearby stadium. Last year, they had an amazing program and this year looks great as well. They have already worked hard in preparation for the marching season and it sounds amazing, but the important thing is that the kids seem to be having fun as they learn. Inspiring for all the parents to see their kids putting in the hard work and realizing the results. 👍
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/100 sec, ISO2500 “Fuchico on the Temaki” Cedar Park, 2019
It’s a temaki sushi dinner evening! I prefer nigiri sushi, but temaki sushi is wonderful too. I mean, nigiri is a 10, and temaki hand roll sushi is a 9… so both are great. 😀
こんばんは。This morning, Koa and I headed to the DPS (Department of Public Safety) to get his driving learner’s permit. The wait at these places is pretty crazy, especially in summer, so we arrived before it opened and got in line. After a few technical snafu’s, I finally got the documents in order and Koa was able to get his permit!
Now begins the fun part… actually hitting the road. 😱
But seriously, teaching Bay wasn’t too difficult so I am not expecting anything crazy with Koa. Vroom vroom!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/100 sec, ISO2500 “Buddha and Cats” Cedar Park, 2019
Today’s photo is one of those “11:59” snapshots. I’ve been taking daily photos (started as a 365 project years ago) and sometimes, I haven’t taken a photo until the day is almost over. So, the last minute photo is an “11:59” photo. 😄 In our home office, we have a few figurines on the shelf next to some framed photos.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/25 sec, ISO800 “Yakiniku Dinner” Cedar Park, 2019
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Tonight’s dinner was yakiniku, which is a Japanese interpretation of Korean barbecue. Because we live near an H-Mart Korean market, we can buy perfectly prepared meats for yakiniku anytime. Years ago, before the market opened, we’d buy large cuts of meat, and then I would slice the semi-frozen meat with a meat slicer. It was 面倒くさい! Thankfully, those days are over.
Preparing for yakiniku is mainly chopping up the desired veggies, getting the dipping sauces for the meat ready, and making sure you have enough fuel in the canisters for the stove. It’s no fun to run out of flame during the meal and not have a full canister ready to replace it with. 😲
Tonight we had four kinds of meat, two types of dipping sauces, cabbage, jalapeño, onion, asparagus, cheese, and kimchee. An ice-cold beer is also nice!
I’ve been working on a few sketches, the latest one completed is above. All of them are extremely simple and the time I spend with pen-to-paper (or stylus to screen) is short. However, I have to work on it over several days because I need “fresh eyes” in order to see things I want to change about the sketch. I’ve changed my process to add these breaks between working on a single sketch and I think my work has improved, or at the very least, I’ve saved myself some frustration.
What used to happen is that I’d work on a sketch for a couple of hours, and think it’s done, so I upload it to Instagram or Artstation, but then a while later, I’d notice something that seemed “off” to me. But by that time, the posted sketch would have received a few likes and so I just kept that version published. It was frustrating! Or more commonly, I’d export a sketch from Procreate and edit it in Lightroom/Photoshop, but then while in Photoshop, I’d notice something I want to change and then go through the process again. And again. And again!
So now, it’s better to just take my time, have several sketches in different stages, and alternate among them. After all, there’s no urgency to publish/post, is there?
In other sketching-related news, I ordered a matte screen protector for my iPad Air 3. I used to have one for my iPad 6th Gen, but when I upgraded to the Air, I went with the naked glossy screen. But I missed the texture of the matte screen when drawing, so I went back with the matte protector. The colors might not look as vibrant, but the drawing experience is much nicer, in my opinion.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/5 sec, ISO800 “Watches” Cedar Park, 2019
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today was a relaxing Saturday for me. I didn’t spend it napping, though… I actually did a few fun things all at home indoors, so I kept myself somewhat busy.
For the cooking part, I made tortilla chips for the first time ever. They weren’t completely made from scratch, but I made them from a big package of corn tortillas in the freezer. I’ve found corn tortillas are pretty much useless for tacos after defrosting from the freezer and only somewhat salvageable for enchiladas. However, they are great for making chips! Basically, I cut each tortilla into six pizza slices, then deep-fried them in a skillet. It took a while to get through the bag of 36 tortillas, but now we have a decent bag of chips to use for salsa or nachos, and they taste excellent!
For the drawing part of the afternoon, I finished a profile portrait on my iPad. Profiles are a real challenge for me, but I am pleased with the final result:
“Saturday Sketch” Cedar Park, 2019
I also finished a book in record time. I had seen the movie Crazy Rich Asians last year, but just this week I borrowed the Crazy Rich Asians eBook from our library and plowed through it in three days. It was a fun read! The book is even better than the movie, which I also enjoyed. I am looking forward to the rest of the trilogy, which I have on hold at the library.
And finally, I watched the Japanese movie Kids on the Slope 坂道のアポロン. It was pretty good! I loved the setting of Japan in the 60’s.
So that was my Saturday.
I hope you also had a nice one!
またね～
p.s. Today’s photo is just of the items on my desk next to the monitor. It’s not very exciting or interesting, but I think it’s okay to document the mundane things in life. When I think back to our old house or even our apartments in Japan, I wish I had more of these simple images.
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
