daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Whenever I return from a vacation, I have the same wishful thoughts for a few days.
“I wish it were 48 hours ago. We’d be on the boat ride to EPCOT.”
or
“I wish it were 72 hours ago. We’d be on the plane to Orlando.”
or
“I wish it were a week ago. We’d just be board the ship and starting our cruise.”
Although it makes me feel a little melancholy, it also means I enjoyed our vacation time. It wouldn’t be great if I was thinking, “Thank goodness I am back at work!” 😆
こんばんは。How’s it going?
For tonight’s blog post, I’ll just leave you with three photos of things that caught my interest while I was downtown this morning.
I hope you had a nice Saturday!
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So I was thinking… is this my first selfie ever?
Well, I did a little searching, and I found several I’ve taken throughout the years. But for phone selfies, there are only a few:
And for camera selfies, well, there are several from long ago! A short stroll down memory lane… enjoy!
So, the selfie of the Jawa and I may not have been the first, but it is at least the first with my latest phone. 😊
🎶 Let’s go back to 1996 Japan, shall we?
こんばんは。Howzit?
One of the things that I am guilty of collecting are watches. I love them! I must have owned about 15 of them during my lifetime, and yesterday I had a total of 6. But now, that total is 7 because I just got a new one – a Seiko 5 model SNK809. It’s my first Seiko and also my first “Mechanical” watch. I love it!
I had to Google the difference between “Mechanical” and “Quartz” watches, and during my research, I found out that mechanical watches (no battery) are preferred by the traditionalists while battery-powered quartz watches are preferred by the more practical people. The Seiko 5 is an Automatic mechanical watch, which means that you don’t need to wind it to provide power – the kinetic movement that is generated by just wearing it will wind up the spring. It’s very cool! I love not having to worry about a battery.
The downside of this type of watch is that if you don’t wear it for a couple days, it will stop running, so you’ll have to reset the time if that happens. Fortunately, just a few shakes of the watch will “wind up the spring” and it will start running again. Also they are not as accurate as a quartz watch, but losing or gaining a few seconds a day is acceptable to me.
There’s definitely an allure to these purely mechanical watches. There’s a smoothly sweeping second hand instead of the quartz “stepped” movement, a nice ticking sound (like the show 60 Minutes), and the transparent back allows you to see the moving pieces. They are certainly more charming than the cold “soul-less” quartz watches. At least according to most watch aficionados. 😄 But I think I’d agree with that. I get the sense after reading the forums that people form more of a bond with their mechanical watches vs quartz models.
The Seiko 5 is considered a decent entry-level automatic watch. I bought mine for about $53, which is a real value. Build quality is excellent, but the band that comes with it is regarded poorly. I ordered a “Nato” band which will arrive in a couple days so we’ll see the difference. Honestly, the stock band seems ok, if a little rough. But since almost all the watch otaku say to replace it with a $10 Nato, I figured there must be something to that.
Like I mentioned, watches are one of the things I like to obsess over, cameras being the other. There’s a watch shop near my parents’ house that I have to visit whenever we are in SoCal. I haven’t bought a new one since 2011, so I have been overdue!
I hope you had a nice day!
おやすみ
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🎶 Have a great Friday!
こんばんは。How’s it going?
I don’t know how long this has been a tradition, but today is National Pizza Day! Perhaps it is the brainchild of Pizza Hut or Dominos, but whatever the origin, it’s time to celebrate! 🍕🎉
Tonight we had two pizzas, both pepperoni, but one was thin crust, and the other was a rising crust (both from frozen). Koa and I preferred the thin, while Mariko and Bay went with the traditional crust. But I’m pretty much a fan of all types of pizza. 😝
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In other news, I was listening to ZARD today, which is one of my favorite bands/singers. It has been almost 10 years since Sakai Izumi passed away, so it’s a sad occasion, but I still enjoy her music a lot.
One of my favorite tunes is “今日はゆっくり話そう”. Please give it a listen, preferably loud 🎸🔉🎵, and check out my favorite songs page! 🎶
I hope you had a nice day!
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