This Is Becoming a Habit

"Color in the Clouds" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/15000 sec, ISO400
“Color in the Clouds” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Yet another cloud photo?! I’m having fun making these images using my X100T. I’ve been playing around with the exposure compensation dial, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to try to darken the sky a lot so I can bring out more detail in the bright clouds. I even noticed that my camera used its electronic shutter to take today’s photo at 1/15,000 of second, and yesterday’s photo at 1/23,000 of a second. That is insane!

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for today… just a cloud photo, but at least this one has some color right around the sun. It’s kind of cool the things you can uncover by adjusting camera settings and post-processing in Lightroom. Fun stuff!

Have a good evening!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Looking Out

"View from the Kitchen Sink" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/23000 sec, ISO400
“View from the Kitchen Sink” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!Good evening!

Tonight’s photo is yet another cloud image. This is the view from the kitchen that I saw when I was doing the dishes this evening. The clouds here in Central Texas are nice, but the best clouds I have seen were probably in Hawaii. They move so fast and are so close to you, it’s amazing! Plus, they sit in front of a beautiful blue sky… The sky here in Texas is hazy and the clouds are so distant… a completely different feeling. I like it too. ☁️

I wish I could take photos of the clouds and the sea more often… which is why when we move to Japan after the kids are on their own, I’d like to live close to the ocean. Here in Austin, there are a few lakes and rivers, but it’s not the same as the sea… I never really think of a lake or rivers as somewhere I’d like to swim. It seems so foreign to me! But I have heard people say the opposite – that they don’t like swimming in the sea because the salt water and fish give them a bad feeling.

I guess it’s because I grew up near the ocean and swam in the sea a lot, that I feel more comfortable in the salt water. And the sound of the surf crashing on the shore! ❤️🌊

Anyways, I hope you had a nice Wednesday, and I’ll see you tomorrow… dream of the clouds and sea tonight! ☁️🌊

おやすみなさい! – B Barron Fujimoto

Battery Anxiety

"New Message" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
“New Message” Austin, 2016

こんばんは!Hi, how’s it going?

Today I opened up my Kindle and saw the message that you see in the photo above. It was surprising to me because it was the first time my Kindle’s battery has dropped low enough to see that warning. I love my Kindle so much because the battery lasts so long between charges and it doesn’t give me any battery anxiety. Electronics that don’t need to be charged so often, like my Kindle, my Chromebook, and my Sansa MP3 player, are the best! So the message in the photo was a shock to me. I hope it doesn’t mean the battery is close to the end… 😔 But, I wouldn’t mind getting a new Kindle Paperwhite. I would love a backlit e-reader.

I hope you had a good day! Try to stay cool out there.

おやすみなさい! – B Barron Fujimoto

🍛 Curry Night

"Japanese Curry with Jalapeno" Cedar Park 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
“Japanese Curry with Jalapeno” Cedar Park 2016

こんばんは!

The first day of summer this year… and we had Japanese Curry! I always enjoy our “curry nites” and tonight’s curry had jalapeños in it, so there was a little extra kick to it. 🔥❤️ I think I’ve written about it before, but the second and third night’s curry is even better so I’m looking forward to it. And lately I’ve been fasting during the weekdays so when dinner comes around, it tastes extra-delicious.

By the way, did you see the full moon tonight? 🌝 Because it’s the summer solstice, tonight’s full moon is known as a Full Strawberry Moon and it will be the first time since 1948 that it has occurred. If you haven’t seen it, you might still have a couple hours to peek outside your window!

Oh, this evening I watched a fantastic movie called “Uzumasa Limelight”. I was so impressed! I’ll have to write a review later… but if you have the means to see it, please do so.

Have a great evening!

おやすみなさい! – バロン Barron Fujimoto

Father’s Day Happenings

"At the Flea Market" Kyle, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/1700 sec, ISO200
“At the Flea Market” Kyle, 2016

こんばんは!Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!

Today was a super busy one for us because both Koa and Bay are starting week-long summer camps. First off, Koa is attending a percussion camp down at Texas State University in San Marcos which is about a 45-minute drive south from us and today was his check-in and audition. He’s pretty excited because he gets to stay over in the dorms! Plus there are a lot of fun activities planned and many different classes where he’ll learn a lot of different kinds of percussion. I think he’ll have a ton of fun! 🎼

After dropping him off, we decided to stop by the Kyle Flea Market that we passed by on the way to the camp. It was pretty fun, but super hot! Although today is only in the low 90s, the flea market warehouse was not air-conditioned so it was sweltering! 😅 We didn’t find anything worth buying but it was still interesting to see how much junk was for sale.

"Homemade SIgnage" Kyle, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/8000 sec, ISO200
“Homemade Signage” Kyle, 2016

Next up was lunch, which I got to decide since it is Father’s Day. I was presented with two choices: Shake Shack or Burgerfi. I think I was pretty much guided to choose Burgerfi which was fine with me. The burgers were yummy and it really hit the spot! I chose the “Conflicted Burger” which was one meat patty and one veggie-patty. It was pretty good, but I think I should have just gotten a double-cheeseburger with jalapeños, which is exactly what Bay ordered. Mariko had a cheeseburger with fried egg, and I had a bite… definitely a good combination!

"Three Burgers" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“Three Burgers” Austin, 2016

Next up on our Sunday list was to visit the UT campus to check out where Bay’s 3D Printing & Product Design camp will be held. Mariko will be dropping him off and picking him up each day so she wanted to make sure she knew the location. Once we checked it out, we walked to a cream-puff bakery called Cream Whiskers for some ice coffee and matcha cream-puffs. It was yummy!

When we left the bakery, it was close after 6pm so we headed home and then watched game 7 of the NBA finals, and that brings us up to the present!

Oh, one more thing… my Father’s Day loot!

"Father's Day Loot" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/17 sec, ISO6400
“Father’s Day Loot” Cedar Park, 2016

I received a bunch of cool stuff:

  • Sweet treats and trail mix from my parents
  • Yo-kai Watch game for the Nintendo 3DS (or my 2DS)
  • Food-grinder attachment for our mixer so I can make fresh burgers 🍔
  • 5-year Diary. Each day has five entries, so you can easily see what you did on the same day the previous year

Now it’s almost midnight and I didn’t get to play Yo-kai Watch yet… maybe I’ll get to play tomorrow. 🎮

I hope you had a great weekend. ☺️

おやすみなさい! – B Barron Fujimoto

Early Father’s Day Dinner

"Korean BBQ" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Korean BBQ” Austin, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Tomorrow is Father’s Day, but we celebrated an early Father’s Day dinner this year because tomorrow we’ll be very busy and our family won’t be together at dinner time. We’re taking Koa to a Percussion camp, where he will stay for the week. But we often celebrate special occasions early because we like to avoid the dinner crowds, especially on Mother’s and Father’s days.

For this year, I decided that I wanted to go out for Korean BBQ since we haven’t had it in a while. Plus I know the kids like it and Mariko won’t have to cook. 😀 We have two go-to Korean BBQ restaurants we like here in Austin, but there is a new one that recently opened and we decided to give it a try. Charm Korean BBQ is about 25 minutes away from our house and since Mariko and the boys were out watching “Finding Dory” down in South Austin, we figured I’d just meet them at the restaurant after the movie was finished.

"Waiting" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/1900 sec, ISO400
“Waiting” Austin, 2016

I arrived a bit before Mariko and the kids, so I had time to take the photo above from the lobby. By the way, temperatures went over 100°F here in Austin. That seems a bit early in the year, doesn’t it? 😓

"Charm Korean BBQ" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/25 sec, ISO3200
“Charm Korean BBQ” Austin, 2016

We ordered three meat dishes – marinated beef, spicy pork belly, and beef tongue. They were all tasty, but my favorite was the spicy pork. Of course I love the spicy foods, and I even added some raw jalapeño slices to give it even more heat. 🔥 Koa’s favorite was the beef tongue, which was really flavorful. I’m surprised that he likes it because I thought he would object to eating “weird” meat. 🐮

I’d say that Charm Korean BBQ is pretty good, but I think I prefer our old stand-byes: Korea House and Chosun. The side dishes at those two restaurants is superior to those at Charm, and I’d also say the meat is tastier at the older restaurants. Still, it’s nice to have options, and if you want all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, Charm offers it while the other two don’t. So there’s that. ☺️

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい! – B Barron Fujimoto