Idol Nite 3

"Drinks and Snacks" Austin 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/13 sec, ISO3200
“Drinks and Snacks” Austin 2016

こんばんは!How are you doing?

Tonight I went over to my good friend Mikey’s house for “Idol Nite 3”. Idol refers to Japanese 🇯🇵 who are popular for singing, dancing, and/or acting. As two otaku guys, our favorites are pretty much all the girl groups but there are a ton of popular boy bands as well and we did watch and episode of Vs Arashi so it wasn’t all about the girls! Well, actually it was, since Arashi was competing against Momoiro Clover Z!

Most of the other musical groups we watched were from Hello! Project but we also watched some AKB48 shows and also Scandal. With YouTube, it’s so easy to make playlists of videos to watch. We simply picked from a playlist of the most popular videos of the idols/groups we were interested in. It was a ton of fun (as usual), and I enjoyed spending time catching up with my friend.

And we still haven’t answered the question, “What ever happened to Sayumi?”. Hopefully the answer will become clear in the future.

Of course we had to have some refreshments too so I brought over some saké 🍶, beer 🍺, and snacks, and my friend bought some sushi 🍣 and more saké. Add some glow sticks and we were all set! 🎉

There are so many aspects to Japanese culture and I am happy to have the opportunity to get up-to-date with the pop J-idol world. It’s always so interesting and fun. 🎶 It gets me excited to move back to Japan in the future.

I hope you had a great Friday!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Camera Charging via USB

"USB Charging" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 35mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec, ISO800
“USB Charging” Cedar Park, 2016

One of the top features of my Fujifilm X100T 📷 is the ability to charge the battery via USB. Just like a smartphone, I can plug in a simple micro-USB cable and the battery charges.

This simple feature is wonderful. It fits into my daily workflow seamlessly – so much so that I rarely even think about charging anymore!

In the evening, I’ll connect the camera to my computer using the USB cable so I can import the photos into Lightroom. I then do my editing, and after that, I flip the power button on the camera to Off. If the charging light stays lit, I will leave it plugged in to charge. 90% of the time, though, the battery will have topped off during the time I imported and post-processed my daily photo. Convenient, isn’t it?

FYI, the camera did come with an external battery charger, but I haven’t used it in months. It’s so nice to not have to keep a charger around, or pop out the battery to charge it. Anything to simplify processes is a good thing! 😄

Getaway Vehicles

"Colorful Motorbike" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“Colorful Motorbike” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Today’s photo is of my motorcycle, which is set up as a long-distance mile-eater. If you want to read more about it, you can check out my other blog. But after I took the photo, I started thinking about what kind of vehicles I like, and why.

As someone who loves to travel, I love vehicles that have a go-anywhere, self-contained feeling.

For instance, one of my dream cars when I was younger was a Toyota Townace 4×4 Van. They were so bizarre but I thought they were really cool. Plus, it would make an awesome camper. Pair that with Toyota dependability and it seemed like a perfect vehicle.

I still want something like that to go camping in! Long road-trips are so fun. I love them.

Right now, I drive a Honda Minivan, which is excellent. It is so versatile and can hold a ton of stuff, so it is great for camping. But it doesn’t have that walk-in feeling like a VW camper or full-size van. It’s kind of just a big car. Also, it only gets 20mpg. 😒

In the ’90s I had a really fun vehicle – a Toyota 4×4 truck. That was an awesome vehicle for camping and getting to those primitive sites. We’d take it off-road on some fairly gnarly trails, with the bed filled with camping gear. That’s another vehicle I’d consider buying again, but the fuel economy just sucks… even worse than the van.

Anyways, back to my motorcycle… it sort of fits the bill because it’s set up to go off-road (although it’s pretty heavy), can travel long-distances (I’ve traveled out of Texas on it), and gets great gas mileage. On the downside, the comfort level is lacking… especially in the Texas heat.

I guess there isn’t a perfect vehicle out there for me at the moment, so I’ll stick with the two extremes… a large car and a small motorbike. Maybe one day a hybrid 4×4 van will come along. Until then, though, I’ll just have to dream about it. 😄

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Travel Books

"Browsing" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/55 sec, ISO6400
“Browsing” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

This evening after dinner I took my two sons to the library to get some books. 📚 Koa borrowed a couple volumes of his favorite manga, “One Piece”, while Bay picked up several travel books. Next summer we are planning on taking a trip ✈ 🚄 to Morocco, Spain, France, and England so we’re doing research on things to see and places to stay. The planning stages are getting exciting!

The most up-to-date information is online, but it’s fun to borrow the travel books to look at maps and get ideas from more reputable sources, like good old Frommer’s and Lonely Planet. It’s also nice to curl up in bed and leaf through a paper book, especially a travel guide, where you can let your wanderlust take hold. 🗺

"On the Way Out" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/30 sec, ISO6400
“On the Way Out” Cedar Park, 2016

When we left the library, nature surprised us with a lovely magenta sunset. 🌇 Love it!

"Sunset" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
“Sunset” Cedar Park, 2016

I hope you had a nice Tuesday!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto