Rainy sunday

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/60 sec, ISO3200
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

Today was the first day of our huge rainstorm, which is supposed to last maybe three more days. ☔ Our house is not in any danger from flooding, but there are some parts of town that are near the river and those get so much water that they overflow the banks. It’s really dangerous and there are often reports of people getting swept away as they try to cross through the water in their cars. Even though we have the saying “Turn around, don’t drown” some people think they can make it and just try anyways.

I stayed in the house today and actually had a task to do: file our 2015 taxes. Like many other people, I use TurboTax to do our taxes, and after several years of doing it, it has become pretty quick and easy. The main thing is that you need to just keep all your tax documents in one place as they come in during the year. I have a box that I put all the documents, and when I receive an email saying I have tax documents online, I will print those out immediately and put them in the box. Then, when I finally get down to doing the taxes, it’s all there!

I remember several years ago, I had so much trouble figuring out where everything was, but now it is a breeze. I think the software has gotten a lot better with each year so that is a huge help!

While I was working and looking for a folder to archive all the documents, I found a clear file that has all the stickers I have collected over the years. I forgot about one sticker that I bought in Japan a few years ago… it’s a cat with a camera! It actually says “Neko camera” (neko means cat). So I put it on my Chromebook. I now have 5 stickers on it… SCANDAL, Neko Camera, Momusu, K-on!, and a KTUH sticker that my brother sent me.

I’m still enjoying using the Chromebook for my blogging… I am typing this (and pretty much all my posts) using it.

Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
 Cedar Park, 2016

Well, it’s getting late so I am going to read a bit, then sleep. Let’s have a good week!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

A-Z Challenge – N

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N is for “Nostalgic 懐かしい”

One of my favorite Japanes words is “Natsukashii” which means “nostalgic”. For instance, when talking with a friend and you reminisice about an old time, you will say “natsukashii”. Or if something spurs an old memory, you can say the same thing.

As I get older, I often have these moments where I remember something from log ago and I think back fondly about it. I was listening to some music from my library, and a song came on that always brings back a certain memory… it was 1996 and I was watching tv at my shared apartment in Tokyo and a commercial came on that had a song that I really liked. One of my housemates told me who it was (Sakamoto Ruichi and Fujitani Miki) and I told her that I really wanted to find that song. So a couple weekends later, we went to Tower Records Shibuya and at a listening station, we found that cd… Ten seconds into the song, the main melody came thru our headphones*, I looked at my friend and she looked at me and we both said, “that’s it!”. Needless to say, I bought that cd.

It’s so fun when natsukashii moments happen. I wish I could share memories better… if there were some sort of memory recorder, that would be amazing. I admire people who can illustrate on paper so much. If I could I’d love to documents some of these memories like that. Or writing as well… I wonder if it is something I should work on. It’s a worthwhile thing, I think.

But maybe these memories are so personal, that they will have no meaning to strangers. Which is why that shared experiences are so special. Now I want to get in touch with my friend to see if she remember that moment too.

*The listening stations were set up so with a pair of headphones for each station

New kittens

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/60 sec, ISO2000
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello, how’s it going?

Today our two adopted cats arrived at our house. They are sisters and have similar facial markings, although one is mostly black and the other is calico color. Sorry you cannot tell the color from the black and white photos so you’ll just have to trust me!

I wanted to name the kitties Sadako and Tomie, which are names of infamous Japanese horror movie monsters, but Mariko says no way. I don’t think we’ve decided on names just yet. 🐱

We’ve been playing with them all afternoon, and I am so sleepy now. I actually took a nap today as well, but my body must be exhausted from work. Speaking of work, I went in to the office for a couple hours this morning to finish up some things. It was nice to be able to focus on the task at hand without the distractions of emails and IMs coming in. 😄

Well, I am going to rest… have a good evening!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/60 sec, ISO2500
 Cedar Park, 2016

A night at the ballpark

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Round Rock, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO640
 Round Rock, 2016

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

This evening, Koa and I went to the Dell Diamond in Round Rock to see the Round Rock Express take on the visiting Iowa Cubs. We bought discounted tickets because the Little League Koa plays in has a special promotion. It was only a dollar off each ticket, but it was fun to go to the ballpark and watch some minor-league baseball.

Tonight was opening night, and also Fireworks Friday, but we didn’t stay til the end because it was getting very late and Koa has Japanese school tomorrow morning so no fireworks for us. But Koa had a great time hanging out with friends, playing in the “Kids Zone” where they have a basketball court and also a radar-gun so you can see how fast your pitches are. Koa was clocked throwing 51 mph heaters. Pretty impressive!

Round Rock, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO500
 Round Rock, 2016

The Dell Diamond is a very nice ballpark, just like a MLB stadium, just on a smaller scale. General admission tickets for sitting on the lawn are only $7 so it’s a good deal. But the food is like an MLB park. $10 for a large beer! Ouch. I passed on the beer tonight…

It was a beautiful clear evening, but the great weather will not last long. On Sunday a heavy storm will move into town bringing hail and nastiness. If you live here in Central Texas, take care and stay safe!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

A-Z Challenge – M

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M stands for “Maps”

I’ve been kind of a map otaku ever since I was little. In my previous post, I talked about visiting the library when I was young, and one of the things I loved to look at there was the atlases and map books. These were the large books that were near the reference librarians and were items that you couldn’t borrow. But they were so fascinating to me! I actually have a bunch of maps I saved from National Geographic magazines that I had subscribed to. In fact, that was kind of the reason I had a subscription… because the Nat Geo maps were so nice! 🌐

These days, I like to explore using Google Maps, but it’s fun to look at paper maps still. I have a few road atlases, and my old Tokyo map that I used so much. I’ll never get rid of that one! It was my constant companion when I moved to Japan. A real life-saver.

Right now I am reading a book that I borrowed from the library called “On the Map” which is all about the history of maps (so far). It’s fascinating! I highly recommend it if you are a map otaku like I am. 😄