My Fasting Experience

"On Her Perch" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/110 sec, ISO200
“On Her Perch” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

These past couple weeks, I’ve been water-fasting quite a bit, with a 72-hour fast and a couple of 48-hour fasts. The rest of the days I just ate at dinner time. It’s been a great experience, and I feel a lot healthier! 😃

One of the main benefits for me is that I get a nice sense of control and self-confidence over food. The food industry is so powerful and influential, and they want us to eat more and more, so it’s been great to regain control and realize that I don’t have to eat as much as they tell me to. And I’m not going to die if I skip a meal!

It’s funny, but for as long as most of us have lived, we’ve been told to eat three meals a day (and then several small meals a day), that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, etc… but really, where did these rules come from? It’s been so ingrained in our culture that you need to eat eat eat. So if you mention that you are fasting, people are appalled and can’t understand. The belief is that it is so unhealthy, but where did that information come from? ❓

People have been fasting forever, and some of our wisest people recommended fasting for health. It’s really quite fascinating!

The first time I fasted, it was difficult, but once I broke through and completed a 36-hour fast, it became much easier to fast whenever I wanted. The sense of empowerment is incredible.

Anyways, enough about that. There’s so much more I want to say, but I’ll save it for another time. Please check it out all the information on water-fasting if you are interested!

Tonight’s photo is of Yuzu, our calico cat. Both cats love to jump up to the exercise bike’s handlebars and hang out there. It reminds me of a jungle cat, relaxing in the tree. What do you think?

I hope you had a nice weekend!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Naughty Again

"Slipper Thieves" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec, ISO800
“Slipper Thieves” Cedar Park, 2016

Hello!

Today’s photo is of the two little monsters caught doing what they do, which is being naughty. 😄 We keep our guest slippers in a basket by the front door, and today they decided that the slippers would be fun to play with. It’s so funny that they love to play with footwear! We have a little basket that we put the kids’ clean sock into after the laundry is done, and the kitties have been grabbing a sock here and there, and bringing them downstairs to play with. At the moment, there are about 10 socks on the floor now! Thankfully, they don’t damage them. All-in-all, the kittens are not too bad, but sometimes it can be frustrating… for instance, they accidentally turned on the kitchen faucet, and when I came home from work, the water was running full-blast. 😞 Oh well…

Take care! 🐱

– B Barron Fujimoto

Trying to hide

"Trying to Hide" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
“Trying to Hide” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!Hi, how are you doing?

Tonight’s photo is of one our kittens, trying to hide. I don’t have too much to say about the effectiveness of her technique.

Today went by so quickly… my workday was pretty busy, and before I knew it, it was 4pm. Since I skipped lunch today, 4pm meant I worked 8 hours and 20 minutes. I am still using Toggl religiously, so I know pretty much exactly how much I work, and how much time is spent on each task. It’s a great tool!

Well, I’ll try not to work so much and balance my home life more, which for the next few weeks means spending it with my girlfriends! (2 kittens and our doggie) 🐱🐱🐶 Plus some finned friends. 🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠

Take care, and see you tomorrow.

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Aquarium Work

"Hello!" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO640
“Hello!” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Today I spent some more time working on the aquarium. In a previous post, I described a bit about what I wanted to do with the plants and the focal point of the aquarium. Well, I’m still not 100% sure what the focal point will be, but I’m leaning towards a reddish plant, while all the other plants will be green.

I chose black and white for the rocks and gravel respectively, so that the fish and plants would have an extra pop of color. I placed a couple plants from the old aquarium into the new one, and you can see how the green stands out against the black background (some foam board from the craft store). I’m quite happy with it so far!

I also added more substrate (the gravel) on the sides so that I could angle the slate rocks up a bit, which creates some nice hiding areas for the fish. I think that the algae-eaters will need those places (and that leafy plant) to take refuge in after the tiger barbs are moved over, since those fish can be aggressive. I hope they get along!

"Aquarium Start" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
“Aquarium Start” Cedar Park, 2016

I’m not sure if I want to keep the large plant that’s on the left side permanently, though. I wanted more grass-like types, but for now this plant is helping to keep the water clean while the bacteria get settled in the new tank. It usually takes a few weeks, but I kind of kickstarted the process by putting some bio material from the old aquarium next to the filter of the new one. Hopefully it won’t take too much longer for the bacteria to begin thriving.

In the meantime, I’m doing daily water tests, and it seems the ammonia level is the only thing to be concerned about right now, so I do a 25% (5-gallon) water change when the ammonia gets too high. The three algae-eaters that are in the new aquarium seem to be happy and healthy! 😄

Please take a look at the rest of the photos in the gallery below:

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I hope you had a nice weekend!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto