Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO4000 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ How’s it going?
Today I met a couple friends at a pizza place we like to visit. It’s an all-you-can-eat place, and the style of pizza is deep-dish which I love. I mean, I love all kinds of pizza so hmmm… I don’t know. But Conan’s has great atmosphere and it is nice to chat with friends and indulge in calorie-rich food! 🍕 Always a treat.
Today’s photo is of our kitchen just before we had dinner. I thought the light had a nice quality to it, so I used the Fujifilm “Astia” film simulation, which is more accurate than Velvia, but has a more subtle color to it than standard Provia. Astia was used a lot for portraiture and I do like the quality of it.
Anyways, it’s very late (for me), so I will sign off and try to get in a couple pages of reading. See you tomorrow!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello!
As you can see from the title of this post, it’s going to a be a short one. The reason is because I am reading a book “Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City” and I am itching to get back to it. So far, it’s a lot of fun! I enjoy Young Adult fiction a lot. It’s a nice change of pace and mixes up the rhythm of things. 📔
Today’s photo is of one of the fish tanks at the pet store. Bay and I went there to buy another Tiger Barb for our 10-gallon tank. We just have two of them, and they are not getting along, but I read that Tiger Barbs are schooling fish and they do better when there are several together. The guy at the pet store said the maximum he recommends for our size tank is only 3, so we just bought a single fish. Happily, it seems like the three are getting along pretty well! よかった! 🐠
Also, our Malaysian Trumpet Snails seem to be healthy and eating away at the algae. Not enough that it looks cleaner, but I am expecting the snails to multiply their number and become an army of aquarium-cleaning monsters. Hopefully that happens soon.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/10 sec, ISO1250 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Good evening!
Right now (9:50 PM) it is raining outside ☔, and the forecast according to Bay is for heavy downpours starting around midnight. I like the rain but I am hoping that Koa’s baseball game tomorrow evening will be unaffected by the weather.
Tonight’s photo is not grey like the weather, but pretty colorful owing to the fact that I used the Velvia film simulation on my X100T, and the Instax prints have deep, rich colors. I really love the look of the Instax film… there is a nice depth to them. Almost 3D. And I love the little dark vignette-like border around the edges where the color meets the white border. It really looks like you are peering into a window or down into a pool! (ok, use your imagination a little!)
Tonight, one of Mariko’s friends came over to watch a Japanese horror movie called “Tomie Unlimited”. I don’t usually like horror movies, but I watched the first 15 minutes or so and it was fun! There was a kind of gory part at the beginning, but it was so over-the-top that it was funny. I’ll have to finish watching the movie soon. (I had to take Bay to his piano lesson so I couldn’t continue the movie)
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/10 sec, ISO3200 Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/10 sec, ISO400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello! How was Monday?
Mine was super busy… not only with work, but I had to take my car to the shop to get the starter replaced. Of course they found several other things that needed to be fixed, but I declined on all of them. They weren’t super-critical so I will look for a mechanic who can do the job for cheaper. Anyways, that was an unexpected expense and caused me quite a bit of stress.
Also adding to the stress level is my workload, which is pretty high. The highest ever for me. I inadvertently took on a huge multi-month project which started out as one simple task but then mushroomed into several large projects. It is crazy how it just got out of control, but it has pretty much become a full-time job. And then I have my regular work to do, and then my workload from another group, which is pretty crazy. It’s like in the past year, my workload went from one full-time job, to 1.5x, then a few months ago, it went up to 2.5x. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to do my primary job… these other tasks have tight deadlines and honestly, who else is going to do them? It’s pretty ridiculous.
But, like I said before, it’s mostly fun work… there is just too much of it! I guess I am having too much fun? Wait… that’s not right!
Haha, anyways, it’s so out-of-control I just have to laugh sometimes. And this project will end this month (yeah, right) and I should go back to my 1.5x workload, and then hopefully manage it down to a regular level.
But when it comes down to it, my life is pretty good, you know? I have a lot to be grateful for.
And speaking of good, tonight’s photo is of our dinner table. Mariko made a delicious Japanese curry, with yummy steak. You can see the kids reaching for the meat! It was awesome!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/10 sec, ISO400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello!
Wow, my body is exhausted… yesterday we received 1 cubic yard of dirt to use in our front and backyards, so today I shoveled it all into the wheelbarrow and distributed it around our lawns, to fill in low spots. We get heavy rains sometimes and it washes away a lot of dirt. So once in a while, it is good to replenish! But it’s a lot of hard work and my arms are so sore. Plus the mosquitoes are in full-force in Central Texas, so it wasn’t a relaxing bit of work. But it all got done, and I have a good feeling of accomplishment!
In other news, we bought a couple new fish for our aquarium, plus I asked the store for several Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Our tank has developed a lot of brown algae, and these snails are supposed to help keep everything clean. Right after I dumped them into our tank they got straight to work! I wonder how good a job they’ll do, and how long it will take to see any progress. It will be fun to see!
Today’s photo is of Koa, eating dinner using chopsticks while riding the exercise bike and watching television. He can multi-task like a pro!
Well, I need to sleep early… my body needs rest. 😄
