daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
I’ve been playing my ukuleles a lot lately and have learned a new song: ひこうき雲. This song is by Yumi Arai and was recently featured in the Studio Ghibli film The Wind Rises. It’s a sad and beautiful song.
So now that I have memorized it, I can concentrate on playing it cleanly, which is very difficult for me. But that applies to all the songs I’ve learned! 😂
I hope you had a good day!
The sun came out today to signal that things are getting better in Texas. The snow and ice started melting and I took advantage of the warmer afternoon to ride my bicycle a bit. I’ve missed the sun so much.
If you’re not able to go out, please come with me for a virtual ride around the neighborhood:
I hope you had a good Friday!
おやすみ！
It appears that the terrible mess we have in Texas has an ending in sight, but many people still do not have electricity to keep warm, nor clean water to drink. I’m hoping tomorrow brings good news, but this evening, I will just take a photo of the hazy sunset to remember the day.
I’ve been using the gender pronouns he/him in my online profiles for a while now to build inclusivity and show support for those who get questioned about their gender identity. However, I’ve only just recently (as in the past few days) encountered the use of they/them/their in books. At first, I was confused, but after I realized the reason, it made sense and just felt good.
With so much racism and discrimination showing up in the world, seeing non-binary pronouns being used gave me a feeling that there is hope in the world. It’s probably just a small step in the right direction, but it’s a step nonetheless.
FYI, the book in the photo is The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.
Here’s some more information about the importance of gender pronouns. It’s been a busy couple of years of education on social and cultural issues for me, and that continues.
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today we woke up to several inches of snowfall here in Central Texas as well as to a bitter cold. Because of the latter, we’ve been experiencing electrical outages throughout the state. That caused my work to cancel several of today’s meetings. Thankfully, our house hasn’t been affected by the blackouts, but it seems like all my friends have. I hope our good luck continues through the night. (fingers crossed)
The snow was actually kind of fun to experience! Lani had a few moments of confusion this morning when I let her out to do her business. She didn’t know where the lawn was, so I put on my boots and walked down the stairs to the grass, and then she got enough courage to find a place to pee. 😅
During my lunchbreak I bundled up and went for a little walk toward the mailbox and back. There was so much snow on the ground and lots of kids were having snowball fights. Surprisingly, there were no snowmen, even though there was a ton of snow to work with. I think it was just too cold! (19°F / -7°C) I recorded my walk using my GoPro, and you can see the video at the bottom of the post. Enjoy, and stay warm!
Happy Valentine’s Day! 💕
