daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
こんばんは!
Today’s photo is of our Thai curry dinner. Mariko seems to have perfected this dish – it was amazing! Tasted perfect to me. And of course I ate too much…
I hope you had a nice Monday and ate well!
おやすみなさい！
– B 
こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going? I’m doing ok, but I have been sneezing all day because of allergies. It always happens when I do yard work. 😷
Today’s photo is of my 15-year-old son’s and his friend’s wristbands for the 2016 Austin City Limits Music Festival 🎶. It’s their first time there, and I dropped them off this morning, then picked them up tonight. I can’t believe they are old enough to be going to concerts by themselves!
People always say that kids grow up so fast, but we’re really experiencing that these days. It’s hard to believe that Bay is preparing for college already. Where has the time gone? 😮
I’ll have to remember to be more mindful of our time together while we still have the kids at home. 😊
おやすみなさい！
– B
こんばんは！How was your Saturday?
Today’s photo is of our breakfast table, and the afternoon light coming in. I thought it looked nice the way the margarita was illuminated.
I like taking photos like this “still life” because it captures a moment in time… but more than a regular photo does. Of course photographs freeze a single moment, but what I mean is that there are things in this photo that tell more about the way we lived. For instance, if someone looked at this photo 100 years from now, they would see an antique camera, ancient computing device, and some kind of liquid in a fragile container. And that table… is that natural wood?
The photo is a glimpse into a bygone era.
Or, more personally, I like to think that a distant relative would be wondering what their ancestor’s lives were like. Maybe this photo could be something that would shed light on that mystery.
Or, it’s more likely that Mariko and I see this photo in 20 years, and it brings back some memories of our house, and how we used to enjoy our homemade margaritas.
I don’t know if any of this will come to pass, but I like to think that still life photos like this one would hold some value…
Take care!
おやすみなさい
– B
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today Bay and I watched the Dodgers begin their playoff run with a win against the Nationals. I get so stressed-out watching the games, but tonight I was ok. Even though it was a close game, it wasn’t as bad as before…
A couple of years ago I was so disappointed in how the Dodgers did, that I swore off watching or following any baseball. I just couldn’t deal with the stress! I know it’s so irrational… getting upset about a team losing when you don’t actually have any connection with them at all. I still don’t understand it.
But I thought, the heck with it! I’m not sure why I have that stress, but I don’t need it. So I did the one thing I knew to remove that stress which was to quit following baseball.
I think my baseball blackout lasted for a season, but this year I started watching again. What helped me change my outlook on the games was watching my son Koa play little league. I learned to let go of the final result of the games.. you win some and you lose some, right? And even when the team lost, they still had smiles after the game. Sure, they wanted to win, but they focused on the fun they had on the field and in the dugout, and not on the final score. It seemed like the adults and coaches were more disappointed than the kids were! I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I think there is some absurdity in that situation.
So now when I watch an MLB game, I try not to put so much value on the winning or losing, but rather appreciate the great plays and the athleticism.
Tonight I enjoyed the game a lot, but I still had a little stress. I had to watch the 9th inning from a distance, while washing dishes. Funny, huh… But now there is an emotional distance as well, and it makes watching my favorite team enjoyable again, win or lose.
I hope you had a nice Friday, and let’s have a great weekend!
おやすみなさい！
– B
こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?
At my work, we have a weekly food and/or drink social hour, where the company brings in food and we all eat and hang out. Today there were desserts including giant cookies, brownies, fruit tarts, lemon bars, etc. 🍪 I had to try one of the peanut butter cookies, but I kind of regret it. You see, I don’t eat sweets often, and so my body is ultra-sensitive to sugar, and I’ve also grown accustomed to less-sweet Japanese desserts. 🍡 I don’t know if those are less sweet, or if American desserts are just ultra-sugary, but at any rate I wasn’t feeling so great after eating that cookie. It didn’t help that the cookie was enormous!
Back at home, Mariko was baking a beautiful loaf of bread, and you can see it in the photo above. Pretty, isn’t it? To me, the fresh bread is like a dessert to me! I can eat good bread and butter all day. ❤️🍞
While thinking about my daily photo 📸, I looked around the kitchen to see if there was anything interesting, or something I’d like to capture so that years from now, when we are living far away, we can look back and see part of our everyday lives.
We have many “kitcheny” things in the house, so I took a photo of one of the shelves where we keep some oils and vinegars. In Lightroom I used the same preset that I applied to the bread photo. I really like the “look” of the photos from that preset. That’s one thing I love about Lightroom – the ability to adjust the settings and them save them to custom presets. I think it’s a nice way to develop a photographic style.
I hope you had a nice Thursday!
おやすみなさい！
– B
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today I made nine prints using my Fujifilm Instax SP-1 printer, from the photos that I took during the month of September. I quickly scanned through the month’s 406 photos in Lightroom, cropping the photos to the proportion of Instax prints (approximately 62mm x 46mm), then saving them to Dropbox. Next I accessed them on my smartphone, connected to the Instax printer, and printed them using the Instax Share app,
I love how the instant film prints look. Although I also have a photo printer and enjoy making prints from that, the instant film has a special look and charm that can’t be replicated in other mediums. And I can’t wait for the new square Fujifilm Instax format to come out… it should be close to the original Polaroid look.
I think it’s a good thing to make prints, as it gives the images an extra dimension (literally) and seeing a picture that reflects light is a lot different than seeing a backlit image like on a cellphone or monitor. That physicality gives the image a real place in the world, and not just limited to a bunch of data stored on a hard drive or in the cloud.
Anyways, I hope you all make prints of your photos!
おやすみなさい！
– B
こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?
The other day, I mentioned that we have plenty of musical instruments in our house, and one of them is a xylophone that Koa has been practicing with. This year Koa is in his school’s Honors Band, which is the top level! I have to admit I am pretty impressed with his playing, and also how much he practices… he’s really into it!
When Bay was in band, he played the flute, and that seemed simple in that he only played that one instrument (he also plays piano outside of school), whereas as a percussionist, Koa plays marimba, triangle, bells, rain-stick, and snare drum. Plus I think there are a couple more percussion instruments that I am forgetting. Granted, I know nothing about percussion, but it seems very interesting with lots of variation. And the percussion kids seem like a tight-knit group which is pretty cool!
One surprising thing is that Koa hasn’t asked for a drum kit. He played his friend’s dad’s kit before, and said he had a lot of fun so I was expecting him to be asking for a set, but so far it hasn’t happened. But I won’t be shocked if he all of a sudden says he wants a drum set for his birthday. I think it would be great if he formed a band with some of his friends!
He’s still young though, so he has plenty of time to explore his interests. Ah, to be young again! 😋
I hope you had a nice Tuesday, and we’ll see you tomorrow.
おやすみなさい！
– B
