Tag: postaday

Baseball Day

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"Dodgers Gear" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/35 sec, ISO6400
 “Dodgers Gear” Cedar Park, 2016

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 Barron Fujimoto

Around the Kitchen

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"Fresh Baked Yum" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
 “Fresh Baked Yum” Cedar Park, 2016

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.

"Mad Scientist Supplies" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/90 sec, ISO6400
 “Mad Scientist Supplies” Cedar Park, 2016

I hope you had a nice Thursday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Printing

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"September Printed" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO1000
 “September Printed” Cedar Park, 2016

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 Barron Fujimoto

Student Percussionist

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"Silent Percussion" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/15 sec, ISO640
 “Silent Percussion” Cedar Park, 2016

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 Barron Fujimoto

Harmony

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"Harmony" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/12 sec, ISO3200
 “Harmony” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today I wasn’t feeling well and worked from home a bit and generally took it easy. My wife spent the weekend in Portland with her friend, and she returned today. It was so nice to see her although it was only a couple days she was away.

Anyways, today I got to hang out with the dog and cats… they are so funny. I haven’t spend the day with just them in a long time and now I see that they are getting along nicely. In the photo above, Lani is sharing the sofa with Yuzu. Before, she would growl at Yuzu and not let her lie in the same area as her. But now they are so nakayoshi (fond of each other). 🐶💛🐱

In fact, those two love to play together. They chase each other around and play fight, although sometimes it’s scary because Lani is much bigger than Yuzu, and she has her mouth open like she is going to snap. But Yuzu holds her own and punches Lani in the face with her paws, then they run around again. I figure that if Yuzu didn’t want to play, she can jump up to where Lani cannot go, or even just run upstairs.

It’s funny to see how the pets’ relationships have evolved. Very interesting tp me.

Hope you had a nice day, and rest well!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto