Month: December 2015

The blog must go on.

, Slice of Life, Well-being1 Comment on The blog must go on.

Hi all! I’ve been blogging for quite a long time now (over 16 years!) but lately I wanted to start writing 📝 just a little bit every day. So, for the past week and a half you may have noticed a daily post from me. I’m trying to make it part of my daily routine, which has been difficult in the past but I am making a larger effort this time. I have a laptop set up next to the bed, so before I climb under the covers, I’ll sit at the laptop, with my cat Miki 🐱 joining me, and tap out a few words to share what has happened in my day, or a photo or two. It’s really easy and I have no excuse not to.

I’ve enjoyed blogging (even if mine is nothing special) because I find it therapeutic, and making it a daily thing gets me to think about what my priorities are, and if I am giving them enough attention. I won’t write anything profound (I don’t have the talent to put thoughts like that into words) but my mind gets an extra jolt ⚡ of activity… and that is a good thing!

To tell the truth, I have long been inspired by Tao Tsuchiya’s daily blog! She’s one of my favorite actresses and (with the help of Google Translate) I enjoy reading her blog daily. It’s inspiring to see her dedication to journaling for so long!

Over the years, I’ve seen a few of my favorite blogs get retired, and I understand the reasons why the blogger decided to stop or take a break, but for myself, I don’t think I can ever stop doing this in one form or another. I think it’s a lot of fun, and has been a completely positive experience for me ever since I started. I think the most challenging thing for me in blogging is coming up with a title for each post! 😖

Well, it’s actually Sunday morning that I am writing this, but I woke early before anyone else and felt a bit inspired. I’m sure the coffee ☕ helped too.

It looks like today will be warmer weather-wise. ⛅ Hope you have a good one!

またね！

-B

Relaxing Saturday

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Hi all! Saturday was a time to rest and take it easy. I did a little shopping while the kids were at Japanese school, and then we had a big pizza for lunch. It was delicious, especially since I have been craving pizza for a couple days.

On Tuesday we will watch the new Star Wars movie. We have been watching all the older movies, starting at Episode I and moving through them to get ready for Episode VII. Today we watched Episode V, and it was of course fantastic. Bay laughed a few times at the “primitive” special effects, like the stop-motion animation Taun-tauns and AT-ATs, but overall, he said it was way better than all the other ones. 😃

Early today, I bought a small photo album to keep my Instax prints in. A friend told me that the Fujifilm albums were on sale at the local camera shop, so I picked up a white album that holds 108 photos. It’s pretty good! I’ve been going a little nuts, printing out a bunch today – 13 prints in all. But it is so fun and I have really enjoyed going through my old digital photos on the computer to pick out ones to print. Some people say that 80 cents per photo is pretty expensive. But for myself, I’ve gotten a lot of joy looking at these. And when I am at the end of my life, which would I be happier about: A) Printing, sharing and enjoying memorable images from my life, or B) that I saved 80 cents?

"Instax Printing" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO400
 “Instax Printing” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

The weather is supposed to warm up in the next few days, so I am happy about that. ☀ But still, be careful with your health as we head into the holidays, especially if you are traveling!

おやすみなさい！😴

-B

Early Present

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Hello! How’s it going? It’s Friday so I am sure it’s going well! Today I worked from home because I had a couple of things I needed to take care of at the house. It was nice to be able to stay at home because the weather has turned pretty chilly! I think this morning it was in the mid-30s. But I was nice and warm in the house. :)

One of my Christmas gifts I received early is something that I’ve wanted for a long time now – a Fujifilm Instax Printer! It’s so fun and cool! I’ve always wished I had an Instax camera, but when the Instax printer was announced a couple of years ago, I knew I had to have one. And finally, it happened!

"Instax Print" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
 “Instax Print” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

What I love about it is that it fits in nicely to a simpler lifestyle. This little printer doesn’t require any cables or ink. It runs on two batteries and you just pop in a pack of film, then you print wirelessly from a smartphone or from a Fujifilm camera. The prints that it creates are really cool and distinct. I prefer it to the ZINK printer I have, and I’ll write more about that later. But for now, I am just going to enjoy the Instax! I love it! ❤

"Instax Printer" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/50 sec, ISO6400
 “Instax Printer” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

おやすみなさい！

-B

The Sun in the Morning

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こんばんわ！How’s it going?

It’s the time of year here where on my commute to the office, I drive straight into the sun. At about 7:20 AM, the sun is rising right into my eyes! As you can see below, it makes for a more difficult drive… in fact traffic slows down to about 20 mph in the long stretch of highway until it turns away from the sun.

USA. Texas. Austin. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/480 sec, ISO200
 USA. Texas. Austin. 2015.

Well, it’s almost Christmas and I think we have all of our gifts ready to go. With online retailers, gift-buying has gotten a lot easier! I remember 20 years ago having to drive around to all the stores to buy gifts. Now I can do it from the comfort of my laptop. How times have changed!!! It makes me wonder what the future will bring.

Tonight will be cold once again, so please take care!

Good night!

-B

Bye to a Lens

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Hi all! It’s Wednesday night, which means that the work week is winding down! And we are close to the holidays… many people are taking off for vacation soon, including us. But we still have a few days here in Texas.

In camera-related news, I sold a lens that I’ve had for several years – the Minolta 24-85mm zoom lens.

"Minolta Zoom" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO6400
 “Minolta Zoom” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

I have a lot of my old gear on sale right now as I try to pare down my possessions. I was happy to find a fellow amateur photographer who would enjoy this lens, but still a little sad because I really loved making photos with it. My favorite photo I took with the Minolta lens was this one… a long exposure at Bull Creek.

USA. Texas. Austin. 2005.
USA. Texas. Austin. 2005.

I still have several good, inexpensive lenses for sale, and a couple of camera bodies too. They aren’t really depreciating so I am not in a rush to sell. But it does feel good to declutter the camera shelves!

I mentioned yesterday that I got a new camera strap and that I’d post a better photo of it attached to my camera. So here it is! I used Mariko’s new X-T10 to take the photo. It’s such a comfy and cool-looking strap and I am so happy I found it! Plus it wasn’t too expensive, at $29.

"Leather Camera Strap" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 37.4mm, f/7.1, 1/60 sec, ISO800
 “Leather Camera Strap” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

The weather will drop into the 30s this evening, so if you are out and about, take extra care to stay warm!

おやすみなさい！

-b