Tag: life

Haircuts

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"Haircut" Austin, 2017
Photo info: Motorola Moto G (4), 3.64mm, f/2, 1/30 sec, ISO64
 “Haircut” Austin, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I took my younger son to get his haircut. At his age, he’s less concerned about his hair than his older brother. And so, he’s satisfied with getting his haircut at a typical low-cost chain salon. The quality is usually pretty good, and the price is nice too! 👍

My older son prefers to get a more stylized cut, and I take him to a salon that specializes in men’s grooming. They take more time and since they do a lot of buzz-cut styles on the sides, the quality is higher. Of course the price is a lot higher too. 😯 But he’s in high school, so I guess the priorities are different at that age.

As for myself, I get the budget cut. I used to go to the more expensive salons when I was younger, but I guess I am at that age where I just don’t care as much. 😆

I hope you had a nice weekend!

またね～

Sunset

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"Colorful Sky" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO500
 “Colorful Sky” Austin, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, which means recovery day. 😄 So, the kids and I put all the furniture back to its normal position, folded up the craft table and put it away, and stored all of the Thanksgiving cooking pans.

In the evening we met Mariko near her work for happy hour eats and drinks. 🍻 It was nice to try a new place, but the food was really salty and greasy. 🍕🌮 It tasted okay, but wow, it must have been so unhealthy! In fact, later on none of us was feeling too great. And of course we were all thirsty because of the salt. We later watched a show where the host was in Tokushima having some Japanese food, and we were craving it! The miso soup looked so tasty and refreshing. 🥣

Anyways, today’s photos are of the amazing sunset that we had in Austin. Bay took the photos since I was driving. Although the camera and post-processing are exaggerating the vibrance of the colors, it really did look spectacular and the photo captures the feeling.

"Sunset Driving" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “Sunset Driving” Austin, 2017

I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみ

Incident

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"Incident" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: Motorola Moto G (4), 3.64mm, f/2, 1/15 sec, ISO500
 “Incident” Cedar Park, 2017

Yesterday evening I received a text message from my son that the entire school was on lock-down because of an incident involving a weapon, and that I needed to come pick him up. When we arrived at the school, there were dozens of police vehicles, fire engines, and EMS cars all around the campus. We joined other parents on the sidewalk and were briefed by the police officer, who told us that there was a report of a weapon on campus, but that all the kids were safe in their locked rooms, and each group had an officer with them.

After what seemed like a long time, they told us that there was no danger, but that the school needed to be searched and that they couldn’t let anyone leave until that happened. 30 minutes later all the parents were escorted to the front of the school, and the kids were released to us one-by-one. It was kind of crazy… many of the kids came out visibly shaken up, sobbing, and went to hug their parents. When Koa came out, I asked him what it was like… his response was, “Eh”.

It was a surreal situation, though, to see all the cops, many with long guns, helmets, bulletproof vests (the whole 9 yards!), police SUVs driving across the grass towards the school, worried parents hugging each other, etc.

Thankfully, everything turned out okay, and what caused the lock-down were some photos on social media of students with air-soft guns, but still, this was a serious deal. I’m really not a fan of guns, and I just kept thinking if these situations could be avoided in a gun-free society.

You can read the news story here.

Goodbye Ody

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"Goodbye" Austin, 2017
Photo info: Motorola Moto G (4), 3.64mm, f/2, 1/15 sec, ISO400
 “Goodbye” Austin, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight I am sad because we sold our Honda Odyssey, which has been my daily driver for over 13 years, which is pretty crazy when I think about it! Before Koa was born, we decided we needed to have more room so we went with the minivan, and it was a great choice! It has been reliable and comfortable, but of course, after so many miles (158,000) and years, there were numerous things that didn’t work, and numerous expensive things that would need fixing soon.

Mariko and I were both a bit sad when we sold it, but we’re really happy to have owned it. Our kids grew up with this car, and we’ve taken it on many camping trips. It was so convenient to be able to just throw all the gear in the cavernous cargo space.

"Car Camping" Texas, 2017
Photo info: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. E-PL1, 14mm, f/7.1, 1/200 sec, ISO200
 “Car Camping” Texas, 2017

Mariko found this interesting story about saying goodbye to a car. Give a read if you have a minute or two.

Why Was It So Hard To Say Goodbye To A Car?

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

Concert Night

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"Band Mates" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
 “Band Mates” Cedar Park, 2017

Tonight Koa performed in his school band’s first concert of the year. It was a fantastic performance, especially since they have only been practicing for a few months. But what I really like is that they are all having fun, especially during the concerts. They put in so many hours of practice and hard work but it’s all worth it since they can be proud of the results. And I think the positive band experience will last a lifetime. 🙂

"Fall Concert" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/60 sec, ISO3200
 “Fall Concert” Cedar Park, 2017

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～