Paul Munafo needs a new liver when he receives a midnight call from the hospital.
Source: The Moth | Stories | Living On The Edge
I really enjoyed this Moth story… If you are not a designated organ donor, please consider becoming one! ❤️
Tag: well-being
Simple Camera
“Camera Love” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは！How’s it going? Are you staying warm this winter? The temperatures will drop below freezing here tonight, but we’ll be warm and cozy in our beds!
Today’s photo is of my camera, the Fujifilm X100T which I have blogged about before. I’m still loving it – definitely my favorite camera I’ve ever owned. It’s not the fastest, doesn’t have the highest resolution or specs, but it has a certain charm in its body design and the image quality that the jpeg processing produces. That combination is why so many people love their X100 cameras, and Fujifilm cameras in general.
This camera has changed the way I think about making photos. Having multiple lenses that cover the ultra-wide to the super-telephoto range isn’t that important to me anymore. Simplicity has become much more valued to me now. The single focal length simplifies so much. Decision-making is easier. In fact, a lot of decisions have been eliminated… and I love it! It’s truly liberating.
Of course, I value the knowledge and experience I’ve gained from owning and using many different cameras and lenses, and it still comes into play with the photographic duties I sometimes take on at work, but for my personal photography, the X100T is all I need.
I guess this simplification is part of a trend in my life… getting rid of things I don’t need or use. Do I need all the apps on my phone? No, I only need a few. Having less keeps my phone light and fast.
Do I need to keep all the books I have already read? No. I donate or sell them, and free up physical space and clear the clutter. Seeing books that I’ll probably never read again just gives me a feeling of incompleteness. Get rid of them and close that chapter for good. (I made a pun!) Closure feels nice.
There are so many opportunities to simplify!
Focusing on just a few quality items seems to be a path that makes sense to me now. It gets me excited to think about jettisoning the things I don’t need anymore.
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B 
Travel Hopupu
Follow my brother’s Tumblr, Travel Hopupu, why don’t you? 😄❤️
End of the Trip
“End of the Trip” Long Beach, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
We have returned to Texas from our week and a half trip to Southern California. It was a wonderful trip to see my parents, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. I actually most enjoyed just relaxing at the house watching tv, eating good food, drinking whiskey, wine, and cocktails, and our nightly mahjong games. It went by so fast!
But I am glad to come back to our Texas home. I never really realized it, but the life in California is a lot different from life here in Texas. I don’t mean geographically or culturally, but more personally the way I live my life and spend time in each location is very different. I’m still trying to process those differences, and maybe I will write about what I figure out, but I think it’s all good. The things I can learn about myself from these experiences can help me grow in a positive way!
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Kindle
“Kindle PaperWhite” Cedar Park, 2016
For my birthday this year, my parents bought me a new Kindle Paperwhite. It is awesome! I’ve had an older Kindle “Keyboard” version for a while now (I blogged about it here) but have wanted a new Paperwhite version because of the upgrades.
Here is a list of advantages of new Kindle PaperWhite (which I named “Echo”):
- Backlight: Not only can I read at night without the light on (which bothered Mariko), but the backlight adds some contrast for increased readability in daylight
- Higher resolution: The text looks sharper and the display is more like a printed page
- Smaller: Although the screen size is the same as my old Kindle, the bezel is smaller and I can “palm” it with one hand
- X-Ray: I can find out more about the characters in the story by tapping on a name
- Goodreads: I can update my reading status on Goodreads directly from the Kindle Paperwhite
Although the new Kindle is superior to my old Kindle (which I named “Persephone”), the old one is still useful and works great. And it has a couple of advantages over the Paperwhite:
- Lock screen art: I hacked the OS so that I could load custom lock screen images
- Audio: I have loaded some nice classical guitar mp3s onto the Kindle, which I can play via the built-in speakers or the headphone jack
Having two Kindles is nice. I keep Echo (the new one) by my bed, and Persephone is in my messenger bag. Do you own a Kindle? I have to say, my Kindles are possibly my favorite technology gadgets. ❤
A brief bit of sunlight
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today was another cold day, but it started out with clear skies and when I arrived at work, the sunlight was streaming in from the east side of the building. It looked so cool that I had to take a photo of it.
Lately I’ve been having a bit of wanderlust, since I enjoyed our road-trip so much and I’m looking forward to traveling more in the near future! We have a few trips planned, which reminded me of a bit of advice I heard last year… It was something like, “Always have something to look forward to.” I didn’t really know what it meant, but I think I am starting to see how it can be a nice way to keep yourself motivated.
Or maybe it’s not so much motivation, but just keeping yourself in a positive mindset. I’ve always thought that my days and years were spent trying to achieve a certain goal, and once I reached that goal, I could just coast. Kind of like I would dread doing my taxes, and I thought when I finished my taxes, then I could rest forever! But of course the next year’s taxes come again… and again.
So now as I get closer to 50 years old maybe I realize that it’s just an ongoing journey, and that it’s the journey itself that’s important, not the destination. Or maybe just shifting my thinking that the destination isn’t an endpoint, but more like a milestone and to look forward to the next milestone. And things do get easier, the more you go through.
Eh… I have no idea if that made any sense or not, but I’m pretty sure I am not articulating my thoughts well. But I’m not going to go back and edit this. You know, life’s too short to spend too much time going back to edit.
Anyways, I do think it’s good to have some things on the horizon to look forward to. Make some fun vacation plans and put them on the calendar!
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Baseball Day
“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
