School Days

Summer break is over and it's back to the books for Sara, well I should say continuing with the books. Summer breaks here in Tokyo include a list of homework, Kanji practice, book reports and craft making tasks all to be completed before returning to school. But even with all the work we still manage to find time to visit festivals and new towns that are a few stops away. One of the coolest things about being in a big city is the number of events that are sponsored especially over the summer. Not to mention the train systems that allow us non-drivers access to locations too far for walking and too expensive for Taxis. Enjoy your summer and these analog shots!

Sara's classroom.

Performers getting ready to put on a show.

Ginza Shopping district.

Speaking of Summer, what are your favorite things to do for summer?

Back to the Basics

It had been several years since I shot any film through my Pentax K1000 and it showed with the first roll. After getting settled in Tokyo, I broke the 'Tank' out loaded a 27 shot roll of 100 speed film and set out to get back to the basics. Unlike shooting digital, you cannot [well I don't] just shoot off 27 shots and get it developed, you need to slow your process down and take time to capture the images you want. It took 3 weeks to get to the 29th shot on the counter, yes two over. I was feeling a little nervous as I couldn't remember if it was a 36 roll or 27, so I started to rewind the film just to be safe. Now I don't know where you've been told but 29 shots should not rewind in 5 seconds. At this point all the film heads know the feeling when you realize the film never caught the spindle. All those images you were excited for, never happened. Just awesome. Only one thing left to do, get a film puller, retrieve the film, reload and try again. This time, after taking the initial shots make sure the film winder turns when you set the film. Cross your t's, dot your i's and then verify your film is proper loaded. The basics indeed.

Here are a few images from around Tokyo:
:Film

:Digital

Change of Address

It has been a while since I was able to post anything on the blog, but with good reason. About 99% of our friends and family are aware that we relocated to Japan, for those that didn't but happen upon this post, congrats you are now apart of the In Crowd! Doesn't it feel good?

Before proceeding I have to give a shutout to my family since I would not be able to follow my dream without their support, encouragement, and love. They are the true RockStars, I'm just the back up singer who book the show. Thank You Perla and Sara!

We have been in Tokyo for almost 2 months now and it still feels like we just arrived. Just about everyday we are trying to navigate through different cities, translating documents from Sara's school, read maps,and make sure we don't get on the wrong trains. One funny recurrence is that we are always finding shortcuts to and from our apartment via the different train line. A recent shortcut, by switching train lines, saved us about 45-60 minutes of out of the way traveling. Which was a blessing since we were coming back from Ikea with heavy bags. Additionally we are learning about the culture, trying new foods, and trying as many new experiences as we can. Everyday is an adventure. Here are a few images from around town. There are plenty more to come.


Domo character cut outs from a recent kids festival.

Views from around the apartment while walking Sara to school







Ja mata, Brian I should really start a news letter for this new round of post. Leave a comment and let me know what you think?

D231 - Subsitute

So I just cant go without some form of ice cream at night the only problem is it will make me look bulky even if I have empty pockets. Only 140 calories of deliciousness. Score!

Ja mata. Brian

D230 - Buy my App!!

about 6 months on the 75 anniversary of the Akron Art Museum, Youngstown Artist Al Bright did a mural, on the spot, while a Jazz band played. After he completely blew the crowd away with his talent and work everyone got up to thank him for the show and congratulate him. I had a moment to talk to him as well as my mom and we both asked the same question "how can we keep and help nurture Sara's creativity with drawing?"

Mr.Bright's Answer: Help her creativity grow and don't buy her comic books, instead get her plain paper drawing pads.

Well after 6 months, multiple full drawing pads, an exceptional amount of exposure to the arts, and a tremendous amount of encouragement Sara drew her first App! On top of that she wants to put it on my phone, as in make a real App. You should see the excitement in her face when she talks about how the controls work and what each of the characters do. But her creativity still needs to grow, which means I'm off the barns & noble to get a book or two on programing an app. Good thing I have a little programing under my belt. Now she may lose interest in getting the app up and running, but I'd rather her lose interest organically instead of the loss of engagement be a result of me not helping her explore the world of Apps.

The first Sara App sketch:

D228 - Consolidate

I really need to consolidate my running 'supplies' for this training program as it's getting to be a bulky mess out on the road. As it stands, I have my mobile for speed/distance/timing of my runs, my ipod for music to run to, and headphones (obviously). Also I carry my ID in case I get stopped for running in the middle of the night as if that hasn't happened already. A house key and a flashlight are the last two items. I used to not carry the ipod but my mobile likes to recycle while playing music because it's awesome.

Tonight, I ran my fastest time yet, but can only prove it by what my phone recorded, which was only 2.3 miles at 19:34 minutes. The last mile recorded was a 9:31 and I pushed pretty hard through mile 3. At about 3.2 miles I took my phone out to see my time, it was powered off. Awesome. My ipod was at 28 minutes and some change. This isn't the first time I've lost my time and sadly it will not be the last. At least until I upgrade to a new device. But until then, if you see a guy running down your street at 2am with bulky pockets don't call the police, it's just me. Besides after 3 miles I'm mostly harmless!
Ja mata, Brian

D226 - TBT

Sara: "But daddy, we have to make the bubbles, it uses Turbo Bubble Technology (TBT). What is Turbo Bubble Technology?"

Here we go, time to put the years of schooling, that I am still paying for, to good use. Every instant growing up where I dealt with bubbles, days of blowing bubbles as a little one myself without these fancy technology filled devices. To times where I worked at an inventors hall of fame watching a master bubble maker cover a kid in a massive bubble. Also, all my experience in making bubble solution with dish liquid with cold water and crafting a wire hanger into a make shift bubble-maker stick. All of this lead up to this defining moment where I tell Sara "Turbo Bubble Technology means it make a lot of bubbles really fast". Yeah, really could have gave a little more, but I don't think Sara would have appreciated me breaking down the turbo technology further. Moments later she was laughing at her dog being scared by a hula-hoop (silly dog). Hopefully the next time I have to dig deep for an explanation it will be something other than made up bubble machine technology.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian