weeknotes 18/26
General happenings
First half of Golden Week is over. Unfortunately, it started off with rather bad weather this year - three days of grey skies and rain. Still, I managed to not "waste a day" (= just staying at home and listlessly watching YouTube). The second half looks like it's going to be better!
The blog
Traveled to
- Katori Shrine and Kashima Shrine (Chiba / Ibaraki)
My first Golden Week day trip, I'm probably going to do another one. These two shrines are relatively close to another, so I visited them both on the same day. Katori Shrine got me closer to my goal of collecting at least one Shuin from each prefecture of the Kantō region this year. It was a rewarding trip, even though I made one really stupid mistake. But oh well.
Made (art)
- A few more watercolour / gansai sketches - one from the recent hike
, one from the day trip
.
I feel like I'm beginning to think more like a painter. I used to be very focused on lines and details instead of capturing the broader forms and differences in value. These are both unfinished sketches, like most of my stuff. Going forward, I want to try and produce at least two "finished pieces" each month. I'll declare them that, even if I'm not happy with them. I want to expedite my progress by giving my hobby just the tiniest bit of a "professionalist" spin.
Saw
- The movie A New Dawn by Yoshitoshi Shinomiya. I wrote a review for it.
- The Eugène Boudin exhibition at the SOMPO museum.
Listened to (music)
Not a whole lot, aside from my ambient playlist on Soundcloud. The one song that's stuck in my head is "Aoba" by imase, the ending theme for A New Dawn.
Read (physical books)
- Taro Okamoto - Mysterious Japan (continued)
I want to start reading another novel, but I haven't decided on one yet. I started reading Pearls and Diamonds by Natsuo Kirino last month, but I wasn't really feeling it and ended up returning it to the library. I want to read it eventually, I just wasn't in the mood for it.
Read (Bear Blog)
- rejecting convenience - I sympathise with the general sentiment. Personally, I think I want to choose a few "deliberately inconvenient" areas in my life instead of going "all in."
- the dispossessed - This book has been on my "want to read sometime" list for a while, and this post made me more interested in it.
- "The Passengers on the Hankyu Line" by Hiro Arikawa - Yeah, I think I've read this kind of book before.
- my ideal blog - I definitely feel a tension between wanting to produce formally good writing ("op-ed style") and keeping the blog on the casual side. It's a balancing act.
- thoughts on paper - Enshittification exists in the analog world, too. I also used to be a Leuchtturm user, but it really feels like the paper has gotten worse while the prices went up. Same is true for Tomoe River Paper, it's so inconsistent now. I'm using a Pilot Prera with an EF nib in my Hobonichi right now, and half of the time it writes like an F.
Found (online)
Randomly found this on another Bear Blog (when scrolling through the "Most Recent" section, I believe). I know that there are hundreds of breathwork exercise apps out there, but I like how simple this is. I don't want to download another app.