Having adult money, my 30s is just spent rediscovering hobbies I enjoyed when I was a kid and somehow stopped doing when life got in the way. I picked up reading again, relearned how to crochet, and now I've been drawing with oil pastels.
I saw someone on youtube draw these whimsical landscapes using soft pastels, but I couldn't find soft pastels in nearby stores so I settled for oil pastels first. I haven't tried this medium yet and I think I prefer it over watercolor or oil paints.
Of course I went into what's a good pastel brand rabbithole, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that a bunch of good brands are made in Japan.
Hopefully I'll eventually move on to landscapes from still life. I'm excited.
I've recently been aggressively targeted by compact camera ads and in turn have been looking into getting a Ricoh GRIIIx. But that is an expensive camera, and I am a complete hobbyist just taking photos of my cats and the surroundings while I go on walks.
While looking into camera reviews, I've just found out about film recipes/picture styles which you can set in your camera and have pretty jpegs straight out of camera.
I'm aiming for a softer, less saturated output than the Canon default.
I think these turned out pretty good and have completely turned me off getting that expensive camera.
Canon M100 with EF-M 22mm Picture Style Settings: Base Picture Style - Neutral Sharpness Gain +1 Fineness +2 Threshold +4 Contrast -2 Color saturation -2 Color tone +1
There’s a tradition in Japan to view the first sunrise of the year. Now tell me why on the first year we decide to partake, the weather did not cooperate.
But that't not the point. The point is what a severely traumatized person with no strong support system will do the most insane thing when given a lot—A LOT—of money. Not gonna lie, I would do the same, probably. Who needs healing when I can escape into a TV show.
I’ve been making multiple variations of banana bread for a few months now, trying to find the perfect balance of tasty, moist, and not too sweet with just enough calories to tide my husband over lunch (in addition to a serving of yogurt with granola).
And if I could sneak in some additional fiber in there, too, it would be great. I think I found the perfect recipe earlier today.
350g overripe bananas peeled and mashed 190g plain greek yogurt 40g granulated sugar 40g lightly packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
105g all-purpose flour 150g old-fashioned oats, ground in a blender until fine 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
Preheat oven to 180°C.
In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas, yogurt, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until combined.
Stir the dry ingredients into the banana mixture until just blended. Pour batter into the 2 pans.
Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before using the parchment paper to lift the bread out onto a cooling rack.
Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
About 156kcal for a 80g slice.
I didn't have enough overripe bananas but did have some stewed apples in the fridge and I was able to substitute a part of the bananas.
I wanted to remove the oil from the original recipe as I did not like how oily to the touch the baked bread gets.
I got into crocheting because I saw a colorblock knit cardigan and I wanted one but it was expensive. Why not learn a new hobby and spend much more on yarn and personal time than the original clothing item that drew inspiration?
My first ever crochet wearable:
I’ve made a couple of bucket hats and headbands to learn the skill before making the cardigan. She has beginner mistakes (like just simply knotting yarn together without ends to weave in) but she’s holding strong a couple of years in.
I made a granny hexagon cardigan in the trans flag colors for my sister. Here’s Eggsy giving his seal of approval.
A pullover with waffle stitch for the body and sunflower granny squares for the arms in worsted cotton. She’s a heavy one.
Another pullover. A lighter yarn this time, it’s so cozy.
A waffle stitch blanket. It’s my favorite stitch and it’s a yarn eater so this small blanket is quite hefty. Cali approves though.
My current WIP. I’m inspired by another colorblock knit pullover that’s over 600USD.
I typed this up on my phone to try out Pagecord’s email to post. Will formatting transfer? Let’s see. (It does.)
She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa
This was a silly little book, and (I think) the perfect follow-up after reading No Longer Human. The cats in this book can be a little goofy (one cat thinks his owner is his girlfriend) but it's a feel-good book, and I might have cried a little bit.
But, overall, all I could think about was, these people should really just keep their cats inside.
I think I first heard this book from a Youtuber reviewing Junji Ito's works.
I can't relate fully to Yozo's complete alienation from society, but the book is haunting. His trauma and unchecked mental health issues, especially at the time the book is set in, makes you feel for him but he still lived a pretty shitty life with the choices he makes.
Would he have had a different life if he had a better support system? Would he have accepted it?
On our trip to Osaka, I found out postcards still exist so I bought a bunch for my own personal souvenirs from the places we visited. I then bought a photo album for my favorite ones when I got home.
The ones I got from the Fukuda Art Museum were prints of the current exhibit we just saw so they were a perfect souvenir for that pocket of time we got to experience. Of course I got a bunch of the prints that had cats in them. It's nice to know that rich people from so many years ago decided to decorate their houses with paintings of cats, too.
Postcrossing: sending postcards to random strangers
I can't remember now how I came across Postcrossing. Basically it's a website where you can sign up and you are then given a random member and their address which you can send a postcard to. Members can list their interests and types of postcards they would like to receive on their profile as a guide. It's not mandatory, you can always send whatever postcard you have on hand even if nothing matches the receiver's requests.
Hello! I have two cats, I have a personal blog, I like to crochet. I also like cooking, reading, mostly sci-fi, horror, and slice-of-life. You can tell me about your most recent read or your favorite food.I would love to receive (not required):
cat-themed cards with cat stickers
a watercolor painting
your country's national flower or fruit
kim namjoon
if you are an artist, I would love to receive a handmade card
Please no AI “art” cards.
I have this written on my profile so the photo below is my favorite batch of incoming (received) postcards so far.
The postcard below is stamped and postmarked with the same type of bird. And now that about it I think the postcard also had the same bird. I just learned that this is called a maximum card, which would have been good to acknowledge with the sender but I didn't know it then.
Postcrossers could also choose to decorate the back of the card whichever way they like. I've gotten cards with lots of stickers and washi tape.
I love reading the tidbits about themselves postcrossers choose to write into the short message they manage to cram into the space on the back of the postcard.
This was my latest batch of outgoing postcards. I was able to buy a bunch of washi tape and stickers from Daiso so I was finally able to decorate the back of the cards. I don't think it's as pretty as others can do it yet, but it's still pretty cute.
Snail Mail: Like texting but longer and slower
My sister sent me a letter one day, and I was like, hey, let me do that with strangers, too. So I went on the penpalsover30subreddit and posted a brief message about myself and what I was looking for. Mostly something similar as to my Postcrossing profile, just a bit more detailed about the books and shows I enjoy.
A couple of users messaged me and we started chatting a bit online first, and now I have two people I've sent the first letter to, and one person who sent the first letter to me.
I have yet to hear back from the first two letters I sent out, who knows if my letters even got to them, but I guess that't the beauty of it, right?
So I was recently, suddenly, aggressively targeted on Instagram by Pocket Dispo ads. It felt like I saw the ad every time I opened the app to watch some reels and stories.
But hey, you are seeing this post so it obviously worked on me. I did see the trend emerge of using the lens from used-up disposable cameras and jerry-rigging it to a mirrorless digital camera, some use some cardboard and duct tape, some drilled a hole into a camera body cap. I did not have desire to do that so it seemed that I will just pass on the trend.
But there are more resourceful and enterprising people than me who decided to 3D-print a mount for the disposable camera lens so you don't have to dismantle a disposable on your own and glue it into a camera body cap.
Cape Hedo: Okinawa Island's Northernmost Point
It was recently my two-year anniversary of arriving on island to be with my husband (he's been here almost five), so we decided to finally drive up to Cape Hedo to celebrate the occasion.
You can climb up the inside of the bird, but then you can't see the bird structure and the windows are pretty small. The outdoor deck is a much better spot for photos of the view and the giant bird.
This observation deck had a much better view than the other ones we went to. Too bad I couldn't get more photos because there were people coming in every few minutes to also admire the view and take photos.
My husband ended up answering a survey of the dam's visitors by some younger men who I assume worked there. One of them spoke pretty okay English and my husband spoke pretty okay Japanese so that was fun. They asked where we were from, what we liked about the park, and even where we already ate or where we were planning to eat lunch.
Before heading back home we stopped by Hill Valley Jr. for lunch. We still can't find a burger spot here that grills their patties over charcoal (which was how our favorite burger place did it back in the Philippines).
Pocket Dispo Review
It's a fun addition to my measly M100 kit (I have one other lens aside from the kit lens). I love that it's flat and thin and makes my camera even easier to carry around and stuff into my small bag. I've always wanted to shoot more using a cheap film camera but the actual film costs adds up and I still have to pay to have those developed and have like 10 good photos out of 36.
This lens is a nice middle ground for the cheap, old camera look and not be afraid to run out of film.
It's a close fight, but I think this is my favorite day of the whole trip. Was it because of all the bread? Maybe. Definitely.
R Baker Osaka-jo had a great selection of breads for breakfast. The place was packed with people just finishing their morning jogs. Good thing there was plenty of seating. Most were outside and it was freezing, but still.
Osaka Castle
The trip's main feature: Osaka Castle. We got here early to avoid the crowds. We just walked around the grounds and did not get tickets for the inside of the castle itself.
This whole building behind my husband has a whole bunch of souvenir shops inside it.
Osaka Museum of History
We booked our Osaka Museum of History tickets through Klook at PHP459.8 for two tickets. This might be my favorite museum we visited. Lots of different exhibits at different floors and interactive activities (that are admittedly for children) that we enjoyed doing.
These huge dioramas had these easter eggs you can try to spot. They were usually cats and dogs, which were really cute.
Shimano Square
My husband wanted to stop by Shimano Square, a small exhibit of Shimano bicycles and fishing equipment. It had a small cafe so we had lunch there. The food was okay but a bit overpriced.
Back at R Baker We liked R Baker so much so we went back for breakfast before we had to leave for the airport. We bought a total of four of those sausage breads, two for breakfast and two for later while waiting at the airport.
This was the first tourist-y trip my husband and I went on (after being together for 15-ish years lol). I'm thankful both our jobs can allow us this break (mostly his job for the visa and funding part).
It's not a packed itinerary but we had the main spots we wanted to see, and if we were too tired to go anywhere else, we would just skip plans and head back to the hotel to rest. We were also barely out in the evenings since we always started pretty early and were asleep at 10pm.
I must recommend the New Balance 990s (we used the V5s for this trip) for footwear when walking around Japan (or walking anywhere else). Very comfortable even at over 20k steps.
I bought a few magnets where available. My favorite is the takoyaki one.
