lovelyangel: (Meiko Smile)
The View from Pike Place Market
The View from Pike Place Market
Seattle, Washington • June 14, 2025
Nikon Z6 • NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S
f/4 @ 24mm • 1/2000s • ISO 100

On the second day of our two-day trip to Washington state, Jenni and I planned on a leisurely trip back home. We had planned a few stops.

Expandtl;dr: Jenni and I Visit Seattle, Washington )
lovelyangel: (Meiko Smile 2)
2025 Edmonds Art Festival
2025 Edmonds Art Festival
Edmonds, Washington • June 13, 2025
iPhone 13 mini photo

(I am waaay behind on my journaling, and I rely on my blog as a compilation of memories I can refer to years down the road. It’s been almost a month since Jenni and Amy’s Excellent Adventure in Washington State. My schedule continues to be a mess.)

I had hoped to attend this year’s OCF with my friend Jenni, but she had a schedule conflict with a family wedding, so she had to skip OCF this year. To make up for missing out on that road trip, I suggested a road trip to Seattle to attend the Edmonds Art Festival. I had been to this festival just once – 20 Years Ago. Jenni had never been, and she agreed to go.

Expandtl;dr: Jenni and I Visit Edmonds, Washington )
lovelyangel: Sayaka Saeki from Bloom Into You (Chibi Sayaka)
Ayumu Niikura
Should we tell her that DSLRs are passé?
Ayumu Niikura
CITY the Animation, Episode 1

I used to start every anime season with an orderly sampling of every new show – and begin the evaluation of which shows I’ll follow through the season. I no longer have the time nor patience, and my schedule is highly stressed this month. At the moment I’m just randomly viewing shows, looking for quick decisions. Orderly, this is not.

However, there are some continuing series that I will definitely be watching. Most will fall into my Time Permitting list. Later on, I’ll figure out my mandatories. I don’t even have to sample the shows. So I’m seeding the Time Permitting list with:

Dan Da Dan S2 (Thu)
Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus (Sat)
New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (Wed)(Amazon Prime)
My Dress-Up Darling S2 (Sat)
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince... S2 (Wed)
The Rising of the Shield Hero S4 (Wed)

Special note for CITY the Animation. KyoAni is one of my favorite studios, and Sakuga Blog has done stellar work in doing a deep dive with CITY the Animation Production Notes 01. As always, their stuff is worth reading.

ExpandNew Shows I’ve Sampled, Below This Cut )

I’ve been too busy to do my final writeup for the Spring Anime Season. Sorry!

Bonus: Looking ahead – New Trailer for Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End S2
lovelyangel: (Haruhi Camera)
The Berry Patch
The Berry Patch
Portland Farmers Market • PSU Campus
Portland, Oregon • July 5, 2025
Nikon Z8 • NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S
f/2 @ 85mm • 1/750s • ISO 100

I’m trying to do too many things at once. And then I look up and the year is half over. I keep task lists – but tasks get deferred or ignored because I can’t possibly do everything.

One of the items that kept sliding down my task list was to go into Portland and photograph the Farmers Market and the Saturday Market. This wasn’t just because I like to do this every year – it was also because I needed to learn how to use my new Nikon Z8 in the field. The Z8 is very complicated. I needed to be able to shoot very quickly at OCF. And then, all of a sudden, OCF is next week!

A last second mad dash is all that’s left.

ExpandNikon Z8 Photography, Below This Cut )
lovelyangel: (Yukinon Wow)
While there are still a few weeks before we actually begin construction work, I’m having to relocate my existing bookcases – some will be repurposed and some will be given away (probably to ReStore).

The first step is to pack up all the books. It’s like moving, and I hate moving.

ExpandPhotos, Below This Cut )
lovelyangel: (Chibi Homura)
Library / Kitchen Floor Plan, Proposed
Library / Kitchen Floor Plan, Proposed
Extracted from my requirements / vision proposal

At the start of 2025 I vowed to finally restart the home library remodel that got put on hold when the pandemic began in 2020. The interior designer I had selected had moved from Portland to California, and I basically had to start over.

Instead of describing everything in detail, I’m simply listing the chronology of events. Excluded is all the email correspondence I’ve had with my designer, Hannah Lichtenthaler at Allison Smith Design. Also, for now, I’m skipping over all the design decisions. In short, here’s how I got to where we are today:

Library Remodel, Chronology of Events
Library Remodel, Chronology of Events

Atsumi Tanezaki

Jul. 1st, 2025 08:25 pm[personal profile] lovelyangel
lovelyangel: (Konata Burst)
Today I Learned... that Atsumi Tanezaki is amazing! (Also: Her Wikipedia Entry.) I confess I’ve been doing a poor job of keeping up with star seiyuu in recent years. (I used to know all the greats from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.) I did not know that this one actress is responsible for the voices of Chise in The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Frieren in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Anya Forger in Spy x Family, Uo-chan in Fruits Basket, Murasaki in Grisaia: Phantom Trigger, Tinasha in Unnamed Memory, and Vivy in Vivy - Fluorite Eye’s Song – among dozens and dozens of other notable roles.

She was brought to my attention as she has a medical issue which is causing her to Cut Back on Work. She seems irreplaceable for numerous shows.

New Bread, Old Friends

Jun. 30th, 2025 07:30 pm[personal profile] lovelyangel
lovelyangel: (Toradora Ami 2)
Last Tuesday evening I prepared to bake bread for the Wednesday gathering, and I discovered that I had not evenly divided the dough in half, and the half batch of dough remaining was much smaller than it should be. I baked the bread anyway, but the loaf was too small. I happened to weigh the first loaf, and it was 21 oz. The second loaf was only 11 oz. If I had divided the dough evenly, I would have had one pound loaves.

Anyway, this wouldn’t do. So I made another batch of dough, let it rise, and then refrigerated the dough. I had to get up very early Wednesday to prepare the loaf, bake the bread, and make sure it cooled for three hours before our lunch. I forgot to weigh the loaf, but this time when I divided the dough, I bisected the dough in bowl with a bread knife – so it definitely was evenly divided.

The dough was a little bit wetter/stickier than the previous batch, and I probably needed to let the loaf rise longer and bake longer. Instead, I used the same times I did for loaf #2, and loaf #3 didn’t rise as much as it should have in the oven. I guess it was OK, though, as my friends liked the bread very much.

The event was an annual gathering of old co-workers. Kris was my boss, who hired me, and Bill was my teammate. We were joined by Bill’s partner, Anita. We noted that I started at the company in 1986 – a little shy of 39 years ago. It’s sort of amazing that we’ve known each other for that long – and that we stay in contact. Kris was one of my favorite bosses, though, so I’d be sad if we didn’t stay in touch. Bill and Anita hosted a fine lunch in their home, and we all had a delightful conversation. I’m glad we were able to meet up.

Tsundoku June

Jun. 30th, 2025 10:25 am[personal profile] lovelyangel
lovelyangel: (Tomoyo Confident)
Tsundoku Stack, June 30, 2025
Tsundoku Stack, June 30, 2025

There’s been not much progress on my tsundoku stack since Last Month. I decided I should dispatch the local guides to Portland books, since it’s summer, and this is a good time to be out and about, exploring the city. I did achieve that goal – as well as consume some late entrants not actually in the tsundoku stack.

For the remainder of the summer, work on the stack is in jeopardy, as I am diving into the library remodel – which effectively requires a move/vacating of the entire room – a major undertaking. I don’t think I’m going to get much reading done for a while.

ExpandThe Books I Read in June, Below This Cut )

Ultimate Madoka

Jun. 29th, 2025 05:23 pm[personal profile] lovelyangel
lovelyangel: Homura from Homura Tamura v2 (Homura Musing)
Framed Madoka Ukiyo-e After Materials Upgrade
Framed Madoka Ukiyo-e After Materials Upgrade

I’ve been having custom picture framing done since the 1990s, when I began collecting and occasionally displaying anime cels.

ExpandMy History of Frame Shops Below This Cut )

ExpandA New Project Below This Cut )

The new art piece has to be compatible with the Ukiyo-e Madoka, so I brought the framed Madoka Ukiyo-e in so that the framer could see nuances in the Akihabara Premium frame. Tony said it was a good thing that I did as the photos I showed were insufficient.

As we had wrapped up discussion, Tony noted that the framed Madoka had a plexiglas front. I tapped the clear panel, and, yes, it was plastic. I hadn’t even noticed. (I don’t normally touch glass in frames.) I asked if he could replace the plexiglas with Museum Glass. He said, sure, no problem. I don’t remember what led us to do this, but Tony then removed the back panel – and we both were surprised to find a thick block of styrofoam. That’s bad, commented Tony. He didn’t have to tell me twice. This was not archival quality work. Tony offered to add an acid-free foam core sheet behind the print to protect the print. He wrote up a ticket for the glass and the foam core – and it came to $117. Cheap yet important protection. This was a no brainer.

At 11:00 am the next day (Friday) I got a call from Tony saying the work was done and that I could pick up Madoka. Awesome! In less than a day my Ukiyo-e framed print received a pro archival upgrade. At the store, Tony said that with the new glass and the foam core, the original styrofoam block no longer fit. He had extra foam core that he used to pad the thickness, and we scrapped the styrofoam. I said I’d pay extra, but he waved me off.

Madoka is now back home on the wall. The Museum Glass is super clear (and more importantly, UV resistant). This is now truly an Ultimate Madoka!

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upthorn

he/him + they/them

Human life is more important than property values.

All human beings deserve to be treated like human beings, not just straight white cisgendered males born in the US or its allies.

White middle-aged curmudgeon of many-trades

January 2025

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