Tag: blog

Thunderstorms

July 22, 2024
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I love thunderstorms. Looking at them. Observing them from safety. I’ve had an unfortunate encounter with one on Tsurugi a few years back so I’d prefer not to run into one again exposed on a ridgeline, but looking at one from somewhere the lightning and the rain aren’t threats is fantastic.

Single cell thunderstorm cloud

Personally I also like the sound of it. I used to have a few hours long “soundscape” of a thunderstorm too that I’d listen to when I couldn’t fall asleep. It’s the same kind of majestic, raw power of nature I admire when I look at the overwhelming scale of mountains.

This was inspired by that today we’re getting round two of huge (and quick) thunderstorms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two completely separate storms in a day…

An active day

April 11, 2024
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Today was a day that didn’t start so well. I woke up one too early for some reason (weird dreams? too much light? two full workouts the day before?), but I kept going back to sleep until I was 30 minutes before my first meeting, at which point I put on my pants, went jogging on my now-usual route and even had time to shower before the meeting started. There was a lot to do. The “year” starts in April in Japan, so there’s a lot of setting goals and meeting managers, but there’s also a lot of ripe fruit to pluck (even if not necessary low-hanging) that I’ve set my eyes on.

I had to realize that I probably overworked myself (physically in the gym) yesterday, because even after a whole day of almost-rest I was still feeling sore, so instead I opted to chill today, have some beer while I can and catch up on last season’s anime. This weekend I’ll be going alcohol-free in preparation for the Denali expedition in May. It’s gonna be (haha) fun to pull off another Arabaki dry, but I’ll manage for sure. Caffeine at least is not among the forbidden substances (only alcohol is at this point, though I figure tobacco should be on the “list” too).

15

April 2, 2024
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15 év az nem kevés. Akkor se, ha nyolcvan vagy, de így harminc után félúton jó súlya van. Úgy tűnik, hogy pont tizenöt éve szálltam le először Naritán (bár nem utoljára) (bár ahányszor arra járok mindig úgy vagyok vele, hogy bár utoljára). Dokumentálva itt olvasható a történet a blogon is, már amennyit volt erőm és energiám megírni belőle (ami sajnos nem sok, de legalább nem nulla).

Megérkeztem Japánba, tanultam japánul, megjártam egy bizonyos nattós tállal (vicces, hogy azt a traumát még mindig nem lépte túl a testem, pedig néha megpróbálkozok a nattóval, de mindig az a vége hogy csak legalább az asztalt ne hányjam le), zenéltem is, aztán rajzfilmes is lettem, majd azt otthagyva “unalmas” programozóként tolom már jópár éve.

Egy stresszes nyár után elkezdtem komolyabban hegyeket is mászni (akik naprakészek akarnak maradni ilyen célból van Yamap), és a kézműves söröket se vetem meg (bár egy ideje ilyen jellegű élményeimről inkább nem írok—tekintve hogy egy TIPA lazán 10%-os, tessék kitalálni inkább miért nem). A hegymászás azóta identitásom fontos része lett, ami így belegondolva lassan öt év után már nem annyira meglepő (bár bizonyos körökben sokkal kevesebb időbe tellett, mire “a hegymászó” lettem).

Kíváncsi leszek, öt év múlva hol leszek az életemben.

My new gear

February 21, 2024
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Earlier Reol announced that No title- will get a vinyl release. I love that album, so I ended up preordering it before realizing that I don’t actually have a record player. Well, that changed now.

And while I was at it, I also got a few old Japanese jazz fusion records from Disk Union and Thy Catafalque’s Rengeteg too.

Moving

January 28, 2024
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I lived in Shakujii for 8 years. It started because of my job at Sunrise, which pretty much required me to live nearby. Then I switched jobs, but moving closer to the office wasn’t really an option, since it’s absolute downtown Tokyo and I’m not willing to pay that much. Then the rona hit and we don’t even have to go to the office anymore (in my case, at all). Furthermore, the small room I rented in Shakujii grew pretty tight since I started climbing mountains. Those sleeping bags and backpacks really take up a lot of space…

Google Maps's idea of highlighting Shakujii-dai.
My old area, Shakujii-dai. The flagged location at Musashi-sakai is the Chinchintei ramen place mentioned in Joshiraku
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Breakfast issues

June 15, 2023
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For the past few years, unless I’m in the mountains (or very severely hungover) I’m having granola with almond milk for breakfast. I switched from using cow milk after it started causing trouble (bloating and such fun stuff), but that’s genetic.

However recently I noticed that right after eating breakfast I get incredibly sleepy. It makes no sense: at that point I’m only 2-3 hours at most into the day, usually past my first coffee or energy drink, and possibly even past a good gym workout. And yet.

I grew suspicious, so this week I’ve been experimenting. Not having breakfast. Having the granola breakfast when I’m really hungry. Only having a slice of famichiki for breakfast. Conclusion is that the granola + almond milk mix, even if only half a serving, still makes me very sleepy.

What gives? More importantly, what could I replace it with so I’m not dead first thing in the morning?

花見できた

April 9, 2023
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最後に花見行こうとしたのはもう数年前になる。その時も行ったもののすぐ雨が降り出したのでファミレス入ってランチで終わった。コロナ禍もあってなかなかそういう集まりも難しいとな… でも今年はもう諸々の規制のほとんど解除されたこともあって、石神井公園の八重桜の下で花見できた。

花見はソメイヨシノに限るとかいう人いるかもしれないが、俺はそういう差別はしない。夜のジョギングとかで公園も石神井川沿いの満開のソメイヨシノはたっぷり見てるし。

この前の四阿山登った時道の駅で買った雷電IPAのケースを差し入れとして持っていったが、意外とちゃんと解散する時まで全部なくなってよかった（持ち帰りたくなかった）。一日中天気がよくてこんな快晴で花見できたのは多分大学ぶり。

二次会では新しいお店紹介してもらったし。やった。

Addictions

March 19, 2023
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Observing my own behavior I realize that I tend to get “addicted” to things. For example last year it was League in the early months and interior design after getting back from Pakistan. Of course it’s on top of my generic routine of going to the gym and hiking, climbing and/or snowboarding, but it also means that it takes a huge amount of effort to focus on anything else. Even if I want to code up some of my ideas, I’d end up playing ranked for hours or looking up reversible interior hacks for my tiny flat.

For the past few weeks the ongoing addiction has been playing the bass. I don’t know why it suddenly clicked so hard (since I’ve owned a bass for over a decade now and practiced some riffs on and off) but it did. It’s been since I graduated (and thus stopped playing actively) that I had calluses on my fingers. My sense of rhythm is still trash, but even when I was in the music club it took two years to develop that, so no rush there.

This time though I picked up an audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2) so that I can hear and record better. I’ve often seen Youtube musicians joke about “the first time you hear yourself recorded” and damn it’s true. The bad is real. But I guess that’s what makes the progress of learning new stuff so enjoyable.

Norlan

January 29, 2023
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A few years back, when I think it was still only being crowdfunded, I got myself a pair of the Norlan whisky glasses. I cracked one sometime later and lost the other one to a fall from the countertop last week. By sheer coincidence though, last fall I clicked on their email about their steel tumbler, which is about the same shape as the glass glasses were, except steel. Meaning hopefully I won’t be able to break it. It also arrived just in time (literally the day after I broke the second glass). Cheers.

A year of things not working out

December 31, 2022
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Including working out. If only I was joking.

a foggy forest with trees on a hill
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