Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Shopping spree

Black Friday for our local Target store is not the Friday of Thanksgiving. Rather, it’s the weekend of move-in day before the start of Fall semester at nearby San Francisco State University. The horde of freshmen, with their family in tow (keepers of the credit card, obviously), attacking the shelves for their everyday dorm-life needs. That includes a SodaStream for one guy, and a whole vacuum cleaner for another person. The latter of whom is a guy I very much personality align with. A dirty room is simply unacceptable.

Whilst witnessing the purchasing madness going on (I was going to the Whole Foods at the same mall), I thought to myself, “Gee, I hope the crew at Target knew to stock up for this occasion!” “What if everyone wanted a coffee maker?” You see, our Target is not as big as the typical one. Under normal operation there is no way it can handle thousands of freshmen moving in and buying stuff. Heck, I can still remember going there not too long ago and was unable to buy the particular socks I wear. Not in stock.

The manager of that Target should be fired if the store were ill-prepared for Fall move-in day.

Seeing countless SUVs lining up towards the dorms with the entirety of a student’s living needs is a reminder that summer is almost over. I don’t know, it sure felt like a quick one to me. Work-wise it’s been bit of a lull since June, honestly. I am actually looking forward to having jam-packed days of action, and a bustling campus full of students and staff. The 2023-2024 school year is the first one since the official end of the pandemic, (Federal COVID emergency declaration ended in May of this year) so I am wondering if the campus can return to its former glory of packed buildings and halls.

Like back when I went to school at SFSU in the late aughts.

I got to workout more

Every Tuesday for the past few weeks I’ve been going over to the Marina district to attend improv class. It’s really nice to be in that area during the evening hours. The Golden Gate Bridge makes a dramatic backdrop when you’re near the water. My friend and I have been doing a food tour of the area as well, picking a local spot to have dinner before class. It’s been a highly enjoyable time, even though we are doing so after already spending a full day at work.

What I’ve noticed in the area is the sheer amount of people running/exercising. It’s kind of inspirational, actually. These people are getting a workout in after a long day of work. I on the other hand prefer to workout on the weekends. But that limits the total amount of exercise time possible. Sometimes a weekend get busy with social stuff and I would have to forgo working out. Seeing people in the Marina exercising on a weekday gives me motivation to do the same.

Therefore I am going to start working out on certain workday evenings. I’m lucky to be in a house with a squat rack and an exercise bike in the garage; might as well take advantage of it more fully.

Things are happening!

Hey so what a crazy day thus far. I was ready to walk to work when I received a phone call from my housemate (I was already out the door so a shout downstairs wouldn’t have sufficed). He says his pregnant wife’s (a fellow housemate, obviously) water just broke. Things are happening, so I’m needed to take a sick day and look after the dog. It’s all good: I need very little motivation (slash excuse) to not go to work. And mind you I like my job a lot.

So right now I am just chilling at the house with the dog, whilst waiting for the good thing to happen. How long a woman stay in labor varies, right? The babies (it’s twins) will either come out later today, or sometime tomorrow. God willing the labor period isn’t anymore longer than that! I am most excited (among many other excitements) to finally find out the names. I guess it’s unlucky to reveal the name before the baby comes out? Therefore none of the friends know the names yet. We’ll find out when the boys pop out of the mommy.

And then everything will be different after that. The house will be a constant backdrop of baby noises, interspersed with momentary periods of silence. Noise-cancelling headphone technology will come in real handy for me. Earplugs for sure when I go to sleep. Someone’s going to still get the proper amounts of sleep in this house, and it’s going to be me. Because I need to be in peak condition whenever my help will most certainly be asked for in the coming future.

Half joking aside, it’s rather emotional to think such a big life event is happening for my close friends. I’ve other friends with kids, but this particular one hits figuratively close to home: we’ll all be under the same roof. The fact that I’ll get to witness (and hear) the process on a daily basis is kind of special. Looking forward to it!

Pursuit of imperfection

Perhaps going from a full-frame sensor Sony a7R II camera to an APS-C sensor Fujifilm XT-5 would indeed be a downgrade. You can’t beat laws of physics, right? Given the same situation, the larger sensor Sony will always capture more light, with better resolving power, than the Fuji. I don’t suppose it’s typical that a photographer goes back down a step in terms of sensor size. Once they get to full-frame, they either stay there, or wait enough years to pay up for an ever larger medium-format camera.

I have my reasons for going back to an APS-C sensor, of course. As someone who is wholly satisfied with the pictures my iPhone outputs, I am not concerned about sensor size. A photograph is capable of telling a story no matter the tool that it was taken with. Physical limitations are something work around, rather than lament the lack of. The iPhone can never match the bokeh of a proper DSLR/portrait lens combo, but I can still be creative in how I frame the subject. It’s a sort of creatively that breeds from limitations.

The modern full-frame camera is simply too good. Most units from a major manufacturer can output pin-sharp photos in crazy high resolutions. There’s so much dynamic range, so much leeway to edit a file that the capture process almost seems secondary. Why care about getting the proper exposure or framing something just right when it can all be fixed in post-processing? And because you can get a photo to be even more perfect in post, editing becomes a necessary chore. You have to, because you can.

The reason I bought the Fujifilm XT-5 is because I only want to shoot. To use the JPEG images straight out of the camera (got to love those Fuji film simulations) - because I’ve already put enough thought to exposure and composition at the moment of capture. The point is to shoot more, and not spend hours in front of the computer editing. I am perfectly happy to give up some fidelity in pursuit of this. (Near) perfection is overrated anyways. A picture with blown highlights and or crushed shadows can tell a story just the same as one with the utmost amount of dynamic range.

Limitations breeding creativity.

Island in the sun

What better way to spend the hottest day of the weekend than to attend a baseball game. It was like a sauna sitting out in the afternoon sun. I can feel the perspirations forming on my head, dripping down the back of my neck through the stands of my hair (which in itself had a strange cooling effect). There’s no avoiding the sweaty and the uncomfortable when the sun is beating down on you like that. You just have to bear through it, making sure to have the appropriate sun protection.

Because the point is to watch a baseball game! Granted I’ve definitely got enough vitamin D to last me a week.

Did you hear the Oakland Athletics team is leaving Oakland for Las Vegas? It looks to be a done deal ever since the Nevada legislature approved a boatload of public money for a baseball stadium on the famous Las Vegas strip. For a Bay Area native, it’s sad to see yet another Oakland team leave (first went the football Raiders, also to Las Vegas). At least the Warriors only moved across the bay to San Francisco. As it stands, in a few years’ time there won’t be any major sports franchises in Oakland. The fans there deserve so much better.

Be that as it may, if we want to see the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum, then time is going to run out on that. My friend and I have never been to the Coliseum, so we figured this past Sunday was as good a time as any to do so. The San Francisco Giants - our local team - was in town from across the Bay Bridge for a series, so it’s kind of like killing two birds with one stone. The Coliseum is super easy to get to from San Francisco: park at Daly City BART station, then take either the Dublin-Pleasanton or Berryessa line eastbound. Get off at the Oakland Airport station, then it’s a short walk to the stadium.

The Oakland Coliseum is a decent stadium. Sure it’s really old by modern standards, but the amenities are all there. Improvements can be had, but I would say it’s not integral to the overall baseball-watching experience. I can see why the owners of the A’s would want a new stadium, though: to attract more than just baseball. Across town, Oracle Park - home of the Giants - play host to all sorts of other events such as soccer and concerts. That is revenue that the A’s do not see from the Coliseum, and presumable will from the new stadium in Las Vegas.

Still, sucks for the fans in Oakland.

Signature required

I recently (finally) pressed purchase on the Fujifilm XT-5 camera. Bought it on Amazon, of course, to get that sweet 5% cash back. (Mind you that is only if you are an Amazon Prime member, along with using the Chase Amazon Prime card.) For such a hefty purchase in terms of value, it’s good to see that a signature is required to accept delivery. No need to fear the delivery person dropping it off nonchalantly in the front yard, exposing thousands of dollars worth of camera gear to potential thieves. That would not be ideal.

Similarly, I helped a friend buy a new camera of his own (A Sony A7 Mark IV) on Amazon. (He did not have Amazon Prime.) Receiving that package also called for an adult signature. No big deal; there’s people home most of the time. However, the Amazon-branded delivery person did not adhere to the requirements! He merely dropped off the camera at the front door as if it were a package of toothpaste. No knock, no door bell ring, no signature attained. That’s not very nice.

I would have been rightly pissed if not for that fact my housemate was home and intercepted the package right when it was dropped off. I’ve higher expectations for an Amazon-branded delivery person to actually follow the instructions. Conversely, the Fujifilm XT-5 was delivered by UPS, and they made sure to get a signature before delivery. I know this, because nobody was home to receive it at the time, so I had to re-route the package to a local pickup spot. By the way, that costs $7.99 now at ups.com. That’s extorting pure profit just because they can, if you ask me.

This reminds me of the time I bought my (many thousands of dollar) Yamaha piano. That was also unceremoniously dropped off with nary a signature required. Granted, if you have the strength to steal a 70 pound box of unwieldy length, carry it through a front garden and over a fence, then I think you have the right to keep it. Thankfully that did not happen, and someone was immediately home at that time as well.

Get in the flow

We all want to get in a flow state, don’t we? The feeling where we’re are so in tune and concentrated on the current activity, that everything else on the periphery melts away. Time seems to not be a thing anymore, until of course when it reintroduces itself as the signal for the end of activity. Reality sets back in. Time to be an adult again.

I had such an experience at the improv class yesterday evening. A three hour night class - after an already full day at work - would typically be a slow burn. Anybody that’s taken night classes in college knows exactly what I’m talking about. However, yesterday’s three hours of improv lessons flew by super quickly. I was in a zone, so concentrated on the material and just being in the present there. The class was adjourning when I thought we’d still have one more hour to go.

I’ve really come to enjoy this beginners improv class. It has a surprisingly philosophical bent to it. Improv can only be done in the present. Whatever you’ve prepared in the past and prepared to do in the future don’t matter - the situation can and will shift in an instant. So you’ve got to be ready, pay complete attention, and be vulnerable enough to say (or act) the first thing that pops to mind. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to look silly - that’s the point. This class has been incredibly useful for getting me out of my own head, and letting go of social insecurities.

The instructor remarked yesterday, “You have everything you need at this moment.” A fairly zen statement to a student’s question of what if he can’t come up with anything right away. I think that student is still worried about saying the right thing, coming up with something clever and pertinent (I’m not any better). While that is indeed the goal, the flip side is that one cannot be afraid to look foolish. Worrying about what other people think stifles authenticity. At least we’re at the right class to correct this habit!