Creative classes!

Jan. 28th, 2026 04:49 pm
soc_puppet: A crude pencil drawing on lined paper of what's supposed to be a dog; the dog's mouth and eyes are on one side of its face, while its snout is on the other. (Art time!)
[personal profile] soc_puppet
I don't seem to have made a list of my acquisitions this year for either my birthday or Xmas! ...Perhaps it's because I was so spectacularly underwhelmed 😓

One cool thing that I got was a gift card for a month's full membership at a local, uh. Fabrication place?

Right. So. You know how a bunch of crafts can require specific, really complicated and expensive machinery that a given person may not have the room or money to buy for themselves? Well, this facility is dedicated to housing a lot of that machinery for use by local crafters. Things like woodworking stuff, sewing machines, ceramics wheels and a kiln, a 3D printer, etc.

Anyway, I finally got around to activating my membership and signing up for classes, and my first class is tonight! I wanted to take the ceramics intro class (required to use the ceramics space), but those have been booked up for a while, so I've been out of luck. I did at least find some classes that interest me, and I look forward to learning more stuff for when I might extend my membership in the future.

First class: "Basic Jewelry Hand Tools"
Upcoming classes: "Basic 3D Printing", "Basic Cricut", "Basic Electronics", and "Basic Sewing Machines".

Japan traffic counts, and McDonald's

Jan. 28th, 2026 06:24 pm
mindstalk: (Default)
[personal profile] mindstalk

Was out on a walk, not particularly interesting, just getting out. I started counting traffic.

  • On a very boring two-way street some distance from the station, with little of pedestrian interest: 7 bicycles, 4 mopeds/motorbikes, 33 cars (and a bus or two). I did not formally count pedestrians, as there hardly were any at first, but it ended up feeling comparable to bicycles. Then I hit a street where there seemed to be a phase transition in traffic.

  • Same street, but now closer to the station: 25 pedestrians, 12 2-wheel vehicles of all types, 17 cars/buses/trucks.

  • 3-way scramble intersection, very close to the station: 26 pedestrians to 9 cars; 28 pedestrians to 9 cars. (Two different light cycles.) Going the other direction, more casual count, but maybe 18 to 14. I note that much more signal time is given to moving the 9-14 cars than the 18-26+ pedestrians (plus non-counted sidewalking bicycles.)


Some internal counter tipped over to the point of trying McDonald's here. The menu is fairly different; no obvious equivalent to quarter-pounders; different flavors like teriyaki burger or shrimp burger. I tried a potato beef burger ("big beef" patty, potato patty) and shaka chicki (fried chicken fillet, and from the wrapping you're supposed to shake seasoning over it? But I didn't have any.) There was a messup and I was handed a simple bag of fries, which I discovered only at home. Went back (stole one fry; it smelled better than it tasted) to say "chigau!" and be glad I'd kept the receipt. Got my actual bag. It was... okay.

I note that if you're hungry Now, hot fast food from McDonald's or conbini has the advantage of coming in paper wraps. If you get nice cold snacks from conbini or supermarkets, it comes in a plastic tray. Given the total lack of public trash cans, the paper wraps are rather easier to stick into a pocket of your backpack. (Some conbini have trash cans, so you could eat there and throw it out -- but many don't!)

[livre] Frigosaure

Jan. 26th, 2026 04:51 pm
malurette: (ducky)
[personal profile] malurette
Titre : Frigosaure
Auteur : Sébastien Naert
Langue : français
Type : album jeunesse
Genre : anachronique

1ère parution : 2025
Édition : Le téètras magique
Format : à l'italienne, 40 pages



(acheté en direct et fait dédicacer au festival cet automne)

3ème volet de la série ; quand l'ère glaciaire se fait à cause d'un volcan bouché des dinosaures se réfugient sous terre et sous des édredons. Et les générations passent...

...ouhla la fin était cheloue ; est-ce que c'était les humains ou une autre civilisation intermédiaire ??
suzume: A girl tying a man up with Christmas lights (While color lights up your face)
[personal profile] suzume
1.

or

2.

or

3. my as-yet-unrevealed design! (honestly, I printed more of them, but I think these other two are feature better art)


Please answer in a comment which one you would prefer! :D

let's talk about parking in Japan

Jan. 22nd, 2026 06:44 pm
mindstalk: (Default)
[personal profile] mindstalk

There's something about Japanese streets which I did not consciously notice until someone pointed it out. Someone who rented a car would notice right away; maybe habitual drivers would too.

Read more... )

Blaaaargh

Jan. 21st, 2026 11:41 pm
soc_puppet: Butt-end view of an agouti rat laying on its back, holding the stem of a pink flower to signify that it has shuffled off this mortal coil (drama hound) (Deceased)
[personal profile] soc_puppet
I have run completely out of brain to reply to people this week. I'm going to try and jump-start my reply-inator tomorrow, but we'll see how it goes.
malurette: (mélusine)
[personal profile] malurette
Titre : Rien ne va plus (Le journal d'Aurore, t3/3)
Auteure : Marie Desplechin
Langue : français
Type : série jeunesse
Genre : coming of age

1ère parution : 2009
Édition : L'École des Loisirs
Format : medium poche, 325 pages



Read more... )

Mouais. Ok ça conclue bien la série mais ça va retourner à la bibli' partagée.

(no subject)

Jan. 20th, 2026 11:55 am
soc_puppet: Butt-end view of an agouti rat laying on its back, holding the stem of a pink flower to signify that it has shuffled off this mortal coil (drama hound) (Drama llama)
[personal profile] soc_puppet
Fffffffuuuuuck, I just remembered some other ficlets I need to rescue from LJ.

...I'll probably be fine if I have a nap first, right?

Enoshima - Monorail - Ofuna

Jan. 20th, 2026 09:34 pm
mindstalk: (Default)
[personal profile] mindstalk

Dunno if I'm over flu yet; since my supply of tests that can actually detect my levels ia apparently irreplacable, I'm conserving them. Feel good.

Got out, took train to Enoshima station, thinking of walking around. But there's a monorail I'd found on the map, and its station was right there -- on the 5th floor, not 2nd or 3rd like usual. I went up, found a terrace that should have a good view of Fuji, but it was cloudy.

Read more... )

fun with thermometers

Jan. 19th, 2026 10:00 am
mindstalk: (science)
[personal profile] mindstalk

In 2023 I was given a medical thermometer, Walmart's Equate brand. I rarely feel the need to take my temp, so I never used it much. But some weeks ago I thought it'd be good to measure my baseline, especially since body temperature varies between people and over time, and started using it at various times of the day. The numbers seemed kind of low. Read more... )

fruit stickers

Jan. 18th, 2026 03:16 pm
suzume: My Suzume character smiling and drawing (a picture of Kimblee from FMA) (drawing - my idea of a good time)
[personal profile] suzume


Ling was inspired by the Ling sticker on the side of the page. :D

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