I just learned “Meoto Iwa” is a generic name for other rocks in the country so alas the name of these posts will not be as indicative.
Today’s reading is pretty clear: Mental clarity is the way to prosperity and joy.
By the way, here’s a fun Mnemonic: Swords are about mental faculties because swords are made out of metal.
Day started late. This was to be expected but the problem was that this is one of those hotels where there’s little to no shielding from the sun so that you can get your ass up and do stuff since sunrise.
I’ve thought about getting a facemask for sleeping, the problem is that I usually pull it out and throw it aside half asleep.
I take a preliminary walk to see the temple in daylight. It’s all at once more crowded AND less crowded than I expected, to be honest.
Only bummer was that when I was going (as in, instead of returning) there was a crow standing on top of the torii in the rocks and it looked so… mystical. But it flew away by the time I arrived.
By the way, the temple is basically a path that hugs the mountain so it’s one way to get from one place to another. The other end actually had a mall and an interactive aquarium called Ise Sea. You see, the pun here is that we’re in Ise-shi and that sounds like Ise Sea in Japanese.
Mall and punny aquarium were closed though, because it was 5PM and everything closes immediately at that point. You could still hear what I assume to be the seals, though.
So I headed back and by the time I’ve done the path and check my phone I have some work emails and I decided to go back to the room and scream into a pillow while at it.
After louging for a bit I head out again to clear my head and there was a helicopter flying by… this is notable because I realized it had been YEARS since I last saw or heard a helicopter for some reason.
After I got back with conbini loot in hand, I decided I should do… something. It’s been a slow day so I figured either writing something or doing digital housekeeping of some kind.
I realized I had a folder with my selection of photos for 2024 and at first I thought about working on the next photobook, but then I decided to do something a bit more immediate: releasing the last photobook digitally.
So I did!
It’s free, but if you pay more you can get the book in PNG instead of PDF and with a bit extra I threw in the RAWs for fun.
It wasn’t that hard, just slightly tedious because the files I had were the ones I sent to the printer with the extra bleeding and whatnot.
Basically, I had to undo one step I did with merged PSDs. I do have the unmerged files at home but they’re at home and not here.
I do wish I brought one of the backup SSDs though, I forgot to offload the videos from the cameras a while back so I’m running slightly low in space for the first time.
Afterwards, whether from post-focus exhaustion or post-menial-work lethargy I went to bed half hoping I would sleep till morning.
It was just an hour nap, which is still good, but yeah…
After the nap I decided to try again with the sunrise and it was overcast today AGAIN but I tried out taking some pic with the Super Zoom lenses and the results were cool.
All in all it was a slow day, but for me this is part of the appeal and reason to get out of the house, really.
I also remembered I had a backlog of videos I was publishing bit by bit so here’s the next one.
I also edited a couple others, but that’s a story for another day.