Postsboxcarblue in # actifit • 2 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: August 17 2024After 24 hours in transit, I’m not sure where exactly my steps came from, but after running from train to train and plane to plane, they’ve added up. I’m looking forward to getting to my final destination. This report was published via Actifit app ( Android | iOS ). Check out the original version here on actifit.ioboxcarblue in # actifit • 2 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: August 9 2024I’m happy to say that I’ve become a published poet. For the first time ever, a magazine accepted two of my submissions, and only a day after I submitted them. I think that kind of turn around is pretty unheard of in the world of writing. Today, coincidentally, I took my kids on a little trekking adventure to find the home of Ryokan, a Japanese…boxcarblue in # actifit • 3 yr. ago • 2 min readMy Actifit Report Card: January 4 2024I spent the day walking slowly and carefully around my neighborhood, checking the old brick and rock walls in front of empty houses and scouring the streets for damage from Monday’s earthquake. Though quite removed from the epicenter, less than five kilometers from my house, there was considerable damage: large sinkholes, collapsed houses…boxcarblue in # actifit • 3 yr. ago • 2 min readActifit Haibun: November 5 2023Walking through the city, my one-year old son asleep on my back, I’m surprised to see small changes here and there. The long time American rock bar on the second story of a small building that was a favorite place of an old colleague of mine, a place that I always meant to visit one day, closed. Another empty store front further down the road.…boxcarblue in # actifit • 3 yr. ago • 3 min readMy Little Litter BugFrom my son, I want explanations that I, at his age, could never have given. As my children get older, I think a lot about what kind of a kid (and young adult) I was. I wasn’t a bad kid. I stayed out of trouble. That said, the only real reason that I stayed out of trouble was because I was lucky and didn’t get caught doing the…boxcarblue in # actifit • 3 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: April 23 2023I rarely check my Actifit app these days, but today, after walking the baby around the block a few times, and after escorting my son to the local soccer stadium by bike and then meeting him there afterward to escort him home, it occurred to me that, just maybe, I had accumulated 10,000 steps or more. And I had. Pictured above is one of the…boxcarblue in # actifit • 3 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: April 1 2023It’s been a while since I’ve had a 10,000 step day. There are a lot of reasons why, one of the main ones being that I often don’t carry my phone with me throughout the day. Another being that I don’t get out for extended walks much these days. Today, however, was different. The weather was beautiful and the cherry trees were in full bloom and…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 2 min readNo Stranger To DangerHigh Water Last week, this river was only trickling over this dam. Yesterday, it was roaring over it. Of course, the signs painted on and around the dam warn of danger and advise visitors not to play on it or in the water, but as my son said at this riverside barbecue, Whenever someone tells me not to do something, it just makes me want to do…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: August 6 2022What a week it’s been. -Two day long English Seminar created and implemented. -Sign painting workshop attended. -Altercation with rude old man at public pool. -Arguments with children over summer vacation homework. -Torrential rains and nearby flooding. -Blistering heat. -Possible exhibition meeting. -Etc. Etc. Etc. But that’s…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 2 min readMy Actifit Report Card: July 26 2022Some things don’t change, and some things do. I’m pretty sure the guy on this sign wouldn’t be considered a handsome hunk these days, and I’m fairly certain that the woman in the sign above him wouldn’t project sex appeal to any of the junior high school boys walking past this wall on their way to school. That said, the basic idea behind…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: July 23 2022Things we aren’t supposed to do. Exercise and then eat things like ramen. Drink all of the ramen broth, especially when it has extra fat in it for extra flavor. Drink beer with lunch. Exercise again after doing three things that we weren’t supposed to do. Oh well. These are the things that make life fun! This report was…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: July 22 2022Making the Effort I took a nice walk during my lunch break today and racked up a few thousand steps. It wasn’t enough to reach 10,000 steps and normally I would have been all right with that, but tonight after washing the dishes, feeding the pets, brushing the kids teeth, hanging the laundry out to dry, and some of the other things that keep me…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readSlumber PartyThe Excitement Do you remember how exciting it used to be when you were a child to have your best friends sleep over at your house and stay up well into the night with the giggles, your mother and father shushing you and telling you to be quiet, to go to bed? Over the years, my children have developed the tradition of cracking open these glow…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readJapanese Mountain Photo TourTo Beat the Heat Get on the trail early. Waking up at 4:00 in the morning is good, but being on the trail by then is even better. For the Best Light Again, get an early start. If you already know the trail, you can plan where you want to be and when you want to be there. If you don’t know the trail, getting started just before sunrise is…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: July 17 2022Stag Beetles Collecting beetles in the summer is big thing for children in Japan. I’ve caught and raised my fair share of rhinoceros beetles in the past, but I’ve never had much luck finding and catching stag beetles. Not until today, that is. After learning that these beetles like to live in and around sawtooth oak trees, my kids and I had a…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readThe Food I LoveIt’s summer. And one of the things I love about summer is the food, especially the seasonal summer dishes in Japan. Pictured above is the preparation of fresh summer vegetables quickly fried and then simmered and marinated in a Japanese tsuyu sauce soon to be served with grated daikon radish and chopped shiso, a Japanese herb sometimes compared…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readSnow in JulySnow in July. That’s a first for me, and it caught me off guard. I didn’t expect there to be any left, at least not on this mountain (at 1,000 meters) but I’m glad it was there because it provided a nice place to rest and cool off. The temptation to do more. It’s always there. I clocked a little over 27,000 steps today, hard earned…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 2 min readWe DissentI’ve been on a adventure. But it’s probably not what you think. I haven’t been on a long road trip. I haven’t been trotting the globe as a digital nomad. I haven’t even been on an exciting weekend excursion or a wild all night romp. I’ve been grinding it out for three years, getting up early and making art before my family wakes up and it’s…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 2 min readRamblingsI’m a big fan of letter press art. Secretly, I harbor the desire to buy a press, salvage crates full of type, and spend hours in a corner of an old building or warehouse somewhere making posters, cards, invitations, and whatnot. Since I don’t have a press, or crates of type, I tried recreating the feel of letter press art with pen and ink.…boxcarblue in hive-193552 • 4 yr. ago • 1 min readMy Actifit Report Card: June 24 2022Today was a day full of extra errands that found me walking hurriedly, extra distances from here to there: lesson observations at children’s school, doctor’s appointment, a trip through the supermarket, some evening part-time work, etc. It’s nice when just the daily routine outs you over 10,000 steps. This report was published via Actifit app…