frozen octopus

Watching the heartbreaking news about the Kumamoto area after the earthquake the last few days. It has my mind back on our emergency supplies and kit for earthquakes. It is not a bad thing to make sure it is all set up considering the amount of quakes in Japan. Watching the people in Kumamoto deal with things has me thinking about two main areas.

The first is our emergency bag/kit. I would say it is pretty good but could be reorganized and leveled up. We definitely need to get a lot more water and food, I think. The recommendation is enough for a week, which we do not have currently. Also, we need to put some more clothes in it as well.

That could easily be solved with a simple solar panel and battery set up.

The second area is power. Watching the reports talk about struggles people are having, I kept thinking, "That could easily be solved with a simple solar panel and battery set up."

It has pushed me to the "going to just buy" level. I love solar panels anyways, so even if we never need it in an emergency, I will still play with it because it is fun/useful.

It could power the a/c in this room and heater, which are both like space heaters/coolers. They both use a lot of power, so I can justify the purchase just for those two units.

Then, if the power should go out, we'd have enough power to keep the fridge cool at least. We have a plug-in IH cooktop we could power for cooking and water boiling. We have a bunch of portable phone batteries with USC-C connectors to charge. LED Christmas lights for nighttime don't use lots of power.

After a quick bit of research, I am thinking about getting an Anker Solix S2000 and a 400W solar panel. The panel could change after some more digging around. 

I got a time stamper from an incredible store called Shimojima that is near where we rehearse. Think of it as the store where you buy the paper supplies you need for your store. So stuff like plain boxes or bags or whatever.

I'm trying not to let this new block printing adventure be an excuse to buy tons of tools. That being said, I did buy three things for archival and tracing purposes.

For archiving I really wanted a date stamper like the ones they use on library cards. They had all sorts of them so I got one with some more black ink for the stamp pad. Very satisfying to go through all the prints and date the backs of them. I already want to start using it for band flyers.

For tracing they had nice packs of carbon paper. I am at the point where I needed some to get more tricky things like letters and numbers on to the block. Carbon paper is a must for that so got that bought.

Black, white, and brown work so well when together.

Bonus purchase was craft paper post cards. My block prints look cool on white business cards but they look amazing on craft paper. Black, white, and brown work so well when together. Also, the craft paper has all there subtle color variations in it. A cool find.

I started in on Moku Hanga (wood block printing) over the weekend. I was missing woodworking, but that is not a feasible pursuit in a small apartment. Carving the blocks puts my brain and hands in the same vibe as when I was woodworking. It also has that wood smell that is wonderful for woodworking.

So far, I am at the "what is this tool for” stage but learning pretty quickly. Our local 100-yen store has woodblocks and water-based ink. It’s nice to practice and mess up with cheap supplies while I get my head around this. Keeping things black and white for now. Maybe someday I will get into the whole multicolor printing, but for now, one color is fine.

My theme, for now, is drum-related. I thought it would be fun to try and convert some drum photos to prints. It's either that or something with words. Like a single word with chunky letters or something. I don’t know...I am still trying to figure out the tools level. ( ^ . ^ ) \m/

(Right when I pasted that kaomoji, I realized I should carve a kaomoji block.) 

I’ve been focusing on one drum pattern a month as a default thing to play when I pick up drumsticks. This month is RLRRLL / LRLLRR (Paradiddle-Diddle). Last month was Seven Stroke Rolls which I lovingly refer to as "Janie Jones" now.

Starting into this month's pattern I wasn't into it at first. This was due to the fact that it doesn't alternate between starting on the left or right hand. It always starts with the same hand you started with. Yes, I know, it is a weird thing to be annoyed by.

I had a revelation with RLRRLL / LRLLRR though. This pattern is amazing as a fill especially when you start it on the "and" of 3. If you start with the left hand, you end up at a spot where you can crash with the left hand and vice versa. It rules.

Also learned that people refer to it as the "Bonham Fill" so that is its new handle.

Another thing that I am thankful I started doing a while ago is resisting temptation and letting myself get to the end of a review. Get a complete overview of the land before starting down the path.

I have a daily and weekly review that I do each morning before starting into work. A review is basically a self-meeting where I discuss things with myself. During the reviews, I would come across a task and start in on it.

“I rule”, I thought as I got a task done as I found it. It felt like I was getting things done.

Then I heard someone talking about how you need to review, resist doing the things, and get to the end of the reviews. So I gave that a shot.

For sure, getting to the end felt frustrating because it didn’t feel like I was doing the work. But with each day I did the complete review of the land completely, actually doing the real work felt easier to do.

My image is I clear off the workbench each day and put the tools where they belong daily. Weekly, I step back and make sure the shop is in order. I am not always looking for the hammer. Projects that I am waiting for the glue to dry on aren’t on the workbench.