My French press has a space of honor on the shelf with the coffee beans. We were cleaning out the closet and I found an old pour over coffee maker I got at the ¥100 store. I washed it out and made coffee with it just now.

The pour over one had a little more of a medium-roast, dry vibe than the French press. There is a lot more of the coffee oil with a French press. Good to know I can get bit of a medium skewing cup from a dark roast instead of having to get different beans.

Middle school me made me get Iron Maiden tickets for their show in Yokohama in September. They are one of those bands I've always wanted to see live but each time they played where I am living, something always seemed to get in my way of going.

The last large venue metal show I went to was a blast mainly because there were tons of metal fans roaming the streets of Yokohama before the show. I will always love seeing a band in a small club the most. There is something fun about the build up to an arena show too though.

( ^ . ^ ) \m/

It was the last day of the 30 day animation class yesterday. Waking up today with no animation assignment in my inbox is an odd feeling.

There was a survey at the end of it asking about what I learned. I think the thing that is sticking with me about the class is not going into an animation without a plan.

Before starting the course, I would go into an animation and start drawing frame one and then frame two. After the class, I know the animation technique deeper. I can get a point across with a lot fewer frames.

I setup an Apple shortcut that randomly selects a drum rudiment from a list of 80 stored in Data Jar. It's cool to have one rudiment to figure out each day instead of a huge, daunting list of all of them. I have a drum pad and sticks in the office so I can zone out and play the rudiment a little bit all day.

I find that if you do a minute here and there all day, the practice time really adds up. A fifteen minute practice session feels like a task. One minute micro sessions fifteen times doesn't.

Cliché lyrics are in the ear of the beholder for sure. We all have those phrases that make our eyes roll. It's impossible to write and make the whole world happy. You write what makes you happy and ignore people who aren't into it.

That being said, I do have a text file with a list of cliché lines from songs on it. I add to it sporatically and sparingly. It has to be a really high level cliché to make the list. I heard two today...

• "it's a choice I have to make"
• "get my feet on the ground"