Longest Voyagehttps://longest.voyage/Recent content on Longest VoyageHugo -- gohugo.ioen-usJamie@longest.voyage (Jamie Crisman)Jamie@longest.voyage (Jamie Crisman)BY-NC-SA 4.0Sun, 22 Apr 2018 12:46:17 -0500Waitinghttps://longest.voyage/log/waiting/Fri, 24 Jul 2020 08:45:00 +0900Jamie@longest.voyage (Jamie Crisman)https://longest.voyage/log/waiting/<p>Like everyone else, I am just waiting for this literal and metaphorical rainy season to end. No big updates, but I am still continuing on making progress on tiny things. Slowly trying to get better at a few things. Learning new things when I can. Drawing when I have the energy. Unfortunately, I have days where I struggle to push through the brainmush I end up in. The rainy season hasn&rsquo;t been helpful either with the lack of sunlight. I&rsquo;ve been watching Task Master on youtube and it is hilarious. I hope they add the James Acaster series on YouTube soon. Really curious about how he does his tasks on the show. I also watched the second and third season of Dark on Netflix. It probably has some of the best time travel I&rsquo;ve seen in a TV show in a long time. It actually inspired me to come up with some rules about how proper time travel should work in a story. I feel I have it pretty thoroughly set up. I&rsquo;ll write about it another time (or maybe I already have).</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/waiting/biking_hu2bd302eb056d854d0288879e458dff76_749655_900x0_resize_q80_box.jpg" width="900" height="1038" alt=""> </img> <p>I had a bit of a 3d shader kick for a bit. Learned about graphical shaders which do some really cool effects. Basically, it&rsquo;s another step in processing 3d images before it draws the image to the screen. It&rsquo;s really powerful, and it&rsquo;s where a lot of games get their polished feel.</p> <video controls preload="auto" width="100%" loop class="html-video"> <source src="https://longest.voyage/log/waiting/chromatic.mp4" type="video/mp4" }}> <p></p> </video> <p>Tried to emulate a sort of chromatic aberration effect. I think it could be cool as an alternative to motion blur.</p> <video controls preload="auto" width="100%" loop class="html-video"> <source src="https://longest.voyage/log/waiting/dissolve-test.mp4" type="video/mp4" }}> <p></p> </video> <p>Dissolve effects are really fun to look at.</p> <video controls preload="auto" width="100%" loop class="html-video"> <source src="https://longest.voyage/log/waiting/grass-test.mp4" type="video/mp4" }}> <p></p> </video> <p>The grass shader here is me trying to combine all the things I learned into one shader. Very much inspired to how <a href="https://thatgamecompany.com/sky/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Sky</a> does it&rsquo;s grass effect. I am not a huge fan of the colors here, but it&rsquo;s a neat effect.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/waiting/sketch_hu5a7f345db2448aab9dd1f07954ff2f19_89604_900x0_resize_q80_box.jpg" width="900" height="1274" alt=""> </img> <p>I have been doing a bit of figure drawing sessions online. I am still pretty terrible, but it&rsquo;s most of what I do for my drawing practice lately. For about 15-30 minutes I practice drawing some awkwardly positioned people. If I have the creative strength that day, I&rsquo;ll draw more. Lately, I often just do the session and be done for the day. Something I don&rsquo;t practice enough is a more rendered image. The sketch above is based on a photo I took of my brother. I spent a lot longer on it than my usual figure drawings. I managed to get some aspects of his likeness down pretty well. I could spend more time tweaking it and trying to get it just right, but I will probably get more benefit out of moving on to other pictures for now. I might come back to this someday and try to flesh it out a bit more.</p> <p>I am shifting the design on the site a little bit. I am going to create a section for Japanese notes. It&rsquo;s mostly for me to reference, but I&rsquo;ll make it public. My studying hasn&rsquo;t gone much of anywhere lately. I want to have a format to create notes, reference other sites, link pages together. We&rsquo;ll see how it goes.</p>Growthhttps://longest.voyage/log/growth/Wed, 20 May 2020 21:34:05 +0900Jamie@longest.voyage (Jamie Crisman)https://longest.voyage/log/growth/<p>I have a handful of pictures to share still, but it&rsquo;s hard to write more blog posts about life abroad when my days are mostly staying inside. I do quick runs to the convenience or grocery stores for food. I tend to eat pretty easy meals because I don&rsquo;t want to risk getting/spreading anything from the common area at the share house that I am currently living in. It&rsquo;s simple and easy living. I don&rsquo;t have to worry about a paycheck, which is a fortunate situation to be in. I started to sneak over to visit the girlfriend on the weekends. I try to use the train early or late to avoid the crowds on the trains. Not really acceptable, but I continue to rationalize.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/growth/crossroads_hu6043069e0863e4e4230891497e662a19_761706_900x0_resize_q100_box.jpg" width="900" height="1261" alt=""> </img> <blockquote> <p>Naturaling Life</p> <p>&ndash; some hotel</p> </blockquote> <p>Beyond that I am pretty much just at home in my shoebox. Which has allowed for some continued growth. I am still writing my 750 words journal. I have kept fairly consistent which is great. I am over 105 days in a row. Which blows my mind still. I have written over 125,000 words on the site, more than half of which is from this current streak. While I am happy with this, I do think about how I will try and go beyond this. Maybe writing a short story or something. I would love to do something in the vein of <a href="https://medium.com/@Hent03" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Hengtee Lim</a> or <a href="http://www.northofreality.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Uel Aramchek</a>. They write wildly different styles of short stories, but they&rsquo;re some of my favorite short story authors that I&rsquo;ve found online. I haven&rsquo;t really dived into that kind of writing, but I am doing my best to maintain the writing practice as my stepping stone to that.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/growth/train_hu179068e575db0d6a7b06af463ae01940_1061383_900x0_resize_q100_box.jpg" width="900" height="1322" alt=""> </img> <p>In a similar direction to growth in writing, I have officially started trying new things with art. I mentioned <a href="https://longest.voyage/log/one-at-a-time/">back in March</a> that I was interested in learning gouache. But still wanted to keep progressing with sketching first. I still have some pages left in my sketchbook, but it is mostly done. I ordered the paint and supplies during the golden week vacation and have been slowly learning by watching twitch streams and youtube. There are definitely some tricky aspects to gouache, but it&rsquo;s been a lot of fun to learn. I still have a bit of trouble getting myself to paint in the evenings after work sometimes. I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s just general stress from &hellip;everything or if I put pressure on myself. I&rsquo;d love to get painting and sketching as a breakaway, but right now it requires a bit of mental energy to push myself into it. I will try to be more intentional with making time for it.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/growth/painting_hu279140d2b1bc47b5ed2e6211fd7226e1_271653_900x0_resize_q100_box.jpg" width="900" height="675" alt=""> </img> <p>When I was looking to buy gouache paint I found that there&rsquo;s some good quality brands in Japan that are typically expensive abroad. In fact, the usual recommended one in the US is twice as much. Though there was a lot of confusion for acrylic and traditional gouache. I went for the traditional gouache since you can reactivate the paints (but that&rsquo;s a bit of a two edged sword). There&rsquo;s a lot of paint sets with premixed paints. Instead of going for the one of the variety sets, I am starting with that basic &ldquo;art class&rdquo; set. Only have the primary colors, white, and black. It&rsquo;s been an adventure in learning to mix paints. I have started trying to figure out how I might mix paints to get colors I see outside. It&rsquo;s silly and fun.</p> <p>My little brother saw some of my paintings I sent him and he mentioned doing some concept art for the train game in gouache. I happened to remember a reference photo I recently saved so I painted the one above. I love the idea of tying in the gouache work with the train game. It was something I try to do with my Japanese study. Try to have multiple different outlets that still are somehow connected to a long term focus. This was important when I lived in the US where there&rsquo;s not many chances to use the language. Luckily, I have several interests that I can connect to Japanese. The absolute best way to learn Japanese is to sit down and study. 100%. But considering there&rsquo;s a <em>lot</em> to get through, you&rsquo;ll probably burn out or go insane if you don&rsquo;t pace yourself. If I couldn&rsquo;t get myself to study I would give myself space to play a game or watch a tv show, but it would be in Japanese or have a huge Japanese focus. Often by the time I finished playing the game or watching the show I would be motivated again to jump back into the studying. I am still not particularly great at Japanese. Considering my wide range of coming and going interests this was a way that I was able to keep growing.</p> <p>I&rsquo;ve updated my &ldquo;about&rdquo; page to be a &ldquo;now&rdquo; page. It&rsquo;ll be more of a living document to update what I&rsquo;ve been up to.</p> <p>&ndash;</p> <p>Sometimes at the share house there&rsquo;s a slight smell of nearly burnt toast and coffee that reminds me of breakfast at my grandma&rsquo;s old house; It&rsquo;s nice.</p>Life in the Shoeboxhttps://longest.voyage/log/life-in-the-shoebox/Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:36:14 +0900Jamie@longest.voyage (Jamie Crisman)https://longest.voyage/log/life-in-the-shoebox/<p>I am probably not the only one who feels like days have started to blend together. I have been working from home for about 2 months at this point. Even the weekdays and weekends are blurring as I am either in my chair or my bed with a laptop. Only escaping to the conveniences store and grocery stores for food. It&rsquo;s a bit boring, but it&rsquo;s the current life in the shoebox. This weekend I attempted something a little bit different.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/life-in-the-shoebox/morning-light_huc01e2839dddd39854dd14cfef795a778_599914_900x0_resize_q100_box.jpg" width="900" height="1125" alt=""> </img> <p>When the sun is rising or setting there&rsquo;s a period of soft light that is often referred to as Golden Hour. I honestly never really thought about it much before I started learning about photography. Photographers love it. You get a dramatic warm morning glow. The light isn&rsquo;t harsh or too dim. The low sun provides interesting shadows. It&rsquo;s one of the best times to take photos. Tokyo&rsquo;s location however makes it a bit tricky. The sun sets as early as 4:45 in Winter and as late as 7 in the summer. Sunrise is&hellip; early. Currently, about 5 am. Looks like it&rsquo;ll get even earlier in the summer. Japan doesn&rsquo;t do the daylight savings to shift the hours, but I also think they&rsquo;re just in the wrong timezone in general. Much to the delight of my coworkers, I get very jet lagged going to and from Tokyo and Dallas. I&rsquo;ll be very sleepy in Dallas, and very much awake early in Tokyo. I try to take advantage of jet lag when I wake up early by exploring and taking pictures. This year, I didn&rsquo;t get a chance to do that. I definitely still woke up early as I adjusted, but the weather didn&rsquo;t allow walking around. However, lately I&rsquo;ve been waking up fairly early on my own as is. Usually awake around 6 or so. Typically, unproductive for an hour. Catching up on the internet or chat with someone online for a few. Eventually, I do my 750 words for the day and check in on Animal Crossing. Friday night, I wanted to get out. I was done with being in my shoebox. But it was already getting dark and evenings have too many people around. So, I decided to woke up early. Hella early.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/life-in-the-shoebox/gzb_hue86d184c6338132ee46282c424ab89f8_1106123_900x0_resize_q100_box.jpg" width="900" height="720" alt=""> </img> <p>I set my alarm for 5:45, but I woke up earlier than that to a clear sky and hints of the sunrise. I felt in a rush to be outside. Didn&rsquo;t want to miss a second of golden hour. Equipped my camera and an extra layer of clothes for the cool morning. Pulled up directions to a park that I had been meaning to check out and starting walking. The park was really beautiful. They really do take care of it. Being surrounded by so much green and so few people felt great. There were some (mostly much older) people doing their morning walks. But not that many at 5am. I walked all the way through it. I was about to turn around and go back the same way when I noticed another pathway that took me up a hill and along the opposite edge of the park. Going up I realized how clear of a day it really was when I saw Mt. Fuji. It&rsquo;s not always visible from Tokyo. In fact, I had no idea it was visible from a place so close to me. I was probably 20-30 minutes walk from my share house. I was on my way back home when my alarm I set the night before went off. I turned it off glad I woke up at the wrong time.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/life-in-the-shoebox/fuji_hue867835ec47f03999e0315109eb7a0e5_677127_900x0_resize_q100_box.jpg" width="900" height="1125" alt=""> </img> <p>I was surprised with what I got out of waking up so early and going for a long walk. Beyond some good exercise and a few pictures, I got a long day out of it. I don&rsquo;t feel like I was particularly more productive than usual. But my day felt much more fulfilling, even though I still went home to play Animal Crossing and do my 750 words. It was a good relaxing day. I enjoyed it so much I did it the next day. Can I sustain something like this? Doubt it. I&rsquo;m definitely not going to make it a routine during the week to wake up at 5 and walk around for an hour. I don&rsquo;t think I can do that long term. I may start work tomorrow exhausted from two long days. But if it&rsquo;s a clear day and I&rsquo;m awake a little early, I think I&rsquo;m definitely going to seriously consider going out.</p>The Burger Searchhttps://longest.voyage/log/the-burger-search/Sat, 11 Apr 2020 07:11:51 +0900Jamie@longest.voyage (Jamie Crisman)https://longest.voyage/log/the-burger-search/<p>I apologize now as I started this post before the most of the shutdown stuff really kicked off. Talking about food that I can&rsquo;t go get now is driving me nuts too.</p> <p>I love Japanese food. It&rsquo;s absolutely delicious and tends to be more healthy and better portioned than most American meals. In Tokyo, there is a lot of variety of available foods from all over. I&rsquo;ve done a few vacations to Japan I try to have an open mind with the food. This is something that took time to get used to as I was a very picky eater when I was younger. I have had fugu (blowfish), eel, octopus, whale, natto (fermented soy beans), raw chicken. And I think I have even had horse? Some of those are rare to eat, but eel and octopus are really common. Some of my other favorites here are: Okonomiyaki, Yakitori, and Japanese curry. Every time I traveled here, after about a week I would always crave something from back home: a good hamburger.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/the-burger-search/burger_hu691707662efe23e5634d9f96479fa752_523246_900x0_resize_q80_box.jpg" width="900" height="572" alt=""> </img> <p>There&rsquo;s several Japanese hamburger places. Most are not that great. They go after a completely different flavor. The patty is not that great. Earlier this year, I tried a Hawaiian burger place hoping that they&rsquo;ll maintain that &lsquo;American style&rsquo; of burger. Well&hellip; it reminded me of an American style of food, but not one you would want. The ingredients were mostly fine, but the patty reminded me of the quality of meat you would get in a cheap grade school lunch. That grey blob that looked like it was steamed to warm up in the back room. That burger essentially started my search. Of course, there are major US chains are here. McDonalds is obviously everywhere. But I will probably only eat McDonalds burger when I feel nostalgic for smashing junkyard cars at youth group. Wendy&rsquo;s isn&rsquo;t Wendy&rsquo;s here. Some company essentially put the Wendy&rsquo;s brand on some Japanese chain. Can&rsquo;t even buy a frosty there; last time I checked. I knew from previous trips that Shake Shack came to Japan in recent years. Shake Shack is probably the only acceptable American chain, but it&rsquo;s still just Shake Shack. When I asked some people about a good burger place they usually said Shake Shack.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/the-burger-search/burgers_hub4daacfea8f3a841755c8b5e88dfa0d2_1922579_900x0_resize_q80_box.jpg" width="900" height="822" alt=""> </img> <p>My current favorite burger shops I&rsquo;ve found so far are <a href="https://umamiburger.jp/menu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Umami Burger</a> and <a href="https://www.burgerstokyo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Burgers Tokyo</a>. But the weird thing about the burger shops here, is that many of them try to make their burgers really big. It&rsquo;s like twice as tall as it should be. Incredibly hard to eat most of the time. Most of the time end up eating it out of a paper wrapper that they give you to stick it in because it&rsquo;s going to fall apart. With the sizing thing, my criteria for a good burger slightly shifted. Needs to nail the patty flavor and not be a pain in the butt to eat.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/the-burger-search/sakura_huba2bdf240b44b70d2c26765fc65f3913_1051637_900x0_resize_q80_box.jpg" width="900" height="1125" alt=""> </img> <p>The sakura (cherry blossom) season was early this year, but it stuck around for a bit longer than I expected. Before the shutdown stuff started to get more serious the girlfriend and I had a little bit of time to see some. We had a little picnic by the river near my share house. We could people watch a bit. Parents taking pictures of their kids with the sakura. Sometimes people have a whole setup for a picnic at the river. Lots of people walking around taking pictures. Kids looking at the huge carp that are swimming in the small river. It&rsquo;s a fun time. I think sakura usually is only be around for a week or two. But it seems to have managed to stick around for closer to 3 or 4. Often ends with some rain storm knocking out all the flowers. The flowers held on a bit longer even with some rain and snow coming through.</p> <img class="article-img" src="https://longest.voyage/log/the-burger-search/sakurasnowman_hud15bd0024152382df4b8922baba6c3af_265543_900x0_resize_q80_box.jpg" width="900" height="1350" alt=""> </img> <blockquote> <p>Oriental Traffic: have a nice shoes</p> <p>&ndash; some totebag</p> </blockquote> <p>It&rsquo;s a bit weird but it took me about 3 months to finally start get back in the mood to actually study Japanese again. It weird because it was something that I so actively did back in the US, and essentially dropped once I got here. You could say I was more immersed than before, but passive learning only gets you so far. My job is pretty much entirely in English. We just have some data that&rsquo;s in Japanese. So, there&rsquo;s not much growth there. Not to mention the whole work from home situation. In terms of Japanese input, it&rsquo;s almost like I never left the US. I have to make more effort to seek it out, which is difficult during these quarantimes.</p> <p>Similar to me not studying Japanese, I also haven&rsquo;t spent much time programming outside of work. I have a <del>couple</del> several projects I would like to continue. My Japanese studying often fueled the desire for some of those projects (as many projects are Japanese study related). But I may try to hold off on programming outside of work. I&rsquo;d like to work on writing and drawing a bit more. Will be tricky to maintain as I&rsquo;m slowly easing Japanese study back into my routine.</p> <p>I&rsquo;m still slowly practicing drawing and writing. I&rsquo;m at 66 days in a row on 750 words. But I admittedly haven&rsquo;t done as much drawing since Animal Crossing released a few weeks ago. It&rsquo;s been fun to play with everyone. Switched to Japanese so I can count it as study time. I&rsquo;m just about to start the last loan on the house. Going to take a bit longer to pay off this last one.</p>