Another Italian Mid-Autumn festival!

I wrote the pass below in advance, but my plans changed abruptly because a huge delay on departure on Friday that let me to re-schedule my ticket for free (hoping in a ride when arriving in Milan Friday night) for next week.. So for this mid-autumn festival I am in the Netherlands.. still having memories..

Like in 2013, by chance, I am in Italy for my favorite Chinese festivity, the one I will always miss the most since it is so difficult to find the delicious moon cakes, 月饼, abroad!! Today it is the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节, zhōngqiū jié), or so called Moon Cake festival 🙂

Last year I got this nice video from a Chinese Aikido friend:

…and I add the memories from my second year in China, when I could really enjoy the moon (in 2010 it had been quite cloudy and rainy!):

From the top: moon cake 月饼, the moon on Hefei, 中 (中秋=mid-autumn)

中秋节快乐！！
Zhōngqiū jié kuàilè! !

Library “shopping”

I chose my books as I do my normal shopping: first thing I look at that I like, it is almost always what I take.. it can be clothes, shoes or, in this case books to borrow!

Yesterday, I did not went further than the “new books table” at the entrance of the exposition section and found 3 books interesting either because of the author (Chuck Palahniuk, one of my favorite!) or just the front cover or front cover caption:

new library entries.. and my selection!

..but none will be started before I finish “Infinite Jest”, the real challenge of this year! And I got less than 100 pages left..

A new start.. for my camera!

One day too late (I should have had made this bought yesterday for the parade) I got a set of filters (UV protective lens, CPL circular polarizer and ND9 neutral density) and a cleaning set for my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7:

cleaning and filter set

After I had given away the protective lens filter for a promise to an important person, I was getting the idea that my Panasonic was getting close to its end. The mode dial does not work so good anymore and it the batteries were not for sale over here. But then I got good replacements on eBay and I am aware of the dial problem so I am just more careful when I use it. And I realized I still enjoy taking pictures with this camera, with good results (at least for my standard!).

I have still do take 2 more steps photography related because of a couple of mistake I made in China, moving and being messy as I always am: I managed to lose an extremely good Slik tripod and my too little used Nikon tele-objective, Nikon 80-200mm F/2.8 D Zoom-Nikkor AF ED.. both items on the expensive side for me right now, but both will be replaced just to mentally close also that chapter of my life.

Then start working on my photography skills again because realistically they could be useful in the future. And I like photography very much, time to do some serious training as well.

Kick-ass female drum player!

Sunday night I watched at ACU a very interesting documentary about Beijing punk scene. It was mainly focused on the project of promoting punk bands in a local pub/live scene, D-22, unfortunately closed in 2012 and I cannot find info about the mentioned following project of the founder, Michael Pettis. But it was quite interesting and in particular I got to know 2 Beijing’r bands that I really hope to see live soon or later: Hedgehog 刺猬 and Demerit.

Hedgehog

Demerit

A sunny weekend

At least the weather has been more clement than the striking pilots that compromised my first Aikido weekend in a long series until the end of April..

An extremely enjoyable sunny weekend made me take out my Nikon D200 for a spin, followed by some editing and posting.

Saturday I had planned to go around Amsterdam with a friend and take some pictures together, but unfortunately she got busy (yeah, it happens often with me!), so I had to make the best out of the change of programs:

Luckily also the Sunday in Utrecht has been equally sunny:

Sushi & shopping

After some thinking if going for sushi buffet or not at Sumo restaurant, knowing I would have eaten too much and then felt sorry for myself, I accepted the inevitability of the final outcome of this decision, and went to the buffet! It is a very good offer for lunch, especially since it is valid also on Sundays and other festivities! The offer include several kind of Japanese food not only sushi or raw fish, but also noodles, tempura and other cooked delicacies!