That's awesome. People surprise you when you least expect it.

Oh man, I did the same thing with my kitchen grout and now I just stare at it like why did I do this.

Oh man, compression bags all the way for Japan. Two weeks is just long enough to overpack and regret it. The cubes are nice for organization but they don't actually save any space. Compression bags let you fit twice as much in the same suitcase. Plus you can roll the air out easy by hand. Just don't use the vacuum kind, you won't have a vacuum in your hotel room. Pack the cubes inside the compression bags if you really want both.

People forget that the best photos aren't always the brightest ones - same way a story with no conflict isn't interesting. Trust your original eye before someone else's idea of "better" ruins what you actually captured.

My first time trying a 4-inch for corners I kept grabbing for the 6 on instinct. Took me a few rooms to stop fighting the smaller blade and let it do its thing.