Resolutions Update 2
06/02/07 10:52 Filed in: Site
News
Everything pretty much
goes out the window when emotion rears his ugly head, so I'm happy
to have just escaped last week and all of its drama. I have gone
onto a full-scale socializing offensive in an attempt to enjoy life
and spend as little time at home, and my wallet will attest that I
have been successful. Last weekend was the traditional New Year's
celebration here in Japan (they do also celebrate Jan 1st) so I was
out past midnight or nearly so for the previous four nights. I hope
to post some pictures tonight or tomorrow.
Regarding the goals:
--Writing daily has been, by far, the most successful. I've been writing and reading about 30 mins each minimum, which is not too shabby. It isn't 2000 words a day, a target I read about online recently, but it is an improvement.
--The book list. The Odyssey is so damn big! I am a third done, but I decided to start reading In Patagonia just to be able to write a review sooner.
--Taking photos has gotten a lot harder, but I have hit my target for January. I've realized that my lens length has some creative limits, particularly because I usually like to take wide photos, not portrait shots. The portraits I have taken are great, but they really require getting into people's faces, something I am still not very good at. In addition, the winter lighting in Japan is pretty dreary somedays and I am getting tired of photos of temples. On top of that, I've decided to shoot in RAW, that is, shoot in an uncompressed, unprocessed format in order to learn how to use photoshop creatively. The problem is that my cards can't hold many RAW photos and I spend a lot more time uploading.
--Submissions. I have been putting this one off, but I can't for much longer. I have a few poems I am going to submit soon, and I think I am going to aim for a cheap print publication, rather than a famous one or a 'zine (how I loathe the term).
--Work. I have now have 4 private students, accounting for about $300 a month. If a couple coworkers give me theirs upon leaving this number could double, though the hourly rate isn't fantastic.
--Japanese. This one hasn't been good. I think, like I tell my students, that I need to pick a specific time to study.
All things considered, the month has been decent. My strong points have been writing, reading and photography, the weak ones exercise, Japanese and submission. And with that, I am back at it! Look for photos soon.
Regarding the goals:
--Writing daily has been, by far, the most successful. I've been writing and reading about 30 mins each minimum, which is not too shabby. It isn't 2000 words a day, a target I read about online recently, but it is an improvement.
--The book list. The Odyssey is so damn big! I am a third done, but I decided to start reading In Patagonia just to be able to write a review sooner.
--Taking photos has gotten a lot harder, but I have hit my target for January. I've realized that my lens length has some creative limits, particularly because I usually like to take wide photos, not portrait shots. The portraits I have taken are great, but they really require getting into people's faces, something I am still not very good at. In addition, the winter lighting in Japan is pretty dreary somedays and I am getting tired of photos of temples. On top of that, I've decided to shoot in RAW, that is, shoot in an uncompressed, unprocessed format in order to learn how to use photoshop creatively. The problem is that my cards can't hold many RAW photos and I spend a lot more time uploading.
--Submissions. I have been putting this one off, but I can't for much longer. I have a few poems I am going to submit soon, and I think I am going to aim for a cheap print publication, rather than a famous one or a 'zine (how I loathe the term).
--Work. I have now have 4 private students, accounting for about $300 a month. If a couple coworkers give me theirs upon leaving this number could double, though the hourly rate isn't fantastic.
--Japanese. This one hasn't been good. I think, like I tell my students, that I need to pick a specific time to study.
All things considered, the month has been decent. My strong points have been writing, reading and photography, the weak ones exercise, Japanese and submission. And with that, I am back at it! Look for photos soon.
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