a camera lense, a treadmill, a sleepy kid

Today I didn't DO a whole lot.

However, this is something I do NOT regret.

Because today was influential. Meaning, today had an effect on my later-life.

Topic #1 - Exercise!

Apparently, I'm signed up for a YMCA membership -- something I wasn't aware of. I wasn't too keen on the idea at first. I've never been the most motivated person to exercise, heck we have a little gym in the house that I NEVER use. But, visiting there today, I think I might actually like the idea of going there. It's a place that's not too complex or intimidating. It has exercise equipment, a pool, basketball courts, racquetball courts (the latter is awesome since I just learned how to play this quarter). It's pretty laidback and I actually saw someone there I knew which surprised me. Anyways, I really felt motivated to actually work out. It's something I've always been interested in, but I'm always so lazy. I could never get into it at home, I think it's because the gym at home is right down the hall from my room. I think it's similiar to my former studying problem. Your home/room is where you relax, listen to music, talk to your friends, and sleep at night. When you study, you need to focus on your work. The two don't mix, being in such a relaxed place becomes a distraction, and you'll never get into the "studying" mindset. I think the same is true with exercise, you can never get into that "exercise" mindset when you're in such a relaxed place. After doing one set of exercises, you realize you could be in your room watching a movie or playing bejeweled or something.

Anyways, so I stop rambling, I just think it'd be easier to workout if it's at an actual gym that's a good 15-20 minutes away from home. Not only that but the rest of my family has a membership now too, and maybe I can get a friend or two to join also. Being away from home + multiple workout buddies = great success. I think it could be a lot of fun, and I'm actually pretty excited about it. I love feeling not lazy, it makes life so much more satisfying.

Topic #2 - Photography

So this is my second day of having my new camera, unfortunately I wasn't able to get really any good shots today. That's not really what I wanted to write about though. I watched a few more videos on TED.com (first video, second video) which were pretty interesting. Both videos revolved around how photography can convey a story. How an entire situation is captured in a single image (and sometimes multiple images). I really thought this was interesting, and it reminded me of working on the high school yearbook. In retrospect, I'm really glad I worked on it, and wished I worked on it the previous three years. It gave me an idea of how photography was worked into the process of producing an actual published product. I wish I'd seen the videos back then though, it might've been the kick-in-the-butt that I needed to become more motivated. I think it'd be really interesting to convey a story (be it something happy or tragic) through photographs. Maybe I'll inquire about joining The Daily (UW's newspaper) as a photographer, or maybe some other place similiar. But no matter what I do in life, I think I want to make photography a bigger part of everything. Incorporate it into my career, hobbies, etc. I mean, I'd love to take cloud pictures! Take shots of stratus, cumulus, or the awesome cumulonimbus. I'd also like to take more photographs for the blog (the one you're reading), to give it more of a visual component...because it gives each post so much more depth, and gives you pretty pictures to stare at. I think one neat idea would be to try and highlight each day of my life, the different portions of each day through photography. And maybe even try and convey "the average day" in the life of Nav...Even though I'm realizing how boring that could be. Hell, there's someway I could make it interesting I'm sure. Anyhow, I think photography can be used in almost any field/hobby/activity you can think of.

In conclusion (one of the many transitions I resort to when writing a paper, but gah, it's so...formal!) Today certainly wasn't a waste of productivity. Heck, I was inspired. TWICE! I also stumbled acrossed someone else I know's blog as well. Actually it was more of a mini-website that included a blog. I'm thinking more and more that everyone should have some type of blog/site... I mean, it's a great way to show who you are, and what you're interested in. Helps transcend someone you know from an "acquaintance" to someone you really want to get to know better. Anyways, that's my 2 cents for today.

Stay poor. Stay foolish.
(from another TED video)