1 Week, 1 Photo, 1000 Words (2011.01 #2)

Greetings from West Covina, CA, USA!

As hinted in my last entry, I made a few resolutions for 2011. The first was to restart this journal and write at least one entry monthly. Contrary to its name – 1 Week, 1 Photo, 1000 Words – I can’t commit to a weekly cycle right now. I could re-title this but I’ve done that a few times already and grown attached to the current moniker. Instead I will aspire to work my way back to that schedule. Regardless of the frequency, I am happy to resume writing. Fortunately the photography never stopped.

I never did new year’s resolutions until a few years ago. I did just one for 2009. I wanted to ease my debt load by reducing my number of creditors by 50% which is different from reducing my debt by 50%. Unfortunately by February 2009 I had to put it on hold as my freelance job came to a sudden end. By the start of 2010 I was employed again and decided to retry the resolution. At my worst the list of who I owed had broken the double digits but I succeeded in cutting it down to 5. Whew!

While one thing was cut in half, another thing was doubling. I had a not-so-small pile of unread novels that was growing. My job is directly across the street to a shopping center with a bookstore. Throw in a continuous supply of emails with vendor coupons and I was rapidly expanding my home library. For 2010 I added a second resolution – read at least 1 book. I’m not talking Dr. Suess nor War & Peace, just something in the 100 to 1000 page range. I barely got halfway through a 200-page book before giving up. My work and commute were draining me of too much energy.

But like my creditor resolution, I am making a second attempt for 2011. The book will be A Wrinkle in Time. As a teenager I enjoyed reading it and its two sequels. About five years ago I learned that the trilogy had become a quintet. I decided that I could best enjoy the entire series if I reread the first three before the last two. So while my goal is to read just one book, I’ve set myself up to read five – an approach of “If I’m in for a dime, I’m in for a dollar”.

I have yet to pick up the book but, as I write this, we have just begun the second month of 2011. Meanwhile resolution #2 – a minimum of one entry in this journal monthly - is well under way. if I succeed with both resolutions and got a flower - like the one in the accompanying photo - for every book read or entry written, I’d have a lovely bouquet by the end of the year. And that would be the sweet smell of success!

1 Week, 1 Photo, 1000 Words (2011.01 #1)

A new year – 2011 – the start to the second decade of both the 21st century and the 3rd millennium.

As is tradition, a new year is opportune for resolutions and one of mine was to restart my journal. I want to note that while “blog” may come to mind, my inner snob finds the word too pedestrian. I hope that my photos and words create an experience - an appealing blend of sight and thought – that stands out amongst the often rambling blogs of the masses. But that is not to say that I am above it all. I have faith (and a little fear) that you, the readers, will keep me humble without hesitation.

My journal’s first run lasted just over two years with a minor break in the middle. Then 16 months of nothing. What happened? I started a job and the 75-mile round-trip drive took away at least 3 hours as well as my remaining reserve of energy not spent at work. To be clear, I enjoy my job as much as I dislike my commute. Then after many, many months of enduring the grind of gridlock, the road opened up literally – in the form of the carpool lane. I joined a vanpool and it’s made a world of difference. The group rotates the driver but I am behind the wheel just one day a week and in a passenger seat the rest of the time.

I had plans to move closer to work in the first quarter of the year but those are now delayed but not cancelled. Less mileage added to my car, less money spent on gas and less stress from driving in peak traffic are all great but time-wise, I am breaking even. The cost of rent will be offset by the direct savings in commute costs but the indirect savings of cutting drive time from 3.5 hours to 0.5 will be priceless. Moving plans are pushed to mid-year and in the meantime I can used some of the money saved from vanpooling to pay off the out-of-work accumulated debt.

Now for one last piece of business – counting down to the new year and celebrating it in a new location. The New Year’s Eve plan was to welcome 2011 at the Orange County Fairgrounds but I got a last minute invitation to a party at an old high school classmate’s house. I decided to swing by for a while before heading out the OC Fairgrounds but never made it to the latter. Nothing bad happened – no drunk driving or car crashes. I simply enjoyed my friend’s party enough that I saw no point in going elsewhere. At midnight we braved the “relative” cold of the backyard, lit sparklers and popped noisemakers. We continued the celebration inside amongst the warmth of friends – and a heated house. And as my photographic billiard ball ode to 2011 shows, we played some pool too.