day 041. [run, run, run]

I was originally going to spend the day hanging out with my friend Caytie Matthews making friendship/hemp bracelets. That time it took for us to change plans was just as fast as when we made them, haha. No worries, we can plan for another day to make crafts. Because the plans had changed for the day I found myself up early wondering what to do ...

I started with a quick ab workout this morning followed by lunch and then I read part of Crime & Punishment. After finishing The Adolescent, I actually have come to like it. It was surprisingly a good book about how the main character comes to finally meet his real father after having lived with his foster parents. I just suggest you read it to understand the full picture.

After reading though I decided to just lounge around before I went out on a walk. It was yet another GORGEOUS day that I had to at least spend some time in. When I got done walking around though, I just decided to lounge around the house and play on the piano for a bit.

Around 7 I went to Starbucks to meet with one of the five seniors to discuss ideas, locations, and how I price. I'm looking forward to doing his shots. He really has this Portland kind of feel, which I've recently fallen in love with. I can't wait to show off his pictures on here and flickr.

In the midst of everything I did and everything I didn't do today, I really had an itch to run. I did, haha. I'm not one that likes to run alone so I ran with my friend Allison Duvenez. If you've been reading, you'll know that she's one of the seniors that I'm doing senior portraits for. As for running, I'm not one to run alone and I'm definitely not one to run on a track. Today though, I wanted to run on a track just because it's a lot easier on my joints. I don't mind sprinting on tracks, but distance running ... eh let's keep that to running around town or on a trail, ha.

I forgot, speaking of track I guess I can share with you guys a deep old secret of mine, ha. So many of you know me as this big volleyball junky, and that's because I am. But there was a time where volleyball really was just a sport to me. Ok, so here's the deep old secret of mine: When I was in the 7th Grade running on the track team, and even into my 8th Grade season, I dreamed that I would go to the Olympics as a track runner. I mean I had some pretty awesome times for a 7th/8th Grade Sprinter. That dream eventually died by the time I got to high school. Well, it started to change in the middle of my 8th Grade season. Track is now just a sport, volleyball is now my life and my passion. There, that's like one of my confessions that I may make while working on this blog. Who knows, I might confess more things, ha.

Tomorrow is going to be another beautiful day! Can't wait!!

day 033. [photoshoot]

Today started out with just a mile run. I think I'm going to work on my mile time rather than my overall two mile time. I'm getting it down, but I've still got a ways to go before it's finally down to where I need to be to run that 12 minute 2 mile.

Afterwards, I didn't feel like eating breakfast, even though I should have, so I didn't. Instead I just read a chapter out of The Adolescent. It's surprisingly a good book. Maybe had I gotten past the first few pages the first time I picked it up I might have liked it, but I'm glad I'm in a time and place in my life to just read it. Want to know what it's about? Ask me! :)

Once done with that though I ended up taking some of the bills down to the post office. Besides mailing those off I FINALLY got Tarra's present mailed off to her. Because I know she's going somewhere on the 7th of July, I decided to send it first class which means she'll hopefully get it by Saturday!! I can't wait for her to get it. For those that know what it is, if you leave a comment keep your mouth shut. Please & Thank You :) I hope she likes it, even though it's something that she can refer to whenever she wants.

My favorite part of the day was definitely getting to do a photoshoot of my good buddy Anthony Snyder. It definitely was nostalgic because we did the shoot in the same place where I first ever took portraits ... of him! (So, I know I'm posting up two pictures again, but it's to show difference, if there is any, haha.) The first time we did shots, I actually had no idea how to use manual focus, so I was using auto focus. Also, I didn't really understand how to use my shutter setting, instead I was using the portrait setting that was on there. It actually wasn't until after that first photoshoot did I actually learn how to take advantage of those. The manual focus was sometime while I was still in high school. As for shutter mode, that wasn't until college during a Women's Volleyball game. I realized then that the sport mode was just not fast enough, so then I messed around with shutter!

That first photoshoot though we were really just trying to do something classy. I was just trying to get some "sweet" portrait shots because it honestly was the first time I'd ever done any kind of portrait work. After that ... I was hooked. This shoot though, we kind of were going for the run down look, literally. Kind of that "bad-ass" feel if you want to think of it that way. So what better way to achieve that other than Anthony being: shirtless, looking like a thug (haha), and smoking a cigar. Put those all together and I'm pretty sure that's as run down as it gets. On top of that, my editing skills have totally evolved since then. So not only can I take a photo (in my opinion, you don't have to agree) that portrays a certain feeling, but I can also edit it to bring it out even more!

That was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to possibly doing more shoots with Anthony this summer. Oh yeah, last thing about Anthony, he's the first ever model where I've honestly felt comfortable just shooting photos of someone. Thanks Anthony :)

Once that was done I headed out to a camp ground to hang out with a few friends I went to high school with. It sounds like we were going to do illegal things, but we didn't, haha. In all honesty we were just celebrating my friend Caytie's 17th birthday, which is on July 1st! I found myself being the only guy there, haha. Also, I'm starting to realize just how old I'm getting. I'm almost 20, not anywhere close to turning 20 [6 months, give or take], but I'm getting there and it's actually kind of weird and it makes me feel ... old, ha. I was there until kind of late, which explains why this post is kind of late-ish.

Today was definitely a day to hang out, and it was tons of fun. Looking forward to more hangouts, but I'm definitely loving my personal down time where I can do what I want.

PS. Check out my flickr for some of the other photos from today.

PPS. Sorry for uploading two photos lately. haha. Luckily, the other photos just don't have to do with this project, or they are what I would call "out of date" in consideration to this project.

day 032. [reading]

Note to readers: This blog was inspired by my friend Tarra McCurdy's blog. I suggest that you guys follow her too as she's going through what we call, Post Grad life.

Most of you probably know who Tarra is, but for those that don't I'll tell you who she is, haha. Anyways, Tarra was a senior at the University of Portland and I met her briefly because of Senate. Getting out of it in the Spring because I wanted to focus more on my classes. Anyways, during our time this past spring semester we came up with this idea to write a blog about our adventures in the library. Check it out if you already haven't. As she said in one of her posts, our blog has become something bigger than we thought. It really has! I'm so excited to see where this blog takes us. Even if it doesn't take us anywhere, it's still awesome to know that we have quite a few people following us, whether it's public or purely because we post it up on our Facebook walls!

Alright, enough about that, to the actual portion of this blog. Seeing as I've come home from college, finally, I have a lot of down time. Although this down time could be filled with hanging out with friends, exercising, catching up on sleep, or even my internship/job, I surprisingly would like to use some of my downtime to just read. I've always been one to like reading, but being hampered by text book readings and assigned readings from school (both high school and college) I haven't found the time to really sit down with a good book and read it for all intent purposes.

So with that, I plan on reading a few good books this summer. Some of them might be related to biology/science, but are no way in the form of a text book. On the other hand, some of the books I plan on reading are definitely books that I either had to read in high school or never got around to. If you're wondering, which I hope you are, the books I plan on reading these next two months will be (as listed, not in order):

• Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky - I read this book in high school for AP Lit, but the thing is I had to read it. I didn't really have an option to read it or not. Now is my chance to actually just read it.
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - This was another book that I could have read, but I chose another book to read instead of it
• The Adolescent by Fyodor Dostoevsky - I honestly might not even get around to reading this because I just picked this book up seeing as our public library didn't even have Crime & Punishment. What a crime.
  
• Y: The Descent of Men by Steven Jones - I picked this book up at Powell's down in Portland and it's all about the Y-Chromosome. Me being a biology major and a science person in general, this just caught my eye. Oh yeah! I'm a guy!!
• The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston - In AP Bio my senior year, our teacher made us read The Hot Zone as a final project type sort of thing. At first I thought it was dumb, but I ended up really liking the book. So I figured if I got this book to read it wouldn't be that bad. Oh yeah, I own The Hot Zone.
  

As for what I did today exactly, it started out with an early morning run, another 2 miles. I think my legs are still a bit shot because my time was still somewhat close to what I ran yesterday. After getting off the phone with Tarra we discussed that I should just get my mile time down, which I need to get it down under 6 minutes.

Besides that though, I went to the post office to see how much it would cost to send Tarra's present to her; $2.24 to send it to her, not bad at all. I'll probably send that off tomorrow :)!

Afterwards that's when I drove up to the library to get myself a new library card. You can read all about that here. That was quite the experience being in the library. I enjoy the library much more now after blogging with Tarra!

I then walked down town from the library because I knew we had a little bookshop where you could obviously get books. It was kind of a like a really small Powell's, ha. Even though I checked out Crime & Punishment from another library, I also put an order in to get the book because I kind of like owning good books, even if I've read them before. It's just nice to have them laying around if I ever want to pick the book up.

That was it for today. Sorry this was so long guys, ha.

PS. I know I can only put up one photo a day that I took, but the thing is, the picture of Tarra was for you guys, so you knew what she looked like if you didn't :)

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. - Confucius

day 031. [sunset]

Wanna know something cool? Today marks the end of the "first month" of this project! 31 days later and I've got one month down and 11 to go!

Anyways, you know how during the summer the one thing EVERYONE wants to do is ... hang out? Well, to be honest with you, hanging out can get old and sometimes I really like to just stay home and just chill and bum around the house.

So that's what I did today, haha. Just did some chores around the house, although I hate chores. I did some more cleaning around my room and just getting rid of old things or packing stuff up so it can go in the garage. I definitely spent some good time in front of my keyboard just playing it and having tons of fun. Of course, because of my new found love for crafts, I obviously did that.

But there's only so much one can do in their house when it's summer. I found myself later wanting to go on a run. So I did, a 2 mile run. Start out small you know? haha. I'm not an XC runner, so I don't do 10 miles as a starter, bahaha. I realized though that I like running. Despite that I do sports where running isn't the main thing, I enjoy running. Something about how my body feels after I run just feels SO good!

I'm more of a late night runner though or early morning runner. Seeing as I woke up kind of late, I didn't do my run until later tonight.

I was able to do my run, but I also caught the sunset at west beach. If there's one reason that doesn't deal with my friends living here, I would come home to Oak Harbor definitely because of our sunsets! They are gorgeous, beautiful, and amazing. I sometimes suffer from Island Syndrome [hating the fact that I live on an island] but the thing is, I have yet to see a sunset anymore gorgeous than the sunsets here! Man, I love being home :)

PS. Ran my 2 miles in 14:05. Got to take photos of the sunset with my buddy Steven Welch. If you haven't noticed, I'm now tweeting. Follow me if you have one!

day 023. [father's day]

This really won't be a "highlight of my day post" more like a "tribute to my dad" :)

This one's for you Arsenio B. Baleros!

I wish I could be back in Oak Harbor to simply just tell my dad, "Happy Father's Day!" But I think he can wait another five days to hear those words. I could call him, but I do want to tell him in person.

To think, I haven't seen my dad for about a year! I don't know how I've managed that one. We might not have the greatest relationship at times, but you know, he's my dad and he's taught me some of the things I know now.

You know, if it wasn't for my dad's love of technology, especially cameras I wouldn't be so into photography. In fact, at first my dad didn't even want me to have my own camera. He'd get mad at me sometimes because I'd take his digital camera to do some photography work. That's when he finally bought me my first digital camera (sometime in 5th/6th grade).

Since then, I've been hooked. Other than the artsy side of my dad, he's definitely the athlete. He got me into tennis, with a little help from my brother who played as well. Also, because he was a distance runner, I thank him for that because I definitely have the build of a sprinter, but I've managed to hold my ground when it comes distance running all due to my dad for passing down his genes for slow-twitch muscles.

Putting aside the "materialistic" side of my dad, a lot of people can't tell, but I'm a Navy Brat. I happened to be a Navy Brat that got moved once, and I got moved pretty young. So I was lucky enough to live in one place for most of my life, but let me tell you something. It wasn't easy being a Navy Brat kid, especially when I was a boy and my dad was the navy parent. The times he would go on deployment felt like FOREVER! I remember one time though he was on deployment for a good 3 months. I would cry when we would drop him off and I would sometimes cry in the morning when he wouldn't be by me in my bed to wake me up for school. What!? I would miss him! :)

I think the hardest time was when my dad got deployed in Afghanistan early after the 9/11 incident. Man, did that shake my world. I don't remember how long he was gone for, but it definitely felt like a long time. Luckily, we got constant updates as to how he was doing. That was good and always put me at ease.

At times, we definitely didn't see eye to eye, but isn't that the relationship of a teenager with any of their parents? Now that I'm 19 and I've spent almost a year on my own, I appreciate all the times my parents and I didn't see eye to eye, especially the times between me and my dad. They were only trying to teach me the right things to do, but I didn't catch on then, haha. It obviously took some time for things to click, haha.

Despite the times when my dad and I didn't see eye to eye, I can't help but think how lucky I am to at least have a dad and a father figure. I'm not talking about those people who literally don't have dad's, I'm talking about those that have them, but it doesn't seem like they have one at all.

Although for awhile it seemed like I was fatherless and I was having to look to other male figures in my life to be like a father figure, things turned around. We have to back-track a bit, but my senior year of high school my main father figure was God. He was the only thing I had, besides other male figures, that was like a dad. Last summer at summer camp (best time of my life) God let me know that it was my time to shine for my dad. This separation my dad and I had this past year did wonders on our relationship. We're getting there, but I am so lucky to have a dad that is there. Thanks for everything, dad :)

Sorry for the randomness in this entry, haha :)