it’s been a long week for me. i haven’t been sleeping much and i think the lack of sleep is really beginning to wear on me. i’ve been taking the vitamins that my sister got me for my birthday and i think that the extra boost in vitamins actually helped me recover from a nagging cough that i’ve had forever now.

i’m looking forward to the weekend and relaxing a little. hopefully i’ll be able to chill a bit. tomorrow’s going to be spent hanging out with anita, doing the photo shoot, and then heading out for paul’s (surprise) birthday dinner.

i’ve been calling it a surprise birthday dinner because it’s fun to see the mortified look on people’s faces because they’ve already mentioned something about it to paul. i guess that’s sort of sadistic on my part, but it’s fun nonetheless.

i think that i may end up spending a good part of today taking a break from it all though and just take it easy and rest away.

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i’m not usually into watches, but.

[url=http://www.tagheuer.com/basel2004/monacov4.lbl]oh. my. god.[/url]

while checking my mail, i got a rather unexpected surprise. i got an email from an old friend of mine who i haven’t seen in a long time. it really brightened up my day. so we’re going to meet up sometime this weekend and catch up. it also sounds like i’ve got another model lined up so it’s going to be a bit of a busy weekend.

i’m volunteering on sunday for the [url=http://www.nikkeimatsuri.org/]nikkei matsuri[/url] in japantown in san jose on sunday. i’ll be working the JACL booth making strawberry shortcakes. how strawberry shortcakes promotes japanese culture, i’m not sure, but i’m there to represent, yo. errr, uh, yeah, something like that.

it’s interesting because i joined JACL/Next Generation because of the volleyball league. it’ll be interesting to see if there will be a bunch of japanese people at the festival or not. one would assume that that would be the case, but it’s so rare that i get to see many japanese people at all. we’ll see. i’ll be sure to bring my camera with me and take some shots of the festival. it should be fun. i have to find a hat, though. hmmm, i wonder if i can find one. that may be a bit of a challenge. anyway, i’ll be at the JACL booth from 1:30-3:00pm if any of you want to help support the japanese, yo. japantown, san jose, sunday, may 2. be there or be square.

[url=http://www.track15.com]dardy[/url] was talking about the different types of cheating. it is pretty obvious that you are cheating if you are physically kissing or sleeping with someone else. but he wonders if there is such a thing as emotional cheating.

i think that there is. emotional cheating is every bit as bad as physically cheating on someone else. but what constitutes emotional cheating? lusting after someone else? i don’t think that lusting after someone else (from afar) can be considered cheating. now lusting after someone else in front of your significant other is just stupid and will probably be the cause of a fight, but to privately covet another from afar? i don’t really think that’s emotionally cheating.

maybe it’s just guys. but just because a guy admires another woman from afar doesn’t mean that he loves his significant other any less. he just has an appreciation for beauty. but if you start to act on that, that is when i think you start to edge closer to the line of emotionally cheating.

i think that emotional cheating is where you share intimate parts of your life with one person, but not your significant other…unless of course that little intimiate part of your life is about your significant other, but hey, we all need someone to talk to. but yeah, if you start to do things with someone else, but refuse to do it with your significant other, that could be indicative of something.

the last two weeks were off weeks for me for volleyball. now that i’m only playing one night a week, i feel that i really need to play a lot better to maximize my playing time. yesterday was a good night. i finally remembered how to play again. i hate it when i forget. =P

but we went 4-0 yesterday, which was a nice, welcome change. it was good to get my hitting back. it was like a lost puppy. slowly, but surely it had found its way back home.

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over the weekend, [url=http://www.bastalaranza.com]geoff[/url] and i were waxing philosophy about photography. it sort of reminded me of what it was about photography that i loved.

i would say that most people are pretty casual when they take pictures. these photographs are generally taken so that they can capture a moment. some people are very specialized in the kind of photography that they do. some focus on landscapes, while others do portraits. i’ve always sort of fell somewhere in the middle. i enjoy landscapes, but i also enjoy photographying people. animate, inanimate objects, abstract, whatever, i’ve probably tried it all.

though capturing the moment is part of my goal, i think that what i strive for when i take photos is to show someone something that they haven’t seen…or to show them something they’ve seen a million times, just not quite the same way i do.

there is a school of photography that is all about the commercial image. the one that is tried and true, and people universally seem to enjoy. i like that look, but i cannot say that that is what i strive for. i’ve shot with more traditional photographers and they know exactly how to shoot something. it’s the shot that has the highest commercial value. it’s a very mainstream perspective and it works quite well.

but that just isn’t me. i think one of the things i enjoy most about photography is that i can share with someone else how i see the world. a lot of the images that i take are about how i interact with the environment that i’m in. so when it comes to photographing people, i feel that i really get a lot more out of it if i get to know the model a little bit.

it’s sort of like capturing how i see them. like i’ve said before, i’ve worked with models who are bold and some that are shy. each shoot varies, the poses aren’t the same because the people aren’t the same. it’s just a matter of me trying to figure out how best to portray them. so far i think that i’ve been reasonably successful, though my friend also told me once, “if you start with a beautiful model, your pictures can’t go too wrong.”

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i am in such a foul mood right now. i don’t even know why i am in such a bad mood. it sort of concerns me because i think that i’m beginning to snap at people. that can’t be good.

snappish!