It rained today as I hid myself within my little cubicle, tapping away at the keyboard as if nothing else mattered. Every so often there would be a mouse click or two followed by even more tapping. Just as I love the sound of rain pounding gently against the roof I also savor the tactile response I get from writing long-winded status reports. I don’t know what it is exactly that makes the typing sound all that alluring. Maybe it’s because I feel I’m being productive.. or at least I sound like it.

My next actions list via Remember the Milk is faithfully displayed on the left most part of the screen… dictating what I’ve to get done and color coded in the order of priority. Orange being first, light powder blue is second, and dark blue is third. Those without priority are simply white and will eventually get its code as the day progresses.

Every few moments I would minimize what I was doing to reveal Lotus Notes behind it. Nine of ten times, there would be at least five to six unread messages. All of which are immediately dealt with in one of five ways: deleted, deferred, responded to, filed away for reference, or added to “in” on my next actions list and color coded as necessary. Then my inbox is returned to zero.

My email folders are organized for efficiency and flexibility. They are first organized by year, then by context, then by project name — which also happens to be prefixed with the corresponding two digit month of which the project was first mentioned. As projects are completed folders are archived into a master repository appropriately labeled Completed. Beyond these I also have a Reference folder and within that are the folder names (in alphabetical order) of people who’s emails I care about.

In the event I ever need to find an email from manager for a project I did in 2011 it would take only seconds.

The response I get is usually, “wow.” But not necessarily in the sense of amazement. The beauty of wow is it could be verbalized in varying degrees of pitch and tone and depending on the combination of the two, the word can range from bewilderment to nerd-ism to it’s-time-to-get-a-life. But this is how I roll. This is how I keep emails under control. This is how I get things done day in, day out. This is how I maintain sanity in fast-paced digital world.

Hello anonymous visitor.

I admit. Sometimes I wonder who you are and how you got here. For all I know you could be someone I’ve met in real life — like a overly curious coworker, or maybe even my boss. Perhaps you’re a family member wondering what I’m up to. Or a college professor at Jacksonville University. Maybe you’re an old high school friend who just went through the yearbook. Or  you could just be an ex-girlfriend wondering who who the love of my life is now. Chances are, however, you’re more likely to be just some random Googler who’s search  results have lead you astray.

But that’s ok. Anonymity is a beautiful thing , especially on this crazy thing we call the world wide web. The fact of the matter is you’re here now and you’ve managed to read this far into my nonsensical blog of randomness. Thank you for reading me out.

I met some new people over the weekend. One is the owner of a dance studio. She was coordinating the Celebrate Asia event and happen to run into me while I was shooting another event. She specifically needed an Asian photographer and.. well, I happen to be both Asian and a photographer. What a coincidence.

So anyway, I got curious and did what most people these days would do. I Googled her. Turns out she’s pretty good at what she teaches. There’s even a video of her at a championship competition. I’m quite impressed. I’ve always wanted to take up ballroom dancing. Perhaps I can work out a deal with her: photos for dance lessons.

The other person I met is a philanthropist and visionary and started an organization that fights poverty with education. He happened to run into me while I was shooting the Celebrate Asia event (and who said networking doesn’t work?) I’ll be shooting his event this weekend and looking forward to it.

So overall, it was a fairly eventful weekend. Looking forward to see what the upcoming week has in store.

Alumni Drive. I’ll have to come back again when there aren’t any cars.

Trees line sidewalks throughout  the campus.

One of several paths leading towards the library and food court.

Entrance to the Founders Building.

There were obviously planted by hand and have to be at least 75 years old. Not sure why the lamp was on.

Cart path. It’s my understanding that the smaller trees were dedicated to university superlatives.

Baseball field on the banks of the St. Johns River. A short swim across and you’ll find yourself in the heart of Downtown Jacksonville.

Joggers near JU housing.

Bleachers at the track/football field.

When I began my journey into photography I shot things that were interesting or that mattered to me. Not knowing; not caring. Oblivious and naive, I was. As I grew, my eyes saw more, craved more, obsessed more. Before long I was immersed in f-stops, ISO, and light theories.

Today is the day I digest all of the complexities and return to shooting just because.

There’s just something about a good bowl of soup from Bowl of Pho that eases an unsettled mind. And it’s even tastier when you eat among good friends.

JC ordered the P16 – a generous serving of noodles, beef slices, and tripe (the intestinal lining of the cow) all in richly flavored, heart-warming broth. Since I don’t eat anything that walks on four legs, I typically get the chicken version. However, this go around I went with the classic chicken fried rice kicked up to level 2 (of 5) in spicy goodness.

I was glad I didn’t go any hotter than 2 as it was pretty spicy even at that level. I couldn’t imagine what 5 would’ve been like. My anus shudders at the very thought.

After dinner we headed to the local cinema to watch Wrath of the Titans. Rotten Tomatoes rated this movie at a meager 20/100 and it consistently received 2 out of 5 stars from various independent movie critics. Despite the warnings we opted to see it anyway. The visual effects were nothing short of amazing and Rosamund Pike just radiated beauty every time she appeared on the big screen. Aside from that the movie sucked. So much in fact that the only wrath experienced was my own because it was so badly put together. This is probably the worst movie I’ve seen this year.