Sitting on the mattress that is my bed last night, I looked around my room and took everything in. I looked past the clothes strewn around the room, proof of a weekend of shopping and debauchery, at the filled bookshelf, the slowly dusting guitar in the corner, the two cameras on my desk and the computer lying on the edge of the bed. It suddenly hit me how many things I have taken up as my own little projects. When I bought my guitar, I justified it saying that I wanted to learn - that it was something to do for my own sake when everything I was doing was for everyone else's sake. Since then, I realised, I have taken up a lot of projects for my own sake. I thought I would pay a small tribute to them here.
Playing guitar. As I said earlier, this was the first thing that I decided to do just for me. I love the guitar and have always wanted to learn how to play it. However, I have become lazy in terms of practicing and need someone or something to motivate me. Wanting to be able to play the songs I like only takes me so far. I need something more - someone to practice with or someone to teach me.
Blogging. When I came to Korea, I started this blog. At first, the blogs were occasional as I was just trying to adjust to the new space I was in, but over the last few months it has become a regular hobby of mine, to the point where I was approached to blog for another website about living in Korea (which I am still considering, since they want me to post 3-4 articles on a weekly basis and I am not sure that I have the time or desire. I want to write when I want to write.) I have also become a bit of a blogaholic, now having three separate blogs - one for Korea, one for my creative writing and one for my photography. But more about those in a minute.
Creative Writing. Last year, I took a course in creative writing, and I loved it. I have always enjoyed writing actually, particularly creatively, and it is what put me on the path towards journalism from an early age. But last year, I started writing creatively in a serious way. Before, I was writing silly short stories, fiction, my imagination flowing over onto the page without a second thought. Last year I started to think about the things that I was writing and channel my creativity and imagination into a specific direction - write about a smell, write a litjourn article, write a poem. Being told what I should be doing was liberating and caging simultaneously - I knew the direction in which my writing should go, but to make it go in that direction was a battle. Then, about a month ago, I started writing again. I have been writing all along, of course - regular e-mails and blogs aplenty - but this time I started writing creatively, taking my feelings, my thoughts, my imaginings and putting them to paper or harddrive as the case often was. I started updating my creative writing blog more regularly. I even went out and bought a book in which I could and would write. While I have been lazy over the last month with Grant here to occupy my mind, I took up my pen once more last night and wrote for a good half an hour. It was a good, releasing feeling and by the end of it the depression that had been threatening to sink in had abaited for a time.
Learning Korean. Grant rekindled this project in me with his sheer enthusiasm for the language, and though (once again) I have been lazy over the last couple of days, the urge to learn has been slowly eating away at me, and soon I won't be able to resist anymore. I am on the fifth chapter of the book, and have found myself remembering more than I thought I would - like phrases keep coming to mind, and though I am not quite comfortable using them yet, the fact that they are there makes me feel that the hours spent learning are not going to waste.
Photography. Unlike my love for guitar and writing, this hobby of mine has not been long in the making. It only came into being last year when I held one of the journalism cameras in my hand and felt the power behind it flowing through me. It started when I learned how to take a camera and bend the world to my will in a small way by capturing a part of it in film. But it slowed a great deal when the camera was taken away from me and I found that my own little point and shoot wasn't nearly as good at capturing the world the way I saw it. It always somehow fell short. Now I have a camera that is capable of doing my bidding and I am slowly learning how to use it - through both study and practice. To see my progress, just check out my 365-day project.
Those are my current projects, but it is possible that one will also come into the works tonight. This weekend, I came across someone in my area who told me about Taekwondo classes for foreigners. I am going to the first class this evening, and I am excited - I love martial arts and want to learn; it is a form of sorely needed exercise; and I am seeing it as a photo opportunity. I will have to see how it goes, but I have the feeling that a new project is on the brink of beginning. It is a good feeling.
Playing guitar. As I said earlier, this was the first thing that I decided to do just for me. I love the guitar and have always wanted to learn how to play it. However, I have become lazy in terms of practicing and need someone or something to motivate me. Wanting to be able to play the songs I like only takes me so far. I need something more - someone to practice with or someone to teach me.
Blogging. When I came to Korea, I started this blog. At first, the blogs were occasional as I was just trying to adjust to the new space I was in, but over the last few months it has become a regular hobby of mine, to the point where I was approached to blog for another website about living in Korea (which I am still considering, since they want me to post 3-4 articles on a weekly basis and I am not sure that I have the time or desire. I want to write when I want to write.) I have also become a bit of a blogaholic, now having three separate blogs - one for Korea, one for my creative writing and one for my photography. But more about those in a minute.
Creative Writing. Last year, I took a course in creative writing, and I loved it. I have always enjoyed writing actually, particularly creatively, and it is what put me on the path towards journalism from an early age. But last year, I started writing creatively in a serious way. Before, I was writing silly short stories, fiction, my imagination flowing over onto the page without a second thought. Last year I started to think about the things that I was writing and channel my creativity and imagination into a specific direction - write about a smell, write a litjourn article, write a poem. Being told what I should be doing was liberating and caging simultaneously - I knew the direction in which my writing should go, but to make it go in that direction was a battle. Then, about a month ago, I started writing again. I have been writing all along, of course - regular e-mails and blogs aplenty - but this time I started writing creatively, taking my feelings, my thoughts, my imaginings and putting them to paper or harddrive as the case often was. I started updating my creative writing blog more regularly. I even went out and bought a book in which I could and would write. While I have been lazy over the last month with Grant here to occupy my mind, I took up my pen once more last night and wrote for a good half an hour. It was a good, releasing feeling and by the end of it the depression that had been threatening to sink in had abaited for a time.
Learning Korean. Grant rekindled this project in me with his sheer enthusiasm for the language, and though (once again) I have been lazy over the last couple of days, the urge to learn has been slowly eating away at me, and soon I won't be able to resist anymore. I am on the fifth chapter of the book, and have found myself remembering more than I thought I would - like phrases keep coming to mind, and though I am not quite comfortable using them yet, the fact that they are there makes me feel that the hours spent learning are not going to waste.
Photography. Unlike my love for guitar and writing, this hobby of mine has not been long in the making. It only came into being last year when I held one of the journalism cameras in my hand and felt the power behind it flowing through me. It started when I learned how to take a camera and bend the world to my will in a small way by capturing a part of it in film. But it slowed a great deal when the camera was taken away from me and I found that my own little point and shoot wasn't nearly as good at capturing the world the way I saw it. It always somehow fell short. Now I have a camera that is capable of doing my bidding and I am slowly learning how to use it - through both study and practice. To see my progress, just check out my 365-day project.
Those are my current projects, but it is possible that one will also come into the works tonight. This weekend, I came across someone in my area who told me about Taekwondo classes for foreigners. I am going to the first class this evening, and I am excited - I love martial arts and want to learn; it is a form of sorely needed exercise; and I am seeing it as a photo opportunity. I will have to see how it goes, but I have the feeling that a new project is on the brink of beginning. It is a good feeling.
Post a Comment