street

Exploring Reno & Boomtown

architecture photography, black and white photography, Portrait photography, street photography

On a whim, I decided to drive to Reno, Nevada a few days after the new year. My best friend tagged along and we had a nice but frustrating adventure. Enjoyed the weather out there but the street lights and homelessness in Reno are no joke. It’s not on the level of San Francisco but it is a serious problem.

Besides that, finding parking that wasn’t connected to a hotel was a joke. Finally managed to find one and got some safe parking for free. Walked a few miles around the nearly empty streets of the littlest big city in the world. All I could was the cars wheezing bye and music from the casinos. I’m no gambler but I did hit the slots for a brief moment on someone’s else’s dime. However, turned that dime into fifteen dollars.

Afterwards, we kept walking towards the University of Nevada-Reno. The campus was as dead as a movie theater. It was a pretty nice experience as I was able to practice shooting portraits with no distractions or interruptions until my model fell.

That wasn’t the end of the trip as we had to make the trek back to Sacramento. We went to Boomtown, NV to devour some steak and eggs at Mel’s Original Diner. It was a fantastic idea despite the long wait time. I found Boomtown to much more pleasant than Reno.

I’m actually pondering moving to Nevada due to the standard of living in California. It’s a serious decision that I am not taking lightly. I’m taking some more time to think about it. I will have my decision in 6 to 9 months. Anyway, that’s all from me tonight.

Explore life!!!

Focus

black and white photography

Back after a short break! Was able to find some photos to edit like the one above. It’s a simple shot I took of an art installation project in San Francisco. We were looking for an exit but we ended up in art.

Was finally able to get some of my photos printed and I have to say that I truly love them. I like how my photos look printed much more than on a digital platform. It was cheap too, 22 photos for 6 dollars. Going to be having more photos printed and eventually publish a photo book. I still have to choose which photos to include with the first book. Will be releasing a poetry book as well but just like the photo book, I have to select what poems to include.

Will be getting creative in taking shots so I can upload here on a more regular basis. Hopefully I will be able to make some great shots happen.

Gate

black and white photography

A random shot I took while exploring San Francisco for the first time. It’s been in my “to-edit” folder for a year and a half. Felt like it was time to edit it and to display it. Not much to say about it, I like to capture neglected items.

I didn’t crash right after work, I’m proud of myself for that. I did still take a nap but that was 2 hours after work. It’s progress! I only went to bed hoping that I would sleep for longer and wake up around 11 or midnight. However, only managed to sleep for about 3 hours. Will have to crash pretty soon as I have the 4:30am shift tomorrow.

Was able to get a little reading done, studied a bit of Korean, and a little bit of other studying done. So far it’s the most productive that I’ve had on a 7am to 4am shift at work. Will continue to push myself but thankfully I’ll be getting more 4:30am shifts from now on. Ah, was able to apply to a few jobs but I haven’t heard anything back yet. Will continue to apply and see if I can work elsewhere.

For now, chase your ideal self. Peace,


David

Home

black and white photography, street photography

Was in Chinatown when I looked up and saw this street sign. Felt like a little piece of home. It’s a simple shot that I feel has a decent composition.

Did a lot of work for my E-Bay side hustle while being able to take my motorcycle out for a long ride. In the morning, I made sure to check my stocks. So far so good, it’s up and down a lot but right now its steadily going up. Wasn’t able to find time to read the investing book but before I go to bed I will crack it open. Will also continue Joy at Work and try to read The Promised Neverland.

Made some key decisions today that I won’t share until I follow through with them. Each one will change my life either way. Also I thought about where I want to go and how I want to get there. Set a deadline to achieve these goals and if I fail then I’ll have to do something else. All it’s going to take is effort and hard work and maybe a little passion infused with luck. Now I have to get to it and start paving my path.

Enjoy your life,

David

architecture photography, black and white photography, street photography

A shot of the previous subject from another angle. I happen to like this one a little more as it has more depth.

Wasn’t able to get much done today as I crashed hard after hard. Had the 6:30am-3:30pm shift and tomorrow I have the 4am – 1pm shift. So I had to cram as much in as I could in order to have a somewhat successful day.

Studied stocks, reviewed katakana, applied to jobs, and edited photos which is pretty all much all I did after I got home besides sleep and game. I’ve been struggling deciding the direction of this blog and figuring out if I should just start another one but a lifestyle blog. First thing, I will have to figure out is what direction should I take with this blog. Tomorrow, I will think heavily about this and decide.

For now, I have to crash again as I have to get up at 3am. Peace and stay sane,

David

Better

street photography

Me and my friend were willing to get lost in San Francisco. We turned down a random street and found this very decorative street showcased in this shot. There were a lot of beautiful quotes and artwork all up and down this street. However, the thing that stood out the most were the tents and the homeless. I really love San Francisco but it truly does have a problem. Anyway, this shot is just to showcase some of the beauty and some of the ugly.

Crashed very hard after work so I wasn’t able to get a whole lot done. Was able to read the first chapter of Marie Kondo’s book “Joy at Work”, review ed Katakana, study some stocks, edited photos, and updated social media. Tomorrow, I will do my best to read the first volume of “The Promised Neverland” and continue Joy at Work.

Anyway, I took the time to read some of my previous posts and would like to say sorry as there were some many mistakes left in them. I felt bad, I realized I wasn’t putting my best foot forward. I have a hard time reading anything that I wrote as I always want to do better and tighten it so much that it may just explode. From now on, I will make to sure to read my posts before uploading them and edit them to my satisfaction. I want to make this website about of my career and it is a passion of mine, so it’s my duty to truly create quality content.

Thank you for your patience and your readership. Peace,

David

Everyday

black and white photography, street photography

Street shot in the beautiful yet ugly city of San Francisco. I like the scaffolding in the shot and the shadows. My friend was gracious enough to let me take his photos the whole vacation. It’s a simple shot that I made on the move. Hopefully I have a chance to take another shot like this in the future.

Got a lot done today, was able to read “All You Need Is Kill” By Takeshi Obata which was way better than Edge of Tomorrow. The story is darker and edgier as well as well drawn. Going to be reading volume one of “The Promised Neverland” tomorrow.

Studied a lot about investing today. Finally understand what the dividend yield and volume mean. How to do research or if you should invest in a certain company. Didn’t read the book today but will be able to tomorrow. Just watched a bunch of videos on the subject and found some good YouTubers to follow. Will try to learn more and do some research on the current stocks I own to see which ones to keep and which ones to get rid of as soon as I can make a profit.

Been doing push ups whenever I think about a bad habit of mine. Today, ended up doing 66 push ups and I have 15 more to do. Something simple I’m doing to try to curb bad habits. Working so far, so I’ll continue it.

I am working on a new domain in order to start a lifestyle blog and transferring this domain name under a different site so I can run it as a portfolio. I’m raking my brain on it but I’m not coming up with anything so I’ll just sleep on it and try to come up with some names tomorrow as life through my eyes was already taken.

I have the 4:30am shift tomorrow, so I’ll end it here.

Have a good night/day,

David

Perseverance

architecture photography, black and white photography

A shot I took after accomplishing my mission of walking from Japantown to the beach. It was basically a 2 hour walk and afterwards we walked back. My legs were done afterwards we hit up Japantown and walked back to our hotel. It was brutal day but I have a bunch of shots to make up for it. I really like the atmosphere of this shot especially the fog and the crows.

Had a more productive day than normal, however, I could have pushed myself even further. Was able to finish “Dissolving Classroom” by Junji Ito, The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai, and The Gods Lie by Kaori Ozaki. So I was able to make some time for reading. Going to try to read “All You Need is Kill”, and “The Innocent”. I will continue Marie Kondo’s book as well as an investing book.

Besides that, went on a short motorcycle ride and ordered delivery from Panda Express. Played Dead by Daylight, Moving out, NBA2k20, and beat Sly Cooper 1 for the second time but the first time on the Vita. Invested some more as well, my investments are looking pretty good at the moment hopefully that’s a good sign. Got to make some time to crack open that investing book and watch those investing YouTube videos that are just being ignored in my watch later list.

Tomorrow, my focus will be on investing, photography, video, health, education, and Japanese. Will be reviewing Katakana and Japanese grammar, investing more in the stock market, reading, and exercising. Might even try to get back into yoga.

Gamble on what you are good at and love,

David

black and white photography, Portrait photography

Portrait of my family as we explored the historical part of my city. I think it’s decent but I really need to work on my portrait game. There are good leading lines and I think it has good composition as well. Might be a little too plain or too simple to truly work.

Finally, I don’t have to work for a few days. Going to be putting a lot of work into this site and investing. I put in another 85 dollars in the stock market and I might put more in tomorrow if I see anything promising. Really think that I will become a swing trader but like I said yesterday I will have to study some more.

Had a wonderful day filled new experiences and a decent amount of good conversation. Today will have to be a short post as I need to go back to bed to recover froma brutal workday.

There’ll be a much better post tomorrow. Got to edit and work like crazy.

Peace and have fun,

David

Investment

black and white photography, street photography

This photo is from 3 to 4 years ago. I remember spending two hours playing basketball at the local park when everyone is at home sleeping. I waited for the perfect angle and captured the hoop. I believe this was done with a Samsung Galaxy S3. Which had the best camera on a phone that I’ve ever owned. It’s a little noisy but I am glad to come back to these shots and see how far I’ve come.

One more day at work and then four off days (calling out one day). Worked hard today both in my day job and out. Was able to study more about investing and might be interested in swing trading. Will have to do more research and study investing more before I make a decision like that. Got another co-worker interested in investing which was pretty nice.

Picked Marie Kondo & Scott Soenshein’s new book ” Joy at Work”. I’ve only read one page so far but it seems to be an interesting read. Going to use it to clean up desk and provide a better place for me to work on this blog, my photography, video editing, investing, and writing. Going to add it to my schedule tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to read quite a bit of it.

So I am going to start to invest into myself more. I really want to leave my job but I don’t want to quickly hop onto the next available retail job. So I’m going to try to obtain some certifications and gain more experience video editing, using photoshop and lightroom, and writing. We will have to see what I can do during these turbulent times.

Besides that, got to figure out a good workout routine and stick with it. For now, got to get some cleaning done before I hit the hay. I have the 4am shift tomorrow.

Dare to invest in yourself,

David