A Challenge

I am partaking in a fun challenge called 24 Things. I found it via my friend Lisa's blog and I think it is a great idea. Basically you just have to get rid of something every day. It can be physical or it can be mental. Also, you have to abstain from making any unnecessary purchases as well. For me that will mean no random coffees from Bisetti until after the 24th. 

By getting rid of things that we don't use, need or want, we free ourselves for the entry of other things and most of all tranquility and peace of mind. So here is what I have gotten rid of so far:

Jan. 1st: My 2013 planner 

Jan. 2nd: A bath mat that has been in our laundry room for a while. We have tried cleaning it a few times and failed. Good-bye mat. 

Jan. 3rd: A pair of old shoes 

Jan. 4th: Laziness 

Jan. 5th: An old towel 

Today: An aluminum water bottle

My husband decided to get rid of things as well. He isn't doing the challenge but he has already set aside at least 10 articles of clothing to donate and he dumped a ton of files from his course this past year. He said it felt great and I have to agree with him. It makes me very happy that we will never have to worry about being weighed down by things in our place.

I think I am going to have to get rid of some mental things as well. Laziness is a good start. I know that being on vacation warrants some laziness but I have had plenty of time to laze around. I am ready to be productive and gets some things done this summer. I am going to take part in the Suzuki Festival this year by taking the book 1 course again. I need a refresher and I would love to have some time to chat with other teachers about teaching violin in a school setting which is what I will be doing this year. I also plan on making a yearbook for my senior year of college. I started doing it using blurb.com before I left for Peru but then I never got around to finishing it and publishing it. I have a coffee table book for every year of college and it is a really great way to have all my photos in a physical form. I will then take photos off of facebook. It is not that they are incriminating but I think that photos have a shelf life and after 4 years it is unlikely that people are looking regularly at the photos I put up from college. I will leave a few for old times sake.

I have received a bunch of photos via email that my dad scanned from his old slides and it has made me think about how photos have evolved over the years and with the introduction of the digital camera. Before, you had to think about the picture you were going to take and hope that it would turn out the way you wanted it to. This year the world selfie was coined as one of the top new words added to the Webster's Dictionary. Who needs to worry about a bad angle of a photo you take by yourself of yourself when you can just delete it and try a thousand more times for the perfect shot. Haha. It's pretty funny actually because I trust myself to take a better selfie of Marco and me than I do some random stranger. I can't tell you how many times that stranger takes an un-centered picture. Instead of going to Osco and getting my camera film developed (doubles because I wanted to give them to friends too), I just hop on dropbox or facebook or whatever other platform and click a button to share. 

Instead of photographers being the image crafters and the artists behind the photos, everyone has become one and we are able to tweak and tint and put whatever sort of filter on so that we can have the perfect picture. I don't think it is a bad or a good thing. I just find it interesting to ponder the changes that we have seen over the past 15 years. I will admit that I like to take a nice photo and if I am not smiling or my eyes are shut I will take another one. However, sometimes it is fun to get those weird angle photos and the ones that weren't perfectly crafted. 

Something I love about the ease and simplicity of photo taking nowadays is that you can order super cool prints. My cousin has a printing company called Memento Press in San Francisco that specializes in unique printing ideas and memory book making. I knew that my mother wanted a nice picture from our wedding so I just sent a picture to my cousin and he printed it onto a metal base. It came out beautifully and now my mom has a great photo to hang on the wall. There is no denying that access to digital photos make present giving a breeze. Haha! I just re-read this paragraph and my cousin just got a really nice advertising spot for free! Too bad I only have about 3 dedicated followers. :)

Happy Monday everyone!

**Another challenge I plan on taking on this year is an entry every Monday. It is a resolution of sorts. There is plenty to write about even if what I have done the previous week is ordinary. So get ready for a more active and exciting Esto es Peru blog this year!**