think tank forum

how many of you journal or write (stories, poetry, etc.)?

i'll be browsing the web and come across something like this:
http://www.43things.com/entries/view/818313

and i'll be reminded of an event that occurred in my life a while ago and i'll become nostalgic. then i think about all the stuff that has happened in my life that i do not remember, and all of the forgone nostalgic feelings that i want. then i have a desperate urge to journal everything that i can remember and to continue doing it so that i'll be able to recall all of these amazing events in my life.

however, journaling is a paradox because you can't journal everything, and the more you journal, the less events you have time to experience! so you have to decide what you'll like to reminisce the most in the future, and you just write that down. but if you know anything about my personality, you know that i like to "go all the way or not go at all." this means that i write everything of any significance or i just don't journal at all.

moreover, how do you feel about this issue: would you carry around a camera and always take tons of pictures for the purpose of reminiscing in the future, or do you hold the position that life is better when you aren't always looking through a viewfinder?

A friend of mine manages to go through almost a journal a month. She loves it, BUT she'll only write in it before bed. She doesn't avoid life to write it down. Which is fine by me. (She's on #37 now, IIRC.)

I don't journal, I can never remember to write but when I do I get the "but I'll be the only one reading this, so why bother?" feeling. I do write, but not as much anymore. I like it, but I have better ways to spend my time.

Also, I could never keep a camera with me to take photos. It's just more crap that has to find its way into my pocket or bag.

if I feel like I have any coherent thoughts bouncing around in my head that would be more coherent if I put them down on paper, I sit down for usually less than a half hour and write a couple of pages.

I probably should have read your entire post before posting, because your last paragraph is really interesting. I've questioned before whether or not it's worth it to take photos of experiences for the purpose of reminiscing sometime in the future. I'm still not sure what my answer is.

I love looking at photos of my childhood, or my parents' childhoods, and that makes me think it's somehow worth it to keep some photos of my life around to look at in twenty, thirty, forty, or however many years with whomever (I hope I used that correctly) I'm close to at the time.

(asemi, you did use 'whom' correctly.)

You make a good point, about keeping photographs as mementos of a life past. But looking back through my family's albums I noticed that the photos are spread out over the course of their lifetime, averaging maybe fewer than a dozen per year. Sometimes more if there's a truly important celebration. I'm not taking into account birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, et cetera, which tend--in my family, at least--to have their own dedicated albums.

But this doesn't directly address larz's post, which isn't about family snapshots, though it could be. I would like to have a camera with me to take such photographs, but I would be too caught up in the moment to remember to take a photograph. C'est la vie.

I would rather have a few good photos from important events in my life than have 10 pictures of me every time i hang out with friends. if you make too many then you don't really value the photos as much and don't want to take the time to look through them all. At this point I am more interested in my future than my past so I don't really think it is worth it to document my whole life.
As for journaling, I don't really see the point because I am not really interested in what I had for breakfast or who I talked to on a given day.

> As for journaling, I don't really see the point because I am not really interested in what I had for breakfast or who I talked to on a given day.

that's like when you siad that philosophy is just sitting around giving personal value statements.

i journal a fair amount and i've never mentioned what i had for breakfast for who i talked to.

and i don't know anyone who takes 10 pictures every time they hang out with friends. i don't appreciate the straw men.

> At this point I am more interested in my future than my past so I don't really think it is worth it to document my whole life.

this is closer to a valid reason, but we aren't saying you have to document your whole life.. that's impossible.

QUESTION: DO YOU OWN A CAMERA? DO YOU USE IT? yeah, you do.

I have never done much journaling other than livejournal, which is sort of like a myspace runoff. I do not particularly like writing things like that because I am not very good with words, and end up not being able to write what I mean to say.

I carry my camera whever I go now. I have just split my photography into 2 catagories..

art - landscapes, portraits, action with the intent to present to an audience or maybe to sell. alawys shot in raw format.. generally 60mb files.

personal / reminiscence - I usually shoot jpg format for these so it doesnt take so much room on my computers. for looking over to remember good times or whatever. I have taken a lot of pictures from highschool that I like to go back over. I intend to take a look over old family photos soon. I can't remember too many photos of myself or dp, but It has been a while since I've seen them.

something I would want to try is a photo blog. I do not know much about creating web pages or anything, or I just might have one up :(

yeah, photo blogs are cool. iirc, hans (the member here) had one

yep its a good one too.

what do you journal about then? they were given as examples of mundane bullshit that i won't care about far into the future. As for important events, I will probably recall what happened and how I felt about it, so again, I see no point in journals.
A lot of people i know take pictures every time they go out with friends. I am saying that in my book pictures are for special occasions or for showing people places you went or to show someone something over the web, things like that.
Besides, most of what is in this post is personal taste, so there's no need to attack my opinion on the subject.

i wasn't attacking your opinion in your post, i was attacking the fact that your post was lacking opinion.

it seems that a lot of people don't have excellent memories. i like to catalogue those turning points in my life so that in the future i'll remember the finer details. i've already forgotten the few turning points i have had this year, but luckily i wrote them down with a fair amount of detail.

my online journal is somewhat representative of what i write in my hand-written journal: http://www.wingedleopard.net/lucas/

now you might not be able to appreciate those words, but to the reader i hope to offer enticing symbolism and double-entendres. you just have to look for them. for me, the words include personal struggles, victories, and my personal dilemmas. my written journal includes more specific details, ones which i don't offer up to the masses (although i'll let anyone read my hand-written journal, and people have.)

My journal is down for the count. Hope to get back to it soon. I haven't had any time for directly personal endeavours. Just working and doing school as best as I can scrape by. This is by far my worst semester ever.

Also I don't think I'm going to Spain any longer.

Journal should be back up as soon as I start having regular experiences that are worth more than me being happy at work one day or not, or passing a test or not.

danny, you have to go to spain, it is what provoked me to journal, though we are all individuals and the same expierence for me will not be the same for you, i believe that spain has an engaging effect on anyone who has a soul

Thanks I'll keep that in mind. I just won't be going this spring. It won't be cost effective. I do still want to go. There will be some grand journalling adventure in some form or another this next semester since I won't be making it to Spain. Do you have any online journal maharg?

I'm a Germany man myself. Been there twice for about 2 months total. You totally need to get over to Europe dp. Well worth very single penny.

hess> I'm a Germany man myself.

or perhaps a german-woman man?

my grandpa was from germany. I think we are both right.

In response to the original question: I do think it's more important to experience vs. capture, though in most cases I think some degree of both is entirely possible.

And I just bought my first journal since being in elementary school. I've been writing in it mentally since the moment I woke up this morning, but since I bought it an hour ago, I've been struggling with what to write down first. I feel like my mind is overflowing with thoughts that need out, and they are all at #1 priority...

i had just the same problem when i got my journal

and when it comes to photos (just read the first post) i tend to take hundreds of them at special events and let the camera stay at home the rest of the time. maybe i'd take more pictures if i had a smaller camera i could keep in a pocket at all times. but then again i've got too much in my pockets already

i feel a pocket thread coming on

best believe.

pockets

I consistently journal like once every four or so months. I'm ok with it.

Oh yeah, I picked up a moleskine grid pocket style journal, I dedicated the first five pages to decent contacts met on trips. The rest is just random thoughts and notes for memory. I still have my miquelrius that turned from dream journal to regular journal, with huge gaps between entries.

i've been one line journaling every day. it's easy if you carry a notebook everywhere as i have been doing

Maybe I should try that. I've been failing to write anything lately because I'm overwhelmed with how much hasn't been written...

Ridiculous, backwards conundrum!

I've been taking a 6-pack of Franziskaner up into my room with me almost every night and finishing it off while I write. Been running through ink like a mad man!

Though I'm buying a bottle of wine to refresh my palate this week.

you are my hero phi

i'm not much for wheat bears, but i guess it's probably one of the best wheats.

I love the wheat beers. Been trying to branch out, but it's kinda hard. No real good liquor stores out here. Well, there's a few but their beer selection is limited. I had to buy the Franziskaner by the bottle. :-/

before i say anything and risk offending anybody through the perceived use of faulty or misleading logic, i would like to say that the following statements are simply my opinions and though they might contradict with other opinions previously stated on this thread, they are not intended to refute previous statements on any objective level.

i don’t think there need be any compromise between living and capturing. to me capturing is just another element of living. if i have a wonderful day or an awful day i could experience it fully by staying involved to the last moment before fading away into sleep. or i could relive the interesting parts of the day through journaling. i don’t think that is at all an absence of experiencing but rather simply a different level of it, perhaps an internalizing of it.

likewise i think that any discussion of seeing the world less by looking through a viewfinder is bogus. for me, the act of creation whether permanent or ephemeral is perhaps the highest calling. it is the imprinting of your identity on the universe. when i view things through the viewfinder i see something altogether different and more because i am no longer just a passive receiver of beauty but also a participant. i will always choose to be an actor in life rather than a spectator. you wouldn’t ever ask a microbiologist if he wouldn’t rather just put the microscope away and stare at the lab dish or the painter to stare at the canvas. why would you ask the photographer?

good points.

i just bought a new journal (espresso color)
http://www.jennibick.com/fiorentina-antiqua-l … urnal.html