From now on

I have received a special email today. It began with:

“Well, what's up! Are you happy?”

I guess the person who wrote this really know me to start with such a direct approach! In fact that person is the person who know me the most: it's me.

Sounds weird? Let me explain it to you.

If you go through Hungry's 877 posts blog archive, you'll find a post called Past, Present and Future in which he writes about a web site called www.futureme.org where you can write a message to a “future you”.
I just love the idea and on December 22th 2006, I wrote a message to myself and I have received this message today. it's funny because last week, it came back to my mind for the first time and I wondered when I will receive it. One week later it pops up! Brains are powerful machines...

Now the message, it talks about trouble dealing with my job (hmmm..how about that?). It also talks about my difficulty of turning the page on my past relationship (At least, I have settled this! YAY).
They are mentions about a dark and humid apartment (he he...not anymore! ) and also about an ambiguous relationship with a friend (well on this side, the situation and name have changed but the ambiguity has remained ).

I was even kind enough to ask me: “How was your summer trip in Iceland?” (It was fantastic, thank you! ) and “What are your dreams?” (Gee, tough question! mmm...I will have to think before answering this one.)

What I like the most about this is that I realize that I could never have imagined what has happened during that year, all the decisions I took, all the unexpected things that did happened. And that only mean that whatever is going on in your life, you just don't know how it will turn out in the future and somehow I find this comforting.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a message to wrote to a “futureme”

And I encourage all of you to do the same.

Where will you be in one year?
What will happen until then?
What are your hopes for the future?...

A pivotal day for your NLBC President today as I made a move to regain control of my life. In the paths of Allan or MickeyJoe, I took a decision, after a long reflection (thanks to two of my readers for your patient listening ear and generous support: ) and reoriented my life in another direction. Although, it won't take the form of a drastic transition because I've managed to find a way to make it at the pace I have chosen. So it will let me the time to carefully plan my upcoming new life and take the best decisions.

But the train is definitely on its tracks and there is no turning back at this point. Even though it's exciting, I have to admit that it is also quite scaring. But most of all, it is promising. I remember living a similar cocktail of feelings 1 ½ year ago, on a certain April 1st 2006. Of course it was more intense back then, but in the long run, it will also considerably change my life.

All this may sound confusing for most of you and sorry for not being clearer but I promise, as soon as the pieces will fall into place, I will explain it in a better way. So why I've decided to write this vague post tonight? Well, since this blog is a reflection of my life, I felt the need to emphasize this important day for me in a certain way.

(Click on the mosaic to see a larger version and notice that all the underline words in this post lead to one of the pictures).

One year ago, I took this huge challenge of taking a photo each day during 365 days, a whole year. I remember how much I have hesitated before taking this contract despite the apparently simple task. I'm not the kind of person who like to give up when I take on a challenge so I took the time to evaluate what it will really represent and ask myself do I really want to take that challenge and I concluded that it was worth it. And what a challenge it was!

During the past 365 days, I always had my camera with me. I mean anywhere and all the time. And when I forgot it I would go back home to pick it up. I simply felt uncomfortable without it because I didn't want to miss any opportunity to take my photo of the day.

Never forget to take my daily photo, it became an obsession. And of course not any photo, an interesting, different photo every day. Some days it was the easiest thing to do but some other days it wasn't that obvious. When you began to find your bedroom ceiling lamp photogenic, it's a good sign that you are out of inspiration! And more than once I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night to ask myself "Did I forgot to take my photo of the day?"

But I've made it! almost perfectly. Almost because I forgot once, on may 24th 2007. One of those bad days when everything goes wrong. I also made some smaller mistakes like when I took this photo 29 minutes after the midnight dead line or when I accidentally change the resolution level settings on my camera and took very low resolution photos during 3 consecutive days. I also realized that on the 64 first days of my challenge, my camera time setting was 1 hour in advance (and 2 hours in advance after the daylight saving time change). But like anyone else, I'm not perfect and that is why I consider my Project 365 a big success.

It's a big success because it gave me something priceless and I'm not talking about the improved sense of observation that I gained while taking almost 13 000 photos during that year. I'm talking about having a true snapshot of one year in my life. A photo of every single day of this year, a photo of my joys, my pains, my most meaningful days and the ones that made me evolve, my projects, my hesitations, my homes, my trips. Photos of my friends, my family, my working entourage and some others directly related to this community. And of course photo of nature, this beautiful nature that surround me every day. Some was published other won a contest.

Like a good friend told me, it also has a symbolic dimension. Taking one photo per day, is like taking one day at a time, one step at a time. And how I have evolved during this year.

Another great thing about this Project is all the friends I made among this group. Thanks to you all my fellow 365ers for your encouragements, funny comments and kind compliments. You are a terrific group and I will keep on visiting your photo albums and support you through your own personal 365 projects in the future.

Don't give up guys, you can do it!

I know, it must be hard to believe (except maybe for the other 365ers) but I will have trouble ending this behaviour of taking a photo everyday. It's so deep in me now. But I think I found a solution, some kind of withdrawal treatment for all the retired 365ers. I'm working on it. Stay tune for more details in a very near future.

Ok now since this project is about numbers, I took the time to compile a few:

Camera used: Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Number of photos posted on my 365 Project album : 364
Number of days missed: 1 (DAY 222)
Number of photos taken after the 00:00 deadline: 1 (DAY 121)
Number of photos taken during this period: 12 999


Number of photos taken inside: 111
Number of photos taken outside: 253
Number of photos taken during work hours: 142
Number of photos featuring nature: 179
Number of photos featuring the river: 59
Number of photos featuring flora: 85
Number of photos featuring animals: 56
Among these photos, number of photos featuring birds: 32
Among these photos, number of photos featuring ducks: 10
Number of photos featuring people: 37
Among these photos, number of photos featuring me: 6
Number of photos featuring food: 12
Number of photos featuring electronic devices: 11
Number of photos featuring house's furniture: 20
Number of photos sports related: 10
Number of photos featuring the famous LWU: 7
Number of other miscellaneous photos: 94


Earliest time photo taken(despite the 00:29 photo): DAY 141 at 05:42
Latest time photo take(despite the 00:29 photo): DAY 180 at 23:28
Most popular time I took my daily photo(1hour period): 73 photos between 8:00 and 9:00
Most popular exact hour I took my daily photo: 8:20 (6 photos)
Number of photos in black and white: 2
Different aperture size used: 11
Most frequently aperture size used : F 8,0 (104 times)

Number of visitor's views (entire album): More than 23 000
Number of visitor's comments (entire album): 945
Most viewed photo: DAY 104 (333 views)
Most commented photo: DAY 300 (54 comments)
Number of photos nominated in the 365 project monthly contest: 20
Number of photo who won that contest: DAY 104 in January 2007