the holidays

I have a week and a half off starting next week. I'm not sure what to do with it just yet. I'm not a huge fan of the holidays. I always end up feeling like I'm getting pulled in all directions and left feeling pretty exhausted. Every year it's the same thing. And so... I keep thinking to myself "maybe I could just go..." but where? Where would I go? The idea at the top of my list is New York City. Then maybe Montreal (though I really don't know what I would do there other than eat bagels - ha!). I also, out of curiosity (and research) looked at flights to Tokyo (that's just ridiculous I know).

Unfortunately, I think I will be stuck in Toronto for the holidays yet again. And this is disappointing. That being said I have a trip planned in March to Paris. Mais Oui! Paris! I've been there before and wasn't a huge fan the first time around but maybe this time, if I spend a week there I'll like it better? My friend Aleks has been living there for the last 4 months now and I would love to go visit her. I'm debating whether to stay with her and save a bit of cash or if I should do a hostel adventure. The thought of staying in a hostel is really exciting (is that bad?) - I'd be able to meet some new people, possibly go out and also have some independence. I guess I'll see what prices are like... I should start doing some research for good photography spots before I go!

Which brings me of course back to... Tokyo. So this evening I started re-reading my blog about my trip. It's funny to re-read it now. The further the trip seems to get from me the more the blog is meaningful - it reminds me of so much (though it seems that at times I said very little.) What does this have to do with Tokyo you may wonder? Well, nothing really... other than I really want to go back and reading about it really makes me realize how far it is. Both in distance and in my future plans. I will be saving up my vacation time next year to go to Japan in December (most likely for most of the month if possible.) In the meantime, I'm working on getting some basic level of conversational Japanese happening. I'm taking courses (I think I mentioned those here before?) and going to meet-ups to try practicing. Also... I'm doing research as to places I would like to go, things I'd like to see... mainly this is surrounding photographic opportunities.

I know... maybe I'm crazy for thinking so far ahead... I admit, I have a slight obsession about this...

And in the meantime, I will try to keep my wits about me here. Study hard and take pictures when I can... Here are a few from the last 4 weeks:

North Edmonton:


The Bell Conferencing holiday party which I photographed (pro bono):


And the Movember Gala which was probably the highlight of November for me. Tons of fun, amazing pictures and lots of moustaches!