A DAYTHROUGHDOORSCLAIRE SALTZMAN

INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON DESTINATION,

I TOOK THE TIME TO ANALYZEWHAT PORTAL I PUSHED THROUGH

EVERYDAY. STOP & SMELL THE ROSES[ ]

WHAT DO YOU PUSH THROUGH?

STARTING THE DAYQ: I feel sick. Should I get out of bed?Should I set my alarm for 30 minutes later?Should I even work out today?Should I get up and make breakfast?

VOJ: Go back to bed. Sleep in and make a big breakfast.Skip your workout.

R: If I don’t get out of bed and get going I’ll be behind all day. I need to stick to my scheduleso I’m not thrown off. Although those thirtyextra minutes of sleep seem so tempting,

I’ll be kicking myself for being rushedfor the rest of the day. Get out of bed!

L: Getting up only four minutes pastmy alarm gave me enough time to get out of bed, get going and getout the door at 9 am sharp.

9:00 AM

9:05 AM

GET IN THE CAR

Q: Walking to this car took what seems like hours. Do I reallyneed to go workout? Should I just grab breakfast and hop over to a friends house? Should I turn around?

VOJ: Go back to the apartment. Go back to bed. Drive to Wes’ house and wake him up. Go take a shower.

R: Working out motivates me for the rest of the day. If I didn’t get my workout energy boost, I would be draggingfor the next six hours. Go!

L: The car ride isn’t so bad. My favorite song is on and there’s a ton of open parking. Score.

9:10 AM

WORKOUT TIME

Q: Why do I work out every day? How many calroies do I burn eachworkout? How much money should I put in the meter? What should I do today? Tredmill or elliptical? Both? Did I remember everything?Do I have my headphones? Water bottle? What time is it?

VOJ: Go easy on yourself today. Just do a quick workout and go home.You could also skip running and just watch a movie on your iPad on theelliptical. Call it an easy day.

R: If I slack off today I’ll be mad at myself for the rest of the day. Go hard.

L: The workout felt great and I’m happy I silenced my VOJ.

11:45 AM

BOYFRIENDʼS HOUSE

Q: Should I go pick up my hoodie at Wes’ house right now?Should I make him give my hoodie back later? Is it really that important?What if all his roomates are there? Will it take a long time? How manyminutes do I have until my class starts? Will I have time to shower? Do I smell?Should I have given him a heads up?

VOJ: Have him drop off your sweatshirt later. He is the one that took it.

R: I went inside to grab my sweatshirt, realizing that nobody was in the house andI could make a quick escape. Getting the sweatshirt wasn’t that important, butI hate lending things out and not getting them back.

L: Stress that I didn’t know was there was somewhat lifted from my shoulders. I had no idea that missing a sweatshirt really took much out of me. Yikes.

12: 45 PM GO TO CLASSQ: Will my teacher be in a good mood? How long is she going to talk to me for?How much work do I have to do after class? Did I eat enough for lunch to getme thorugh the day? Did I remember my computer charger? When is the final due? Is there anything I need to do today?

VOJ: Don’t go to class. It’s a waste of time because you’re productive enough outof class. You have nothing new to show her and it’s wasting your time.

R: Although I just sit in class working on my Interior Design work [and sometimesother homework assignments], I can’t ditch a class. It gives me anxiety. I’m gladI went, despite how boring it is.

L: Although I thing it’s tempting to skip class, I never do. I secretly think I enjoygoing to class because it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

4:50 PM

GROUP MEETINGS

Q: Should I just cancel the group meeting? What are we going to talk about? How many people in my group even participate? How much of a percentage is thisproject of my grade? Am I going to get stuck doing all this work again? How many groupprojects have I done in my life? Hundereds? When am I graduating? How long will thismeeting take?

VOJ: Make up an excuse as to why you can’t come to the meeting. Submit all your workvia email so you don’t get in trouble. That works, right?

R: Although I complete all of my assignments, not showing up is condescending. I find itirritating when people don’t show up to group meetings that have been scheduledfor days. I’d be dissapointed in myself. I had to go to the meeting.

: L: Although many people dislike group meetings, they happen for a reason. It’s important to show up and be the team member that you want others to be... even when you are completely dreading it!

GRAB DINNER

Q: Alright, I need to grab dinner.What should I eat for dinner? Should I go back home and eat? Would that waste a lot of time? What restaurants even deliver? Is there anywhere remotely healthy thatdelivers? Is it lazy to get delivery? Should I just walk? How long willmy walk take? Should I call a friend to go with me?Where have I not been in awhile?

VOJ: Get your boyfriend to get you dinneror get delivery.

R & L : I walked to subway. It was nice out and it was nice getting out of Alumni Hall to walk around uptown. I also think it’s pathetic to getdelivery when I’m a 5 minute walk from the restaurants. My boyfriend isn’t my delivery man.

6:30 PM

HANG OUT

8:30 PM Q: Should I go over to Ali’s house? Should I be a goodstudent and go home and do work instead? What is she doing? Does she have other people over?Are they going out tonight?

VOJ: Don’t go over. You don’t know who’s there andif they are doing something you don’t want ot do.

R: I went over. Not only because I’m a senior and needto live a little, but because I realized who could be overthat I wouln’t like. All of Ali’s friends are my friends. I wasmaking up weird excuses to not relax and have fun.

L: I’m always too tough on myself. I worked hard enough the past three and a half yearsto finally live a little and hang out with friends when nothing is due the next day.

HERO SHOTI took this photo when I was capturing the doors of Alumni Hall.Although this isn’t in my photo stream, I consider it my Hero shot becauseit shows the beauty of a door. Many people consider doors solelymoveable dividers that separate one space from another. However, when onelooks closer to the architecture of a door, they can realize it takes the formof art. Looking at Alumni Hall’s doors, especially, shows the intricacy and beautyof what went into designing this door. I was procrastinating going to class, so I decided to capture the door at different angles. I bet if I asked random people what this photo was, a lot of them wouldn’tautomatically know it was a door. I consider a hero shot a photograph that is somewhat abstract; it confuses theeye for a bit because it is unidentifiable. I think that’s the mystery of photography.Through one lens we can change the perspective of our world.

CONCLUSIONIn contrast to my previous photo journal, I wanted to make this one different.Instead of making the journal about one inanimate object, I decided to make it about myself. I was the object, but I was not being photographed. I wanted to focus on my typicalday- the things I did and what I thought. However, I wanted to primarily focus on theaspects of a day I never think about; the door.Yes, we all use doors to get form one place to another- whether it is a car door or a doorbuilding- or perhaps even a gateway that has no physical door. The portals we enter and exit fromare interacted with every day- hundreds of times. But I couldn’t tell you what any of the doors lookedlike until today. It’s not about a door, though. Take the time to realize the things in your life that you don’t typicallyconcentrate on. When you are walking, look up. We all could use a little change if you ask me.