Ten on Ten: May.

The Ten on Ten Project was first introduced to me through the blog of an awesome person whose life intersected with mine at a pivotal point, Bleu Dress Jes.  The concept originally began with Rebekah Gough at her blog, a bit of sunshine.  She explains it as, "a fun and interactive way for blogger's from all around the globe to document a snap shot of their lives too, once a month on the tenth taking a photo an hour for ten consecutive hours. Finding life and beauty in the ordinary things of our day to day!"

My first month of participation was this past April.  I used Instagram, shared on Facebook, to track my day.  It was a bit much, I admit, and very time consuming to photograph, notate, and post hourly photos in real time.  I approached this 10th of May differently.

First, I completely forgot about the Ten on Ten until I checked the time on my phone when arriving at the train station; it was 8:00 am precisely and the Date read, May 10.  I immediately took two photos.  I was heading out of the train station to meet up with a group of other photo club members who were going up to Tokyo for the day to get their camera sensors cleaned and to photograph the city, of course.  Since my sensor was cleaned recently I went for the experience, I love photowalk meetups.

Remembering to take hourly snapshots throughout the day while also out with a group and taking "real" photographs was challenging.  All of the Ten on Ten shots were taken within about a ten minute time frame around the top of the hour.  Since we were on the move the whole day I didn't take the time to set up or compose an artful shot, instead I snapped a few quick photos and later combined them in little collages made through Moldiv, a collage photo app available through iTunes and Google Play for Android.

Instead of blowing up my Instagram and Facebook feeds I am sharing my May Ten on Ten here, and in the future if I remember.

Odakyu-Sagamihara Train Station.

On the train in suburban Tokyo.

Shinjuku Station.

Harajuku Station.

Meiji Shrine, Tokyo.

Yoyogi Park, Tokyo.

Lunch at Mekan, Harajuku.

Takeshita Street, Harajuku.

Returning to Shinjiku Station.

Transferring from express to local, Sagami-Ono Station.

All photos taken with iPhone 5.

For the List Makers.

One word: Listomni.

When I began using my iPod Touch about five years ago I was new to the world of Apple and app-using smart devices and downloaded bunches of free apps, deleting many with disappointment. In using numerous to-do or list apps I found myself relying on Listomni most frequently. I seem to recall a free download then upgrading at a small cost but I could be mistaken. Nonetheless, it's a bargain at the current $2.99 through iTunes.

The current version I'm using on my iPhone 5 has fifteen different list types. Most used is certainly the Grocery List. I usually have a few of these in a folder; Right now I have three, Groceries, New House, and Amazon. Within each list you can categorize by store or section and can even assign priorities and prices. And that's just the beginning, it's incredible!

Today I spent a few hours measuring each area in our new rental house and recording it in a Notes List which allows space for longer text. It is also categorized with the ability for subcategories and tags. Now when I'm out and stumble upon something for the house I will have all applicable information with me.

Most exciting, however, is a new feature allowing you to add photos to a list which ends my long, previously fruitless search for a photo album app with the ability to add notes. This means I can finally have a folder of categorized lists for wines and drinks to include photos of the labels – a huge, huge piece of exciting news! This feature is included in a few list types but I am using it with a Simple Tagged List.

Listomni's biggest disappointment (and it's a big one) is it's Apple exclusivity – it's not available on Android devices. I miss my Android phone daily, but my Japanese mobile company doesn't allow returns so I am learning iPhone's strengths. Maybe if contact Ontomni daily with the suggestion they'll have a version complete when I return to the US and to Android.