Standing by a fence

Here’s another recent photo taken during a recent short journey that happened recently.

My friend was standing there, checking something so I thought I’d get a photo, and the below is the result.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. This theme for this one comes from Sarah of Travel with me, and it is “People“.

Participating is pretty straightforward and something I recommend. If you do, then include the tag “monochrome-madness” in your post. If not participating, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography as well as what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1371: Stride Ramble

Rain comes today. Rain comes on some days. It does not come on all days. However, today it is coming. It will be here and it will invite itself into everything and there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’m just gonna have to deal. Not fun; not ideal, but I’m sure I’ll survive. Unless I don’t. We’ll just have to see about that, or something.

Or nothing.

I’m trying to find a thread that will lead to whatever it is that it’s trying to lead to, but I cannot find it. I’m trying to write more, but also less. I’m trying to find the intersection of crap and quality, and it keeps evading my pissy grasp. Such is life, I suppose. Such is the way of banging one’s head against the walls of whatever.

Perhaps I need to just stop writing altogether, and stop things here and now. However, that goes against things, and in going against things I would be one of those people who are against rather than for, and I don’t know if that’s what I want to be known for, unless that is what I want to be known for, in which case… yeah.

So get this: It’s a cold day but it’s still nice outside, and I’m gonna go for a wander soon, but I want to get this done before I wander, and I want to wander in a way that allows me to show some sort of professional gait; something of which I have not embodied in a long time. Hard to shake, these things, but it can weaken over time.

You know what I’m talking about. It’s the office stride that you get beaten into you without realising that that’s what’s happening. You get it and you do it for so long that it becomes so second nature, and maybe you’ll sand off the rigidness of it, but it’s still there. You don’t necessarily do it to carry yourself in a certain way; you just do it.

Maybe I’d rather my walk be more casual and relaxed so people see me as approachable, but not so much that they actually approach. I’d rather they see me and go “Hey, that person looks approachable” rather than actually do. It’s not an invitation. I don’t want to engage in conversation. I still need to look like I’ve got somewhere to be and I’ve a focus that I’m honing in on, but I don’t want to look like I’m business and nothing but business.

Actually, I don’t want to look that business at all.

So anyway, I don’t know where I’m going with this, but I will soon be going out the door. I need to get on with the getting on and I want to stretch my legs before I start work, or rather I want to stretch them a bit more than I already have.

This writing is mostly about walking, I guess, or walking styles, and there’s not much else.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:58:83

Decent speed. Took a while to stumble upon a topic, though there didn’t need to be one. I don’t know; I felt compelled to be topic-oriented.

Written at work.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1370: Seems Nice Today

No car today, and that’s fine. That’s enough time to remember why I’m not a fan of being on public transport, or normally it would be, but the density was low today so I wasn’t overly fussed.

Should correct myself: Why I’m paranoid about catching public transport. Anyway.

The weather seems nice today, and I look around and I see shapes forming objects and objects forming layouts, and all of this seems to have some sort of meaning that I cannot perceive due to my laziness, or rather something else entirely, This is a space in which I am in, and I am inhabiting the space but I only do so for a set period of time. I then move on and as I move on I move elsewhere, and all that stuff happens, and then… you  get the idea. Or I get the idea. One of the two.

A shadow is cast upon a wall, and the light seems inviting in a way, and I think that’s due to it being rather low and minimal. I don’t know; I’m not an expert on light, but it seems nice. Next to it is an exit sign, and underneath the sign is a door. Do I dare step through? Only if I have my pass that allows me back into the building. Otherwise, I have no way back in until someone else arrives and that’s not fun to me.

I’m still enjoying my new role, and I’m still happy about how much healthier and responsible an environment this is. I’m enjoying being here, and it’s nice. Not hard work; not easy work, but the right balance of work for me, and I hope I’m getting better.

I also hope the car gets fixed soon. A whole bunch of stuff at once and it will hurt, but it’ll mean more getting around a bit and more driving into an open emptiness that’s full of stuff. More long quiet drives with few people around within a certain distance. More of all that stuff.

Should be more responsible, really.

So I’m waiting. I’m biding my time and I’m hoping for everything to happen and nothing at all, and I’m hoping to get past my probationary period, and I’m confident I will, but I won’t want to relax. I want to watch the light change as the minutes pass, and I want to keep on relaxing and slowly move into a better position in life. I want things to keep on getting better, and I hope they do. I hope things keep on improving, and there’s stuff I can do, but there’s only so much I can do, but I like it here and so… yeah.

I think that, with all that said, I want to remain restless but I need to keep a base to return to, and I hope that is what happens. I hope for a lot of things, really, but there’s only so much that I can do, and that’s okay.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:14:21

Decent speed. Not the best writing. I think I tried to force myself a bit too much on this one when I should’ve just let the words happen.

Written at work.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1369: Words on Thinking

So I’m about to start work and I’ve probably dragged out starting this morning by too much, but in my defense I have been doing stuff, and now I’m in front of the computer and, as always, I don’t know if I should be thinking of anything to write, or if I should write, or all that stuff and you get the idea.

I think that if I think enough, there will be some more thinking followed by less thinking. I think that if I think I will think. I think I’m just trying to get started and I don’t want to, and so that’s that and this is this, and therefore that way followed by this way and I get the idea.

So there is this thing known as thinking and it involves using the power of the brain to construct thoughts that have no voice, or maybe they do. Who am I to say? But anyway, it’s this magic and wondrous thing, and let me tell you, it gets the job done, or at least I hope it gets the job done. It doesn’t always, of course, but usually it does, and when it does, it certainly does, if you get my drift.

Of course this is not always the case, but when it’s the case it can lead to many things and many conclusions, but often there is a sense of the paralytic and inaction, and sometimes thoughts die as quickly as they are birthed, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you just wonder about these things and maybe you wonder too hard and then it all goes pear-shaped, and that’s it. Call it a day because you’re done, and so is the thought, or series of thoughts that you had that led to that thought, and maybe it wasn’t as conclusive as you thought it was, but sometimes that’s life.

Sometimes I think about thinking and the processes behind thinking; not so much the synapses firing and all that, but rather how a thought is formed and where it comes from, and what shapes the processes of thinking. What influences are required for someone to have a thought, if there are influences at all? How often do things really just pop into the brain? Are there trains that lead to these things more often than we realise?

These are all basic questions, of course, and I don’t know how much of it is philosophical, or scientific, or something else entirely. I don’t know how much overlap there is between those there is when it comes to thinking about this kind of thinking. There’s probably a lot of overlap, but that’s not for here, I don’t think. I’m running out of words anyway and so I need to try and wrap this up in a conclusive way that makes sense, but I’ve got nothing. This whole bit of writing has been a struggle really, but it has given me less to think about, or maybe more, I think.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:38:70

Happy with the speed. Not sure about the writing. Too meandering and doesn’t say much of anything (which is, as they say, on brand), but it does cover something.

Written at work.

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Within Blue Light

I cannot remember as to which band this is, though I have a good idea.
Anyway, I didn’t use this photo when the gallery of this gig was published. It didn’t fit and it’s not that great anyway. Still, I like the particular effect with the light, and I might tyr to replicate it specifically.

I hope you enjoy.

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Hills Among Fog

It had been a while since I last took a photo of this space.
As I was in the area a few weekends ago I took the opportunity to get a few photos, including the below.

It was not as foggy as I’d have liked at that stage, but there still was decent cover. In this photo the fog is almost isolating, I think, or at least creating sections.

I hope you enjoy.

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Party Upstairs

I saw this at one of the things for Vivid this year.

I’m fairly certain this is some kind of performance art, and I worry about the implications.
On one hand (especially based on the colouring of the thing) it could be read as the person underneath the party being pointlessly grumpy and they should just tolerate the noise of people enjoying themselves, because they’re enjoying themselves. That’s where I worry, as too often in life many people have to cede a chance at having some quiet and rest to people being really loud.

On the other hand, this could be read as the people partying being oblivious to those around them and their desire for rest.

Maybe the person below wasn’t invited and they’re annoyed because of that.

This is my submission into the three hundred-and-third Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Connections“.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Donna

Egídio

Ritva

Donna is curating this one. Next week Ritva is curating.

I recommend participating in the challenges as they provide a fun way to interpret theme. If not participating, then at least you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

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Michiko Naruke: Spilling from the Palms

One listen, and it came easy for part of it. Kind of hit a bit of a wall as I started thinking too much about what I should be trying to capture. I don’t think that shows, but I do think the writing could be better.

Michiko Naruke’s (なるけみちこ) “Spilling from the Palms” (“掌からこぼれおちて“) is from Wild Arms Advanced 3rd Original Soundtrack, the soundtrack for Wild Arms Advanced 3rd.

I hope you enjoy.

A guitar rings out before it starts dancing along with some light percussion. It seems to encircle itself to form a gentle, flowing rhythm in an empty space upon which woodwind glides and floats. It drifts along with a purpose, seems to catch on a stronger breeze for a moment and moves with more energy for that moment, and finds itself highlighted by another woodwind before it settles.

The woodwind rises and rises, and the percussion urges it on before it pulls away. The guitar flutters and now rises, and seems a flurry to which the woodwind follows along and eventually enters, and the guitar settles, if only a little. The guitar flicks in this space and all returns to a beginning, and dances once more.

Through this space the sounds carry, and they travel in a unison as they seem no longer to dance, but move on forward in a breeze moving through a still and seemingly quiet land. They seem to carry in isolation and search and drift, and they look for their moments.

The sounds continue to look as all fades and the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1368: Maybe it’s Nervousness

As inclination fades I feel it is time to try and do something today. Will see if it happens; won’t announce it; just will try, and see, and then we’ll go from there.

So sitting here, wasting some time before I head on out to do the usual photography stuff. Not sure if it’ll go well or not. Not sure if it will be fantastic. Will find out soon enough, I guess. Still need to kill some time; still need to watch and look outside my window, and still need to figure some things out.

Need to stay awake as it’s a long one, but I think I will get there. I hope I will get there. Really not sure, really.

The music I’m listening to at the moment is, perhaps, for a darker room or an open sky. I am not sure, and it’s pleasant, and I don’t really care if it has a specific feel or something to it. It’s just nice stuff to have playing right now. Could be worse; could be unpleasant music, and I’ve heard plenty of that in my life, though maybe…

It is a bit cold and it is slow, but I persist. I try to get this done. I’m trying to get this done, rather. I’m trying to string together thoughts in a manner that gets across all that I want to get across, and soon I will be out of the house. I will be moving among people and maybe there will be some dancing. Maybe there won’t be, but I know that it will be a good few hours of work, and I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also confident in my taking a not-insubstantial amount of bad photos.

Maybe it’s nervousness that speaks, or apprehension, or just the fading away from one thing and toward another. I don’t know, but I know I’m looking forward to the night to some extent, and I know that I’ll work hard and do my best, and all those things, because… well, what else am I gonna do? Might fudge it all, but I still should try.

Of course might not fudge any shots, but you never know. I never know. I do hope I don’t, of course.

I’ve started this song again as it’s quite pleasant and all those things, and it eat up some time, but I should look at doing what I need to do soon. I should look at my reckless consumption of time and start being a bit better about it. I should, but I won’t, unless I will, in which case, I will instead waste space on words.

This has been rather lacking in substance, but it has been fun, perhaps. I don’t know. I feel that perhaps now is not the best time to write and that is due to being tired. I don’t know. I do know, however, that I’ll soon get up and make the most of my time. Then I’ll head out.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:11:53

Decent speed but a lot of meandering.

Written at home.

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Red Smear

Same artists as seen here.

I like how in this one the main red seems to go around the desk.
I also like how there’s this dragging mass that renders even the recognisable less so.

I hope you enjoy.

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