Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1235: Sore in a Good Way

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

So I was hoping to have something done before midday, but it was not to be and now I’m here writing. In a lot of pain; it’s from being on my feet for most of yesterday, but it’s a good pain, I think. It reminds me that I need to start really working toward spending less time sitting down and more time being active, but active where I can; I don’t want to overexert myself.

So a lot of moving about and standing and there was little sitting, but it was good. It was good exercise and it was good learning and all that stuff, and it makes me desire getting into regular and hopefully consistent photography work. Obviously there is the enjoyment of doing photography, but there also is the desire to get out of an office job and into something I’m much better at doing.

Of course there now is the process of going through all the photos I took, which I feel may have been far too many, and processing the ones that work and sending them off but it’s still a vital part of the process of learning and so it is something that I welcome. I might not later, but right now I’m completely down for it and so it soon will be something I dive into. There still are, as always, other things I need to deal with.

I was hoping that most of this would be bitter complaining regarding being sore, but I don’t have anything to go on with that. I’m sore, I’m in pain but it’s alright. Perhaps that speaks volumes about how much I enjoyed the experience; I don’t know. Maybe it means that I’m just not in the right frame of mind to complain about something that is rather minor. It’s certainly quite prominent, but ultimately it’s a minor thing and I’ll be alright in a day or so.

I guess I just don’t have much to say right now, and maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe it’s better that I stop and work on other things so as to be able to get on with the getting on and all that. I don’t think I can write much about my enjoyment of yesterday’s events as… well, I feel like I’ve covered it well enough.

Ultimately with yesterday I’m hoping I’ve done well enough to be able to get more work. Just need to keep working at it and chipping away and maybe, hopefully I’ll get to where I want to be and then I’ll be set. It’s hard work but it’s good work and it’s something that I’m quite capable of doing. To be honest I’m more tired from the lack of sleep last night than I am from working on the shoot. Maybe over time that will change, but at least right now it’s something I’m quite keen to keep on doing and so… yeah.

Should’ve taken far less photos though. That is gonna be a slog.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:02:46

Slow again and I think that is in part the combination of being sore and tired.
I think that’s also why this just kind of stays really flat the whole way through.

Written at home.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1234: Peeling an Egg Whilst Driving

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

You ever tried to peel an egg whilst driving?

Today I was working on a music video shoot. I was there to get behind the scenes stuff and it was great fun, but I had to leave the house in a hurry to get there as I spent time making breakfast and that wasn’t a good idea.

I drove off and drank my COFFEE and ate a carrot as that was easy. Thought I could eat my eggs when I got there. However, as I thought more about it I realised it would be a better idea to eat the eggs beforehand. I figured I wouldn’t have much time to eat and I made the right decision as when I arrived it was pretty much go time.

So anyway, as I was driving there I eventually started working on eating the eggs I boiled. The first one I cracked by pressing down on it really hard. Eventually the shell shattered and so I had one hand feeling around and taking off the various bits of shell. It probably didn’t take that long but it felt like it took a while. I got there and I had my egg.

The second one I tried to crack by banging it against the inside of the container I had the eggs in and that worked, but the shell once more was in lots of small pieces and so I spent a good deal of time peeling that one too, which was not fun. Of course I had my eyes on the road and of course I had one hand on the steering wheel, but it did not feel safe and it’s definitely something I don’t recommend.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from this, it’s to just wait and not worry about that kind of thing. I didn’t cause any accidents and I didn’t get in the way of anyone, but I don’t think it was worth the risk. If I didn’t get to eat my eggs then such is life. There are worse things out there that could’ve happened and increasing the chances of those things happen is not something that I enjoy doing much, if I am to be honest.

The shoot was fun. There’s not much else I can say about it. I’m not sure how much I can say about it either, but it was fun and I enjoyed it and I hope it’s something I get to do in the future. It’s a nice challenge and it offers more ways of learning new things whilst developing my skills, so… yeah.

I can confirm that it  is much safer than peeling an egg whilst driving. In fact, I’d highly recommend it over peeling an egg whilst driving as you’re not controlling a vehicle that could cause some severe damage to someone when you’re taking photos. You could do some serious damage with a camera, but it’s probably more difficult to do so.

I hope it’s more difficult. Maybe it isn’t.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:51:84

This took a while to write and I think it’s due to how tired I currently am.
Long day, but really fun and enjoyable.

Written at home.

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Vast Bowl

Posted on March 5, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This photo is really similar to this one, but it focuses more on the landscape, or at least the space of the landscape, I think.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-thirty-ninth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Alone Time“.

Edit: A correction here as the theme for this one is “Finding Peace“. “Alone Time” was the previous theme.

A lot of the time I prefer to be away from the city. In a place like this, whilst it’s nice to have someone else along, I am often alone and it’s nice. It’s quiet, and it feels like there’s time to think.

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

Week 1 – Tina

Week 2 – Patti

Week 3 – Ann-Christine aka Leya

Week 4 – Amy

Week 5 – John Steiner

Week 6 – Sofia Alves

Week 7 – Anne Sandler

Week 8 – Guest host

Donna of Wind Kisses joined the Lens-artists team this year. It will be good to see how we can interpret her challenges.

Tina is curating this one. John curates the next one.

I recommend participating in the challenges. They’re open enough to allow for a fair bit of thinking about approach and closed enough to keep focus on meeting the theme of each one. If you don’t participate, you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

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Chlamydoselachus anguineus

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

In January I went to an exhibition on sharks at The Australian Museum. It was something I was interested in, in part due to what I studied at uni and in part due to being a fan of sharks.

The information and models were all pretty interesting, including this one.
Due to a few factors the frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) is considered a living fossil. I think that’s pretty awesome, but I don’t have much more to add to that that statement. Obviously it helps with understanding processes, but so many things do.

Anyway, I tried to frame this in a particular way with the intention of making the background as dark as possible whilst keeping the model illuminated, but as I do not use Photoshop this was the best I could do.

I hope you enjoy.

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Moving to the Fence

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This was taken during a walk near where I live.
I haven’t taken photos of birds in a while, had the opportunity and so I did.

There’s a sense of stillness to this, as well as a sense of wetness, which, seeing as it is clear that it was raining, makes sense.

I think monochrome works well here as it helps bring out that sense of rain and works well with the light levels in this particular spot.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. 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.

A lot of what people are submitting will likely end up here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Among Kings Tableland

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Of course that stretch becomes northern if looking at it from a position south of it, but I digress.

This is just a photo of a lot of space in The Blue Mountains, but it’s nice space. I took it on Christmas day when I was alone and driving about and it was nice to see.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-thirty-eighth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Alone Time“.

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

Week 1 – Tina

Week 2 – Patti

Week 3 – Ann-Christine aka Leya

Week 4 – Amy

Week 5 – John Steiner

Week 6 – Sofia Alves

Week 7 – Anne Sandler

Week 8 – Guest host

Donna of Wind Kisses joined the Lens-artists team this year. It will be good to see how we can interpret her challenges.

Leya is curating this one. Tina curates the next one and the theme has been announced in advance. The theme will be “Finding Peace”.

I recommend participating in the challenges. They’re open enough to allow for a fair bit of thinking about approach and closed enough to keep focus on meeting the theme of each one. If you don’t participate, you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1233: Some Thinking About Thinking

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Last night I started reading Convenience Store Woman and I finished reading it this morning. I’d come across the book being suggested to someone in a forum a few months ago and decided to add it to my growing list of books to read. Then brought it forward as I saw it was short and I wanted to read a few short books and so… yeah.

I’m not sure as to how engaged I was with the story Convenience Store Woman presents. I got through it pretty quickly and… actually, I guess I was pretty engaged with the story. I didn’t feel it dragged and I thought the way that it was able to get a fair bit across without necessarily saying a lot was appreciable. That aside, the book made me start thinking about thinking a fair bit and so that is what I want to touch on here.

When we talk we don’t always say what we think and sometimes we don’t think at all when we talk, but sometimes we say exactly what we think, though that is often used as an excuse to be assholes as a lot of people who “speak their mind” generally are pretty diplomatic with what they say and see no need to justify it as they’re not saying things in the shittiest way possible, but I digress.

I wonder about how much people’s thoughts translate into a form of communication, and if anything is lost in translation. How many people out there communicate in the same way that they think? Do people who are unable to do so feel some sort of entrapment or frustration due to an inability to articulate their thoughts, or do they not worry about that at all and go on?

Do we think lesser of people who have no internal monologue? I don’t know, but I don’t think that their way of thinking is any less valid than anyone else’s.

For that matter, how often do we treat people differently as we feel that they are not deep or complex thinkers? Do we do so at all, whether consciously or not?

Does someone’s appearance of intent reflect what they want to do, or does it not? Does it reflect what they think, and if so, how often does it reflect what they think?

There are a lot of things to think about thinking, but I think it’s interesting that Convenience Store Woman is making me think more about thinking than I normally would. It makes me wonder about the perception of what people are and are not, and perhaps it means I should think more about that too. Mind you, little of this has to do with the book itself, though maybe it does and maybe that was part of the intention. I don’t know, but I like that this is something that has me thinking more about how other people may or may not think. I think it is a good thing to think about.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 14:30:00

Slower than I thought it would be, but the extra time was worth it, though of course this would be better without worrying about time at all.

Written at home.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1232: Wednesday Heaviness

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Another day where the sound of cicadas stretches through space and I happen to be the recipient, or at least one of the recipients of this gift.

In writing that I find myself now inspired to do a bit of writing outside of this writing and so I need to add this to a list of things that I have so as to be able to remember to write about it, or something.

Anyway, the cicadas are out there, I am here and I am going to be doing quite a lot today… I hope. There is the possibility of me not doing much but I cannot afford that kind of being lazy. The morning isn’t quite young, but the day may be seen as depending on one’s relative view of how time proceeds and so I am here and I will take advantage of what I have been afforded.

Maybe I will not, but I will try.

It is, however, one of those days where “another day, another dollar” applies, but I’d hope to have a bit more than one single dollar left after taxation is applied. One dollar is not enough to survive on in this current climate, though I wish it was. I do wish we didn’t have to worry about earning money to have enough to survive off of basic requirements. I do wish that we could work without worrying about survival. I think that would be great. I think that would lead to a lot of people being in a better position to excel and do things and help further the improvement of the various forms of society.

More inspiration right there, but really this is something that I feel is an issue. It is an issue that a universal basic income is not available to everyone. It is an issue that, in the process of trying to survive, some of us overconsume. Perhaps if we didn’t have to worry about survival we wouldn’t be put into a position where the basic necessities are a constant worry for far too many people. I know I’ve said that already, albeit in a different way, but sometimes it is worth repeating.

It’d probably be a good idea to try and offer more information as to why I think these are good things as stating what I feel is blatantly obvious doesn’t make for much of an argument. However, sometimes that also is the best way to get things across.

Perhaps if there was less stress on trying to survive there’d be more time to appreciate an understand the environment and work toward getting out of, or at least mitigating the disaster that we’ve decided to enter and stay within for some reason. More people working on it means we reduce impact sooner rather than later.

Of course asking for relief from thinking about survival is probably too much for some and so we just keep on doing less than the bare minimum, but that’s life I suppose.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:15:42

It’s probably better to have focus when talking about these things.
This is a bit messy. It gest some stuff across but not in a way that’s effective, I feel.

Written at home.

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Hitoshi Sakimoto: The Middle Layer Area

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

One listen for this one.
I decided to write about this song a while ago and then put it to the side.
I think I did that as I’m really familiar with the song. Really I shouldn’t have as familiarity can provide its own challenge.

I don’t think I did the best job in capturing the song here. I captured something but overall the song isn’t represented well. Perhaps more where it plays in what it’s featured.

I also think that I need to work on expanding my writing as this feels limited in a way that’s detrimental.

Hitoshi Sakimoto’s (崎元 仁) “The Middle Layer Area” (“中層区街”) is from Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter‘s soundtrack, Breath Of Fire V – Dragon Quarter: Original Soundtrack. The soundtrack was also released as part of Breath of Fire Original Soundtrack Special Box a soundtrack collection of the soundtracks for Breath of Fire I through to V.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Keys move delicately along a cold and ruined surface. They pause, something rains down, almost like light. There’s a shimmering, like a shattering when they do and it carries through the air. After the second pause the ruined surface expands and seems to slope into a sense of hopelessness. Forms of sound move above it, broken, dusty, desolate and all draws out, looking through the murk.

Eventually some of that hopelessness lifts and something a little lighter and more overtly sad appears. Keys flicker and strings move with more motion, and there’s a stillness in this moment; there’s motion and liveliness, but there is emptiness. There’s a reaching for something beyond but it comes to an end and a return to the start comes in.

Space is apparent at first which is then consumed once more by the murkiness as sounds move in turn and align in places, trying to find their way through and eke out their existence.

Once more a lifting comes in and once more the sounds connect and rise with each other. They reach out and this space sees keys dance delicately whilst the strings looks for answers in the stillness.

Once more a space for keys to flicker and the strings come in again soon after, pushing down, and once more that pause before looping. Once more all is back in place, but it fades out before continuing on too long and the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1231: Wondering About what I’m Listening to

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Sometimes I find myself wondering about what I’m listening to, but actually I find myself wondering about what I’m listening to a lot as I spend a lot of time thinking about and listening to music and, I guess it goes without saying, but I’m trying to use as many words as possible so as to be able to make sure that I can reach my target with little issue, though of course in trying to do that I need to use as many words as possible and create some sort of lengthy sentence so as to be able to get there and it is a bit of a difficult task to get there today as I’m still pretty tired but I’m less tired than the other day so that makes things a little easier but not as easy as I’d like but to get to that I’d need to make sure I get enough sleep over many successive nights which may take some time and a bit more discipline as I’m very good at not going to sleep at a reasonable hour and it’s a habit that I need to shake and once I do I know I’ll probably get more sleep and thus be in a better position to write about stuff as my mind won’t be so preoccupied with how tired I am which often is a great barrier that erects itself in my way, if only because I allow myself to be confronted with said barrier when I should just grab onto the top of it as it is rising upward so as to be able to get a free ride upward and then get off somewhere pretty neat and cool and see what the wonders of sleep-deprived writing can really be, though of course I wonder if this really is a good idea to try and do as maybe instead of that I should just make a bed and sleep in it and so conserve some energy, then keep on going once I’ve had enough good sleep as that would mean that I won’t have to use as many words to try and get something across and so my writing should improve as more sleep means better functioning and better functioning means better results and all that stuff, or at least that is what it suggests and so that’s what I’m going to go with as I don’t want to face the possibility that it won’t make much of a difference at all as if I have to face that I may have to face up to the fact that I’m pretty tapped out at this point and that is why I seem unable to escape this swirling mass of constant repetition that I am never able to leave as it follows me wherever I go, but even so there is a subject I must face, but listening to and thinking about music at the same time often seems to work better than both separately.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:36:75

Early on into starting this I decided to try and see if I could make this one long sentence for no purpose other than to have it mostly be a pointless extension for what should be a short sentence. With prior ones I’ve done the focus wasn’t to have a massive digression between the start and the end of the sentence; that was the focus here.

I think what I did worked but it’s really rough. The sentence is also probably really unpleasant to read.

Written at home.

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