Tracks into Lithgow

Just a scenic shot of an area that appears to be part of Lithgow.
Supposedly the bridge (Farmers Creek Railway Viaduct) is part of South Bowenfels, but the bridge is north of Bowenfels and South Bowenfels is (naturally) south of Bowenfels, so… yeah.

Anyway, I feel this photo has some slightly weird lighting but that might have to do with where the clouds are situated. I was in a sunny spot but the sky in frame is overcast, so it doesn’t feel quite right.

I think I did alright with the framing. There’s a good deal of scenery, a few hints of urbanisation and a track that leads into some of that urbanisation.

I hope you enjoy.

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One Thousand Word Challenge 196: Thoughts on a Monday

A heavy sky is holding firm at the moment, but it appears it will soon turn violent and beat upon the earth without any mercy, at least for a short while. Eventually it will relent and things will be as though nothing happened, but the memory will linger, at least for a short period of time. For some it won’t be important and it will be forgotten; for some it will mean their lives change in a way they were hoping would not happen.

The day is stretching itself out and I am sitting here, bearing witness to a lack of spectacle. I think to myself about how I can maximise my time but my time is spent working and trying to get things done as quickly as I can. There still remains a lot to be done before the day’s end and I’m hoping that I can get there, but it looks like I won’t. Still, I must try whilst I can for I want to make sure that I get as much done now before later as it will make later a little easier.

There is a tree outside my window and it has been bare for quite a few months. At the moment it is sprouting leaves and once it finishes sprouting leaves birds will use it as shelter when it rains. It is nice to see birds sitting in the tree as it makes the place feel a little more lived in. I’m in an urban stretch that has quite a few birds in the area, but I still like it when I see them sitting near my window. It’s just a pleasant thing.

I wonder if I should go for a walk before the day is over. It might be a walk in the rain but it would still be a walk, and that is something that I need to do more of. I don’t stretch my legs enough and I sit down far too much, and sometimes walking is good for organising thoughts so I should spend more time walking and less time sitting. I could also go for a cycle as my bike is functioning, but I need to replace a bunch of parts on it so it’s safer to ride on than it currently is.

I do miss cycling and I should do more, but I don’t and that’s a real shame. Sure, it’s not as fast as driving but it’s healthier and something I enjoy more than driving anyway. Can’t go to all the places driving can get me as conveniently, but there are other places that I can go to that a car might not necessarily be able to go and so in that way it’s nice. Also allows me to appreciate the scenery a little bit more.

A wind is blowing outside and it seems like a regular wind, and I imagine that it is as most wind is regular, though I wonder what would constitute irregular wind through this particular area of Sydney. We have a few different wind systems and we do get some strong ones here and there, but perhaps an irregular wind would be one that’s far stronger than what could be expected for this area. Elsewhere it could be a normal wind.

The day is drifting on by and I’m a participant in the drift and it almost feels like I’m slowly floating upon an air current, so long as I let myself daydream and drift away. I’m not sure as to where I’d be taken or what I’d see, but I imagine I wouldn’t go too far and it wouldn’t be as ideal as the ideal that I’d let myself have. Still, it would be seeing things from a different perspective, even if it doesn’t change how I see things.

Maybe it would change how I see things. Often when we look at an object we are only seeing part of it and not seeing the whole thing at once. Usually we assume the appearance of the rest of the object and those assumptions are often pretty accurate, but even so, maybe we’d think about objects differently if we saw sides we would not normally see.

As I sit here I think more about things that probably don’t matter, but maybe they do matter. I mean, of course they matter to me, at least to some extent, though maybe they don’t, but in some capacity they do, but I wonder if they matter to anyone else. I wonder if considering that is worth the time and effort, but perhaps that doesn’t matter so much as thinking the thought and exploring where it goes, if it does indeed go anywhere at all. There are a lot of things to think about and so much time and so considering the amount of time spent on thinking about something could also be important. I imagine that what it mostly depends on is what I’m trying to work out, or what else is happening around me. There’s little point in me considering some things if I’m working on something that has no involvement with those things, but maybe I have the time to do so. I’m not sure and I doubt I’ll ever be sure.

There is the sound of a motor outside and it lingers. The rain was brief before it rested, though I imagine it will come again soon. In this space someone has decided to mow their lawn. The grass is slightly damp so it may not be the most effective approach so I hope they don’t have a difficult time with the act of mowing the lawn. They’re taking whatever opportunity they can and I guess that I should also, but I sit here and I work and there is little time between things. Still, there is time and so I should do what I can where I can. Maybe I’ll get more done; maybe I won’t. Either way, I’ll get something done.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 16:20:55

A bit slower than I hoped but I think it was due to trying to think about what to write as I was writing. Also was feeling pretty relaxed. I think it helped the writing. Perhaps not as well as I would have liked, but the writing also feels relaxed, I think, and that’s nice.

Written at home.

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Blue Man Group: Exhibit 13

One listen for this one.
I wasn’t sure how to go about this one, which is not different from usual really, but I found myself thinking too much about what I was doing which didn’t help much. I think I was starting to get to something toward the end and I should’ve gone through a few more listens, but the result is okay.

Blue Man Group’s “Exhibit 13” is from The Complex.

I hope you enjoy.

Percussion pulses quietly in a quiet space. It holds rhythm steady; it forms a base and soon additional sound builds upon. Strings underscore and draw out whilst additional pulsing seems to quietly rise up and off and fade away as it does.

Gradually more sound and texture weaves itself in and it seems as though some sort of despair is creeping forward. It’s not long, however, before the sounds look to the dramatic and the climactic.

Something more distorted sits in the low spaces and further underscores and a glimmer of hope reveals itself. It starts small and it remains as such, but it still widens and invites. It does not fade but rather it remains strong for the length of its stay.

In a quick moment much of the sound pulls away, leaving percussion to pulse quietly and fade out, almost as though someone is walking away and switching off a light on their exit as the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1182: Precipice of Rubbish

Blah, argh and all of those things. I sit here at the precipice of the transition into another month and I sit here trying to work out where it’s all going wrong. Maybe I should be trying to work out where it’s all going right instead.

It is morning, I’m getting started and I’m preparing for another run of NaNoWriMo. Well, maybe not preparing, but I am preparing some things as there are things that I want to get done before the end of the day and so I need to put in a fair bit of work before the day ends. Also need to put in a fair bit work work before work starts and so that is happening.

The last few days have felt a bit more derailed than usual but I’m here now. I’m getting this done and in getting this done I’m getting something done. Usual stuff, not the worst thing in the world, but not the best either.

It looks like today is going to be the last day of October for this year, though anything could happen between now and tomorrow. Maybe the month will extend itself and then there will be more October. Of course this buys me more time to prepare for the oncoming onslaught of words I will be spewing out next month, but maybe I don’t want that. Maybe I just want to dive on in and stretch myself thin and then go from there. Maybe that is what I’m going to do and so… yeah.

Now that I think about it, that is something that I definitely don’t want to do, so maybe it is better for the month of October to prolong itself so I can squeeze in a bit more tie and prep work before all goes to whatever it goes to when someone starts working to churn out even more than they usually do which is not a good thing to do as they should really start working on spacing things out a bit so they’re better prepared for whatever comes next, or something.

Anyway, I think that I need to find a way to convince October to extend itself so that we have more days this year and so I have more days to prepare to get everything done. If I don’t, then I don’t know what it is that I will do.

Really the best way to prepare is to work with the time that I have and then go from there, but this is not something that I feel I want to do and so this is something that I will not do. If I do it, then that would mean a practical and efficient use of my time, but that of course means a practical and efficient use of my time and I could better use my time screaming and kicking and planning out how to go about prolonging time.

Anyway, I think it’s time to start kicking and screaming with gusto.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:39:06

Not good, but a significant improvement over writing when tired. This almost went somewhere.

Written at home.

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Govetts Creek Flows Through the Valley

Pretty sure that is Govetts Creek. Might be two creeks, but pretty sure it’s just the aforementioned one.

This was taken during a recent trip to The Blue Mountains. I had the opportunity to take a photo of this view and so I did. It was lovely in person; not so much in photo but it’s still quite nice, I think.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-twenty-third Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Flights of Fancy“.

There are some walks that run through this area that I hope to do someday, so I feel this photo meets the challenge.

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

This one is hosted by John. Sofia hosts the next one, of which the theme has been announced in advance as “Exposure”.

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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Acacia cognata

I suspect that this might be a different type of wattle, but maybe it isn’t.

This was taken last month whilst walking around near home.
Probably could’ve done a better job with the photo but I like how it turned out. It’s just easy on the eyes. Nothing special, not good or bad. Just easy and maybe pleasant.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1181: I Got a bit Messier Than Usual

Once again, late into the evening. Once again preparing to power on. However, it has been a pretty busy day so I feel like I’ve got a good reason.

Well, it usually is busy but I’ve a bit more time in the morning, but today that was not the case, but that’s alright. Sometimes you just work with what you have and that is what I am doing now.

Feeling drained but powering on and wondering where all of this will lead, if it will indeed lead anywhere at all. Maybe nothing will come of this and that’s fine. Right now, at least, that’s fine. Then again, maybe I’ll fall asleep before I finish this off. I can feel myself growing tired and growing tired gets in the way of getting things done and I don’t want that to happen. I want to stay awake and power on for as long as I can so I can sleep well tonight and then get on with the day tomorrow. I want to make sure I can get to the end of this and I don’t want to wake up with an imprint suspiciously resembling a keyboard on my face.

Maybe if I fall asleep here I will have weird and exciting dreams, however. In those dreams I will experience things as I always have, but those things will be weird and strange even though they will be normal. It is an odd place in which I find myself right now for I have realised that there may be positives to falling asleep where I am.

Maybe instead of all of this I should just try and focus on what is going on around me and get on with the going on so I can then finish the things that need finishing and then sleep. Then again, maybe I could sleep whilst doing the things and then wake up in the morning and find that I’ve done more than I thought I could ever do and somehow still feel refreshed due to a lengthy sleep that has helped me by being lengthy and ending exactly when I need it to end and so on and so forth.

Maybe I’m just dreaming. It’s possible that this is all a dream and all that stuff but I’m just going to pretend that it’s not because maybe it is not, though I do truly think it would be odd if I woke up now and found that I was exactly where I was before I started writing this, though I actually don’t know what I’m going on about right now as it’s become too messy and senseless and so I need to find a way to recover, but instead of doing that I think I’ll just get on with it because I need to get on with it and the day ends soon and then some things and then I need to figure out what I’m going on about, but maybe I just might not.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:29:14

Just a lot of rambling. Some of this is alright, but I started struggling a fair bit somewhere near the middle and it derailed the whole thing.

Written at home.

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Almost Covered

I feel like I could’ve done a better job with centering on this photo. I feel like there is a reason I shot this the way I did and it has to do with sunlight, but I’m not completely certain.

Anyway, there’s some nice wave action here and some of it almost looks like cloth sheets. Not the most rough water out there, but it seemed pretty rough at the time.

I hope you enjoy.

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Anvil at the Top

This is part of Anvil Rock Lookout and I’m surprised it turned out as well as it did. I wasn’t expecting anything bad, but this photo is crisper and better balanced than I first thought when I took it.

This isn’t a fancy photo, but I think it’s nice enough. Almost inviting.

I hope you enjoy.

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The Monsoon Bassoon: Wise Guy

This was written over one listen, but it was difficult to get a proper start. I had heard part of this song a few hours ago and it was the first time I heard The Monsoon Bassoon. There’s some pretty interesting stuff going on in the song and I don’t think I did a good job of capturing that. I think it’s clear in places where I’m struggling to keep up with the song, though I think the writing improved toward the end.

The Monsoon Bassoon’s “Wise Guy” is from I Dig Your Voodoo.

I hope you enjoy.

Words come forth on a pointed rhythm whilst guitar precisely strums out underneath.
Soon percussion and bass come in, as do more vocals. The rhythm and melody follows, but now it is expanded and richer, though still small in a sense.

Suddenly the guitar gets louder, as does the percussion and bass and a smooth groove rides out before the vocals return. The groove becomes slinky and slow and carries some prettiness before switching back to the original rhythm, though seemingly with a little tension.

Another sudden shift and there’s space and a sense of slowness; A sense of quiet before cycling between brief loud bursts and the quiet. Eventually the last burst leads to something new. Brass finds itself around a stop and start section with guitar moving about and it has a quirkiness to it. This soon becomes something a slight bit quieter though soon a loudness rises off of it, then more cycling. The music seems to build without building and it soon hits a loud section that carries angularity among its drive and bite.

Once more a sense of quiet. The instruments seem to play and slowly build before pulling away and decide to calmly groove, though there seems to be an energy that’s hiding behind. Soon that energy starts coming through and the instruments start picking up steam.

Once more they shift and woodwind and possibly bass play something cheerful. Sounds build and increase behind them, coming to the forefront, almost there, then suddenly pull away. Once more they build up and brass comes forward and screams and squeals, and the sounds become cacophonous and almost celebratory.

They seem to come into alignment, the brass and woodwind pull away and one final rhythmic blast before suddenly stopping, leaving a low note to loop and drag out as the song ends.

 

 

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