Icon Obstructs Icon

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

I took a similar photo to this one earlier this year and I’m not sure why I didn’t share it so I might just do so in a few days.

Anyway, here’s a photo that features a gull, some of The Sydney Opera House, Some of The Sydney Harbour Bridge, a crane and some other things.

I like how The Sydney Opera House gets in the way of The Sydney Harbour Bridge. To me it feels like someone cut out an image of the former and pasted it over the latter.

I also like how there’s two different types of iconic architecture here and how still they help make the scene appear.

I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 828: Under Four Minutes

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Alright, so again doing one of these things again and am hoping for the best. There are less than four minutes to go, but I think I can do it. I think I can get there. I hope I can.

What I should be doing is focusing on other things for the time being as I do not quite have the time to be doing this at the present moment, but I am a glutton for punishment it seems. And so I will be doing this and hoping that somehow I get to the end and knock it out of the proverbial park after I have gone for a proverbial walk rather than a literal one. This is the hope, but the park is nice and I kind of just want to take my time, really.

So anyway, I would take a walk throughout this park and take in the sights and sounds and maybe there would be birds. I would need to make sure that I had my camera with me in order to take photos of them as that way I would then be able to capture the birds and there would be a collection of photos in which I would be able to organise in a certain way so as to be able to create a narrative that would suit an agenda, or perhaps not as I would not really be interested in doing that, to be honest. Well, maybe I would, but an honest agenda is what I would like to push.

Less than two minutes to go and still I am wandering throughout the park and appreciating what it has to offer. Maybe this park is next to the ocean or a river of sorts so I would be able to explore the body of water and see what habitats I might be able to recognise. Maybe I could collect data and write a report, but maybe I would rather just appreciate it first, then do the data collection later. That might provide some sort of fun for me, but maybe it would not. There are plenty of things that it could provide for everyone, however. That is something worth considering, I think.

Less than a minute to go and I keep on racing through the park in order to get to the end goal in the hopes that all is okay and that I can indeed do the thing, but I am in reality at the moment and that puts me in front of my desk and in front of a computer and so I need to deal with that for the time being so that I can deal with other things later. My body is reacting to the racing and maybe that is due to adrenaline or something, but I do not know as I am not a human biologist. I am a marine biologist – kind of – and I think that I can do the thing so long as I keep on trying.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 03:59:96

So the first thing I want to say is that I’m chuffed about getting five-hundred words written in under four minutes.

The second thing is that I’m glad that this didn’t end up being more of a mess than it is.

Something to clarify: technically I’m only a marine biologist based on a certain level of looseness with the definition of the term.

Also, this was written earlier today rather than just now. Should probably have allowed myself more time before work. Oh well.

Now that I’ve done this, I’m happy to not aim for under four minutes again.

Written at home.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

One Thousand Word Challenge 94: I Started Trying Something, Then Stopped

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Alright, so I’m doing this thing again and to be honest I don’t really know as to why. It is not a good idea and I’ll likely drop the ball again, but we’ll see what happens. We’ll always see what happens. Nothing is new there. Nothing has changed. The only thing that is making it more difficult at the moment is this keyboard, but I’ll work with the limitations and see what happens. Maybe I’ll get there. I don’t know yet.

So anyway, it is a nice morning. Bit warmer than I would like, but it is nice. Need to water the plants sooner rather than later. Need to water them this morning, full stop.

Three minutes to go and already I am slowing down and that is not good, but I can pick it all up and hope that somehow this all works out and then I get to the end and all is celebrated and I think I can do that, or something. I think I can indeed get there, so long as I use smaller rather than larger words. If I do that, then surely there will be some form of success of which I will be able to revel in and then I will get there and all will be celebrated and victorious is how I will be, or something. I don’t know what I’m going on about here, but…yeah.

Two minutes and I am flying as much as I can and really the pain is coming in and this is not a good idea at all, but perhaps It is a good idea as it is good practise for when I get better at going faster or something. That is what I have to tell myself in order to make myself feel better about the whole thing, but it really does hurt and this is an experience that I would not recommend any person undertake if they have wrist damage of some sort as it really does hurt. Full of repetition too, which does not help matters in the slightest, but sometimes that is the way things go.

Less than a minute now and I am still racing and hoping that I somehow get there, but maybe I won’t and once more I have to accept that that is fine. Still, had a bit of fun and enjoying the challenge of hurting myself whilst trying to go faster than I have before. Nearly done, nearly there and soon will be at the end of it all and now is the final stretch and I just keep on going and hope that somehow I can do it and later on I will attempt it again if I fail here, so it ‘s not all bad, but it really is not all good and that is part of then problem of which I am experiencing.

Can only keep on trying and just past the mark of the fourth minute, but now I can relax a little and hopefully twist this into something else at this point as now that I’ve done well for time, I can keep on going and try to make this longer somehow.

I don’t want to read over what I just wrote. It is all full of stuff that is just me expressing what I am going through as I am going through it and that makes for some rather ho-hum reading, if that makes sense. Still, now I can relax a little more and take this in another direction and taking this in another direction is a good idea, I think. I think that, seeing as I’ve come this far I may as well try and twist this all around and turn it into something else, but I don’t know if I have the skill or acumen to do so, but of course I will need to see first. Maybe I do and maybe everything will be fine and you will see this writing suddenly become some sort of great expression far beyond what I thought was possible. That would be nice and desirable, but of course I don’t know if that is even possible. Still, I think I am doing well thus far and so I shall keep on going and hope that somehow something comes of this without my needing to do much to make it so, as the easy path is better, or something.

Anyway, all of this seems like a bit of a stretch at this point, but I’m relaxing a little and the pain is leaving my hand and that is a good thing, I think, so in that regard I’m doing well. I’m doing fine and all is a little better and I shall just keep on pushing forward and relax more and then get ready for the work thing soon and thus take a bit of the pressure off of my shoulders. Still need to water the plants, however. They required that desired sustenance and I am the one person able to provide it to them as I am the only one awake in the house so I need to do it before the sun warms things up a little too much.

Anyway, now that I’ve said all of that I guess that I should think about what I am doing at the moment and think of how to make sure that I can get these written faster if that is what I so desire. I really should be pushing for more quality as these are rather loose and sloppy, but that can come at some later stage. Right now it’s all about different things and those things are things I shall continue to do, or something. I don’t know what I’m talking about, really, but I do try sometimes and I am trying to create something, but of course we’ll see how it all comes about at the end of the day.

Maybe it will move completely away from banal thoughts expressing very little.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 09:25:43

So this was always going to be a mess regardless of how long I made it, which is consistent with most of my writing, so… yeah.

Wrote this this morning, but had to attend to work before I could post.

Written at home.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Masashi Hamauzu: Besaid

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

I think with this one I was trying to describe what was happening in the song whilst also trying to get across the associated imagery. I’m not sure if being familiar with the song and its context is a good thing in this instance, but I tried and below is the result.

Masashi Hamauzu’s (浜渦 正志) “Besaid” (“ビサイド島“) is from the soundtrack for Final Fantasy X, (the aptly named Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack), a soundtrack he and a few others composed.

Whilst the bulk of the soundtrack’s songs were composed by Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫) who at the time was the main composer for the Final Fantasy series), the other composers made for a good fit with what Uematsu was doing as well as the game’s setting.

It’s a soundtrack I recommend hearing; especially “Besaid”, as I feel it’s an understated highlight.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

—

Something low and deep. Spaced. Gentle. Lighter notes respond. A muted synth akin to an arpeggio fades in, perhaps as though it is flowing water. Once ready, gentle percussion also begins. A rhythm is formed and it is all kept relaxed. Simple, precise, intentional piano notes guide and build on the existing melody. A bit of space and yet it feels full. It is relaxed, flowing, and paints the scene of some sort of tropical island.

Paths shaded, moving past mysterious, worn out architecture, past waterfalls and the sun shines somewhere off in the distance. Strings emphasise and fill things out a bit more, rising before the first section where percussion drops.

A quick snare roll and the song keeps going, this time with percussion striking out more. Snappier perhaps, but still relaxed. It does not last long and the song relaxes again. Then the melody atmosphere and emotion really fill out. Suddenly the song is expressing the scene and the mood much more. It is the beginning of a journey, perhaps. A sense of saying farewell. A sense of melancholy, but also a sense of excitement for the journey ahead.

And so there is a return to the first section that had percussion. Once more it is quiet and once more that sense of relaxation flows through. The sand, the air… it seems idyllic and beautiful in what peace it presents. All sounds stay calm, quiet, and all flows as it was before. The waves lick at the beachfront and the shade is as pleasant as the view, but being in the sun isn’t too bad either.

The expansion comes in once more and perhaps the sadness is more obvious this time around, but the happiness and joy remains, as does the calm, and the song fades out.

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Gull Adrift

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

During my recent visit to The Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney I saw this silver gull floating about seemingly aimlessly on the water’s surface. Occasionally it would move, but otherwise it appeared to be content doing very little.

This shot shows the silver gull reaching for something in the water. I don’t know what it was, but I like how the gull appears due to its reaching.

This is my submission into the one hundred-and-twenty-sixth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.

The theme for this one is “Subjects That Begin With the Letter A”.

As this photo shows a gull not doing much moving about and instead mostly adrift, I feel it fits the theme.

The challenge is hosted by four people and cycles weekly:

Week 1 – Patti

Week 2 – Ann-Christine aka Leya

Week 3 – Amy

Week 4 – Tina

This week’s challenge is curated by Patti. Next week Amy is curating.

The challenges are pretty fun and there’s a lot of room for interpretation that doesn’t get in the way of enjoyment. If you’re into photography, then I suggest participating, or at the least checking out what other people are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 827: Aiming for Under Four Minutes

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

So right now I’m going to see if I can get this written in under four minutes, which is a bit of stretch and probably not advised, but sometimes I like to see if I can do things that are not advised. As such, this is what I am attempting to do today.

What you can expect: A lot of rambling and a lot of going nowhere expect inward as I try to explain as to why I am attempting to do this, which of course I will not be able to explain at all as I do not have the ability to do so beyond “to see if I could”. However, there may be some sort of entertainment that can be gleaned from the reading of whatever this turns out to be, so I guess we’ll just have to see how it all turns out, assuming that it does indeed turn out at all.

You see, sometimes I like to do these things as they are a test of things that I want to test out to see if I can achieve things that I want to test to see if I can achieve things. Sometimes these go well and sometimes these do not go well. I predict that this will go somewhere but if it does go well is of course yet to be seen. There is no telling at this stage and to be honest I don’t think that I will be able to do it, but still, I want to try and trying is half the battle.

At the moment there is less than two minutes remaining before I need to hit the target, and of course I am struggling a little, but that is okay as I might just yet recover. I do not know if I will, but I might and hopefully I do as I feel the second wind coming on and the second wind helps to push me on forward which is of course a good thing as then that  means that  maybe, just maybe I might just get there. I might just make it.

Less than a minute to go now. This is the last stretch. This is where I need to pour everything I can into what I am doing. My foot is tapping rapidly and it’s almost tapping in unison with my rather loud typing. Maybe I will get there. I can see the end and it is fast approaching.

Thirty seconds left and I don’t think I can do it anymore, but maybe I can so long as I stick to this. This is tough and perhaps I will get there, but perhaps I will not. However, at least I tried and trying was the hard thing. The rest came really easy and that is fine, really.

Just went over the four minute mark and I am still going, but now I can relax a little. I will attempt this another time, hopefully with some form of success.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 04:22:25

This was a fun little attempt. I might attempt it later and create something messier.

Written at home.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 826: Outrun the Zeitgeist

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Alright, here we go.

It is time to present something forward in the hopes that something is presented forward in a state of being forward, but of course I have no idea if that will or will not happen. I don’t know many things, but maybe that is some sort of small comfort of which I am presenting to myself and hopefully that leads to something else that I can present, assuming that I can present anything at all. This is also assuming that I do not prevent whatever it is that I am trying to present, and therefore there will be some sort of misrepresentation of which I have created in my little dimensional pocket of dimensions that I am so trying to desperately avoid in the hopes that I can outrun the zeitgeist of which I prefer to not have a part of.

Which zeitgeist? I am unsure at the moment, but I do know that it will somehow arrive a little alter when I will be somewhere else for the evening and so the hopes are that somehow I dodge the whole thing in an attempt to not be knocked out and get to follow my own destiny up the stairs and around the corner later. However, I don’t really want to do that either so instead I will just go to bed as bed is nice and bed is comfortable and I need sleep as I feel the fatigue encroaching upon me and as such I need sleep sooner rather than alter. It is a terrible affliction, though maybe it is not and I am just trying to buy myself some time before I think of the next thing that I can write that will somehow continue this on, but you see I’ve run out of things and shouldn’t be writing these in the evening as I need sleep sooner rather than later and so I am just trying to get this done, yet somehow looking to create expression in the form of the writing that somehow carries a message that carries across with some sort of ease, but I don’t really know if that will indeed be the case, such as it is that I am not a great writer by any metric.

Anyway, I don’t know as to what else I can say about all of this, other than I tried and perhaps I failed a little tonight, but at the very least there was some component that involved some sort of fun for me and that is something that at the very least I am happy to have experienced, but perhaps I need to try differently next time, lest I get sideswiped by the zeitgeist that I so desperately want to avoid. If I cannot avoid it, then at the very least I should learnt o grapple with it and treat it as some sort of dancing partner and then engage in the dancing and then go from there, wherever “there” shall be.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 04:40:64

Short and messy. Perhaps a little too repetitive.

Written at home.

Posted in Fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Almost Half in Shade

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

A photo I took a few weeks ago.

To me this feels like a quiet, somewhat-empty part of Sydney CBD and I like that. There’s space and a small openness.

I also like how a fair bit of detail is coming forward in the image.

I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 825: The Beach was Theirs

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

And so there was the riding of the waves after the running along the sand, which of course came after a walk of considerable length. There was a craving for the ocean water and what it provided and represented, and they were there; finally there, and they could finally ride the waves and follow the ocean for a short distance and immerse themselves in the glorious body of water upon which they so readily put upon their need for recreation and relaxation.

The waves were… perhaps rough, yet steady and providing, and that was much desired. They were powerful, constant, increasing and decreasing in intensity, and for where they were in particular, on that particular spot on the open and quiet beach, there were no rips of which they were able to detect. It was the right day at the right time and also at the right place, which of course suited them fine, though admittedly they wouldn’t have minded if the weather was bad, for they still would have gone and they still would have indulged themselves in the ocean’s great body.

And so they rode waves and they went under. They fully immersed themselves and moved about and just overall had what they felt was a good time. Waves crashing on the shore, loud and violently helped paint a scene of peaceful energy, and the sand itself, rather uniform in its dispersal along the beach, leading it to create a fairly smooth appearance from afar.

The sun shining helped keep the beach feeling warm, and where the beach met vegetation, the vegetation was sturdy and distinct. From there back its density quickly increased and rolling hills of greenery were easier to find than they were not.

It truly felt like a time of peace and relaxation, though of course with great energy, and it was. This was something desired and it was something reached. The waves were easy to ride, the water easy to go under. It was easy to pop out of the water for a brief break and then go back in. They had arrived early in the morning and had the beach to themselves, and it was as glorious and relaxing as they could have hoped.

The unfortunate, though not unexpected downside was that it had to end eventually, as there is only so much daylight in a day and trans[port options were limited. Despite what they desired, it would be a long time before they could stay there overnight, or even for a few days.

The last dip on the water was followed by drying off and packing up. They had an incline to ascend and they had to do it before dark. thankfully packing up took very little time and so it was not long before they were on their way, just as the sunset hit.

The beach grew smaller and the sunset increasingly vivid. A warm lightshow bathed the land and the ocean, creating a sense of memory lived in the present.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:57:22

I wanted to focus more on being in the water, but I wasn’t able to keep what I was writing going, hence the repetition and eventual moving away.

Written at home.

Posted in Fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

One Thousand Word Challenge 93: Early and Rolling

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Alright, so it’s not that early but I’m getting into the roll of things and getting things done and getting things done is a good thing as it means I can queue up the next thing and eventually go on a wild journey through the tedium of the soul and hope to come out at the other end alive, or something. That is always a good hope to have, though perhaps something that one should not always focus on. You need to know when to and when not to and then keep a good balance of things in the hopes that it all works out, or something. I think that makes sense.

Anyway, it’s sunny outside so it’s good weather for washing laundry and doing other things and there are things that need doing and I am just the person who can do them as they are things that pertain this place of residence of which I refer to as a place in which I live and as such it is up to me to do them as they are on my list of things to do and do them I shall, as they need to be done and I need to do other things such as write this and do other things.

Perhaps today will carry with it some new challenges of which I will be able to engage and succeed in completing, and all that other stuff that implies some sort of progress when it comes to a montage. I need that to happen as a montage helps to save time over the day. You get things more done and then you’ve more time to get other things done. It is the power of a montage and I need to find a way to maximise this and exploit it to the best of my ability to then I can make use of the best of my ability and then get to other things of which I can do, but of course there needs to be the time in which relaxation happens as that too is important. You need to strike a balance and I need to strike a balance so that I get things done. Perhaps then there needs to be a series of montages so that I get everything done before lunch and then can spend the rest of the day relaxing. Read a book. take it easy. All of that kind of stuff of which I would very much like to do but often don’t due to reasons which probably are more within my control than I let myself believe.

Of course, however, this is not something that can happen as, as much as I would like for it to happen, I am currently bound by the rules of reality and so I need to follow them in order to get anything done, something of which I don’t always enjoy but will continue to abide by as I’d rather remain in reality than lose my grip and disappear completely, though of course somehow that might lead to some more creative endeavours and adventures, but I may never write again and that would not be as fun as writing, I think. Would much prefer to be able to engage in the art of writing than disappear completely, though I guess if I were just traveling the world in a semi-nomadic manner, that would be something I would be fine to engage with. I’d much prefer that over disappearing into some other realm, as there still remains so much of the world for me to see and experience and hopefully be humbled by and made to feel insignificant and small due to the grandness of nature and all of its wondrous gifts.

Anyway, I think that before that I really need to get started on other things. Need to clear the plate before I can go for something else. I don’t know how many ways I can say the same thing, but I’m sure that with enough time I will say the same thing in all the ways it can be said, but that is even if I care about doing the thing at all as I really don’t and would much rather just keep on going and keep on trying to move away from writing about what I write about in the hopes of growing as a writer, as this is a form of taking action and I’m not digging the same hole anymore (I hope), but of course I imagine that I will revisit that original hole and hope to grow it and have its pathways intertwine with other ones and then eventually I may become someone who writes at an acceptable level of writing, and that would be nice.

It would be rather nice and I would be happy with that, so of course I shall continue to try and grow and improve and grow and all of those other things that I hope to keep on doing and trying and doing and then I’ll just get on with it and go elsewhere and look to the forests and the trees and the rivers and the lakes and hopefully try to capture them in a way that represents them honestly, and that too would be a nice thing. There are a lot of things and I shall continue to entertain them in the hopes that I get somewhere,  though of course more for the pursuit and the love of doing them, as well as those things being what I feel is very much an extension of my own self at times, but… anyway…

So I don’t know where I was going with that, but I guess that that was a good place to end the train of though and so I guess now that I’ve said all of that I will say this last thing and then end my bit of writing for this morning, until I write the next thing, which should be soon.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 09:45:10

Quick and pointless, but I think this flows well.

Written at home.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment