Five-Hundred Word Challenge 761: I Think I’m Spending too Much Time Inside

Today I’m going to talk about the current pain in my right wrist that I’m experiencing, though realistically I’m not going to talk about that. However, I am going to write as quickly as I can at the current moment, which is probably a bad idea considering I’m in a bit of pain, but I’m a creature of stubbornness and habit and even though it’s probably not a good idea, it just wouldn’t feel right for me to not try to push through the pain and keep on going. Yes, I need to look after myself better. Yes, I am. Right now? Gotta write, gotta keep on going, gotta do the things and so on and so forth until the end of the day when the tears start running up my cheeks and back into their glands.

So anyway, today is a day of feeling tired but also getting things done which sounds a lot like many days, but this one is different as I’ve already started and thus that means that things might get done sooner rather than later. That’s the hope, anyway. Hopefully the sooner I get things done, the less time in front of a screen I have to spend and thus the more resting on words of the books that I am reading I get to do. Still, reading is a form of being active so I need to be careful with that. Can’t read too much and can’t read too little. Sort of a cycle of sorts.

Outside it appears to be a rather sunny day which means that there will be a kind of brightness that is not metaphorical but literal. There are the sounds of birds outside and inside – where I am – is the sound of a keyboard suffering under my typing, as well as the sound of music that is music I haven’t listened to in a little while. Relaxed morning. Busy morning. Hopefully a productive morning. There are still a few hours to go before the day truly kicks off. Work will happen at some point; the work being the type where in exchange for dealing with queries that are answered before even speaking to someone, I get paid an amount that’s enough to survive off of, but not quite enough to live comfortably off of, which in some ways is fine but for what we deal with, we should be paid more.

Well, if the business isn’t going to pay more, I should keep on looking for work I’m more qualified for, which I am, so there.

Anyway, I really should get to getting other things out of the way, but this has been a morning talking that I’ve written and you are now reading, thus leading to some sort of carrying over of meaning and expression through the understanding of sensory organs and the brain.

I think that’s pretty much everything. I was hoping to have something else, but I don’t, so here’s a sentence of conclusion for you.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:13:48

Not dissatisfied with what I’ve written; not entirely, at least.
I didn’t get enough sleep last night which I feel impacted my drive. I also feel I may have been a little too switched on as I was writing. This bit of text feels it’s neither mundane, nor fantastic enough.

Oh well.

Written at home.

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One Thousand Word Challenge 62: An Exercise in Deception

And so once more a day has gone by and we slowly transition into the phase of the day known as the evening, which usually arrives after the phase known as afternoon. It still actually is the afternoon period at the moment, but the afternoon will soon take its exit and thus the evening will be here. Hopefully it will be on time as we don’t want to see the space left empty.

Today has been somewhat-productive. There has been a lot of thinking, a lot of analysing and a lot of thinking. There has been some going outside, but not much. Can’t always go outside. Sometimes you need to spend time inside in order to appreciate outside and vice versa; at least, that is what I think they say. I don’t know, myself. Never really been a person for knowing, but hopefully there is some understanding within my being of physical existence.

There probably are some other things that I could be doing at this moment, but right now I feel like writing in a manner that does not involve the act of talking about music, which is what I’ve been doing for a good chunk of this afternoon. Will get back into it very shortly, but right now it’s kind of a rest whilst keeping the hands warm, or something to similar effect. Just taking it easy and wasting time before I get back into the meat of what it is that I am doing, assuming there is any proverbial meat left, of course. A good chance that there is none as right now it is all editing and trying to clean up all the stuff I need to clean up so that I can write more things, but it’s all coming along smoothly… hopefully.

I really need to think of other things to write about right now, but this will do. There isn’t much left to go anyway. Only a few more words… or at least that is what I am leading you to believe, for you see there is a secret deception afoot at hand. I am planning on deceiving you by writing a little longer than what I am implying by the sentence I typed out just before. You’ll be lulled into a false sense of security, then bam! Many more words will approach your eyes and you will be in a position to read on, decrying how easily you were deceived and wondering where this intolerable mass of a mess of words will end. I can tell you where it will end, but that too is a deception as it never ends. Fooled again!

Yes; this thing just goes on and on and there is no stopping it. There is no telling as to where it will finally find an end, for all it is is a series of segments in what might just be one of the most average-to-dull-to-intolerable exercises in writing a continuous thread of nothingness! Or at least that is what I am going to pretend it is for at the end of the day that is not what it is at all and thus I have deluded myself, thus deceiving myself. Self-fooled! It happens sometimes, but that’s the way the river flows when you’re not looking.

So anyway, there is deception and you will be deceived, but of course in the attempts to deceive you, the reader, I will have also deceived myself. This writing is so brilliantly-witty, yet utterly meaningless but I cannot fathom the meaninglessness that I myself am creating, for I am blind to my own flights of fancy and thus cannot see how I am producing nothing at all. Maybe you can, but I cannot. However, you may see it but you are just as trapped as I am, thus leading to you being just as rapt as I am trapped and it’s all a vicious cycle that I want to get out of so I can get back to whatever it is that I am meant to be doing. However, I have been here for so long that I cannot remember what it is that I am meant to be doing and so I am just going to try and find my way out of whatever this mess is. I am sure that there is an exit somewhere; I just need to find out where it is. I saw it on the way in, but maybe it has moved to somewhere else.

If the exit has exited, then what am I to do other than wait and keep the illusion up and hopefully keep you reading up until this point? I think I am getting a bit nervous now. That is not what I want to happen. I want to keep the illusion up in the hopes that there is no revealing of my hand and thus revealing the whole act of trickery and fooling. If I fail in this, then perhaps I am doomed to be revealed to all and thus I am the one who will be aware of the trickery, for unintentionally I have committed treachery toward my own being of existence and thus I am the one who will have to admit that I indeed was fooled. All will be revealed and thus I will have nowhere to go other than forward, or something.

Perhaps it will be some sort of cathartic moment where in the shame of realisation of what I have done to myself, I will finally be able to grow as a person as there no longer will be some sort of weight that I have been carrying around on my shoulders, even though there was no weight at all, for the trickery here is to gain the sympathy and create some sort of arc before you’re all lulled once more into a false sense of security. Whilst you are all deceived, I will find my fiendish plot most devilish.

With that done, it’s time to abscond post-haste!

The time it took to write one thousand words: 11:20:68

I felt like writing some sort of nonsense before getting back to editing. I really like how this turned out. Happy with the speed and happy with the silliness of what I wrote. Could use less repetition, but I think the flow works for what I was writing.

Written at home.

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Bent Cirrus

I’m pretty sure these are cirrus clouds. Not entirely sure; just pretty sure.

I took this a few days ago when I went out to try and get shots of birds at some time around sunset. Only took the 70-200 with me as I was only planning on taking photos of birds. Bit of a mistake, that was.

This particular strand of clouds was quite massive and beautiful, especially whilst capturing light from the sunset. Unfortunately this is only part of the strand, but it is the part I found most interesting.

There’s a softness of colour and shape that I think works nicely in helping this feel relaxed.

I think the clouds almost look like they form a pathway leading to nowhere in particular.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 760: Horse Hours

It’s all horse hours here. Been trapped for a while. Can’t escape. Can’t get out. Getting comfortable at least.

The last time I saw the exit was… far too long ago for me to remember. Perhaps it wasn’t that long ago. Doesn’t matter, really. All that matters is that this is a place of entrapment and there is no escape until it decides that you are free to go. All I can do is sit here and nurse my drink and keep on biding my time.

Seems much like a sad bar, and that probably is what it is, though not necessarily in the shape of one. A lot of people sitting around. Some people chatting quietly, some alone, drinking. Me? I’m alone, drinking. Don’t care much for conversation. It might help pass the time, but it isn’t going to take my mind off of things.

Don’t even know how I got here. Just woke up and here I was, on the ground. Fully clothed in things familiar to me. Didn’t go to sleep fully clothed, but that’s how I woke up. Took a bit of time to walk to where I am now, though realistically it just formed around my whilst I was walking and then I was here. Found a seat in a booth. Found my seat, really. Now I’m just sitting here, nursing a drink so I’ve got something I can look after. Keeps the mind off things.

Sometimes I wonder as to how long some of these other patrons have sat where they are, trying to take their mind off of their situation? How many of them have come and gone? How many of them have chosen to stay, and how many have felt that they have no choice but to stay? My understanding is that the exit does open on occasion, though what the determining factor is, few, if any know. Once it is open, the choice is theirs. They can step through and return, or they can stay. What is to say that leaving this place means you aren’t going to come back though?

Then there are questions about what it is that leads to you arriving at a place like this. There’s a stillness and there is a certain atmosphere of destitution and desolation. Some people here seem to be trying to keep their head above proverbial water, whereas others seem to have thrown in the proverbial towel. Me? I’m just trying to cope and keep my mind off of the time I’ve already spent here, but I don’t know as to how long it has been. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here.

I feel as though it might be a good idea to cause a scene and create some sort of disturbance. Maybe that’ll get me thrown out, but there’s always a chance this place will dissipate instead, leaving me stuck elsewhere; besides which, the staff are pleasant enough.

Instead I’ll just nurse this drink and bide my time.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:00:87

So this started off as something that was likely going to be ridiculous and ended up being a bit more serious than anticipated. I think that as an idea I could flesh it out more into something better as a lot of it doesn’t get across the atmosphere I feel it should, but I do see potential within what I wrote. Feels a bit like a really rough sketch.

I kind of want to get rid of the opening sentence, but I don’t quite have the heart to remove it; it doesn’t quite work, but to me it’s somewhat-charming.

Written at home.

 

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Streptopelia chinensis

I think this is a different spotted dove than the last one I took a photo of, but in the same area a few minutes later.

This one was cleaning itself whilst I was taking photos. I think for a moment it stopped to see what I was doing, then went back to cleaning itself.

What I believe I’ve captured is a bird wholly looking like a bird, but appearing in a way that feels somewhat-unfamiliar.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s TPM photo challenge for this week. The theme for this challenge is “Wild Animals”.

I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit into the challenge.

You can find the challenges here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 759: Or Something

There’s something about something that really makes it something to think something about.

Actually, I’m hungry and I want to write about being hungry, but at the same time I don’t so instead there may be some sort of vagueness to the proceedings. Don’t know yet. We’ll see when it all comes out as a bit of text written by someone who really should slow done at some points of the day.

Anyway, I am hungry. There’s something about being hungry that really makes it a motivator to getting food. I think that’s a good way of putting it, though of course there are many types of hunger out there and of course there are many ways to tackle each kind of hunger. Usually they involve the act of satiating that strong sense of the body telling you that you need to do something, or something. Of course, the act does not always satiate the hunger, but at the very least it can be seen as some sort of token gesture that makes the thing better, or something.

I think I’ve run out of things to help finishing this off. Not too far in and I’m already running on steam. Maybe I need to go eat some food and get that out of the way, then return to this, or something. That certainly would be something to do. If that is something to do and it is done, then that will be one more thing out of the way that I need to worry about and I can get back on with the doing of the things that lead to doing other things, or something.

I guess that, other than hungry for food, I’m also hungry for the getting of the things to the stage of the completion. That is indeed something that I want to do and get out of the way. There isn’t too long before the start of the shift of the work and I need to get at least a few more things out of the way. Once I have done so I can then move toward other things that also need doing. There are a few things and they are leaving a sense of hunger in me that almost matches my desire to eat something so that I feel a little more full. Need to keep the meal light, of course. Don’t want to start my shift feeling sluggish. Need to feel dynamic. Need to feel smooth and need to feel like I can dodge everything that is undesirable during the shift, or something. to similar effect.

Anyway, I think I’ve gotten my point across. Need to eat and need to satiate two hungers before the shift of working starts. So long as I can maximise my time and effort, then perhaps it will be achievable. Perhaps it won’t just be seen as some sort of floating dream to lead my head off into the clouds that surround me, during the current time, or something.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 04:55:41

Happy with the speed of writing. Need to work harder on making things flow better as this feels a bit haphazard.

Written at home.

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A Poem About Sounds

I was trying to create some sort of imagery which came from a song I was listening to when I started writing this bit of poetry.

Unsurprisingly the whole thing feels quite amateur. Room for improvement and all that.

I hope you enjoy.

A multitude of buzzes
Croaking among water
Occasional chirps
Rustling of branches
Movement among low foliage

Imperceptible rhythms
Audible patterns
Gathering of sounds
Forming a mass
Thought of as harmonious

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 758: A Long Day of Doing Nothing

It has been a long day of doing nothing. Only getting to doing the stuff right now. Gotta get stuff done at the moment. There are a few hours before the time of sleep, but before then I’m going to get things done.

The day rolled on by in a most relaxed manner. Did a bit of reading, a bit of sitting around doing nothing, and a lot of sitting around and doing nothing. It was rather unproductive, but now the hours kick into the busy period of the day.

Wait; there was the doing of planning an itinerary. Aside from locations, nothing too rigid. Gotta keep things flexible. I like to wander and wandering will be featured prominently within this itinerary. Still need to work out the days and all of that other stuff, but it was a plan and a start and a start to a plan. However, other than that, pretty much nothing.

There was some music listening to and some looking at plants, but everything was kept loose and lazy. Not a good thing but not a bad thing; just a thing. A thing that perhaps maybe needed to happen, but now I have the joy of cramming a day of work into a few hours. Maybe I can do it. I’ve done more stressful things. I don’t know right now, however. I still feel very much like being lazy, but I need to get the stuff done. There is a lot happening tomorrow, so the less I have to worry about tomorrow the less I have to worry about tomorrow. This could be a good thing, but also a bad thing.

I think that right now it’s showing that I’ve been lazy as this writing seems a bit tired. Perhaps I am also tired. You’ll never know, unless I choose to reveal, which I will. I am feeling a little tired. Doesn’t mean anything other than I’m tired. Need to be less lazy, blah blah blah.

So the neighbours have an outside light and it’s broken. It is so broken that right now it’s flashing rapidly. Rather annoying, I think. Might make sleeping difficult. Hopefully it does not. Of course, it could be much worse. There are worse things out there that I could have to deal with from neighbours, so that, whilst undesirable – is not overly bad.

I think I need to think of other things to write about at the moment. Maybe the colour blorange. Maybe I’ll write about that instead of doing what I’m doing right now, which is just writing about stuff that is filling space where better things could come in, but sometimes that is the way the things go, or something.

Anyway, I think there was a point that I was trying to make but it may have gotten lost somewhere on the way down. If you do happen to see it on your way to the end of this text, then please ask it to return to here.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:28:12

A bit of writing that has very little to its substance. Oh well.

Written at home.

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Ibis Atop a Lamppost

As the title suggests.

I was walking around yesterday afternoon. From a distance I saw two ibes on a lamppost.

I was in a park at the time trying to get photos of rosellas (They might not have been; it was getting close to twilight and they were moving fast enough to make it difficult to discern, but I’m pretty sure they were). After enough missed attempts I left the park.

When I was back on the footpath alongside a road I looked over to some of the trees along the road and saw a few ibes sitting among them. When the lamppost came into view there remained one ibis. I felt a desire to get a shot of it and so I did, as evidenced by the existence of this photo.

I don’t think there’s necessarily anything remarkable about this photo. It’s a shot of an Ibis atop a lamppost. The ibis is cleaning itself which is interesting as the act of cleaning makes the ibis look a little bit different to how it would normally appear, but otherwise everything is pretty ordinary.

That said, I do like how, even with the lamppost in the frame, the amount of negative space decontextualises what is in the shot other than the ibis using the lamppost as a resting place.

It (sort of) makes the image feel a little odd and displaced from any sort of spatial relation other than that of how the ibis and the lamppost relate to each other and only each other.

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

The theme for this one is “Negative Space“.

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

Amy is hosting this challenge. Tina is hosting next week’s.

I recommend checking out how people are interpreting the challenges. I also recommend joining in. It’s a growing, fun community.

I hope you enjoy.

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Going for a Walk

A shot of a spotted dove (Streptopelia chinensis) walking along a roof.

I think this shot gives a sense of distance quite nicely. I also think the colour isn’t too harsh and helps to give the scene a relaxed feel whilst also helping the dove’s walk feel jaunty; well, that and its little step.

This is available as a print.

I hope you enjoy.

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