Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1497: We’ll Find out Soon

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

Today I’m writing from the floor of the living room. The laptop is up on an ottoman and I’m sitting in front of it and this is not the most comfortable thing in the world, let me tell you. Why am I doing this when I have a perfectly good desk from which I can sit? I have absolutely no idea, but the music is playing in the living room and that’s where I want to be at the moment. I want to be listening to the tunes.

It has been a long day and I’m not going to write about it right now. Saving that for tomorrow. The ex is gone, things were said that make me wonder about what it is that she’s actually thinking, but that’s not something I want to dwell upon. I’m going to feel like absolute shit in the morning, but right now my focus is just to enjoy the evening. It’s election time and votes are being counted, and it’s not a good time.

It could go in the way that I want it to, but I fear it won’t and we’re gonna be stuck with a party that has contempt for the poor. Open, seemingly-hostile contempt. But maybe we won’t! We’ll see.

I’m sitting here and Nujabes is playing, and in this moment things seem alright. Things seem okay. It has been an intense few days, but I’m still alive and I’m still kicking. I can get through what I’m going through. I’ve been through some heavy stuff in life and this is the lowest point I’ve experienced. It can get worse, but it can get better.

This election might go well. If it goes the way I hope it goes, I’m still not going to be happy, but I won’t be doleful. I’ll at least know that fighting for the betterment of all will be less tiring. I know that the Australian populace, or rather a majority of it, decided that it is better to reject the party that serves to enrich itself.

I’m not sure why I don’t feel like absolute shit right now. It has been a heavy day. Heavy emotions, a lot of comforting, a lot of watching a place empty. I still have this living room, however, and that’s nice. All of what is in here is mine, at least, though soon it will be elsewhere. Soon it will no longer inhabit this space, and I need to get a move on with that, I suppose. Tomorrow things will be out of here and will be elsewhere, and I don’t know when or if I’ll see them again. I do know, however, that I’m anticipating some good news. Hopefully that news is sooner rather than later, but I’m anticipating it. If not, there are more things along the way. I can get through this space. I can persevere.

Hopefully the election shows that working toward a better tomorrow is not off the table. We’ll find out soon.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:16:28

Decent speed, considering the discomfort.

Written at home.

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The Sky is a Mirror

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

It’s an interesting phrase, that one. The sky often offers a reflection of what we see in it, and it can be as accurate as how we want to interpret it at times. Reflects the land, the state of things, our own emotions… you get the idea.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. This one is hosted by Margaret of From Pyrenees to Penines and she has chosen “Mirror” as her theme.

This photo was taken in spring, though it doesn’t feel much like a spring photo.

This challenge is open to all, and I recommend joining in. If want to, check out more information about it here, and include the tag “monochrome-madness” when you share your photo. If you’d prefer not to join in, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography, and what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

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Charizard

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

Started and finished yesterday.

Some odd and uneven proportions here. Some I tried to fix, some I left intentionally so. The shape of things doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should still look “right”. I don’t think I got that down, but I’d like to believe I illustrated something.

I was going to do more light-based shading, but I didn’t for some reason. Also thought it’d be interesting to put charizard in a cave, but then decided to put it under a night sky… which ended up looking like a cave.

I hope you enjoy.

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Charmeleon

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

Long day today.

I was going to share this yesterday but I was too tired by the time I felt able to do so. Also spent time working on another idea I had.

I’m not sure why I put charmeleon on a pylon in the sky. The original artwork makes it look like it could either be vaulting or breaking. For some reason, that meant putting it in the sky to me.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1496: Revisiting Broadway

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

Finishing yesterday afternoon was tough, and it was especially so due to something that happened almost immediately after. I’m not going to get into it now, though I might later. The reason I’m mentioning it now, however, is to get an idea of how I felt today.

Well, I felt shit.

I got ready, hopped into the car and drove off to Broadway Shopping Centre. I was parking there to go nearby to sit an aptitude test for the chance to get an interview. Dressed up for it, made my hair neat… all the things. Started storming whilst I was getting ready. Fun times.

I walked out of the car park and into Broadway, and I looked around. I had been in there kind of recently, but it felt so different to what I was used to, and I felt like I wasn’t there.

I used to spend a fair bit of time in Broadway when I lived in Glebe. Did my food shopping there, you know. Usual stuff. It was close enough to home to walk there and back, and normally I’d be in and out due to going early. It was a different time. The place looked modern, but old, and I suppose it was inevitable that it would change. Shops often are transient things, though usually lasting longer than the time people spend in and around them. A lot of the shops that were once there aren’t. Some still are, but they too seemed displaced in memory.

I walked on through and I felt like a ghost. I felt like a lingering past that had no right to be there. My time in Glebe had been and gone, which is kind of fine in a way. But it’s also saddening.

Well before I did, a friend of mine lived in Glebe for a few years. A few of my friends have, really. It’s a place where you sort of do a mandatory stint in whether you want to or not. Glebe attracts a lot of different people and it used to be cheaper, and it most certainly isn’t these days. It’s a shame, and I’m sure plenty of others would feel the same about the period when I lived there; too expensive, too gentrified. I’ll admit that. But I look at it now, and I look at Broadway, and I feel left behind. I feel like I miss the area, and I don’t want to be. I don’t want to miss it, because there’s not much of anything to miss. Where I am now is fine, and I’m going to be missing that too, soon. But I do miss the convenience of Glebe, and the not feeling so isolated, not that I am.

I miss what Broadway was, but it was always going to change, and inside it, before heading out into the rain I was part of it, but I didn’t exist there. I wasn’t there anymore, because my time with Broadway passed many years ago.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 09:10:89

Bit slow and not great, but I’m glad I was able to articulate what I was thinking whilst I was in there.

Written at home.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1495: Last bit of Writing at this Job

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

Not sure if this is going to be my last bit of writing whilst at this job. Last day is today, and then an aptitude test tomorrow, and now an interview on Friday, and we’ll see where it all goes.

It all goes into uncertainty, really.

So I’m pretty scared, and I’m tired of being distressed, and I just want to take it easy. This isn’t a good time, and it hasn’t been for many weeks, and I need to keep going. I need to persevere. What choice do I have? What do I do from here? Because giving up still is not an option.

Too much of my life I’ve spent burned out and struggling, and right now I have to struggle. Right now I have to keep on going, because I’d rather have a possibility of things getting worse than a guarantee. But it’s all tough, and I keep on going, and it remains tough.

So I’m here, writing probably the last thing I’ll write at this job, and things are okay, but things are tough. I’m trying to not cry as there’s a job to do. There’s work to put in, and that won’t change. Things keep on going. The wheels keep on turning, and maybe they are on the ground. Maybe I haven’t been spinning them and going nowhere, but I haven’t paid attention to the road. Maybe everything hurts right now and things still keep going forward.

I’m scared. I have three opportunities and I have no idea if any of them will succeed, but my tenacity in the face of whatever seems to be my strong point. My stubbornness allows me to persist, but it’s also harmed me in other ways. But right now it’s carrying me through. Either that or some sort of self-belief. Not sure at the moment, and not going to try and pry.

That I’ve switched so heavily to drawing is something that I’m not sure should worry me, or something I should be inspired by. I don’t know. I never know with these things. But it’s good, because I’m still creating. I’m still working on things and that keeps me going in some manner.

At this job I discovered Underworld properly. Of course I knew some songs, but it’s here where I couldn’t stop listening to them for weeks on end, and I’m still listening to them a lot. I’m listening to a lot of different things, and my thoughts go in various directions as they loop around on each other. They are circular and the music is linear, but my thoughts also are linear. They keep on going and rocketing forward to wherever they feel they need to take me, and I’m merely a passenger, trying to find some direction.

I guess the direction is “out” at the moment. Such is the way of things, I suppose.

In a sense, not working at this place may be a blessing in disguise, but I’m going to miss it terribly.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:59:12

Not good, not bad. Down the middle.

Written at work.

 

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What we Leave Behind

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

A photo very similar to this one. The feel is a bit different, probably due to change in angle.

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

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

Egídio

Ritva

This one is curated by Sofia. The next one is curated by Ritva.

I recommend joining the community and participating in the challenges. They’re pretty straightforward, allow room for interpretation, and provide a good way to think about photography in general. If not, however, then at the very least you should check out what others submit to the challenges.

I hope you enjoy.

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Charmander

Posted on April 28, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

No, this hasn’t turned into an art blog. It’s just what I’ve been mainly capable of doing over the past couple of weeks.

So here’s Charmander. Fourth pokémon. I wanted to draw a little splash around the foot that’s down, make it look like it’s playing in a puddle, but decided against doing so for some reason.

I hope you enjoy.

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Song of the Dragon

Posted on April 27, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

In Breath of Fire IV there’s a part where you can pay the character depicted below to play the “Song of the Dragon” for you. It has some importance, but if you pay low amounts three times, you’ll get some silly stuff before, after a fourth attempt at going low, you’ll get the song.

Last year I decided to draw this scene. I didn’t quite do the colour well, but the Mud Sea (BOFIV is a pretty fantastic game in a few ways) looks decent, as does the whole appearance of sunset, I feel. Originally I only planned to do the first and last version, but it didn’t feel right not including the silly songs.

This was started and finished today.

I hope you enjoy.

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Flowering Trap Fly

Posted on April 27, 2025 by Stupidity Hole

This started life as a quick sketch done in 2021. A number of months ago I decided I’d work on it some more, then didn’t start doing so until yesterday. Finished it a few minutes ago.

I was trying to go for something a bit creepy, a bit dangerous in feel. Not sure if it came through well enough, but what this thing was became more apparent as I worked on it. It is sort of meant to be dangerous and creepy, but also a bit goofy and not dangerous to many things.

The flower is the real head, and the body down below helps with camouflage. The body can appear as ground in certain areas, with the legs looking a bit like bits of decaying wood. It also appears to have wings, but it doesn’t. They’re just markings.

I don’t know why I made the tongue so long.

I hope you enjoy.

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