Shallow North Dakota: GJ

One listen, and another where I just went in. Some active thinking here and there and still a sense of being broken up, but I think this one is better than the prior one. I might feel that way due to how soon after the previous one I wrote this. Continuation and all.

Shallow North Dakota’s “GJ” is from Auto Body Crusher.

I hope you enjoy.

Percussive strikes, counting almost before percussion comes in in full. Echoing, distorted, claustrophobic. Slow, steady. Rumbling, almost. The space is empty and it is full, and the pattern plays out with a great unease. Ominous. It plays simple and powerfully, and plays out and along. It continues onward and perhaps its sense of being singular is oppressive. It changes in sudden shifts and remains monotonous and relentless.

The percussion shifts and shuffles and ripples in bright, muffled pools. It has nothing but itself and the silence that presses in around it. It drives forward and eternal, but it does not push on with energy, still. There is energy there, but it lumbers and lurches forward. It seems almost lacking, but it is full.

The percussion picks up and seems to speed up a little, too. More residual noise leaking off from the percussion fills the space between each strike, and the shape changes. The process changes, and maybe it’s breathing in a sense. Maybe it’s breathing and pushing on, and heaving and gaining pace. Gaining movement through the arc of each swing and strike, and falling like rain until one final strike that rings out until the song ends.

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Shallow North Dakota: Salvo

One listen.

Just went in, knocked it out. Paused for thought a few times, but got this done in what I feel was a smooth writing process. It does feel a bit broken up, but that’s how everything was coming to me.

Shallow North Dakota’s “Salvo” is from Auto Body Crusher.

I hope you enjoy.

Distorted percussion rumbles and strikes, thuds into a floor, echoes out and suddenly is engulfed by a morass of noise. It’s still there, seemingly moaning underneath it all, just bits and pieces caught and held under, specific and vague.

Suddenly it breaks through and plays a bit faster before sinking down once more and falls apart. Loses its shape whilst remaining recognizably itself. More a suggestion; more a nothing, and disappearing melding into a distance, into a quiet noise; a hiss and fading, and still there, slow, disassembled, almost.

Having exploded and arced and sunk down, and little is left. Everything is there, but it’s nothing, lost in a thick, engulfing wall; a harsh wind, and fading out into nothingness.

Something rises up; a pulse that perhaps represents what once was; what gives an idea, and it builds and suddenly releases into a full sound that suddenly stops at the song’s end.

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Light Rambling About Music and Place

New Year’s Eve 2013. I was listening to The Afghan Whigs’ “Crime Scene, Part One”, somewhere around the time of the tick over to 2014. I was getting a little too introspective. “What if this is all there is? What if I don’t go anywhere from here? What if there’s nothing else?” And other things that can often lead to spiraling when one isn’t doing well. My partner at the time had gone out and I chose to stay at home. I was not feeling good, and, thankfully, I didn’t take some of those feelings too far.

A couple of nights ago I was listening to The Twilight Singers’ “Dynamite Steps”. I’m getting a little too introspective. “What if this is all there is? Am I not going to go anywhere from here? I have reasons to be happy right now, but maybe this really is it”. I was thinking dark thoughts and I was not doing well. But I didn’t spiral. I didn’t think of going further, and that is a relief.

I know why listening to The Twilight Singers in that particular moment made me think of NYE  2013. I know why it took me back there, but I’m okay. I haven’t been suicidal for a good few weeks now, and that’s a relief. And I was a little too introspective, but things have changed.

Music is interesting in how we are so readily willing to allow it to soundtrack our feelings and experiences. We let it carry us and sometimes we seek it out to reinforce our own feelings. We’ll seek it out to tell us something that allows us to reaffirm, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes it just hits us in ways we didn’t expect it to. And that’s the wonder of it.

Music can say so much about scene and place and time. It can tell us a lot about why we might seek certain feelings or sensations, and it can reveal a lot about how we might be able to step away from spiraling, or move away from feeling things, even if joyous. We can see where it takes us; we can look into it and find relation, even if a subject is not relatable. It’s part of the beauty of the art that is music. But I think I might be getting away from what I was hoping to say.

Actually, I don’t know what I was hoping to say. I do know that in these two listening experiences there are differences. I’m older and in a different situation. I’m less stressed and overwhelmed at the moment, and I’m more functional, and I’ve got things picking up for me. I’m doing okay, and doing okay is better than bad. Sure, things could be better, but they are getting better and that’s the main thing. I’m slowly improving, and some songs are still going to hit me hard. Probably will for the rest of my life.

Greg Dulli has a way with music. Some of his stuff does feel comforting, even if it isn’t. Some of it is definitely not comforting. Both “Crime Scene, Part One” and “Dynamite Steps” are heavy songs, but the latter feels a little lighter, if only just. I think about life more with the latter, and there’s a sadness in it that’s different to the former. Maybe it’s from age and weariness. I don’t know, but it speaks effectively.

Maybe this is all there is and I’m not going to go further, or at least much further than where I am now. Maybe I’ve “peaked”. Maybe I don’t have a place to be anymore; a place where roots can form, and maybe it doesn’t matter, because all I have is now, and I’m doing okay, and I will be doing better.

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Bare Banksia

Pretty sure it’s a banksia.

I really like how stark this photo feels. It’s not, but it feels that way. It feels grim, too. Very moody, not necessarily upbeat. It’s very much about the form here, and what the form depicts, and I think I did well.

I hope you enjoy.

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A View of Mount Hay

Here’s a landscape photo of the land… or some of it in The Blue Mountains. Where I was had what I felt was a good vantage point of Mount Hay, hence the photo of Mount Hay.

This is my submission into the three hundred-and-seventy-third Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Looking back at LAC #31: Landscapes“. I think this photo is better than what I did for the thirty-first, but I do like what I submitted back then. I don’t think I’d take it differently now.

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

Beth

This one is curated by Egídio. The next one is curated by John.

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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One Thousand Word Challenge 229: More Unearned Rambling

Sitting here, wondering. Thinking about what it is that I should do. I want to churn out words but I should do some editing. I should do the culling of the words. I should do that, but I’m not. Too many words to get through. Too many lives to think about, or perhaps none at all. Everything twisted and turning and I’m just sitting here, trying to think of what I can write and, like many other times, I have nothing other than lengthy sentences that live a life far beyond what is necessary.

Still, I’m getting through things. I’m getting things done. I’m getting to where the ends are and then when I find those, I can go find new beginnings. I’m trying to think of what there is that can be said at this moment. I should just let my mind be free, though maybe I have and this is all that is left and I just don’t recognise it. I don’t know.

I’ve spent so long writing about writing that perhaps that is all I have left. I’ve harvested the crops too many times and the lands are no longer fertile. What do I do about this? How do I go about going about? Is there a point? I mean, there always is, but is there now? Do I have something I can still offer?

I’m trying to think and I’ve nothing. I’m sitting here at this table in this room that is only full of me, and soon the voices that are rapidly approaching. But it is mostly me sitting at a wall, and the voices are gone and the room is just full of me once more. It’s all not happening. This is life. This is where everything sits and lies. This is the zenith.

It’s not, but it feels like it.

I feel that being happy was a bad move on my part, but I am happy. I am looking forward to life and living, and I’m feeling good. Not the best I could, but good and good is good enough for now. That’s fine by me. At least, for now.

But really, being happy or sad or whatever else didn’t change a thing about my writing. Didn’t change a thing about my drive. The only thing that changes my drive is trying to write and pushing past all the things that I need to push past. Pushing past all the errors and mistakes and finding where the truth lies; the truth of my writing.

That sounds a lot more self-indulgent than I intended. Oh well.

But I’m sitting here and there’s a drone and I’m thinking about writing. I’m thinking about the beanie that sits next to me, and I’m thinking about the lunch I just ate. I’m thinking about heading home soon and doing washing tomorrow, and I’m thinking about the loneliness of this space, and it is a lonely space. It is a space that holds no warmth, though it can feel warm. That warmth comes from the people within it when they are within it. Right now it’s just cold and not sterile, though it could certainly feel sterile, and kind of does. I think. I don’t know. Anyway.

So… what else is there to say? What else can I offer? I’ve lost a lot of the year and I’m about to get into a mad scramble to make up for time. I don’t know why I’m going to do this, but I am going to do it for some reason. See where it gets me. Maybe see nothing. We’ll see. We’ll always see.

So many more words to write before the end of the day and so many more words to write before I get to go home. I can see myself in the window. I can see myself typing, and it’s just me. It’s just my reflection. Just a projection of myself doing the things that I am doing, and that doesn’t mean much of anything, but it is interesting to see how I type from a different perspective. Very rough, very flow. That’s interesting.

Not really. Or maybe quite.

A few minutes before I need to get back to work, and I’ve plenty of time to keep on crapping on, really. Plenty of time to be bored in this space where I feel lonely. Plenty of time to find out what lies beyond the room and what lies beyond the basic series of thoughts that I am having. Not sure where to go from here.

The space is broken once more and the voices are mixed and varied, and they utter nothingness and inanity, and, quite frankly, that’s great. These are people engaging in conversation and story, and they are enjoying the company they share between themselves. They are talking about things that might matter to them in this moment and will no longer matter later on, maybe. Who is to say? It is up to them to work all of that out, and I’m sure they will if they are willing to try. But they won’t because that’s not worth their time in this present moment. There are more important things to engage with, and that is what they are doing. And it’s good.

The space is broken and it is filling with some joy. I’m sitting here, facing this wall, trying to get this bit of writing done before I return to my desk. Having little work to do, having things to get to the end of. It’s a good day and a bad day, and there are many things to learn and unlearn, and I think I just want to go home and rest. Get some sleep before tomorrow comes. Try and find whatever and try to find it wherever I can. Just sit at home and relax, and I certainly can relax a bit more than I do. But maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll just keep on charging into whatever I should do.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 11:27:71

I wrote this a few days ago and didn’t get around to sharing it until now. I don’t know why. I can’t remember what I wrote and I feel as though reading over it wouldn’t be the best thing for me to do. Don’t know why.

Written at work.

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Reaching in Spring

This is an odd photo and it’s mainly due to the lens I used, though it may look odd to me only due to remembering how the trees looked and them.

I hope you enjoy.

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Eucalyptus Sunrise

Admittedly the sunrise had already happened, and this is very much at the end of it, or just past. However, it feels like a sunrise still. A moody one; a silent one, and a still one, but still like one.

This is my submission into the three hundred-and-seventy-second Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Ephemeral“. Sunrises inhabit a space of being both ephemeral and not, so I feel this photo counts.

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

Beth

This one is curated by Tina. The next one is curated by Egídio.

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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To the Shoulder

Just another reference photo. I’m not sure what I like about this one. It’s just kind of interesting. Not good; just interesting.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. The next one is hosted by Margaret of From Pyrenees to Pennines, and she has chosen the theme “Clocks and Timepieces”.

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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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1545: Wasted Mass of Words

Wondering if I can churn out a bunch of words in quick succession again. Wonder this all the time (not really), and right now I am wondering again. Always wondering; never wandering.

Sometimes wandering, but you know. So anyway, that’s where I am at right now and that is what I am doing, so I’m gonna see. I’d like to get under four minutes again. It has been a long while since I had a table that made this feel more viable than it is, and I think that I can do it this time. I don’t know if I can do it, but I think I can and I hope that I can, so I’ll see if I can.

Of course, this means that I need to think of things to write and I don’t know what I can write. My brain is a bit scrambled form being tired for as long as I have. The drive is there. The drive to write things that don’t matter is there. The drive to see if I can do something that’s kind of pointless is there. The function isn’t quite. But we’ll see. We always see and today we’ll see.

Maybe I’ll make multiple attempts at this. Maybe I won’t. What I will do is yet to be determined, but what is determined is that I am writing a lot faster than I recently mostly have, and maybe that means that I am finally in a space where everything will work out the way it should work out, or rather, the way I hope it will work out. I don’t really know, but know what I really don’t is not knowing that and thus knowing that I don’t know, and that, in itself, is a form of knowing.

What is that sentence?

So I’m sitting here and I’m wasting time. I should be learning and I should be working and I’m doing neither, and that’s okay for now. Maybe I can get away with it; maybe I cannot. However, I am entitled to this time so I’m not getting away with anything. Or am I?

Anyway. Don’t think I’m gonna make it, but it was a valiant attempt.

What isn’t valiant is my continuing with this wasted mass of words, but I started and I’m gonna finish it. It is the right thing to do, or the wrong thing to do, or the selfish thing to do, or maybe none of those. I don’t know and, quite frankly, I don’t care right now. I’m itching to churn words and that is precisely what I’m doing, and I’m getting there. I’m writing things and putting them out, and they’ll be read or they won’t, and that’s okay. I still have quite a lot to write over the next few months, anyway. Gonna be a tough climb, but I’ll get there. Always do in the end, unless I don’t, in which case I was wrong and I’ll need to own that, or something.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 04:43:08

Toward the end I realised I wasn’t going to get there and slowed down a fair bit. Happens.

Written at work.

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