Five-Hundred Word Challenge 274: Bean Bag

Posted on August 18, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

I want to preface the rest of this writing by stating that I think bean bags are really enjoyable.

Maybe it’s because I like sitting on the floor. I don’t quite know why I like bean bags.

However, there is one bean bag that I have not quite enjoyed.

When Je and I moved into our current house we found a grey bag tucked into a corner of the outside of the house.

It stayed in that corner for a few months before we did anything with it because… well, we’re lazy.

I’m not sure as toi when it happened, but we eventually realised that it was a bean bag.

I didn’t think it was worth keeping around (possibly; I can’t quite remember), but we moved it into the backyard as an additional seat for people to use.

It spent the majority of its time sitting in another corner, only being used three times (although it was quite possibly less).

About a month ago it was moved to the front once more, right next to our bins.

Probably due to weather changes the fabric ended up weakening and the bean bag gained a tear and began to spill its foam balls.

Thankfully it was not too many as picking up the foam balls is one of the most annoying things I have done in my life at this point.

I asked Je to clean them up as he had the day off work and I did not.
He did a really good job.

So the bean bag was moved next to our bins before Je started cleaning up the foam balls.
Whilst moving the bag it kept on tearing at the lightest of grabs which proved to be its own source of frustration as it made the goal of not letting any more foam balls get out much more difficult than it should have been.

A month passed where I would only think of the bean bag on occasion, mainly trying to figure out how we would dispose of it without creating a mess.

Then yesterday happened.

The bean bag is still there.

More of its contents has managed to get out of its confines.

Fun times.

Due to where we have the bean bag positioned, it decided that it was going to let out more of the foam balls onto the footpath outside of our house, as well as a not-insignificant amount into our front area for the wind to blow around as it pleases.

I spent about twenty minutes trying to pick up the ones on the footpath.
Twenty minutes of picking them up and then having them spill out of my hand with no provocation whilst trying not to have my breathing or movement blow the foam balls around any more, as I discovered that they really like to move around and find the idea of being stationary an affront to their very existence.

In the end I was successful.

I do not like that bean bag.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 11:17:83

Longer than ten minutes, but I’m okay with it for some reason.

Written at home.

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Baby Dolphin Died in Spain

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

About ten or twenty minutes ago, I was reading about how a baby dolphin had died in Spain.

For reasons unknown, it ended up separated from its mother.
Things happen.

It ended up at a beach.

Then, in a display that goes to show just how intelligent some of us are, a bunch of people saw the baby dolphin, then flocked to it to take selfies.

The articles state that the baby dolphin was passed around by the people there for pictures and observation.

An onlooker did call emergency, but the baby dolphin was dead by the time they reached the beach which was fifteen minutes after the call.

How long was it before someone called emergency?

Just to make sure that this is clear, a bunch of people flocked around a baby dolphin and started harassing it and it may have been a while before someone called emergency.

What the fuck is wrong with people?

This is the kind of shitty behaviour that  everyone should refuse to tolerate.

It’s a living being, call emergency straight away and let them do what they can to keep it alive and safe. Don’t suddenly start fucking with the thing for your own gain.

I believe that it is more important to prioritise the environment and its inhabitants over the human race and things like this reinforce my belief.

Sometimes I wonder if people actually give a shit about the world around them when it’s inconvenient.

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River Crossing

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

So here’s the full view of the river that I crossed, as well as what I used to help me cross.

The thing I like about nature is that, in a way, it makes me go “Ooh, Shiny!” in that my mind gets taken away from the city (usually) and (some) of the problems or obligations I have to deal with.

Nature is also distracting in that it has so many interesting things to see contained within.

This is my submission into The Daily Post‘s photo challenge for this week.

I hope you enjoy.

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Cleaning

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

On one of the days before exams that I wandered through Darling Harbour, I saw this scene and decided to take a picture.

Well, that’s obvious. I would not be sharing the picture otherwise.

I think I’ve done a decent job of framing the scene.

I also think that the details are just enough and that there’s a lot of interesting shapes and forms, but the background is a little too busy in parts.

I think that this presents an interesting scene in that people going around and having to clean up rubbish in areas such as these is not something that we often think about.

This is my submission for Leanne Cole‘s Monochrome Madness this week.

I strongly recommend checking out Monochrome Madness and, if you partake in photography or have an interest in taking it up, then I also recommend submitting something. It’s a small,yet strong community-driven event that I honestly believe is worth the time.

I hope you enjoy.

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Serpentine Neck

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

When I originally thought of posting this picture (a few weeks ago now), the name for it (which was similar to the current one) popped into my head.

Not too sure as to why I haven’t completely changed the name.

I think that the swan was having a quick drink before going into the water. I cannot quite remember.

I think that there’s good form in how it has its neck positioned and I think that it reveals a certain grace in the swam.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 273: Something that Briefly Mentions Underpants

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

There are things that I want to write about in this given moment, but I don’t know what it is that I will choose write about.

Actually, I do, but I also know that there is not enough time to write what I want to write about.

The end of my lunch draws closer and closer and I must think of something that I can use.

I was going to rant about housemates, but I don’t think that it is worth the time, for there are more important things to write about, such as the inevitable feeling you get about the need to buy more underpants when you see a few holes forming in your underpants.

The weight of the world surely rests upon your shoulders in those grievous situations that so verily torment the hearts that we share among each other.

What a terrible situation. Must we endure this kind of torment in our lives?

Must we have to be made top suffer for some sort of social engineering good will of the populace under a microcosm of unity and individual will?

Do we really need to sit down, when we should fight and stand against this heinous crime that causes us to cry out in anguish at night, therefore interrupting our sleep and leaving us with a little more to worry about on the odd occasion?

This is something that we should stop accepting. We must rise and take back our destinies under the moon of the forest that points southward when the eels in the river signify their opulence to us all, for when that moment comes there shall be soaring within the realms of the sky, toward a new dawn, toward an uncertain future that only we will be able to face if we make sure to discard the past that we continually refuse to let go of, therefore letting us step through the door that has always been shown to us, for only we can step through the door. It is not up to anyone else to control our courage. Only we can face the past and shoot it down, therefore allowing us to be able to continue our journey to becoming far more enlightened beings and guiding the collective conscious to a new realm of possibility and unity and enlightenment and wisdom and various other words that I cannot be bothered to think of right now, such as “treatise” and “port”.

Of course, we need to make sure that we do not attach ourselves to some sort of charismatic dogma, for if we do, it may run wild and we may be forced into a position where we have to strike ourselves down, all in the name of durable underpants that will forever be comfortable,  yet practical in ways that have not yet been thought.

This may all seem a little unrealistic, but with enough courage we can make it to places where we are yet to be, with a great deal of gusto.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:30:78

Well, that was certainly something.

Eh.

Written at work.

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Leaf Touches River

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

When I took a picture of this, I didn’t think that it would turn out anywhere near as well as it has.

I also didn’t think it would take me more than a minute to use the branch that this was hanging off to get across the river that I was going to cross, but it did.

I like how the water “shatters” the reflection of the light, as well as how it is shaped in this photo.

I think that there’s a nice contrast between the texture of the leaf and the texture of the water.

I hope you enjoy.

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Blocked Pipes

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

Today has been a day of banality.

Endless, enduring banality.

Well, there was some excitement, which is what I’m going to talk about in this post.

A quick warning: if you find the discussion of fecal matter disgusting, best stop reading now as this will involve some things that can be caused by fecal matter.

Well, here goes.

Over the past few weeks we’ve had a bit of trouble with flushing the toilet.

It’s not that flushing the toilet has been difficult, but getting it to flush properly if there’s been water use prior to said flush (included previous flushes of the toilet) have caused the toilet to fill with water.

We used a couple of plunges to help deal with the issue, but it was getting rather frustrating to say the least.

It was Saturday morning when Je and I saw a real problem.

One of our housemates was having a shower when the laundry started flooding with sewage. Fun times.

Well, it wasn’t so much a flood as it was a pipe opening was overflowing and the sewage was pouring out, which ran out of the laundry and into the lower part of the back yard.

There was a quick discussion about rationing water (which shouldn’t happen at all under any circumstances as in this day and age when you live in a country that doesn’t have the greatest luck with water you probably shouldn’t be having long showers that end up getting steam and moisture all over a poorly-ventilated room, and this is without discussing the potential health benefits of not being precious and having brief showers [which I’m not entirely sure on as I have not read enough about them, but from what I have read, there are health benefits to not having long showers and, speaking on a strictly personal level, from having brief showers for most of my adult life, I’m inclined to believe that there are genuine health benefits to getting in and out as efficiently as possible]), then I said that we’ll need to check the opening in the laundry to see how high the water was before we would have a shower.

I then said that I’d call the real estate when I started work for the day.

Well, I got to work and tried calling the real estate. No one was answering.

I advised Je that I’d try them later. When it came to later, I forgot.

On Sunday, whilst on the way home from work I bought some drano and when I got home I unleashed it in the opening in the laundry, as well as in the shower and toilet.

It did very little.

I resolved to call the real estate on Monday to organise for a plumber to come out and have a look.

When it came to Monday, I forgot.

Last night Je and my housemate jumped into the shower without checking the opening in the laundry.

More overflowing water.

Je and I telling our housemate to stop his shower.

He was not happy about that.

I didn’t care as it was not going to be him that was going to deal with the issue.

Come this morning and I found myself a bit unsure of what to do, as I had to go to uni and then work, but we needed a plumber out as soon as possible.

I decided to stay home and call the plumber whilst everyone else headed off to work.

I called the plumber and told them what had happened. They asked me to text my address to them and that they’d get back to me in an hour. It took longer than an hour, but I wasn’t fussed.

Once the plumber called back, they told me that they’ll be coming out in about forty minutes and asked me to notiy the real estate, which I then gladly called and notified.

Once the plumber was here, I told him what the issue was and showed him where the overflow was coming from. After grabbing a drill from his ute, He unscrewed a lid on the opening in front of the outside toilet (something that I have yearned for since after moving out of my first place away from my Mum’s place, but something I try not to use now that I’ve had one for over a year for some reason) and had a quick look.

H had a quick look and could see that it was heavily clogged. He then used a tool to try and force the clogging down and that did not do much.

It was inevitable for the sewer snake to come out for use.
I knew this as there was many a time that Je and I had to deal with blocked pipes due to tree roots in our previous place.

It took a really long time to get everything unclogged. Some stuff did not go the way that it was expected to go, which was as wonderful as one could imagine, especially when a black, thick liquid started pouring out from under a tree and into part of the backyard.

There was another pipe opening discovered there and so down went the snake into it in order to try and get it as clear as possible.

It was not pleasant.

Neither was the smell.

Once done the plumber hosed down as much of the fecal matter not in the part of the backyard that had the black liquid. He said that that had to dry first before we could clean it.

Unfortunately not all the fecal matter could be hosed down. It’s probably best to let that also dry.

So there’s a little bit of cleaning to do, but thankfully it isn’t anything major.

The smell has mostly dissipated.

There was one thing that brought back faint memories of having to deal with flies over two days.

One point this afternoon I went into the backyard to see how drying was going and I could see that flies had come out en masse.

I quickly went back inside.

As said, a banal day.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 272: This was Going to be a rant about Cycling, but I Changed my Mind

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

What is it with finding myself in dark rooms whilst I am at university?

It’s not really a thing.
In fact, it’s not a reoccurring thing at all.
With that being said, why is it a thing?

Yesterday I ran out of space to rant about cyclists, so right now I am going to rant about cyclists.

It’s not like I’ve ever ranted about cyclists before, so this will be the most original thing that I’ve ever done in writing, as we;ll as the most original thing that I’ve ever done in my life.

Ever.

Anyway…

so the other day..,.

Actually, no. I will not rant about cyclists today. That is for another post some other time in the future.

When I think about it, this rant is part of a bigger story. A story that involves love, loss, dangerous adventuring and the journey from a child to an adult and all the suffering and learning that comes with that journey.

It is a story that features romance and perhaps a little bit of sex, success, failure, survival, and the feeling that perhaps the worst place that the person who would be the main character has worked would also be the place where they fit in the most and, due to no longer being there, cannot find somewhere else where they belong.

It is bittersweet and discusses the reality of loss and the nature of longing.

It is a story so grand in scope, that the only way it can be told is with a dramatic, yet serious tone. Two sides of the coin converging with each other and enough prose to choke a donkey.

It is a story that shall be told as soon as it is ready. No sooner and no later.

Perhaps it will revolutionise the way that things are written in the future. Perhaps it will not.

the fact  is that it will eventually be told. It will be read. It will be seen here for the world to feasts its eyes upon and there will be as much rejoicing as there will be tears of realisation.

The realisation shall be that perhaps we are not as invincible as we all think that we are, but that does not mean that we should not keep on going, for there will eventually be another dawn that we shall reach so long as we all keep on keeping on, so to speak.

the swashbuckling rogue moment shall be in the middle of the story in order to lighten the mood, for even through it will be the most serious thing ever, there is no seriousness without a little light, fun moments, as well as a little bit of humour.

In actuality it is  probably a really straightforward story that at some point will feature a moment involving cyclists.

It’ll be a slice of life and something that actually happened.

Pity that there will be no swashbuckling pirate scene, but sometimes that can be seen as a good thing.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:36:35

Hmm.

Well, this is certainly something.

Written at UNSW.

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Gull Landing

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Stupidity Hole

As seen in Darling Harbour, a gull landing.

Form is direct, yet graceful as the gull gets closer to reaching a solid surface on which it can stand for a period of time before taking off once more.

I hope you enjoy.

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