A Cliff at Watsons Bay

I’m partially surprised that I forgot about this image and haven’t shared it yet.

This was taken shortly after the photos of “A View Near Watsons Bay“.

I think there’s a lot of detail in this shot as well as different levels of light highlighting various parts of the cliff and its surroundings.

I like how you can see that it curves by looking at the plants and the small bit of road.

I like how (aside from the houses, path and road) nothing seems out of place here.

I think this is a good capture.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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One Thousand Word Challenge 4: There Once was a Painting

There once was a painting full of various complex and intricate patterns that would slowly absorb the sight of any of those who  would care to  look upon it.

By absorb, of course I happen to mean something else based around mesmerising people, but right now that’s neither here nor there, for, in the interest of telling a story, I shall choose to unintentionally misuse words, so long as the story has some sort of entertainment factor that goes along with it, unless I’m not trying to give people an enjoyable read.

In that case, I would try to be as serious as possible and make sure that every word was calculated… as much as I can calculate.

The thing is, even if I try to make something make sense, it doesn’t always when it comes to the phase known as “hindsight”.

that’s usually when I go “well, that doesn’t make much sense and that is poorly worded”, but I rarely feel compelled to change it once it’s posted somewhere (I usually only go over reviews as it’s important for me to make sure that everything in them is clear and makes sense).

Aside from the word challenges, I should probably do more editing on what I write and post so as to make sure that it all makes as much sense as I want it to (that is to say, usually sentences that have weird, awkward phrasing that I feel compelled to alter that aren’t something that I’m not trying to get out of my mind as fast as possible).

If I were to do that, there probably would be more coherency that would be found within what I write here, assuming that coherency was the goal, as it is not always what I’m striving for.

Sometimes I’m just looking for a feeling of something instead of sense being made as sometimes painting a visual with poorly-written sentences is better to do than say, inundate with perfect sense, assuming one goes overboard.

Yes, I’m trying to justify my lack of coherency in things that I work on that are not found in time constraints that cause me to go faster than I usually would  as I’m usually a pretty relaxed writer… sometimes.

Sometimes I prefer to go as fast as possible but end up having long breaks between sentences as I slowly think of what I’m going to write and sometimes, even without the constraints of time, I’m able to knock something out really quickly anyway, depending on my environment, posture, motivation to write, and so on, as they say.

Anyway… what was I saying?

Yes, writing. Writing is a fun thing to do most of the time. I don’t enjoy it when I’m under the constraints of assignments that a re slowly weighing down on me like the ton of a thousand unevenly distributed weights. Personally, I’d prefer chocolate because then I can at least eat my way through that. Sure, I might get sick from it, but at least I would find myself in some sort of flavour heaven that I cannot get enough of as chocolate is such a wonderfully delicious item of consumption, just like many foods that provide a feast for the stomach and the eyes.

Another feast for the eyes would  have to be the bush and nature, although architecture is pretty appreciable in its own way.

Creatures in nature are fun to watch as they go around their surroundings and day-to-day tasks that they follow, although it’s unfortunately a rare event to see an echidna disguising itself as a prickly pear in order to uppercut a kangaroo so hard that it explodes whilst rocketing into space from the surprising amount of energy released by such an action, because echidnas are usually placid creatures, but even they have their limits that can be reached, exceeded and left in the dust whilst the antagonising continues beyond what anything that could possibly be considered reasonable, as kangaroos are…. something that antagonise echidnas due to some sort of invented rivalry that echidnas want no part with, but sadly that’s the way of things and if the platypus is thinking that that is bizarre, then you know you’ve got a problem on your hand.

Ultimately, that’s the nature of the drama of the creatures in the bush and if a kangaroo wants to try its luck with a small creature that eats ants, then that’s their  prerogative. However, they should expect that there will be ramifications and if it doesn’t, then it is only fooling itself into expecting that it can get away with what it’s doing.

Leave the poor echidna alone, kangaroo!

sometimes you get to witness these things and they really don’t end well. Ever. You do feel a little bit sorry for the kangaroo, but it’s only for a brief moment as you then realise that it put itself into the situation and pretty much received a retaliation, that was, whilst somewhat excessive, deserved nonetheless.

I’m both glad and haunted by the fact that I’ve witnessed such a thing multiple times and am also glad that I know to never antagonise an echidna in such a fashion, unless I’m well protected and somehow able to resist their hypnotic destruction of the mind that eats away at the tortured soul like a painting that has so many patterns of varying complexity in it that you  cannot help to become anything other than lost in the beauty of it, slowly absorbing everything that you can see and feeling a true sense of wonder come across, as the patterns continue to change as you realise more of them, yet remain forever still and the same, ensuring that familiarity is not too far away should you ever seek it within the boundaries of the frame, assuming you even know how to get back to where you started before you’re forced to move on as you’re unable to under the power of your own will.

It’s an amazing painting.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 17:31:76

Pretty happy with the time, although I’m not so happy that this descended into the level of silliness that it did.

Still… explanatory sentence here.

Written at work.

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Magpie

Here’s a photo of a magpie that I took a few weeks back, right near where I work.

I wonder as to what it was watching, as I was paying attention to it and not what was around me.

My favourite part of this image is the magpie. I think it might be a younger one.
It looks as though its curious about something (of course, what that could be is up for speculation).

My second favourite thing is how strong the colours are without being overbearing on the image.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 123: It was a Cold Morning

It was a cold morning, and yet that was still not a deterrent for heading to a place where they felt they could be at ease and feel free from everything they felt that they had fallen into: extremely repetitive routine, a comfortable job that did not allow them to follow what they truly wanted to do, a regular day (and time) for doing the shopping, washing, and not doing anything anymore that people would consider “outside the norm”.

They had felt that they reached an impasse that a regular, dull routine that they felt they were trapped in, could not assist them in passing.

They needed a form of relief; a break away from it all; away from the city and away from a smaller view of the sky that was above them.

It was a long and cold trip that morning on the train.
They were heading south into the Royal National Park before the sun had risen as they wanted an early start to get to something they wanted to see and be in.

At this point in time, they craved the bush and what lied just past it.

It didn’t matter that it was winter as, for them, it was beauty that should never be altered to suit some sort of ideal that means the changing of the natural landscape and, for the time being at least, the landscape was going to remain untouched and unchanged.

It was land that, as far as they were aware, wouldn’t be changed to something completely different just because a bunch of people liked how it looked and decided the best thing to do was to remove as much of it as they could to put a house in it to say they were living among nature.

There were huts and a couple of offices, but the huts were small and (relatively) non-invasive; the offices for rangers.

Once they were off the train, they made their way up a somewhat steep incline before going into the bush and gradually making their way down.

Eventually the trees swallowed the sky, but that did not matter in this instance as it was not the usual gray and brown that they usually saw. It was lively.

The area was dark but not uninviting. It felt familiar and peaceful in a way that was unfamiliar in the city.

Eventually the canopy gave way to the sky and they found themselves in a large field. They could see nature all around them for a long distance. The sound of what they wanted was closer than it had been before.

They continued on their journey, slowly making their way closer and closer until they were there.

They stripped down to their swimmers and ran towards the ocean, diving in as quickly as they could.

The intensity of the cold and the waves was something they had not experienced in a long time. They missed it.

Swimming in the ocean, they begun to feel free once more.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 12:22:07

A bit slower than I hoped!

Also, I don’t know what happened with the end.

Oh well.

Written at me (new) desk at home.

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A Short Poem About Heading to Work Through the Cold

Here’s something I just knocked out.

I hope you enjoy.

—–

From the door to the pathway
From the pathway to beyond
Through the early morning light
Into the bright bare day
Moving through the chill
Moving through the breeze that carries the cold
Scarves dancing behind and ahead
Jackets buffering the cold of the morning
And continuing to move forward through it
To reach a destination away from home

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Hope

Here’s another photo I took whilst I was at Bondi Rocks.

I don’t necessarily agree with marking rocks (or disagree for that matter), but I think that it’s a nice message (assuming it’s not someone’s name).

After all, we all need to have hope sometimes.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 122: I Wish I Could Think of Something to Write about

Right now I’m finding it difficult to write anything beyond absurd and I think it’s because I’m more focused on getting my work done right now.

I wish that, right now, I could think of something that was based on whimsical imagination, such as a tree that ate beds when the bed had been baked in the right oven, ensuring maximum foam nutrients that all trees need.

Or maybe instead of that, a story about a wombat that could dissipate itself purely for the purposes of shenanigans.

The wombat would talk to the tree and somehow they would form some sort of impeccable duo that would go on adventures (yes, in this case, the tree can walk [no, it does not look like Groot])  filled with wonder as they sailed the seas looking for treasure and pirates to fight and defeat and protect the waters that we need to use to cross to other countries, as, for some reason, flight does not exist in this world that is being created right before your very mind.

Of course, the wombat would just hop off the boat, grunt, waddle its way to being in front of a pirate ship, let the underside of the pirate ship get completely and utterly destroyed because it hit a wombat whilst the wombat would just grunt again and waddle off.

I’ve heard that hitting a wombat in a car is one is pretty bad for the car and you’ll generally be lucky if the car comes out with only minor damage.

I cannot confirm this, but considering how tough they are known to be, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Anyway…

So the wombat and the tree would have some sort of island base with a garden that would have many flowers, fruits, vegetables and other trees that the tree would mingle with and the wombat would turn the soil and make sure everything was healthy, for when they weren’t busy doing the things that they did, they would retreat to their island and relax and find zen through being among nature and slowly understanding higher levels of zen.

Every now and then they would go to the mainlands to find more adventure (and sometimes, if they were feeling rather adventurous, misadventure), slowly helping those they can whilst looking for treasure and defeating the pirates that would get in their way, preventing the adventures from happening, although sometimes they were part of the adventures that would be happening.

They would always remain a duo and continue on, even in their older years as they would never lose their thirst for adventure, exploring and treasure, for it was something they had a lot of fun with as it got them seeing things that they normally wouldn’t otherwise.

But yeah. I wish I could think of something to write about that was imaginative, but I don’t think I can right now, so I must offer my apologies to all of you.

My apologies.

Well, time to get back to work.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:30:64

And somehow I managed to do it.

Written at work.

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Canal

There’s a canal near where I work.

On Friday I took some pictures whilst in it.

Here’s one of them processed twice.

The first one is here because I did it unintentionally and like how ridiculous it looks.

The second one is closer to how it originally looked.

I like how the blue came across in these photos.

I also like how well details comes through.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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One Thousand Word Challenge 3: It’s Raining and I’m Procrastinating

The rain is falling today.

As opposed to not falling.

Today is a Sunday and I’m waiting for it to rain a little less, although I find that I’ll be chained to my desk even if it stops raining as there is a lot of work to be done before exams, which are coming up soon, and I need to do as much work as I can to ensure that I do better than I would if I chose to not study and procrastinate the days away before flying into a panic and try to cram as much into my head as possible the night before, inevitably leading to my downfall which would lead to me doing the subjects again but possibly thinking that I could nail it, not study as hard as I should to ensure I do well, therefore leading to another series of failures.

I do like the rain quite a lot, but right now I don’t want it around. I’d rather the day be a little it sunnier, but this is a minor complaint.

It’s just that, at this stage, the novelty has worn off as it’s been raining quite a fair bit since yesterday.

Still, I can’t complain. I’m dry and inside and preparing to listen to many lectures, taking notes and then applying what I learn to be the best at everything that there ever could be.

With that being said, there are other things that I should be taking care of today as well, such as cleaning the house. That will end up on the back-burner for the day as the most important thing is to study and study hard and well, but it shall be done, because I need to do some cleaning due to being lazy as and avoiding as much responsibility as possible over the past few weeks; something that I’m not proud of, but shall tackle very slowly.

At least I have a nice view of the rain, watching all the water fall and hit the ground, slightly creating a splash when something is a little more than damp, leading to many at once and creating great little patterns that I can try and take pictures of, hoping to get something that is truly great and then slowly work on processing them to show them as I saw them unless I decide to play around a lot more than I usually would, creating something that is amazingly stylish beyond comprehension, therefore reshaping how something is done sometimes, leading to something else that will inevitably something blank blank something else something something blank.

I think I lost myself there, but such is the way of things when I’m trying to type as fast as I possibly can to keep up with my thoughts that seem to be racing ahead of me right now, just like the hare being outpaced by the tortoise who happens to actually be really fast but pretends to be slow just to lower everyone’s guard.

I swear, the hare did not fall asleep. What probably actually happened was that the tortoise was going quite fast and the hare had a lot of trouble keeping up.

Eventually the tortoise won. Being the colossal jerk that it was, it pointed this out continuously to the hare, who was also a jerk, but less so than the tortoise.

So the hare was rather angry about the tortoise continually gloating and rubbing the victory in the hare’s face that it turned to darkness.

During its sleep a few months later, the hare, throwing all notions of morality away, killed the tortoise in its sleep. No one saw it coming and no one ever found out.

Of course, despite the hare having done this, it could not undo the win, so it decided to slowly change the story of how it all went down and said that it fell asleep due to its arrogance and the tortoise managed to pass the hare and win, despite having a handicap.

Eventually, as time went by and it slowly spread beyond those that knew, it warped into the version we know today, because history is written by the victors and not a jerk tortoise that could outpace everything with great ease.

I know that doesn’t make complete sense, but you have to trust me on this one. It’s the truth, I swear!

Or don’t.

Well, with that aside, I really think I need to start doing stuff. I need to make sure I know as much as I can know. I need to clean. I need to go to the toilet.

Maybe I can pull something profound out before I’m done with this post.

Let’s see now… There’s a certain beauty that can be found in watching rain. A droplet falls fast and down before it reaches something and becomes something else.

Perhaps that, in watching the rain, we realise our limited mortality and see that we too have to be part of something bigger than ourselves, but also need to be own selves at the same time.

It’s easy to start and end, but it’s the gestures and impact that we have that ends up defining us once we’re gone.

Well, now that that’s out of the way, I don’t know what else to write right now.

I think that it really is time for me to start digging into the well of information and doing my best to learn what I can.

Either that or I could put a photo up. I don’t know.

This isn’t very interesting to read at this point, but to be honest, I was hoping to be able to come up with something far better than what has been written here.

I guess I wasn’t too successful, but at least something profound came out of it.
Although, could living your life be the most profound thing ever?

I don’t know, but that… something… I don’t know.

That’s okay though.

Oh… here’s something else:

Don’t be a jerk.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 18:44:72

I’m pretty happy with that time.

Maybe I’m getting better at this. I mean, the above is average at best, but I was certainly able to knock it out!

Written at my (new) desk at home.

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Deftones: Gore Review

It’s been a while since I put an album review on here.

A small part of it has been due to procrastination, but it’s mostly been due to writing music reviews for Cool Try; something that I’ve been enjoying quite a fair bit.

This is the most recent review I’ve written for Cool Try.
It took a while to write it as I stopped listening to most of the album about a week after it was released and subsequently had to (kind of) force myself to listen to it to work out what I wanted to say.

Anyway, here’s the review.

—–

Throughout their career, Deftones have continued to work hard at ensuring that they put out the best of what they can. Despite some slight missteps, they’ve continued to release solid albums that have furthered their sound without compromising the songs themselves.

Is Gore another solid release from Deftones?

Songs range from arid-like and vaguely melancholic (“Prayers / Triangles”), tense and nervous (“Geometric Headdress”), and frenetic and heavy (“Doomed User”).
They flow in a fairly logical order, peaking and dipping when required, and carrying the listener along fairly smoothly through lighter, “dreamier” sections and hard-hitting moments without much feeling too out of place against each other, as the band seem to have worked towards emphasising atmosphere more than on previous releases.

All the instruments serve an almost strictly rhythmic purpose, usually only doing something different to add additional textures that still fit within the context of the song, whilst the vocals sit above everything and sing lyrics that seem less cryptic than usual.

However, there are times when the band sound as though they don’t know where they’re trying to go within a song.
“Phantom Bride” ends in a fairly heavy section reminiscent of the ending of “Beware” or “Diamond Eyes”. It’s a nice twist on a fairly straightforward song, but it can come off as though the band didn’t know how to end the song, despite it seeming as though it already had one.
Other songs might have a part that doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the song, sounding as though it was dropped in only to add something different (“(L)MIRL” has a section thrown in during the second half seemingly for the sole purpose of adding drama to the song).
Moments such as these aren’t unwelcome and don’t make the album feel longer than it is. They usually work, but at times it can come off as though Deftones were not certain and not knowing what to do.

Unfortunately this compounds with the mix / master.
It’s overly loud and has a lack of breathing, sounding compressed and clipping a fair bit.
The songs are clearly meant to have energy but they sound flat and lifeless.
The vocals seem much louder than almost everything else, the guitar sounds muddy in a lot of places, and the keys and drums seem to be much quieter than they should be.
Unfortunately the album can be challenging to listen to due to this.

It’s difficult to say that Gore is bad.
It has some really good ideas and tight performances. However, the mix / mastering job taking a lot of the life out combined with sounding directionless at times leaves a lot to be desired.
If they were going for a certain sound, then trying something out in the mix / master is understandable.
It could have been pulled off in other ways though.
In it’s current state, the quality of Gore is almost an insult to Deftones’ fan base.
They deserve something that sounds better than this.

Ultimately, how much you’re going to like Gore is going to depend on how willing you are to put up with it sounding bad. It is worth giving a few listens, but don’t go in with expectations.

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