I was hoping to have an essay I’m working on finished and ready to go earlier today, but it was not to be. Still working on it, so in the interim here’s a photo I took for something else I’m working on. I’ve photographed this boat wreck before, but perhaps not this minimalistically.
I hope you enjoy.
More fog.
Sort of mysterious, sort of unpleasant. Those sorts of things, but I like how fog can create layers and isolation, and it’s doing both here.
This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. The next one is hosted by Brian of Bushboys World, and he has chosen the theme of “Chair or Chairs”.
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.
So I’m looking at what’s on the list of things to write about at the moment and there’s a few things to go still, and some in particular I’m sort of going “oh no” because they’ll take some time. They won’t take much time, of course, but they will take some time and I’m trying to get something finished before tomorrow. I’m really trying to get something finished before tomorrow, is what I should actually say, but let’s just stick to the smaller, slightly less dramatic version.
Of course I will write about those things on the list – they’re sitting as drafts and I want to get the queue cleared as soon as possible – but doing them right now when I’m working on this bit of writing that, thankfully (or rather, hopefully) won’t take too long to finish is a bad idea. Having them sit there isn’t too good either, though, so I’m caught between stages of a sort. I’m caught between wanting to go back and forcing myself to continue on, and it’s not easy, let me tell you.
Actually it is, but you know.
Still, this I can do. This is a warming of the up rather than the cooling of the down, and I don’t have to think too hard about whatever it is that I’m writing, but once more I’m writing about writing which is what I do most of the time anyway. There are other, better things to write about… or are there?
So writing is on my mind and now I’m talking about a thing that I’m working on and it has been in the works for a long, long time. It has taken a while to get to the point where I’m nearly ready to publish, and I didn’t even know it’d be an article when it first started. When I say ‘article’, I mean something I’m going to publish on Culture Eater and other places, including here. But it does very much feel like an article. An essay of sorts, though very much a personal one, even if it doesn’t feel personal, or much of anything beyond what it is, really. But there’s time to work that all out, so long as I make use of the time that I have. If I don’t do that, then.. yeah. Which means today is going to be a busy day.
Today is going to be one of sneaking and getting things sorted, and I’ll get them sorted, all right. I’ll get them all done and in the orders that some might consider correct, and then I don’t know.
I think I lost myself for a moment there. The thing is writing is getting in the way of writing, or rather the desire to finish the small things is getting in the way of the thing that is nearly done and I need to get that nearly done thing done, and then once it is done I can do the other bits that are waiting.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:12:14
Decent speed. Not sure if the writing is good. I think I tried to progress and didn’t quite.
Written at work.
Bit of an odd photo, maybe? Minimalist at the very least, or perhaps really simple, or both. Maybe neither.
I hope you enjoy.
One listen, though there were a few restarts early on. I was trying to get an idea of how the song starts, imagery-wise. Probably should’ve just waited for a loop. Oh well.
I think I got across the song well enough, though perhaps not as well as I could have. I feel like I missed a lot of it, but I couldn’t help but find myself getting caught up in the joy it carried and perhaps I didn’t express that enough.
Kenta Nagata’s (永田権太) “Staff Credits” (“スタッフクレジット”) is from The Legend of Zelda ~The Wind Waker~ Original Sound Tracks, the soundtrack for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
The song may have been co-composed with Koji Kondo (近藤浩治), but I’ve had some difficulty finding anything solid that confirms.
I hope you enjoy.
—
A strum and a light beat. Both very small as they move with a light step. Woodwind calls out jaunty and joyous, almost. Pipes follow along and join the group, also joyous, also moving rhythmically. The woodwind and pipes pull away as a violin takes the stage and dances a little with a big smile. As it does, a little more percussion comes in, and strings seem to be heard in the distance.
The woodwind and pipes come back, and then sounds drop to give room for the strings as they stay calm. Woodwind comes back, then pipes, then the violin gets the space and the strings become richer and the sounds expand, carrying upon the water, carrying upon a breeze.
For a moment it’s just that strum, the strings and the percussion and something familiar calls across. Horn then leads across the vast expanse and the space enriches, and all is full of wonder. All is full of bliss.
There’s a cycle of rounds, almost, as moments are remembered whilst looking toward a future. A moment of calm whilst more sound looks at what was before moving on and looking forward again. It looks away and it’s full speed ahead.
Once more that past is looked upon with strings, but it’s now taking that to look forward; to not be beholden to it, and it pulls away and the violin dances once more, and all points toward adventure; toward a future.
The strummed instrument is left, and it carries memory once more, letting it rest, letting it settle. It plays once last time as the strings underscore this final moment, and then the song ends.
One listen. I wanted to capture more scenery with this song and perhaps I could have, but that’s not where I went. But there’s something that came forward in what I was writing, even if most of what I wrote was more saying what was happening than anything else.
Nujabes’ “Horizon” is from Modal Soul.
I hope you enjoy.
—
A steady, relaxed, yet tight and punchy beat plays out whilst keys roll on out and flow and move into each other over it. Bass finds its way in, sort of bouncing, sort of rolling, holding a little space but remaining full. Another layer of low ambience flows and drifts, and it carries a calm; a pleasant calm.
Another sound starts moving over the others, adding more shape, sort of descending and rising. It is muffled and muted in a way that the other sounds aren’t, but it still sounds clear.
When that muffled sound disappears it’s back to the other four, and the low one comes forward a little more, it seems, and is warm. It is spread out in the moment, and it carries a deep look with it. here the beat had changed, or seemed to have, or maybe it was the whole flow, which was the same, but seems to have a bit more spring in it.
The muffled sound returns, and contrasts, and disappears, and the keys take the lead. They flourish in parts and keep themselves small; they avoid the large drama they could take, and step along. The keys disappear and the muffled sound comes back, offers something a bit more, perhaps obviously joyous for a brief period, then give room for the keys again.
The keys dance along and in them there seems to be a longing, and it’s all sorts of sunset and sunrise and day, and everything is moving, and everything is now in and that muffled sound rises high and glides before disappearing once more.
The rhythm has remained steady and continues to underscore it all, and the keys are dancing once more, flowing and swaying, and changing along the line, and avoiding overplaying. Avoiding extending too far, and they touch delicately.
The bass stops and the keys continue with their motion. The flow continues on, and the low ambience seems to fill out once more. It becomes larger, more prominent, bringing everything into a focus and the keys soon also stop. Into a focus, or rather a smaller point and that ambience keeps moving, holding its focus, beyond where the beat stops it drifts on, lingers, layers, stays warm. It eventually stops and the song ends.
Oh I’ve just realised I’ve lost most of the day to sitting here doing very little, but it has been productive, I promise! I’ve gotten through some things. Perhaps not all things, but certainly some and some is more than none, and that’s a good thing… I hope. I believe.
A bit of a weird day though. I started off going for breakfast and gradually finishing a book I’m reading for an essay I’m working on, and I got through it and it was good to get through. Got some washing done. Got some domestic chores finished. Now I’m here.
In that time I thought a lot about what I’m going to write and how I’m going to write it, but there has been no writing. I’m here, sitting and until now I haven’t written a lick. But that;s okay, because I know I can hammer out the rough draft and then edit it quickly, and then I’m good. But I don’t know if I can publish it yet as there remains much more to get through before the end of the day and not enough time and it’s all running out and… yeah. But I’ll get there, or I won’t. The power is mine… or it’s not.
The past few days have been ones of a good deal of fatigue and maybe that’s the signifier of the end of this run, but I have to keep going. I have to keep on powering on and power through it because I have written so much and I don’t want it to drag out. I want this year to be the year. I want this year to be the one where I get stuff done. I want every year to be that way, but last year was a real drag on my productivity from just being really tired and drained and this year started as such, but I have to keep going. I need to rest, but I have to keep on going and pushing forward.
Still, a lazy day is a good day when it is one that is lazy. Of course this one wasn’t, but it felt lazy and that’s still pretty good. It could be far worse. It could be far better. Thinking about doing things, or at least planing them out still constitutes getting stuff done, I think. I hope.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about life. A lot of that existential gazing at the self that is easy to get wrapped up into, leading to inaction and all that. Floating along, drifting, trying to get it all done and failing miserably, but still powering along. Still going. Still trying to go. You know.
But it has been a nice day, even if a lot of it was “wasted”. Shortly I’ll start digging into what I wanted to dig into. Want to get started soon anyway as sleep steadily approaches and I definitely need sleep. That I know. Need to be carted off to intense dreamland.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:50:83
Decent speed I think. Bit of meandering, but it’s not the worst here. Just took a bit longer to find some footing than I expected.
Written at home.
Perhaps the shadow could’ve been more emphasised, but I’m not sure if this would’ve worked had I tried to do so. Would’ve likely required being on the rock platform and that would’ve been far, far too dangerous.
I took this from an elevated position (at a cliff, but it wasn’t that far up). The waves were massive, but not so that they would have reached me. Still, among the wondrous display of water moving and splaying remained a sense of danger.
This is my submission into the three hundred-and-thirty-seventh Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Bold“.
The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:
This one is curated by Sofia. 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.
I’m not feeling well at the moment, so it’s just this photo this evening.
One that could perhaps be a bit clearer, but has a sense of grand beauty to it nonetheless.
I hope you enjoy.
I got here early today, and right now I am wondering as to what the fuck I am doing with my life. Moods turn fast and attitudes pervade, and the atmosphere of an environment can shift far more easily than people reailise, though sometimes it is subtle and you don’t realise until it is far too late. That is a pretty dramatic thing to say, and perhaps I am being far too dramatic. However, I certainly am wondering what I’m doing giving so much of my time to a place where I’m not getting it back.
But, you know, I also get to sit here and read before I start working, and I get to sit here and be around good colleagues and be part of a good institute; one that I firmly believe in, despite there being spaces where improvement is necessary. But it’s a good time and I’m doing good, overall. Should probably lay off the coffee a bit though that’s probably not helping me feel good about much of anything.
But I’m here really early and I don’t need to be, so what am I doing? Why am I doing this to myself? I want sleep and I want rest, and I need a good few months, or possibly a year off. I need time to rest and recalibrate, because I’ve been operating on empty for far too long. Soon that will happen, I hope, but I don’t know if it actually will. I don’t know when I’ll actually have rest because I cannot afford to rest.
Recreation is a form of rest, but it isn’t rest, so to speak. It’s not what I need. I need time to be doing as little as possible without having to worry about paying rent. I need time to just stop, but I don’t have the money, and I’m earning far more money right now than I ever have. But I still can’t afford to take a break, and one day it might come to me when I need it to not, and that’ll be that.
Maybe I just need a change of scenery and a bit more rest, for I slept last night and it seemed like it was heavy, but I am also really tired right now, and struggling to write even this. Of course I’ll be doing more writing throughout the day, in part to see what comes forward and in part due to having to edit stuff, but that stuff is stuff I can do when I’m tired. It’s stuff I can do when I’m not functioning on full… some of the time. I know I can do it today, at least.
Perhaps it is my love of writing and the form of word that allows me to continue writing as much as I do. I don’t know, but I wonder. I wonder and I think, and it’d be great to earn something from my writing for a change. But I keep writing, regardless of fatigue.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:56:51
A bit slower than I’d hoped, but still a good speed.
Not entirely sure what I was trying to get across with this, however. I know I’m expressing a need for rest and perhaps a need for a change of scenery, but I don’t think that’s quite what I’m writing about, if that makes sense.
Written at work.
Stupidity Hole 