Purgatory: Part Two

This is why I found this picture to be familiar.

I’ve walked past this many times on the way to and from work or to and from the city.
I’ve cycled and driven past it a lot as well.

Every now and then, I find myself wondering what it’s all about, so I might do some research and then post something in-depth.

I think it’s interesting.

It seems mysterious, but I imagine there’s a good an informative explanation behind it.

Perhaps the sandstone blocks suggest some sort of consistency on each side.

Maybe they suggest solidarity.

Maybe their being placed at the underpass near the Sydney Fish Market has some sort of significance.

Maybe there’s no meaning behind this art piece.

Maybe there is no meaning at all…

This was taken on Tuesday.

I was going to use two, but I went with this one only as I liked how the rain brought out the dirt a lot more, giving it a grittier and more run-down feel.

The other one I was going to still showed the dirt, but it had a bit of a different feel.

I’ll use it if I do conduct research.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 81: Preparing to Study at UNSW Library

After two false starts (one where I was going to go on an angry rant but changed my mind and another where I started writing and then became side-tracked), I’ve decided to write now and hope that I can get the whole way through without getting distracted.

I don’t know if I should write seriously or not at the moment, but I do know that I am currently in UNSW library, getting ready to work on assignments and learn new things so I can science harder.

But really, what is a scientist?

That is a good question and one that I have no intention of explaining in anything other than a completely informative but entirely unrelated manner to what a scientist is.

Well, here goes:

There was once a time in the time of myths and legends where I grabbed a piece of food in slow-motion, so to highlight the details, creased and textures of the food as it slowly approached the entrance of my mouth, only to be dismantled as it approached the juggernaut that is my stomach…

Anyway…

So I’m currently sitting here, bashing away on my keyboard, feeling pretty alright but knowing that today will be serious progress for my understanding of what I need to know for my current subject.

It’s also going to be a day where I manage to go through some more photos, see what is good and what isn’t and then upload somewhere onto the mighty force known as the integrated web of entangling people and lives together, yet somehow keeping us separated an away from each other at the same time.

I was going to start this morning by going for a swim at Bondi Beach and then walking all the way to UNSW and I’m pretty happy that I didn’t do that, as I have my camera with me, my laptop, and Finnegans Wake. It would have been a lengthy walk and a lot of weight to carry in the backpack I have.

It means that I’ll be able to absorb more and work more efficiently as I haven’t reached UNSW in a lot of pain, whilst feeling tired as I thought it was a good idea to go on some sort of death march for no real reason, although you don’t really need a reason to do that, or many things now that I think about it, but it still would have been a really stupid idea.

I get to sit in a library feeling relaxed and in some sort of calm state as I slowly, but surely work my way through all the things I need to get through today.

I don’t know how interesting this post actually is, but it doesn’t seem to actually be interesting at all.

Okay…

I suppose that if I had done the death march, it would have made a pretty interesting story where I whinge about how long and painful it was whilst ignoring the fact that I did it to myself.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 09:35:32
I’m pretty happy with that time.
A pretty average post, so I’ll try and knock something out that’s a bit more interesting later.

Written at UNSW Library.

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Time to Fly

Here is a shot I took during the same morning I took the pictures of the sunrise near Bondi Beach.
There was a pigeon so I decided to try and get some photos of it.

I really like this picture a lot.

When I first looked over it (after moving it onto my computer), I thought it was interesting but weird and didn’t care for it.

As I’ve looked over it more, I’ve grown to like it more.

I like that it shows the pigeon just after starting its flight.
I like that it looks weird from the angle of the shot, yet at the same time, strong and fluid.
I like how it’s a bit blurred as it’s moving quickly.

I don’t think the pigeon is thinking about what could happen if something goes wrong and is flying off because it wants to go elsewhere for whatever reason it has.
I like that.

I like that this image could be interpreted in many ways.

Whilst I have taken plenty of better photos, this has become one of my favourite photos.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 80: Waiting for a Call

Right now, I’m feeling somewhat stressed.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been unemployed for this long.
I do have to admit that being unemployed for a month and eight days is not really a long time, but to me it feels like quite a while, probably due to how long my last job lasted.

I’m beginning to feel that getting a new job is kind of like a race against the amount of funds I have to support myself with and whilst there are unemployment benefits available once I run out of money, I live in a very expensive city.

It might not be the most expensive, but it certainly is up there.

Since being unemployed, I’ve had two job interviews.

Two were initial interviews with an employment agency and the other two were job interviews that were for organisations hiring through those employment agencies.

I didn’t get the first one as whilst they liked me, they felt I didn’t have the right kind of experience required for the role.

I can understand the reasoning behind that and at the same time not.

Obviously you’d want someone who can adapt to something quite easily, but I’m also someone who has been working for eleven years (although I only list work on my résumé for nine-years-and-seven-months of my time working as before then it was pretty messy), whilst being under thirty.

That’s probably a lot more common than I think it is, but I’d like to believe that, despite most of it being from one organisation, it might just suggest that I might be within an age demographic that appeals to employers (I’ve heard it said that getting employment can become more difficult the older you are, regardless of how solid your experience may be), whilst having some fairly solid experience that will be of great benefit.

That was before Christmas. I didn’t search for anything again until Tuesday of this week as I got lazy and the usual quiet period when nearing Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.

For the job I applied for, I had an interview on Wednesday and then had the interview with the organisation yesterday.

Everything seemed to go pretty well and I came out of the interview feeling pretty chuffed as both the interview with the organisation and the agency felt really relaxed and professional.

I was told I’d get a call back today about starting on Monday but I have not received that call.

I tried to contact the agency but to no avail.

Despite knowing that it shouldn’t, it does worry me somewhat as I’m left not knowing as to whether I have the job or not.

I have an interview with another organisation on Wednesday next week, but I’d rather not go for that job as I need part-time due to study and the job is full-time.

Ultimately I know I’ll be fine and I’ll get a job before I run out of money, but I’d rather have a job soon.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 13:58:81
Slower than other recent ones, but it’s been the first time in a while that I’ve had the happenings be the entirety of the post (I think).

I wanted to do something more serious here, so I decided to write about my hunt for work.
I also needed to vent about the second job I applied for.

Looking for work is a frustrating process I’ve found, as I have applied for a few jobs, although I might rant about that in the next challenge.

Still, as said, I know I’ll be fine.

Anyway, I’m going to now go for a walk and take photos to help blow off some steam.

Written at my desk at home.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 79: “The Writer”

It’s dark and I’m wearing pants.

That has absolutely nothing to do with what I want to write about, but I thought it would be a good start for this evening, as… something.

I think I’ve written about not having any ideas to write about a few times by now.
I think I’ve written about writing a good number of times as well.

With that being said, it’s still writing, and I think that, whilst I’m essentially writing about something whilst saying I don’t have anything to write about, it still help[s me get better, assuming I’m not somehow actually staying in some sort of static place with my writing where it neither improves or worsens, thus remaining in some sort of equilibrium where I shall somehow become “The Writer”, a person whose writing must always strike balance and never change in quality, for if it does (which it inevitably will for the purposes of PLOT), there will be grave consequences that will lead to something dangerous and risky happening that can only be stopped by restoring the balance that would be found in my writing quality, but only after some things will have changed forever, such as the positioning of the objects on my desk that may make it a little bit more arduous to sit here and type away, keeping the balance of quality whilst thinking to myself “You know, I should write about how I don’t seem angry anymore, or maybe instead of that, write about how I’m sitting here, writing at the edge of my seat, as it puts me in a position of great risk and allows me to write with great intensity, despite the lacking of intensity in my writing”, whilst looking for a glass of orange juice despite not having any orange juice to drink which would inevitably force me to go up the road to by some so then I can drink it with ice after the water has been placed into the ice tray and placed in the freezer component of the fridge to change it into ice which then can be put into my glass of orange juice so then I can keep it cool, allowing me to state something about how my drink is as cool as a cucumber which would then somehow lead me to being turned into a cucumber which would cause many issues and lead to me having to go into hiding as I would be hunted down for my delicious taste as cucumbers are delicious sometimes, but not always as I find they are one of those things that should only be had periodically and not in mass quantities, like plums, which are amazingly delicious and sadly not around for the whole year as something so good can only be had for a few months for if it was any more frequent, it would be dangerous, as they’re too amazing.

So, in other words, I’m listening to a lecture and not paying attention to it.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 09:53:43
I really don’t know where I was going with this, but I was listening to a lecture whilst knocking this out.
As I didn’t pay attention, I have the joy of listening to it again, and again, and again…

I wanted to write something a bit more substantial, but I’m not in a very serious mood.

Written at my desk at home.

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Diprotodon

I was at the Australian Museum a few weeks ago with a friend.
It had been a few years since I was last there and I believe it had been a while for my friend.

Whilst we were wandering around, we came across a recreation of Diprotodon optatum (I recently found out that it’s not just Diprotodon).

I have seen it before, but I forgot about it.

I decided to take this “dramatic” shot of it as I thought it would make a good photo.

When I look at it now, I feel it is a little too dramatic and kind of funny.

From what I’ve read, wombats and koalas are relatives of the Diprotodon, which makes sense as it was (based purely on appearance) a giant wombat crossed with a koala.

It is the largest known marsupial to have live and is also one of many Australian megafauna.

This is my thirty-seventh photo I’ve used for Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness“.

I recommend checking out what other people are submitting and also giving it a go.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Fisherman at 河口湖 (Lake Kawaguchi)

Here are a couple of photos of someone fishing at 河口湖.

I wonder if he caught anything…

I think it’s a bit of an odd spot to choose to fish, but maybe he was using it as an excuse to go out there and enjoy the scenery.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 78: At Least the Wine is Good

It’s dark, I’m drinking wine and thinking of an endless expanse of wasteland.

Well, I’m not actually thinking of an endless expanse of wasteland, or an endless expanse of anything for that matter.

I have been thinking about writing for a little while though.

Wait, let me rephrase that.

I have been thinking that I should write something and then letting my mind wander off to other things whilst I sit here, lazily, not doing much except for going through photos I’ve taken for the purposes of my enjoyment.

At least the wine is good.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll be able to cycle enough to get myself to a level where I can do fifty kilometres in a day without feeling too weakened by it the following day.

I can get to that level, but I need to actually keep cycling.

Maybe if I start doing fast laps around my living room (somehow), for a few weeks…

It’s still early in the year and I’ve done a lot of not much, but at least there has been some sort of achievement.

I’VE LEFT MY DESK AT HOME ON OCCASION!

HOORAY!

Today I went to university and lost myself in the struggle between the power of knowledge and the power of…

Well, I just stopped for what I planned to be a brief moment and then ended up completely sidetracked, sending a photo to a friend, and then having a one or two line discussion whilst reading about how someone has a beef with Tina Fey.

Of course, when I say beef, I’m referring to a grievance, and not a bovine that someone has with Tina Fey that is looked after by the two based on a timeshare, although, when I think about it, that would be a pretty cool thing, because then you’d get to have a regular fun time with a bovine that would do the things a bovine does, like eat and live and, on the occasion, sleep, but at the same time, it would not be that great as you can’t really put a bovine in an apartment or a terrace, but if you had a really large backyard, that problem would be mitigated and then you’d be able to let it have a large area to frolic and prance around in, and it would probably have a lot of fun doing so, as we all know that bovines really like frolicking and prancing around in between ravenous bouts of eating and fierce sleeping, as bovines, whilst being majestically magical creatures, like to get fierce about sleep, as sleep is a serious industry that must be respected by all unless you’re one of those people that don’t have respect for sleep, of which then I don’t know what to say as you’re missing out on respecting one of the greatest things that could happen in your life as it allows you to dream dreams that can be incredibly real at times you don’t want real dreams.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 9:57:22

I’m pretty happy with that time in this case as I was worried I was going to go much slower.

I went off the rails once I reached “beef”, although that is pretty obvious.

Well, at least the wine is good.

Written at my desk at home.

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The Birth of Cake

I enjoy making and cooking food quite a lot.
I think that being able to is an essential skill to have, regardless of how good or bad someone can be when it comes to the process.
I also think that it trains a lot of different things as well (concentration, ability to handle pressure, accuracy, and speed, to name a few).

However, when it comes to stopping what I am doing and actually starting preparation, I am incredibly lazy.

Here are two photos of cake in the birth process.

They were taken in 2013.

I took these photos as, to me, this doesn’t look like cake mixture.
It looks more like some sort of landmass (possibly a volcanic crater) surrounded by water.

I’ve decided to use these for the “Circle” theme for The Daily Post‘s photo challenge this week as the mix (and milk) is circular in these photos.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 77: An Uneventful Cycle Around Iron Cove

In the afternoon that belonged to yesterday, the day that was before today, I went for a cycle around Iron Cove.

It had been a while since I cycled around there, but I was feeling a strong desire to cycle around there whilst also looking to see how quickly I could get there and back as I have been incredibly lazy recently and not cycling as much as I want to, or eating very well.

It was a pretty good cycle.

It took me somewhere around fifty-nine minutes, which was much slower than I hoped (I was looking to complete it somewhere around forty-five minutes).

Not exciting yet?

Don’t worry… it soon will be.

So as I was pedaling along, I got to see, from a distance, rain near the city.

I thought that was pretty cool.

Eventually I was caught in said rain and it was coming down fairly hard.

Luckily I didn’t have to spend too long in it and ended up coming home fairly dry.

During the cycle, I got to see the fog of burden slowly envelope everything within it’s ironclad grasp and being to make everything feel much heavier as steam rose from the ground due to an increase in humidity.

It didn’t last too long though, but there were plenty of images of roses that were shown throughout the fog.

As my cycling around Iron Cove continued on, I felt incredibly tired.

Whilst I had been getting a decent amount of sleep for a few days, I was still feeling tired.

I was concerned about falling asleep whilst cycling along, but it didn’t eventuate.

Near the end of going around Iron Cove, I saw the ocean rise up from the grass and release some sort of aquatic ambient energy that was not entirely foreign to the act of being in existence.

Slowly everything, including the oxygen that was around it, began to melt away and reveal some sort of revelation about the way that the soil had been holding in the damage of various mistakes and destructive devices that had been used throughout history, turning all the badness into something positive with nature.

A giant head reached out of the erratic, chaotic water and began to engulf trees and plants, seeming incapable of being stopped as it grew larger and more ravenous with each consumption.

I looked on and thought to myself “What a pretty display that is being put on show. I verily must get home soon so I can get myself something to eat”.

Soon after, the whole event that was in display in front of me stopped.

I began to cycle home and once I was up a large hill, I floated the rest of the way back with little difficulty, thinking to myself about bananas and wombats and cassowaries and whether I’d be able to meet one without being attacked.

It is a possibility, but not a very likely one.

Oh well.

So yeah. My time cycling yesterday was uneventful.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 10:18:15

Faster than yesterday, but not fast enough.
I was aware that I didn’t have much to work with when I started this one, but I didn’t think I’d have to go so hard when it came to pulling stuff out of nowhere.

No real stream-of-conscious stuff here.

Just some truth and some grasping at straws.

Written at my desk at home.

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