A Colony of Seagulls

Yes, I was going to title this “A Flock of Seagulls”, but, sadly, that would have been incorrect.

It is pretty small for a colony…

Maybe this should be referred to as a posse of seagulls.

I’m not a big fan of seagulls.

Actually, sometimes I like them and sometimes I don’t.
I think that at times, they are an annoying bird.
However, I do also see them as an interesting bird.
I think my dislike for them is related to how far inland I see them.

Maybe.

From what I’ve read, these are most likely silver gulls.

This is my submission for The Daily Post‘s photo challenge, with “Gathering” being the theme this week.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 67: To Bondi Beach for the Sunrise

I woke up before my alarm went off this morning.
About ninety minutes before.
I still somehow managed to get enough sleep to be functioning.

I started getting ready at about 3:55 (giving myself to boil water to fill a thermos with tea) and was out of the house by some time around 4:20 – thirteen minutes after the time I was meant to wake up.

I took off as quickly as I could as first light was around 5:10 and, according to Google Maps, it was going to take me approximately fifty-four minutes to get to the lookout point I wanted to use as my location to take pictures of the sunrise.

Whilst my bike lights were somewhat helpful, they turned out to be mostly unnecessary as there were enough lights keeping the streets illuminated well.

I understand the need for it, but I am somewhat disappointed.

Oh well.

The cycle was a bit tougher than I expected.

This is probably due to being tired and not cycling for a while.
It also probably has to do with the amount of weight I was carrying and not pumping my tyres.

I reached Bondi Junction a bit faster than I expected.
It was probably due to there being a minimal amount of traffic.

Once I reached Bondi Road, I could see that there was an incredibly dark red (it might’ve been purple) on the horizon.

Luckily I was able to get down Bondi Road quite fast due to it being downhill to the beach and subsequently was able to turn where I needed to in a few short minutes.

Despite a false turn soon after, it didn’t take me long to reach where I wanted to be.

It took me thirty-nine minutes and fifty seconds to get to the lookout point.

I set the tripod and camera up very quickly and started taking photos.

I planned to do some writing as I thought I’d be spending some time waiting, but instead I spent the time alternating between taking photos as more light filled the sky and as the sun rose, and drinking tea whilst looking at the view.

I’m very satisfied with seeing what I saw.

I’m pretty happy with how many of the photos turned out as well, but I’m mostly happy with watching the sunrise over the ocean.

It was, in my opinion, completely worth the minimal effort it required to do and I will gladly do it again.

At around 6:23, a few minutes after packing away the tripod and taking a few more photos with the camera, I headed off to the beach to have a quick swim.
There wasn’t a strong surf, so I didn’t spend too long there.

I was home by 8:24.
It took me thirty-nine minutes to get home.
I’m happy with that as I walked part of the way back to Bondi Junction and the distance was only about five-hundred metres less than what it took to get to the lookout point.

I’m glad I did it.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 12:47:10
Slower than yesterday, but right now I am incredibly tired, so that’s probably why.
I don’t care right now.

Written in bed.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 66: The Plan for Tomorrow Morning

Alright, I have to write this one really quickly as I’m meant to be getting to sleep right now as I now have my camera back which means that, despite repeated failed attempts to get up early to get the sunrise at Bondi Beach, tomorrow I am definitely going to be doing it, so I have an alarm set to make sure I wake up and then hop on my iron steed to cycle the distance so I can set up and be ready to go as soon as the first light shows up.

I am feeling excited about this, but at the same time I am not.

Still, I will be able to go for a swim afterwards and that will be nice and refreshing.

I wonder if I’ll get good shots.

I hope I do.

The cycle will be easy enough.

I have lights so I won’t be invisible and I know how to get to Bondi Beach from where I live, so I mostly have to worry about getting the sleep I need and if I’ll tire before I get to my destination, as it has been a good number of weeks since I was last on the bike as I have been lazy.

A laziness that has decided to take root in my-

Anyway…

I’m hoping that I will be able to see the sun and cloud cover is not taking up the entirety of the sky.

It would still make for some great photos, but I would rather the sun for this one.

It’s going to be the first proper run with the tripod and the new lens, so I’d rather a clear sky for it.

Still, if I don’t get the opportunity for that, at least I’ll still get something that will most likely turn out quite well.

I’m definitely not looking forward to cycling after swimming.

I do need to get a new bike and I am once I have a job again.

I do very much like my bike, but it is quite heavy and not fun for my knees.

Peddling a lengthy uphill after swimming is not fun.

I’ve done it before and I had to stop about a third of the way.

I do not believe it had to do with my levels of fitness at the time.
It probably did, but I shall choose to adamantly deny this.

Ah well.

Tomorrow morning is going to be great fun.

I know that, regardless of the outcome, it’s going to be very satisfying and something that I’ll be doing more and more of as I become used to it.

It’s always the first hurdle that needs to be surmounted, but I shall pedal freely over it and off into the horizon to my destination with little difficulty, proving that yes, a bike is able to something something.

On a serious note, time for bed.

The more sleep I get, the better I’ll feel.

Now, onto the beyond that is tomorrow morning!

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 9:44:55
Another one under ten minutes.
Hooray!
Well, time for sleep.

Written in bed.

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Black Cormorant

When I was at Sculpture by the Sea, I saw this bird.
Whilst I did like the sculptures, I found it to be far more captivating.

From what I’ve read, it is drying itself after fishing.

To me, it appears to be strong, agile, and majestic.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 65: General Good Times

And a soft piano plays, just like a trembling heart about to awaken in a frozen wasteland of beauty and glamour, almost as though it was not meant to be there to begin with.

Suddenly a chiming guitar plays and moves throughout the air that it can bear witness to as though it is likely to surrender to a moment it cannot be in only to break through a barrier of confidence that is lost on those that do know it all far too well.

Beyond the playing is a hooting and a laughing of wild beasts dancing far into the distant night in tribute to the life they have lived and the death they will face, for they may be intimidating and scary, but they are most certainly joyous and celebratory and live to the fullest, until their bodies melt back into the soil that they stand on.

The fruits that hang above them in the clear night remain steadfast witnesses to the obscene scene that they witness beneath and above them are the wings that flap into the skies to go on the hunt for other things to see in the world of the avian.

A beat is felt throughout all that cannot be at the location of this event as they feel inexplicably drawn to let go of their ties and their suits and regain an urge to move to a familiar rhythm they have never heard.

Suddenly the streets are filled with joy and laughter and dancing and general good times as everyone experiences a simultaneous pulse of joy that writhes throughout them all, growing stronger and stronger until it can no longer be resisted, leaving everyone to unleash in a positive manner that allows them to feel free and full of imagination and excitement that they thought they had left behind a long time ago.

Indeed, it had not been the case.

Everyone is alive with energy when suddenly all are asleep and in a rest that was long overdue for too many sleepless nights had gripped everyone and anything and it was time for the world to be allowed to sleep as well.

It was something that needed to occur as everything was moving far too fast for anyone and anything to truly keep up and had it all continued upon this course, all would have moved beyond itself in a negative manner and lost its way, only to hurtle towards some sort of catastrophic oblivion of the self.

Days, possibly weeks later, everyone and everything wakes up and goes home to rest for a little bit longer before going back to a set routine that they had allowed themselves to shamelessly fall into.

They decide to take it slower, but they forget all that the rest had granted them, for routine must be kept as much as it can possibly be kept!

But the beasts keep on going, always celebrating and always doing the things that only they can do.

Oh, what joy.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 9:57:94
Slower, but still under ten minutes, so I’m alright with that.
Not too sure what I was doing with this.
It started off as stream-of-conscious writing and sort of remained that way, but I did end up getting an idea about what to write which then lead it to it having some kind of coherency… I think.
Still, other than that one moment, there was very little thought put into this.
I don’t think it’s that great, but at the same time I like how it turned out.

This was written in bed.

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Angel’s Trumpet

This is my thirty-fifth submission for Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness“.
The theme is “Angels”, something that I found myself highly challenged by.

I went into the city to look for angel statues around St. Mary’s Cathedral and  The Domain.
I had a lot of trouble finding something.

Eventually I went to the Royal Botanic Gardens to try my luck there.
I didn’t see anything immediately, so I whipped out my phone (sadly in a boring manner) and came across the Angel’s Trumpet which happened to be nearby.

As I still do not have my camera available, I had to use my phone to take the picture.
I’m happy with the picture, but I feel that my phone did not capture just how beautiful this flower is.

I’m going to go back when I have my camera and take more photos as it really is a lovely flower.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 64: An Exam Tomorrow

Today, the piece that I am writing will not be total gibberish.
It will only be partial gibberish, as some of the others are, as that is the way I feel like writing today!

I did not get a job I applied for and I feel a bit disappointed in that.
There was a fair reason as to why, but I am still a bit disappointed.

Oh well.
It means I keep applying for more jobs until I strike lucky.
Hopefully the iron is hot when it happens as then I will have fashioned a smashing object that I will be able to use as some sort of emblematic signal of my grand status in the world of people and LIFE.

Tomorrow I have a test and I am preparing for it by listening to a lot of lectures and reading a lot of lecture material to help me absorb the knowledge I need to have absorbed so then I can be at the top of my game.

I have sincere doubts about actually being at the top of my game and, to be honest, have absolutely no idea as to how well I’ll do, but all I can do is try my best.

Immediately after (by that I mean an hour after), I have a laboratory tutorial, where I get to wear a lab coat and do science for science.

Such is the science of things.

I shall solve all the mysteries and become the greatest in the history of ever.

Then I shall take off into space into uncharted territories and help civilizations advance towards a peaceful future in the universe because when you ascend off to some other form of being , you should try and guide others along a path of enlightenment.

Although, what will actually happen is I’ll learn some things, hope I get my camera back and then come home to work on music and do some writing and maybe upload some photos as well and then go to sleep so I can go to the beach on Friday and enjoy myself there by swimming around and being in the waves and then coming out feeling satisfied and relaxed.

Hell, maybe I’ll get a good amount of sleep as well.

There are two weeks of not being at university before the summer semester resumes.

I’ll be spending a lot of that time studying as I want to make sure I’m firing on all cylinders when I return.

Of course, there will still be hunting for jobs, making music, photography, hanging with people and making pictures in MS Paint, but a lot of the time will be spent studying.

I don’t have a great interest in the subject I am currently doing (molecules, cells and genes), but I am interesting in learning about what is being taught, if that makes sense.

Maybe I’ll end up becoming incredibly fascinated about it, as it is stuff that is worth being fascinated about, but until then, I’ll keep learning.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 09:08:57
Faster than I expected.
Of course, I’ll keep learning if I do become fascinated about molecules, cells and genes.

Written in bed.

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Ferris Wheel

Here is a picture of a ferris wheel.
As you can see, it is equal parts ferris and wheel.

I think.

I like this picture as the ferris wheel looks, to me, slightly bent.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 63: Tomorrow is Tuesday

So I began this one by writing about something I participated in yesterday, but it ran out of steam, so instead I decided to write about something else.

I don’t know what that is, but I know it’s not what I was originally going to write about.

Tomorrow is Tuesday, the day of choosing, as it would seem to be.

That would mean that tomorrow choices are going to be far more important in life than they usually would.

Oh, what a fate to have to experience!

You don’t know if choosing orange juice or putting on socks is going to make a bus driver a +1 bus driver or a +2 bus driving a bus.

Things are going to get real tomorrow and you better be sure that you are prepared.

These real things are dangerous as if the choice you’re choosing from the choices you have at any point throughout the day are choices not carefully considered, then the consequences could be dire!

Or they could be fantastic, yet lacking any surreal elements.

What if, by chance, you have a potato chip?
Do you put it in your mouth and chew or let it become soggy?

That could affect how well your hat will look on your head later!

Then the hat, looking the way it does on your head, could lead to a global catastrophe at some later stage in the day.

What? No, I am not making this up.

This is real realness, dammit!

Tuesday is always a dangerous day.
IT should not be allowed to have as much power as it does, as it behaves like a trickster day, twisting the choices that one makes into having odd and unusual consequences that are as subtle as a flying dog wearing bright green pajamas shouting “I am a dog and I am going to meow”.

It’s about as trickster as seeing a lion and it preventing you from doing anything by looking menacing and then going “meow”.

One has to wonder as to why the day has to be that way.

Why can’t we just be allowed to make choices with reckless abandon and damn the consequences, just like any other day?

That would be so much more wonderful and easy to handle.

But no, Tuesday must have its way.

Maybe it is to remind us that some choices will, inevitably, have consequences that we could not foresee.

Maybe that, due to this, we should always carefully consider many choices we make as maybe we run into a lot of things very blindly and then wonder as to why we woke up kissing a brick, covered in banana peels and avocado and are on a beach with no wallet.

That was certainly not a way to wake up.

Uhhh, I mean… it is not a good way to wake up, let me tell you!

Anyway, Tuesday is probably there to remind us of these things.

I would like to hope that Wednesday will treat us all slightly better.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 10:45:44

Slower than last time, but it’s the closest I can get to how long it actually took me.
Originally, I was going to write about Zedtown (a cool thing that happened yesterday), but I didn’t have enough thought about it to write about it, so it’ll have to wait for another time.

Instead I settled for whatever this is.
I was doing quite well when I had to pause the timer for a moment.
I resumed typing without turning it back on and then stopped and let the timer run for about ninety seconds before resuming again.

So yeah.

Written at my desk at home.

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Photos From 富士山 (Mount Fuji)

Here are some more photos from 富士山.
I decided to save them for their own post as I liked a lot of them.

Also, I’m going to use this brief moment as an opportunity to plug by marion, by Marion.
What she shares is pretty good.
I strongly believe her stuff is worth checking out.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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