This photo is my thirty-third submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness“.
The theme was “Bells”, but I did not recall having any bells I could use for a photo.
Luckily there was one at work, so took a photo of it.
I’m not too sure as to what I can say about this one beyond “I like it”.
I like it. I like the layout of it.
I think it’s just a nice picture.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
I’m feeling incredibly exhausted at the moment and not entirely sure as to what state I should be in.
Oh. New South Wales.
Well, that was easier than expected.
Typical in a sense though.
My second day of unemployment and it feels mostly like a weekend.
Ewe and I went to the beach early in the morning.
Easy enough.
The trip back was a longer journey than either of us were expecting.
There was a bit of traffic.
That’s probably nothing out of the ordinary.
The bus broke down twice.
I have not been on a bus that has broken down twice during one journey.
Well, to be fair, it didn’t necessarily break down.
One of the doors stopped functioning.
It took double the usual time it should take, which was somewhat annoying as I didn’t have Finnegans Wake with me.
Oh well.
Not as much study as I would have liked to have happened today happened today., but I must certainly pick up the slack as of tomorrow, lest my head turn into a raisin of incredibly uninteresting proportions.
That would be a shame as raisins are tasty on the odd occasion.
They are an interesting creating and…
Why am I now writing about raisins?
Why am I writing about anything at the moment?
I should be resting my poor, weary eyes.
Not talking about a consumable that, whilst is enjoyable, is smaller than what its name would suggest.
If they’re called raisins, why do they not raise in themselves?
That would make far more sense if they did that.
Instead, they should be called wet leather.
I think that’s a significantly better name.
After all, I came up with it.
You could then say “I love wet leathers. I love eating them whilst sitting on the beach, reading my novel and soaking in the intensity of the waves”.
Or you could not.
Yes, the idea market is running a little low with the stock it has tonight.
It probably has a lot to do with something.
I don’t know.
Why am I writing right now?
On a completely unrelated topic, I had McDonald’s today.
I obtained it through the method of home delivery.
There is a McDonald’s near my place that does home delivery.
Normally I would not eat it, but there was special cause for this.
Ewe and I were feeling lazy.
We did not feel very good afterwards.
No, we do not plan on ever doing it again.
That’s pretty much all I can think of right now, although with that being said, I’m surprised any thoughts are coming out all, considering I will be asleep in about fifteen minutes, carried off to the land of rest and dreams.
I shall be in a temporary sleep, as eventually I will wake up (before six in the morning) to cycle to the beach to swim around before university, as it is a great way to start the day.
On a serious note, it really is great fun.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 11:24:60
Slow and not my best work!
It probably has a lot to do with actually being close to going to sleep.
I think I’ll have an easier time tomorrow.
Here are some more photos I took shortly after my friend and I finished up with Sculpture by the Sea.
I decided to take pictures based around trying to make my hand look like it was trying to touch the sun.
It’s something we always seem to reach for.
I think it worked.
I think.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
I never thought I’d last anywhere near as long as I did at my workplace.
I somehow managed to avoid getting fired despite having many formal meetings throughout my seven-and-one-half years working for the same company.
I met a lot of people and I’m certain I got under the skin of most of them.
Despite what my workplace considered was okay to allow happen (and my behaviour at times), I managed to learn a fair bit and have some fun along the way.
Despite being happy that it is now over, I’m also a bit sad as I shared a life with many people who I’ve spent a large part of my adult life with now.
They saw me at some pretty low points, as well as some pretty high ones.
We all shared the same tedium, trial and error, pain, rejoicing, and smug satisfaction throughout our time.
We were mostly disjointed, but we were part of a community that, despite much of what we were doing looking as though it was going to fall apart at any given moment, somehow kept it all going along.
Hopefully we can all hang out at various times.
I left with the remaining managers today.
We were able to go home early, but I stayed as there were still things I had to take care of.
I’m also fairly stubborn and wanted be there at the end.
When we left, I walked down to the train station with someone that, despite butting heads with many times, is a person who has been a great friend throughout our employment.
I’ve spent a long time thinking about what I’d say about my job, knowing that we were all being made redundant on the same date.
It was a long journey that I doubt many of us thought we were going to see the end of.
But today… it was a good day.
This was started yesterday and finished today.
It is an adaptation of a picture I took of myself.
I’m still working on another right now, but as I’m not good at drawing people, it’s taking a lot longer than I thought it would.
I took another brief break from it to work on this.
I hope you enjoy.
I’m trying to think of what I’ll write about today, seeing as it’s the last bit of writing I will do here at work, but I find myself at a loss for words.
Maybe that’s due to it being the last day I’ll be here.
There’s a lot of things I could and probably should say, but maybe my having nothing is a better thing
Soon I shall be out the door and into the sun that shall feed me some rays, on my way home from here for the last time.
I think I should write about the journey of being here, but that would probably be a bit too cheesy for today.
I really have absolutely no idea as to what to write about right now.
I know what I’ll write about when I get home, but right now, there’s nothing.
Like the office, me ideas are empty.
I really should get to restocking those idea reserves and make sure I have some more for when I need them most.
It certainly is a better way of doing things, I think.
I wonder what life will be like in the outside world.
I say that as though I’ve never been outside in my life.
Maybe I have, but I still remain inside a mindset that I’ve used to gradually imprison myself and my leaving work today is symbolic of breaking out of my mindset gaol.
Maybe when I leave, a magic carp will come along and carry me all the way home.
That’s when I reach for my revolver.
It’s also when it all gets blown away.
But would the spirit really pass by this way?
I’m currently listening to a cover of “That’s When I Reach for my Revolver”, by Moby.
I’m enjoying it more than I probably should.
The walk down to the train station is going to be nothing out of the ordinary, but I know my mind is going to be far more elsewhere than it usually is.
There are a lot of things I need to think about, but that’s the way it should be.
This job ending is something that is going to allow me far more options to choose from than usual.
I know that in the future, I will have to make sure I know when to leave a job though.
But now, the future is fairly open.
I can leave with a smile and say that I went the distance.
Looking out a window, I can see the skies are pretty clear right now.
It means I’ll be leaving here and going into nice, relaxed weather.
I think that, today is my day.
What a nice day.
I’m glad that I’m going back to university tomorrow instead of in next year, as it will keep me having some sort of routine going, as part of me still needs it.
It’ll be a better routine to have in my life.
But right now, I can ask myself, positively, “What now?”
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 10:29:55
Over ten minutes, but I don’t care at the moment.
Sadly, it was written at my desk at work for the last time.
Tomorrow is a very big day for me, for two equally important reasons.
The first is that it is my seven-and-one-half years anniversary with the company I work for.
It’s a pretty big thing for me as I never planned to stay as long as I did and should have left a long time ago.
I’ve worked on two different projects with them and whilst the first one was only about seven months, it was still the better one, at a better office, where treatment was much better.
Anyway, the second reason is that it is my last day working as the project is ending and, as the company has so far been unsuccessful in obtaining other clients, everyone is being made redundant.
I have mixed feelings about this.
I’m happy that it’s happening as it means I can start studying full-time sooner rather than later.
As I have a bit of free time on my hands, I’m also taking on a subject on molecules, cells and genes during the summer semester to help me complete my bachelor of science faster.
I’m also able to look for a job that will be more suitable for me.
Whilst my redundancy package isn’t going to be massive, it’s still money that will help me out.
All of that is good for me.
However, I find myself feeling afraid as well.
I’ve been working for eleven years now.
I do have strong experience behind me and some work discipline when it’s required, but I don’t know how soon it will be until I have another job.
I’ve been told that I won’t have a problem with getting another one, but what if I don’t get one quickly enough?
Part of my livelihood is working and whilst I have worked for a company that I don’t have many positive things to say due to how they operate and, whilst taught me a lot of things, also left me feeling pretty exhausted most of the time, I still have a strong desire to have a job.
Obviously I can spend more time working on other things that interest me now, but still, it is a bit scary.
I don’t want to find myself in a position where I am unable to get something for a long time as Sydney isn’t anywhere near as cheap as it should be and I’m not currently in a position to move to Melbourne to be with my family there.
With that being said, I’m not going to let the fear stop me from trying to get work.
I also won’t let it stop me from trying to have fun as I’m definitely going to try and make the most of whatever free time I have as well.
It does mean I’ll be able to do a lot more swimming, so I’m pretty happy with that.
I’m wondering as to how tomorrow will pan out.
I’m sure it will turn out okay.
Well, I hope it will turn out okay.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 14:01:67
Slower than I thought it would be, but still decent as I was thinking a fair bit about how to convey what I’m feeling about tomorrow.
Apparently the best way was poorly.
Written at my desk at home.
This one was made when I decided to take a brief break from another masterpiece I was working on.
I was inspired by wearing a banana suit and a gas mask at the same time and decided to get something done for Halloween.
Unfortunately it took more time than I thought it would.
It was started on the thirty-first of October and finished on the third of November.
I hope you enjoy.
This was started on the fourteenth of October and finished on the Nineteenth of October.
It started off as a one, maybe two minute drawing of either a crocodile or a snake.
I’m not sure as to which.
After a bunch of people had fun with it at work, I flipped the head and then got the idea to make the horse floating in space having some sort of revelatory, moving thought.
The Pegasus constellation is in there and there is also a reference to Coil.
Originally there was meant to be a cosmic lens flare, but as I couldn’t get it to work, the interstellar cloud became a better choice.
I hope you enjoy.
I really do not like shopping centres.
I think they serve a purpose, but I do not enjoy being in them.
This is a story about being in one.
There was a raffle at work on Friday.
It was free and everyone who is still at work was automatically in the draw, so long as they hadn’t won anything at the raffle that was run on the previous week.
I won second prize, which was a $250 Westfield gift voucher.
I guess that if you give most of your soul and life to a company that doesn’t understand what a person is unless they’re kissing ass, it’s only fair that you’re given a chance to win a token gesture.
But I digress.
So I won the voucher, which I decided I would use to either get a tripod or to do my food shopping over the next five weeks.
I ended up choosing the latter as I thought it would be a better in the long run.
The closest Westfield to me that has a supermarket I can use the voucher at (a Woolworths), is in Bondi Junction.
I woke up earlier than I had hoped I would today as I spent a good portion of last night drunk, among other things, and went to bet late.
I was lucky to wake up without a hangover, but I still felt tired.
I was hoping to go for a swim in the morning, but I ended up not.
After having a late breakfast, I made my way to Bondi Junction as quickly as I could to get shopping out of the way.
I planned to go to what I thought was a National Geographic store first, as I wanted to see what they had.
I entered Westfield and after about a minute of being inside, I realised I couldn’t remember where things were.
I have been to Westfield in Bondi Junction plenty of times, but as I was flat, being there was a bit more than I could handle at the time.
My memory, noticing this, said “I’m out”, and got out of there as quickly as it could, leaving me to try and navigate on my own.
I thought the shop I was looking for was at an entirely different end, so I went up a few floors, then walked for a while.
It wasn’t there.
I then went back, then headed off to a food court that I was I thought was near the shop I was looking for, but it wasn’t there either.
I began to realise that I was lost, so I looked for a directory as I had seen a few around.
I spent about five minutes looking for one.
Whilst I was looking, I remembered a joke I heard in the morning (Why couldn’t the cat drink it’s milk? Because it didn’t have a face), and laughed.
When I reached one, I searched for National Geographic, only to find out the store I was looking for was called Australian Geographic.
I also found out that I had to use a couple of escalators near the entrance I used to get into Westfield to get there.
Soon enough I was at the store and it didn’t take me long to realise that it didn’t have what I wanted.
I checked out another store nearby before beginning my hunt for Woolworths.
I ended up back at the Australian Geographic store and didn’t realise how, so I thought that maybe if I went further down, I would be able to find it.
Before I did, I saw a camera store and went in to ask about tripods, advising that I would be purchasing during the week.
I was given some basic information, then told to look at what they had online and then come in when I was ready.
That is crappy customer service.
If you have a prospective buyer, don’t brush them off.
Anyway, I thanked the person who “assisted” me, then went down into the dark depths of lower parking.
I hoped to come across another directory but instead wandered around for a while in the hopes I would find an exit that would take me to Woolworths.
I did find one, much to my relief.
Woolworths came with more problems for me though.
I was in there for somewhere around twenty-five minutes trying to find things.
Fifteen minutes were spent looking for tofu.
I had to ask for assistance as I kept walking past it without realising.
I had an easier time in Japan.
Once I was out of Westfield, everything became easy again.
Being in there was a bit more of a challenge than I thought it would be.
To be honest, I thought writing about this bit of writing would have been more interesting, but it seems a bit banal.
I’m having a bit of trouble conveying how lost I felt.
I really did feel that way for most of the time I was in Westfield as, despite recognising plenty of things there and knowing where I was, I had no idea as to where I was.
Also, ending up in the underground parking area was partially an accident.
I didn’t feel I had any other options other than to wander when I didn’t see a directory there.
Oh well.
Here are some photos I took shortly after attending Sculpture by the Sea at the end of October.
I was walking along with a friend when we had the opportunity to get closer to the ocean to take photos.
After taking some photos, I put on my raincoat, sat on a rock and took photos of waves before they would hit me.
I didn’t get too wet (luckily), and it was a fun experience.
I will upload more another time, but for now these are being submitted for this week’s photo challenge from The Daily Post.
The theme is “Transition” and whilst I don’t believe these are the best pictures that could convey that, I do think they still convey it well.
These (kind of) remind me of a flower blooming.
I like the shape of the spray quite a lot. It’s chaotic, but also magnificent and beautiful.
I hope you enjoy.
Stupidity Hole 