My Door

This is my entry for The Daily Post‘s weekly photo challenge this week.
The theme is “Door“.

There’s not really anything special about this door.
Paint is peeling off it, the doorbell is missing and it looks fairly damaged.
Sometimes it doesn’t shut properly unless you use a key to close it or pull it really hard.
It gets really annoying at times.

I like the door though.
It’s been my door for a little over two years and I’d have to seriously think about whether I’d get rid of it or not if given the option for a new one.

Despite its appearance, the door is welcoming in a weird way.
It has a good feel to it.
I guess it’s due to being so familiar with it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

 

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David Boonicorn

Here is something I made recently.
It’s based of an image I made for my ex back in 2011.
I decided to recreate it in MS Paint.
I added the VB in as I thought it would be stupider.
Now the David Boonicorn is guarding it.

I hope you enjoy.

David Boonicorn guards the VB

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Five-hundred Word Challenge 22: Analysis of the “Feel the Beat” Music Video

So somehow listening to Hammock earlier in the week led to me listening to “Feel the Beat” by Darude today.

I have no idea how.

It remains a fun track, but it should be renamed to “Feel the Cheese”.

I watched the film clip and it has certainly aged a fair bit.

I’ll describe it.

The video starts with a man – presumably Darude – on a kick scooter, holding a briefcase, scootering to a yellow car.
He jumps in whilst a lady who was waiting next to the car gets in.
The door to the garage they were in opens and they drive out.
The car has “DARUDE” as the number plate.

The next shot is of a road. The car suddenly appears.
Then there are some shots of the duo driving. Some are close. Some are far away.

A few seconds later, the car drives over the same stretch of road repeatedly in quick succession.
Then there’s more shots of driving and someone is breathing fire on the car.

Darude looks to the right.
Then there’s another shot of the car and this time he’s djing on it whilst driving, then there’s some people dancing on it.
Then there are  some beautiful shots of the landscape and driving.
Then people are dancing on the car again.

There’s some shots of Darude driving whilst seeing his sunglasses in the rear view mirror.
I think he’s wearing sunglasses as it’s overcast.

There’s a quick shot of him with a smug look on his face.

Then we see a mountain.

Then the car pulls up to a helicopter.
The two get out and run to get into the helicopter.
Then the helicopter takes off.

Darude looks outside, then looks to the lady.

Then some more landscape shots.
Then Darude is looking at the landscape and thinking of – I assume it’s thinking – people dancing and partying.
Then we see the helicopter again and shortly after we see a bunch of people jumping and waving.

There’s not many – this is important.

The helicopter lands and the duo get out.
Darude is holding up the briefcase as they run from the helicopter.

He runs up to some turntables and the helicopter takes off.
Some lady does a wavy pattern with her arms, then Darude opens the briefcase and there’s a gold record in it.

Then people the group are jumping and dancing, someone breathes fire, Darude keeps the beats pumping, someone juggles fire, people dance, there’s some aerial shots of what I’m assuming is meant to be the party, more dancing, then eventually it cuts to the gold record on a turntable.

That’s quite a lot of effort to go through for a small party.
I think there’s about twenty people that were there.

Was all that effort really worth it?

Couldn’t he have performed without the gold record?

Was he lost?

Why was the party so remote?

Maybe Darude is really dedicated to his fans.

I wish I had the answer, but only Darude knows.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 16:35:38
This was shorter than last night, which I’m feeling a bit happy about.
However, I don’t feel five-hundred words is long enough to fully express how stupid the music video is.
It’s not the worst thing out there, but it’s aged quite badly.
Maybe I’ll revisit it some time.

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Anzac Bridge and the Moon

This is a picture I took last week on Tuesday.
I won’t say much about it as I’m saving a few photos I took at the same time for another post.
I do like how this one turned out, but it doesn’t fit with the rest so it is getting its own post.

Anyway, I took this last week on Tuesday after work.
When I saw the moon out, I tried to get a good photo of it above Anzac Bridge.
It is unfortunate as to how bright the moon turned out, but at the same time I think it adds a lot to the photo, sitting so high above everything else in the shot.

It seems to be watching over the area beneath it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-hundred Word Challenge 21: Coughing up a Storm

This afternoon I went outside for lunch for the first time in a very long time.
I needed to get some air, as well as head down to the shops to put money on my transport card.

As soon as I left the building the cold hit me hard.
I didn’t understand why. The sun was out. Clouds were few and far between.
Why was it so cold?

After a few minutes I began to cough. It was harder than it had been previously.
I had to stop walking as all my energy was going into my coughing.

I began to convulse and run out of air.
I felt my face become pained as I fell to the ground.
I felt something welling from inside me.
Feeling as though I was going to throw up, I tried to keep my head to the side as I kepy coughing.

I felt it coming up fast.
Unable to stop coughing and prevent anything from exiting my body, I tried to keep my mouth open as much as I could.

To my surprise, a large gust of wind escape me instead.

The coughing stopped immediately after and I felt much better.

The rest of my work day went by nicely. My cough was gone so I was able to keep focus on my work.

However, by the time I finished work, things weren’t looking too good.

As I headed to the train station it began to rain heavily.
Winds picked up and made it hard to move.

I kept on walking but the further I moved, the heavier the rain became and the faster the wind blew.

I took shelter at a bus stop and watched as the rain became almost blinding.

The wind was bending trees, looking as though it was going to tear them from the ground and carry them away.

I looked around at the danger around me.
When my eyes reached an oval, I noticed something.

The gust that I coughed up earlier was there, seemingly dictating the whole event.
It was worrisome, to say the least.

I decided the best course of action would be to confront it, take it down and save the day.

I ran into the torrential rain towards the oval.
As soon as I reached it I jumped into the gust.

Now, as this is a terrible story, I feel that it is only appropriate that it has an equally terrible ending that doesn’t make sense.

As soon as I was in the centre of the gust, I pulled out a glass of lemonade that I always carried with me.

Sensing this, the gust dissipated immediately, as this was its weakness.

The rain and wind disappeared almost immediately.

As I thought about the turmoil that had unfolded, I realised that the journey was far from over.

I hopped on my horse and rode off into the sunset, not realising that I was heading off in the wrong direction for a long time.

The end.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 17:15:73
Still a bit slow but its the first bit of fiction I’ve written in a while.
I’m somewhat amazed at how bad it is, but it could have been much worse.

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Kings Cross

Kings Cross is a place with a strong reputation for being violent, sleazy and drug-addled.
Some of this reputation is deserved.
I say that as, with many reputations out there, it is a bit exaggerated.

Kings Cross is certainly an intense place.
That’s not something I can deny.

However, it seems to be gradually shedding the reputation it has and becoming a safer place as a result.

I’m not sure as to how I feel about this.
Despite this, I do think it is a good thing.

This is a photo of the main street of Kings Cross.
I took it on Monday morning after making a slight detour on the way to work.

What I like about this photo is it seems to present Kings Cross naked in a sense.
At this hour it’s much more quiet than usual, with people heading to work, getting food or starting their socialising for the day.

There doesn’t seem to be much more happening.

On a side note, I have a history with 5 Burroughs, but that’s a story for another day.

This is my fifteenth entry into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness“.
As this was for the first Wednesday of the month, it was themed, with the theme being “K”.

I recommend checking out “Monochrome Madness” and Leanne Cole’s work.
“Monochrome Madness” has a good community feel to it and Leanne Cole is an excellent photographer.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-hundred Word Challenge 20: On my Entry to University

I didn’t get into university from completing school as I never completed my HSC.
I didn’t complete year ten either, so I don’t have an SC.

I attempted to obtain an equivalent through TAFE via home schooling the year after I dropped out, but I didn’t complete that.

The year after was when I began to work in call centres and offices.

Not having obtained my SC was very much something that weighed heavily on me. I can’t remember if I regretted not completing it (I don’t think I did) but I do know that when I thought about it I felt like an idiot.

A lot of people would tell me that I am smart but I’ve never considered myself to be so.  I’ve never seen myself as having anything beyond average intelligence (which I’m fine with) but not completing school made me feel far less intelligent.

Since I was twelve, I’ve wanted to be a marine scientist. There’s so much about the ocean and various waterways as well as the inhabitants of them that we don’t know. I find it fascinating.
I’ve had a long time to think about what I’ve wanted to do with my life and whilst music, photography, writing and the various other activities I do are things I want to keep doing throughout my life, I know where my heart lies with my future.

I’m aware that I won’t necessarily end up in field science and I’m fine with that.
I’m also aware that it’s a choice that will put me in a field that can have more supply than there is demand and I still have a good number of years to go before I complete my studies to be one but I’m fine with that too.

Anyway, I was able to get into university through a preparation course.
I first attempted to do so via correspondence with Charles Darwin University in 2012. However, that fell through once I found out that I couldn’t use it to get into Sydney universities.

My second attempt was through a preparation course with UNSW in 2013, where my subjects were a preparation subject (I can’t remember the name right now but it was skills needed for university) and maths.

I passed.
I did okay with Maths but fared much better with the preparation component.

I did the course as I was ready to start moving forward with my life and didn’t want to remain in call centres for the rest of my life.

I also wanted to prove to myself that I was able to obtain an education.

The reason as to why I’m writing this tonight is that I feel it’s important to let anyone in a similar situation know that they aren’t an idiot and they can still achieve things.

For me, it really drove home that having a lot of support is a great thing, but I still needed to take the first step.

It was the hardest part, but it was a good decision.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 29:23:14
Much longer than yesterday but I’m not too fussed right now.

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The Sauce of all our Problems

I like puns.

I took this picture in 2011.
Two of my housemates at the time had just arrived home with their shopping when they dropped a bottle of pasta sauce on the footpath outside our house.

At least I think it was pasta sauce.

I decided to take some photos as it interested me.

I thought I was going to write more about this, but I think I’ve said all there is to say.

Anyway, here’s the best photo.

I hope you enjoy.

088

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Five-hundred Word Challenge 19: Being Sick Sucks

Today I’ve decided to see if I can be significantly faster than yesterday, so I’ve also (unintentionally) set up a playlist that is about thirty-one seconds shorter than the time it took me to write yesterday.

I really don’t enjoy being ill, but then again, who does?
I don’t enjoy being ill at work either.
This isn’t the worst I’ve been, but it’s still pretty bad.

I’ve had a few coughing fits so far that have gotten me close to throwing up.
I can’t remember a time where I experienced that previously ad it’s kind of disgusting.

The normal thing would be to get medication.
However, as I’m stubborn in some ways and despite experiencing some really bad joint pain, believe I only have a cold, as most of everything else I’m experiencing due to illness seems so cold-like in nature.

I also have some slight head spins but I think that’s due to gradual dehydration due to illness, so I need to keep my fluids up and that will be okay.

I don’t enjoy night sweats brought on by illness.
The feeling of waking up feeling wet is not pleasant.

At the end of the day though, as I’m choosing to take the harder path, I know that I have to deal with it until it passes which hopefully will be sooner rather than later.

It started on Saturday. I started feeling a bit under the weather.
I have no idea as to how much sleep I had. I took a nap in the afternoon (my first in years), then went to sleep at nine pm., then woke at eleven p.m.
It’s complete guess work from there as I remember being awake for very long periods of time.

Come Sunday and I woke up feeling far worse but I improved throughout the day.

Monday was a bit difficult.
There was much sneezing and coughing but I got through the day.

There was more coughing today and far less sneezing, but my nose feels blocked up. However, it felt that way last night and passed, so I imagine this too will pass.

The worst part of this is that the coughing has started to hurt my head in a spot where I was punched in the back of my head when I attended Soundwave in 2009.

I was in the mosh for Nine Inch Nails (I used to be a fan) and there was no room to move, unless the crowd was moving.
Some person was trying to force their way further in and as I couldn’t move, I elbowed their arm, hoping they’d realise they couldn’t get through.

Their arm retracted and a few seconds later I was punched in the back of the head.
I didn’t have anywhere to go and I didn’t want to risk getting beaten up, so I dropped.

The crowd lifted me, carried me over the fence to security and then I was taken to the medical tent.

I came out okay.

Being sick sucks.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 16:11:45
A slight improvement but still not fast enough.
I’m aiming to get under ten minutes so I’m going to keep on trying.
Once I’m consistently under ten minutes for a week or so, I’ll look at increasing the word limit.

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Five-hundred Word Challenge 18: a Failed Attempt at Writing Random Thoughts

I thought I’d try to do another stream-of-consciousness post as a challenge but it’s left me thinking if I’m capable of doing such a thing or not.

Generally when I try this, I end up writing about my inability to write at times, or trying to think about something to write.

These are two things that can be difficult to make interesting enough to write about, especially when you’re trying to avoid writing about them.

A long time ago I heard the song “Tristia” by Hammock whilst I was in Red Eye Records.
It was in the evening.
This was around the start of 2011 (I believe).
I felt absolutely flawed when I heard it.
I ended up purchasing the album it was from (Chasing After Shadows… Living With the Ghosts).

When I’m looking to hear something I find relaxing, it’s usually one of my choices.

Compared to the rest of my collection, I do not own much relaxing music.
That’s not to say that most of my collection is intense, in your face blasts as my taste in music is usually quite varied.
However, in my adult life I’ve usually had a strong appreciation for more relaxing stuff so I’m a bit surprised as to how small a portion of my music is more laid back.

When I listen to it, it feels appropriate and special in a way that I can’t quite pinpoint.

Sometimes I’ll listen to it when I’m not feeling like relaxing as I may be feeling particularly attached to a band at a certain point in my life and it overtakes my desires to listen to anything else.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll be forced to part with my music collection.
Even though I don’t expect to have everything I have forever, the thought still scares me. There’s a lot of tales and memories buried in what I own and in a way it feels as though I’d be giving part of myself up.

If there came a point where I was no longer able to listen to or make music, then I would find myself slipping into a deep sadness.
I’m aware of how overly dramatic that sounds, but I find it difficult to come up with an appropriate description for how I’d feel, so that’s as accurately as I can approximate it for the time being and I’m not going to rewrite this as that would ruin the point of trying to write this as quickly as possible.

It would then be less stream-of-consciousness which is not something I want to do.
Well, the final result would be.
This would still be but I feel this would be cheapened if I rewrote it.

Anyway, the reason why I mentioned Hammock is that I’m currently listening to them as I’m ill and tired and in bed and cold.

I had a camomile tea earlier and hearing the soothing sounds of this album has gelled well with it.

Hopefully my sleep is deep due to this.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 21:03:94
I feel that is significantly slower than yesterday.
I think I thought too much about what I was writing instead of just writing.
Hopefully faster next time!

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