Here’s another photo of the cicada shell.
I took this photo as I wanted to make it look as though the cicada still had a long way to go before it would reach its destination, even though it is the shell and not the insect.
To me, the photo gives that impression as the higher the tree goes, the more vague it appears.
I do feel I could have done much better, but I do like the picture.
I also feel that the cicada would have made it with minimal difficulty.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
On the same day I took the photo of the tribues at Martin Place last month (the 20th, which was a Saturday if anyone is curious) I found a cicada shell on my washing basket as I was hanging up my washing.
I’m quite fond of cicadas and the shells they leave behind when they molt. I’m not sure why.
I played around with it for a while and took some photos of it in my hair before deciding to put it on a tree and take photos of it there.
I also found out that the viewfinder of my camera was adjustable.
I’ve had the camera since early 2011.
Anwyay, I hope you enjoy.
Here’s a poorly written story I wrote a few weeks back.
It is partially based on one evening when there were a lot of flies inexplicably in the living room and kitchen that had to be dealt with over two days.
It was one of the few stories I churned out in December (not as many as I said I would but more than I expected as the end of the month drew closer).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
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One day last week when I came home I saw two flies flying around the living room.
It looked like they were greenbottles.
As it was only two, I paid them no heed.
A few hours later and I was going to head to bed when I noticed all of a lot more flies had come into the living room. Probably about ten more.
I had no idea as to how many came in without my realising.
Now I don’t enjoy killing other creatures. For some reason I act instinctively sometimes though and this was one of those times.
I went to the kitchen to get surface spray. When I entered, I noticed there were more flies in there as well.
I got the surface spray and started getting to work.
I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed and managed to take out a lot of flies, but for a little while it didn’t seem like their numbers were diminishing.
Eventually they stopped appearing though. Unfortunately I was unable to find a source for where they were coming from.
The following morning I noticed a couple of flies before I left for work. I figured they would disappear.
However, when I came home, there were more flies again. I went back to work again.
Luckily they started disappearing quickly this time.
A few days later and there were a few flies again. Then, within a few minutes, there were more than thirty.
I lost count after that.
I couldn’t locate where they were coming from. I retrieved the surface spray only to find that it was empty.
More flies than before.
I went for the back yard door, slowly working my way through the continual flood of flies. However, when I got there I couldn’t open it as the mosquitoes were waiting to get in. It would’ve created more problems.
Even more flies.
The sound was becoming unbearable. as a continual drone of buzzing steadily grew louder.
I decided to open the door.
The mosquitoes flew in and started attacking.
Flies and mosquitoes were dying quickly but numbers were not diminishing.
The battle seemed to be growing in relentlessness as the piles of bodies began to grow higher than I was.
I found myself unable to breathe as I could not get above all the bodies.
Then Bernard the space wolf summoned a strong wind and got rid of all the flies and mosquitoes.
Recently I decided on a whim to check out a forum I used to post in.
Unfortunately the forum seems to be abandoned now.
Anyway, I decided to have a look for a particular post I made and I was able to come across it.
Someone had asked for a plot summary for Megami Tensei I and II. I mistook this for a request of a plot summary of Shin Megami Tensei I and II and provided a summary for those instead. However, my summary was mostly silly and stupid in an attempt to be farcical but led to it being more ridiculous than anything.
I think I was influenced by someone writing a humorous plot summary of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
Anyway, here is what I posted, unedited to preserve its ridiculous glory.
I hope you enjoy.
Please note that I am now aware that I misspelt Stephen Hawking.
Please also note that there are spoilers.
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Okay.
It’s 199x.
Demons start coming out of nowhere, thanks to Steven Hawking (the true enemy). His teleporting powers of destruction opened up a connection to Makai and demons want to crash the party in Tokyo.
A general tries a coup-d’etat using the demons. America intervenes. There’s also this girl called Yuriko who wants to be with you but can’t have you because you’re destined to be with this other girl who is an underground resistance leader.
Thor, who is also the American Ambassador, launches ICBMs aimed at Tokyo. After they hit, you wake up in Makai which is like Disneyland with a two drink minimum.
You end up 30 years in the future. It is not as it seems. Eventually you run into your dog who, before the world changed, you fused with a demon to turn into Kerberos. He rocks out with his rooster out. You also get the underground resistance leader girl back who wants to be your Eve. Yuriko is also around and eventually reveals herself to be Lilith and that’s not cool. Well, it kind of is, but that’s not the point. You have to kill her because she’s a meanie.
Steven is here in the future, as well a dude called Louis Cypher. Steven is, of course, plotting. Louis is doing stuff.
Eventually Tokyo gets flooded because someone left the plug in the drain so you collect some items and then go into the final dungeon and either fight chaos, law or both. Neutral is the canon. You tell both sides to **** off and go build your own future.
50 years later, the next game begins. You begin as a gladiator called Hawk. You’re in Tokyo Millennium. Steven Hawking is still around. He’s now entered himself into the matrix… of the virtual battler so he can give you programs. He’s still plotting.
After beating a dude called Red Bear in the Colosseum, you end up being able to go to Center, which is in the centre of Tokyo Millennium. This girl called Hiroko joins you before you go there though. Also, you meet a guy called Zain who tells you that your actually called Aleph. You also are a citizen of Center as well.
Screen fades to black and then you’re in Center, speaking to some bishop-type man. Hiroko leaves. There is something important revealed to you. You’re Aleph and you’re Jesus. Or, as I like to call him, Jésus. You’re joined by a girl called Beth.
You’re sent to go defeat King Frost.
Meanwhile, Steven is still hanging around in the virtual battler.
Later on, Red Bear reveals himself to be Daleth. He thinks he’s the messiah and calls Aleph the impersonator of the king. Or the messiah. You fight him again. He kills Beth. You defeat him. Beth stops Aleph from killing him.
Further on, Aleph’s informed to go stop Mekata who’s a person. When Aleph meet Mekata, he tells Aleph that Hiroko is now imprisoned for being a heretic and Aleph goes to save her. You fight Daleth, a demon called Naja joins the party and then you fight Zain on the way. Hiroko is trying to ignore Aleph so Naja fuses itself with her and Hiroko gets bored of ignoring him. Then she joins again.
On the way back, Aleph meets Zain again who points out that the area of Tokyo Millennium called Valhalla was swallowed by Abaddon. Kerberos also joins you because he wanted to rock out with his rooster out in the future as well.
Zain starts going completely against Center, Aleph heads into the underworld (which is the ruins of original Tokyo), he fights Daleth one last time, helps Hiruko revive Lord Masakado, meets Louis Cypher who also wanted to hang around in the future, helps Zain save some people and sends Siren to Makai by finding her dead boyfriend. Steven is STILL hanging out in the virtual battler.
Aleph ends up going into Center to fight with all his might. He kills the angels Raphael, Uriel and Michael (Jackson).
Then you get to wail on Shinryou YHVH. Gabriel appears, informing you that he and the other three angels built Tokyo Millennium, then the other three ruled it. Turns out that Gabriel was following true YHVH and you didn’t kill the real deal.
Steven is still in the ******* virtual battler, still handing out programs. He’s also nearly done plotting.
Aleph ends up going to Makai and meets Steven in the flesh. He’s almost mastered his teleporting powers of destruction and has set up terminals so people (and demons) can go places. Aleph ends up meeting Louis Cypher who reveals himself to be Lucifer and asks if he wants to hang out at his castle (Castle Kether) because he’s cool like that. A bit later on, Gabriel takes Aleph to Eden and you talk to Zain there.
So Aleph heads to Lucifer’s crib and they hang out. Aleph accidentally spills some Apple Juice. Lucifer ends up trying to kill him but Aleph wins. Then he meets Steven again. Steven warns him that Kuzuryuu is going to wake up and murdilate everything. Daleth asks Aleph to stop Kuzuryuu as well so Aleph does.
Steven then tells Aleph to go to Eden. When Aleph gets there, he hangs with Zain for a bit. Then Zain reveals that he is actually Satan. Aleph trips and falls into the underworld. Steven then tells him that There was an ark built in center. Inside the ark is Megido Arc, a super-powerful laser. The ark is launched from Tokyo Millenium and Satan will use Megido Arc because YHVH doesn’t care about the world anymore. Steven, almost done plotting, teleports Aleph to Eden. He ends up fighting Satan and winning because Satan wasn’t angry enough.
Aleph then hears a voice. He heads towards it and after traveling in the direction of forward, YHVH does that whole WTF STRAIGHT OUTTA LEFTFIELD crap. He then starts to rap, in speech format.
Aleph ends up beating him, YHVH realises he’s middle aged and runs off. Hiroko says that they can rely on each other and they ride a horse into the sunset.
~Fin.
You know, I’m really glad this year is over.
Although tomorrow being start of a new year doesn’t mean anything much when it comes to the progression of life as it’s a human-made thing, I’m still glad that this is the last day of 2014.
It has not been a fun year.
Bills.
Foot injury.
Getting dumped.
Losing my focus for study.
Having to shift into a small room in my place and pay more rent than what it’s worth.
Taps leaking constantly.
Uncertainty regarding knowing whether I’ll still be living at my place or not due to the sale of it.
Almost getting run over multiple times.
Unnecessary stress from work.
A water feature forming in my living room during heavy rain.
The real estate avoiding working on it.
Panic attacks.
Unnecessary stress from housemates.
Burning out.
There have been some good things though.
The tap has been fixed and I don’t have to move.
I’ve been seeing my ex again. We’re slowly working through everything.
I can still cycle.
Bills are getting paid.
Have seen a few good bands.
Had some really enjoyable times hanging out with people.
Began parkour.
Took a lot of photos I liked.
Formed stronger bonds.
Yelling out loudly whilst in the bush in the Blue Mountains and feeling quite relieved afterwards.
Began writing again.
Have recorded more music than I normally would.
I’m glad I came out of this year alive. I don’t regret all that happened, but I’ll be happy to keep everything as a memory. I do look forward to having a bit of a better time next year. And even if it doesn’t go as well as I hope, I’ll still see it through.
I’m going to keep working on what I enjoy and what what drives me. I’m going to keep on kicking.
2015? Bring it on.
On Wednesday two weeks ago I woke up earlier than usual. As I had gone to sleep late, I was quite tired.
Shortly after 2p.m. at work I was assisting a customer with an issue pertaining to a request I made a decision to deny based on some prior information on their account. The call ended up going for a bit longer than expected and left me with little time to complete the main part of my role (which runs from 8a.m. to 3.p.m. and then an hour to do reporting as well as assist other parts of my team). As I didn’t have much sleep I began to feel stressed. Then I realised I had very little time left to keep working which led to me having a panic attack.
Almost as if on cue, the inept manager started yelling which made things worse. I had to keep working though.
Unfortunately after the call I had to make a few calls to assist in the issue. They didn’t go well (for me) as I was trying to talk (which was difficult) and not start audibly freaking out. Thankfully I was able to get through them without too much issue.
I managed to get my main work completed before 3p.m. I felt quite relieved as the stress reduced significantly.
I cycled home via Red Eye Records (as a record I requested came in). When I was near there I had to stop at traffic lights and found myself in a position with a double-decker bus behind me and a taxi in front of me. As soon as the lights changed for traffic to move someone ran out in front of the cab to cross the road.
I’m not sure if the taxi or bus driver did it, but one of the two honked their horn. It was loud enough to put me feeling a bit on edge again, but that passed quickly.
After relaxing a bit when I arrived home home I went to turn on my record player.
I switched it on at the power point and the record player came on immediately.
I then noticed that the volume had been turned up to maximum on the amplifier.
A few weeks ago Je had a birthday party (which was a few weeks after his birthday). He wanted to use the record player to play records but I did tell him that if any of the records were damaged, he’d be paying for them.
Anyway, I went to his bedroom when I saw this and told him. He said he didn’t turn it off at the power point but apologised for turning the amplifier to max.
I turned the amplifier down and put the new record on. Sound was only coming out of the amplifier. I was starting to get a bit stressed about this. I checked the back and everything looked normal.
I tried the radio and that played fine so I had no idea what was going on.
It took me a few minutes to work out that the turntable had been unplugged and plugged back into the wrong sockets. When I unplugged it a bit of the back of the base came off.
Now the record player I have is old. It’s at least thirty years. It could be forty.
The guy who owned it lived next door to were Ewe works. When he passed away a lot of his stuff was donated to Ewe’s work to sell.
I bought his record player. Ewe let me give a few a go, but the one he owned and used was the one that grabbed me the most. The sound quality on it is amazing as well as the needle. I also wanted to make sure that it would go where it would be looked after.
Anyway, it was a slight bit damaged at the back of the base but it wasn’t worrying as the damage hadn’t progressed further so I was quite angry when I saw he piece come off the back. It was slender; about half a centimetre wide and four centimetres long. I was furious.
I had Je come downstairs and pointed out to him. He gave an apology that sounded somewhat disingenuous and told me about how he tried to plug the speakers into his iPad at one stage but sound would only come out of one of the speakers. He asked how did I know it was more damaged and I explained it to him.
He asked if I checked it every time I use it in a rude way and I told him I did (which I don’t, but I do check it a lot).
We went back and forth about what happened for a few seconds until he said something along the lines of “You have to understand that it still works and it’s not that badly damaged and it’s not like anyone will ever notice”. I replied with “Whether it works or not is irrelevant” and went on to tell him that he should’ve been more respectful.
He was standing around for a while after this. I asked him why he was and he said he was thinking about how it could be fixed. Then he walked away.
On Thursday I woke again with little sleep.
I went to work and shortly after I started I was heading to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. One of the first things that was said to me that day by one of my co-workers stepping out of the kitchen was “You wouldn’t believe what they’ve done with Little Annie. They’ve made her a darkie.”
I asked him why it mattered so he went on to explain how she was meant to be a red-headed white girl.
I can understand someone getting frustrated about a character not being portrayed as they are usually are, but there are far better ways of saying it.
When I came back from the kitchen I saw that the co-worker was complaining about it to some others and said “And the main villain is white, so it’s now all politically correct. I mean geez Hollywood; there are more important things to worry about”.
That is almost verbatim.
I approached and threw in my two cents about it and was told to piss off. It wasn’t my conversation but it was still highly offensive and incredibly stupid.
The rest of the day was spent working for the most part. I ended up having another panic attack though as I felt quite stressed. The yelling manager again did his yelling thing which both triggered the attack and made it far more intense than it could have been.
I tried to keep working as much as I could. When it passed I spoke to my manager about leaving early. He was fine with it and also told me to take Friday off if I wasn’t feeling too good.
I finished up an hour earlier than usual. I tried to relax by doing some gaming but it didn’t help. I almost had another panic attack.
Other than having family dinner at my un-ex’s place as her brother and sister-in-law were heading overseas for a couple of weeks and sleeping over there, I didn’t do much.
On Friday I stayed home as I was very unsure of how I would handle work. I did very little and whilst I felt stressed at some points (mostly because I needed to get work done and wasn’t at work to do it), I came out okay.
Saturday was alright. I avoided going to a party as I didn’t feel to great about my ability to function and ended up having a mostly relaxing day.
Then on Sunday I had another panic attack.
Ili had invited me to come to the beach with a couple of his friends. I was looking forward to it, although not sure if I was going to go or not.
I had felt a bit panicky in the morning and it became full blown when I couldn’t find my bucket hat as I wanted to wear it and had it for eight years by this point. I was also a slight bit behind in time as I took my futon out to air and shaved for some reason.
When I couldn’t find my bucket hat I started panicking more. I had to tell Ili in the end that I couldn’t make it and ended up lying on my bed frame doing nothing for around two hours until I found the bucket hat when it occurred to me to look in the bag full of early Christmas presents I had received.
Since then I’ve been mostly okay. Had points where I’ve felt another would occur, but nothing yet.
I think a lot of it has to with caffeine intake (which has been higher for me than usual) as I’ve been trying to get my tea stock reduced fast, so if I slow down there I’ll probably be able to handle crap a bit better.
Hopefully I don’t have to worry about them in the future.
I took this picture at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Boxing Day.
My un-ex and I went as it had been a while since we were last there.
We saw a giant clock. It was interesting as it was faster than it should be which I imagine was the intention. However, I found the rear of it to be more interesting than the front as I could see how it worked.
The piece is called Untitled (Clock) (I think) and it is by Stuart Ringholt.
The reason why I’ve chosen to title this post not by the name of the piece is due to my choice in capturing only the rear and not both sides (which are equally important) with a woman watching as the clock keeps ticking, but being unable to see what the time is due to the face being on the opposite side.
I hope you enjoy.
And it’s time for me to haul ass!
Let’s do this!
I was in the city early this morning as I wanted to take photos.
I walked to Martin Place as I wanted to see the flower tributes to the two people who died in the Lindt Café on Monday.
It was quite overwhelming.
This photo shows a small portion of the flowers that were there. Aside from this part being quite large, there were other parts where flowers were being laid.
There were also a lot of cards, letters, stuffed toys and at least one candle.
I took this photo as I found myself drawn to the bouquet that was sitting upright. I’m not sure why.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
Here’s another picture I took at Bronte Beach.
There’s a pole near the ocean pool.
I’m not sure why it’s there.
I’m assuming it was used as a mooring a long time ago.
I like how the pole looks as though it is about to be engulfed yet it still manages to remain slightly above the water.
I hope you enjoy.
Stupidity Hole 