Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1492: This Isn’t a Great Time

Still no new job and still facing homelessness. Looks like I’ll have a couch in the short-term, at least. That’s a good sign. That’s a relief. But it’s only time. It’s valuable time though, I need to be clear.

A while ago I thought I was at what was my lowest point then, and I told myself I would never let things get that bad ever again. Well, good intentions and all that. This just isn’t a good time and it’s not getting better. I mean, some aspects are, sure, but this just isn’t great. I’m getting too tired to keep doing this and it’s a struggle, but I need to keep going. I don’t have a choice.

I said recently that I didn’t want to be writing this way, and yet I am 9once more. I’ve said that a few times, actually, but it’s still what’s rising to the surface. It’s still what’s coming forward. What can I do, other than let it all happen? But it’s all so miserable and sad and unhappy, and it’s just putting all that misery out there. And I keep fighting and I keep struggling and little is changing, and I’m not in a position to just fuck off from everything because I’m too poor to be able to. So for now, it’s job application after job application after job application and hoping things change.

My ex, she has said that she doesn’t want to see me going through this. Yet she refuses to at least stay in our place until I’m back on my feet, thus reinforcing the issue. I get that she needs to do what she feels is necessary at this point, but it’s just a rough thing. That, along with other things makes me wonder if this is someone I can have in my life after all of this. Do I want to be dealing with someone who hasn’t had my back when I’ve needed them to have it? It’s not a new issue.

I also really don’t want to be talking about her, but here I am talking about her. Not in this space, anyway. I just want to be able to write and get some success from writing. I don’t want to be doing diary stuff, and that’s what I’m doing. I keep on doing it and it keeps on happening and everything is going on forever.

This is all a long, slow fall and I’m not sure if I’m gonna be caught in time. But there is time, and even through all of this despair there is chance. There is possibility for things to turn around, but it’s taking a lot and it keeps on going. But I also keep on going, in part because I have no choice and…

See? I’ve said all this stuff already and I’m saying it again! It’s like the whole thing is on repeat and the words keep on coming up in the same order. This isn’t a great time.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:32:03

I wrote this before work started and had to put it to the side to start work. Funny how that happens. Anyway, I was not in a good state this morning. Things have sort of turned around, but I’ll get into that tomorrow.

Written at work.

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Mysterious Structure

I think this may have been a cafe of some sort. I have no idea. I walked past it a few times, took some photos of it. It might still be where it is; I have no idea as I don’t pay any attention to it, generally. Just one morning I noticed it and it was bright.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. The next one is hosted by Margaret of From Pyrenees to Penines and she has chosen “Mirror” as her theme.

This photo was taken in spring, though it doesn’t feel much like a spring photo.

This challenge is open to all, and I recommend joining in. If want to, check out more information about it here, and include the tag “monochrome-madness” when you share your photo. If you’d prefer not to join in, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography, and what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

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Ivysaur

So it’s the second pokemon, ivysaur.

This one probably didn’t take too much time, but it felt like it did. After the initial sketching I decided to draw some more solid lines to cut down on the amount of erasing and redrawing I’d have to do. That was a fairly straightforward process, thankfully, but it felt like it took a while. It also led to me discovering that for part of this, I’d used the wrong type of line and fixing it would’ve taken a while. I might one day, but for now I’m wearing the mistake.

I kept the colouring simple again, just to keep things easy on me. It’s another thing I might adjust at some point, but right now it’s more about doing what I can.

This was started on Sunday and finished today.

I hope you enjoy.

 

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Hitomi Sato: Route 12 (Autumn/Winter)

One listen.

A lot of the main Pokémon games’ soundtracks are quite beloved, and for good reason. They’re composed appropriately and don’t offer more than necessary, but also appeal when removed from the context of the games. I think that in particular, for this soundtrack Hitomi Sato (佐藤仁美) put in some excellent work. What she did is incredibly fitting constantly. It’s just wonderful.

With this one I tried to draw more on the sense of adventure. I feel I should’ve tried to draw more on exploration as I feel that what I’ve written merely touches on the surface when there’s so much to draw from.

Hitomi Satos’  “Route 12 (Autumn/Winter)” (“12番道路 (秋~冬)”) is from Nintendo DS Pokémon Black・White Super Music Collection, the soundtrack for Pokémon Black and White.

I hope you enjoy.

Another day, another adventure. The world calls out and there’s so much to see. It’s dramatic, yes, but it’s wonderful. It’s wondrous. Over hills and down in valleys, and water flows on a fresh day.

There are challenges, sure, but there are successes. There is a lot to see and learn, and it takes a lot but moving forward is still desired. So much will be missed if stopping here, and there is no desire to stop anyway. Things don’t stop, and neither does the journey. It continues among the verdant landscape, and it continues as the sounds fade and the song ends.

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Hitomi Sato: Abyssal Ruins

One listen.

Got a fair bit out with this one and I’m kind of surprised. I don’t think I did well enough to paint the scene. Was kind of doing so at the start, then veered away hard.

Hitomi Satos’ (佐藤仁美) “Abyssal Ruins” (“海底遺跡”) is from Nintendo DS Pokémon Black・White Super Music Collection, the soundtrack for Pokémon Black and White.

I hope you enjoy.

Shimmering percussion and strings of light come in through from above the surface. More percussion frames the space, and the strings lower. More come in, adding more shape, and things seem to settle before changing form.

The percussion rattles and echoes out, and another instrument comes in, fluttering and moving with the strings, or moving in steps alongside them. Sounds settle, the strings create some ominousness. They create a murk, and all seems darkened. Sounds return to flow and moving with each other, and mystery comes forward. Then some of it lightens up, if only for a moment. There’s still that murk, and perhaps some menace. Some uncertainty, but it’s a little lighter for the moment.

Eventually that full tension comes through again and it draws long. It draws heavy and reinforces, but it once again is countered when more instrumentation returns and adds that minor sense of adventure all the way through to the sounds fading at the song’s end.

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Hitomi Sato: Undella Town (Autumn/Winter/Spring)

One listen.

There’s a few more to come this morning. I queued up some tracks yesterday to write about, but yesterday ended up being a train wreck so I’m doing them now before work.

A pretty calm track and once more I tried to capture that. Not sure how well I did. I feel like I started something and then put it down, in a sense. Not far enough.

Hitomi Satos’ (佐藤仁美) “Undella Town (Autumn/Winter/Spring)” (“サザナミタウン (秋~春)”) is from Nintendo DS Pokémon Black・White Super Music Collection, the soundtrack for Pokémon Black and White.

I hope you enjoy

Waves lapping at a shoreline and percussion comes in, some of it sparkling, some of it just gently lapping at the sand. Low, and quiet. Strings off in the distance, emphasising. Keeping a light subtlety until more of them rise up. Seems to be asking about rest; about taking it easy; about enjoying the moment, for how brief it may be.

With the space provided the sounds linger beyond their patterns and beyond their ends. It’s time to think and reflect, and time to enjoy the space. It’s time provided to appreciate the moment.

There is, perhaps, some sadness among it all. Looking out beyond the shoreline, appreciating the calm and quiet, and soon it all fades out and the song ends.

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Hitomi Sato: Gate

One listen.

I wanted to draw out the sense of pause that this song provides. It plays only in gates, small buildings that connect one area to another. They’re nice to have, but they’re also pretty conspicuous and eventually lead to a sense of area disconnect. I’m pretty certain that the gates are used to allow time for loading, and even though I have issues with them, I also like that Game Freak made considerations for that whilst adding to the world they built.

The gates kind of allow for a brief moment of pause and so I tried to draw on that. Not sure if I did it well enough, but I think I did okay.

Hitomi Satos’ (佐藤仁美) “Gate” (“ゲート”) is from Nintendo DS Pokémon Black・White Super Music Collection, the soundtrack for Pokémon Black and White.

Gentle tones float on through a peaceful space. A calm space. A pleasant space. It’s time to relax. Time to take it easy. Even though this is a brief moment, it has the opportunity to linger and let all tension dissipate.

Through spaced notes and flowing sounds, there’s a sense of the future. a sense of looking forward. Also a sense of the present, and safety. Of the small things in life, and the big, emotional ones too. But it comes easy. It doesn’t inundate. It’s just enough.

This moment of rest shall pass, and it does as the sounds fade out and the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1491: Been a Day

It has been a day. I’m still standing. I’m still alive. I’ve done some things. But it has been a day. I am tired and worn out, and I am struggling hard. Will get through it, but it’s gonna take time.

So getting closer to the end. Only a week left of employment. Less than two weeks of having a roof over my head. I’m worn out. I don’t want to keep struggling, but I need to keep struggling. I need to persist. But I’m so tired of struggling.

At this stage I don’t know what I can do. I keep hunting for jobs and I keep getting rejections. I need to be earning a certain amount to stay afloat, and it’s not due to lifestyle creep; it’s due to living in an expensive country. It’s just not a good time.

Don’t know what’s going on with my ex. Still feels like she feels something even though she says she doesn’t. Her actions are part of why I’m in this situation, though I don’t blame her. Don’t think that’d be fair, or even right. But it feels like she feels something, but she says she doesn’t. I don’t know what’s going on.

I’m just tired and destroyed in all sorts of ways and I’m trying to continue on, but tomorrow is a work day and so Ill need to show up at work and do my job. I’ll need to be there and get on with tasks and get them all done. And I’ll need to squeeze in applying for jobs around it all.

It’s just not a good time, and I’m writing what I don’t want to be writing. This is all too upsetting and I don’t want to be dragging the mood down, but that’s what I’m doing at the moment. I don’t feel I have much a say in the matter.

So I have to keep on going but soon I have to start getting rid of everything I own, too. This is all too much and I’m so very tired. I just want to be held. I want to be held by my partner, and I want to lie down and wake up and find out that this was all a bad dream. I’m so tired of pushing on and struggling, but stopping doesn’t change anything for the better. But I’ve been struggling for years now.

At the very least I got some stuff done today. I’ve gotten some of the house cleaned up, and that’s something, but it’s not my home for much longer. It’s not much of anything for much longer, and that’s the way it’s going to be. I keep on holding out and trying to enact change and I’m continuously prevented from doing so, but I have to keep on trying. As tough as it is and as upsetting as it is, I have to keep on going, because if I don’t, nothing will improve. It’s just all heavy and really upsetting.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:06:68

I had to think about sharing this due to dour it is, but it’s what came forward and so it’s what I’m sharing.

Written at home.

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Go Ichinose: Lilycove City

One listen.

I wanted to draw more on the imagery of where this song is used as it’s quite fitting. An area that has some bustle, but also quite calm. A calm bustle, if you will. Didn’t quite come out that way, and not enough variation, but I think what I wrote works.

Go Ichinose’s (一之瀬剛) “Lilycove City” (“ミナモシティ”) is from GBA Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire Music Super Complete and Nintendo 3DS Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Super Music Complete. These soundtracks cover RubySapphire and Emerald, and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The version I wrote about is the ORAS version, and was arranged by Shota Kageyama (景山将太).

I hope you enjoy.

Lightly lapping, calm and relaxed sounds move. Some seem to dance, almost looking for a waltz. The move up and down, they fall short and draw long, and they stay peaceful. They carry the idyllic, and the shoreline where they sit is at ease.

The sounds settle down; they rise, but they don’t aim for drama. They dance to and fro, they keep the calm. They fall under a bright day and they carry with them winding down. It’s a moment of gentleness among a series of excitements, through to fading out at the song’s end.

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Two Thousand Words in Twenty Minutes: Why?

Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this to myself after I decided to not do another one? It was never meant to be a repeated challenge, and the last time I did it I felt that became quite apparent as it’s not something that quite works for me. Now I’m doing it whilst my injuries are flaring up and that makes it even tougher, but I am doing it for some reason.

Maybe I have lost my marbles.

There is a cup of TEA sitting in front of me and I want to drink it, but now, I have to do this first. I’ve decided that this would be a good idea even though I know very well that it is not a good idea. I’m hurting myself for some reason. I’m challenging myself when I want to write a little slower and a little more methodically. For some reason… no. Instead let’s just put myself up against the wall and see what comes forward. Let’s see if I can write this many words within this time constraint. Let’s see. Good idea. Good idea all around. Really patting myself on the back for this one.

Has anyone poured holy water into the ocean?

So that was a thought I had and I decided that it’d be a good idea to note it down because… reasons, I guess. Probably didn’t need to be down, but now it is. Now I’m wondering why I decided. It seems like a good thread to run off but I’m running off my own energy right now. There are no threads that I can follow: everything must be followed linearly and so any digressions must be ignored.

Every now and then I’ll have to pause to see how many words I’ve churned out and see if that is sufficient to match the timer. I know I’ll be fine in the first ten minutes. I know I’ll do alright, but I also know that I’ll slow down later on and so… yeah. The joys of injuries.

I’m too tired. I’m actually not, but I am too tired for this. I’m too old and I’m too worn out. My joints hurt and I struggle to get the words down as it is, and now I’m just going into a free fall. But hey, that’s okay. I’m sure I’ll get the parachute out soon enough and then speed past the target and so in doing so, will get all the words out and then… yeah.

See, I’m already struggling. This is not good. Must choose shorter words. Can do more shorter than I can longer within this time constraint. Longer takes time; shorter does take less time. That’s not a sentence that one would consider well-phrased, but it is what it is and now I just need to keep on going. Need to make sure that I don’t slow down.

Need to get into proper posture and keep on churning away. Need to get everything down in whichever order makes the best sense. Need to get out of the house and get in some good air and enjoy some of the sun. Bit more light in here than there was earlier, but it’s still a dim room, but that’s okay right now. Suits the mood and suits the churning in the best way possible, maybe.

Feeling the pain in my wrist but still gong. Still charging forward. Refusing to stop because I’ve thrown myself into this and it’s still early, but I need to keep going. If I stop now I’ve wasted too many words and if I’ve done that, then I need to waste more. If I stop now, then who will see this glorious disaster?

Why? Why am I doing this to myself? There are so many other things I could be doing. I could be drawing and instead I’ve chosen to put more crap out there. I could drive to the coast and watch the waves. I could process photos. I could even go lie down and read until I fall asleep. I have so many options and yet, I choose the one that is least conducive to getting much of anything done. I’m not good at this being efficient thing, let me tell you.

I have no idea how many words I’ve written at this present moment and I know that having the TEA in front of me, sitting here, is not conducive to actually writing faster as I need to move my arms around it. The mug isn’t big, but it poses an issue and that is something that I need to deal with whilst I’m trying to force myself to write as fast as I possibly can, or rather faster than I usually do because I am a fool.

I am a fool and I keep hurting myself in ways that I know are not good for me and yet I keep on doing this. I keep on hurting myself. Why do I do this?

Well, I guess it’s all for entertainment or something, but this will definitely be the last time I do this. I can already feel the lesson has been learned through remembering and I’m still persisting, but that’s what happens when I don’t think enough about my actions. Dedicated myself to starting; dedicating myself to finishing. There. I must persist.

This is not living my life. This is not applying for jobs. This is many things but it is not what I need to be doing. That’s okay at the present moment, but it’s also not. Maybe I’ll win the lottery and not have to worry about money again. That would be a significant relief.

I can talk about that.

Sometimes I dream about winning a large sum of money. Sometimes it pops into my head and I dream, because I know if I did I could relax and I could cry. I could go traveling for a while and then I could come back and finish my studies. I know I could do all of these things and that would be great. It would be nice to be able to do that. But it won’t happen and I need to keep working hard in order to get anywhere. I need to be responsible and less stressed about everything too, but I still need to work hard. Haven’t been able to not, though I certainly have worked lazy plenty of times in my life. What are you going to do? Pretty sure everyone has lazy days at work. Mine are just there some of the time and sometimes all of the time. All waves and cycles and everything.

But I would like to win the lottery. I’d donate a lot of it as I don’t want anywhere near that large an amount of money, and I don’t trust myself to have that kind of money. I’d get a place to live and get a friend to look after it for a few years, and then I’d go traveling for a while. Go see things and think about life and think about how I am and who I am. You know, the introspection that everyone loves to do. Is it deep? I don’t know. Is it common? Yes. But that’s the way things go sometimes and you just get on with the getting on.

I’d see places I would never think to see, and maybe I’d document it all. I don’t know. I do know that I’d like to see many places, and spend a long time seeing them. I want to go live on Itsukushima for a while. Around a year, and I’d spend that year creating. I’d spend it doing things and creating and experiencing the island, seeing all that it has to offer. I’d get on with my life and then I’d come back and maybe I’d have changed in ways I could not perceive. That would be interesting. Or maybe it wouldn’t. I don’t know, but I do know it’d be a productive year because I wouldn’t have time to squander.

Then again, I certainly would spend time sitting on a bench, watching the day change. I’d look out and see what is in the world and maybe there’d be some laughter and joy. Maybe there wouldn’t. I don’t know, but it’d be nice to sit there with a sketchbook and draw the motion and movement of everything around me, and maybe change how I draw it based on the time of day. See if I could incorporate the colours through just one pencil. Don’t know. Certainly would like to try.

I’ve been drawing for years, but it has always been an occasionally-type thing. Wish it was far more often, but I don’t allow myself enough time to do so. Maybe I will now. I have more time now, so there’s no harm in trying. I’d like to sketch the world, and I’d like to sketch nothing. I’d like to see if I can create something that I know I can get behind that isn’t writing or music. I can with photography, of course, but there are other things that I want to try and create. There are other things that I want to experience and I don’t want to be denied those experiences any more.

I’m tired of the struggle and I’m tired of spinning wheels, but that’s what I’m good at doing. How do you force success? Can you? I don’t know. Maybe it is possible. I guess you can if you’re born into good fortune, but I wasn’t and that’s the lot that I have to deal with. That doesn’t mean I can’t be successful now. It just means that I’ve started lower on the mountain compared to other people, and they’re putting up fences so I need to try and take alternate paths and not close them off behind me, because that’s an incredibly shit thing to do to other people. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I want to draw the sky and clouds, and I have a lot of things on my list that I want to do in MS Paint. Should get to that this year. Hopefully, if I don’t end up homeless, I will be able to, and then I wll go from there. Success is never guaranteed, but trying and learning can be. Or rather, learning is, but you never know what you’re going to learn from something.

So I’m near the end of this. I have less than three minutes left and I’m still going. My wrist isn’t hurting as much anymore. I consider that A good thing, but is it? I don’t know. I do know that I need to keep on charging because I’m slowing down and that’s what I don’t want to do. So long as I keep the pace up, I should be okay.

Why did I decide to do this? It has not been a good idea, but in a sense it has. This has been good exercise, at the very least. I consider that a good thing, but I can feel that I’m slipping quite a lot and so I just need to hope that I get to the end. I don’t want to fail this. I’ve failed plenty of other things in my life. Just let me eke out this tiny victory this time around and let me have this, life. Let me have the one time I try in this particular moment to be a victory. Let it rake in the millions and show people that I am indeed worth throwing money behind, somehow.

Last minute just about and still going. Not giving up at the present moment. Nearly there. I can do this. It was a bad idea but I’m nearly there and I know I can get to the end, and if I do, I can rest for a few minutes before I go into the next thing. We’ll see what happens next.

19:27:92

I had to fix up a few words after finishing, and especially so toward the end as my injured wrist was giving up and, subsequently so was the hand attached to it.

So near the end I remembered why I decided to do this. I’m trying to produce a certain amount of words every day until the end to see what comes forward. This wasn’t a good way to go about it. However, I think that the part about enjoying drawing is nice. It was nice that it came through all of this.

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