Nobuo Uematsu: Light of Destiny

One listen.

This song sounds simple and I guess it is, but it’s also one you’d have to pay close attention to if you were going to play it faithfully. But I digress.

Just threw myself in. There were some pauses, but overall it was an easy write to do. Not sure if that was good for the writing, but I’m not overly fussed here.

I think I described the song up to a point. I have a feeling that this is not representative of where the song is used; I’m actually fairly certain it isn’t, but I still think I got something across.

Nobuo Uematsu’s (植松 伸夫) “Light of Destiny” (“召喚されし者”) is from Final Fantasy IX: Original Soundtrack the soundtrack for Final Fantasy IX.

I hope you enjoy.

A rising and falling, almost odd sounding, and shifting, and continues on its loop, and almost detached whilst firmly there. Anchoring and odd. Off. Percussion echoes metallic into the space, picking precise notes to create a flow almost otherworldly. It too is anchoring. It draws in as it picks its moments, playing out, moving out, and then disappears.

The rising and falling continues on. It continues and lets the moment sink in, and then that percussion returns. It seems gentle and perhaps in a way welcoming. Comforting. However, it still feels off. It feels eerie, and it continues onward, picking its moments and letting itself echo off before disappearing once more.

What remains gradually fades out, and the song ends.

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1343: Jobs and Photography

So a few days ago I put a knife into one of my fingers and it still hurts and feels weird. That is to be expected so I’m not really complaining, but let me tell you, I got really lucky.

Alright so anyway, more jobs more jobs more jobs, more preparation more preparation more preparation and the dance continues on into some sort of oblivion that I cannot quite fathom, and it keeps on going and going and going, but I’m passed the point of giving up, I think.

To better phrase that, I’m no longer at a point where I care enough to give up, if that makes sense. I don’t give a shit as to how miserable getting job rejections will make me feel at this point; I’m just gonna keep on going. I’m going to be absolutely relentless and I am going to force my way into a better job.

Well, by “force” I mean I’m going to get another job through relentless applications. However, I am only applying for jobs that I want, and there are a few. I’m also being honest about my applying for them. I am not applying for anything that I don’t want to do and I am not applying for anything that’s just an exit. I may have to quite soon – my ability to eat and pay rent is far more important than my want to be doing something I want to do – but until I’m at that juncture I’m going to keep on going to get a job I want.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about whether I want to keep doing photography or not. To be honest, I haven’t picked up my camera since late December and I haven’t missed it, and I’ve come pretty close to selling the camera gear a few times now. I’m highly burned out on the industry and the work involved. However, the issue I have is that I keep getting ideas to cover things and so I keep getting pulled back. I’m going to take a few photos this afternoon, maybe. I’m not sure yet, but I know that, at least for now, I am going to continue doing photography. But we’ll see how I feel in a few weeks.

Photography is a wonderful thing, but often local communities need to support each other more than they do. They need to not shoot down competition. Competition is fine in this instance; it helps us improve. However, that competition shouldn’t come alongside undercutting.

There are some absolutely wonderful photographers that I’ve met. I will not deny that. However, I’ve also met quite a few who are anti-competitive, and I have to wonder why. I have to wonder why someone would be willing to work to prevent others from working, then decry people having to undercharge.

So anyway, I’m going to keep on going and keep on working, and I’m going to pull myself out of my worsening situation. Hopefully sooner than later.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:10:93

This took longer than I thought it would, and part of that is due to the amount of pain I am still in. Still, that didn’t quite come through and instead something a bit more optimistic than recent stuff was produced. Still realistic in a sense, but more optimistic.

Written at home.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stephen King: Crooked Men From Hurricane Gully

Not the author.

This was taken at last year’s Sculpture by the Sea. It probably would’ve been better to photograph the whole thing, but I wanted to take a section of it to focus on that particular bit.

This feels quite angular and dry, I think. There’s something quite structurally sound about it, but it looks like it could also collapse pretty easily. Maybe that’s the point.

I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Demarcation Line

This photo was taken before this photo. Same storm, but a little earlier on.

I like how there’s a strong shift in light. It wasn’t as dark as it appears here, but that’s how the photo turned out so I worked with it. It’s sort of murky and intense.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-eighty-sixth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Weather“.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Donna

Egídio

Ritva

Anne is curating this one. Next week Donna is curating.

I recommend participating in the challenges as they provide a fun way to interpret theme. If not participating, then at least you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1342: Fight Against This Evil Team

Today is once more a struggle. The sense of balance is slipping away and I’m struggling, and I may be taking legal action against my place of employment, but I won’t get into that for now.

A yawn stretches out as it forces its way out of my mouth and I try to type on the keyboard. I try to get something across, but I desperately need sleep. I desperately need rest, and hopefully that is what comes to me this evening.

The sun is out and it creates a pleasant tone to what I can se outside. The dreariness is slowly drifting away, though it likely will return later. That’s fine though. It’s fine for it to return. The weather cycles, as it should, and slowly my head feels like it is careening off into oblivion.

I can’t stay positive. I am too thrown off right now and it’s all just negative. It’s all a downfall and I’m falling down whilst sitting down. I am not moving and yet, movement keeps making me want to move, or something.

How do I stretch this out when I’m already running on fumes? I’ve got nothing. I’ve nothing to go on. I’m still sick and it has been too long, and I have no idea how this is going to affect me over the coming weeks. I need to get past it somehow but it’s going to take time.

I need to set up a plan. Some might suggest a game plan, but for now I’ll just stick with plan. That’s easier. Simpler. Requires less energy. Requires less thought. Don’t have to go so far. Don’t have to fight against some sort of opposing team, though I guess I am fighting against team illness, or something.

Alright, so I need to fight against this evil team that wants to take me down. I need to find a way to combat it, but I can’t combat it with some sort of advanced, yet primitive weaponry. I cannot do that. What I can do is keep… doing something… that allows me to… succeed.

So I guess my head will keep careening off into oblivion for the time being. Maybe it won’t later, but for now it will, and I guess I have to accept that for what it is more so than what it isn’t.

I’ve no plan and it sucks and all that other stuff, but at least I’m here, and at least that in being here I can still function on some level. It’s a struggle – this disequilibrium might be worse than the last time I had Covid – but I can get through it, I hope. I can try to get through it and I can keep pushing on and trying to get stuff done, but it’s not fun and it’s really digging into my headspace and stressing me out more than I’d like, but that’s life and I just have to deal with it. Don’t have much say in the matter.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:04:22

I wanted to write something silly when I wrote this this morning but it didn’t quite work.

Written at home.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Poem About Forcing Words Together

Super quick and super rough.
I’ve spent the past few hours editing a review.
Still wanted to put something here and hastily threw this together.
Relevant to my writing, I guess.

I hope you enjoy.

Hammering away in the night
Nailing the words to a sentence
Trying to unbend them
To drive them further in

More words; more hammering
And some smear on the way
So the structure appears sound
But the meaning is lost

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Looking at the Bass

This is the bass player for an artist whose name eludes me right now. I should look up whom, but that may have to wait for another day.

So I took this photo and, whilst I wish I had more of the bass in focus, I think overall I did a good job here. It’s a moment of focus, perhaps one of thinking about where to move on the neck, and I think there’s a good amount of light for highlighting the musician and the instrument.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. This one is themed, and the theme is “The Letter B“.

Participating is pretty straightforward and something I recommend. If you do, then include the tag “monochrome-madness” in your post. If not participating, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography as well as what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Talk Talk: Chameleon Day

One listen.

I gave this one a go a couple of days ago and then put it aside. I was considering doing the same thing I did with the previous Talk Talk song I wrote about, but instead decided to start again. I think the first few words are the same as what I’d previously written, but otherwise everything else is different. Previous attempt only got a few sentences in anyway.

I was hoping to pull out something more imagery-based and that didn’t happen, but I like the words here. Still, I feel like I’m trying to describe something with words that don’t suit what it is doing, if that makes sense.

Talk Talk’s “Chameleon Day” is from The Colour of Spring.

I hope you enjoy.

Piano keys pressed and the notes soften before more sound draws out. It is thin and upon it a flickering of brass, or woodwind rise. They are brief and yet they are constant, and all that soon too fades.

More keys. They play with more space. They place with precision and they interweave with the silence. In the silence a voice appears, almost murmuring. The voice becomes more of a sound, and it almost is like the silence, and it draws itself over the motion and the stillness. It remains moving across form.

The voice suddenly rises, strikes out over keys before settling once more, or at least settling into something lower. Silence. Once more it strikes out, and repeats the pattern.

The keys settle themselves, and soon those earlier sounds seem to return, more vivid in a sense, though still muted. Still flickering briefly, still lingering before moving to silence at the song’s end.

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1341: Still Fried

Still fried, but maybe less so. However, now disequilibrium kicks in and it’s all fun and games until… yeah.

So I’m sitting here and I’m wondering to myself about how to best navigate the rest of the day. I’m sitting here wondering about how much longer the day will extend itself, and I’m wondering as to how soon I can shake this cough, but it doesn’t overly matter. Soon I will be heading outside to go buy some of the necessities and then I’ll come back to sit here some more. I’ll spend the day how I see fit (though, admittedly some of it has been productive) and no one will be able to take that away from me, or something.

There’s a breeze about and upon it is the sound of activity, and something about it sounds nice. It’s difficult for me to articulate what, exactly sounds nice about it, but it does. Maybe it’s that it’s there and it’s soon something I’ll be experiencing in a different way as I too will be there, outside, walking about to go buy some things that are needed. Maybe that’s what it’s all about. I don’t know.

Sometimes it’s good to not know. Sometimes you don’t need to know. Sometimes you need to think you’re close but you should never reach an answer. I don’t know and it’s okay. I don’t know if I’ll get any confirmation and that also is okay. What I know is that right now I’m in here and I’m tying, and soon I’ll be heading outside and when I do I’ll be walking and walking is what I need to do.

I need to have my sense of balance more than I need to walk, but I feel a need to walk. I feel a need to go outside and experience some stuff and I feel a need to keep moving. I am distressed but I need to keep doing stuff and I need to do my best to stop it from having this overwhelming grasp upon me. I need to do things with my day and I need to get up from all this distress weighing me down, and maybe it’s a little easier today, but it doesn’t make the distress any less. Perhaps in a sense I could consider myself lucky today as not going to the shops to buy things means having to deal with other stuff and… yeah.

So I’m not sure where I was going with this, but I think I get an idea across. I think I’m getting something across, but I don’t want to be writing this, that at least is certain. I want to be writing stuff that’s less weighted by all this pressure as it’s not helpful to anyone or anything.

At least, that’s what I think. Maybe someone will find it helpful. Who am I to say what is and is not?

So with that said, it’s time to wrap this up. Time to go outside.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:27:33

Still pretty trash writing. Getting a bit more concise, maybe. A bit less weighed down, at the least.

Written at home.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

One Thousand Word Challenge 207: Keep Trying

Trying to relax a bit and trying to stay busy. Busy is good. Busy is nice. Trying to write things. Trying to put pen to paper. Trying to fight against the paranoia and the distress and all those thoughts that aren’t helping.

Once more, I’m not going to go into details about what this investigation is about. It’s already seeming far more dramatic than it is, but I will say that it feels like it’s being dragged out far longer than necessary.

I don’t want to feel like this anymore. I just want to get back to living my life, but it has been years. I haven’t felt as though I’ve been able to get on with things for far too long and it aches. I want to work hard this year and I want to counter what last year was. I want to go places. I want to go see my family, and I can’t. Keep trying to get a better job and it keeps giving me the slip, and I keep trying and people keep telling me to keep trying, but it doesn’t eventuate, so I keep trying, but I have to wonder how much more try in me I have left.

Realistically, even though I say this I probably still have quite a lot left in me, but that’s not how it feels. I can acknowledge it, but I don’t feel it and that’s part of the issue. It was an issue before these four-and-a-bit days of distress, and it’s going to remain an issue after. But I’ll keep going and I’ll keep on keeping on and eventually, maybe one day I’ll get there and rise into a position that pays slightly above minimum wage. Maybe.

I wonder how much time and life I’ve lost working in roles that I’ve been unsuccessful in rising above. I wonder how much I’ve really gained from pursuing that which I want to pursue. We talk about the experience and knowledge and sense of accomplishment, but we don’t talk about the cost of time and we don’t talk about the cost of health, and living with low amounts of stress. There are a lot o things we don’t talk about.

Of course hustling is important, and it’s good to hustle, or at least it needs to be done if you want to get somewhere sometimes, but there still is so much luck to that kind of success. You could hustle with the right people and they could just like someone else more than you, and that’s that and you have to accept it, and maybe that’s not the issue anyway. Maybe the issue is that we’re so willing to promote and encourage rather than support. But I don’t know.

So once more I am sitting here, and the heat is leaving the house and that’s nice. I don’t have to sit here and sweat profusely at the same time. They can become separate activities once more, and that’s nice. I can deal with that. I can’t deal with the wait, or trying to force myself into writing when I feel compelled to do so but functionally unable to do so.

Am doing an alright job of that though, so that’s nice.

But I’m sitting here thinking and I’m trying to keep the paranoia and stress at bay, and the walls are just plain but they seem to press in, and outside’s no different. I don’t feel as though I’m resting, but rather I feel I’m burning out and tearing at myself, and I need the endless nothingness to end. I need a moment to breathe and relax.

Sometimes I wish I could just let this stuff wash off, but so far the majority of my life has been spent living somewhere around paycheck to paycheck, and it doesn’t help. It doesn’t help that I still continue to do so and it doesn’t help that I work so hard on things without success. It also doesn’t help that when I talk about dropping some of the things I do, people encourage me to not do so.

Am I to continue working hard with a visible track record of little, if any success? Do I keep walking that path because people think that eventually success will come? How much of my life must I keep living unable to do much of anything until I finally get that success? How much of my life and time must I give before people finally accept that it’s enough and, perhaps they should have listened instead of telling me to keep going?

I know that people mean well. I know that they don’t want to see me discard things that I like, but they need to be aware that sometimes someone thinks about these things for a long time. They aren’t necessarily dropping things on a whim.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I’m pretty sure all I’m doing is just venting and I don’t want to be doing that. Maybe I’m also trying to reclaim time for myself. I don’t know. I don’t know and I keep going and all I feel is pressure pressing down, and I’m trying to get ahead of it but it just doesn’t happen, and I miss living. I miss having a life and being able to do things, and I miss struggling a little bit less, and it’s hard.

I have a roof over my head and that’s okay, but I don’t know if I am living. I don’t feel I am. I certainly am surviving and some would say that’s enough, but I don’t think it is. I think there needs to be more going on, but it’s not happening. I’ll keep going and hopefully the distress subsides soon, but I don’t know if it will. It’s that uncertainty that’s not helping. I’m meant to have answers at this point and there’s nothing, and there’s little I can do about it, and it’s all just a struggle.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 17:02:65

Not as fast as I would have liked, and not as concise either.
It’s more venting and it doesn’t add much of anything to anything.
Writing felt necessary here, but I don’t know if this was the best thing to write.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment