Why Would I Write

Category: Random

  • Touch Typing

    Over the weekend, I was looking up for some tips to improve my touch typing skills and I learned something I can’t believe I had never thought of before: keep your index fingers on the home keys (F and J on a QWERTY keyboard) if you’re using your pinkies to hit keys like escape, backspace, control, tab or shift – this will allow you to quickly return to the home row and reset your fingers in the correct typing position. It was something so simple yet effective. This prompted me to scour the net for more tips that I could use. Turns out, there aren’t many tips available online that I didn’t already know. Unless there’s a hidden cache of advice hidden available somewhere on the internet, the only other thing I’ve managed to takeaway is that practice is everything.

    Like playing the guitar or a video game, typing is very much all about muscle memory. Think about words you type very often: your own name, words like you, me, them, they, the – I’m pretty sure most of you can touch type them without any effort. However, if I were to give you a word like adscititious, it would probably take you a moment to type it out. But if you keep typing the word over and over again, you’ll be able to type it quickly. Basically, you have to practice typing until you are at the stage where you’re typing words instead of letters. It’s like being so familiar with a guitar chord that you can press it without having to look at the fretboard, or pulling off key combinations to execute a special move for your video game character.

    While I don’t think I’ll consistently surpass 100 wpm anytime soon (I type fast enough for my current job anyway), it’s something I hope to achieve naturally in the long run – once I’ve typed the most common English words enough times to make them all muscle memory. But for those of you who are interested in learning how to touch type, here are some helpful sites.

    Keybr– a site that helps you memorize where each letter is on your keyboard and analyzes which keys you’re struggling with.
    10fastfingers – a great site for practicing the most common English words
    Type Racer – a popular online typing game where you race against other people by typing out a passage of text quickly and accurately

  • Good Deeds

    What is karma? Is it real? Does everyone believe in karma? Why do people do good things? Do they expect others to do the same to them?
    I get that doing good deeds is what makes you a normal human being, and that you shouldn’t expect anything out of it. But if you’re going out of your way to accomplish something – are you still entitled to a perk in the future?
    I mean, think about it, there’s a reason why people believe in karma. Right? Or there’s a reason why religion tells us to be good people. There’s no reason to be a dick. Unless you’re purposely upset about somebody and want to ruin their day.
    I don’t know. Didn’t really have any cohesive thoughts, but I was just thinking about it to myself.
    Over the weekend, I did a couple of ‘good deeds’. I left a note on somebody’s car, telling him that his rear wheel had a flat tire. And I informed a cashier that a whole section of goods they were selling had gone past their expiry date. I don’t expect anything good to happen to me because of those things. Aren’t they just things that people should normally do?
    However, whenever someone does something good, you usually hear about it (here I am blogging about it LOL). People think it’s something extraordinary. Like it’s something special to not be an asshole. Isn’t that kind of weird? I don’t know.
    Where am I going with this? Nowhere.

    I just think that it’s weird that people think being nice is a special thing to do, when in fact – being nice is probably the foundation of being a decent human being. People shouldn’t expect anything when they’re being nice. There’s no reason to.

    Sure, it’s better than being an ass to someone else, but the better alternative is to just be nice, or ignorant. Move on with your life. Don’t contribute negatively.

    But then again, if everybody just ignored everybody, I guess this world would fall apart as well. Hmm.

  • A Book Affair

    A Book Affair

    As part of my room decluttering exercise, I’ve unearthed a ton of books I don’t read anymore. Before I give them away, I’ve decided that I’m going to try to get some money for them first. So, in a couple of hours, I’ll be attending A Book Affair – a pop up book market which takes place every Wednesday and Sunday in Taman Desa. I’ve never attended any of these events before but it seems like a pretty cool event, and a great way to pass on the gift of reading (and fund future keycaps lul). Hopefully there will be plenty of people attending today’s sale!

    This is only the first batch of books that I’ve found in my room, as I uncover more in the future, I’ll be sure to unload them at the sale.

    So if you’re in the mood to buy secondhand books at cheap prices, feel free to drop by.

    A Book Affair [Facebook]

    Multipurpose hall, Desa Permai Condo, Jalan Morib, Taman Desa, 58100 Kuala Lumpur [Map]
    2pm – 9pm

    And I thought I was done selling books.