Why Would I Write

Category: Thoughts

  • It’s just nice to know you’re not alone.

    It would be typical to say things like, I know I wish I had spent more time with you while you were still around. But we both know that isn’t true. Regardless, I shall write about the times I can remember. All the trips to the cinema with you and grandpa when I was younger is probably one of the reasons why I love film. The Sunday morning Dim Sum meals were a good reason to skip church. The countless trips to Port Klang for seafood taught me I was mildly allergic to shellfish. You calling me George and not by my Chinese name cemented the fact that nobody would ever use it (remains true till today).

    I also learned that Genting Highlands was a great place to relax, especially for the older crowd. I also learned that Hakka was similar to Cantonese – not that I was proficient at either dialect. Trying to talk to you was always a challenge. Something I’ll dearly miss.

    This year’s Chinese New Year isn’t going to be the same again. No more delicious food or angpows that had more money than we deserved for being little shits. The fire crackers at your house was always the loudest. I doubt they were legal, but hey – it was so much fun wading through the sea of red paper in the aftermath.

    Taking care of grandpa was something you were the best at. I wonder if he’ll realize that you’re finally gone. You’ve lived a long and wonderful life, and raised wonderful children and grandchildren. While it saddens me that you’re now gone from this world, it’s for the best. You’re in better place now. Rest in peace, grandma.

  • You can play it sensible, a king of conventional or you can risk it all and see

    Sometimes I just enjoy sitting with a cup of coffee in a cafe, with nothing on my mind and my laptop opened in front of me. I know I should be writing but I have nothing to write about. So I launch FocusWriter and start writing about not having anything to write. I think it’s because I enjoy pressing keys on keyboards.

    There’s just something therapeutic about pushing buttons on a keyboard and watching characters appear onscreen. It doesn’t even have to make any sense. It doesn’t have to be meaningful. I guess it’s like jerking off, except that you can do it in public without getting arrested. I mean, technically, there is no reason for anyone to jerk off. It’s just fun to do.

    I’ve been listening to the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman for the past few days. It’s really good. I was pleasantly surprised by how contemporary the songs are. When the first song started playing, I genuinely thought I was in the wrong cinema. My expectations were surpassed for the film. Sure, the story is nothing to shout about, but the songs and the choreography are top-notch. Definitely worth rewatching or relistening to. I thought the movie felt a bit short (probably because I enjoyed it so much) and I was surprised when I learned that it was 2 hours long.

    Also, I stayed to watch all of the credits because I half-expected to see Fall Out Boy being credited for the movie’s songs. I can easily imagine Patrick Stump performing the songs on it.

    I’ve been at my new job for two weeks, yet I’ve worked for less than 10 days. Thank you blessed public holidays.

    I’ve had phlegm-filled lungs for the past 3 weeks. I wonder if I’m extremely sick. Coughing everyday and blowing your nose every hour gets kinda annoying. A part of me thinks I should get it checked out. Another part of me thinks that it’s going to go away eventually. Other than that I feel fine. Then again, there are quite a number of sick people in the office. Maybe it’s just a bug going around.

    Having experienced keyboards of all sizes, the only thing left for me to try are Topre switches, the HHKB layout, and ortholinear/split keyboards. I’m currently doing fine with the Core and inserting apostrophes are almost second nature to me now. Still struggling with numbers, brackets and symbols like !@#$%^. But I think I’m getting better. I also started pressing Shift with my left pinkie. I’m also liking the arrow cluster on the bottom right of my board instead of using Fn + IJKL – it makes text selection so much easier.

    I wonder how much coffee I need to drink before one cup isn’t enough to perk me up. I can go for days without drinking any coffee, so I don’t think I’m addicted to it. Cigarettes on the other hand, haha. Wedding dinner to attend later, been a while since the last one. Should be fun mingling with people I don’t really know. Who am I kidding? I’m just going to hang out with the people I know. To vapers out there – do you keep a bottle of juice with you if you don’t have a bag to bring? Feels odd to me. Which is why I usually just go out with cigarettes. They’re much smaller and I don’t have to worry about running out of battery or fluid.

    I recently read that if you haven’t used your Steam Community Market account in a while, it gets disabled. Decided to put up all the trading cards I’ve collected over the past year on sale. Feels good getting a notification every few minutes about receiving a few cents. Eventually I’ll make enough to own a Dark Artistry Cape, you just wait!

  • New clothes for the new year

    I’ve never been one to do any Chinese New Year shopping because I honestly don’t think that just because it’s a new year, you need new clothes. You only need new clothes when your old clothes become unwearable, there’s no other reason. If you want new clothes, that’s another story, but you never need them.

    Anyway, I haven’t been shopping for new clothes in a while, so I took advantage of the CNY sales going on to do some shopping today. I managed to get myself a couple of T-shirts and shirts for reasonable prices at a warehouse sale. One thing I’ve learned about purchasing clothes is that while something might look nice hanging from the rack, it might not look good on you. I discovered this a while ago while going through photographs of myself.

    I used to have a bright orange shirt that I enjoyed wearing but I don’t anymore – I think I gave it away. The problem with that shirt was, while I thought it looked good, it clashed with my skin tone. I think I’m too tan to pull off a bright orange shirt look. However, I only realized it after wearing it for a few years. Since then, I have never bought another bright orange shirt.

    Today I discovered a new color that looked good on me – mint. Prior to this, I didn’t own any mint-colored shirts, so I was pleasantly surprised by how it looked in the fitting room mirror. I picked up a red T-shirt as well, because everybody needs a red shirt for Chinese New Year, and two smart shirts because why not?

    While writing this post I came to a realization that I’m no good with words when describing clothes. I guess that’s why I haven’t spent a lot of time describing them in my stories. I tend to write from first person anyway, so it’s not a big deal. But I guess I could do a better job of describing what characters wear. Definitely something for me to work on.

    I still need to get a pair of new sandals but that should be an easier task than picking out tops. Later this year I’ll probably also need to update my jeans selection. I might give blue jeans another go.

    Also, why do people tuck in their T-shirts? Honestly, I have no idea, but I see it all the time, especially by older people. Unless the T-shirt you have on is over-sized, I see literally no reason to tuck it in. It’s like, people who tuck in their T-shirts are actively trying to make themselves look worse because as far as I know, your T-shirts don’t tuck themselves in automatically. Maybe it’s a fashion statement. Or some trend I’m missing. I probably should work on my own dressing before I comment on what other people do. Fashion is confusing. Regardless, it’s almost as bad as popping your collar. Brr.

    Also, catch me wearing these someday:


    Seen on Reddit

    To those of you who have yet to do your CNY shopping, have fun!