Why Would I Write

  • Anti-Modern-Radio Me

    When I was young, I remember being bored to death whenever my parents switched radio channels to listen to oldies. Songs they listened to growing up. They would tell me that they don’t make songs like they used to anymore. I would fervently disagree with them, defending my tastes in Limp Bizkit and Eminem. I assumed they didn’t know better.

    Now that I’m older, I don’t listen to the radio anymore – mostly because they mostly play songs I dislike, have terrible DJs and too many advertisements. When I have to (because I’m driving someone else’s car), I tune into Light and Easy – a channel that mostly plays oldies because I can enjoy them, unironically. I enjoy listening to songs that I heard growing up even though I wasn’t a big fan of them back in the day because, amongst the cesspool of modern radio, they sound euphonious.

    It can’t be that music has gotten worse – there must be a reason why these artists on modern radio are getting airtime and making new records. There is a demand for them even though I might not like their music. It’s just not for me.

    But why do I not enjoy a lot of current music? I think it comes down to a few factors:

    • I’m listening to the wrong stations – maybe, but I can’t be bothered to give other radio stations a shot. It’s not worth the time, so I stick with what I know and enjoy.
    • My tastes have already developed and I’m rejecting what’s new and unfamiliar. I have noticed that it doesn’t apply to a lot of new music I discover that’s not on the radio, so probably not the case.
    • Mainstream radio has always been trash and the only reason I enjoy old pop hits now is that I grew up listening to them – the nostalgia and singalong factor is what draws me to them. This seems like the most likely reason.

    Is this what my parents were experiencing when I was growing up? As kids did they face the same chagrin for their music tastes from their parents? I’ll have to ask them to find out.

    On the other hand, if you think I’m just some whiney old boomer who is wrong about modern music, feel free to share some songs to change my mind. I’m open to listening to new songs and artists. I know there’s a lot of good stuff out there I have yet to discover.

  • Why Write?

    Over the past week, I found myself doing a lot of things I put off in the past. I finally set up a LinkedIn account, used it to apply for some jobs. Logged in to my many years old Jobstreet account, also to apply to jobs. Created accounts on brand new sites to look for jobs. It made me realize that for the longest time I didn’t have to look for jobs – for most of them I was just given the opportunity to do something by other people and I took it. It would also have been true for my next job but alas, things didn’t work out as intended. So now I’m doing the job hunting on my own.

    Nothing to report so far, but I find myself questioning my lack of productivity. After all, since I’m jobless – I should make the most of my free time right? Spend it drawing, writing, making music, etc. Instead, I’m gaming and watching shows on Netflix. I guess I need to get into the rhythm of working again. Tomorrow will mark the second month of unemployment. Woot.

    On the bright side, I can say I am ready to return to work again after this breather. It reminds me of the break I took after leaving Big Bad Wolf Books, but with 100% less Cameron Highlands. I think traveling around Malaysia would be nice, but irresponsible in this time of contagion. Better to sit home and do things in front of my computer. After all, that’s what I’m great at.

    The other day I was asking myself – is writing a phase? Is it something people only do once in a while? I know some people who have stopped writing even though they used to write tons only a few years ago. What changed? Do people eventually run out of ideas? Don’t ideas constantly refill? I’m not sure.

    Anyway, I’ve decided that I’ll update my blog every weekday. Back to writing topics, fiction and so on. It was a thing of the past and I’m bringing it back. I just want to tell myself that I’m capable of churning out content daily. It’s good writing practice after all.

    Wow, over three hundred words just to spout a bunch of bullshit. I think I still got it. See you guys next week!

  • The Spell

    “It’s so hard to read this gibberish!” Dina said to herself with the stolen spellbook open in front of her. “There must be a better way to get a prom date!”

    “No, this is all Adrian’s fault!” she reasoned. “If only he was in love with me, then I wouldn’t have had to resort to magic!”

    She was by no means an experienced spell caster. She was far from one. Dina had spent exactly
    one day under the tutelage of the Great Theodore, one of the school’s most powerful wizards before she found herself stealing one of his advanced spell books and attempting spells beyond her means.

    Tonight was the school’s prom night and she had decided to test the seduction spell on Adrian because she wanted a dance. Things didn’t go accordingly, and she killed everybody in the vicinity instead. Now she was by herself, trying to figure out how to undo the damage.

    Dina flipped through the pages of the book, looking for pictures that resembled mass resurrection. There was nothing as far as she could see. “Maybe that’s in volume two…”

    Nearing the end of the book, her eyes widened when she saw a drawing of what appeared to be a tombstone with a crack going through it. “Could this be the spell to raise the dead? Only one way to find out.”

    Dina cleared her throat, raised her wand, and did her best to utter the words on the page. “Du’s ra tha rath guia eh ko luu chai!”

    Her wand started glowing and lighting shot out from its tip to the corpse closest to her, and bounced around from corpse to corpse, electrocuting each body and bringing them back to life.

    “Yes!” she exclaimed, happy that the spell worked.

    As the previously dead people rose to their feet, they all looked at Dina, eyes blinking in confusion, demanding an explanation. Eventually, everybody was alive in the hall, including Adrian who was now stumbling towards Dina. However, the lighting continued bouncing around and started striking people once again, sending their bodies into convulsions before turning them into ash and ending their second lives.

    Dina realized what was happening and quickly returned to the book for a spell to end her previous spell.

    “Dina, what’s going on here? Did you do this?” asked a dazed and concerned Adrian.

    “No time to explain!” said Dina, as her eyes frantically scanned the pages of the book. “Ah hah!”

    Raising her wand again, Dina yelled, “Suu kai la thri roos rhah!”

    Her wand let out a small spark and quickly extended itself, turning itself into a lightning rod. The lightning redirected itself to Dina’s wand, dissipating almost immediately. “Phew.”

    She collapsed to the floor, exhausted from the ordeal.

    Haven’t done a writing prompt in a while, decided to get back into it today. Prompt from /r/promptoftheday “She resurrected”