Why Would I Write

  • Coming Soon

    Announcing your projects is a good way to hold yourself accountable, right? At least that’s what I thought. I announced Animal Bus a while ago and I haven’t made any significant progress since then. Chalk it down to laziness. I’ve got no excuses and I’ve only got myself to blame. Then again, nobody has seen what I’ve done so far, so it’s not like people are asking for me to publish it.

    Nanowrimo is just around the corner and I’ve decided that instead of participating this year, I’ll be working on Animal Bus instead. Yes. For the month of November, I’ll be committing myself to draw at least a page a day (according to NaGraNoWriMo – National Graphic Novel Writing Month, which was supposed to be in October, the goal is to write a 48-page comic script in a month). While I probably won’t be able to finish the comic within a month, at least I’ll have sufficient content for people to read. And if people are actually enjoying it, that will hopefully push me to finish the comic in the following months. If people don’t – I’ll still finish it anyway, it’s just something I want to get out there. So, look out for Animal Bus this December. I’ll update my blog when it goes live!

    If you’ve been following my Instagram, I’ve been having fun participating in Inktober, so the momentum should carry through. Perfect timing.

  • Gig #122 Urbanscapes 2019: The Spotlight, and Some Ramblings

    Gig #122 Urbanscapes 2019: The Spotlight, and Some Ramblings

    See my name on the poster?

    This year, the opportunity to perform at Urbanscapes arose and I seized it immediately. There was no audition or filtering – just put your name down on the time you wanted. Sweet! I always had the impression these big gigs were usually by invitation. So for those of you who are wondering if I suddenly became some bigshot, the answer is no.

    I can’t remember the last time I performed at a large scale event. It might have been a youth festival with Jason back when Doppelganger and The Wishing was a thing. I know Facebook shows me photos from that even every year. Good times. Maybe I’ll get to play in a band again next time.

    Anyway, if you’re interested in watching the show (there are going to be tons of acts besides me) I’ll be performing on 23rd November 2019 at Medan Pasar [Map] at 1 pm. Facebook Page. Drop by for some cool tunes on a weekend.

    Sometimes I think to myself, why the fuck do you have so many hobbies? Why are you interested in so many things? Why not just focus on one thing and maybe get good at it? Beats me. I like variety in my life. Maybe that’s why I have multiple keyboards I can switch between.

    I mean, can you imagine wearing the same clothes for the rest of your life? I’m not sure if that’s an accurate analogy, but hey.

    It’s my life and I get to do whatever I want with it. Like this month, I’ve been participating in Inktober. Sure, I’m not using real ink but I’m still doing drawings (almost daily anyway – had to do multiple per day to catch up). I’m hoping that by doing all these drawings, I build some momentum with my art and finally get around to pushing out my now almost-delayed-by-a-year comic – Animal Bus.

    In addition to that, I’ve been meaning to read a lot of books I have purchased over the past few years (thanks Big Bad Wolf). I think that the lack of reading in my life has been hampering my writing ability. Which makes sense because you should be surrounding yourself with what you want to do.

    Back when I was writing a lot of music, I was always listening to music, playing the guitar and singing daily. These days it’s more like an occasion if I pick it up. And it’s usually to practice for an upcoming gig. So why bother performing in the first place? Because I enjoy it, duh.

    Anyway, this is more of a ramble than anything. I felt like writing something today.

  • The Power of Prayer

    Why do people even bother praying? Whenever something bad happens to someone, people say send your prayers to X or keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Does it even matter if you do?

    I keep hearing all the time that something is ‘God’s plan‘ so why even bother trying to ask for otherwise? If something is going to happen because it’s destined or predetermined, then what are you praying for?

    Isn’t trying to change an outcome going against your god’s plan? Why are you not going along with it? Are you saying he/she/it is wrong? Can god be wrong?

    Why would god listen to the words from your lips? Unless you’re saying you’re so powerful that god listens to you. If that’s the case, then why can’t you pray for everything you want in life and get it? People say you can’t pray for selfish things – isn’t praying for someone’s health selfish in a way? You want someone to survive so you can spend more time with them. If you didn’t intend on ever seeing that person again, you wouldn’t have bothered.

    What if someone else was praying for the same person’s death? Who does god listen to then? Does god even listen? How does god decide who to listen to?

    If god doesn’t listen, then why pray? Why aren’t we questioning god’s ‘shitty’ decisions in the first place?

    “Oops, I accidentally gave your grandma cancer. Deal with it.”

    Does an almighty and powerful god need to listen to people to know what to do? Does god even give a shit?

    Pray if it makes you feel better, or if you want to. Just don’t pray and expect anything to happen. If anything does happen, know that it’s because you worked to achieve it, or it was a coincidence. It wasn’t because you prayed for it.

    Change things you know you can instead of trying to invoke some mysterious force in the sky. It’s much more effective.

    Here’s a wonderful bit by a comedian I came across a few months ago on Netflix:

    Check out Daniel Sloss on Netflix