Why Would I Write

  • Word Vomit

    I remember reading a writing tip a while ago – start off your day by vomiting out a page of words. I had forgotten about it until earlier today when I was feeling a bit stuck creatively. Out of the blue, the tip resurfaced and I decided to give it a shot. Because why not? It only takes a few minutes to do, and if it didn’t work, at least I could say I tried. I started Microsoft Word, and just started word vomiting. Initially there was a bit of resistance. It was challenging to find the words to say. So I decided to do what I do best – write about what I was doing.

    So I wrote about writing, and suddenly, one sentence lead to another, and another, and another. I just kept going and going until I had slightly more than a page worth of words. It felt good. I don’t know how to explain it. A lot of it was repetition and nonsense, but at least I was putting words down. I wrote about everything and anything that came to mind. It was kinda therapeutic. It was like the page was my doctor listening to me spew nonsense.

    Anyway, long story short – it helped. After I finished with my page of word vomit, I was unstuck. I could write much more freely and came up with a bunch of ideas for work. Not sure if it’s something I’ll do everyday (I wonder if it will lose effectiveness in the long run?), but it’s something new I have in my bag of tricks to revert to in the future.

    (No, I’m not publishing today’s word vomit, it’s not worth anyone’s time.)

  • Bounce

    “I can’t wait to see her again.” He smiled to himself.

    It had been two weeks since he had last seen her. She spent the summer break at her parents’ place out of state. So he had been looking forward to this day. He kept his feet on the gas pedal as he drove towards her house. Traffic was great this evening – it was smooth all the way. Less than ten minutes after leaving his house, he was at hers.

    He saw her standing outside as he parked his car. He couldn’t wait to tell her all about what had happened during his break. Elated, he hopped out of his car and dashed towards her. She had finished smoking a cigarette and was putting out the butt with her flip-flops.

    “Baby!” he greeted her, arms outstretched.

    While she was only dressed in a casual T-shirt and shorts, she stood radiating like a goddess under the moon light. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

    A few paces from her, just out of arms reach, he saw the smile on her face straighten. Like a trampoline returning to its neutral state, it took the wind out from his step.

    “I’ve put all your stuff in here,” she said as she handed him a paper bag. Then she turned and walked back into her house.

    Writing Prompt from Reddit: Write either a genuinely nice story or a story that looks nice and then has an unexpected turn. Don’t let any people reading know which you wrote until the end.

  • Topre and Me

    Topre and Me

    A couple of years ago if you told me that I’d be spending an exorbitant amount on keyboards, I would have told you that you were crazy. Well, fast forward to now and I eat my own words. Ever since I fell in love with the hobby (if you can even call it that – since I don’t assemble my own boards yet), I’ve been on the lookout for new keyboards to try out. Different layouts, sizes and switches.

    However, one of the switches that I never had an opportunity to try were the polarizing Topre switches. There were a lot of people raving about them and on the other hand there were people saying that Topre switches were just expensive rubber domes. I had to find out for myself – but that was an impossible task since I didn’t have friends with Topre boards for me to try out and retail stores here didn’t carry them either. Fortunately, I had a friend in Japan last week and thanks to him, I have one of the most iconic 60% keyboards in existence – the HHKB Professional 2.

    While I had never tried Topre before, I was a fan of the keyboard’s design and layout so that made it an easy buy for me. Also, I figured, if I wasn’t a fan of Topre I would have no problems reselling it on the secondhand market. Turns out, I don’t even need to consider that option because man, I’m in love with the switches. Tactility is different compared to the almost non-existent bump on MX Browns, and it’s at the top of the key press instead of midway. It feels great to type on – each keypress when bottoming out gives a nice, solid ‘thock’ that sounds like music to my ears.

    In terms of aesthetics, the retro colorway and non-gamer Sans Serif font is perfect for such a timeless keyboard that hasn’t really changed since 1996. Despite it having a plastic shell, the keyboard feels extremely sturdy and is heavier than I expected.

    The learning curve is pretty much zero, since I’m used to 60% boards and I’ve been using a similar layout for the past few months. My only real complaint with the keyboard is that my control key rattles more than I’d like it to. Other than that, I love the HHKB Pro 2 so far. It’s only my first day with the keyboard but I can see myself using it until it gives up on me (which hopefully won’t be any time soon!).