Why Would I Write

  • Rhythm of the Falling Rain

    The loud booming thunder, flashes in the sky and falling water set the tone for the evening. It was like any other Wednesday, minus the atrocious weather. There goes my jogging plans. He thought to himself as he slumped back into the couch in his living room. He picked up the remote control and turned on the television. News. Soap opera. Cartoon. News. Nothing tickled his fancy, and he switched it off.

    He wasn’t afraid of falling sick by going out in the rain. After all, he read it up on the internet that rain causing sickness was only a myth. Neither was he worried about slipping or being hit by a car – there was a perfectly safe park opposite house where he could jog to his heart’s content. The rain was just an excuse. He was just feeling lazy.

    He got up from the couch and took off his running shoes. He walked back towards the window and looked out again. The rain wasn’t letting up. He definitely wasn’t going to jog tonight. Hopefully it doesn’t cause any floods – would be a bitch to get to work. He noticed that his thoughts sounded like one-sided conversations with himself. Most of the time he’d ask rhetorical questions. Once in a while, he’d stump himself. But unlike conversations with other people, there was nobody to judge him for the words going through his mind.

    I guess I’ll just call it an early night. He took off his running clothes and headed into the bathroom to wash up. It’s the perfect weather to fall asleep to anyway. He thought to himself as he pulled the blanket over his head. The falling rain was music to his ears.

    Writing Prompt from Reddit: What he saw outside his window

  • Hot Long Black

    It wasn’t too long ago I learned about the difference between a long black and an Americano. Initially I was oblivious to the differences, but I knew that I preferred the former for some reason. Turns out, it was the crema present in long black which tickled my fancy. In terms of preparation, it’s water at the bottom and espresso on top vs espresso at the bottom and water on top – that’s it!

    However, I seem to have problems ordering it in Malaysia. Here’s an example of what usually happens when I try to order a long black:

    “I’ll have a long black.”
    “Oh, Americano?”

    I’ll say yes because I’m not picky enough to make a fuss about it (I’ll just bitch about it on my blog), and also because they are essentially the same after a few minutes anyway, when the espresso has mixed with the water. Sometimes they have long black on the menu but serve me an Americano anyway.

    Since I don’t make my own coffee, I don’t know if it’s much more difficult pouring espresso into a cup of water as opposed to pouring water into a cup of espresso – but something tells me that it isn’t. If it really isn’t that difficult, I don’t see why these baristas aren’t trained to serve long blacks? Is there something I’m missing?

    Hot long blacks are the default drink I’ll order when I’m in a cafe. However, under certain conditions I’ll change my order. If it’s extremely hot outside, I’ll get a cold one instead. If I’ve already had enough coffees for the day, I’ll switch to tea. If it’s very late at night, I’ll get an uncaffeinated tea. I judge a cafe based on the quality of the long black they serve. They could have the crappiest food ever, but if they make a good cup of long black, I’ll be back. Also, if you’re a hitman trying to get me, you know what to do.

    I discovered long black by chance – I usually ordered Americanos when I first started drinking black coffee because that was what Starbucks served me. It was when I was at a cafe that didn’t have Americano on the menu and only long black was how I found out about the better coffee.

    I started drinking coffee thanks to my stint at Ubergizmo. I had to stay up for an event that was happening early in the morning (due to time zones), so I kept myself awake with some instant Nescafe that my mom stocked at home. This was quite late in my life – about five or six years ago? Previously, the only coffee I consumed were ice-blended drinks from Starbucks/Coffee Bean. It was a life changer.

    I’ve had coffee from Melbourne, supposedly the best coffee in the world, and I disagree with that title. Also, I don’t understand how something as diverse as coffee can be given a best in the world title when taste is so subjective? And if I disagree with that opinion, I’m wrong. Fuck that shit. If anybody asks me about my favorite coffee, I can answer that in a heartbeat – the Caribbean beans long black from Doiffee. Hands down, best coffee I’ve ever had. Which is why I had it almost every day during my three-month break. That shit is the bomb.

    Never expected to write over 500 words on such a trivial subject. What’s your coffee story?

  • FocusWriter

    You know what’s better than owning a nice keyboard? Having things to type on it. Something about hitting keys and watching characters appear on the screen is so satisfying. It also helps that both my hobbies and work requires me to type.

    These days I write my blog posts in a program called FocusWriter (btw when did the term app come to replace programs? I use it to differentiate programs on phones/tablets with desktop programs but I believe they are interchangeable now). I discovered it a few years ago when I saw it being recommended for writers to use during Nanowrimo. It has a handy wordcount feature at the bottom which helps you mark your progress for the day (you can decide what your daily goal is).

    It is extremely customizable in terms of looks – it even comes with some preset themes for you to use (I created a blank one for myself and increased the font size due to the default size being too small on a high-resolution display). Other than the basic dictionary and chapter dividers, it’s a pretty barebones writing program that gets the job done. It maximizes itself (you can’t change this) so it completely covers your desktop, including your taskbar; to keep you free from distractions. No more blinking icons or pop ups on your screen until you alt+tab away from the software. I guess it is named FocusWriter for a reason.

    However, it’s not magic. It won’t make you write better or suddenly fill your head with ideas. No program can do that. But for what it sets out to accomplish, it gets the job done. Since I learned how useful it was to have a distraction-free workspace to get my writing done for my first Nanowrimo, I’ve been using it to write everything else (except those days when I felt like writing directly into WordPress’ editor. It’s now one of the programs I need installed on any computer I use to write.

    It’s free (donations are encouraged) with no adverts, stable and bug-free. It’s definitely not for everyone – if you need to have multiple windows side by side while you write, FocusWriter isn’t for you. But if you just want a blank space while you transfer all your ideas from your head to the screen, you should check it out.

    FocusWriter is available now for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
    [Official Site]