For once in a long time, I don’t have anything written today. I spent the entire weekend writing my final speech for my public speaking class and I am giving that speech today. Continue reading “Essay: What has people done?”
Category: Non-Fiction
The Meaning of a Book
Religion and Politics. These are two topics you will never see me post on my blog. Why? Because those are two of the most opinionated and sensitive topics out there. Because those are two topics that essentially started wars and tore apart families, friends, and mankind. Because I dislike those two topics.
Continue reading “The Meaning of a Book”
The Final Straw
Last night, I wanted so bad to hurt someone, something. Punch a hole in the wall. Rip my pillow in half. Throw everything at the wall. But I couldn’t. Damn that sentimentality. Continue reading “The Final Straw”
1000th Post: First Time Clothes Shopping
Wow, I can’t believe it. 1000 posts, I was worry I wouldn’t make it before 2015 comes to an end but I did. Anyway, the 1000th post is a special post, took me two years to reach this spot. Therefore I am not going to spend it on my regular scheduled Monday Coffee House Ramble. Instead, I will tell you about my first time clothes shopping, solo clothes shopping, as in on my own. Continue reading “1000th Post: First Time Clothes Shopping”
My Favorite Invention
Today’s Prompt asks: Of all the technologies that have gone extinct in your lifetime, which one do you miss the most? Continue reading “My Favorite Invention”
Dream Tale
I have written a similar prompt when I did Writing 101, to read it, click here. As for a song for the future, it’s too soon to decide.
My brain woke up quite early this morning, way before my eyes wanted to open anyway, and spent a good hour or so lying in bed listening to my mom’s loud phone call while thinking about the incredible dream I had. It was so incredible that I now have this story implanted in my head but I can’t write it because for one, it was way too spotty, like, why did these events happen and for another, it’s rather silly to talk about.
Should I at least say something about it? Then be on my merry way to finish my novella. I was so incredibly close last night and I thought I would go to sleep to have a dream that will tell me what to write next but instead, this strange dream is now keeping me from writing anything. Oh yes, it is a definite yes. I have to talk about the dream.
The dream started with the song “Bye Bye Bye,” you know the song by the popular 90’s boy band, Nsync? I have no idea how that song got in my head. The last time I heard that song was almost a month ago when I was driving home from something. It was a weird rendition, live, by a church choir.
Next, the dream became me sitting in front of my computer, in the dead of night searching editing jobs on the freelancing job-site and strangely, I won a bid. I was to proofread this document and send it back. The document was quite badly written. The most distinct error I remember from the dream was Howre’re you. I have a feeling someone is terrible in spelling.
Then I can feel time sped forward a few weeks because I found myself pacing in my room. Apparently, I haven’t received the payment for my job. My tablet suddenly let out a loud buzz. It was a phone call in Google Hangout. I answered. This is where the dream turned into an action movie.
I was dressed in black and I was moving stealthily along the side of a building. I had a feeling I was rescuing something. Who, I don’t know. I entered a room that resembled an underground parking lot. The light was so dim that it made everything look green. It’s almost like the kind of place you expect surprises to fly at you at any second. I somehow knew where to go though as my feet voluntarily guided me to the spot where a large man appeared before me and behind him was a woman tied and gagged. I didn’t recognize her but obviously it wasn’t her choice to be in this position.
As I approached, I realized I was only about a third of the man’s size. I ran toward him, apparently that was what dream me did. I fought him, incorporating fighting skills I have only seen in movies and won. Then it all just ended. My sweet dream. I opened my eyes a bit, it was day, and all I could hear was the sound of my mom talking to my aunt on her computer.
I would have posted this sooner to get it off my chest but the moment I began to sit down and write, she’s got something else for me to do. Some other problem. Some other chaos that needed attention. *sigh*
There went my whole morning.
Frisbee Mode
It is really not that hard to get me in “the zone” but once I’m in “the zone” Continue reading “Frisbee Mode”
Jealousy
Oh, you cannot believe how often I get jealous of people who are smarter than me, pretty than me, thinner than me, and taller than me. Guess where I get that from? My mother. Continue reading “Jealousy”
Writing 101: Death to Abverb
I told you I was doing Writing 101 in random order, didn’t I? Anyway, the point of the assignment to go to a cafe, park, or a public place and write something that is inspired by what I see. There’s a catch, I cannot use any adverb. Continue reading “Writing 101: Death to Abverb”
Writing 101: Your Personality on the Page
The assignment is to write about a fear, anxiety, or worry. The twist is to write it in a style that is distinctive from my own. I’m not exactly sure what other styles there are to writing but I’m going to try my best. Continue reading “Writing 101: Your Personality on the Page”
Writing 101: Happy Fast Food
People say childhood are the best years of a person’s life. Continue reading “Writing 101: Happy Fast Food”
Writing 101: Your Voice Will Find You
Socializing is Not for Me
In 2006, I was given a fresh start. I had moved to a new city, new state, new home, new school. For the first time, I got to choose my classes, not the other way around. I finally got to be in classes I would have never thought I could like web design and choir. Continue reading “Socializing is Not for Me”
So Not a Fan
I hate it and dread it every year. Will someone pull a prank on me? Will someone prank me so hard that my chest pound and I have to watch my back the entire freaking day? Will I get hurt? I might be able to stand pain but I hate to get hurt. Continue reading “So Not a Fan”
A Tale of Two Roommates
Head throbbing, throat aching, voice going coarse, and my bottle of anger is full again.
My weekend was crappy, worse than usual but I’m not going to complain. I’m going to let it out another way, a story. I’ve weaved my crappy weekend into a tale between two roommates, Leslie and Sarah. First, I should apologize for this incredibly long post (I can’t help it) but anyway, enjoy the dramatic tale. 🙂
Leslie sat before her computer on a Saturday morning, studying for an afternoon exam. After more than 6 months, she still hadn’t adjusted to fact that she had to find her own time to complete the exams for her classes. At least this one’s open-book, open-notes, she thought happily. She wouldn’t had to go through the tedious process of making a half-page note-card.
By noon, her stomach was growling. She often skips breakfast to save time on studying. So she quickly went to the pantry, pulled a ramen from a plastic bag with her name on it, and popped it into a bowl. She dumped the tiny bag of soup mix, added the water, and popped it into the microwave. By the time she finished with her ramen, she heard a click of the locks. Sarah was home.
“Hey, Les, can you help me with these groceries?” Sarah was carrying at least six bags of food.
Leslie took four bags and hurried to the kitchen. “What are you trying to do? Feed an army?” She dropped the bags on the counter.
“They’re for both of us, duh.” Even then, it would be too much. Leslie went to the sink and clean up while Sarah put her purse on the chair. “Listen, I need your help with something.”
“What?” Leslie asked as she wiped her hands dry.
“I have this paper due Monday and I’m wondering if you can help me since, well, your writing is better mine.”
“What is it on?” Leslie asked quickly.
“It’s a research paper, 6-9 pages. I don’t know what’s on yet. The instructor wasn’t clear.”
“Well, you’ll have to wait. I have to go take the exam.”
“Then go,” Sarah replied. “We can talk about it when you get home.”
Three hours later, Leslie finally came home. The exam took much longer than she had thought. It was 24 questions on 30 pages and each question took forever to complete. Tired but still full of energy, she knocked on Sarah’s door and almost instantly, Sarah wrenched the door open, shoving a paper in Leslie’s face.
“You see this?” Sarah shrieked. Leslie grabbed the paper and looked at it carefully. It was the rubric for the assignment. “It makes completely no sense! He doesn’t explain anything. He just gives the assignment and expects us to understand it at a snap of a finger.”
“The paper said to pick four or more variables affecting the operating environment. What kind of operating environment?” Sarah led her to her laptop sitting on the desk and showed her a PowerPoint presentation on Argentina. “What does Argentina have to do with anything?”
“He assigns us each a country and we’re supposed to apply the variables.”
Leslie frowned. “I don’t know. What do you want me to do exactly?” Sarah handed her an index card. On it are the words, “political, military, economics, social, information, infrastructure.”
“These are the things I need you to research and write about. I will write the rest.” She switched the screen to a word document. “It’s all formatted. All you have to do is fill in the information.”
By then, Leslie only vaguely understood the assignment. “And why can’t you do this yourself?”
“Do I look like I have the time to do both?” Sarah snapped and Leslie threw her hands up and retreated to her room. “I want this done by tomorrow.” Sarah called as Leslie shut the door to her bedroom, she leaned against the door for a minute and sighed.
Sarah always does this, wait until the last minute and just snaps her fingers. Just like that, Leslie to the rescue. She was like one of those nerds that does bully’s homework. Leslie went to her computer and opened the file Sarah had just sent her over dropbox.
That night, to decompress from the long exam, Leslie decided to watch a few shows on TV. She’s already had two pages completed. Lounging on the living room couch, Sarah joined her. “So, roomie, have you completed my paper yet?”
“Not yet, almost though.” Leslie replied.
“May I make some suggestions though?” Leslie nodded. “Focus more on how each variable affect the environment.” Leslie wasn’t exactly listening but Sarah kept blathering on. If you want me to do your assignment, don’t tell me what to write. I have my own methods. She thought.
Leslie screamed when she opened her eyes the next morning to find Sarah hovering above her. “What are you doing?”
“It’s 8, time to get up.” Leslie glanced over at her alarm clock, it was only 7:30. She moaned and sank her head back on her pillow. “Come on, Les, I want it done by 10 am. You do want to have time to do you own thing, don’t you?”
She went to the window and opened the blinds, the light streaming into the room made Leslie shrank and curled. Leslie groaned. “Fine, I’m up!” Leslie stumbled out of bed over to her computer. She yawned and clicked open the file. It looked like Sarah had updated it, she added a few more sections and miraculously, it was completed.
Groggily, she made her way to the kitchen to scour the fridge for breakfast. She settled with a yogurt and ate it over the sink, her head was still throbbing from the blast of sunlight. She stumbled back into her room and sat before the computer, the words blurred and the more she read, the more it was becoming more puzzling.
“Is it done yet?” Leslie jumped, suddenly realizing Sarah was behind her. Had she been watching me this whole time? Leslie wondered. This was beginning to feel like Sarah’s got a gun to her head forcing her to write.
“Almost.” Leslie answered.
“Almost?!” Sarah shrieked. “It’s been two hours!”
Leslie rubbed her temples and said tiredly. “I’m doing the best I can. It’s not that easy, you know.”
“Hurry up,” Sarah snapped. “I’ve been waiting on you all morning and you can’t even write two paragraphs? I am way faster than that.”
Leslie bolted up, “Fine, then write it yourself. I’m tired of your bossing around. My head hurts, I’m not in the mood.”
“Fine!” Sarah screamed. “I don’t need your help. I will write it myself.”
“Fine!” Leslie shouted back and pushed Sarah from her room and locked her room. They didn’t exchange a single word the remainder of the day. Leslie worked on her own homework. Now and then, she could hear Sarah rehearsing in her room, always the same line and this is how their story ends (for now) because do stories ever end?
The Paintbrushes
The mystery I may never solve and I may never forget it… Continue reading “The Paintbrushes”
Teacher’s Pets
I used to be a teacher’s pet with my group of so-call friends back in 6th and 7th grade. Almost everyday at lunch, we’d go chat with our teacher like friends. Then after school, we’d go again to help clean the boards and tidy up the classroom. But then we sort of went our separate ways during 8th grade. Continue reading “Teacher’s Pets”
Home At Last
It was a cold and snowy night. I can still remember this night horribly well because it was most likely the first time when I spent the whole drive home praying that I wouldn’t get into an accident.
Continue reading “Home At Last”
First Days
As a kid, I dreaded going to school on the first day. Even now, that dread is still there. Continue reading “First Days”
My Conversations with an indecisive friend
Over the years, my mom has turned to her friend, Christina, for advice especially regarding my education since Christina has three successful daughters. Continue reading “My Conversations with an indecisive friend”
The Beach
There are no words to describe what I’m feeling right now. I lean my head sideways to get a look at the dashboard to check the time for what feels like the millionth time on this trip. I wish my mom would just park the car already. Even though it’s been the most exciting day I’ve had in a while but it’s also been longest day I’ve had in a while. Right now, I have just got to get out of this hot and stuffy car.
“Why can’t they make bigger spaces?” Mom mutters frustratingly at the wheel as she passes yet another spot.
It isn’t that the spaces are too small for her 1984 Toyota Cressida, it’s because she doesn’t know how to back-in parallel park. Apparently, her friend, Simon, up in the front doesn’t want to help either. He just keeps giving her suggestions and want to take no action to help.
My mom turns on her blinker, another round, here we come, I let out a quiet moan and rest my head on the headrest. Hot flash anger ascends on the inside as I drum my fingers impatiently on the door handle. My left arm remain sweaty and pin down by the arm of the giant baby snoring soundly in the middle.
“Maybe you should just try parking in the parking lot.” Simon suggests.
Uh oh, he is one suggestion too far. All day long, he’s been making suggestions to my mom. Don’t leave the AC on in the car, it will ruin the engine. Keep the speed at 65, it’ll save some gas. I can feel my mom has just about had enough. Her grip of the wheel tightens and her eyes stare straight ahead, maybe too straight.
She is like a volcano about to blow, a grenade with the cord pulled. Don’t blow, mom. Don’t blow. I try to send the thought to her as our eyes meet in the rear view mirror. It doesn’t work.
“If there are no parking out here, there definitely not going to have any parking in the parking lot.” She snaps.
The car suddenly becomes ghostly silent. I can hear the engine humming tiredly as my mom directs the car to the end of the block again. This time, instead of turning on the right blinker, she turns on the left and swerves into the left lane. She stops at the light with her blinker still blinking.
I didn’t dare ask any questions since she is so close to losing it. I concentrate on the tic tac tic tac of the blinker and stare out the window. It’s then I suddenly realize, there isn’t anything to turn left to.
We are under a sky-walk and to the left was lined with sidewalk. Where is she going to turn left to? Has she gone crazy with anger?
The light turns green and she slams her foot on the gas pedal. The car lurches forward. She lightly taps on the brakes at the approach of the next light. The left blinker remains blinking and no one in the car dares to ask her why.
When the light turns green again, she releases the brake and lets the car slide forward. About three feet later, she stops again. What now? I wonder and lean against the window to stare at the green light.
Soon, the light turns yellow and the incoming traffic slows. Then she does something I never imagine she would do on such a narrow road. She turns the wheel several rounds and steps on the gas. In a matter of seconds, we are on the other side of the road.
My heart pounds with fear and adrenaline while she executed the turn. It is by far the most thrilling thing I have experienced on this trip and it takes my mind off that we’ve been circling the block for 45 minutes looking for a parking space.
After the turn, she resumes her position in the right lane and lightly dips on the gas to cruise the car smoothly on the road. That smooth driving was soon interrupted when she suddenly slams her foot on the brakes propelling me forward. Thank god I wore my seat belt.
This time I know exactly what’s happening, she has found a large enough parking space. She switches on the right blinker to signal the cars behind her as she slowly steered the car head-on into the space. I sigh with relief as I press the release button on my seat belt with my free hand.
I open the door and step out, sliding my left arm from under the snoring kid in the middle. It is unbelievable that what happened just now didn’t wake him. He let out a sound that resembled a pig as I slide my left arm from under his arm.
I roll my eyes and step onto the sidewalk. My sleeping legs wobble beneath me while my arms numb and sweaty swing freely beside me like noodles. A short time later, I lift my arms and stretch to the sky, shaking off the numbness from sitting in a car for the last two hours.
“This is Huntington Beach. Everybody, please follow me.” My mom calls after everyone are out of the car.
I walk behind everyone and glad to see my mom’s mood lightened. After we cross the street, She was once again chatting with her friends. By the time we hit the sand, excitement course through me again as I immediately take off running toward the water. I’ve been waiting for this moment all day, ever since mom said we were going to beach this afternoon.
When I finally reach the water, I let the cool breeze come over me as I marvel the beauty and endlessness of the ocean. I finally made it. I stretched my arms into the sky and whispered, I am here.
This is Another Story 