The Five-Minute Writer - Day 15 - Fill in the blanks

“I need ____” she said.

“I need coke,” she said. She slouched on the office chair, took a sip of water, and sigh. She walked to her cubby and got some coins and walked out to find the vending machine.

“What happened?” I asked my colleague as she left.

“It seems that she struggled with a student,” she replied. Later on I learnt that one of our students refused to park his bike. He’s 10 and he’s getting stronger. He has been having a hard time these few days during transition time, and today my dear-coke-friend was the one struggling with him. He has little speech and today he really sat on his bike refusing to move.

“I was trying to swap with another staff as I was really struggling,” she said as she came back with the coke. “But the others were occupied too.”

“Oh well, sometimes you need a time out too, with the coke,” I patted her.

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 14 - Unfinished sentences

Finish the sentences:

I always knew..

I always knew that I would see her again. It was 6.08am and I was waiting for bus 21. She jogged from the direction of where the bus would come and I called her name. That’s when I noticed that she always jogged every single morning. If I wake up early enough to attend Mass at Novena, I will bump into her at the bus stop. If I can’t wake up early and leave for work immediately, I will see her next to the grass patch as she finishes her run.

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 13 - Turning stains into stories

The author challenged us to write using a random choice of a character, a setting, and an object.

Gardener - museum - umbrella

8 a.m.

As I mopped the floor of the museum, I saw the gardener coming and putting on his gloves. He started to trim the bushes and next, he moved on to take the grass-cutter. I walked out and sniffed the smell of the grass. Then, I walked back in, as I love the smell of the grass, but I do not fancy the sound of the grass-cutter. When I see the blades of the grass-cutter, though I enjoy watching them spins, I somehow always imagine what if one of the blades suddenly fly away and hit my head. I paused as I was walked through the door. Ouw, the gardener has a new umbrella! “Hi, a new umbrella?” I shouted. He just nodded (or did he?) and kept cutting.

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 12 - mix and match names

The author asked us to mix and match random first names with random last names, e.g., Orlando Potter. I will do a different thing, as my job often requires me to think of character names usually in this format:

Adjective + Name

Hilarious Hillary

Enthusiastic Erica

Marvelous Marley

Kindhearted Kelly

Chatty Cherish

Charming Chelsea

Jumpy John

Jovial Joanne

Zealous Zee

Zany Zoe

Saintly Sammy

Scholarly Scarlet

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 11 - one minute one sentence

Day 11 - write a sentence

Spend one minute to write a sentence about…

An animal

A dog is more than a friend as my dog also caught the rats in my old house.

How you’re feeling right now

I feel quite sleepy as I slept late to watch Aquaman with Paul.

A place

India is a country that I always want to revisit as I love the Himalayan mountains there and I still want to visit Goa and see the body of St Francis Xavier.

A silly sentence

Mermaid doll loves to twirl around in an imaginary aquarium.

Yourself

I used to describe myself as someone who likes to read books, but for the past years I’ve changed it to someone who loves rock-climbing.

A habit

I love to sit down on my black sofa and scroll through my favourite blogs on Sunday mornings before Paul wakes up (if I manage to wake up earlier than him).

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 10 - Replace a cliche

The author challenged us to replace a cliche! This is a tough exercise!!

flat as a pancake

> Flat as the money you get from Chinese New Year angbao

Good as gold

> Good as my mom

As hard to find as a needle in a haystack

> As hard to find as a coin in my brother’s bedroom (sorry bro!)

Hard as nails

> Hard as the horse’s tooth

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 9 - if only.. things would have been different and better

I came to Singapore for my bachelor’s degree, but I’ve been wanting to come here since I was 14. I really wanted to apply for the school-based scholarship or ASEAN scholarship to the secondary school here, but my dad did not let me go. I was really upset that time because it had been my source of motivation to study hard since I was secondary 1. However, when I got to come here, I think I didn’t regret losing the opportunity when I was 14. Though there were many reasons why things could have been better. I might have lost my Indonesian accent if I came here earlier. I might have got scholarship because my English would have been better. I might have got my PR earlier.

But no, I don’t regret.

Because if I came here earlier, I may have delayed my Sacrament of Confirmation like my other friends who came here since secondary school. I may have missed the important turning point in my life when I was 15. I may not have missed home so much since I was so independent since young.

Things would have been different and better, but I’m grateful with my current path.

The Five-Minute Writer-Day 8- A Turning Point

One of the most eventful turning point in my life was when I attended a youth retreat when I was 15. It was organized by the Carmelite and it had the charismatic spirit too. Since then, I joined a Charismatic cell group and I felt that it led me to have deeper desire to be close to God. I always found that this group was special because it required me to do a daily prayer of offering, it demanded weekly attendance in the cell group, it encouraged frequent confession and Rosary, and it did not only consist of personal sharing, but a structured spiritual formation. It was not just a group that had a monthly meeting. When I finally joined Legion of Mary, I was not surprised by the commitment it required because of this charismatic group and retreat.

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 7 - Describe an object

It’s my black step-tracker. I’m not sure how much I can describe it. It’s simple and the band is almost 2cm wide. I found it quite masculine and it doesn’t match my dress, but I really want to get the voucher from the steps-tracking so I keep wearing it. The screen is also black and it’s a little hard to tighten the band in such that it will detect my heart rate. There’s a circle button at the center of the bottom of the screen and I press it to switch from time mode to steps mode or to heart rate monitoring mode. The strap is often loosened and comes off from the thin band (?) that one of my students tell me many times,”Ms Ferninda, your watch! Your watch!”

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 6 - I’m not writing because ... (And a homework to rephrase it)

I’m not writing because I can’t find the write medium to write. I always see myself as a lover of hard copies, but book is bulky and I can’t always carry an additional notebook on top of my prayer journal and the book that I want to read. My laptop is slow and sometimes I give up just when I’m waiting for it to load. However, throughout this five-minute challenge, I found googledocs useful as I can write my ideas anywhere and my phone is definitely faster than my laptop. Now that I’m comfortable in just writing on googledocs and copy-pasting it on my blog using my phone, I hope my blog won’t be neglected anymore.

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 5 - Things to be happy about

Sight

Looking at the sun rays as I walk through the shortcut to my workplace. It sometimes does not feel like I’m in Singapore when I walk that path every morning

The colours created by the light going through the stain glasses in my parish

When Paul finally reached my place that morning of the wedding day and the first thing he said was,”We are almost late!”

Sound

Spotting the sound of koel

Taste

Eating MacDonalds French fries after a long day at work

Eating tortilla de patatas made by Paul!

(As you can see, I love potatoes)

Munching marshmallows dipped in melted dark chocolate

Touch

Squeezing Paul’s hand in the early morning as I’m half asleep

A hug from some students almost every morning as if I have not met them for ages

Smell

The smell of durian as I walk in unknown places

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 4 - One day with a superpower

Day 4 - How would you like to be invisible for a day?

If I were invisible for a day, I would like to visit my previous workplace. There were some students that I wanted to see, how they have grown and how they have become. I would also take a free airplane ride to my house in Indonesia and take a nap there. Oh well, an extra supernatural ability to teleport will be great and I think I need more than a day.

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 3 - life and kerupuk

Day 3 - connect a concrete noun with an abstract concept

The author asked us to list some concrete nouns and connect them with some abstract concepts.

Concrete nouns

Crackers (Kerupuk)

Kettle

Water bottle

Car

Abstract concept

Life

Hunger

Happiness

Marriage

Life is like a kerupuk. We can just go through it without paying attention to details, or we can be like my grandma, so particular about choosing female fish over male fish to be made into kerupuk (I think it’s female, I need to check with her). According to her, the taste is nicer when she chooses the female fish. When we are mindful on what’s going on in our life, we actually enjoy life more! Sometimes unexpected things happen to our life, just like the kerupuk. Like cats coming to visit dried dough of kerupuk, or cloudy weather that makes our kerupuk unable to dry properly. When we let the heat and the oil burn as we deep fry the kerupuk, it expands and becomes crunchy. Just how our life blossoms in the little heat of suffering here and there.

When I start to feel hungry, I imagine the bubble start forming as it boils in the kettle. I often ignore it initially, but the push of steam can’t be ignored and eventually makes  the kettle whistle. Just like how I end up snapping at people.

Disclaimer: I borrow this analogy from a priest advising about marriage!

Marriage is like buying a new car. The gears need to adjust with each other and you really feel the friction when all the parts are trying to get used to each other. It gets better with time as you use the car and take care of the car. Things become smoother but you need to keep using it and let the parts adjust to each other.

Happiness is like a water bottle. We can’t share the water with others if the bottle is empty. It needs to be filled with the right temperature of our choice. One may choose cold water but maybe for me it is the room temperature water that makes me feel satisfied. Over the years our definition of happiness becomes unique. Just like even though my water bottle is the same with my student’s, I’ve realised mine still has the plastic packaging over the body of the water bottle and my student’s connector between the cap and the body has been broken. Though travel does make me happy, I manage to find happiness in having less money, do less travel, and reading library books during vacation. (Of course I still thrive to save up to travel next time, hahaha)

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 2 - List

The book suggested me to make some lists, but I am going to make my own list this time. Here is one list that came to my mind.

Things to do by 31 December

1. Play with my niece. So far we have made some paper crafts and we tried five minute silent reading. The goal is to extend it to 15 minutes by end of December! I also want to use this time to try new art or craft techniques for my work next year
2. Finish reading the book The Garden of Evening Mists
3. Do the Five-Minute Writer daily
4. Study more about Sensory Processing Disorder. I am currently reading The Ultimate Guide of Sensory Processing Disorder by Roya Ostovar. I would like to take notes too as my goal is to be able to explain well  to people who are unfamiliar about sensory processing issues.
5. Work on some database work that I need to settle for my voluntary work
6. Make new year resolutions and reading list for 2019. This time I need to think carefully how I can get the books and check if the National Library has them.
7. Read another fiction from my 2018 reading list
8. Start jogging again

The Five-Minute Writer - Day 1 - Rituals

My vacation has just started and I have been wanting to do something meaningful this vacation. So I load up my eBook loans on my OverDrive and found “The Five-minute Writer” by Margret Geraghty.
Since I have not been posting anything for the past year, this is a good chance to write again! The author has only around three pages in one chapter and the chapter ends with an exercise to write.

Day 1 Rituals

I have never iron a man’s long sleeve shirt until I got married recently. I turned my husband’s shirt many times and ironed it, yet I found crumples here and there. So I found my solace in Youtube and I watched a particular video two or three times till I remembered the order of ironing the shirt: the collar, the sleeves, the shoulders, the back, and the front; do not forget to iron between the buttons. I make sure the water is always filled full in the steam iron so I can iron the pile of laundry without running out of water in the middle. Oh well, I still run out of water with a few of pieces of clothing left to be ironed. My ironing skill is still not perfect, but I think I’m getting faster. I switch a few favourite things to do while I iron the clothes: from listening to our wedding reception songs to listening to a podcast by Laura Vanderkam on career and family. Disclaimer: my husband does not torture me to do laundry, but he has been the one cooking and preparing breakfast so I think it is right and just for me to iron only once or twice a week!