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.