Hint Fiction

A complete story told in 25 words or less.

I like these kinds of stories.

I think I'll start posting my own attempts at Hint Fiction on the first Wednesday of every month from now. It ties in nicely with my word-themed Wednesday posts.

I looked into the mirror today

It was just after fencing in the school changing room.

I had taken off my shirt and I looked at myself in the big mirror on the wall.

I took a deep breath and for the first time in my life...


I felt satisfied with how my body looks.


I had put on a little bit of weight this semester.

Not as much as I had wanted, but it was okay.

I was happy with the way I looked.


Around me were guys with really nice bodies, tone from much training in all sorts of physical activities. I had none of their chiseled frames or tanned skin or steel abs.

But I was contented.

And that felt rather liberating.

It's not her voice...

It's her.


A little bit Fluttershy, a little bit Luna Lovegood, and a little bit Brave.

I'm not a fan of her voice.

I'm a fan of her.

My frail heart burst smilingly

I'm struggling to blog now

Sorry I've not been writing much. It isn't just cuz school is busy. There was a lot I've wanted to blog about.

But I've been struggling because I'm finding blogging so... narcissistic.

It started when I tried vlogging. I just could not stand the sight of my face promoting myself. I never liked seeing myself in videos in the first place.

There are quite a few vloggers out there who make me feel so uncomfortable when I don't find their jokes funny. But they still keep making videos. They contort their face and try to make us laugh and it's just awkward. I don't want to be like that.

Then I realised blogging is not much better.

Here was a blog with my name on it. And my face was at the side previously.
And my personal flag. Like seriously. And I am talking about my feelings and my views.

Really, who cares?

It seems the hundreds of hits I get on the blog are google searches that lead to my essays on Batman, Pokémon and Social Class. But I still put out my heart here in a painfully self centred way.

I resorted to just reblog pictures and videos a lot more. It's better this way till I figure out this one question.

Is it possible to say what I feel without coming across as painfully self-absorbed?

Singa-Ball

For catching the wild Pokémon we find on our sunny island.

One of My First Attempts at Hint Fiction:

In the train sitting between two girls. 

Both texting and smiling to themselves. 

I notice the recipient's name on both their phones is the same.

I hate to tell you this...

But the ancient text of almost sacred value...

Is gone.

Idol

We went through this at church.

What is an idol?


Anything I put before my God

Anything I want with all my heart

Anything can't stop thinking of

Anything that I give all my love

Is an idol.


What is my idol?

It was so difficult to say.

But I knew it and I knew most everyone else knew it.


My idol is my search for a wife.

And nothing hurts me more than to let go of that.


If I don't let go, I'll get what I want.

But I'll not be satisfied.

The funniest video I've seen in my life:

Nuff said.

Written on my phone on the way home:

So I was about to sit down at the LRT station next to this lady who was leaning on one hand even though she was sitting down. I didn't think it was weird that she was leaning a little towards the position I wanted to sit at.

That was till I sat down and realised why she was leaning to one side. It sounded like cloth being ripped slowly. It was a slow and nasty fart.

I had just sat down. She had just broke wind. I held my breath as I desperately tried to think of what I should do.

The more I thought, the more I realised I was trapped. I could no longer get up just after I sat down because it would embarrass her. I held on to my breath desperately hoping the LRT would arrive and I had an excuse to stand. But it didn't. And my lungs were burning. I had to do the unthinkable.

Slowly, I took a shallow breath. I needed the air, but the tiny bit I inhaled contained a rancid smell. The air was still and the air around me was stale. I took a second breath, slightly deeper, and nausea started to overcome me.

By the third time I took a breath, I was ready to be called home away from this cruel earth. I knew I could take no more, so I got up and walled to the opposite side of the platform, hoping that the LRT would arrive and no one would find the only person walking across the station weird.

The announcement came on that the LRT was arriving. I was relieved. Till I realised it was the LRT on the side of the platform I had moved away from that was arriving.

Double Barrelled Question

Is that guy or girl my best friend?

To press or not to press?

Stitch

Possibly the best amateur music video I've seen.

I wasn't there when God created the heavens and the earth...

But I'm sure it was such an epic sight.




I'm actually quite glad I wasn't there.

A Bad Day

It's so sad it's funny.


via Threadless

I'm going to be really honest here

I don't really know what romantic love is.

In fact... I still don't really believe in romantic love.


I don't think it is that important.

I know what love is. Putting someone before myself. That's sacrificial love.


But what is romantic love and is it really essential to a relationship?


Arranged marriages didn't start with romantic love.

You jump in at the deep end and you play your part in the relationship. If both sides do their part, it works as a family unit.

So is romantic love essential to the success of a relationship?


I'm not saying I don't believe in romance- I do. More than most, I would like to think; I studied the ways of romance and learnt more than a thing or two on how to impress a girl.

But after the songs are sung and the piano is played and the last dance is over and the poems are read and the flowers are given and the presents are unwrapped and the letters that make the heart skip a beat are signed off...


Why do I still feel a vast sense of emptiness when I pursue romantic love?

Cannot be unseen

I'm studying Abnormal Psychology now.

It's been a while since I touched psychology.

And I'm shocked.


The textbook... is so subtly racist.


I don't know why I didn't realise this earlier.

Maybe back then I was not thinking like a sociologist.


For example.

To make themselves seem more multi-cultural, the authors of the textbook include pictures of people from all sorts of races.

This is a good thing.

But which races do you think end up portraying the negative examples?

Not the whites of course.

This picture above is nice. Racial minorities in America enjoying a meal together. They are smiling and laughing together. It looks so positive.

If not for the subtext that points to this picture as an example of substance use.

Are you kidding me? This is the best shot you got for the chapter on alcoholism?

Even when whites are used to highlight things like aging, it is done in a way that makes it seem like it is not that much a bad thing. The subtext makes all the difference.

"Studying people as part of a group sometimes masks individual differences."

I wonder what individual differences they are talking about. I'm pretty sure it's not an issue of height or gender, so... what could it possibly be?


And of course most obviously... Which race do you think the therapist will be in the book?

This worries me greatly.

Most of our psychology knowledge comes from America, and if it's so inherently racist, I'm worried about how students of psychology will see the world.

We're not students of psychology... We're students of American Psychology.

Easy listening

Jake Shimabukuro on the Ukelele.

To Land On Mars

Oh the engineering marvels of the 21st Century.

This is an incredible video about an incredible mission.

(And the soundtrack sounds like a cross between Inception and Transformers.)


All that effort.

Just for a chance to explore the red planet a little more.

Actually if they were looking for water could have found it in Singapore.

Okay maybe not in Singapore.

Zombies and Sociology

Doing a Google search on zombies let me find a lot on the topic.

Feminist Perspective

Tumblr Perspective

Science Major's Perspective

Here's my perspective:

Life at college got a lot more difficult for the students of Sociology after the second zombie outbreak.

Other than the regular evacuation and response drills that took up curriculum time, future sociologists also had to contend with the increasingly authoritarian nature of the school governing body while they studied about fascist states.

It was during the third evacuation drill in a single week that the students of Sociology started hypothesizing that the zombie outbreak could have been a moral panic that was engineered by the state to have an excuse to assert their authority. Such ideas of course did not please those in power, and when the rumours did reach their ears, the university nearly lost a department.

(Feel free to carry on the story...)

My sister was right

Mid-terms are over!!!

The highlights of a roller blading trip are the falls.

It's like life.

If everything was smooth sailing, where would the stories come from?

Quiet Time

I was outside the Chinese Gardens.

I was sitting by the lake.

I was journaling.

Behind me was a vast field. Really wide.

There was literally nothing behind me for a long way.

Yet twice I was creeped up on by different people who just appeared behind me rather suddenly. I only turned around when they were near enough for the rustling of the grass to alert me of their presence, which was quite close. I had no clue where they were coming from. There was nothing on my left and right either for quite a distance.


But what I wanted to blog about today was not what went on behind me.

Let me tell you a story of what unfolded before me instead...



Random girl in a Temesek shirt walked by with her dog on a leash.

She was in slippers, using her phone, and strolling along.

The dog was trailing behind and stopped in front of me.

It sat down and refused to budge.

She stood there and continued using her phone.

And so the waiting game began.

Here I was sitting alone and minding my own business.

It was a long stretch of at least 200 meters with only one set of benches.

The dog had chosen to stop right here in front of me.

And I could not ignore the scene unfolding.


He was not going to go any further.

She was not moving till he was ready to go.

I felt the tension building in every passing moment.

It was like watching waiting for Godot on mute.


The silence was deafening.

Both of them were not giving in.

And after more than 5 minutes... the tension proved too much.


"Does he need some water or something?" I shouted to her.

"No," she replied, "he's just lazy."


The standoff continued.


I noticed that the dog she was walking had one blue eye and one black eye.

I wondered who was the one walking who.

Finally, something did give.


She walked back to the dog, picked it up, and walked on.

This singer...

Will shock you.