Week 9 Writing Excercise

Aaron sits alone in his room, facing his computer, located beside the window. It rains, so heavily outside, and Aaron has nowhere to go, but to stay at home.
Parents are away to work, and this is the kind of lifestyle he has been so used to since young. Without the parents by his side, nor does he has any siblings, this is the kind of lifestyle that he has had.
Aaron’s facial expression changes from time to time, as he online and has a chat with that usual online friend. Aaron, in fact, is rather a plump and bulky guy. However, when online, he pictures himself to be tall, slim, and handsome looking fellow. The picture that he uploads in his Facebook is obtained from somewhere else, not of his real picture.
And Aaron continues to impress the online friend. Without having many friends in real, Aaron’s only engagement in friendship is with Emily, his online close friend.
They spend almost every day and night chatting with each other in the internet. Emily looks like a really shy girl and has the girl-next-door look.
Having known each other from the internet for more than half a year now, Emily thinks that it is time to come out and meet up.
There, Aaron gets a little anxious, for he has been cheating with his picture all these while. After going offline, Aaron stands in front of the big mirror of his room, gazing himself for quite some time. The feeling of guilt flows through his mind. “I have got another two weeks before we meet up,” he thought. “I’ll have to do something.”
And Aaron thinks maybe it’s time for him to shake off some weight, get some grooming, and change into someone that at least look more similar to the Aaron in the internet.
The rain has not stopped, but Aaron grabbed his jacket quickly and runs out from the house. Across the streets and lanes, he runs to a barber shop nearby. The shop is operated by his old neighbour, Mr. Jimmy. Aaron asks Mr.Jimmy to do him a favour, to groom his hair. Aaron has been keeping that messy, wavy and really thick long hair for some time. The thick hair that grows to slightly over the shoulders often makes him feels bad especially in summer.
Mr. Jimmy is shocked and stunned for a while, as Aaron never agrees to cut his hair, nor do any treatment. However, he thought it might really be the time for Aaron to change his image. Then, Mr. Jimmy helps him to do a total makeover, and style his hair into a younger and more energetic guy.
After the whole hair cutting process, Aaron looks again into the mirror, and sees himself looking so different than before. He is not sure if he should like the look that he has now, because he feels a little uncomfortable and gets so unfamiliar with himself.
Stepping out from the barber shop, the rain has started to stop. Aaron walks slowly on his way back home. The street is filled with people again and Aaron has to walk with his head facing down. Aaron has had that low-self esteem since young. He flashes back the moments of him, being bullied in the school, in the playground, by his fellow classmates who never bother to have him as a friend. He is always alone.
As he walks, the anger suddenly burns up again, and Aaron feels really angry at himself for never standing up for his own. Aaron lifts up his head a little, looks at the people around. And he feels as if like the people around are laughing and pointing at him. Aaron faces the ground again and he walks more quickly back home.
Back into his room, with only the dawn light in the evening, the room looks rather eerie and dark. The parents are not back yet. Aaron once again stands in front of the mirror, looking at himself without much facial expression.
He takes off his t-shirt, and looks at himself again. The stomach is bulky, the arms are flabby. With the height of 180cm, Aaron weighs almost 100kg, which is quite really a huge guy.
Two weeks has passed, and Aaron slims down a little. As he frequents himself to look at himself in the mirror, and reminds himself that he is going to meet up with his only friend in this world, Emily.
Without having much knowledge in fashion, Aaron pulls out all the clothes he has from the closet, keeps choosing what is the most appropriate to wear during his first meet up session with Emily.
And he finally decides one, a simple t-shirt that he always wears with the pair of vintage jeans.
At the café, Aaron can’t stop but being nervous. He has that coffee on the table for half an hour now and he has not even had a sip of it.
Then a young girl takes her steps into the café, looking gorgeous and fresh. She turns the head around and it is that familiar face that he has always seen from the net, she is Emily.
Aaron feels a little scared again, and has his face facing downward..
Emily walks to his table, and says: “Hi, Aaron.”
Aaron is shocked, for Emily knows that he is Aaron. Emily sits down and continues saying, “you must be surprised that I recognize you.”
Still, Aaron does not say anything.
“Actually, I’ve known you for quite some time. We stay not too far from each other, and I know some of your classmates.”
“I’ve been told that you do not have many friends, and always stick to only yourself, I think your friends must be really mean for treating you like that.”
Finally Aaron dares to lift up his face a little and faces Emily.

speed writing exercise week 7

Beethoven Op.110 for piano:

Edwin showed us a video of robots at a warehouse earlier, and suggested that we can give it a go to write about robots. As usual, this kind of topic is not something that is familiar to me, but i thought it should be a good try, so here goes my story or "what is in my mind" when i listened to that piece of music.


This is a new robot design, again, by the Japanese scientists. This robot is meant to be the robotic nanny for the new generation of kids whose parents are just too busy at work and do not have time to take care of them.

Being designed with the accuracy to be quick at work and gentle at the same time, the robot shares the same similarities with human beings, from the physical side of view, they have heads, limbs and bodies just like any of us, except they are robots.

The robots can do many things like the way human beings do it. Presets are needed to be done once the robots are brought home. They can be set to bring the kids to shower, adjust the water temperature to the desired temperature you want, prepare simple meals for the kids, make them sleep, cover blankets for the kids, etc.

The robots can also clean the house like any other older versions of robots designed in the past. those house chores definitely includes sweeping the floor, mopping, cleaning the tables, wiping dusts everywhere, etc.

The kids will soon be familiar enough with their robotic nannies and get used to them well. In future, there might be more functions added to these robots, which includes bedtime story telling, ability to play games with the kids, could be millionaire games, scrabbles, or any other beneficial games, and also, another proposed feature would be to have the robots being able to teach some homework or correct the kids' school work, just like how a tuition teacher could do it.

The parents in Japan will soon to have less worries with the kids being at home as when the robots get more common, the price will be lowered at the same time. With such great inventions, it is definitely a relief for the Japanese parents to get easy at their works.

In the future, you can certainly imagine a family of four or five, one of the members being the robot nanny as the great invention will definitely become a hot buy among the Japanese.

It would be even greater when such inventions get more matured and well-known that eventually become a world-class product.

You can imagine the kids sitting down at the dining table with the feminine looking robot nanny, having their lunch when the parents are away from home. or even see the robot nanny cleaning up the dishes when the kids have finished their meals.

This kind of invention is definitely not a dream as the technology is becoming more and more advanced day by day, interactive world between humans and robots will become so common in time to come.

-end-

Well, this is sort of like what went through my mind when the piece of music is being played. I think the music is very soft and gentle, almost like being taken care of, so i thought of the robot nanny, which could be something that is so in need presently and even more in future. Cheers.

in class writing practice

Today's music piece is "zyklop" by Thomas Korner.

The 12-minute long exercise is really hard, especially when the rule is to keep writing, without anything thinking allowed.

And this is what i've written in class:

I can hear the sound of enemies approaching my doorway. The footsteps of the evils are getting nearer second by second. The thought is filled with anger, hatred, and most of all, loneliness. I'm scared.

I see blood everywhere. Dad and mom have lied down and never wake up again. The neighbours are all gone, being shot down right in front of me. The war that started not long ago has caused the whole village of people to suffer and die.

Peace is no longer the trademark of our once small yet lovely village. I hear people screaming all the time, crying and begging to stay alive. I've been sobbing and hiding under this broken table for one whole day now, afraid to be discovered.

I'm sick of all the laughter and cheering of the evil ones. I can almost hear them saying, "there's no one left". The rain falls and washes all the blood away. Johnathon, the baby boy from the next door, has been killed too, with the head nowhere to be found. Lily, another girl next door, had the limbs cut down and thrown all over the place. I turn and look at dad's and mom's dead bodies, lying as if so peacefully on the bed, with their hands holding each other's, tightly.

"Why didn't they take me along?", i ask myself. I saw the moment they shed tears and whispered to each other. I saw the moment they swallow that bottle of pills that is never reachable to me.

Now that i hear the sound of the devils leaving, the village is becoming more and more quiet. As if, the village is now back to peace. But the fact is, everyone has died. The rain continues to fall, and the army seems to decide to leave. "No one else there," says one of them. "Let's go and meet up with the others," the other one says. And then, the evil ones left.

All I can hear now is the tears from the heaven, crying for what has happened to our once lovely and peaceful village. I crawl slowly to the doorway, and peeked through the little hole right beside it.

Dead bodies are lying everywhere....



And this is the what i've written basically. Sounds scary? Weird?
But the first thought that came in my mind when the piece of music is played, is the ancient war scenario. so i guess that's why..

More practices to come. I need improvement. =)