Yuanfen

When friends who don't speak Bengali hear me talk, e.g. on the phone with my parents, they often remark that I sound more animated and expressive compared to how I talk in English. (I also think I'm more likeable when I speak Bengali, though it's hard to test this theory.)

Last night my friend Muzi and I were saying random sentences, first in English and then in our respective mother tongue (Bengali for me and Mandarin for her, even though we don't understand each other). Muzi also sounds more lively and eloquent in Mandarin, and it's especially evident when she says the same thing in English immediately followed by Mandarin – it's like her whole personality comes out. It makes me sad to think that unless we learn each other's languages, which is very unlikely, we have to resign ourselves to a lifetime of second-best communication, lacking some of the warmth, wit and nuance that we can express in our native language.

Muzi on my balcony

Sometimes with a concept that's particularly hard to translate, Muzi will just use the Chinese term without translation, trusting that I will get her meaning from contextual or other cues. One such example is yuanfen (缘分) which means a predestined relationship, fate or chance that brings people together. Wikipedia says:

although yuanfen is often used in the context of lovers' relationships, the concept itself is much broader and can refer to any relationship between people under any circumstance.

In fact, it's even broader than that. The context in which Muzi used it – my first encounter with the term – was, "I don't have good yuanfen with the 145 bus."

Mechanical Keyboards, Part 2: Customisation

Sometime back I wrote about choosing a mechanical keyboard (MK for short). This post is a sequel about customising my MK – both hardware (switches and keycaps) and software (using Autohotkey which is a free, open-source program). The MK posts are rather dry and technical, so feel free to skip them. I mainly wrote them for my own future reference; if they happen to help someone who is actually interested in MKs and facing some of the same choices that confronted me, that's a happy bonus.

Part 1: Hardware customisation

1.1 Switches

The photo below shows keycaps (green and white) and switches (red) which sit below the keycaps.

Let's talk about switches first. On hot-swappable keyboards, a switch can be removed and replaced in a matter of seconds, using a simple tool that usually comes for free when you buy an MK or a set of switches. This is helpful if a switch is damaged or worn. Or if you want a different typing experience, you can swap them out for another type of switch.

This page goes into more detail, but in short, there are three main types of switches: blue (tactile bump and audible click), brown (tactile bump but no audible click) and red (neither bump nor click). I tried out my friend's keyboard which has blue switches, and various other switches at retail stores. My current preference, as you can see in the photo above, is for linear red switches (the least noisy type).

1.2 Keycaps

Since my previous post, I now have not one but two MKs – one for home and one for work.

My work keyboard has white keys. Keycaps come in a variety of colours, materials and profiles. I found this set of "bamboo forest" keycaps online that I liked the look of, but when they arrived, I realised that the white keys are in fact off-white, while my keyboard base is pure white:

This discrepancy bothers me (possibly more than it should), so I went back to the white keys.

Truth be told, the white keys have kind of grown on me. I do wish they had used some other font (what we have here is a stencil font with open counters; come on guys, keep it simple!) and I could have done without the F-key inscriptions (it's fairly obvious that 2 doubles up as F2, for example). But on the whole I like them, especially the way they light up.

For my second (home) keyboard, I searched long and hard for one whose base colour would match my bamboo forest keycaps, and miraculously I found one which is a perfect match. Here's my home keyboard with its original keys:

...and with the replacement keycaps:

The only (slight) downside to this keyboard is that it's wireless; I prefer wired keyboards because I don't have to worry about charging or replacing batteries. But I can live with that.

While we're on the topic of keycaps, I should note that key sizes can be different, depending on your keyboard configuration (my previous post, under Size, goes into more detail on configurations). For example, the key sizes for a typical 65% (68-key) keyboard like mine are shown in the image below (unmarked keys are 1x, and larger key sizes are denoted by a multiple thereof).

But in a full-size (100%) keyboard, some of the keys are sized differently, e.g. the right Alt, Fn and Ctrl keys are 1.25x, and the right Shift key is 2.75x. A complete set of keycaps should have multiple variants of certain keys, to cover the more common layouts. Here, for example, is the complete set of my bamboo forest keycaps:

So when choosing a set, it's worth checking that it has all the right key sizes for your keyboard type.

1.3 Stands

I guess this is also a form of customisation, albeit of the homebrew variety. My white keyboard has little fold-out stands, but my green keyboard doesn't. So I made stands from rubber pieces, cut to size.

Part 2: Software customisation

2.1 Keyboard layout

Qwerty is by far the most common layout, but there are alternatives such as Dvorak and Colemak, whose proponents claim they are faster and cause less strain. (Incidentally, I love how this alternative layouts page, in the list of reasons why people fear switching away from Qwerty, has listed "fear of ridicule".)

I stick to Qwerty, but with some minor modifications (see the "AutoHotkey" heading below). I considered learning Colemak because I like trying new things, but in the end I figured the time spent in getting up to speed with a new layout would vastly outweigh the gains (if any). And even if I did, I would then have a hard time typing on other keyboards with Qwerty layout.

This tool analyses various keyboard layouts, including user-defined custom layouts, on the basis of typing effort (though effort is of course subjective). And this page, about the lesser-known Workman layout, has a nice graphic showing the "the approximate amount of difficulty/strain" in reaching for or pressing various keys.

If switching from Qwerty to a whole new layout is a bridge too far, one option is to switch just a few keys. Carpalx lists the five most effective keyswaps. Apparently the first swap (K and E) alone reduces effort by 13.4%. But I haven't tried this myself.

2.2 AutoHotkey

Although I opted not to change my keyboard layout, I made various modifications using this wonderful free, open-source program called AutoHotkey (currently available for Windows only; other operating systems may have similar tools, but I haven't looked into them).

The AutoHotkey website has a comprehensive tutorial, and even though it might look intimidating if you're not a coder, it's actually not that hard. (I figured it out on my own, and I have minimal coding experience.) In short, you have to download AutoHotkey, then create a script which can be edited in Notepad. This script can then be used to change the behaviour of keys, effectively customising what they do. The final step is to make sure that the script runs automatically on startup.

Incidentally, regedit (Windows Registry Editor) can also be used to remap keys, but for most users, AutoHotkey is a better and more flexible solution (their own site lists some of the pros and cons of each approach).

My AutoHotkey script makes quite a few customisations, which I have iteratively tweaked to my personal taste over a period of months. You can see the whole script by clicking the link below:

Show/hide script

; For use with 68-key US keyboard layout.

; SYMBOLS, NEW

RAlt::–
^!-::—
^!d::°
^!x::×
^!t::Send("~")
^!.::…

; Shortcuts for ï and \ are disabled in Affinity to avoid conflict.
#HotIf !WinActive("ahk_exe Photo.exe")
^!i::ï
^!b::Send("\")
#HotIf


; SYMBOLS, REMAPPED

$;::!
+;::Send(":")
^$;::Send("{Ctrl Up}^{;}") ; For Affinity: Ctrl + original semi-colon key to hide and show guidelines
/::?
; Backslash to slash, long-press for hash
$\::
{
if (KeyWait("\", "T0.2"))
send "{/}"
else
send "{#}"
}

; to match UK layout
+$2::"
+3::£
+'::@


; CAPS LOCK

CapsLock::;
^CapsLock::CapsLock


; NAVIGATION

Home::Delete
RShift::Home
Del::PgUp
PgUp::PgDn
PgDn::End


; F KEYS

; For F2, long-press Esc
$Esc::
{
if (KeyWait("Esc", "T0.2"))
send "{Esc}"
else
send "{F2}"
}

^!w::Send("!{f4}") ; Ctrl+Alt+W for Alt+F4

RCtrl & Left::Send("{F5}") ; Refresh browser
RCtrl & Down::Send("{Shift Up}+{F3}") ; Change case in Word
RCtrl & Up::Send("{F11}") ; Full-screen for browser and some other programs. Also engineered to work for full-screen in Word (see Program-Specific heading below)

; PROGRAMS

#B::Run("Chrome")
#C::Run("::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}") ; Win+C to open My Computer
#D::Run("C:\Program Files\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Resolve.exe")
#G::Run("MSPaint")
#N::Run("Notepad")
#S::Run("C:\Users\sroyo\AppData\Roaming\Spotify\Spotify.exe")
#W::Run("WinWord")
#A::Run("C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityPhoto2_2.5.6.2887_x64__3cqzy0nppv2rt\App\Photo.exe")
; Affinity path changes each time it's updated. For how to get access to the protected Windowsapps folder, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKnnj8DQlK4


; VOLUME

~LButton & WheelUp::SoundSetVolume("+5")
~LButton & WheelDown::SoundSetVolume(-5)


; EMOJIS

#Esc::Send("🙂")
#1::Send("😊")
#2::Send("😅")
#3::Send("😂")
#4::Send("😍")
#5::Send("😎")
#6::Send("😔")
#7::Send("😢")
#8::Send("😭")
#9::Send("😐")
#0::Send("😬")
#-::Send("😳")
#=::Send("😱")
#Backspace::Send("🤦‍♂️")
#Home::Send("🙈")
#[::Send("👍")
#]::Send("👌")
#\::Send("🙏")
#Del::Send("💪")
#;::Send("👀")
#'::Send("❤️")
#,::Send("🔥")
#.::Send("✨")
#/::Send("🎉")

+Del::Send(":)")
^Del::Send(":(")

; LONG PRESS
; ] > email. Note: There a couple of long-press hotkeys elsewhere in the document (search for KeyWait). Esc > F2. Bkslash > #.
; Note: don't assign long-press to a key if there is a chance you'll hit that key and another key in quick succession, because the order gets reversed.

#HotIf !WinActive("ahk_exe Photo.exe")
$]::
{
if (KeyWait("]", "T0.2"))
send "{]}"
else
send "[emailredacted]@gmail.com"
}
#HotIf


; PROGRAM-SPECIFIC

#HotIf WinActive("ahk_exe WinWord.exe")
RCtrl & Up::Send("!vu")  ; Full-screen
^!$f::Send "^!f{Tab}" ; Ctrl+Alt+F (footnote in Word) automatically adds Tab for indent
#HotIf

...but here are a few examples in a more human-readable form:

1. Shortcuts for symbols, such as:

• For – (n-dash), I press Right-Alt. (My Right-Alt otherwise gets very little use, since I almost always use Left-Alt.)
• For — (m-dash): Ctrl+Alt+-
• For ° (degree-symbol): Ctrl+Alt+D
• For ï (i with diaeresis, as in naïve): Ctrl+Alt+I

2. Program-specific customisations, such as disabling the aforementioned Ctrl+Alt+I shortcut in Affinity Photo, because that combination is used for Image size.

3. Some customisations to speed up typing. For example, I mapped my ; key to ! because I use the latter much more frequently. It's therefore convenient to have ! within easy reach (right pinky) and not have to press Shift+1 each time. My Caps Lock is mapped to ;, so I can still access it easily. To actually activate Caps Lock, which I seldom need, I press Ctrl+Caps Lock.

4. A 65% keyboard like mine doesn't have F keys; instead you have to press the Function key plus the corresponding number key (for example, Fn+1 for F1). I don't use that many F-keys anyway, but for the few that I do use, I set up workarounds which are faster than Fn plus number keys:

• For F2 (rename file): long-press Esc
• For Alt+F4 (close program): Ctrl+Alt+W
• For F5 (refresh browser): Right-Ctrl+←
• For Shift+F3 (change case in MS Word): Right-Ctrl+↓
• For F11 (full-screen): Right-Ctrl+↑

5. Shortcuts for launching programs, such as Win+N for Notepad, Win+W for MS Word, and Win+A for Affinity Photo (I take care not to reassign any useful defaults, such as Win+P for Project Screen).

6. Mouse left-button plus wheel up/down to increase/decrease volume.

7. Windows key and various numbers for commonly-used emojis, such as Win+2 for 😅.

8. Long-pressing ] generates my email address, to save me having to type it out in full.

9. Remapping some of the navigation keys, most notably right Shift to Home (I always use left Shift, and it's nice having Home and End on either side of the Up Arrow key).

In the process of customisation, I discovered a few helpful principles:

1. Try to make shortcuts easy to remember, because otherwise they fall out of use and are forgotten. For example, Ctrl+Alt+D for ° (degree symbol) is easily memorised.

2. Make sure shortcuts don't conflict with other commonly-used functions. For example I initially used Ctrl+Alt+M for × (multiplication symbol) but that is also the shortcut for Insert Comment in MS Word. I then switched to Ctrl+Alt+X, which is also easy to remember.

3. Long press is a nice way to assign additional functions to a key, but don't assign long-press to a key if there is a chance you'll hit that key and another key in quick succession, because then the order gets reversed. For example, let's say you assign some long-press function to T. Now if you press T and H in quick succession, which we often do, e.g. when typing the, you'll get hte instead. I have long-press enabled for ], because I rarely hit another key very quickly after.

Truth be told, it's likely that I spent more time on customisation than I will actually save, even in the long run. But to me, the process of customising and optimising is inherently satisfying. For example, I love tinkering with my Fuji X-E4 camera, customising the various buttons and shooting menus to suit my personal preferences and shooting style. As dustypomerleau puts it in his page on alternative keyboard layouts, "efficient processes feel better than inefficient ones, even when the end result is the same – they improve our emotional well-being and quality of life."

2024 New Things List

I've never done a year-end wrap type of post, but I was thinking back on first-time experiences and new things that I tried in 2024. I wrote about some of them already, like mechanical keyboards, dengue and kombucha (surely the first time that these three things have featured on the same list), but here are five more.

Eating durian by the roadside

I've eaten durian many times before, but not freshly-cut-open durian by the roadside. Since moving to Singapore, I'd sometimes see people eating durian at roadside stalls, usually at night, and it always seemed like a Cool Thing to Do. In 2024 I tried it not once but twice – first with my friend Muzi, at Wonderful Durian in Geylang:

...and later with three other friends at a stall in my own neighbourhood. It's every bit as fun as it looks. They give you plastic gloves because durian has a very strong smell (famously, it's not allowed on Singapore buses).

The durian experience with Muzi was right after we watched a fire-dragon dance at a Taoist temple (where I took this photo). It was also my first time watching a fire-dragon dance.

Crying in English

This one's a bit more sombre than eating durian.

Last summer, one of my close friends was diagnosed with stage IV cancer (she is still doing okay, and I'm an optimist – we both are – so we will see).

The day after her diagnosis, I was doing a publicity shoot for a contemporary dance company run by my friends Chiok and Guofeng. I'm friends with the other dancers too, and photoshoots are always lively and fun. But that day, during a break, I was sitting quietly on my own. Chiok asked me what happened. I told her, and she gave me a dramatic hug.

I think this is the first (and so far only) time that I cried in English. I don't cry much in general, and when I do, it's often on my own. I've occasionally cried with other people, but they happened to be Bengali, so I would be talking (and crying) in Bengali too.

Anyway the photos turned out well, and Sigma (the dance company) used them for their ongoing production, Streams Where Deer Drink.

Videography

It was also thanks to Sigma that I got into videography. It's a long (and somewhat amusing) story which I won't get into here, but in the space of one week, I went from someone who used his camera exclusively for stills and knew next to nothing about video, to shooting the dance trailer for Streams Where Deer Drink. And using a gimbal, which was also a first for me.

I then went on to shoot the trailer and some rehearsal footage (screenshot below) for another Sigma show, and I have some more video projects lined up in the next couple of months. Fun times.

Mini PC

I had a desktop computer in college. Laptops were expensive back then (or seemed that way), and I only bought mine after I got a proper job. Since then, I only used laptops.

My current laptop, an Asus Zenbook, is over nine years old. It's still fine for work (which is document-based), emails and browsing, but it struggles with photo editing, and video is virtually impossible.

I was initially thinking about getting a replacement laptop. Desktop computers, in my head, were either big and clunky, or petite but relatively expensive like the Mac Mini. But then I discovered the world of Windows mini PCs – a development which I was completely oblivious to. You tune out of the PC world for ten years, and look what they come up with. I feel like Rip Van Winkle awakening to a new world order.

I immediately went down a rabbit-hole of research, as one does, and emerged with a Beelink Series 5 Max.

I already had all the peripherals, but in my home setup, I used to plug them into my laptop. The Beelink, which sits under my riser, takes up even less space, and is more than enough computer for my needs. I can edit videos in DaVinci Resolve or large multi-layer images in Affinity Photo, all while listening to Spotify and with multiple browser tabs open. Ryzen 5 processor, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, pre-installed Windows 11 – all this in a device the size of four CD cases stacked on top of each other. The future is here.

Pickleball

Finally, 2024 was the year I got into pickleball.

My friend Li Ling, pictured above, introduced me to a group which plays every day (though we go about once a week). I've never played sports in a group that has so much age diversity – we have people of all ages, from teenagers to retirees, and they are a fun, warm and welcoming bunch. We played with a guy in his twenties who used to be on the national badminton team, and a woman who is 74 but has a fearsome forehand smash. I might also start playing with another group in a different part of town.

Blog note: Last year I wrote that 24 blogposts a year is a good number to aim for. This year I wrote 44, which is the most since 2012! Still I will keep my targets modest. Once again, I would be happy with 24 posts in 2025. Happy new year!