Yet another cheerful wall post by a SAC friend. This managed to get a smile on my face at 3 AM, and that is normally an impossible task. This picture is a perfect example of the fine line between creative and cheesy. My Facebook homepage is riddled with cheesy messages from guys to their girlfriends and vice-versa. Although it may seem cute to a lot of people, especially the females, to me its not. It’s like one of those things that sends shivers down your spine. It’s not frightening, but rather weird and a bit creepy. People posting these things are folks I know, and they’ve transformed into something completely different. I do understand that love does have that effect on people, and in this modern age everyone feels compelled to disclose everything about their current lives to their online friends.

The world, through social networking tools like Facebook, is slow moving towards the “One World. One Consciousness.” idea. People now create quizzes about themselves to test how much their friends know them. Disappointment follows when their best friends are not upto the mark. Relationships have never been severely tested like this before. Folks who answer these quizzes include people they’ve never met. People end up sharing more about themselves than they normally would. In this haze, or in the excitement of following the newest, shiniest thing on the block, they’re disclosing some really personal information – like what their favourite flavour of ice-cream is.

Privacy out the window. Everyone wants to wear their hearts on their sleeves. That’s what the blogs and Twitter are for, right?

As my personality report puts it, I guard my inner world like a mother lion guards her cubs. This space does put out some personal information but does so with no specific audience in mind. Randomness in the Universe is tested. But I’d never use Twitter unless I had some kind of anxiety disorder.

What’s with the quizzes on Facebook? What does my name mean? How hot am I? Half-way through the quiz, you know what you want the answer to be and you try to ensure you get the desired result. The “fun quizzes” are pretty alright, but if some young teen takes these quizzes thinking they accurately state the nature of their personality then they’re not going to be happy on getting “The Joker” as the result of “Which Gotham City character are you?” I guess the number of people with compulsive, obsessive, expressive characteristics is increasing.

Here’s something I cooked up -

People want to be noticed. People want to be heard.
People want  to make an impression. People want to be remembered.

The importance of that intellectual connection. The real spark.

It’s extremely hard to find friends you really connect with on an intellectual level. I’m not talking about liking the same movies or having similar interests, but rather having strong opinions about things you deal with in daily life.

Intellect. n. the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively.

It doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence or  the choices that you make. It’s about opinions you have about issues – social, political, environmental, economical, etc. Stuff that grown-ups talk about. It’s about being aware of the world around you. It could also be something totally random, like for example, how awful Natalie Portman’s agent is at picking projects for her. Apparently, she’s been confirmed for the “Thor” movie.

Odille and I have an amazing connection. We drift through a variety of topics in our conversations and we don’t even realize the transition from one topic to another. It never gets boring. It’s not like we agree on everything. In fact, most of the time, we disagree on everything. That’s what makes it interesting. We allow each other to voice our opinions on the subject and often respectfully disagree with those opinions. I’m glad I have a friend in real-life who shares such a connection with me. Plus, conversations are totally non-cheesy and we both share a mutual dislike for cheesiness, which is an added advantage. Glad to have such a sis/best friend.

On the internet, finding a bunch of people who want to voice their opinions on issues isn’t too difficult. You’ll find some really interesting characters online, with weird usernames and unusual experiences. It’s interesting to know that a lot of our problems are similar and independent of whether you’re from a developing country or a developed one. It’s great to have intelligent discussions online. Things get interesting in these forums when every now and then a ‘flamer’ comes along and starts blabbering his rigid opinions and the rest of the members pounce on the poor guy. It’s hilarious to read through some of those comments.

As far as online user communities go, deviantART, Neowin and MyOpera are absolutely amazing for discussions and if you need help. Sites like Last.fm are most certainly not a place to voice your opinions. There are flamers lurking in the dark just waiting for your emo comment on your favourite ‘Backstreet Boys’ song. All in all, social communities are a fun place to be. In real life, it’s incredibly hard to find someone who’s willing to hear about the things you’re passionate about. Most people don’t give a crap.

Religion and Modern Music

If you’re diligently religious and have been avoiding “dark” music, you’re missing out on some great music. Although I wish artists didn’t used the anti-religion theme, some of these works are hard to ignore. Like for example, “Hotel California” by “Eagles“. If you’ve kept yourself from listening to that song because of its alleged connection with the devil,  then you’re missing out one of the best guitar solo’s ever. But I do avoid bands like “Cradle of Filth“. They’re pure evil

I wonder why I loathe college so much. I love travelling to college, and my classmates are pretty interesting people. Yet, there’s something creepy about the whole experience. “Creepy” is the perfect word to describe it. Each day feels like the first day of Kindergarten. Towards the end of the last Sem, I was beginning to get used to attending lectures regularly, but now that’s all changed. Back to square one.

I never loved college life, although it allows me to  do things I wouldn’t get to do if I were at school. Some of my friends believe I’m missing out on some memorable moments, but I don’t believe that’s the case. In fact, I would’ve missed out on some very important moments of my life had I attended college regularly. On the flipside, from a learning perspective, I’ve missed out on learning about some concepts. I’ve learnt a lot of new things especially from the ADFS and OS lectures, but haven’t been able to deliver in the terminal exams. The reason? Some other very memorable moments occurred during the study-leave.

Am I happy with my performance in the last year? Absolutely.

I’ve always believed that life is more than…more than this. Most of the time you find yourself confined to do one task, or several tasks related to one area of your life. But to get the most out of each moment of your life, you need to be an escape artist. You need to be like Harry Houdini.

Forget “following your heart”, that’s rubbish. You’ll find every single respectable elder telling you to concentrate on building a strong foundation and working on your academics and all that. Your parents, teachers, every “peer” you know. Most of them have lived their lives as suggested by their peers. Some of them have tried a whole lot of things and on reflecting upon their existence, have found they should’ve done better in their early years.

But then again, whatever happened to following your heart? Do we live in a world where phrases like  ”following your heart” and “true love” merely appear in works of fiction? Add that thought to the fact that Santa Claus was never real, and God will soon be dead. What you get is a very sucky world.

My personal problem is that my heart doesn’t  feel a sense of belonging in college. An added problem is that I’ve worked on real world projects including this website, and I’ve felt a sense of belonging as a developer/programmer in this world. I’ve enjoyed spending sleepless nights solving technical problems. My course no longer serves the purpose of affirming my place in the world, but rather functions as an optional supplement. It’s not as though I don’t need to learn about DBMS concepts and stuff. I’m not an expert at most of the things taught in college and some concepts are totally new. The inner conflict is more about me not getting what I want from this course.

I don’t mind waking up early for college. The problem is that attending lectures isn’t an interesting experience. I find spending nearly 2 hours learning about an interesting subject but without a break or without light-hearted moments  extremely counter-productive for me. Although the real world examples help gain a better understanding of the subject, even after concentrating on the subject being taught without any distractions,  by the end of the lecture I end up with a dry mouth and sleepy eyes. 30 minutes after the lecture ends, I have no memory whatsoever of what transpired during the lecture. How is all this helping me?

This is not about my attention span. My attention span is as much as any average student, if not slightly more. It’s not even about me being uninterested, because I’m extremely interested in DB stuff.
It’s just that the entire experience is terribly exhausting.

People in class sleep like fish. I fit among the exceptions, but that isn’t always the case. I can’t imagine the state of folks having a non-IT background who show up for lectures just hoping they’d understand something that would help them get a job. They describe lectures as “bouncers”.

What would make college more interesting?

• Lectures of lesser duration. Max. 40 mins per lecture.
• Limited topics discussed. List of topics given before lecture begins. Summary of all topics at the end of the lecture.
• A light-hearted environment more conducive to learning as an experience, rather than learning as a process. Lecturers need to step down from their fancy pedestals and live with us as mere mortals. Pretend that you don’t know more than we do. Learn with us, don’t show off. Some of us might know more than you do. We’ll respect you — not for what you know, but for what you’re doing for us.
• If consecutive lectures of the same subject are held, there should be a 10 min break in between. You could argue that the break may disturb the link between related topics, but it would be worse if you had an entire class sleeping like fish, right?
• Visually more interactive. How about a projector and a real computer in class? Sure, it’s time consuming, but concepts that are explained visually end up being stored in a different area of the brain, from where retrieval is more reliable.
• Less technical information. More discussion of real-world applications.
• Pros/cons of topic/technology written on the board.
• More information on the board, please!. Again, visual information is important, no matter how informative your speech is. If I forget the 3rd point of the topic discussed in the beginning of the lecture, I should be able to find it on the board. Scouting through my book to fetch the relevant information is an impossible task, coz you know what…I’ve been jotting notes without paying attention.
• Syllabus should cover topics which would be useful in the real world. “Your Syllabus is vast” is another way of saying, “You’ll be learning a lot of non-sense this year”. Take proper advantage of our autonomy. Do right what the Mumbai University did wrong. We’re not here to be “Jacks of all trades”.
• A little empathy. Consider that we have a life outside of college; a life more colourful and beautiful, a life that is whole and complete. Don’t disturb the balance.

The “Indigo Children”…

Descriptions of indigo children include the belief that they are empathetic, curious, possess a clear sense of self-definition and purpose, strong-willed, independent and unconventional. Indigo children have also been described as having a strong feeling of entitlement, or “deserving to be here.” Other alleged traits include a high intelligence quotient, intuitive, resistance to authority, disruptive, impatient and easily bored. Indigo children function poorly in conventional schools due to their rejection of authority, being smarter than their teachers and a lack of response to guilt-, fear- or manipulation-based discipline.

The walk of life is a long, hard one. We are born. We toddle our way through half our lives. And then we die. We try to find the meaning of difficult words like purpose. We try to define ourselves time and over again, and find how much we’ve changed. Life isn’t constant. Life is vibrant. No matter how boring it may seem at times, life is vibrant.

We walk through life forming ideas and beliefs. Some inspired, some are of our own. We also watch some of our beliefs being shattered by the winds of change. We trust people and believe in them. We watch them disappoint us time and over again. Even the most trusted relationships fail us at times. And even the most undependable friend can do wonders at times. Things we hate can become things we’re passionate about. Things we love can become dull and boring. Nothing ever remains the same. Nothing lasts forever. Things don’t change. People change.

Sometimes we’re compelled to do the things we hate. Sometimes we’re not able to do the things we love. Sometimes we hurt those who we love the most. Sometimes we befriend those who we hate the most.

We begin to hate things we love. We love the things we hate. We’re always willing to try something different. We’re always up for an adventure, if not in the outside world, then at least in our minds.

And yet we can never come up with a good explanation for why we do the things we do. We defy logic, principles, and rules. We do the things we never imagined. Sometimes we regret such things. Sometimes we’re glad we did something different.

We live for experience. We spend every waking minute trying to experience something.

I just watched the Oscar winning “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and I’m quite impressed by the movie. I was looking forward to watching it because it was made by David Fincher (“Finch”). It’s amazing how sometimes you feel you’re guided by something into discovering works of art you’d be interested in. Finch’s brilliant direction of the “A Perfect Circle” video “Judith” drove me to discover “Fight Club” which was a movie I had only heard of before. To be honest, I didn’t like “Fight Club” at all. TCCBB won’t figure in my favourites, but it was quite an intriguing movie. Movies had previously explored ideas of Eternal life. I had come across a quote online saying “If only we could grow old to be 18”. TCCBB puts the idea of growing old to be a toddler in a very interesting setting. It’s worth a watch.

The wedding bells are ringing for some folks. It’s amazing how people declare “it’s time for me to get married”. If it’s a guy declaring this, expect a slight tremble in his voice. If it’s a girl, expect a high pitch enthusiastic tone, but that isn’t always the case. A wise man somewhere on the internet once said “Marriage. Don’t be pressured into it. Is the fear of loneliness really greater than the fear of bondage?” I guess at some point of time in your life, you just give in. Generally speaking, the guy is made to give in to the girl’s demands. They’re in a hurry to get married, and you’re looking to delay it as far as possible. The friend I’m about to talk about is the only living guy on the planet who sounded kind of excited about the idea. It needs to be noted though that he’s been dating the girl for 6 years and they’re practically married already. It’s one of the few relationships I’m willing to put my bets on. These high school sweethearts are going to make it work. I really hope the world around them allows them to do things their way.

It’s amazing how relationships work though. I mean, guys are girls are very much incompatible to the very core. Our likes, dislikes, our attitudes, egos – everything is so different. Movies put it this way – “We complete each other”, but that sounds more like an excuse or a justification for a terrible mistake. I’ve experienced it a lot of times – the clear misalignment in the thoughts of guys and girls, with guys trying to rationalize everything and take things at face value, whereas girls considering the feelings associated with the action. I think it’s fair to say that the girls are the ones complaining more, and the guys are the ones expected to make up for their mistakes. Jealousy is a common problem with guys, whereas girls complain about a variety of things, but at the very basic level, they’re just constantly demanding your undivided attention. You could insult a guy, hurt him, and kick him, whatever. Make him jealous and that’ll top it all.

It’s very true that we guys can be toyed around with. We’re easy to fool, probably because we take things at face value. The greatest part about being a guy in a relationship is the healing part. If you’re in a relationship, you’re bound to get hurt. Historically speaking, I guess Adam was always made to be strong enough to deal with rejection so that he could try his luck with ‘every Eve’ that walked by. We’re amazing. Even if a guy is dealing with the worst heartbreak ever, he won’t miss catching a glimpse of a hot girl on the street. We can pack up and leave.
We do have our soft corner though, and that’s what allows girls to toy around with us. Cuteness is our vice, and we know it. We also know sometimes that we’re being played around with, but its fun to give in. We’re not fools to give in to unimaginable demands. We know that at the end of it all, there’s something in it for us. For guys, I guess relationships dry out when that prize that the end of the tunnel either vanishes or is available elsewhere for a cheaper price. Our rational minds are always fixated on the goal.

There are a lot of other things that make us proud of being guys, although most of these things are used to make us feel ashamed of ourselves. Good thing “shame” isn’t a value embedded in us. We will always be brutes.
We get away with a lot of things thanks to our ape-like behaviour throughout history. We dress comfortably. I’ve seen women wearing absolutely uncomfortable heels either to look tall, or because they’re a fashion statement, or I don’t know what. If you ask a girl why she loves shoes with heels, she’ll probably say “Because they’re good”. There is no rational explanation for it. While you’re at it, try asking “Why so many shoes?!” They try oh so hard on their looks, thinking we’re actually paying attention to the new earrings, or the new shoes, but we’re not. We’d rather go on living with the illusion that you’re a natural beauty.

Although there’s a new body-building fad going around, most of us aren’t concerned about our looks. We don’t care if our paunch is developing a second layer. Also, we have an amazing ability to keep ourselves entertained. We’re great multi-taskers – we can write assignments while talking over the phone and also drifting through TV shows all at the same time.

I can’t stress enough on how incredibly annoying any given group of girl friends can be. The jokes are NOT FUNNY, yet they laugh like it’s funnier than anything else. They walk together as a group, walking slower than snails and occupy the entire gangway, laughing and giggling over the silliest of things. If only they could understand the hilarious jokes we crack. Okay, girls may find most of our jokes offending coz a lot of times, it’s about girls. But a group of girls are something to dread. Separate one from the herd, and she’d seem much more approachable. Talk to the group and find yourself in big trouble. A guy in the midst of such a group is truly a soldier and deserves a medal of honour.

There are like a million things we don’t understand about their “tribe” but most of the time we don’t show it. We aren’t really of the curious kind.

We’re low fuss. Low cost. Low maintenance. And we’re great liars. What more could a woman possibly want? A lot more actually. But the great thing is – We’re all the same. We really are. So being a guy, if you’re ever heartbroken, know this – she’ll be moving on to another guy exactly like you.

I don’t want to raise any sexist points because I really don’t mean to be that way. I’m just a normal guy trying to comprehend the reason, purpose and thought-process behind some of the things girls say and do. You expect us to be honest, yet you hate us when we tell you you’re fat. Get ready for trouble when you’re asked if you like skinny chics and you nod your head like a mindless drone (coz most of the questions are responded to that way/we don’t listen). Why don’t you ever mean what you say? Are words just words, without any meaning?

I only wish to point out the clear and evident incompatibility between the average guy and girl, and yet the amazing success of the concept of marriage. The concept of marriage in fact is the only thing, I believe, that keeps a guy and a girl together for a lifetime. No guy can ever remain with a girl for more than, say 5 years out of wedlock. Marriage comes with social obligations, family pressure, moral duties, which cannot be escaped easily. So you’ll seldom see marriages breaking up. But relationships are much more honest, much more fragile, much more beautiful and a much better experience. They’re true. I’m amazed by the dedication my two friends who’ve been dating for 6 years have towards each other. They have no pressure, no obligations keeping them together, and they could break-up over the smallest of fights anytime they want to. It would even be somewhat easier if they did break-up and then gave in to their families wishes. But they haven’t and they won’t. That’s the beauty of it. They’ve survived everything from the silliest to the most serious fights, and they’ve invested so much in this relationship that’s impossible to give up now. We as friends have never interfered in their fights or pressured them into being together. They’ve done so out of their own free will, they’re doing brilliantly.
Hats off to them!

Bro’s case is a bit more complicated and I’m going to try my best to help him. His case rests with “The Sisters”, and they’re the most efficient match-making group known to man.

Following is a questionnaire that should be able to determine a worthy bride for him.

1. Please introduce yourself
2. “Myself ______” isn’t a great way to introduce yourself. Would you like to retract that statement?
3. Your thoughts on chocolates
4. Your thoughts on aerated drinks
5. Do you follow any sports? Cricket?
6. Can a batsman be declared out if he is run out on a no-ball? Explain in brief the concept of a “Super Over” in T-20 cricket?
7. Your thoughts on “Western Culture” and “Western Media”
8. Your thoughts on “Trash Metal” bands like Metallica. Can you live in a room with Metallica playing for 4 hours?
9. You haven’t heard Metallica?!?! Ugh. Okay. This is what it sounds like. Now what do you think?
10. Your thoughts on the theory that suggests younger siblings are much, much superior in all possible ways than elder siblings.
11. Your thoughts on Obama
12. Are you interested in Computers?
13. On an average, how much time do you spend at your PC every day?
14. On to more serious issues, how many kids would you like to have?
15. With the world facing eminent doom from threats like Global Warming, Terrorism, slumping economy and the legalization of Marijuana, do you really believe your kids would be able to have a good life? Would you really want to put your kids through all that?
16. Just to establish a sense of coincidence, I’ll ask you a question my brother was asked in his job interview. If there’s a room with 3 bulbs and there are 3 switches outside the room, with no way of viewing the bulbs from outside the room, and if you’re allowed to enter the room only once, state which switch lights up which bulb.
17. Hey, it seems like I’ve been constantly firing questions at you. Why don’t you ask me some questions? *Small pause* Never mind. I have a few more for you. At approximately what age did your Dad begin to lose his hair? Do you fear hair loss?
18. Did you like this room? Your thoughts on painting one room in your house completely Blue. Dark blue.
19. Your thoughts on Star Wars. Do you agree with Master Yoda’s ideas?
20. What do you mean you don’t like Star Wars?
21. What do you mean you’ve never watched Star Wars?!?!
22. I’m sorry. I need a walk. And you need a life!

I was tempted to call these “Rules to live by”, but then thought I’m not very good at following rules anyway. I do follow all the rules that apply to me, but I try my best to find loopholes in them and exploit them. I don’t follow them with my heart. I want to remember the following just as words, without any serious implications if not adhered to. So these are 28 Reminders. But nevertheless, these are important.

1. Prioritize things, relationships.
   Some things need more attention to detail than others.
2. Do whatever it takes to maintain the relationships you love.
3. Favours
   Favours are good when you do others favours. When you ask for a favour, what you’re asking for is obligations, and an endless stream of uneasy give and take. You can ask for favours only from family and close friends. But they should be avoided unless they’re absolutely necessary. Favours involving money are never good. They have the potential of ruining relationships. So try not to do or ask for a favour involving money.
   Mark (Garden State): The only thing worse than a favour is a favour involving money.
4. There’s a time for everything
   You know when you’re young every second thing you do is a cause for your parents to scream at you. And all those things are perfectly legitimate reasons for them to scream at you, so you really can’t complain much. Well, its funny how all those moment begin to go away as you get older. A few days back I was moving things around my desk and I accidentally knocked a glass of “Appy Fizz”. To my surprise, the glass rolled around dangerously but came to a standstill without spilling out a single drop of my new favourite drink!. I swear, if I was a kid and I had knocked it accidentally it would’ve surely tumbled over spilling all its contents on the desk destroying most of my precious/important stuff. It’s amazing how your bad luck goes away with time. There are good times, and there are bad times.
   Caroline Wakefield (Traffic): On the good days, I feel like I get it, like it all makes sense. I can stay in the moment, I don’t have to control everything in the future, and I believe everything is gonna work out fine. On the bad days I just want to grab the phone and start dialing numbers. I want to pull my hair and run through the streets screaming. But thanks to the people I’ve met, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna make it through today.
5. There’s a place for everything
   Over the years I’ve developed a sense of liking for some places, and a strong sense of dislike for others. Familiar places you’ve checked out before and enjoy hanging out are great. Spend more time there, rather than scouting through every new place that pops up around the corner. New places may seem exciting, but they might also be thoroughly disappointing, as they usually are. In todays times, when its important to wrap up leisure activities as soon as you can and get back to work, familiar is good.
6. People don’t change
   It’s very important to realize this. People may adopt the latest trends, dye their hair, or adopt a new personality too, but underneath it all, they are still the same. If you don’t like whats in the foundation, you won’t like the structure on top of it. The interior is something that’s taken years to develop, and it cannot change out of resolve or will power. On a materialistic note unrelated to this point, some believe that a fat person may join a gym and reduce his weight, but somewhere inside of him, he is still fat. Nikhil believes the person also has the potential to be fat again, and hence avoids girls who were fat, or have obese parents even, in his hunt for i really dunno what. It’s an intelligent way to try and make sure you get what you’re looking for, and he claims he has a “phobia of fat women”. I can almost bet he’s going to end up with one purely out of “bad karma”
7. Long distance doesn’t work
   I repeat, long distance doesn’t work. It’s one of the few things the TV shows have been right about. Like if a TV character were able to keep track of what goes on in the life of someone who’s been in a long distance relationship, i bet they’d say “I told you so” and do a lil dance.
8. “Forbear to judge; for we are sinners all.”
   Do not judge people on the basis of some of their actions. Their actions do not speak for who they are, and you are no expert at reading souls. You are just as bad as they are, possibly in different aspects. Do not hold their present actions against them forever; forgive. Do not make generalizations about gender, race or age, attitudes, beliefs, attire, likes or dislikes, or anything that speaks for their outer characteristics. I, for one, don’t think I’ll ever have a problem with that. But its something I need to remember when under stress. I know I have a tendency to blurt out things I don’t mean when I’m angry. I’ve been calm for a long long time, without ever snapping at anyone. It’s like as if I’m clam…like a ticking time-bomb.
9. Don’t give other people advice.
   Advice, being free, is something a lot of people ask for, and a lot of people give (sometimes without being asked for it). Elders often have the habit of giving out words of wisdom and stressing on how important it is to follow them. But at the end of it all, their advice should never be taken with a closed mind. Accept it gratefully and put it in your closet. When the time comes, if you’re under a deadline, your instinct will automatically scout through the closet and make use of the advice. However, if you’ve got ample time to make the decision for yourself, and your instinct isn’t  going to  kick in automatically, use your knowledge and lessons from your life experience to make your decision. The closet should be your last resort. Do what you feel is right, even though you might have to hear words of disappointment later from your elders. What you learn by yourself is priceless. You’ve toddled your way into walking. That wasn’t something you could have been taught.
   I’ve tried my level best to avoid giving advice that would critically affect a persons decision. If I do, that would  be like messing with their free-will. No matter how close this person is, only try to show them sides of the problem (if any) that are escaping their attention. I try to weigh out the positives and negatives, but never give out an absolute answer. This may make me come off as an undecided, uncertain person with no ability to stick to his guns, but that’s okay. I cannot possibly deal with the idea that a persons life was ruined because of my lousy advice. The idea is to show the person how to make up their own damn mind!
10. One Random act. Each day. Every single day.
    Scare everyone. Keep everyone on their toes.
11. Coincidences happen.
    Sit up and pay attention to them. But don’t deliriously look for something that isn’t there, no matter how overwhelming it may seem. Analyse it practically to arrive at the unlogical, magical “It was written in the stars” conclusion.
12. Everyone and everything seems normal, but only from a distance.
    Everybody lies. That’s another one straight outta Sir Greg House’s temple of knowledge. Some of the merriest relationships have long-dead rotting corpses in the closet. Don’t get carried away by them. Don’t be wishful for what they have. Wishful thinking can be terminal.
    When people boast about their happiness or about all the wonderful things they have in their lives, they’re actually exaggerating. They might even lie about a few situations. True happiness isn’t something you tell your friends about. It’s how you feel, and it shows on your face. You can’t even begin to comprehend that kinda happiness, so telling your friends about it is a long shot. Only a gentle happy sigh best describes what you feel. So for a person at the receiving end of all the crap, all you need to remember is that it can’t be happy and rosy for them all the time.
13. Don’t obsess over it. Don’t fret over it.
    Ask yourself this question: “Will this issue really make a difference in my life one year from now?” If the answer is no, move on.
14. Don’t be angry with the wrong person, for the wrong reason.
    We have the tendency to snap at people who aren’t even the reason for our frustration. Snapping at just about anyone who’s in the vicinity of your troubled mind could cause a lot more problems.
15. Never underestimate the power of women, kids and cats.
16. Atleast do the bare minimum.
    Pareto’s Principle *tweaked*: You get 80% in your results when you put in only 20% efforts. I often do just the bare minimum, but that allows me to have a lot of peace of mind. A mind at ease is already pleased. It’s like procrastinating, but it works more often than not!. I need to work more on that though…
17. Don’t take people for granted.
    Friends close to you may like it if you depend on them and take them for granted, but each time you do that, there’s an internal clock in them taking count of how many times you’ve done so. When a maximum limit is reached, the person will probably stop keeping count and boot you out of their life. You need to ensure you make it up to them each time you ask them to do you a favour (if you haven’t followed Point 1.
18. Apologies and Compliments are important.
    Ego finds no place in the most important relationships. Own up to your mistakes the instant you realize you’ve made them.
19. Be productive.
    It is oh-so-important that you be productive. Although I waste a lot of time, when I look back on each day, I realize that I do something productive every day. Even after all those hours of watching mindless TV shows, I think, create, and collaborate. It may be a program, or designing a new avatar, or changing something on this website or chatting with a friend helping him through a PC problem, my mind isn’t idle, and that’s critical.
20. It’s okay to say NO!
    Or “Hell No!”, depending on the situation. If your instinct tells you its not the right thing to do, look no further. Say no. First impressions are the most important. Review them later, but present your initial response as your gut feeling.
21. Take responsibility
    Your gut feeling may fail you if you’ve had too much chocolate. The next thing to do is take responsibility for your mistakes, accept them, and move on.
22. Be patient.
    Your life’s best moments are always ahead of you, but they don’t come any closer by looking forward to them. Don’t waste time expecting something. Instead, make the most of what is here and now. Be productive while you wait.
23. Complaining kills time and energy
    Stop it!
24. Get your priorities right and stick to them.
    Something’s deserve more attention than others. Prioritize and learn to shuffle things around. Decide what activites can afford to be put off until umm…forever?
25. There is no right or wrong.
    There is no right and wrong. No good or bad deed. There’s no higher power wanting you to live life in a particular way. Life is free; this is our playground.
    When it comes to decision making too, there is no right and wrong. When we say a decision is right, we base our assumption on statistical data. But the decision could go horribly wrong even then. In the general scheme of things, there’s no such thing as a good decision or a bad decision. A decision is what you make, a stand you take. The result is what you have to live with. So basically your choice is completely dependant on your concern for how you’ll feel after the result has been obtained, rather than how correct the decision is for the situation. Making a decision for the benefit of a set of people and feeling lousy at the end of it is what is known as a difficult decision. Instead, take a stand and stick to it. Be happy that you chose what you did regardless of the outcome. It’s not the outcome that matters. What matters is how you feel about it. You could cause a company a major loss by not making the right decision, but if you have a fair justification for your actions, nothing else matters. Results don’t matter, but the process does.
    The world needs “screw ups” as much as it needs “pseudo-perfection”. Else, the world would be a boring place to be!
26. Why is Why
    The “Why?” questions in life are the most difficult to answer. So when you encounter this question, take along hard pause. Initially, make a mental note in your head of the asker. The more “Why” questions a person asks, the lower priority he gets. Do not ever hold high regard for anyone who asks these sort of questions. They’re from “The Dark Side” of The Force.
    The answers to these questions can only be justified by our personal thought process and hence the likeliness of anyone else being able to understand our answer is extremely low. Set your mind to believe that the asker is now less relevant in your life. Then look for the answer. Before burping it out, process the answer. Answers to these questions often require precise and intense processing. Say the answer to yourself in your mind. Then burp it out. Trying to escape answering the question isn’t always an option so you need to train yourself for this situation. A record no. of lies are said in response to “Why” questions, so don’t be surprised by your answers.
27. Enjoy yourself
    Spend every waking moment thinking, “How can I make this moment better?” and do it!.
    But don’t judge happiness based on photos. Your idea of happiness might be completely different from that of another person.
28. Sleep.
    Self-explanatory.

When you get what you want in your struggles for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
Whose judgement upon you must pass,
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people might think you’re a straight shooting chum
And call you a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest
For he’s with you clear to the end
And you’ve passed your most dangerous test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

by Dale Wimbrow, (c) 1934

I just cannot believe this!! Out of all the possible places on Earth, they’re coming to VJTI!! woohoo!!!!
Unfortunately, it a closed event n folks from other colleges can’t get in, sooooooooooooooooooooo the geeks can’t join me. And that really sucks!

I’m not sure if I’ll be attending too cuz we have ADFS pracs at 2. arghhh!! But anyway, I’ll find a way !!!

Ok, now its 2 AM n i’m still not done with my ADFS stuff. ughhh!
Finished downloading the soundtracks of Braveheart/King Arthur, so got enough stuff to have a Zimmery morning tomo. Also found a great song on the Underworld:Rise of the Lycans disc (Danny Lohner — APC/NIN)

The Cure – Underneath the Stars feat. Maynard James Keenan (but i dunno what he’s doing in the song cuz he’s not singing!) and Milla Jovovich (has a cool voice)

Floating here
Like this with you
Underneath the stars
Aligned
For 13 billion years
The view
It’s beautiful
And ours alone tonight
Underneath the stars

Spinning round
And round with you
Watching shadows
Melt the light
So shining
From our eyes
A tear
Another space is ours
Alone tonight
Watch as shadows melt

The waves, break
The waves, break

Whisper in my ear, a wish
“We could drift away so far”
Your voice
Inside of my head
Like this
It’s infinite
The hours alone tonight
We could drift away

Flying here
Like this with you
Underneath the stars
Aligned
For 13 billion years
The view
It’s beautiful
And ours alone tonight
Underneath the stars

Everything Gone
Together as now
Forever as one
In each other’s arms
So near and so far
Together as now
Underneath the stars

As the waves, break