Part II - Birthday Alarm ya a Godsent! But what happened to me?

Then just the day before, while I was waiting for my consultation slot with my family doctor at his clinic, I overheard a conversation between two grannies. They were perfect strangers five minutes before they started chatting. They might have had nothing in common apart from age / generation but they sure had lots of stuff to talk about while waiting for our family doctor to return back from his lunch. Topics ranged from their children to grandchildren and of all they discussed, the most interesting one was the one about the young generation.They were discussing how lonely the young people these days have become, how anti-social the younger generation are these days, how the doors of these young neighbours were tightly shut day in day out, 24/7 and how little they have said to one another despite having stayed next to one another for about 10 years. 10 years, a relatively long period of time isn't it? I thought to myself, how sad it must have been to stay along that corridor.

What happened? What happened to the friendly environment whereby everyone living in the same block knows basically everyone and sometimes their affairs? Why do we talk to people? What is it that makes us talk? Why have we all become so lonely? Why are we all so self-absorbed these days? Are we only talking because we need something from someone? Hence if there is nothing anybody can do for us, there is most certainly no need to talk to them? And why then are we conveying whatever message we can via emails and even sms-es (well my friend is complaining about her boyfriend sms-ing her more often than he calls her) when we could have just added a more human touch to the message which we are conveying to another person?

What is it about interacting that frightens us? Is it because talking makes us pregnant? Else what? The difference between us and animals is that, we think and we talk while animals don't talk and as for the think part, I am not so sure if animals don't think, their brains are not there for decoration, just because we don't understand how their brains work doesn't render them brainless. I don't think talking makes the world a more humane one when so many people out there are doing so much evil but hey talking makes this world a more friendly one, sure who cares about the world when I gain nothing from making the world a more friendly one. Hey excuse me, you are part of the world, geddit? geddit? yes, you are part of the world, so if you contributed to the friendly environment around your neighbourhood, hey that's one good thing considered done for yourself. If everyone is to do things only when they get something in return, I think that person never truly lived. I love talking! I do! I love exchanging greetings with people, I love to meet new people, I love to interact with people, because that makes me happy!

I don't know if it is the Singapore culture but I realised this, people sometimes from other parts of the world are much more friendlier than Singaporeans, they smile at complete strangers, made people's day by saying kind things to them or just by a simple hello or thank you but in Singapore, it seems as though one would be regarded as some sort of demented person when he/she smiles at people and say hi to people on the streets. I tried that out, so don't you dare say I won't know for sure because I am away half the time and mind you I was born and raised in Singapore like a true blue Singaporean. If it is our culture, I HATE IT. I felt so freaking happy when strangers taking a morning jog smile and greet me with a hearty morning! as they run past me, in some strange way, they made me smile, I felt so much like a human being (you must be wondering what rubbish am I uttering, it is indeed a little difficult to express this sort of feeling, you must experience it first hand to understand it, but try to imagine the situation and feel it?) See little acts of kindness and friendliness does help to make this world a better place so we should all start doing that, who knows we might get an award for being the friendliest nation?

Really, if you don't want your kids to grow up without anyone to play with them because all the neighbours' kids are all just not bothered to interact with anyone else apart from their parents and siblings and if you don't want you, yourself to start losing that humane side of you, please, for goodness sake, start smiling or just exchanging some greetings, for a start, I say start with smiling and smile like you mean it. :) *smiles*

**** Ok for some part of this part II, the thoughts are not that organised, if you think they are of no relevancy, you are probably right, I must state this, I am not, I repeat, not trying to link what I've typed a few days ago up, I think they are inter-related in a certain way and I stand firmly by my views that although they don't exactly match each other like a T but in some way you can relate them. But since I am not entirely satisfied with this entry, I might amend it so till then! :) ****

Birthday alarm, ya a godsend, but what happened to me?

Knowing you are remembered and treasured is indeed a happy feeling, no in fact an exuberating one that warms the cockles of one's heart. When people from afar send me their sincere birthday wishes or little handmade cards / cards, I feel cherished and it is a very special feeling knowing your friends care for you, somehow you are allocated a space in their hearts. Especially those people who you'll never imagine remembering your birthdays or even people who found out about your birthday through someone else but you.

Lately, a pretty good friend of mine just celebrated his 22nd birthday, in fact it was last sunday August, 14 and as his so called pretty good friend, I didn't even know about it. I felt so guilty and so disappointed in myself. I wondered why is it that I never bothered finding out his birthday if he meant that much to me, when he remembers my birthday and bothered sending me a card and I cannot even be bothered to find out his date of birth. I am so sorry ya. Not trying to look for an excuse but I realised the problem with me is my dependency on Birthday alarm.

For the benefit of the hermit clan, Birthday alarm is a service provider who reminds you your friends' birthdays a few days in advance of their date of birth for free, all you need to do is to invite your friends to fill in their birthdays for you and once that is done, you'll never forget about your friends' birthdays unless you are trapped on some isolated island where there is no internet connection.

Yes that's right, I've stopped asking my friends the question of "when is your birthday?" and too at the same time stopped making a mental note to remember these friends' birthdays. I just stopped doing all these and let technology get the better of me. Technology, gosh sometimes I love it to bits but sometimes I simply dread it. It simply devoured me. Why on earth do I rely on this damn service so much now? Why can't I just open my big fat mouth and ask sincerely my friend's birthday? Is technology aiding us or ate-ing (I KNOW ITS EATING :P) us?

This reminds me of the situation I encountered once while I was then temping during the holidays. My job and everything was great but the people there are in general cold, and I mean cold. There is little eye contact and interaction between co-workers, one by one, they each passed by one another without even smiling or greeting each other a "Hi" or what have you, the culture was suffocating, suffocating! Then my mentor had to make things harder for me by emailing me a "Livia, can you please go get this file ____" when she was just seating right beside me. I was like "HUH?", I mean you've got to be kidding me, is speech that redundant now? There is zero verbal interaction between my mentor and myself throughout the entire temping period, zero, the only communication we had was via emails, loads of them.

(Part II will be up in a couple of days)

Whenever someone complains to me how much they dislike a particular blog, I often advice them not to continue reading it if it irritates them and like all good advices, they are often ignored. I often think people brings about trouble upon themselves and if you were to look around and observe, you will understand what I mean. I don't think of myself any different from them, I am afterall too someone who often creates problems for myself and I admit that, what I try to do is to not cause too much trouble for myself.

You may think of me as someone who is overly judgmental and yes, maybe you are right, I don't often give second chance after forming an impression. When I pick up a book by a certain author and I find that book poorly written or boring, I simply condemn the author and will not read other books written by him/her unless it is one that has earned itself a reputation or even a spot on the best selling shelves, only then will I reconsider. That is the exception to the don't give second chance principle of mine. I often find myself a very lucky person becaues I know clearly what is it that I like and what is it that entertains me and I don't make my life miserable by doing things I dislike or reading things which will put me off.

Which is why, I cannot simply understand why is it some people I know of, make things harder for themselves and then in their twisted minds, they make it seemed as though they were coerced into making their life difficult. There is always a choice in life so don't make others shoulder any part of your responsibilty. It is like how I continue reading a particular person's blog even when I dislike the style and contents but I still choose to read it out of curiosity, you don't see me complaining about how this person should write or perhaps suggests how he/she should just disappear from this literary world do you? Why complain when you choose to be curious?

Let me explain the steps of visiting a person's blog to you, in case you don't already know. First, you type the address of the blog, second, you hit enter on your keyboard and voila ici, in two steps, you reach the site. Bear in mind, you actually need to type and hit enter before you can start reading a person's blog. So how is it that people can actually say they've been coerced into reading another's blog and how can you compare a person's blog to spam mails? Help me understand will you? I am simply too dense to understand. When you choose to read a person's blog, you need to remind yourself, regardless of how senseless a person's blog may seem to be to you, you made the choice to read the blog and if you don't like it, leave promptly and never return to the same blog. If you don't like it, leave it is what I am driving at, I hope you are not too thick to understand, put your cash where your mouth is at, match your opinions with your actions, don't torment yourself by making yourself go through things you dislike, you do realise you are not very far from being a sadist if you continue this cycle do you? It is not too hard or even too late to learn how to be a man of your word, really.

This world is materialistic, no matter how you look at it, it simply is a shallow little world we are all living in. People are judgmental and they tend to impose their views on what should have been on others rather than experimenting what could have been. Wherever you are from, whichever culture it is that you have, you are judgmental and but a pathetic fool.

Whenever we first acquaint ourselves with others, we tend to ask them either about the course they are currently reading or their job positions and it is from there we start playing the judges of others' life. If you are reading law, medicine, neuroscience, sociology bla bla, you should be smart. If you were previously from a good college or tertiary institution, you should too be intelligent, somehow one way or another. If you are working as a lawyer, a doctor, a banker, a financial analyst, certainly you are expected to be a high flyer and you should have enough brains to hold on to that position of yours.

But is it all true? Are you sure all lawyers, doctors, bankers, psychologists and so on are indeed intellectual? Why are we letting the qualifications of others speak for themselves when we could have taken the time to sit down and decide for ourselves if that particular lawyer or doctor bla bla sitting right in front of you is not just booksmart but too measured in terms of ability, capable? Sure, we are all busy, we are busy all the time aren't we? Too busy to look around and appreciate the trees planted around us, too busy to do this too busy to do that, now we are even much more busier that we let people's degree qualifications and job positions fool us.

Certainly, by no means, not every single first class student of whichever discipline they graduate from are dumb, there are indeed a few of them who are indeed booksmart and simply put, they are just smart on the whole, but then again you must too realise there is another group of first class students who are merely good at regurgitating whatever they have read somewhere either from books or from others' essays. When put to the test, which might all be a little too late, that is when they have secured a job, these jokers may prove to be much worser than sometimes even a third class degree holder.

Ok a little too extreme you say, but it is true, nothing in this blue globe like thing, also known as the world is not memorizable. I tell you this for sure, nothing. As much as I like to think academics do know how to mark papers properly, I tell you, hell no, at least not those I've came across. I regurgitated quite a whole lot of rubbish from some of the lectures I have attended as well as materials from the textbook once for my non-assessed essay, which took me less than an hour to complete that 1500 words essay and I gotten a high 2:1 for that piece of work that requires zero brain cells to produce. My other fellow coursemate, who by no means is dumb, gave his all to that essay, which I must say is pretty well written as well as evidently clear that he did quite a fair bit of research and critical thinking, and guess what did he get? A mere 2:2, a pretty high 2:2 though, but what is particularly ironic is the remarks given on his essay is that his essay is too descriptive and what is written on mine is something along the lines of there is trace of critical analysis. Ha! What a joke! Ok to be honest, quite a fair bit of his essay was pretty introductory, but it is not exactly introductory without merit. He was at least working on style, something which I tend to indulge in when I can afford the time. I am in the opinion that my seminar taker should have at the very least given him the credit for his style and the analysis he did independently.

Everyone else in the same seminar group thinks that this guy is perhaps dumb or something, and that he is perhaps better off reading some other courses. But because I had the privilege of reading his essay and too gotten to know him on a personal level, I judged him differently. I know he knows his stuff, he is perhaps just not good at knowing how to present his points effectively within the 1500 words limit, that in itself, you may say is evidently destructive but hey the old english way of writing essays is to illustrate your point, which may be summarized in 5 - 6 words, in like 20 words. Yuppy, three times more. So, he's not exactly wrong either.

Had I not had the privilege to read his essay and to know him for who he is, I would probably have been one of those judgmental fools who has no regards for his brains. But reminding myself from time to time, that people with good grades are not necessarily smart, I tend to keep my mouth and mind where they are and not let them wander off too far. Of course, you may say, without prior knowledge of what the person is like, degree qualification and classification is perhaps the easiest way to judge a person quickly (but not effectively), certainly with such a fast paced society, we cannot afford to sit everyone down and understand them one by one. I agree with you totally, but if you are starting to acquaint yourself with somebody and gradually better associate yourself with them, don't let the first impressions (which you may derive from the shallow questions like, "so which sch are you from?" "oh HARVARD!" *mental note* smartass smartass right in front of me) you have get to you and let it be an obstacle to know that person on a more intellectual and personal level. I mean really do yourself a favour, you can be shallow but you can too stop being shallow, know when to stop yourself is the point I am driving at.

And oh, by no means am I trying to say people without proper qualifications are the winners in life, qualification is one thing, education is another, education opens the door of opportunities for one and education helps someone who is smart to become smarter.

Last but not least, the real battle starts at work, so whether you are a dumbass or a smartass, your employers will know, unless you get super lucky, which is not impossible you know?

I am sorry, but what has talent got to do with your disability?

A particular chinese singing competition, titled Project Superstar has made some news or rather created some topic of discussions. A particular blind contestant, Tan Weilian entered the competition and made it to the semi-finals (I think) and that sparkled off some widely debated topic, which is the reason why this guy by the name of Weilian is still in the competition. According to the majority, the reason why he is staying is because he is disabled, because he is blind, everyone is more sympathetic towards him and thus supported him in the competition because they feel sorry for him. Yes, of course, then you have people saying the reason why he is still in the competition is because he has the talent or both the talent and the sympathy votes. I feel sorry for him, not because he is disabled, I feel sorry that his talent for singing has to be viewed this way. This is a singing competition right? So why is it everyone is turning this competition to some sort of charity show? As if we don't have enough charity shows on the television set all year round.

Stevie Wonder is a legend in the music industry,he is blind yet we all still love him but you don't hear people explaining the formula of his success in the music industry as being blind, you don't hear things like people feel sorry for him that is why he is able to sell that much of singles or albums, people recognise his talents for playing a variety of musical instruments and his voice talent, so why can't people in Singapore do the same for this Weilian guy? I heard him performed like twice on the television programme and I really think he has a great voice and definitely the potential for being a superstar, ok definitely not the next Stevie Wonder since he is not a multi-instrumentalist but you get the idea.

Singers using cartoon characters to represent themselves like this Ocean guy or Zhou Hui, were both accorded recognition for solely their voice and for all you know, what happens if this Ocean guy is actually a disabled person too? Will you still say the reason why he is so successful (at least now) is because he is disabled? If people can accept internet singers' songs without first knowing who sang it and without knowing their physical characteristics, why can't we accept this Weilian guy for his talent?

People supporting Weilian because you feel sorry for him, please stop doing that, he is not sorry for himself and he is not any worse off than the ordinary you and me, stop insulting him by voting for him because you are sorry, because you simply am not by doing so. Please save your compassion for some other stupid charity shows on mediacorp.

Everyone enjoys using self-giving people but nobody hangs around with them once they are done using them. Using is the word. So shouldn't you be looking after your own welfare at a certain point in life and not be too considerate to others when nobody's being considerate to your very own existence?

A mother's plea, have you heard her loud and clear?

When Marie Fatayi-Williams, the mother of the missing son, Anthony Fatayi-Williams who has been missing since the latest London terror attack, appealed to the terrorists to stop the vicious cycle of killing before more mothers' hearts will be maimed by any future terrorists attacks, my heart sank. Indeed, if there is any possible way whereby one can reach the terrorists, they ought to hear Marie's plea and ingrain that in their minds for good and stop killing people's children, the children's parents, people's loved ones, for they are all innocent and has certainly no such need or whatsoever to be embroiled in this rebellion against the 'civilised world''s government, particularly the mastermind of the Iraq war, 'Bush, the Butcher'. What has the innocent public got to do with their governments' decisions?

Taking lives without even hesitating to send a message of we will continue to terror the supporters of the anti-terrorists groups as long as we live, is this an effective way of taking a stand now? Since when did violence suddenly became the only way of communication and why is it that nobody bothered informing the 'civilised world'? Who are these self-proclaimed righteous followers of their own version of the religion islam and why on earth should the power to deceide who should live be in their hands? What kind of world are we all living in now?

Life is precious, regardless of how insignificant an individual is, it is afterall life. Life is a form of common good according to Finnis and it is something which all human communities treasure and attempt to protect, this is why laws prohibiting murder are set in motion. There is so much to living, so much love to be spread around this world, so many people to help, so much knowledge to share with this world, so much more things one can do to make this world a better place, so much happy stuff to do in this life of yours, why subscribe to this new religion death and start spreading it around by slaughtering people?

That being said, my mentor from my previous work place reminded me today, what one is born to do in this life, that is to remember 'one's impact on lives will impact more lives' and continue doing what one is good at that is making this world a better place, with even the most insignificant way which one can contribute and restore the peace we once all shared and enjoyed. We must remember all the good that is done from day to day and continue promoting such good and pray that the good acts will continue for generations to come.

Is the value of life really a grand total of zero now? Why is it terrorists like Al-Qaeda has simply no regard for life? There are certainly a whole lot of other means to send the message across, why resort to violent attacks like the latest bombings in London?

Why too create more racial problems as if they are not already enough? I cannot imagine what the lives of the muslim population in UK will be leading from now on, after 911 attack, muslims in the US are watched with tight supervision, discriminated and alienated from the general population, regardless of the fact that some of them are too Americans. I reckon the situation for UK will too be the same. *sighs* I just hope the Brits will be more understanding towards the muslim population in UK, they are too victims of such a situation.

"I was thought to be stuck up. I wasn't. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure." - Bette Davis

If there is any category of adjectives that has been splashed to me one too many times, it would be the type of adjectives along words like arrogant, aloof and so on and so forth. But I have never been arrogant or even tried to be anything close to it, I have always been me, that is someone who is sure of herself. Since when did being comfortable with being who you are became a crime?

You may recall me blogging about a friend of mine quitting law school to join some voluntary organisations and in that particular entry, I mentioned about people having problems dealing with one's loftiest ambition or goal but what I didn't quite mention is that people in general have problems with people who are successful in life, one way or another.

It is true. Despite the fact that everyone desires success and success in life is in general encouraged, ironically, it seems that the people who are criticised and/or are hated/disliked are somehow those who achieved success in life, again, one way or another. The pretty ones, the rich ones, the ones with good jobs and so on and so forth are hated or talked about behind their backs one way or another to the extent where they are thought of as stuck-up, aloof, arrogant and a lot more of such adjectives come gushing their way, flooding them to perhaps MJ's neverland but more practically, neverend.

This I simply cannot accept. Why is it so hard to accept others' success? Why is it so hard to appreciate those who are sure of themselves when the entire world is perhaps packed with those who are either lost or confused, why condemn those who are sure of themselves, why condemn people who can act as sources of inspiration to those lost or confused souls? Are we really suffering from the "at least I am better off" syndrome, where we can only accept people who are worse off than ourselves, because this at the very least consoles our very tortured starved losers' soul / mentality.

We've been taught from young that we should all go to schools, universities and make something out of ourselves when we graduate and try to carve a niche in whichever industry we choose to work in after graduation and so why such negativity? Why are we not appreciating the value of one's success and instead we are going on a vicious rampage on these people who somewhat attained some hint of success? I mean, it is not as if these people have been trying to be something they are not but rather they have achieved the things they have set out in their life, they are who they are and they are sure of it, why get all so jealous of such people when they have most probably worked their ass off to achieve that little bit of success and why hate them for what they have or are?

When one blogger posted her nude picture on her blog, she became the subject of criticisms when all she did was to post a nude picture of herself on her blog, she was, in my own opinion, being comfortable with her own body and am flaunting what she's got, you don't get the catchy phrase of if you got it flaunt it for nothing you know? She was just sure of herself, why is that a crime? Personal satisfaction seems to bother those who don't have it.

Whenever I post about my thoughts on certain topics, people always have something negative to say about my post, there will be people emailing me criticising my style of blogging, telling me what I should be blogging, how I should be blogging to avoid being an egoistical nightmare to them all. I admit to a certain extent, I do blog for readership but must I compromise my style to some self-depreciating style to entertain those who cannot tolerate my so called egoistical entries? Get a life, I mean seriously, digressing a little, it is my blog and if you so hate the things I have to say, don't read my blog, it is that simple, I am not pointing a gun at your head forcing you to read my blog am I?

Some girls I know, had to be less than who they truly are so as to satisfy their boyfriends, or rather their male chauvisnist KINGKONG pigs' boyfriends who cannot accept girls who are better than them. Some people have to be less than who they are so as to not be viewed as a stuck up bitch or ass. So moral of the story is to stop being yourself, stop achieving success, change yourself to someone who is perhaps useless or someone lousy or get persecuted if you are not lousy enough. How much use is this to anyone really?

Somehow, I can't help but to think this world's full of sadists, sadists who derives pleasure from watching others struggle the same way as they are struggling, it is perhaps easier to connect with others who are struggling the same way as you are or with those who suffer worse fate than yours.

Trick to life?

Stay afloat, amidst all the chaos, lawlessness, uncertainties and so on.

It is those who stay afloat and thus alive that matters, not those who sunk, those will be forever buried in the sea and nobody will ever remember them, what's left of them anyway?

Can a relationship really be a relationship when the people involved in it don't actually want each other as much as they should? Can it really be considered a relationship when people somewhat settled for one another because of pragmatic reasons and not because of chemistry? Can we really call the relationship we have with others one when we somewhat chose to settle for less and that lesser of a partner is somewhat your other half in that relationship?

Some of my pretty good friends told me outright, straight in my face, without even any hint of embarrassment, that they have indeed settled for less in their own relationships. I am not saying any of them should feel embarrassed for their decisions and choices, it is afterall them who are emotionally involved with someone, not me. Their confessions struck me like bolts of lightning, for once, I was, in a very long time, dumbfounded. Utterly shaken by the actuality of reality.

For a very very long time, I've been trapped in my own utopia, a fantasy like world which I've created at the back of my head, where love without the special chemistry will simply not exist, where being just compatible (in every aspects, from intellectuality to living styles and standards etc) just won't do, something more is needed. The anxiety attacks whereby one will suffer just by thoughts of meeting that someone special or even just daydreams of that person alone, the butterflies in your stomach conjured up by accidental contact with that special someone and so on are all pre-requisites in order for someone like me to start seeing someone. Wild explosions, getting all shy and extremely happy just by one glance shot at me by that special someone is somewhat something I've always kept in my playground, my utopia. Yes, I am seeking for that adrenaline rush feeling.

Quixotical? Not necessarily, I believe such wonderment exists so long as you are willing to wait for it. That coming from me must be certainly a surprise since I am more popularly known as a pragmatist, shouldn't I be more down to earth and face reality and admit that people do settle for less when it comes to relationship. Well I do accept that, but that does not mean I have to give up my own pursuit for the knock my socks off relationship.

I don't think it is ever wrong to settle for less when it comes to relationships, however I do think one will ultimately be at the losing end if he/she decides to ever do so, for one, he/she will never be able to experience the euphoria of a blow me away relationship, and secondly you'll never know what's really out there because you are too afraid to really venture out and see if you'll ever find the legendary mermaids living under the sea and I can really go on and on about this but I'll just stop here with a thirdly, thirdly, you'll probably never feel the excitement and sparks in your relationship, for you people, it might just be a monotonous roller coaster ride.

Some ex-classmate of mine once said this to me, "I would love to meet your future boyfriend, he must be someone really special", I remember asking why she said that and to that she replied, 'because you want more out of life', that coming from someone who don't really know me that well. Makes me really wonder if I am indeed that obvious or is she a gypsy, I would really wish it's the latter, damn cool to have a gypsy friend can?

Hi everyone,

I'm taking a break from this space for about 2 weeks, will have more stuff to entertain when I am back.

Also, for people who have been accessing my blog with vivacious-oomph.com, you guys can now set the addy to gwendoliv.blogspot.com as I am no longer continuing the subscription of the web hosting.

best regards
livvy

Tony Blair's Historic Third Term - Bravo Blair! Well done!

I woke up this morning checking the results of the election, feeling all so pleased and happy that my favourite politician, Tony Blair has won the third term of the election. This is no mean feat, afterall no labour party has ever won three consecutive election term.

Now all of you who are unhappy about this result and who might too think at the same time I have gone mad supporting someone who advocates war and all that, hold that thought now. I for one am not a supporter of war. One thing I dislike about this entire election is the focus on what Blair has supposedly done wrong in participating in the war, I mean who are you to justify whether the war is right or wrong? I don't agree with the justification made by the British government however I believe the war can be justified based on the premises that Saddam's regime is one that is repressive, oppressive and causes nothing but hardship to people. Do any of you have a single clue as to what the sons of Saddam and he himself has committed against their own subjects? Sure, you are right to say, this is still wrong because how can countries just intervene when a regime is repressive, shouldn't we all just mind our own business? Ok valid point made and for one, I do agree US politics are ever so nosey with other states' affairs but still I support the war in the name of greater good, compassion for humanity, in spite of all the lawlessness that went on in the regime for awhile. I am no massacrer and no butcher, mind you.

Another thing I hate about what some of the Britons have said about supporting any other party except for Labour because "we should send out a clear indication that this country has no tolerance for massacrer". Gosh people, you sure understand your electoral power placed firmly in your hands but do you actually know how to use it? By supporting other parties by which you have no intention of doing so but the reason why you voted for them is all because you disagree with Blair's views on iraq war is being plain childish, stupid and abuse of your own electoral power which the politicians try so desperately to woo. Do you know that this single day is the only day by which you can exercise your powers as a citizen effectively and vote for whichever party that will effectively be the government in power. Why are your views that myopic people? Iraq war is a thing of the past that happened and yes you are entitled to your views that it is morally wrong and you don't like it, but don't vote for other ineffective government just to spite Labour. Consider properly as to what is it about Labour you don't like and what is it that you like about Labour, weigh all the pros and cons up, consider the past achievements and promises made by the party, consider their current manifestos and then decide. By doing so you would have given yourself enough credit to moan and groan if the taxes do inflate in near future when you clearly voted for a party that advocates no inflation of taxes. I mean, come on look at the bigger picture, not just an angle of the picture.

Another relevant point with regards to this election, which I particularly find distasteful is some of the Britons' laziness to vote, if you don't bother voting for the party which its manifestos supports better NHS services and that party don't win the election, should nothing be done about NHS services, can you then still complain? Moan and moan is what everyone else is doing and what they only know how to do when they don't even bother contributing their own votes to make their stand and expect things to go their way, what kind of warped logic is this man? You believe in something, you go out and advocate it, you want something, you go get it, you do nothing and expect something to happen your way, fat hope is all I have to say.

Another distasteful point of this elections is the abuse of ethnicity as well as religion. Many has claimed that Iraq war is not just a war but a war on muslims, give me a break. COME ON, what the hell is wrong with your puny brains, it has nothing to do with ethnicity and religion, it was a war supposedly declared against "weapons of mass destruction", stop abusing religion and ethnicity. That was a war against Iraq, a war against weapons of mass destruction, THIS is an ELECTION, where people should not go on a rampage and scath bitterly at Blair over the iraq war, surely the issues Labour party is set on sorting out are something of current interests and something which matters more and what is it with you people for crying out disrespect for ethnicity and religion when there are already legislations set up to protect you? This reminds me of Omarosa in the Apprentice, yes the black woman who cried discrimination when none of such issues arose during the show, I am sure all of you will agree with that if you've watched that season of the Apprentice.

On an ending note, I am so pleased with Blair's triumph! Me likey! Let's hope for better NHS services and oh to a better chamber of House of Lords whereby 92 of the remaining hereditary peers will say bye bye to their posts! *Celebrates* Ahahaha, maybe i should go set up a Blair fansite

He made me realised how important it is for one to stay true to oneself and how much I've been trying to be someone else whom I think is much better than my real self. I guess to a certain extent, I really don't want to be labelled as arrogant and stuck up like the past but to another extent that actually is a good thing and that is being myself I guess. I was not born to be arrogant or even aloof, I just am not exactly that friendly but I've been learning how to be friendly and I guess my attempts have somewhat been too over the top.

I guess I should start being the real me all over again, don't want to give the wrong impressions again. I need to start reverting back. I can still be friendly but not so friendly and accessible anymore. I don't want to be everyone's best friend.

I should not be sorry that I am no longer the other person whom I thought I can become, friendly, approachable and accessible to everyone. I should start living my own life as I've always wanted to and avoid all social stigma or even expectations to enjoy my lifelong roller coaster. Why is it so hard to practice what I preach sometimes, I really wonder. I should not be ashame to be myself, else things are just going to get harder for me.

Sometimes when something good happens to us, we need to believe that we deserve them. Yes, it is hard isn't it? Especially when you think so lowly of yourself and constantly beat your inner self up. Trust me, we all have such moments, by that I mean every single one of us breathing and walking on this blue planet. Surely there is something good inside of you anyway.

If you don't believe that you are well worth the good thing that comes your way, nobody will believe you are worth it. Only by believing that you do deserve the good thing will you truly own that moment and validate your self worth. As I always say, existence of oneself is more often than not the true validation of self worth. Love yourself, in every way, pay no attention to what people have to say about you, you need to show them the way to look at you and how to respect you, starting with your very self.

I know whenever things go wrong, friends who care wants to be there for me and every now and then they would like to fix me and pick up the broken pieces I left behind. I appreciate all of that, however one thing everyone needs to realise is I don't need anyone else to fix me, I basically fix myself, growing dependent on others is simply not the way to live. I am a soldier, I fight all the time, yes there may be moments when I felt completely lost, confused, upset and even beaten but I never give up, there will always be something somewhere worth fighting for, yes somewhere. I might say 101 things to make myself feel miserable but that does not mean I will ever give up, if I do, I make sure it is for the right reasons.

I had a miserable day yesterday but when a new day starts, I am all ready to start a new battle again. I am unbreakable, nobody can break me, for I am a soldier who lives my life the way I want to and yes discourage me all you want, make me feel miserable but don't just stop there and think yes, I've beaten her inside out, she's given up. No, I am terribly sorry, don't think of me that way, don't insult me for who I am that way, I will somehow fight my way back and you can be sure of that. Sure I might have tons of bruises here and there, whimpering as you thrust another blow at me, but that is all temporary.

I don't know how relevant is this but anyway, Sebas and I had a long chat the other day over the phone, debating about what I've been doing for the society which I'm currently involved with, he like everyone else thinks that I have been wasting a lot of my time to put things together and perhaps I did waste some time on the society but it was what I needed to do. I for one, don't believe in the theory that there will always be someone there to do the job, if everyone were to think that way, then where the hell is that someone who is supposed to be there doing the job?

The world is a place full of irresponsible individuals who are basically selfish and cannot be bothered to do their job and these people are the slackers and when they don't do their job, someone else might have to do them because it might be a team project or something which involves other people, slackers slack because they know they can and why are we encouraging them to slack by doing their share of work? Simple, because it concerns us too, if they don't get the job done and we don't cover them, consequence will most probably end up with you being affected, which is why you do the dirty job for them. Smart asses? Maybe. Me the fool because I cover their asses, uh uh, I don't think so, I am only doing it because it concerns me, if it doesn't, I say good luck to them all and live my life as per normal, no time for such losers anyway. Think of me as the fool who dedicated her time to the society, think of me as someone who is stupid but hey, I don't care, I do what I have to do and that is what I've always been taught, responsiblity. Sure what kind of responsiblity are we talking about when you are covering people's asses. Well look at it this way, the world's full of slackers, if you can't seem to find ways to get them move their butts then instead of thinking of you being the silly fool covering their ass, just think of them as losers by birth who can never seem to get things done and sadly, in the long run or the long marathon also known as life, you will be the one who reap the most benefits out of everything. Words of comforts? Nah, it is just practicing what I always preach, if you don't like something, change it, if you can't change the way you think about it.

They say whatever campaigns that politicians are running, no matter how good they look on the surface, no matter how much good they seem to be doing to us or even just other less well provided for people, they are nothing but shams and too one of the means to achieve the end-results, to receive as many votes as possible. Ah yes, the clever politicians who has been playing the game of manipulation and temptation, by doing something or by giving us something that we want, they get their votes. It does not take a genius to realise, while they were campaigning for the good of mankind or what have you, they are actually one step closer to achieve what they have set out to achieve. They are the despicable scums dressed in suits and earning high salaries who carefully blindfolded us, citizens, so skillfully that we thought it was night when it was just the blindfold doing the trick.

"Scums", you say, everything is not about the people but themselves, they are all trying to achieve their own objectives through us, but then again so what? Who in the world can say that they have never done anything with a cleverly hidden agenda? I say, nobody. We've been busy catching the dirty politicians playing the game but isn't this a game we all play too? Isn't this just an issue of how good you are at hiding your secret agenda? Food for thought?

Conceited, contemptuous people who takes relationships for granted ought to know something, relationships between human beings are never constant, neither is it always there, it can be broken as easily as it was first built.

Nobody waits around for people indefinitely, people linger around a while longer after break ups but that does not mean they will always be there for the heart breakers at the end of the day. So contemptuous people, whoever you are, who has nothing but excessive high regards for yourself who thinks that your ex lovers will always be there for you when you are ready, please pull up your socks and wake up and get this straight, you are replaceable and base on the fact that you only allow yourself to make the decision to get back when you are ready or work on the relationship when you are ready, you are hardly worth the wait and don't even think about it for even 1 second, you just need to know that someone as selfish and self-absorbed as you don't deserve whatever you expect.

I just learnt that if someone trusts you, they trust you, if they don't, every negligible thing that you have said or done, which might be completely innocent but it all became so not innocent because opportunists who are there to discredit your character and personality turned things around, or added their own unjustified interpretation of what your actions meant and turn that someone against you. Basically in short everything will discredit you if someone don't trust you.

Yes maybe sometimes we will all doubt the supposedly trusted ones at a certain point based on hearsay, but at the end of the day you need to evaluate what kind of person that person who tells you about what your trusted friend has said or done is, you need to ask yourself how much do you trust that trusted friend of yours, is it enough to give him/her enough credit to trust that he/she will never say or do anything like that? If still in doubt and provided that trusted person is important enough, you probably might want to go to him/her and talk things through and see what he/she has to say before disposing them conveniently.

If the informer is some kind of double-faced whore, don't even bother about what they say really, if right from the start you have doubts in that same person, don't bother trusting him/her, because at the end of the day, the only fool will be you and your trusted friend, not them.

When you and I were babies long time ago, did we ever give up learning how to walk? Did we ever stop grasping the technique to walk like our parents? Sure, we crawled before we walked. We might have stumbled here and there, went all wobbly and fell so many times that our butts were sore but we never stopped trying did we? Yes, we were brave little beings when we entered the world, yes, just by the very fact we never stopped trying and that got us all walking around, progressing eventually to running around.

But are you still the same old you now? Well, probably not, we stopped trying a lot of different things as we grow older. Was it the naivety instilled in us then that kept us trying, was it the same set of ignorance that kept us going? I think so. It seems like as we grow older, we tend to be less courageous, we tend to restrict ourselves to trying new things, we tend to hold back a little because we need to establish what we are doing is normal so as to guarantee ourselves that we won't be laughed at if we attempt this. Of course, some of us are risk takers but like I said, its some, not all. So what is it that stole our courage away? Awareness of society's perceptions of what is normal. Perhaps it is too because, giving up without attempting is sometimes the safest option, at least you didn't try and fail and allow everyone to laugh at you but what happens if you managed to pull it off, irrespective of the consequences, you are a winner by attempting and if you pull yourself together and attempt the walk again, people will somehow never look at you the same way again. They know for a fact that you are one hell of a person, you believe in your convictions, you either give up after trying because you know its impossible, or you continue working on it till you succeed, either way, they would admire you for the strength they lack in, that is to try.

Then again there is this category of people who give up before they even try, because they received feedback from the vast majority that their ideas will never materialise because they said so and trust me half of the population let these people get to them and they give up before even trying. Well these people are certainly weaklings, yes of course, there is a fine line between striving for the impossible and the possible, but who is to say what you are attempting is impossible until you tried that out? Ignore those idiots who tells you, it is impossible because based on their experiences, that can never happen. Well to hell with them, a long time ago, people told Richard Brandson that his dream to launch Virgin Galactic is impossible, did he bother about what was said? No and in fact, he is in the midst of preparing launching Virgin Galactic in the next 5 years. Now how's that?

Criticisms, critcisms and more criticisms are what people have to offer, day and night, all year round, 365 days, 24/7, everyone just knows how to criticise without offering solutions. All they ever know is judge, judge, judge and give more and more of those useless advices, advices and more advices and all those weak people ever do is take in all that is said and stop trying. Somehow these people's calling is just to heed the advice from the supposedly wise majority and give up, they are unexceptional, and did I mention, great followers? This is too what sets entrepreneurs/leaders and employees apart. These people lack the mental fortitude to press on in whatever they believe in and hey when you believe in something, give it at least a shot, that is the least credit you can give to your own ideas and dreams.

Nobody will be there to tell you what gives you great success, you have to work hard towards it and oh yes find it first. Be innovative, creative, be different because that is what sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Nobody can predict what will happen in life and nobody should ever have a right to tell you what you should do with your life or plans you have in life, just who the hell do they think they are?

My ex hallmate, despite being naughty and crazy the way she is, she is unique and she don't really give a damn as to what people think about her. For that I respect her for who she is. She chose to do textiles and designing regardless of what others have told her like how she can make a better living after university if she was to choose a business degree or anything that is in demand but textiles and designing? What can she do with it? Well lots, if you were to ask me, she has the talent in designing clothes, talent in art and basically that is her strength, why is it that everyone don't see that and they try to make them see the world from their perspective rather than trying to see the world from her views? If she has a talent in art and designing, she could jolly well carve a niche and get a hell of a career out of designing, for all you know, she might even be the next Marc Jacobs (the female version though). She exudes differentness, a sort of charm that you don't find in everyone these days. Everyone from long long time ago wanted to be different individuals, they have their own sophiscated thoughts and ideologies, but now? Everyone is just so mainstream, adhering to society's views and the general crowd's ideas and opinions, compromising their convictions to normalcy, giving up when people tells them what they are going to embark on is impossible, giving up without even trying.

Answer, strangely, your very self. Because you allow, what the society perceives as what is normal, get to you and because you never give more credit than you actually are worth to yourself, how can you ever live a life that is fulfilling and belongs to you? Put it simply, you are living a life that is defined by people to be a life, rather than living a life that you define as life and your life that is. How much is the life defined by all others but yourself worth at face value? A grand total of, ZERO, yes repeat after me, ZERO, again let's do it together one last time, ZERO. Somebody please help me understand how not to look down on these people who lack the mental fortitude because seriously I cannot comprehend what kind of life that is. Sometimes I get so sick of seeing people compromising their views just to so call fit in when there is no such "in" for them to fit into. Striving for normalcy is sometimes just dumb, you are who you are and don't try to change the fact that you are different, you cannot just live your life like every dead dictated zombies in this pathetic world. As if a material world is not sad enough, a pathetic world where you are trying to be everyone else is just inexplicable state of hopelessness.

My advice to you all? Never stop trying. Never stop believing in yourself. Live a life not just live. Don't be afraid to be different. Live a life for yourself, not for others. Attempt on what you think is possible and screw everyone else's views, they don't matter anyway. It's hard but you'll enjoy it.