Money, makes the world go around. Everyone knows this, it's hard to imagine a world without money since we all live in a world which possibly the most important material item to most people is of course, money. Everyone needs it, not many can survive without it. We (most of us) go to work in the morning whether we like it or not, with the intention to make a living and put food on the table. Once we have enough, we'll aim for something higher, something bigger, like our very own house or car, then further even further, something luxurious, like a yacht or a beach house. Because money is a necessity of life, we all need to value it, and put it as a top priority. However, there comes a time to think of it lightly, and be happy with what you have, admittedly, it's easier said than done. But there comes an obvious limit to when one should stop, like if it ruins a family, a friendship, someone's life.
One of the examples I have when I think of greed dates back a while ago. Our family has our "own" restaurant, not in the sense that we own it, but in the sense that when we go out for dinner or lunch, 90% of the time, that's the place we go to. My father had been friends with the owner (Keeping in mind he owned several restaurants and was quite wealthy) for several years and if my father has any business which requires dinner, he would always bring clients to the restaurant for dinner as well, so they weren't just friends, but business partners in a way too. When they had things going, my father realized he had started getting greedy, for example, for several occasions, we had bought wine from them, he had blatantly lied about how many we had bought, once we counted 9 and he said 11, at the end after pressuring him, he had said "oh, sorry, must have accidentally counted some bottles from other tables." After this incident, my father for the next event dropped of a crate of wine that we bought at the restaurant hours before the dinner started. Once it had begun, my dad realized the wine on the table wasn't the ones he bought, and figured out he had swapped them for a cheaper brand. A few more similar occurrences happened after this and his greed ultimately destroyed their friendship.
Things like this really make me stop to think, what is the point? If you have enough for a living and to buy luxuries once in a while, be happy. When we all die, the money we've saved and things we've spent on would have all gone.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Embarrassment
Sorry for the lack of posts, been busy with some college work, helping out newcomers as well as teachers.
Anyway, managed to embarrass myself today. Since I've been helping out during the last two days, my teacher required me to write a letter for testimonials at the end of the year. She was planning to ask the class to write the letter today, but because I wasn't available, she asked me to write one last night. Unfortunately, nothing good came to my mind and I soon realized i was going on about absolutely nothing, and everything i was writing had begun to sound cheesy, like "strive for the utmost excellence.." etc,etc. To top it all off, I only wrote about 400 (slightly off, if i can recall correctly it was around 380), anyway, at the time I thought nothing of it and in fact, thought it was appropriate. Unfortunately, the next morning I handed it to her, and then realized everything i had wrote was wrong, and was very poorly written. Apparently, i had misheard, and I wrote about the wrong topic, not only that, i even went off topic from the topic i had heard... so it ended up being completely irrelevant, the structure was also extremely poorly done, no paragraphing no letter structure visible, not only that, she expected around six paragraphs (which she had said to me "I was expecting the class to write six paragraphs". Worst of all though, she has a tendency to read out work to the class... and if anything, my letter was read out, I think i would die of embarrassment, however, I'm quite self conscious and seeking too much attention isn't my thing.
The smartest thing to do is probably write another one... but really, I just want to leave it and not think about it for a little while.
So, anything shameful/embarrassing happen to you guys lately? What do you think I should do?
Anyway, managed to embarrass myself today. Since I've been helping out during the last two days, my teacher required me to write a letter for testimonials at the end of the year. She was planning to ask the class to write the letter today, but because I wasn't available, she asked me to write one last night. Unfortunately, nothing good came to my mind and I soon realized i was going on about absolutely nothing, and everything i was writing had begun to sound cheesy, like "strive for the utmost excellence.." etc,etc. To top it all off, I only wrote about 400 (slightly off, if i can recall correctly it was around 380), anyway, at the time I thought nothing of it and in fact, thought it was appropriate. Unfortunately, the next morning I handed it to her, and then realized everything i had wrote was wrong, and was very poorly written. Apparently, i had misheard, and I wrote about the wrong topic, not only that, i even went off topic from the topic i had heard... so it ended up being completely irrelevant, the structure was also extremely poorly done, no paragraphing no letter structure visible, not only that, she expected around six paragraphs (which she had said to me "I was expecting the class to write six paragraphs". Worst of all though, she has a tendency to read out work to the class... and if anything, my letter was read out, I think i would die of embarrassment, however, I'm quite self conscious and seeking too much attention isn't my thing.
The smartest thing to do is probably write another one... but really, I just want to leave it and not think about it for a little while.
So, anything shameful/embarrassing happen to you guys lately? What do you think I should do?
Friday, 20 January 2012
Arrogance
All right. You all know what i mean. When i say "arrogance" the first thing that comes to your mind is either someone you know, or someone everyone knows with an ego so large the word arrogance is not big enough to describe it. Do they make you angry? Are they tolerated by their peers? What do you feel when you talk to them? Most of us can answer these questions and usually the reply is considerably similar. Most of us cant stand arrogant people, and really, who does? I'm presuming that arrogance and arrogance doesn't go too well together either, in fact, it's probably more of a disaster than if they talked to others.
Unfortunately, I had to deal with an extremely arrogant person in my life, and it was a rather eye-opening experience. It was all during two years in High school (college), the most arrogant person I had ever met in my life, was also my very close friend. When we first met, he seemed a modest and genuinely nice person, however, a year later, his personality totally changed, the way he acted, the way he talked, and most importantly, what he thought about himself and others. I don't know why, but he appeared to argue at every single possible chance that presented itself to him. If he had felt i was doing something wrong or he didn't approve/wasn't the way that he'd do it, "Tim", would condemn and show his disapproval. At first, it was primarily trivial matters which he'd quarrel with me about, and then it changed. To me, it was obvious he needed to feed his arrogance and the only way to do so, was of course, expand his knowledge to find a more common subject which is easily subjected to. That was religion. I know religion is a touchy subject, but I really didn't see the need for him to argue with everyone and everything. He took the atheist route and slander and insult all religions which cross him in conversations. ( As a side note, I have nothing against atheists, and well, I have no idea how most atheists act. In this case, this is NOT an attack on atheists, as i tend not to judge a group of people by one person). Eventually, he managed to destroy our friendship, after an argument or two, he'd come back the next day, thinking everything was fine, and then if even a little bit of religion was brought up, for instance, one time i said when i had described an unfortunate situation, i had said "dammit, god hates me haha". He then continued to disprove everything i said for the rest of the day.
I wonder, how arrogant are the most arrogant of people you've had to deal with? Is this merely a small fraction of what they really are? Why do people go out of their way to make themselves an annoyance to others? It's just human nature i guess. But most people need to change for the better.
Unfortunately, I had to deal with an extremely arrogant person in my life, and it was a rather eye-opening experience. It was all during two years in High school (college), the most arrogant person I had ever met in my life, was also my very close friend. When we first met, he seemed a modest and genuinely nice person, however, a year later, his personality totally changed, the way he acted, the way he talked, and most importantly, what he thought about himself and others. I don't know why, but he appeared to argue at every single possible chance that presented itself to him. If he had felt i was doing something wrong or he didn't approve/wasn't the way that he'd do it, "Tim", would condemn and show his disapproval. At first, it was primarily trivial matters which he'd quarrel with me about, and then it changed. To me, it was obvious he needed to feed his arrogance and the only way to do so, was of course, expand his knowledge to find a more common subject which is easily subjected to. That was religion. I know religion is a touchy subject, but I really didn't see the need for him to argue with everyone and everything. He took the atheist route and slander and insult all religions which cross him in conversations. ( As a side note, I have nothing against atheists, and well, I have no idea how most atheists act. In this case, this is NOT an attack on atheists, as i tend not to judge a group of people by one person). Eventually, he managed to destroy our friendship, after an argument or two, he'd come back the next day, thinking everything was fine, and then if even a little bit of religion was brought up, for instance, one time i said when i had described an unfortunate situation, i had said "dammit, god hates me haha". He then continued to disprove everything i said for the rest of the day.
I wonder, how arrogant are the most arrogant of people you've had to deal with? Is this merely a small fraction of what they really are? Why do people go out of their way to make themselves an annoyance to others? It's just human nature i guess. But most people need to change for the better.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Jealousy
It's a thing that kills friendship. It's probably the main feeling that (usually) can indirectly destroy your closest friend. When i mean by indirectly, by itself, jealousy is harmless, but once it leads you into taking action against your more physically or metaphorically "wealthy" friend, that is when the "bridge" of friendship begins to crumble.
Experience with jealousy, is...unfortunate. It's difficult to deal with it, as a feeling from yourself or as a feeling from a friend, who in turn, takes action against you to try to level with you in-terms of whatever he is jealous of. In this example, (which is also my most recent and fresh in my mind), involves a video game called "Team Fortress 2", a multiplayer FPS (first person shooter), that used to be pay to play, but now is free to play. What happened was, my friend and I, we shall call him 'Alan', are often very competitive about video games in general, and of course, when we were introduced into the community and game itself, our competitive spirits kicked in, and we sought to outplay each other in every way possible in this new game. However, if one has seen any videos relating to TF2 (Team fortress 2) you'll realise the general message is that TF2 is no longer just a FPS, it also has its very own trading community, which around 75% of active players participate in. Now, before i start to sound like im advertising the game, the fight for No.1 (between Alan and I)is mainly situated in the trading area of the game.
It all began when he was begging off others for items, and I, begun to feel like this, was the new face of competition, and so I begun to trade and make small profits, eventually, i surpassed him in wealth and currency of the game. Then, his jealousy kicked in. Unfortunately, it was not beneficial for me or anyone in the TF2 community, as he begun to unfairly trick new players in the value of their items and proceed to trade them for about 1/10 of actual value of their items. He then began to brag about making these so "profitable" trades, using dirty tactics. Eventually, I caught on, and realized he was ripping traders off. Now, we can not play a game without arguing about items. It's quite a shame to see a friendship deteriorate over a time. It my sound like im complaining, but it's only my most recent experience and to show that jealousy can exist everywhere, in my case, video games.
Experience with jealousy, is...unfortunate. It's difficult to deal with it, as a feeling from yourself or as a feeling from a friend, who in turn, takes action against you to try to level with you in-terms of whatever he is jealous of. In this example, (which is also my most recent and fresh in my mind), involves a video game called "Team Fortress 2", a multiplayer FPS (first person shooter), that used to be pay to play, but now is free to play. What happened was, my friend and I, we shall call him 'Alan', are often very competitive about video games in general, and of course, when we were introduced into the community and game itself, our competitive spirits kicked in, and we sought to outplay each other in every way possible in this new game. However, if one has seen any videos relating to TF2 (Team fortress 2) you'll realise the general message is that TF2 is no longer just a FPS, it also has its very own trading community, which around 75% of active players participate in. Now, before i start to sound like im advertising the game, the fight for No.1 (between Alan and I)is mainly situated in the trading area of the game.
It all began when he was begging off others for items, and I, begun to feel like this, was the new face of competition, and so I begun to trade and make small profits, eventually, i surpassed him in wealth and currency of the game. Then, his jealousy kicked in. Unfortunately, it was not beneficial for me or anyone in the TF2 community, as he begun to unfairly trick new players in the value of their items and proceed to trade them for about 1/10 of actual value of their items. He then began to brag about making these so "profitable" trades, using dirty tactics. Eventually, I caught on, and realized he was ripping traders off. Now, we can not play a game without arguing about items. It's quite a shame to see a friendship deteriorate over a time. It my sound like im complaining, but it's only my most recent experience and to show that jealousy can exist everywhere, in my case, video games.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Story of (my) art
Everyone loves drawing, there's pretty much no exception, you would've drawn when you were young to pass the time, or perhaps now, for a profession, or as a hobby. Either way, drawing would of been a part of your life...For me, art played a part in my life, from a young age I was sent to art class, i could draw rather well, if i ever had free time id do it, my art had been in some children's galleries as well as in the newspapers. Now, however, the last time i drew was probably two or three months ago...So, why? Why was it as when i was a child, i had continued to draw almost every single day, yet now, things are quite the opposite. I've realized that every time I've drawn, i had been either watching or reading something. At first i had assumed "inspiration! Exactly what i need!" It had explained everything, when i was reading, I felt the image burned into my head, character development, the setting, expression, emotion, perfectly molded into place, all i needed to do is place it down on paper. But i couldn't, i simply couldn't. Perhaps i was scared of failure? Perhaps i had set my expectations too high? Or maybe I decided that it should stayed where it belonged, away from this form of art. Most people would think me weird and strange to what I feel and my opinion, when one of us reads a book, most of the descriptions are usually different in each others heads. I don't see the need to express this on paper and show everyone what my vision really is. Perhaps its just a phase for me. I don't know, but you must know, every-time i try, I cant. One second its pictured perfectly, next second. It's gone. It's almost impossible unless i start at a dot at a time. I really wish i could change this, expressing my feelings through art is possibly the main way, and easiest way i present my ideas to others. I don't know if any artists reading this have gone through his phase (most likely not, seems so strange and unique to me). I sometimes think its just other distractions, if i really tried, i guess i could be able to draw.
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
My experience.
Alright. We all have the same feelings. No matter who you are, where you're from you'll all have something in common, and that's going to be our feelings, everyone of us will have felt and been through the same feelings at least once in our lives. Sadness, happiness, jealousy... That kind of thing, however, some or most of us experience these in so many different ways, something that makes me happy could make you sad, and vice versa. But if you and I met, we can discuss how we felt during these times, when we watch a video with certain content, your feelings and my feelings would be similar, however, maybe how we came to feel this, will be different. Of course with all the people in the world, eventually, if we met everyone and got them to watch the same video, one or several or even more, would have their feelings triggered at the exact same time as me or you.
Perhaps one of my most vivid examples of this is my experience with the community of the show "My Little Pony", mainly, the well-known fan-fic to the older viewers (who call themselves 'bronies') the story of "My Little Dashie", a story about how one of the main six characters in the show gets transported into the real world, as a "philly" or younger/adolescent pony, (I won't spoil the ending, just in-case someone wants to read it). Most of the readers claimed to have felt extreme sadness and many posted that they had cried "from both joy and sorrow", I however, had a quite dissimilar experience. For those of you who've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about or perhaps disagree with me, for those of you who haven't, bare with me quickly. I felt, however the story was extremely cliche, and the ending was extremely predictable. The post itself is around 12000 words, and into the first quarter, i had felt i knew what was going to happen, and quite frankly my exact thoughts were brought to words. I hadn't been surprised, this wasn't the first time the ending to a good story i was actually interested in had been ruined However, this time, I hadn't realized, ironically, i ruined it for myself. Long story short, I didn't feel enough emotions for me to cry. The story, had given me goosebumps because the language features he used in it were extremely well placed and the image and setting was literally nailed to your head the whole time. My friend, on the other hand, he had said "couldn't stand it" and that he "didn't like it" I was rather surprised to the fact that he showed no interest at all to the fan-fic, even though he was a bigger fan of MLP than I actually was.
However, my friend and I were probably the minority whom felt not as much sorrow as the many others, there definitely will be others, some maybe merely interested in reading a recommended "fic" from their friends, whom felt nothing as they have not seen the show, or "bigger" fans which maybe thought the same as me. The fan-fic itself received over four stars out of five so i doubt many would have felt the same.
Perhaps one of my most vivid examples of this is my experience with the community of the show "My Little Pony", mainly, the well-known fan-fic to the older viewers (who call themselves 'bronies') the story of "My Little Dashie", a story about how one of the main six characters in the show gets transported into the real world, as a "philly" or younger/adolescent pony, (I won't spoil the ending, just in-case someone wants to read it). Most of the readers claimed to have felt extreme sadness and many posted that they had cried "from both joy and sorrow", I however, had a quite dissimilar experience. For those of you who've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about or perhaps disagree with me, for those of you who haven't, bare with me quickly. I felt, however the story was extremely cliche, and the ending was extremely predictable. The post itself is around 12000 words, and into the first quarter, i had felt i knew what was going to happen, and quite frankly my exact thoughts were brought to words. I hadn't been surprised, this wasn't the first time the ending to a good story i was actually interested in had been ruined However, this time, I hadn't realized, ironically, i ruined it for myself. Long story short, I didn't feel enough emotions for me to cry. The story, had given me goosebumps because the language features he used in it were extremely well placed and the image and setting was literally nailed to your head the whole time. My friend, on the other hand, he had said "couldn't stand it" and that he "didn't like it" I was rather surprised to the fact that he showed no interest at all to the fan-fic, even though he was a bigger fan of MLP than I actually was.
However, my friend and I were probably the minority whom felt not as much sorrow as the many others, there definitely will be others, some maybe merely interested in reading a recommended "fic" from their friends, whom felt nothing as they have not seen the show, or "bigger" fans which maybe thought the same as me. The fan-fic itself received over four stars out of five so i doubt many would have felt the same.
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