Best Read : East Side

from here http://classicalgeektheatre.blogspot.com/2009/06/eastside-of-la.html

The folks representing the “true” Eastside have harassed CGT in the comment sections in the past and I’ve paid them no heed. Neighborhood beefs and turf wars are small-minded and silly. It reminds me of when I was in high school and the “Class of ’99” felt they needed to protect their identity from my “Class of 2000”. These kinds of things are always self-manufactured wars of identity waged by insecure people who need a contrived structure to measure themselves against others.

I don’t want to sound ranty but why does the insecure lead the pack? because the non insecure (at least least insecure) really have no need to feel part of the pack.  I woke up at 2.30 pm after sleeping around 9am because I had massive migraines.  Sorry for being ranty, but I love my family, I love my friends, and I feel for most people, I don’t need petty incidents reformatted as news to feel a commonality with other people.

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What's Playing? Jumper by Third Eye Blind

Third Eye Blind
Image by BigBlue via Flickr


Jumper
Third Eye Blind
I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend
You could cut ties with all the lies
That you’ve been living in
And if you do not want to see me again
I would understand
I would understand
The angry boy, a bit too insane
Icing over a secret pain
You know you don’t belong
You’re the first to fight
You’re way too loud
You’re the flash of light
On a burial shroud
I know something’s wrong
Well everyone I know has got a reason
To say
Put the past away
I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend
You could cut ties with all the lies
That you’ve been living in
And if you do not want to see me again
I would understand
I would understand
Well, he’s on the table
And he’s gone to code
And I do not think anyone knows
What they are doing here
And your friends have left
You’ve been dismissed
I never thought it would come to this
And I
I want you to know
Everyone’s got to face down the demons
Maybe today
We can put the past away
I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend
You could cut ties with all the lies
That you’ve been living in
And if you do not want to see me again
I would understand
I would understand
I would understand
Can you put the past away
I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend
I would understand…

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rePost:Finding Happiness:Stumbling and Mumbling: Money, reputation and happiness

Heather Marks modeling for Miss Sixty, Fall 20...
Image via Wikipedia

I suspect there might not be. One reason why I think I’m happier now than when I was younger (despite the U-shape in happiness over the life cycle) is precisely that I’ve stopped giving a damn what anyone thinks about me. If you care about your reputation, you end up worrying about things you can’t easily control. You become like Heather Mills, ranting hysterically about the press.
This is pretty much the exact opposite of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s recipe for happiness – flow. He says we maximize happiness when we lose ourselves in an activity – playing music or sport say – when we are in control, and yet oblivious to our own ego.
Stumbling and Mumbling: Money, reputation and happiness.

Happiness is that thing that I yearn for and actually try to find. I haven’t but all good things take time. What am I trying to do to find happiness? Here are some:
-Trying out new thing. This includes hobbies etc. I am trying to skew towards activities that do.
-Connecting with people. Trying to interact with people and increase my circle of friends. This also include improving connections with my friends now.
-Connecting with your family. We tend to take our parent and siblings for granted. I try to smooth things over and try to maximize my time spent with my parents.
-Self Improvement. A most overused word but its overused for a reason you are never perfect. What you can be is a person that is totally comfortable with yourself! The best way (for me) to be comfortable with yourself is to face the harsh realities of life and your rough edges head on. This means being honest to yourself with the things taht are painful for you, the things that irk you, things that give you joy, the activities that gives you a lasting joy. The good thing about being honest to yourself is that when you do it often enough it becomes a habit thatbrings you closer

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Stumbling and Mumbling: The power of stereotypes

FHM Babe - Loraine
Image by peterjaena via Flickr

This is sad to read. In the Philippines people are labeled early on because of close family ties, where 2nd or 3rd degree relatives see each other at least once a year. One thing I observe in these awkward situation is the way people give young kids labels that tend to be based on superficial reasons that then I believe sometimes become self fulfilling.

The power of stereotypes
Reputations can be self-fulfilling prophecies ; if you give a man a bad name, he‘ll live down to it. A new paper (pdf) by Thomas Dee shows this.
He did an experiment at Swarthmore College, asking a group of students to take a GRE test. Before the test, some students were asked about their sporting activities, and whether these conflicted with their academic work, whilst others were not asked.
And Mr Dee found that the athletes who were asked these questions performed significantly worse than the athletes who weren’t.
This suggests that when people are primed to be aware of a stereotype – “jocks are dumb” – they are more likely to behave in accordance with it.
Stumbling and Mumbling: The power of stereotypes.

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Thanksgiving!

We don’t have thanksgiving here in the Philippines but that is no reason to snatch a holiday and thank the people who have made my life great!
Thanks to my Mom and Dad, my brother and sister for supporting me during the times when life makes me want to give up.
To my friends who always has a ready ear to hear my next crazy idea or to be my devils advocate or even bully me when either pride or self-doubt , fear or craziness is enveloping me.
To the people in the internet who have brought countless joys to my used to be boring life.
To the people who continue to show kindness without expecting anything in return, you renew my faith in people.
To God who is my pillar and happiness!
Happy Thanksgiving!

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