Alex @ Faraway @ flickr

1. Persistence doesn’t work. If the girl likes you, you don’t even have to do anything. And conversely, if the girl doesn’t like you, your persistence will annoy her and may border on being creepy.
2. Once you are in the friend zone, it’s very difficult to get out of it. See rule #1. But if you can only be friends, unless she led you on don’t be angry and bitter about it. She may have single friends who won’t put you in the friend zone like she did.
3. A girl who uses you because she knows that you like her and will do anything for her because you think it will win her over (see rule #1), will not make you happy even if you get her. Because she will just keep using you. Why would she stop when you are so willing?
4. Getting the girl takes a little bit of effort, but so does keeping the girl. But if she’s the right person all along, neither of that would be too difficult.
5. After you’ve gotten the girl, there are no guarantees. Try not to think too much and ruin it; just enjoy the journey no matter how fleeting. If you want to and can save it from ending, then do; if not, don’t try to hold on to it.

Thanks to girlstar7 for sparking the idea for this post.

The good things in my life right now are:

1. My family
2. My dog Snoop
3. My friends and my social life
4. My job

How would I feel if that last thing fell off the list? That’s something that I will be contemplating in the coming months. Let’s start from the beginning …

I interviewed for a job in Perth that I thought I would stay with for at least 2 to 3 years. A few days before I started the job, I was told that the company was bought by a bigger company based in Melbourne. Over the following months, it became clear that the emphasis and infrastructure will be concentrated in Melbourne.

Several colleagues are already firmed up to move over east. The company may still have a presence in Perth but I would imagine my job will no longer exist, at least not in Perth. And I’m most certain that I will not be moving. Which is a shame because I really like the job. I’m fitting in really well and the people are a great bunch to work with.

The main reason for me not moving is that giving up the three things in life that make me happy now, for the same amount of pay does not feel like a good exchange to me. Unlike a job, those things are not easily replaced. If I’m unhappy with my life, I wouldn’t think twice about moving. But I’m not.

Perhaps I can be a little bit more ambitious? Although a career and money may allow me to continue living, they don’t define my life. I’m not money hungry and I’m not a workaholic. Should I be? What for when I’m already happy?

Perhaps I should expand my horizons? I don’t feel the need to though. I had been to Sydney and Tokyo on work trips before, and I’ve seen the way friends and family work in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The Asian worker bee mentality is not for me. And Sydney life is hectic compared to Perth. When I was there for work, I was tired out just from the commute. I know I’m probably spoilt by the lifestyle in Perth but I don’t feel ashamed to admit it - life is good here!

Perhaps more career growth and money over east? Not true anymore. Perth is the Australian boom town now for at least the next 20 years, with China buying our natural resources a big reason for it.

And I’m an urban person at heart. No matter which city I’d land in my lifestyle will probably be the same anyway: work, socialise, and party. Which means I’d end up doing the same things in the same kind of environments. So why move when I’ve got all of that sorted out here?

Did I write all this to convince myself that my pending decision is the right one? A little maybe. But it’s more to preempt the questions that some people will inevitably ask. Oh, and if you say that moving away from Perth will give me a better chance of finding a girlfriend, you either don’t know me very well or you haven’t been reading this blog long enough.

p.s. I love holidaying in your cities and I’m not dissing them. But living and working are completely different things from holidaying.

Ashlee Simpson. Sister of Jessica. Caught lip-syncing. Drunkenly disturbed the peace at a McDonald’s. Had a fantastic nose job. It all don’t matter because this song is so damn catchy. And she’s looking damn fine in it.

Alll riiight.

Guys don’t like crying, or they don’t anyway when there are people around. This is why you’d see them go all quiet and get choked up during emotional scenes in movies. They hold it back the most when they are watching the chick flicks their girlfriends have forced them to watch. I can assure you that it is very difficult.

Is it easier to just let it all out? Sure, but it’s just not very masculine is it? However, here’s a list of non-chick flicks that a guy should be allowed to bawl his eyes out to, without being labelled as “being in touch with his feelings”. Because hey, who wants that?

* WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD *
 
 
 

Here are the movies:

• Armageddon. When Bruce Willis’ character sacrifices himself by staying back on the asteroid to detonate the nuclear device. And just before he does, he gives a touching speech to Ben Affleck’s character about how he’s the perfect man for his daughter and to look after her. It’s so moving that even Ben Affleck cried. *cries*
• Robocop. When Peter Weller as police officer Murphy gets shot up to a million pieces on the first day that the happily-married father of one got transferred to his new precinct. Hard to watch, easy to cry. *cries*
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. When Jason Scott Lee as Bruce Lee gets crippled temporarily, and when he dies in the end. He’s been racially discriminated against his whole life, and just as he’s established himself in the martial arts world, he gets crippled. And after he recovers and becomes a big movie star, triumphantly starring in a movie in a Hollywood which rejected him earlier for being too Asian, he fucking dies. Real life is tragic. *cries*
• A Perfect World. When Kevin Costner’s prison fugitive asks his inadvertent hostage kid to run towards the marshals pursuing him, and then gets shot up by them when he was about to surrender because one of the marshals thought he was pulling out a gun when he was actually pulling out a photo. All this after he’s protected the boy from other bad men, shown him how to live correctly, and telling him to make his choices in life very carefully, lest he becomes like him. Come on! *cries*
• Saving Private Ryan. Every time one of Tom Hank’s squad gets killed, including Tom Hanks in the end. Why? Because his entire squad died trying to save one man because politicians safe at home thought that they can’t have three brothers from one single family die in a war. Futile waste of lives makes me emotional. *cries*
• A Shawshank Redemption. When the old prisoner gets depressed in the outside world because he can’t cope with it, after being in prison for close to 60 years, and commits suicide. Gets me every time. It’s so unfair! *cries*
• The Crow. Knowing that Brandon Lee was dead whilst watching the movie notwithstanding, seeing his good-guy character who is so in love with his fiance, forced to see her being raped and then gets thrown out his apartment window by comically evil guys raised my inner indignation so much that I couldn’t help it. When Brandon Lee says, “It can’t rain all the time.” And when the little girl says in the end, “Buildings burn and people die, but true love is forever.” Oh man. *cries*
• Philadelphia. When Tom Hank’s slowly dying character wins his court case, and then dies. With Neil Young’s sombre song “Philadelphia” playing in the background, and photos of Tom Hanks character as a kid flashing across the screen, it’s impossible to hold it back! *cries*

Note: I should add that the only chick flick that you are allowed to cry in is Titanic - when Leonardo Dicaprio as Jack dies in the water. Oh yeah, and Ghost too - every time Patrick Swayze or Demi Moore cries, I cried. *ahem* Yeah think I better stop talking now.

More Japanese pop-locking goodness. This is Martin Solveig’s latest song “C’est la vie” featuring the dance crew called “U-Min” (oo-min). (search for “roboting” on Youtube)

Oh, and if you’ve watched Madonna’s clip for “4 Minutes” you would have noticed two Japanese guys in it dancing on top of a car. They are “Hamutsun Serve” - the duo that I wrote about previously. Apparently she found them via Youtube. Pretty awesome.

So last night was a awesome night spent chatting to and dancing with strangers (including these bunch of girls who called me “Jackie”. Yeah haha, “Jackie Chan”. I get it. You’re lucky that you were pretty.), and shooting the breeze with Simon, all amidst the Vandalism gig at Capitol’s weekly show, Vegasmode. Electro House rox!

Once again, I worked the Saturday shift today. I’m getting the hang of doing the zombie thing now: go out on Friday night, go home and catch a few ZZZs, freshen up and have breakfast, and head out again to work. Sensible? No. Fun? Definitely. And I don’t over rely on caffeine or “artificial enhancements” either.

I got into work and tuned into Digitally Imported - softly in the background, of course. Have I mentioned that I listen to dance music whatever I do? Anyhoo, there were a few painful support calls in the beginning but nothing out of the ordinary. And towards the end of my shift, I began to idle and started feeling restless.

I surfed the net, trolled through Facebook and looked at hot chick photos of friends of friends. But still I ran out of things to kill time with.

Luckily for me, a long time reader “girlstar7″ logged onto MSN and we started chatting. First topic of the day was about women’s body image issues mentioned in my previous post. Inevitably we started talking about female body parts which got me kinda distracted (yay boobs!).

She offered to send me some bikini pics. I politely declined. I didn’t want to be THAT distracted. Hahah!

I also mentioned to her that I will be going to Melbourne for a short work trip and we should meet up. This would be the first time that we’ve ever seen each other in person. I think it would be momentous. She started reading me way back in 2005. Thinking about that, and all the other readers that I have collected along the way, I felt touched. Aww, thanks you guys!

And there’s still Saturday night to go. I should be sensible and stay home tonight. You know, to recuperate. But yeah, I’m a boy. I don’t think I’m that sensible yet.

Antonio Martinez @ flickr

Cosmic coincidence? One told me to remove photos of her because she thought she looks fat in them. One is contemplating liposuction. And two more, although not in as dramatic situations as the previous two, still compelled me to say to them,

You’re not fat!

Although there are men in dysfunctional relationships who cause women to have a distorted view of their bodies - fat where there isn’t and ugly when they aren’t, there are a larger number of men out there who love their women just the way they are.

But the women don’t listen to their men. “Honey, you look fine” don’t make them feel good about themselves as much as a critical look from another woman makes them feel bad about ordering dessert. And I guess this is the crutch of it: women are their own worse enemies.

Men have learnt long ago that to compare our women to other women is asking for hell hath no fury. And yet women do it to themselves all the time. Pay attention the next time an attractive women walks into the room, and watch how all the other women look at her. It’s almost instinct, this desire to either be critical or to compare.

Here’s a secret. Men don’t like thin woman. Men like curves and flesh. Men dig women with appetite because it alludes to their appetite elsewhere. Men don’t like being reminded of their grandmothers when they touch your malnourished skin on your bony arms. Men like holding on to you without fearing they might break you.

Love handles? Hey, they are called “handles” for a reason. Baby got back? Slap! Boobs? Bewbs? Don’t have to ask me twice! Tits, hips and ass are what defines a woman’s shape. We don’t want skinny, we want fleshy. And we definitely do not want to feel like we are doing it to a boy.

Being skinny is not the only way for you to be beautiful. So unless you are obese, please stop counting the calories and come have a thick slice of cheese cake with me. I’ll even get one that’s low fat. Just as long as you eat. Eating makes you happy. Honest. And then we’d even have the energy to party the night away and after.