So I list my birthday and relationship status on Facebook and these are all the ads I see now. And they use both to put me down! “33 and still single?” Ouch.

If I wasn’t a well-adjusted person, I think these would cause one to go into a spiral of depression. In your face, much?! And how did they know I like blondes?

I just saw this on TV tonight and it made me laugh. The premise is that Dove chocolate gives you such euphoria that you forget things, especially those that you really don’t want to remember. But it also creates problems if you abuse it, as you’d see in the ad. Oh, and the character’s name is “Pam Nesia”.

Hell is not Mother Nature. She has been around long before we ever existed, and will do so even after we’ve gone. On a planet floating in space, we may be the most intelligent passengers, but we are passengers no less.

The universe has no compassion - it just is. Things do not happen because of cosmic vengeance or divine retribution. There’s no malice, no motive and no calculations.

China: Quake left 18,000 buried in one city - China earthquake- msnbc.com
Quake survivors now face exposure danger - World - smh.com.au

But Hell is indeed other people (“No Exit” by Jean-Paul Sartre) …

Burmese Army stops locals trying to give aid - World - smh.com.au
Myanmar Restricting Aid Delivery - New York Times

Who by their actions should have marked out their places in it, if there is such a thing. But for Hell to exist then so must Heaven. And if so, divine benevolence. But there is no divinity. Not when blameless souls perished, or lay dying, while selfish parasites live out their lives on this earth in comfort and luxury.

Though if Hell is other people, it also manages to shine a light on those who are selfless and on other nations’ largesse even as their offers of help are being rejected.

Monks aid cyclone victims - Asia-Pacific - msnbc.com
RAAF touches down with Burma aid - World - smh.com.au
UN chief presses Myanmar to accept more aid - International Herald Tribune

We can’t all be completely selfless, but we can definitely be a bit more caring and considerate in our daily lives and lend a helping hand when we can, even if it’s for the smallest of favours. Disasters will happen and evil people will continue their evil ways, but at least we are not adding to the bad stuff that happens everyday.

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.