Goodbye Blue Mondays

Today was really really long and draining. It actually started yesterday night, when I stayed up way too late doing school work. I realize I'm not very efficient, period. There are too many distractions all the time, and I am a sucker for every single distraction. So at 2 in the morning, I was still doing research on an upcoming presentation, while doing my Business Law notes while reading Naruto at the same time.

See what I mean about not being very efficient?

So I slept late, and I had to wake up early for a class at 830am. That gave me slightly less than 5 hours of sleep. I woke up easily enough, dragged my ass to school. Paying attention wasn't a problem for me at first, but then I just got lost at one point, and gave up on trying to keep up. My brain was much.

After my first class, I was supposed to go for lunch, but I shelved those plans to prepare for my meeting at 130pm instead. One of my pet peeves is people who come to meetings unprepared. I didn't want to be my own worst enemy, so I sat myself down in a peaceful corner of the school and proceeded to do my work. To my utmost surprise, I was oddly efficient. It's true what they say about the last minute.

My project this time is about Polymerase Chemical Reaction. I'm really out of my league with this project. Half of this things I'm researching on doesn't make any sense to me. Take this sentence for example:

The desired fragment must be selectively amplified so that it is purified essentially to homogeneity. Thereafter, its structure and function can be comprehensively studied, for example by DNA sequencing, in vitro expression studies, etc., and various manipulations can be achieved to change its structure by in vitro mutagenesis.

WHAT THE SHIT.

Another one of my pet peeves is people who come late for meetings. I am painfully punctual all of the time. I'm serious. I think it stems from the fact that I hate disappointing other people. I don't care much about disappointing myself, because my own standards are horribly low, but when it comes to others, making a good impression counts. So I arrived early enough...other people arrived late. Part and parcel of university life, huh?

Meeting ended, and I went to the studio to do some touch-up on our current video that we're editing. It's been a long journey to get to this point, and it's not a journey which has been smooth. Bumps, and humps, and problems plagued us along the way, and I'll just keep it at that. It's the learning that's important.

I then had another meeting for an upcoming event. We're sourcing for sponsorship. It's something I've never tried before. But I want to expose myself to new things, because only then can I learn, you know? Besides, I like the people I'm working with. Even if the project itself turns out to be horrible, at least I went through it with them.

Reached home about half-an-hour back. Now I'm going to prepare for tomorrow's 7.5 hours of classes. Yes, 7.5 hours. The thought of it alone is enough to make me cry on the inside. I'm going to try to squeeze in a run, because balance is important, and visible progress is being made, which is awesome.

The Tweekly Howtoraymond (23-29 January)

Here's another week's worth of tweets. If you like what you see, and you want more, just follow me. I tweet a shitload.

Not many people will get it. #ifyouknowwhatimean

On the Bedok Reservoir suicides.

Movie reference.

False hopes.

True story.

Sometimes, I shoot myself in the foot.

I'm so proud of myself for this one.

That day, I went to NUS.

The CNY holidays were really confusing for me.

Orange you glad I'm punny.

Chinese New Year Resolutions.

So another one's gone by. The first half of it is in direct contrast with the second half. Mondays through Wednesdays, I was so relaxed, and refreshed. Thursday came, and then Friday, and Saturday and finally today. I'm feeling thoroughly spent. There's loads of work waiting for me, I guess. I don't really want to do them...because it doesn't really benefit me in any way. But I have to do it anyway.

Growing up means accepting the fact that life is not a bed of roses.

On other news, I wish I had less complicated problems hahahaha. There are problems which you are willing to share with other people, and then there are problems which are just so...different, and you think that nobody can really help you with it. You suck it up, and you carry on.

Sigh.

...

...

...

...

After typing all that out, I'm much better now. Blogging is therapeutic. Time to do some serious work.

Geek Charming Predictionsss.

Okay, Geek Charming is showing on Disney Channel. This is an impromptu post. So far, what I gather is that it's about this "geek" who decides to film a documentary on popularity by following the most popular girl around. The popular girl is played by Sarah Hyland, that babe in Modern Family. Also, the "geek" is played by her real life boyfriend.

Sarah Hyland's the only reason I'm watching, to be honest. She's gorgeous! Go look up her photos on Google, or watch an episode or two of Modern Family. And she's my age too. Let's ignore the fact that she's in a totally different continent from me...I think we'd go really well together.

I'm quite sure it'd be a bad, predictable movie. Just to prove how predictable it is, let's have a checklist, and later, let's revisit this checklist to see which of my predictions come true.

-The geek and girl will fall in love.

-The geek will use the footage to film a heart-warming video which will charm the girl.

-The geek will transform into a cool guy, and vice versa.

-There will be a scene in the rain.

-A dancing scene.

-The popular girl's boyfriend will break her heart.

-There will be a scene where the girl will meet the geek's mum and they will like each other.

-The teacher will give an insightful talk.

-It'll end with everyone being friends with each other.

-We'll find out that the girl has some really "geeky" qualities.

Okay, predictions made, let's see how it goes!

Edit: Got all my predictions right except for that scene in the rain. #soclose

Trailer:

Some people don't get it.

Not everybody will get you. This actually happens to me quite a lot, and more often than not, it's intentional. I love being...vague, not in your face, and I like to keep people guessing. When they do get me, it feels like we've forged a meaningful connection that goes beyond words. It's like we truly connect, and that's awesome.

When they don't get you though, you just got to roll with the punches haha.

It's Friday, and I guess it's supposed to be relaxing. But I've school tomorrow, and readings which I haven't actually touched. Work's piling up to, and I haven't been able to do any substantive update. I'm happy that I've been able to update at least, but I'm not giving it my best. For my best to come into fruition, it needs time, and time is simply something I have very little of.

Let's just list out the things I should do this weekend for school, but probably won't:

-Statistics homework

-LTB minutes, mission statement and quiz

-Analytical skills assignment and debate topic

-TWC slides

Hmm, now that I've typed it out, it actually looks quite manageable. This weekend is looking up already! Okay, I'm out, I still have Business Law readings to do for tomorrow morning's lesson.

Moving words.

In the cold weather, I dream about the way you held me.

Your arms, like wings of an angel.

Wrapped around my fragile frame.

I felt a warm that can never be replaced.

Dare I ask you whether you still love me?

Can my heart take another beating?

I don't want to know.

But at the same time, I realize

That I would otherwise be living a lie.

In the darkness, I reach out

For your hand which fits perfectly into mine.

I wrote this on a train ride once. On a piece of paper, I scribbled some lines. I tried to bring myself back to that moment when I was in love. It was very fleeting, I tell you, but it meant a lot to me then, and the memory still means a lot to me now.

I'm not usually this corny haha.

We're old enough to have smart conversations.

I met up with some of my JC friends today. I went to crash my friend's literature lecture at UTown. It's a long story, but summed up in a few words, I just wanted to see what it's like to study some place else. I actually really liked it. Anyway, I met up with 2 friends from my council days. And we had a really really dumb conversation.

It was about computers. And all the sexual things related to it. I'll let you make the connections yourself. Some of them are stretching it (heh). We have really good imaginations.

Bytes.

Floppy disks.

Hard drives.

Cookies.

Mouse. And the mouse's ball.

Mother load.

Flash.

RAM.

Internet Explore-her.

Firef----

Actually, they're not sexual. But if you say anything in a certain manner, they sound sexy enough.

I was supposed to have been more productive today, but alas, no. Before I was at NUS, I was at the SMU library "studying". That didn't work out too well hahaha. But I had a good time today. Overall, I'm happy as hell.

Here's a random Calvin and Hobbes image which would make for a wonderful tattoo, I think.

A one-track kind of mind.

"You want me to be just like everybody else? Are you kidding me? Fuck everybody else."

RU21?

Two days ago, I caught The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the cinemas. It's a movie based on the book of the same name. The book was written in Swedish, originally, and titled Men Who Hate Women. I bet you didn't know that! I didn't know that coming into the movie either, but I think I somehow sensed that sentiment throughout the entire movie. The way the men treated the women in the movie was...appalling to say the least.

It wasn't a good movie, I think. It was intriguing though. My criticisms lie mostly in it'spacing. It lasted a whopping 2hr48min. I kept expecting there to be an interlude of sorts. And it could have done away with whole segments which added nothing to the overall story. In fact, I managed to take a nap in the earlier part of the movie. I dozed off because it was boring, and when I woke up, I found that nothing new had happened in the movie.

The movie tries to tell two different stories, and it didn't manage to integrate them well into each other. There's the story of Lisbeth, the girl with the dragon tattoo. She's a very unique individual, and her story, and her personality are very interesting to watch. The movie tries to cover her background and establish her. I think it did it quite well. In addition to this was the story of Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist, who is tasked to investigate a series of gruesome murders dating back to the 1960s.

Mikael enlists the help of Lisbeth as her research assistant, and that's how the story intertwines. Like I said, Lisbeth's story is a fascinating study on abuse, feminism, and all that stuff. The crime-thriller part is where the story falls apart- it's simply not that interesting. Maybe it worked better in the books, but in the movie, it plodded on for far too long.

The ending was awkward. When the movie ended, there was a hush fell upon the audience - nobody knew what to say, and this hush followed us all the way out of the cinema. It just felt...flat. But there's two more movies in the pipeline, so I guess issues unresolved will be...resolved by then.

One of the reason I watched this show was because it was R21. It was my first proper R21 movie. I was excited...because...boobs. But what differentiates an M18 movie like The Hangover and an R21 movie I think is the grossness factor. There was a scene in the film which left a bad taste in my mouth. It was a necessary establishing moment, I guess, but...gross man.

The actress who played Lisbeth had a really nice butt by the way. Ughh, I feel like a pug for typing that.

That's it for me. School starts again tomorrow. Gah shit.

#2012resolutions in Chinese!

I decided to run my resolutions through Babel Fish, in honour of Chinese New Year. You know, since it's Chinese New Year, one should have Chinese New Year Resolutions. I don't know whether it makes sense or not, you tell me. Actually, now that I think about it, most of you probably won't understand it even though you're Chinese, right? The standard in Singapore is deplorable after all hahaha.

在导致到2012年的天，我我想在来年做的认为决议。 由于它是2012年，我想出12个决议。 它不是非常原始的(我看见其他人民太投入12个决议在FB)，然而，但是它是一个好的数字。

1) 写一本书。

2) 有regionals。

3) 丢失它。

4) 开始再blogging。

5) 放弃。

6) 学习参考书和不仅读他们。

7) 普遍地性感。

8) 比星期日发光明亮。

9) 在Facebook上花费较少时间。

10) 是好的对大家，即使他或她不是一个俏丽的女孩。 使用精密腿。 谁戴眼镜。 谁看起来好在马尾辫。

11) 增长。

12) 停留有角。 停留愚蠢。

因为他们关于今年以下的时间，保留您轨道的决议是好。 通过写下，您有什么的一个更加清楚的想法它是您正确地想要离开来年，并且由引伸，您的生活。 但是您必须记住这些决议，或者他们只不过是您说的词将是，否则键入。 词是风。

亲自，我进入2012年与或多或少一块空白石板。 我是在国家外面大约25天现在。 我不是家，没看见我的一些亲密的朋友和是从世界其他地方或多或少分开。 我不是做特别努力与大家同时保持联系的这人。 我更多在片刻内，您知道？

因此，当我回来时，我感到，如它是我的生活正确和适当的再开始，我知道它。 如我建立一切从爆心投影，我感到。 并且我有点儿喜欢那，因为我现在是一个更好的人，并且我认为我做事，这次。

今年，我不让一件事阻挡我。

The Tweekly Howtoraymond (16-22 January)

I tweet all the time, and since not everyone uses Twitter, I thought...why not compile my favourite ones of the week and put it on a blog? I actually take pride in what I tweet, and I think I'm funny enough. Twitter is useful when you have a random amusing thought but have no one to tell it to. Err, that sounded a bit sad.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Chinese holidays.

Astronomy.

I have no tail.

#pokepuns

Gravity.

I had no school that day.

Flip me off.

Awesomeness.

The Last Goodbye.

Have a happy CNY!

Double rainbow across the sky.

It was raining really hard earlier this afternoon. One would expect the usual complains about the having to use an umbrella, getting their shoes wet, flooding and ponding and all that other shit. And indeed we get those. Because it's Singapore, and we feel obliged to whine and make noise about every little thing.

Nobody ever expects a rainbow after the rain. It's a defense mechanism of sorts, maybe. Lower your expectations and you'll never be disappointed. But secretly, in our hearts, we're all hoping for the best-case scenario. We hold on to these hopes, and these hopes are the foundations upon which we build our lives upon. I hope you get what I mean.

So when today, a double rainbow appeared over Singapore, everybody was really excited, and happy. I didn't get to see it because I stayed home the whole day, but thanks to technology (Twitter, Facebook), I managed to get a glimpse of it. It looked really really wonderful.

Taken by Jowell. (@jowellooo)

Taken by Rebecca. (@rebeccajoytan)

Taken by Russell. (@russ_wee)

Taken by Peiyi. (@fanpeiyi)

Taken by Raied. (@raiedrahman)

PS: Some people are complaining about the influx of posts about rainbows on Facebook and Twitter. Screw them. Rainbows are awesome.

Holiday.

Two weeks of school has passed. Honestly, it was very very tiring. The sudden workload, and readings, and expectations of worse things to come. It's a bit much. But I got used to it, by and by, little by little, inch by inch. You learn to roll with the punches. You learn to brace yourself for the horrible things that are coming. You learn to hold on to the friends that will stick by you no matter what.

And then now, a one week break comes along, and I can't help but groan. I'm just getting into the groove of things! And this one week is a huge disruption. It's irritating, in a way. There are plenty of readings, research and planning to do though, so I guess I'll preoccupy myself with that. At the same time, I'm going to do something I've been neglecting for the longest time: write stories!

I haven't produced a single piece of fiction, and we're already 20 days into the new year. Okay, here's a goal for this week: to produce at least one piece of fiction every single freaking day. It's ambitious, but I've done it before, and the last time, I did it over a stretch of 4 weeks, and I was successful.

That's it for me for today. I have a whole bunch of good updates in my mind. Just wait for it, and do keep coming back. I update every day. It's not always fantastic...but it's free. Like me this holidays. Oh, if you're a hot girl, do feel free to ask me out. I'm the most eligible bachelor I know.

Enjoy One Thing, by One Direction.

Open your eyes. Your eyes are open.

In Robot Unicorn Attack, you play as a robot unicorn charging through an unknown planet, collecting pixies and crashing into stars. As you're running, dolphins are jumping around you, and everything is pink. In the background, the song "Always" is playing, egging you on.

"Always, I wanna be with you. And make believe in you. And live in harmony harmony ohhhhhhhhhhh~"

It's a simple game with only two controls, 'Z' for jump and 'X' for dash. I have quite low standards, so take it with a pinch of salt when I proclaim this to be possibly the BEST flash game ever.

Click the following link to play the game: http://games.adultswim.com/robot-unicorn-attack-twitchy-online-game.html

Just give it a shot, and play it for an hour or so. It's like drugs, but not addictive. Right now, I just want to drop everything and play this game for hours and hours, trying to get a high-score, and hoping for more awesome things to happen, but I can't. Because reality's calling and I can't NOT pick up that phone.

Meanwhile, if you have the luxury, you play the game. If not, at least enjoy the awesome Robot Unicorn Attack fanart.

"Hold on to the night. There will be no shame."

So near yet SOPA.

I'm sure most of you have heard about the SOPA thing, thanks largely to the Wikipedia blackout. But I don't think many people have actually bothered to find out what the big fuss is all about. The local media (Straits Times, New Paper, etc) has had scant coverage on the issue, which shouldn't come as a surprise. We're mostly just followers in this country, and we'll follow whatever decision is made.

Below is an image I found summarizing the key points on SOPA. Do take a look!

Source: Mashable.com

The internet is a very very awesome thing. I can't quite imagine life without it. It's one of the single equalizing factor we have today. It breaks barriers, puts us all in equal standings and lets us connect in unimaginable ways. The implementation of the bill will remove some of the freedoms we have, and this is a path we do not wish to go down on. SOPA is just going to make the internet suck, and it's going to put power back in the hands of those with money and connections.

It's a battle for our freedom here, ladies and gentlemen.

I'll try to look around the net and see whether there's anything we can do to help in this fight. For now, let's just spread awareness on the issue. Tell everyone you know what's going on, and stress to them what's at stake.

PS: Waiting for a meeting to start hahahaha.

An update on the 9GAG situation.

It's been a total of 24 hours since I uploaded my virgin image on 9GAG (see what I did there?). I didn't have high hopes for it, but it'd have been swell if it had made it to "trending" at least. Alas, my extremely low expectations were fulfilled. After 24 hours on the site...it has garnered a grand total of 23 smiley faces.

Only 23? It's disappointing. I wanted a hundred, at least! I guess it doesn't have that much impact, huh? Or maybe it's the timing. Maybe there's a time when all those people who are more likely to "like" your image appear online, and you got to post it then. Yeah, let's blame the timing. At first it was going up quite fast, and that made me happy, but then it stagnated, and it got overwhelmed by all the other posts, and now it's lost in a sea of un-loved images.

Well, at least you liked it, I hope.

Here's the original image I created! I had this other blog called...raymondangelove.tumblr.com where I put up similarly hipster things, if you're into that.

9GAG has you now.

Yesterday evening, I made this and posted it on 9GAG.

It's inspired by a true story, mine. There was a time when I absolutely refused to go on 9GAG, based simply on the premise that I was too cool for it. I'm pretentious, you see. But when I was in Australia, I had the time to kill, so I surfed it all the day long. And now, I'm on it a lot of the time. When I'm waiting for the bus, when I'm on the bus, when I'm walking from the bus stop to the school, when there's an awkward silence in the conversation...

People usually go to the "hot" page only, but I'm actually at the stage where the "hot" page isn't enough. I have to go on "trending", and then I feel compelled to press that "smiley face" button. Not good not good not good. I've got nothing against the site. It's entertaining enough, and at times, it even educates, inspires and enlightens me. But I should be reading the New York Times, or a book, or something, man.

I'm going to cut down slowly. Gonna go cold turkey, starting now.

My fingers are crossed.

Why pay more?

I was reading up on the subject of the recent minister's pay cut. So as you should already know, previously, Singaporean politicians were paid crazy high wages. In the course of the General Elections, much unhappiness was aired regarding this matter, and a panel was organized to examine the situation and make recommendations on how to make it more fair.

I'm not sure what the finer details are, but to make a long story short, they all get paid less. It's still high, but it's significantly less now.

Personally, I'm fine with them being paid such high wages. In this world, I've long since realized that you get what you pay for. When you buy slippers from River Island at $50 instead of Birkenstocks, you shouldn't be taken by surprise when they fail on you after just a few months. Similarly, if you pay lower wages, you're not going to get the best talent.

Money isn't everything, but it's a huge thing. And we might say that we want our politicians to be noble, and self-sacrificial...but those qualities aren't enough to run a good country. What you need is smart, efficient, organized people. So yeah, some of our current politicians might be in it just for the large pay, but as long as they do their jobs and do it well, I don't see any problems.

The calls for the pay cut stems pretty much from the unhappiness of the people. Clearly, the government hasn't been doing enough to appease the needs of the masses. I see this cut in pay as a reflection of this unhappiness. Like...when someone isn't performing well, you dock their pay. I honestly hope that when the economy does pick up, and when the authorities start doing their job better again, that their pay would be adjusted upwards again.

That's it for me on the pay cut. I had a long day today. I had a total of about 7 and a half hours of lessons, and it was crazy tiring. I'm going to sleep now. I have lots of work to do tomorrow hahahaha. :(

What is important at this very moment might not be so important to you later in your life.

Here's how today went, pretty much.

I woke up in time. By "in time", I meant I woke up when my maid came to wake me up. My maid woke up late, however, and owing to this, I woke up late too, though by my definition of "in time", I did no wrong. Anyway, this meant that I had to rush to school. My whole ritual went by in fast-forward. Showering, brushing, shaving (my facial hair), packing my bag...it all went by in a flash.

I still managed to reach school in time. I guess I can afford to wake up later...it's just that I don't like rushing, you see? I like dilly-dallying...surfing Facebook at the ungodly hour of 6 in the morning, all that.

So I reached school and it was Business Law. The lesson itself was boring, though it's content was not. It gave me a better understanding of contracts, and what it actually entails. I haven't gotten my textbook yet, so I had to be innovative in my preparation for the lesson. I read up on everything through Wikipedia. Wikipedia is my best friend now.

It's unbelievably useful. I don't know why people look down on Wikipedia so much. Personally, I think it's good if you want brief concise summaries of key concepts. Of course it can never replace the textbook, but for the time being, it will have to do. Besides, the text book is got damn expensive if bought firsthand. I'm still trying to look for someone to buy it from.

So after Business Law, we (me and other people) walked over to Sunshine Plaza for lunch. It's a 15-minute walk from school. Under the hot sun, that 15-minute walk felt like a gruelling route march. I was sweating, and panting, and all that shit. And as an icing to the cake (heh), when we got there, there was a long queue at the particular restaurant we wanted to eat at. The lunch hour had just started, so most of the restaurant's patrons just got there too. Consequently, we had to wait a looooooooong time.

I sweated like a pig under the scorching sun.

Finally got the food. Green curry was good. We walked back to school, and apparently, people get hungry very easily. And people get cravings too. Crazy-ass cravings which motivates them to walk all the way to CITY HALL. From Sunshine Plaza, to City Hall, under the hot sun. For EGGETTES.

What are eggettes? They're waffle-like thingies which look like a reverse bee-hive. They tasted okay, I guess, but I can't take it seriously, because "eggettes" rhymes with "faggot". I'm not homophobic...I just don't like the way "faggot" sounds.

And we went back to school, and I had my LTB meeting, which was fruitful I think. I'm beginning to look at the idea of giving back to the community more positively now hahaha. One day, I shall install an iPad2 in every old folk's home.

Had dinner after, and then an internship talk. The internship talk itself was interesting to me, because it forced me to think about the reality of it all, and how seriously the world takes itself. For an internship, there may be several stages of interviews, apparently. The me of today isn't ready to handle that. Maybe the me of the future.

But for now, I'm going to work hard, enjoy my days. I took a bus home, did whatever school work I had, and now, I'm blogging. I have a cup of ice-cream in front of me. I've drenched it with Kahlua, which is alcoholic coffee. It tastes orgasmic as fuck.

Now here's a picture of the sky.

PS: I didn't really mention who I specifically hung out with today, but I don't like talking about other people on my blog. Needless to say, I had fun, and the people I hang out with in school (aka, my friends) are one of the reasons I look forward to each and every day. :)

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

I went to bid for a certain module this semester by myself. Even though I was alone, I was able to form a group within the end of the lesson. I've always maintained that I'd rather pick a group with hot girls than smart people, because that way, I'd be forced to be smart myself, and I'd have pretty girls to look at.

Of course, because life works in mysterious ways, I ended up being in a group with 2 guys and one girl. Yesterday evening, I received the following email from a friend in that class.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

TED and Tetris

So for the better half of the day (or worse, depending on how you choose to look at it), I was playing Tetris Battle. I wasn't just playing Tetris Battle though. I was on TED as well.

TED is a website about "Ideas worth spreading". Intellectuals from all over the world give their take on various issues affecting our world today. It's not just opinions that is shared though. They talk about ground-breaking projects that they are trying out in their local communities, projects which we ourselves can emulate, if we wish. They talk about ideas which will revolutionize the way you think, and the way the world works.

There's this particular video I watched about Dave Egger and his project, Once Upon A School. He decided to rent out a spot which doubles as a publication centre, a tuition place for kids, and a shop for pirate supplies. I'm not even kidding.

Link here: http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html

I started out on this because of a less-than-noble purpose. I was doing research for my Leadership and Teambuilding Module hahaha. But watching this videos, in a way, has shifted my mindset. Because here's something where I can move beyond just going for the grade. If I want to, I can actually change the world (the caveat here being 'If I want to').

It's a fruitful way to spend the day, I think. I was supposed to watch a movie today with some friends, but I didn't. All week, I've already been in school, with other people. I'm an introvert, by nature, and this alone time is exactly what I need to wind-up my spring. The week has really spent me, and today, I recharge, and tomorrow, I will face the challenges of the future.

Believing in Santa Claus.

There are many moments in your life where your beliefs are shattered. And the shattering of these beliefs rock the very foundation of your life. One such moment is realizing that Santa doesn't exist. I watched so many Christmas specials and sang so many carols when I was a kid, that I was convinced that he was a real being. My parents didn't really do much to disprove the theory.

And then I realized the absurdity of it all. I was about 5, I think, or 4. There's no such thing as Santa. It's just my parents who were putting the presents underneath the tree. But these made me more thankful all the same, because they did these even knowing that I was attributing their actions to Santa. They asked for no thanks, and only wished for my happiness.

I didn't want to go so deep. Here are a few other realizations that I've made. Throughout the course of my life, I've certainly made a few.

1) The realization that you're not going to grow any taller.

When you're a kid, you're short. But you're growing. When you're growing, you'd like to think that you're never ever going to stop. That the sky's the limit. You're going to be as tall as Michael Jordan one day, you think. But then you stop. Every New Year's Eve, you jump because as superstitions go, jumping will make you taller. You try skipping. But nothing works.

And you're stuck at the same height for the rest of your life.

2) The realization that not everyone is as horny as you are.

I watched Friends growing up, and all sorts of other American shows. They seemingly had a lot of sex over there. Reading forums, and being exposed to the western culture, I thought that my years of being twenty would just be as eventful. Alas, no! Living with traditional eastern cultures, the constraints of still living with your parents, the increasingly conservative and practical mindset of the people... Nowadays, nothing is done without purpose anymore, you know?

Maybe one day!

3) The realization that the opening theme song of an anime does not necessarily reflect what would happen in that anime.

Pokemon was the most awesome thing to ever happen to my childhood. When it started airing at Kids Central, I was ecstatic. I didn't miss a single episode. I even bought the VCDs, and I watched them over and over again. The opening theme song is very iconic of one's childhood's dreams...but apart from the theme song, the opening itself was awe-inspiring.

There was this particular scene where Ash is running in an open field with Pikachu by his side, and an Arcanine too. And then a Rapidash joins him. And then the Rapidash takes to the sky (don't ask me how), and a Zapdos flies by him, and then an Articuno too. I kept waiting for this scene to happen in the anime. I mean, what awesome circumstances would it take for Ash to be with an Arcanine, Rapidash, Zapdos and Articuno?

Of course, this never happened in the show. Sigh.

4) The realization that everybody will grow old one day, and shrivel up, and die too.

Age takes its toll on people. I'm looking at some of the elderly we have around, and I think to myself, at one point in their life, they must have been young and beautiful, and men have lusted over them. I took this thought, and I turned it over itself, and...girls who are young and beautiful now won't be young and beautiful forever.

We can't keep watching our diets, exercising, wearing the best clothes, and all that shit. It can only take you so far, and I guess after a while, you lose the stamina for it? Appearances is a transient thing, and we really have to delve deeper into people.

5) The realization that everyone is fallible.

I've been thinking about some of the things I liked, and how they are made by people who are just like me too. There's Harry Potter. There's A Song of Ice and Fire. There's Naruto. There's Community.

To me, these things are works of art. They're amazing labours of love. But they're not perfect, you know? Some episodes of Community sucks, Harry Potter books 5 through 7 weren't that good, A Song of Ice and Fire may never end, and Naruto will never reach it's earlier glory.

So what am I trying to say here? I'm not sure, actually. It's just that everything around us looks so awesome, but they're not perfect.

6) The realization that success doesn't come easy.

Well, it doesn't. It's easy to make-do. But it's not easy to shine through. There are 6 billion people in this world. For me, my definition of success isn't stability, or monetary gains. I think those come easy. What I want is recognition, and to be recognized when there are so many people around is simply...difficult. I need to try harder.

RIght now, I'm sitting at a coffee shop. My laptop is open in front of me. I'm going to start on my school work, and then I'm going to study The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It's already halfway through January. It's a Sunday.

Now's a good a time as any to start working on your dreams.

7) The realization that you might not get that happy ending.

Everything can end. Just like that.

PS: I didn't mean for this post to sound as serious as it does hahahaha. Next time, more boobs.