Nut up or shut up!

I happened to read an article, and his way of writing appealed to me. I met someone today, that I am probably never going to meet again. And as in the case with espirit d'escalier (staircase wit) (#9), I thought of things that I could have done, some 5 hours later. Things which would have helped leave a better first impression.

If I'm going to come across such informal situations, where I'm probably meeting someone for the first and last time, I should have a mental checklist, of sorts.

Make eye contact; not too stare-y, not to brief, and definitely not stare-into-your-soul.

Swift firm handshake;  I don't generally remember my handshakes, not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Talk to that person; slightly more than the other people you're probably going to hang out with afterwards. You'll have hours to talk to them, you have minutes with this one. Make them count.

Crack a joke; But don't try too hard. Think about what you're going to say before you say it.

But don't think too much; More the time spent thinking about exactly right thing to say, higher the probability I'd end up saying nothing at all.

Notice-Predict-Adapt; Notice the things around you. Predict the changes the conversation or other factors might bring. Adapt to said changes.

One compliment; Simple, but precise. Not vague and neither too pointedly detailed.

 The close; Find a good closing statement. Use it well.

Perspective

What if...Everyone saw the same color differently.
What if...The color I perceive as 'blue', looks like 'green' to someone else, and 'yellow' to another person!
Would we ever know?

What then will my mind experience, if and when I witness the 'true' color spectrum!

Logically Inconsistent

Serotonin. Dopamine. Phenylethamine.
These are some of the hormones our brain releases when we like someone. And that's all well and good for the initial phase, but what happens when things start to go downhill? Scumbag brain doesn't really help there, now does it?

I mean, what happens if 'it' ends. That's pretty crappy. Or even worse, if it's a one way street.

So, the end result is, an inability to move on. And that is a fucked up place to be.

Is the solution logical? Can a person, through their sheer argumentative brilliance, convince their brain to move on? Its possible. Here's an idea;

"Take something, like a habit or the likes, about the person you want to move on from. Something that bothers you. Something vague, yet broad. Something that nudges you, but doesn't necessarily push you of the cliff. And use it as a base (e.g: good example: Social ineptitude. bad example: replies in monosyllables). Now, whenever that person makes you sad, because that's bound to happen, you build upon this base. And you keep building upon it, till it resembles some sort of tall structure. Now, every time that person does something (no matter big or small) that, umm, pretty much bitch slaps you in the emotional metaphor kind of way, the foundations of this structure are shook. And, theoretically, there should come a time, when this structure falls apart, and you can say you have moved on".

I've been trying, that line of thought for long time now. And what happens can be accurately summed by this meme;

There is that obvious solution, of fighting fire with fire (Or in words of Kishore Kumar, 'Eenth ka jawab patthar'), where  the Serotonin, Dopamine and Phenylethamine released for person B overtakes the remnants  released for person A. But that requires waiting, and god dammit! I want instant results.

I have come to realize that, in such cases, instant results are hard to come by. Logic doesn't really help you out. You know what you can do, though? Hope. For the structure to crumble. For scumbag brain to become good guy Greg. For things to get better, but most importantly, for acceptance to settle in snugly; for as Albus Dumbledore once said ,"...and only with acceptance can there be recovery."

"Forgive me padre"

Saw this post on www.9gag.com.

I laughed more than I should have.

30 Day Challenge Series #1: 30 Tasks in 30 Days

30 different random tasks. For 30 days.

1. Draw a realistic human eye - 2. Eat an apple like a boss - 3. Start to play a musical instrument

1                           2                        3

Stumbling and Mumbling

I recently joined Stumbleupon, and as I browsed thought the random links,a weird thought came in my head. Am I happy? To which I almost spontaneously answered, "Nope".
I think I stumbled upon my self (note to future self: don't be this corny).

So I did the first thing I would do when I don't know the answer to a question. I googled it. The image results gave me this:

I really don't know why a lady jumping on, what looks like, the backdrop of the Windows XP background trailing her unnaturally large quantity of balloons for a single person represents Happiness. Maybe she just won a battle  against cancer and thought the best way to celebrate is to run with balloons as someone photographs her. Maybe she just realllly likes balloons.

Okay, I don't really care as to why she is happy. Which got me to thinking, 'what is happiness?' Honestly, I think that's too big a question for a single individual to even begin to grasp. But should that fact, be a hindrance? Just because it's too big doesn't mean that one shouldn't even try. If I think about it, There is no physical thing that stands in the way of my happiness.

So here I am, writing this blog, once again, more of a self journal for later reference (I guess). The Apollo lunar module was larger in size than a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And, in a unrelated matter, I am not happy. And that alone is the reason to start working towards happiness. Happiness is different from contentment, which is bound to come back down to a neutral level after an initial time. I don't expect it to happen overnight, but I realize that it's sure as hell not going to happen on its own.

The concept of happiness varies from person to person. And I don't know what my idea is. But today is as good a time to start, as any.