Pursuit of Happiness

My title does not refer to the Will Smith movie, which evidently has a spelling mistake quite a number of people fail to realise.

Instead, I refer it to my expanding sub-section of this blog related to motivation. Because I feel that I lack it, and instead of just moping around wishing things would get better, I blog about it. (which apparently may or may not be the same thing)

In one way or another, we usually do things for self-benefit. But these things in mind are just general things, simple life processes and others that encompass menial tasks and nothing that holds long lasting effects.

On the other hand, things that actually allow one to improve oneself are usually unnecessary. Extra. By the way. Would you like fries with that? Something around those lines, pretty much.

And with that in mind, looking at another extreme end of the spectrum lies things that are both unnecessary to accomplish and have unnecessary effects on one's being. Considering that they would be more are more posts regarding this issue of "Motivation", it would be a good idea to start from extreme cases.

Something like learning to swim in the deep end of a swimming pool as compared to the shallow end.
Something like sometimes it's best to learn to run in order to learn to walk.
Which both make no sense anyway.

Do take a mental note that whatever I post, will always have some weird sense of sense in the end. Even if it would be nonsense, it would still be sensible sense. Why?
Because I can. I can make anything and everything seem relevant given the proper lighting, angles and colours. With my reasoning that is.

Anyhow, back to the pursuit of happiness.

It is in this neverending escapade of ours that entails us to keep going after: (here's the bomb)
Things that give us fun. Things that make us happy.

Wow, genius, so damn innovative.
We keep going after things that are fun and happy, ohh right, such a great insight as compared to what? Going after things that hurt us? Going after things that give us pain?

Unless you tend to show sadistic, or even worse masochistic, qualities, and also unless you tend to have certain fetishes I do not intend to get into, then NO, we do not want pain.

(the above two paragraphs belong to a severe case of stray thoughts)

I feel pretty sure that this specific phenomena occurs to a lot of us, us being those in my generation. Not really adults, not really kids. Not so much teens anymore that is. And this aforementioned phenomena relates to our hedonistic behaviour. Addiction to fun.

For me, alot of days go by and at the end of them, I realise I achieved pretty much nothing. Zero sum game. What have I been doing with my time? Burning it away, trying to latch on this fun-train. Do you think this happens to you?

Now while this sounds all doomy and gloomy, it certain cases, it may prove to be a blessing instead of a curse. Choosing which fun-train we chase dictates the direction and channeling of our time. Therefore, choose a fun-train that benefits you.

Which is what I am trying to do.

At first, it may seem impossible and pointless to do so. But even with a little willpower, certain things our of sight and definitely out of mind tend to materialise.

I dropped certain activities that have been absorbing the vast majority of time for other activities that in the end, only absorbed a tiny bit of my time. The process of diverting out time into other activities seemed more tedious and hard.

But hey, writing this blog post itself is a living testament that I am slowly but surely succeeding. Because I beleive that this activity would hold far more benefits in the long run as compared to what I normally do.

And taking me as an example, inductively, anyone and everyone can do the same.
Unless you are a super-achiever who has more hobbies than the number of fingers and toes combined and/or multiplied, it may occur to you that your life could be more.

That your life could have more lighting. More angles. More colours.

And this I am able to do with my thoughts, and hence publish long-winded posts that hold tiny bits of actual information.

And in the case of this post, the actual information is:
Your life sucks, get a new one.

Introduction - Motivation

Pretty sure most of everyone agrees with me on this:
We tend to focus more on what we lack, what we do not have; particularly what we desire and do not have.

But yeah, I mean it is common sense to act that way. You and I both long for things that are not there. Keyword: long, hence denoting a distance between a person and the thing he/she desires. And when we do get what we want, this "distance" disappears. Consequently, we short for the things we have. Wow, I just coined something new. Short; as a verb.

And alas, I have begun my rampant habit of bush beating. Beating everything except the bush that is.

Here's a small space to reflect and collect my thoughts once again.

* Space *

That's a nice space.

Anyhow, I would never allow spam that is totally unrelated to run around freely and de-beautify my pristine blog. That context in mind, let us relate the title and the initial paragraphs before the space.

1. Motivation
2. To long for something that is not there. Anti-shorting.
   

And to help you along, here's a mini guide!
Reimbursement of Kindergarden Memories!

1. Will you buy me a red t-shirt?
2. Will you buy me a blue t-shirt?

Compounding the above two sentences;
Will you buy me a red t-shirt and a blue t-shirt?

Hence, compounding the summary of my opening portion of this post;
I long for motivation, because I do not have it.

On second thought, the relation between the above examples is paper thin. Not just your average 80gsm foolscap paper thin, thin in this context refers to "Made in China" paper, thinner than Kleenex tissue paper. What I mean is that, my point is really vague. But in another sense, that is my point. My point is that I am vague.

But I digress.

I am vague because:
I have no drive.
I have no ambition.
I lack willpower.
I long for motivation.

(and to think that I would be able to write straight-to-the-point posts, look at the amount of text above the main content of this post)

You may argue and say that for a person without motivation, I have done this, that or the other great thing in my minuscule life. "Great" thing.

On the contrary however, I feel that everything I have done surmounts to an absolute zero.
What I have not done, I could have done.
What I have done, could have been better.
What could have been done better, would still not be the best.
What has been done at it's best, I have not done.

(and the never-ending circle goes on and on)

I sure as hell think that it is fair to say that that that that (error occurred: too many that's)
In my opinion, I believe that a lot of us live happily in ignorance. Blissful.

Because they do not know what they want. They do not have something to long for. People are generally contented with what they have presently.

I on the other hand long for things, want things that I do not have. I have goals and dreams to fulfill.

And it is in this desire to complete my self-assigned tasks that I need the motivation for.
Motivation which I lack.

It clearly sucks to be me, because there are things that I want and cannot achieve.
Looking through a shop's glass panel admiring toys that I could never have.
Looking at rich people eat buffet breakfasts, hoping for a over-filled stomach I could never have.
Looking at certain magazines, longing for *ahem* that I could never have.
(*ahem* denotes digital cameras, what were you thinking!)


I just took a long break from writing this blog collecting my thoughts and reflecting about other things.

And hence I can no longer continue, making this, yet alas, another introduction.

Random Ramblings I

Peculiar title. Peculiar blog. Peculiar person typing away anyway.

Having being (I think those two words are wrong) rather preoccupied, or rather very lazy, writing or composing these large splurges of text was definitely the last thing on my mind. Even further behind putting peanuts up my nose.

So henceforth (I think this is wrong too), I decide to start a new procedure in this blog, aka the weird title you have already read, "Random Ramblings".

Because I try to keep things too organised, it somehow glares back at me, the incompetence and severity of my stupidity. Or the lack of them. That being said, what I'm doing arranging this blog is sorta like bashing in my own eyes to give that permanent eyeliner effect.

Oooh goodness, the post's falling to pieces. Already i began two paragraphs with very vague openings (make that 3 if "Oooh" doesnt float your boat) and to top it off, my own analogies puzzle me. And it's suppose to give you insight to how I am yet it puzzles me. Ouch.

But when you're faced off with incompetence and stupidity, there would only be one thing to do. Set another rule that allows incompetence and stupidity!

Wow genius, then what about keeping the blog highly organised and catering to the poor unsuspecting minds of lesser beings (excluding myself)?

Doesn't matter. Because I run this blog. Because I said, wait thought, so.
Becase everything I do is correct in my own very eyes.

And thus, "Random Ramblings" is born whereby format may be given a few slack-off's here and there as well as no requirement of proof-reading. Perfect excuse for writing really crappy posts after having not writing or even considering writing for vast periods of time.

If you enjoy "Random Ramblings", you, dear sir, are most likely an airhead because everything I type here doesnt really matter at all.
But did anything I say in any other post matter to begin with?

Purpose

Main Entry:	purpose
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	intention, meaning, aim
Synonyms:	ambition, animus, aspiration, big idea, bourn, calculation, design, desire, destination, determination, direction, dream, drift, end, expectation, function, goal, hope, idea, intendment, intent, mecca, mission, object, objective, plan, point, premeditation, principle, project, proposal, proposition, prospect, reason, resolve, scheme, scope, target, ulterior motive, view, whatfor, where one’s headed, whole idea, why and wherefore, whyfor, will, wish

Quoted directly from http://thesaurus.reference.com, good website to find well, synonyms as above.

Anyhoo, enough with the wish-washy flashy copy pasta quick and lazy work (too many adjectives).

Main purposes of this blog are as the following:

• Journal to keep track and induce progress in life.
• Collection of information for the general viewing public.
  

Goodness, reading back, it looks too formal and simply ridiculous. Lame. Dry.

But I can't be wet all the time, like a doggy's nose. And lameness exists so that handicapped people's homes exist. Or the other way around. Having a tad amount of writer's block now; sad.

Point of the matter is, this blog is going to be written inductively. Inductive is the antonym of seductive, er I mean deductive. Wait, that previous sentence just compares apples to oranges, hence a fruitless effort (what a pun). In short, the blog is inductive; as in to go about points from specifics to general terms. In just two words, generalisation of concepts (oops, that's three).

Feeling vague? Don't worry, I do too.
Examples would do the trick.

This blog isn't intended to bore you away with my daily rantings of what time I woke up, which gyroscopic movement (self-coined term) I used to brush my teeth, what facial soap I use, breakfast (I love breakfast!) and so forth. Those are specific things. What happens in a day, happens in a day, it's a fleeting experience, live through it and it's over.

But what's really interesting and longer lasting is the fact that the general idea about how it was done, rather than what it is, bears more weight or meaning. Referring to the paragraph above (if you skim through my posts, you'd miss it so I'm reminding you now);
a post about the irregularity of wake-up times and the factors to it,
a post about the relation of face-scrubbing to noticeable effects and psychological imprints to it,
a post about what a facial soap should be and it's many other uses (this one's a little dry),
a post about breakfast in general (yeah, did I mention I love breakfast?);
all these posts about simple trivial things complicate themselves and well, become more inflated in substance.

In truth however, it is pretty much represented by the last phrase "inflated in substance", as they are just simple, daily routines. A rose, no matter how you look at it, is a rose.

But a rose is a symbol of love, roses are red (also blue, yellow, pink, white and whatnot with genetic engineering), roses are beautiful yet thorny, roses that are meant to signify everlasting love eventually whither and die.

(I just used an example to explain another example)

Mm-hmm, I have a knack for wasting time.
Spam companies should hire me.

Back to the point.

Why would I bother to drive into unnecessary detail and complexify (the word's wrong) things?
Simple; because I can.

That, and as well as to give people paradigm shifts (I like big phrases). Start looking at the world differently. Our world's population is climbing steadily (until the oil runs out, or a massive epidemic occurs) and each of us are just regular Joes and Janes.

Wake up and smell the roses. Be different. Prod every single detail not just once or twice, but until your prod-er breaks.

And even if you don't wanna do that, just read through the luncheon meat (spam) I produce, and watch my attempt at twisting and turning your world upside down.


Note:
A quicker method to turn your world upside down is to buy a map from Australia. They, apparently, produce maps that place their nation as North. So they're up. An upside-down world.

Wow and I seriously thought for a moment that I had writer's block.

Blog Format

Yes, the ball is rolling now.

Ouch, that ran off in a certain, dry manner. But I just wanted to link this post to the one before, partly because then it would entice readers into reading more, and also allow me to see how blogspot.com works, as whether they sort posts by time or alphabetical order. Sorry, I'm new to this whole business of blogging.

And yet another paragraph that has absolutely no substance whatsoever.

This post was created to set the format and style of the remainder scribblings (are they scribblings, they're all just bits and bytes) of.. my first new blog! Okay, ignore those last three words, sooo amateurish.

Actually ignore the entire previous paragraph, I feel sort of embarrassed that I didn't know how to spell "amateurish".

So why'd I want to set standards and format?

You see, I believe that change can only be measured if there were constants that could be compared to it. A developed country is considered developed if they're less developed ones to be compared with. White is truly white with presence of black around it. Certain groups of certain colours seem smarter when compared to other groups of.. wait that came off really bad.

Point is, it'd be nice if there were references and well, constants to be compared to as mentioned earlier. Scratch that colourful analogy.

So, as format and rules go hand in hand (actually they do not), I henceforth set rules to my own posts:

Rules to my own posts (redundant title)

1. Always keep proper, correct English. Yes, a lot of what I post are colloquial-styled form of the "E" language, but grammar-wise and to most of my target readers' eyes, the "E" will do. Also, because many bloggers seem to claim that they blog to improve their "E". Saying that and posting horrendous, indescribable sentences, very comparable to the compliment-insult "beautifully ugly". Does that term even exist? I think it does.
   
   
2. Posts are collections of paragraphs, which are collections of sentences, which are collection of words, which are collection of letters. Hence, some format for them:
   
   
   • Paragraphs are to be short. Nobody loves big blocks of texts (no offense to some people), but instead, small one-liners tastily placed around a post enhances the main driving point. I like that idea, I wonder if others do. But this is my blog.
   • Sentences are to be articulated by use of commas. This is because I usually write long sentences, short ones are used less. I write exactly how I think (wait doesn't everybody?) and I think with alot of pauses. The commas denote points where you would pause when you speak, well that's unless you speak like a robot.
   • Words used are to be internationally recognised, unless I coin my own terms (which I do). Nothing much to be said here, conduct of English governs this pretty much.
   • Letters include a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. One letter was accidently left out, made missing from the list intentionally, see who bothers to investigate which one it is.
     
     
3. Target readers:
   
   
   • Myself. Okay, very obvious fault in that. Why post an online blog, available for the eyes of everybody to read if the target reader/audience (nothing to hear though) was only myself? But yes, I do want to have a sort of journal to mark my progress (or the lack of it).
   • Everyone else. The blog is written as partly monologue, partly direct one-on-one dialogue. I use the term "you", well it sounds very chatty and personal. Something I lack of, because I prefer one-to-many relations as compared to just two people talking. More on that later, very much later.
     
   
   
4. Blog titles are to be kept short, simple and sweet (recycled phrase, but effective). What's the point if the first sentence of an amazing story is used as a title? Already as is, I almost never begin any of my works (work if you wanna consider it that way) with proper direct openings. And even if I do, I make it a point to let it be known I put effort into it, hence making an indirect direct introduction, hence not a direct one. Wow, convoluted sentences.
   
   
5. Content. Actually, no rules here actually. I would never start a post unless I knew what I was going to write. Fortunately, I'm able to write for any given title, well maybe most titles. Ask me to write about US politics or how a salamander sticks to a wall and I may stutter and fail at it. Hmm, thinking back, I'd sorta find a way to go around it and pull the content to somethign else more writable. Hence, no rules.

Five (5) rules set at 10.29pm, November 18th 2008.
More rules to be set, but to be added below this and labeled with respective dates.
Sorry for inconsistencies, don't think I'd be able to list all of it now. No country ever set its rules in a short time frame, unless you live in Malaysia.


An abrupt end.

To get the ball rolling!

Originally, I wanted to start off with a flashy and catchy title, a post with content that contradicts itself and an ending that seems like an opening. In essence, well, an amazing first post!

But so did I want to travel through time, go to space, marry a certain person, learn to ride a bicycle, have more willpower and finish my dinner (fish and beans, go figure). Peculiar how I sort of displayed myself and my present situation, actually, in fact I do want to do all those things, except two. Wonder if you can guess them.

But I digress.

Anyhow, knowing my knack of going on and on, beating around the bush and the bush itself, I believe short and simple and sweet and and is not to be used twice in a sentence. Hence, this first post comes to an end, and as the title says:

"To get the ball rolling!"

At least I reached one objective, an ending that seems like an opening.