Friday, the 22nd of August 2008. A dreary Sydney day: Cold, rainy and windy. To top it all, I had to wake up at 5 a.m. I woke up after a restless night's sleep --- mainly due to my cough keeping me up --- and felt like crap. I had no choice though but to pop in some pills and push myself to go to work. In the freezing cold (for me anything below 10 is freezing...and it was 5 degrees that morning!), I waited to catch the bus to take me to the station, feeling low and so not looking forward to the day.
As the bus arrived (the suburbs bus), it was a driver who knew me and hadn't seen me in a while (since I'd been getting a lift to work). He was friendly as always and enquired about my whereabouts. Anyway, following that encounter, I had a smile on my face. As I boarded the train and requested someone to move, I smiled and lo and behold, she smiled back. To those not in the know, people on trains before 7 in the morning have never smiled before --- they are either too tired and sleeping, or too busy listening to ipods, reading the newspaper etc. --- and they don't seem to like it if you ask them to move. Anyway, so now my mood was even better. The rest of the day, I found myself smiling. I smiled at the city bus drivers and thanked them and they actually responded --- both to and from work. It was a weird but pleasant feeling and it made me remember this movie I watched --- Thirteen conversations about one thing.
The movie basically implies how even one small action can make a big difference. Of course, there's a real profound one when a girl contemplating suicide decides against it when a stranger smiles at her --- basically, it gives her hope. Hope. Something we all live for. I'd like to know that some how that day I managed to pass some of it on by smiling. It's something I've decided to take on board and attempt to do it everyday. Not smile flirtatiously at random strangers but I guess, smile at people that do make eye contact or that look like they are not having a great day.
Who knows, maybe someday I might actually make an impact!
Until next time,
Keep smiling!!!
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Thursday, 21 August 2008
A Passenger's View
I travel by public transport to get to work. One of my work places is in the inner suburbs while for the other, I go in to the city side. Back home too I took public transport for college (5 years of it) and for work.
For work 1 in the inner suburbs, I catch one bus.
For work 2 in the city, I take a train and then a bus.
I recently found myself comparing the manner of the bus drivers in the city with those in the suburbs. For those of you from Bombay, we had BEST buses all through. Try and think of the inner suburb buses here similar to having buses just around New Bombay. Different areas in Sydney have smaller companies running buses whereas in the city, the Sydney buses is managed by the government. Anyway, the point here is not to give you a history of the different modes of public transport. Rather, it is to give you an insight into the behaviour and manner of the bus drivers.
The bus that I catch here in the suburbs and that I was catching during uni days to get around (same company, different bus) has really amazing drivers (well, majority of them, anyway). They are extremely friendly and always ask you "How you going" when you get in to buy the ticket. There is this one bloke who deserves a special mention --- he wishes every passenger alighting the bus to "Have a nice day" or "Take care" or "See you later" or "You have a good one, darl". The last one is for the women by the way. It's drivers like these that make travelling by public transport that little less frustrating. I mean seriously, how can you stay mad when people are nice to you??
I remember catching a bus for placement last year when the driver was very friendly --- he honestly managed to brighten up my day so early in the morning. He was always cheerful and had a good word for almost every single passenger. In fact, even school kids (very few of whom seem to thank the drivers) were smiling on their way out!
Now, on the other hand, the drivers in city --- nowhere near as nice as these guys. I think I've just had a couple of drivers so far smile and say hi and smile when I say thanks upon getting off. So some of them complain that their's is a tiresome, monotonous job ---- try smiling and chatting with the passengers instead and things may not be so monotonous. Then again, I wonder if it is a chicken-and-egg situation with the people that work in the city being so much in a hurry that there is no way they take time to even acknowledge the driver!
I make it a point to still thank the drivers in the city. Sometimes I get a response in the form of a smile. Most times it's nothing. I have people look at me like I'm doing something strange. I see them look at other people that thank the driver in the same manner. I wonder why. Wouldn't it make your day much better if you start off with a smile? Travel in the suburbs, I say, where even though you have to wait 30 minutes for your next bus, you can be assured the driver will greet you with a smile.
Until next time,
Cheers!!!
For work 1 in the inner suburbs, I catch one bus.
For work 2 in the city, I take a train and then a bus.
I recently found myself comparing the manner of the bus drivers in the city with those in the suburbs. For those of you from Bombay, we had BEST buses all through. Try and think of the inner suburb buses here similar to having buses just around New Bombay. Different areas in Sydney have smaller companies running buses whereas in the city, the Sydney buses is managed by the government. Anyway, the point here is not to give you a history of the different modes of public transport. Rather, it is to give you an insight into the behaviour and manner of the bus drivers.
The bus that I catch here in the suburbs and that I was catching during uni days to get around (same company, different bus) has really amazing drivers (well, majority of them, anyway). They are extremely friendly and always ask you "How you going" when you get in to buy the ticket. There is this one bloke who deserves a special mention --- he wishes every passenger alighting the bus to "Have a nice day" or "Take care" or "See you later" or "You have a good one, darl". The last one is for the women by the way. It's drivers like these that make travelling by public transport that little less frustrating. I mean seriously, how can you stay mad when people are nice to you??
I remember catching a bus for placement last year when the driver was very friendly --- he honestly managed to brighten up my day so early in the morning. He was always cheerful and had a good word for almost every single passenger. In fact, even school kids (very few of whom seem to thank the drivers) were smiling on their way out!
Now, on the other hand, the drivers in city --- nowhere near as nice as these guys. I think I've just had a couple of drivers so far smile and say hi and smile when I say thanks upon getting off. So some of them complain that their's is a tiresome, monotonous job ---- try smiling and chatting with the passengers instead and things may not be so monotonous. Then again, I wonder if it is a chicken-and-egg situation with the people that work in the city being so much in a hurry that there is no way they take time to even acknowledge the driver!
I make it a point to still thank the drivers in the city. Sometimes I get a response in the form of a smile. Most times it's nothing. I have people look at me like I'm doing something strange. I see them look at other people that thank the driver in the same manner. I wonder why. Wouldn't it make your day much better if you start off with a smile? Travel in the suburbs, I say, where even though you have to wait 30 minutes for your next bus, you can be assured the driver will greet you with a smile.
Until next time,
Cheers!!!
Thursday, 14 August 2008
The English language --- used or abused
I love the English language. I always have. I was brought up with English being practically my first language (I still find it hilarious when I have to fill out forms stating it is my second language!) I will admit that I have the tendency to get pedantic when it comes to it's usage. Lately, I've been thinking how people, some of whom have English as their first language, literally murder it either with the wrong use of grammar, pronunciation or spelling or something that just makes no sense whatsoever. I decided then to write a post about things that annoy me with regards to how people 'abuse' the language.
They include:
1. Anyways: This is used instead of "anyway". I still have not figured out why.
2. Youse: This is what some Aussies use to imply "all of you". It can be used in a sentence such as "I would like youse to come to my house for dinner". Makes me cringe!!!!
3. Brang: This is used as the past tense of bring i.e brought. (And I am dead serious). I have heard most kids (teens included) here using "brang" instead of "brought" and although I'm a school psychologist and not an English teacher, I find myself correcting them everytime they use the bloody 'word'!
4. Proudy: This was common in India and was used to define a person who is proud/conceited. For example, Ram is such a proudy.
5. They're/There/Their: Funny how many people actually confuse the context in which these words are used. This includes university students/markers. It's obviously something spell check does not pick up! I had someone mark one of my essays and actually change a correct 'their' to 'there'. Go figure!
6. Councellor/Councilor/Councelor: These are just some of the ways I've seen the word "counsellor" being spelt. Some of these also happen to pop up in job advertisements. Wonder why spell check didn't pick some of those up!
7. Make friendship: Ah, the eternal question about "making friendship" with someone. Frequently used by strangers on the internet: Would you like to make friendship with me?
8. Where/Were: Again, similar to the there/their/they're issue and used interchangeably. See above.
9. Your/You're: Once again, similar to the previous issue. It is used interchangeably. For example, Your going to the movies, eh?
10. American spellings: This has always made me mad. How difficult is it to spell 'behaviour' compared to 'behavior'? Or 'socks' compared to 'sox'?
Well, I will stop there for now. I guess I've whinged enough for a day. I would however love to hear if anyone else has heard anything bizarre in the way people speak/write/use the language.
Until next time,
Cheers!!!
They include:
1. Anyways: This is used instead of "anyway". I still have not figured out why.
2. Youse: This is what some Aussies use to imply "all of you". It can be used in a sentence such as "I would like youse to come to my house for dinner". Makes me cringe!!!!
3. Brang: This is used as the past tense of bring i.e brought. (And I am dead serious). I have heard most kids (teens included) here using "brang" instead of "brought" and although I'm a school psychologist and not an English teacher, I find myself correcting them everytime they use the bloody 'word'!
4. Proudy: This was common in India and was used to define a person who is proud/conceited. For example, Ram is such a proudy.
5. They're/There/Their: Funny how many people actually confuse the context in which these words are used. This includes university students/markers. It's obviously something spell check does not pick up! I had someone mark one of my essays and actually change a correct 'their' to 'there'. Go figure!
6. Councellor/Councilor/Councelor: These are just some of the ways I've seen the word "counsellor" being spelt. Some of these also happen to pop up in job advertisements. Wonder why spell check didn't pick some of those up!
7. Make friendship: Ah, the eternal question about "making friendship" with someone. Frequently used by strangers on the internet: Would you like to make friendship with me?
8. Where/Were: Again, similar to the there/their/they're issue and used interchangeably. See above.
9. Your/You're: Once again, similar to the previous issue. It is used interchangeably. For example, Your going to the movies, eh?
10. American spellings: This has always made me mad. How difficult is it to spell 'behaviour' compared to 'behavior'? Or 'socks' compared to 'sox'?
Well, I will stop there for now. I guess I've whinged enough for a day. I would however love to hear if anyone else has heard anything bizarre in the way people speak/write/use the language.
Until next time,
Cheers!!!
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Picture tags
This is my picture tag (after reading Joel's)
Here are the rules:
Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab's Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.
The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your user name?
Enjoy!
Monday, 4 August 2008
Reality TV --- how real is it?
I'm not a fan of reality television (with the exception of Idol). I detest the months when there's Big Brother on telly (it gets my vote for worst reality series). Unfortunately, if it's not Big Brother, it's America's next top model or Biggest loser or Wife swap or the Bounty Hunter....
Why do they call it reality tv? I, for one, think it's a misnomer --- how do you expect people to behave genuinely when they have cameras pointing at them??? Think about it, don't we all 'pose' for the camera when pictures are taken? In the same way, individuals on these reality tv shows pose for us...act for us.
Anyway, going beyong the genuineness of the people on these shows, I have another question to pose --- what do people get by watching these idiots on the shows? I may be generalising but I doubt there's one sensible, intelligent person worth watching on the aforementioned shows. Instead, we get to watch people fucked in the head (to put it simply). We get to watch model wannabes with severe eating disorders (if they are not anorexic or bulimic, I'm the next PM), with personality disorders. We get to watch people on Big brother with narcissistic personality disorders. And how about the loads of people that watch shows like Biggest loser to probably feel better about themselves???
It's ridiculous to watch where the television industry is headed. What makes it scarier is that they get the ratings, which could only imply that people are getting more and more sucked in by these shows. In short, it is a worry if this is where the human race is heading. In another 100 years, if this continues, the movie Idiocracy will be playing out for real.
And what's probably scarier, is that it's not impossible.
Until next time,
Cheers!!!
Why do they call it reality tv? I, for one, think it's a misnomer --- how do you expect people to behave genuinely when they have cameras pointing at them??? Think about it, don't we all 'pose' for the camera when pictures are taken? In the same way, individuals on these reality tv shows pose for us...act for us.
Anyway, going beyong the genuineness of the people on these shows, I have another question to pose --- what do people get by watching these idiots on the shows? I may be generalising but I doubt there's one sensible, intelligent person worth watching on the aforementioned shows. Instead, we get to watch people fucked in the head (to put it simply). We get to watch model wannabes with severe eating disorders (if they are not anorexic or bulimic, I'm the next PM), with personality disorders. We get to watch people on Big brother with narcissistic personality disorders. And how about the loads of people that watch shows like Biggest loser to probably feel better about themselves???
It's ridiculous to watch where the television industry is headed. What makes it scarier is that they get the ratings, which could only imply that people are getting more and more sucked in by these shows. In short, it is a worry if this is where the human race is heading. In another 100 years, if this continues, the movie Idiocracy will be playing out for real.
And what's probably scarier, is that it's not impossible.
Until next time,
Cheers!!!
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