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Archive for May, 2009

Microwaved Lessons

10 May

vita-man_600

Microwaving food over the past few months here in Boston has taught me many important life lessons. For example, foods containing liquid, sugar and fat cook faster. So I should reduce the cooking time by 1/4 of conventional cooking and then gradually increase. Bet you didn’t know that. Or, also, it’s unwise to microwave the dishes covered in aluminum foil or any metallic material because this might generate sparks.

However, I think the most important lesson my microwave has taught me, is that it’s a stupid excuse when we say we don’t have enough time to do our work or to call an old friend or to work on our assignments. We always like to blame time: “there just isn’t enough time!”

But my microwave taught me that there is always enough time.

How did that happen? Here, let me explain.

I put in my spaghetti bolognese into a microwaveable bowl, and heat it up for 3 minutes. I then go from the kitchen to my room, get on my laptop, and reply an email that I should have done earlier. I then clean up my desk because it’s messy from all the pseudostudying studying I’ve been doing. Then I send an SMS to a friend telling him I’ll be meeting him for dinner. I walk back to the kitchen… and wait! There’s still 50 seconds left. What?? It felt like it took me 20 minutes to send that email. clean up my desk, and then send an SMS. I quickly go back to my room to gather the rubbish in my trash bin and put it outside. ‘Beeeeeep’ – the food’s been heated up. 3 minutes. I did all that in 3 minutes?

It made me realize that I can actually get a lot done in just one minute. I always thought one minute was useless and if I had one minute left to do something, I’d just say… never mind, I don’t have enough time.

But the microwave made me think about how precious one minute can actually be. Imagine taking that one minute and multiplying it by 10. You’d get ten minutes! (duh). And that means I could get ten times more things done. (duh!).

I have a deeper resepct for time now. There’s always enough time to do what I need to do. The microwave taught me that. Of all things.

 
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Posted in Life

 

Movie Posters and Weird People

05 May

When bored people gather, weird things happen.

But, we’ve got to do something to keep us alive.

So here’s an attempt that my friend, Emily, and I made to imitate the Twilight movie poster. Of course it is not quite identical, but close enough, don’t you think?

twl_web_1shttsr2

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Then Su Ann and I took a friendly innocent picture together. But I had no idea she actually had this movie in mind!?! Su Ann, shame on you!! :P

nmf09_9

fools-gold

All in the name of fun,
MatSalleh aka Dom

Thanks Carol for taking the pictures – the weird people pictures, not the movie posters. :)


 
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Posted in fun

 

Regret, Reason, Remedy.

04 May

sorry

I read about this in a book many years ago, the 3Rs to developing a longer-lasting friendship with the people you always end up making angry :P

It’s a “formula” t follow when you do something stupid, or make an honest mistake, or make a dishonest mistake but want to get off the hook more easily. It’s a way to say sorry to someone, by making you look less guilty, and making them feel more special. It’s a way for you to be bad, then look good afterwards.

The 3Rs…. Number one: Regret.

So, as usual, when you do something wrong, express your regret. Say how sorry you are. Make sure you look like you mean it, if in case you don’t really feel sorry at all about it. But whatever you do, make sure you say it nicely and politely.Don’t overdo it. Just say you are sorry.

Number two: Reason.

Why are you sorry? After expressing regret, explain why you feel sorry about what you did. And then explain further why you did what you did. Was it by accident? Were you just born stupid? Did you make an honest mistake? Did someone force you to do it? Or were you just born stupid? Or did you not know it was wrong? Did you actually know it was wrong? Or were you just born stupid?

Third: Remedy.

After saying you are sorry and then giving a reason why you are sorry and why you were born stupid, give a good remedy for how you plan to follow-up. Will you do it again? What did you learn? How can your regret and reasoning help you in the future?

For example, if you cheated during an exam and you get caught, according to the 3R formula, you would say something like:

“I am so sorry for cheating, I do regret my actions. It’s just that I did not have enough time to study for the test, and I really wanted to surprise my parents by getting a high score. They really expect a lot from me. However, I know what I did was wrong, and in the future, I will study hard for my tests and make sure I don’t resort to cheating.”

This will show that you understand, TRULY understand that what you did was wrong. It also shows that you gave serious thought about your actions, and how you plan to learn from them.

Here’s another example. Say you were supposed to meet up your friends at 8pm, and you arrived at 10.30pm instead:

“I am sorry I am late. I really wanted to arrive at 7.55pm, but my car broke down half way, and my phone ran out of battery. Then it started raining, and no one wanted to help me. Then when the rain finally stopped, my phone miraculously came back to life and I called the mechanic. So sorry I am late… I will buy dinner for everyone tonight.”

OK, that is bad. Don’t do that. Your friends will not hang out with you anymore, trust me. Do it like this instead:

“I am sorry you guys had to wait two and half hours for me.” (this shows you actually are concerned over how long they had to wait for you).
“I fell asleep and snoozed my alarm without realizing. I know how silly it was of me, but I had a really tiring day in school today and I have not been getting enough sleep the past few days.” (this shows you are honest, and you have good reasons for your selfish actions).
“The next time we meet, I will make sure I set a few alarm clocks, and I will give you my house phone number to call in case I do not hear my cell phone ringing, so that my parents know they should wake me up. If any of you need a lift back home later, I’m happy to send you guys back.” (there, you give a good remedy on how you plan to avoid this from happening in the future. You also show how you are willing to make up for it).

Try it, let me know if it works for you! :P

“Sorry seems to be the hardest word”,
MatSalleh aka Dom

 
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Posted in Life

 

“Pro-crastinatus”

04 May

Procrastination..

last-minute

That magic word that makes so much sense to me. It should to you, too, if you’re a good student. Because procrastinating produces better work, and we all know that, don’t we?

Yeah, I love procrastinating. It allows my mind to have more time to think of what I need to do, and how I want to do whatever I need to do. Why do it now, when I can do it at the last minute anyway?

And besides, we all know that the work we produce at the eleventh hour is always better than those we produce at the first or second hour, which is way too early to start doing any work!

But believe me I’ve tried doing work (like my assignments) way ahead of the deadline. It never works. Never.

I can start, but I’ll not like what I produce. I can continue, but it gets frustrating because I could use that time to do other stuff like sleeping or watching Heroes. Instead, I rather wait till the very last minute when my mind has had enough time to brainstorm and to decide the who-what-where-when-hows of my assignments.

My professor once told me something like “if it weren’t for the last minute, we’d never get any work done.”

My mantra exactly.

The adrenaline rush at the final hour gives me the push to produce much better work compared to doing it slowly and steadily way ahead of time. It just isn’t fun doing things in your own sweet time, is it?

I speak out to all those “good” students around the world, who love working way before the final hour… to once in a while, try working at the last minute. It’s like having a bad stomach ache and having only 30 seconds to find a bathroom before you have to let it out. Something like that. :)

In honour of the last minute,
MatSalleh aka Dom

 
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Posted in Life, studies