Are You OK?

I declare Are You OK? as one of the most redundant questions, ever, asked by human kind.

What were you expecting people to answer when you raise that question?

Surely, if you’re asking that question, you must have already suspected something amissed, and that the person you’re directing the question to is not ok.

So if you have already deemed the person not ok, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING IF SHE’S OK?

If she says she’s not ok, what are you gonna ask? – What happened?

Why not just ask her what happened in the first place?

If she says she’s ok, what would you ask her? I’ll tell you what you will ask – Are you sure?

Why do you ask if she’s sure she’s ok? Because you’ve already deemed her not ok! *face palm*

So if you think she’s not ok, and if she’s really not ok, it’s not gonna help by asking if she’s ok. Chances are, she’ll tell you nothing. If anybody who’s not ok wanted to talk about her problems, she would have told you before you even noticed anything amissed.

What you can do to someone who doesn’t seem ok is to give her a hug, and let her know you’ll be there for her. (And mean it, please.)

If you’re not gonna be there, or you’re not gonna do anything about it, pretend you didn’t notice anything wrong and that she’s ok.

I’m ok.

Nothing’s wrong.

Basic Courtesy

How polite are you?

I don’t brag to be the most polite person, ever, of course.

Who am I kidding right? I scold nabeh cheebye and I point middle finger at people.

I am, however, very particular about the most basic courtesy of all:

The Please. The Thank You. The Sorry.

It IS basic courtesy to use please in a request, say thank you to a compliment, when someone has helped you, or when someone gifts you something, and apologises when you do something wrong.

I cannot fathom how anybody can NOT follow these basic rules of life, thus I get very anal about it when people doesn’t reciprocate or show basic courtesy towards me, or to people around me.

How many of you apologises to a child if you knock into him/her?

I was walking behind a mother and her child yesterday, and the mother was among the horde of people trying to get into the mall from the train station.

The girl was around 3 or 4 years old, and was very short. The mother was looking forward while holding on to her little hand. Because of the girl’s height, and the limited space amongst the crowd, many people who’s passed by the little girl would brush their hands against her head (messing up her neatly tied pony tail, bit by bit), or knock their bags on to her head.

It wasn’t the kind that would cause real pain, but I could tell that the girl was kinda disturbed, because she touches her head everytime someone brushes their hands against her head, and she’ll check back whenever a bag knocks on to her.

All these while, I never saw a single person apologising to her. I’m assuming, because the mother was oblivious to it, thus people conveniently thinks it’s ok to ‘bully’ a child, since she (probably) doesn’t know enough to get offended, or wouldn’t dare to be offended. Afterall, she’s just a child.

This raises another question in me.

If the mother does notice that you have knocked into her child, do you apologise to her, or her child?

I was thinking people would apologise to the mother, because even if the child wouldn’t mind, the mother might mind. But why? Why should you apologise to the mother when it’s the child that you’ve knocked into?

This morning on the way to work, I was seated on the train when a lady in front of me stepped on my foot. My eyes were closed, so she conveniently assumed that she didn’t have to apologise, even though I did move my feet, meaning to say I felt it.

She probably felt that I didn’t mind, since I didn’t bother to open my eyes, thus there was no need to apologise.

Fact is, I didn’t mind that she stepped on my foot. It was the not apologising that pissed me off. It doesn’t matter whether someone minds. You apologise when you are in the wrong. You don’t apologise because people mind that you are in the wrong.

After awhile, she stepped on my foot again, even though my feet weren’t sticking out in the crowded train. This time, I stared at her, but she nonchalantly continued to watch her bloody show on her bloody phone. I then folded my legs so she couldn’t step on my foot anymore.

After awhile, the person next to me got up and she rushed to that seat. While rushing, she knocked herself on my folded leg, and she made the ‘tsk’ sound at me, because my leg was blocking her way to the seat.

Whoa.

Seriously, wtf woman?

Do you know? It won’t kill you to bear some basic courtesy.

Start minding your Ps and Qs today!

Anti-Clockwise

I bought a new watch!

If you’ve taken a second look at the picture, you would realize that the numbers have been placed on the wrong side of the face.

That’s right, it goes backwards.

According to the box, this watch is called the Backward Watch.

Not only are the numbers reversed, the hands go anti-clockwise. So if you are like me, who reads time according to the positioning of the hands, you now need to look at the numbers to read time on this watch.

Like, by positioning, the time above would have been 1740 hours. It is, however, 1820 hours.

Cool, isn’t it?

The first time I saw this watch, all I could think of was how unique this watch was. How cute!

Then, over lunch, when I flaunted it to my colleagues and shared how cute it was, Wei Qiang jokingly mentioned that I wanted to go back to the past, thus the adoration for this watch. I had no idea why, but it became food for my thoughts.

Maybe.

Maybe, subconsciously, I really do wanna turn back time.

Will you? Do you want to?

I was arguing with a friend last night on how a guy should pop the question.

I’m not sure if all girls feel this way, but I feel ‘Do you want to…’ is a wrong way to ask, when it comes to this.

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“Do you want to be my wife?”

How do you expect the girl to reply, and say yes, without sounding desperate? There is a reason why the question Will you marry me? is a norm when it comes to marriage.

Do you hear people asking: “Eh, you wanna marry me or not?“

-_-”

Will you sounds more like a plea, a request, rather than a question. At least to me, it does.

If you’re asking for her hand in marriage, it’s most definitely because she’s the queen to your heart and you need her to be willing to accept the throne.

If you need her to accept it, you ask in a humble way, and not a:

“Do you want to marry me?“

When a question is phrased this way, it gives me the impression that I can say no, and it won’t matter. Important proposal questions shouldn’t come with a choice. I mean, sure the girl has every right to reject, since, technically, no matter how you phrased it, it’s still a question… but putting it in a request sort of way leaves little room for rejection; No?

Do you want to….?

No.

Will you…?

Yes. I will.

Materialism

ma·te·ri·al·ist

/məˈtɪəriəlɪst/ [muh-teer-ee-uh-list]

1. a person who is markedly more concerned with material things than with spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.

2. an adherent of philosophical materialism.

 

If you classify somebody who goes for material goods, and gets everything he/she wants, as materialistic; as a materialist, would you do the same for someone who craves for material goods, but doesn’t get any of the material goods she wants as a materialist?

Probably.

    

If someone craves for expensive watches, bags, shoes, and apparels, and would get them regardless of the impracticality, she’s most definitely materialistic.

If someone wants expensive watches, bags, shoes, and apparels, but finds them too expensive, and doesn’t get them regardless of her wants, is she also a definite materialist?

Possibly.

    

If you classify someone who would save and eat bread for lunch just so she can get herself a Hermes (HA! DONT KNOW MUST EAT BREAD FOR HOW MANY YEARS.), and someone who lunches as per normal, spends as per normal, and buys the Hermes only when she has enough in her bank account, do you put both of them under the same category; Materialistic?

Maybe.

    

If a guy owns 10 random branded, expensive, belts, because he just couldn’t resist buying it all, and still wants another. Is he considered a materialistic, bottomless pit; Forever wanting more?

If a girl owns 10 random branded bags, out of 9 which are gifts for her, and she wants to purchase one more for herself. Would you place her under the never satisfied section; since she already owns so many, she shouldn’t be craving for more?

Perhaps.

                         

If I want to get myself a Prada and you’re not paying for it, do you have the right to be disappointed because I’m a materialist?

 

No.