Let’s Talk.
In How I Met Your Mother E7E12 “Symphony of Illumination”, Robin discovered that she is unable to have children but she contemplated on telling anyone.
“I knew I could have talked to my friends, but it’s just… I already knew exactly how they would all react.”
I think many of us have felt this way before, feeling the need to tell someone about things going on in your life yet you pause and ask yourself “why bother?” – simply because you know exactly how others would react to it. With the help of technology, our lives are so public that there is no need for a simple sit-down conversation with friends anymore. People know about your relationship status, your life updates etc through social networking platforms, commenting on them directly or simply give you a “+like” as acknowledgement. I can almost imagine how many people would simply click on the “+like” button if there’s one on my blog now, just to agree that they felt this way before.
Anyway, back to the point whereby there’s no point talking to friends anymore…that’s just sad huh? I think it’s a pity that technology has helped us develop such a habit of being an open book instead of talking things out with close friends. Maybe we still do, but you’d realize they fill in the gaps once in awhile in your conversation or assume things based on what you’ve posted online etc. I think I have slowly reduced the information I am posting online and alil more reserved in the things I’m sharing about my personal life. Maybe to some, this defeats the purpose of having a public online presence but I miss the late night chats and long emails from friends. People should hear the story from me personally instead of just reading bits and pieces from a 140 characters update, which simply leads to more unwanted misunderstandings and assumptions.
This is probably why I like being in Beijing more – people are mostly disconnected (or at least not on the same social networking platform). We actually sit down to talk for hours and share our life stories instead of stalking each other on Facebook or twitter. Their responses are more unpredictable and constructive instead of a simple “+like” or another 140 characters respond. What do you think? Are you sharing too much online that when you meet up with your friends, there’s nothing much left to talk about (but simply going through what you guys have already posted online) ?
Watching Episodes
Just caught the first episode of the new Showtime series “Episodes”. The reason ? Matt LeBlanc. Come on, how can you resist TV’s Joey….even if he’s already 43 ! Has it been that long since we saw him as Joey in Friends? Gee.
Created by David Crane,co-creator of Friends and Jeffrey Klarik, a writer for Mad About You, Episodes is basically a TV show about the television industry – all the glam and whatnots behind it. Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan plays a Brits couple (love their accent) who has to survive the absurdity in showbiz, with LeBlanc being the wedge that comes between them. Love how he spoofs himself in the show. Episodes provide an fascinating insight to the showbiz industry but in all honesty, it’s just a good TV show in reality about a bad TV show on screen with nothing much to wow about it except for the fact that Joey is back on screen and it was a good comeback.
First episode of Episodes (sorry, can’t help it) was average, not so much of LeBlanc as the main focus was on Greig and Mangan and how they moved to LA. A few laughs here and there but in general it wasn’t exactly up to my initial expectation of the show from the trailer. Then again, it’s a 7 episodes serie so I’m hoping it gets better! We shall see !
In less than 140 characters
Decided to keep things short and wrap twenty-ten in one tweet.
“Heartbroken.Loving myself more.Self discovery.Table talks treasured.Parents aging.Home alone.Final sem.New jobs.Doomie.Blogging continues.“
Back to singlehood, learning to love myself more and re-discovering the focus in life. Appreciating chats with friends and the oh so wise parents (though I refuse to admit it most of the time). Great experience to have the house to myself for a couple of months and I have to say, taking care of me myself alone and the flat is tiring yet quite an adventure. Bid farewell to year 3 and moving on to my final year as undergrad in SMU. Started coaching students and totally loving my new job. Picked up a new language (French).Gotten another part time job offer which I’m looking forward to begin in the new year. Doomie the hamster never fails to amuse me and she has no choice but stay by my side during teary lonely nights. Blogging has been fun despite the once-in-awhile-laziness but grateful to meet new friends and having opportunities such as being Top 20 World’s Coolest Intern and the chance to attend awesome events etc.
It has been an interesting year – not exactly my best but I am grateful for all the experiences I’ve had. Hopefully 2011 will be a better year (Of course it will…I am FINALLY graduating!)
Thank you for being part of my 2010 and continuous support as a friend/reader! Let’s have a blast in 2011 together!
“You live only once, but if you manage your life right, once is sufficient.” – Joe Louis
The Mermaid Theory ?
In the 11th episode of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Season 6, Barney Stinson mentioned about <The Mermaid Theory> whereby girls are seen as manatees until one day when you’ve spent long enough time with her, she’ll transform into a mermaid… and he further eleborated on his blog :
“No matter how hot or unhot a woman is, eventually you will want to sleep with her. The time it takes for this process to occur is the chick’s “Mermaid Clock.” It starts the first time you lay eyes on a chick and stops ticking the instant you want to get your jam on.”
So that’s the theory from the modern guys.
On the other hand, most girls usually follow <Ladder Theory> whereby guys are placed on this “bi-ladderal” system – either the Good Ladder or the Friends Ladder – if guys from the friends ladder try to jump over to the good ladder, and fails – usually they fall into the abyss between these 2 ladders. (which I guarantee most of those cases do fail.) The transition tends to be impossible once the label is permanent.
I had a chat with a male friend of mine who asked if there’s ever a chance for guys who fall under ‘friends zone’ to be seen as a potential mate, and how to avoid being classified into the ‘friends’ zone before any potential feelings develop. As a girl, I admit that I do have these categories in my mind as well…or rather, everyone usually falls into friends zone for me – which makes things really awkward when someone suggests any interest in me romantically.
Then again, I believe that it takes awhile for the ‘Friends’ label to be fixed and never be turned into ‘mermaid’ aka developing interest/wanting a relationship with that person- but that’s just me.
Time for discussion :
1) How do you avoid being classified to the Friends Ladder ?
2) Do you believe in The Mermaid Theory ? If no, why not ?
Blessing In Disguise
This whole #WCI experience has been a blessing in disguise – how so ? As much as I’ve always known I have the awesomest friends around, I must say that during the past week since I’ve joined the WCI challenge- I am so so touched in many ways (now don’t start thinking otherwise. Hehs.) It is currently week 12 (2nd last week) in school and every SMU student will understand how heavy the workload gets – project submissions, essay deadlines, presentations. Obviously that applies to me as well -seriously putting my time management into use- and I was practically dying (blame it on not paying attention in class all the time..), but the support I’ve received from my friends is just amazing – be it online or offline. Power of Social Media eh ?
Let’s just talk about this video alone – I was totally in panic mode when I realized that I need to submit a video since I had 3 papers due by Friday as well as my own French project video (and totally in a PMS-y mode.) My friends willingly (or not) stayed behind, despite this week 12 madness, to help me with the filming (original concept) and taking photos (new concept) and post-production (It’s been 4 years since I last touched the technical side of film making ! You can’t blame me for that, can you ?!) I had overseas help as well from friends who are currently pursuing their degrees there. I felt really loved by everyone ! Like what I said in the video, even without the coolest internship, I think I am happy with the coolest friends around. =)
Not forgetting the online friends (old or new) who tweet-supported me with/without being asked! Although some of the reasons are pretty strange *coughs* but Thank You ! It’s not that easy to find people who are willing to be take time off AND a picture for you ok!
So here’s the video,as promised ! Better late than never ? (-panic- Am I the last ? Am I the last? Am I the last?!)
Concept : I wanted to do something like a Barney Stinsons Awesome Resume video but that requires alot of time and footages. So I ended up recording a segment to talk about what a coolest intern should be like, suit up! Pretty much putting my Emcee/Campus Radio DJ skills into good use. Was pretty clueless of what to say and it felt really weird to be shamelessly selling myself on the video as that’s not the Ingrid people knows. In the end, my awesome friends and I came up with this idea of walking around school to get my fellow SMU friends and staff (since they know me best) to describe their first impression of me/why I should be the coolest intern…Pretty much sums it all up ? Hope you enjoyed it – afterall, this is the first time my ‘coolest-uncool’ friends actually said such nice things about me! *SNIFF*
Special thanks to my SMU Broadcast & Entertainment ‘family’ who did not want to be listed individually, love you guys loads ! I have to say, they are more ‘kan cheong‘ (Translate: 紧张/Nervous in Cantonese ) than the one who’s taking part (aka me) ! XOXO
Additional thank you to my anon video editor who was stuck at ‘But According…’ for an hour just to get the perfect timing while I kept going ‘ITS OKAY.JUST LET IT BE!! MOVE ON NAOO‘ in a panic mode. (lol) And the rest of MYY secret WCI marketing team for the one hour photo hunt and 8pm-4am studio madness…I really appreciate it. 
Friends on Twitter : Please tweet to “@stanchartbreeze -inserts reason why @iammyy should win- #WCI”
Thank You ! (Random Pictures can be found here !)
