Thursday 28 April 2011

Ah those folks at Google sure do have a great sense of humour

Driving Directions from Missouri, USA to Xindian, Taiwan by Google.


Click on the image to see full size

Monday 18 April 2011

Lenting

So it's almost the end of lent, only 5 more days!!!!!

This year, as I have for the past four years now, I have given up meat and it's been going well!

But then I thought, you know, it's been a bit too easy.
So in looking for a new challenge, I also merged another goal of mine which is to lose 15lbs.

A couple of my friends have just begun a low carb diet this week so I thought I would give that a shot. Lent round 2 if you will.

I thought I would at least wait until the end of lent to give myself a fair chance. Giving up two delicious forms of happiness at one time is unrealistic for anyone.

It hit me today that I have no idea what I would eat once this low carb nonsense starts so I decided to try and have a low carb dinner. I ended up having a salad sans dressing, an egg and a green tea. It wasn't so bad, it was yummy and I felt good about myself.
 
An hour and 17 minutes later I had scoffed a packed of chocolate digestives and bought my first loaf of bread this year with full intention of eating the whole thing by tomorrow.

This is going to be tough.

-D

Sunday 17 April 2011

New Leaf

I think it's about time I turned over a new leaf. Again.

How many times can a person turn themselves over? Surely you turn yourself over a few times and you're back to where you started...

Who knows. 

This year, my self improvement aims include:
  1. reading more
  2. blogging more
  3. trying to be more understanding and patient with people
  4. learn to rough it
  5. be more outdoorsy
  6. learn to live frugally
  7. getting my life goals back on track 
  8. have more self discipline
  9. don't be so emotionally lead
The first two are pretty basic and straightforward. Done.
Trying to be more understanding and patient is hard when the other person is truly baffling in their thought process. 
Take for instance, a conversation that happened last night:

Guy: "Are you Taiwanese?"
Me: "No, I'm from England"
G: "How long have you lived in England?"

****FREEZE FRAME ON MY CONFUSED FACE*****
Thought bubble from my head reads - How long have I lived in England?? All my life?? I don't want to sound like a smart ass... Does he mean how long have I lived in Taiwan? 

M: "How long have I lived in England?"
G: "Yes"
M: "All my life"

****FREEZE FRAME ON HIS CONFUSED FACE****

This is a guy from Delaware, U.S.A. You would've thought that he would be at least aware of the possibility of an Asian born abroad.

That's when I cut and run from the conversation and avoided him until he left. I'm not sure all the patience in the world could humour that level of stupidity.

Learning to rough it and living more frugally go hand in hand for me. I have slept in a 12 person bunk bed in a room that slept 20 people. This meant I slept in the same bed as 6 other people on the top bunk of a bed that stretched from wall to wall and 6 people slept below us on the bottom bunk. Opposite was a similar bunk bed that slept 8.
But for $300NT (£6gbp/$9usd) a night, it's hard to argue and it was a comfortable nights sleep!

Being outdoorsy for me is a challenge since I am pretty petrified of nature. It's not just the crazy poisonous insects that want to drink your blood and snakes that bite you (or eat you whole so I've heard) it's the uneven footing, the unpaved terrain and the lack of an adequate safety barrier between you and the 3000ft drop that's either side of you on hikes. Don't even get me started on the sketchy ladders and rope system that's meant to act as an aide to scale these vertical sheer cliff faces as you put your life in it's stringy "hands" if you will, and swing over a massive gap in the path. I'm sure if I got the right shoes it would be much easier... (Ha.)

Getting my life goals back on track would not be a problem if I knew what my life goals were.
Beyond being rich enough to be happy, I have lost my way a bit.
Let's come back to this one later.


More self discipline!! Who doesn't need more self discipline? This year, for the fourth year, I have given up meat for lent. By golly it's not been easy. But it's definitely gotten easier as the years have gone by. Moreover, I give up one thing only to become fixed on something else - this year it's chocolate. Nutty chocolate. Ferrero Rocher, Chocolate Almonds, Peanut M&Ms, Snickers... You name it, I've eaten it in the last 35 days. Time to find a more worthwhile habit to kick.


This leads me to my final aim on the list. I will give up being so damn emotionally lead. I feel it, I do it. I devise reason and logic around the thing I feel to justify it. This process should occur the other way around. I believe that in giving up this emotionally lead lifestyle, I will have less drama. I don't know what it is, but drama seems to follow me. Maybe I'm a drama queen (quite likely) or maybe I make decisions without thinking about the consequences (extremely likely), either way, I would like to lead a drama free life. Nay, let's be realistic - a drama reduced life.


-D


Reasons Men Cheat

Ah, the age old question... Why do guys cheat? Many reasons.

In no particular order..
1. Because they don't know what they already have.
Let's over generalise here for the sake of simplicity. Some guys just have very low self esteem, hence why they will not realise what they have until it's gone. Or, as the case is more likely to be, they don't know what they have until they see other people wanting it. They see a new girl that the other guys are keen on and to prove their own self worth, they pursue it. They don't have enough confidence in their own decisions, neither in their own convictions, so they conform to what is in mass demand. Without third-party confirmation, they just don't know what is good and what isn't.

2. Because they think they're special.
Men with powerful influential jobs sometimes confuse this power and influence in their personal lives. They have A-type personalities; ultra competitive and ambitious. They want to be the best and always looking for a challenge, they don't want to stay in one spot too long. 
See how easily that could be transferred in to one's personal life?
Think about the celebrities who cheat on their wives. You would think that being married would mean the end of such things. But unfortunately no. It's not even like they're cheating on Anne Widdecomb lookalikes, they're cheating on the likes of Liz Hurley, Hilary Clinton and Elin Nordegren, so what hope does that leave the rest of us? NO! Don't think like that! The fact that men can cheat on beautiful, intelligent and self-made women goes to show that it's really not so much about us, it's about them.

3. Because they got married too early.
This can almost go under the first reason; they don't know what they already have. But in this case, they did know what they had, they married it, and then later realised that maybe they should've played the field a bit more for some genuine appreciation of what they really have. Or quite simply, they thought they had it good but then realised it could be better later on. No one's at fault, people grow apart. Romantic as it is to marry your childhood sweetheart, if you're 35, married for 15 years to a person who you no longer have anything in common with and is not even on your wavelength, it would be understandable to break up. Cheating however, is just the cowards way out. 

4. Because he's not ready to commit.
You're perfect, he's perfect, it's the perfect relationship. But then you find out he cheated on you. And with some girl he doesn't even care about. And she's ugly. The only question you have is "Why?"
This whole thing can be summed up with one sentence I heard recently.
"I want to spend the rest of my life with her, I want to marry her, but just not yet."
In other words, this is the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with, but I'm not quite ready for the rest of my life to begin. (When Harry Met Sally anyone?)
But not just that, it's the stability and the perfectness of the relationship that scares him. He still wants to play, but he knows that the relationship is too perfect and there's only one direction it's heading in. 
It's that needless self destructive behaviour that has us reading articles like this one.

5. Because they thought they could get away with it.
Pretty self explanatory this one isn't it? Also over laps a little with the second reason a guy thinks he's so special that no one will ever find out and the only people who do know are inconsequential. Sadly, if this is the reason he did it, then it's grounds for breaking up anyway since it shouldn't be about whether or not he would get caught, it's about how much he respects you. Sure he probably thought something along the lines of "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". But does it really? Try telling that to your doctor the next time you're at the GUM clinic.

6. Because they're scared.
Scare to be alone, scared of making a mistake, scared of breaking up, scared of hurting you blah blah blah. You've heard the excuse and the obvious response is "So you cheated on me?"
It's preposterous isn't it? 
The reality is that they just wanted to have their cake and eat it. Maybe he still loves one girl but meets another who he also really wants to get to know because they just "click". 
Blah blah blah... 

In fact, this whole article should just have one reason:

Because (some) men don't have the backbone to break up before he gets with someone else.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

The Inaugural Post

This blog is devoted purely to my thoughts and observations.