The discarded girl and happy endings

You know those movies you watch/books you read that has the plot of a couple where the girl is very smitten with the guy and though the guy doesn't feel as strongly for her, still they're together and she goes out of her way to please the guy in more ways than you can imagine hoping one day he'll love her back and then out of the blue, an 'odd, eccentric' girl comes along (not into the guy at all) and for some reason they guy falls in love with this new girl?

Surely you must know what I'm talking about.

And oddly enough, thinking back at all the movies/tv shows/books that had this plot, the second eccentric girl is ALWAYS portrayed as the 'right' girl for the ALWAYS portrayed dashing, 'perfect' guy and how you just know it's a meant-to-be match and surely they must end up together in the end because you just don't mess with fate and surprise, surprise-they do! Somewhere in the middle, the first smitten girl (ALWAYS portrayed as somewhat pathetic, sometimes even bitchy and you wonder why she doesn't get a life) fades away or if not towards the end she gets 'discarded' and I can't say I've ever really given a second thought on the 'discarded' girl when the story so strongly centers around this new girl and how they guy relentlessly pursues her.

Not till last night had I've ever given any proper thought to the poor discarded girl (who's to say she's even remotely pathetic or bitchy anyway?) and how she's practically devoted her life to him (as pathetic as that sounds, you'd be surprise with what love can do to your head). Despite knowing she's being a stubborn fool for someone that clearly doesn't give her a second thought, she still goes out of her way to please him. Look what happens in the end. Poor, poor girl. Was all that for nothing? How cruel of life.

Now I wonder what ever happened to her. How unfair for a story to always be told in a way to shine on the happy ending. Almost always no one gives this discarded girl a second thought, having a rush of affection for the writer to pair up the 'right' couple together in the end. For once I'd like to hear the side of the first girl. How terribly painful it must've felt AND (for lack of a better phrase) her road to recovery (hoping she does recover from it, that is).

How cruel of life to make love so bloody difficult.

How cruel of life to make relationships so bloody complicated.

How cruel of life to make feelings so vulnerable and to ever let people put their hearts on the line only to have it ripped.

Is it worth it though? I'm only 19 but maybe because I am 19 I'm seeing things more clearly now. Like how I've always had this fairy tale ending fantasy in my head , thinking everything would end up being as easy as breathing only to discover I don't think there's anything harder you'll face in your life (I'm not kidding!) than finding your other half. What guarantee do you have that he's out there anyway? None! Only books and faceless people reassuring you that he is. What do these people know? So easy to say but doing is always, ALWAYS another thing altogether.

And say you do meet your other half. How do you know this is 'the right' other half? So, you go through all the motions of going out 'casually' (I'm beginning to distaste that word-it's becoming way too overrated for my liking-not that I'm trying to sound bitter or anything), becoming a couple (apparently 'boyfriend-girlfriend' is a tag some would rather do without. Good grace, it doesn't always have to be all that terrible), get engaged, and finally get married. 

Then what? If you're one of the lucky 50% of the statistics that gets a long, happy marriage then that's great! I honestly dare say I envy you. If only everyone is as lucky the world would be a much happier place.

What if you're part of the other 50% whose marriages end in divorce? Such a depressing thought for a romantic like me.  It's depressing mainly because now I start to think (when I've never before this) that you might've vowed to love your (let say for the sake of argument) husband  (or your wife) forever but just like that one day he tells you he doesn't love you anymore, sometimes right out of the blue since he's been harboring his feeling all this while. And there you are shattered, thinking of all the times you thought things were great but only now you think it's all pretend and you feel like the biggest fool knowing all this while everything you do was for someone that was feeling next to nothing for you. What's real anymore? You can't be sure. 

How about people that have affairs when they're married? Isn't having a spouse not good enough anymore? Why, WHY?!

Past few months alone I've seen and thought of all the oh so many things that could go wrong. They're nothing short of sad thoughts.

Will there ever be a happy ending? Don't go telling me there will be because unless you've got a mystical future telling device and you'll know for sure everything is going to be fine, you know squat just like the rest of us so telling someone there will be a happy ending when you really don't know will just be another lie you tell in your lifetime. I know those words are only meant to be kind and helpful, but after a while, you just might start to think that it sorta stops being true. Of course everyone hopes life sorts itself out/karma will grant you your share/the circle will end up in a nice loop. But then again, what if it doesn't?

Mama duck, papa duck, and the 8 ducklings

Not till today have I've thought of how fast a duck grows (maybe because my experiences with ducks are limited to Donald, Daisy, and Daffy-well, what I see of them on Disney anyway). Though I was running late for my next lecture (cutting it very close really-was in a meeting with my professor), I took a moment to snap this shot.  I was so astounded  I actually, literally did a double take! Astounded because one, the ducklings have grown almost 6 times the size since I last saw them a month ago, second, I've never actually seen a family of ducks do a 'family activity' before and today was the second time I've seen them peck on the ground together as a united front, and third, I couldn't believe how coincidental it turned out that I paused to take the picture a month ago and a month later I get to take another look at them! Amazing!

Mama duck, papa duck, and the 8 ducklings.

- taken on 15 August 2010 (Sun) on UWA Open Day



And here they are again a month later all grown up!

- taken 13 September 2010 (Mon)

Fortune cookie

Today I had my first fortune cookie in 12 years and it said, "A smile will gain you ten more years of life." 
I didn't dare smile more than 10 times for the rest of the day-don't think I want to live pass 100. MLIR

Chicken

Today I was wondering why the drawing of my chicken looks weird when I realised chickens only have 2 legs. Not 4! I blame it on my subconscious mind for thinking of 4 legged animals while drawing it. MLIR

Didn't Dettol think this through?

Commercial for the new Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System:

Hands touch some germy stuff and those germs can end up on your soap pump. FACT: Your soap pump can harbour hundreds of bacteria. But now there's the Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System. It senses hands and dispenses soap which kills 99.9% of bacteria and it's enriched with a moisturizing ingredient to help care for your hands. The Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System. Never touch a germy soap pump again.

Scenario:

Your hands are dirty. You go over to the sink, switch on the tap, pump 'manually' from your trusty ol' 'germy' Dettol soap pump, scrub your hands, rinse of the soap, and switch off the tap.

Dettol promises to kill 99.9% bacteria and viruses (or was that just all talk?).

Well then! What exactly is the problem of you touching your germ infested pump when after that you'll be washing your hands with Dettol soap anyway. Heck, you're not going to touch the pump again after you soap your hands, are you?! There you go. You're covered. Why then would you need the 'No-Touch soap system' like they advertised it in the commercial? It really doesn't add up.

It'll be different if Dettol came up with a 'No-Touch tap system'. The way I see it, it's not the pump that's the problem, it's the tap! Think-You open the tap with you bacteria filled hands (now it's a bacteria infested tap), wash your hands and got rid 99.9% of the bacteria (since you're using Dettol), and then you touch the bacteria infested tap again to turn it off. So, unless while you wash your hands with Dettol, you  put some on the tap as well to kill of the bacteria on the tap, you're back to square one. There you go team Dettol. You came up with the wrong invention for your commercial.

Dear CEO of team Dettol,

However, since you have come up with the 'No-Touch Hand Wash System', you really should think about changing your commercial.

Here's my suggestion to make some sense into your new invention which I must say looks very snazzy. I'd buy one myself just for the cool tech but certainly not because of the reasons you advertised.

How it should go:

Feel like you're using too much soap?

Find yourself having to replace the bottle every week because your stubborn child insists on pressing the pump 10 times every single time even though you've told him time and time again that 1 pump is more than sufficient (after all Dettol promises to kill 99.9% bacteria and viruses!).

Now, you can save soap with the new Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System! It senses hands and dispenses soap to just the right amount. No more worries about how much soap you need to use. Dettol thinks for you! The Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System. Never waste more soap than you need again.

Tomorrow, When the War Began

I wonder what they were thinking when they wrote "Tomorrow: When the War Began" (for those out of the loop, it's a movie coming soon to Australia and New Zealand cinemas near you on 2 September 2010).

Anyway, was watching but not really watching telly with my sister the other day when the trailer came on.

Sister: That's grammatically wrong.

Me: What is? (having not paid attention to the telly)

Sister: It said, "Tomorrow: When the War Began". It should be 'When the War Begins'.

Me: Ah! Maybe they intentionally put it like that to make you think there's some time quantum mumbo-jumbo going on. The war has already began but you just don't know it yet because it's tomorrow! You think it's tomorrow but maybe it was yesterday but you're in today and there was no war yesterday because the war really is tomorrow and because you're in today, you don't know the war is tomorrow but  really the war has already began but tomorrow. Maybe this is your tomorrow self talking so really you were referring to yesterday. Your tomorrow's yesterday is your today and your today seem so ordinary only because you've no clue really. SO the war has began (for you tomorrow self that is)! Brilliant twist, yes yes?! That's how they lure you in!!!

Sister: Eh, mmmmmm....no.

The fictional writers in my head: Boy, they sure gave a lot of thought into this. We just misspelled it!

Thought the thought was pretty funny. 

Now looking through the internet (trying to find that image from the trailer. Finally found the one I was looking for from trusty ol' Wikipedia-what would I do without you), found out that the movie is actually a book adaptation!

Tomorrow, When the War Began is the first book in the Tomorrow series by John Marsden. Smokes! Never even heard of it before this and now I find out there's 7 of them!  The last 7-series book I read was Harry Potter. Now, I'm tempted to check out this 'Tomorrow' series. If not for nothing, at least to find out WHY John Marsden used 'Began' when he was referring to an event that'll happen tomorrow. Or is he?!

Do girls just want be with good guys or do they prefer bad boys?

It really depends on the girl. I can't generalize everyone into the same category because different people like different things (or guys in this case). And it also depends on the definition of 'bad boys' I suppose (I'm way over-analyzing this but I'm looking at all aspects). Bad boys in a sense that the boy is not the nerdy, follows the rules to the tee type but still generally a good person OR bad in a sense of sleeps around, shoplifts and gets stoned every once in a while. (I wouldn't mind the first type of bad boy myself:)
I remember watching THS: Denise Richardson a few years back. E! was telling the story on when she was married to Charlie Sheen (known bad boy) but they finally got a divorce because he wouldn't change. They (the E! reporters/narrator) say girls (like Denise Richardson) are attracted to bad boys (like Charlie Sheen) because girls like to think that they'll be the one that'll change the guy to 'be a better person'. That usually never works out but I do suppose we do get one or two 'success stories'.
I myself am a firm believer of not changing someone to how I specifically want them to be like. If that someone wants to be changed because he (or she really) thinks that they want/need the changing, then that's fine. But generally people don't like it when their partners try to change them and hence the creation of the saying, "Accept me for who I am or not at all."
There could be girls that couldn't care less about changing their man and like them bad for the thrill of it. I can imagine that. We see it in movies all the time anyway.
Or girl and boy are both bad. That happens. Match made in heaven...or down below.
In other cases (like myself), girls look for those 'clean cut' man. They like knowing that the guy has a good background, good education, is a family man, and all the likes. You can imagine what I mean, right?
I must say though, I can't deny that I've been tempted by the idea of going out with the bad crowd having lived my whole life in a good, healthy, squeaky clean environment. Makes me imagine how it'll be like to let my hair loose and jump on the first Harley that rides past me. But yet again reality pulls me back and holds me to the ground. 19 years of lifestyle really can't change much in a single day. Still, a girl can dream:)

Ask me A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G!