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DO you Adore Guys with Bad Boy Image?

April 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Is it possible that chocolate is available in hell? Wondering why the question – because someone is headed there – don’t blame me for it, point the finger at Esquire magazine that put me in this shamble.

It was another Friday (coincidentally a good Friday). I embarked on my normal routine on Fridays and headed for my preferred salon afterwards to have my hair blow dry (perhaps your grandma did the same – I have my hair done on a weekly basis) I would certainly look like a shack if I dare to wield a round brush alongside a blow dryer. It is quite costly to do the blow-out weekly, but the money is nothing compared to the therapy bills that stare at me weekly.

Remember I said it was a Good Friday coincidentally – this made me think pure as part of my respect for such a sacred day. Guess what I was thinking of – strictly pure, nice thoughts such as white rabbits, pastels as well as Easter eggs. Hmm… don’t think I enjoyed streamlining my thought anyway, because I really wished I could fantasize and imagine Brad Pitt at my door step – well, I did my best not to shift my thought.

Oh, back to my salon escapade – I lowered my body onto the sofa immediately I stepped into the salon because I was worn out and sweaty; my mood was not just set for the additional work which the women’s magazine staring at me was about to demand from me. The extra work? Ok, it’s Better Homes & Gardens; it wants to be my assistance in preparing my potatoes and meat.

And at the other corner laid Vogue – with it’s over 600 pages of fantastic fashions – I just need to regain my energy before lifting the copy. Oprah is saying that the best time for me to enjoy my life to the fullest is now! Did I tell her I’m not living the life to the fullest? Just thinking of how to start sinking all these talks into myself made me more tired. Then, there goes a figure at the cover of Esquire magazine – Robert Downey, Jr.

Robert Downey – he has really held my admiration for a long time. Now don’t look at me that way, it is possible you are like me as well – having a secret soft spot for hot bad boys. Of course, my brain points me to a different direction – the clean cut Matt Damon, but my wobbling knees itch for the scruffy type; it is better I don’t go into the psychological explanations for my weird preference. Perhaps, one may say I’m not noticeably bright.

As cute as Leonardo DiCaprio appears, do you know I would rather do all I can to get Josh Hartnett’s interest either? Don’t blame me, that’s the weird preference I’m talking about – I know many of you ladies out there would rather die for Leo. Yes, I know Josh is the ‘worst’’ of the bunch; but to me, he’s the hottest and the most handsome. Without him (Josh), Ally Mcbeal wouldn’t be worth watching.

And as I just flipped through the article, I saw him – ‘baddish’ but better. Well, I was intercepted to go wash my hair just immediately I had my attention wrapped to read about my favorite guy. As I held on to the Esquire, I spontaneously asked my stylist, “do you have a favorite badboy?” She turned and answered, “Tommy lee’, that’s my preferred badboy – the ‘baddish’ the better! Oh well.. I feel am not alone.
Image: by Michael David Pedersen


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Good Manners: Whatever Happened to Them?

March 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Always, my mother could not trade anything for good manners. I grew up knowing how to interact with people respectably until it became obvious that certain people are not worth the respect. But even at, I rather avoid such people than expose their weaknesses, especially in a public setting.

Over the years until now, I have watched as manners disappear into the thin air, to the extent that people tend to be stunned when expressions that should have been common (e.g. sir, or madam) are employed to introduce a person.

good manners

One of the ways to express respect for others and make them feel comfortable is to show good manners When you exhibit good manners, it can become an avenue to win favor, resolve critical issues and stay away from confrontations. However, the art of applying manners the right way tends to be a lost virtue with most of us, this is why I considered to bring to our remembrance one more time, the tips that help in applying manners correctly.

Tip 1:
Good manners require that people be addressed by their last names, while remembering to precede the names with titles such as Mrs., Mr., or Miss. But when the person offers the first name and says, please call me ‘so-and-so name’, you can drop the last name and address the person with the first name he or she has supplied.

Tip 2:
It is wrong to conclude that since an introduction has taken place by a mutual acquaintance using the first name, an invitation has been made. For instance, ‘My pleasure meeting you, Miss. ____,’ (use the gender) is a more appropriate manner to address the individual while you allow them to supply their name.

Tip 3:
It is good manners to hold the car or house door for a lady always. Furthermore, other gestures such as holding chairs, helping a lady to take off or wear her coat and such stuffs are gentle-manly, and should be done with ease always. However, these are seen as being more of politically required manners. Well, it actually applies in all cases. Eating out with a lady? It is great manners to take her orders; but first of all, ask her what she wants.

Good manners pay off well – go ahead and practice them always!

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Public Displays Of Affection – When Is It Acceptable?

March 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Do you kiss in public? Does it bother you if others do? Whether you’re a fan of PDA or not, it’s important to know what people expect when going out in public as a couple. Even though you might not have a problem with it, other people can find excessive displays of affection irritating.

What is and isn’t acceptable as a display of affection is also somewhat determined by the setting – kissing your partner before a dinner at a fancy restaurant is more admissible than kissing them when you drop by to see them at work, for example.

Different cultures have different ideas about what level of PDA is acceptable. In some parts of continental Europe, PDA is more accepted than it is in the United States or elsewhere. In Spain and Italy, for example, young adults often live with their parents until they are married.

This can make it awkward for younger couples to show affection, unless they are in a public setting away from their parents, so it’s more acceptable in these countries or with people from these cultures. On the other hand, in India and in many Arab nations public displays of affection are sometimes illegal and at the least highly frowned upon.

You can keep a simple rule of thumb in mind for determining what is and what isn’t acceptable. If what you’re doing with your partner is something reminiscent of sexual foreplay or something you would do in the bedroom – for example, neck kissing, open mouth French kissing and smacks on the butt – it isn’t going to fly in a public setting.

Tamer displays of affection such as hand holding – which is always acceptable – and light pecks on the cheek are tolerable in public. Keep this in mind when determining just how far to go with your partner in a public setting to avoid raising the ire of people around you.


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The Downward Slope of Handwriting – Is the Pen Really Mightier?

March 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The best way to describe my elementary school experience with handwriting is frustrating. Emotionally, it was quite scarring. The description sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? But put yourself in my shoes and think of it, what kind of feeling did you think it would be if you went through the pain of writing your name on a conventional board (a chalkboard) and was quite pleased with how it appeared, just for your teacher to come around and wipe it off because you wrote in capital letters?

downslope of handwritingTell me, would it not be hurting to see Fail (as in big F) on your second grade cursive test report on the basis that your Qs and Ys were not curly as they should be?

On the other hand, those scenarios were uncommon since penmanship classes themselves were not frequent – I spent substantial time in the school computer laboratory mastering the keyboard as I played the typing games. Prior to obsolescence (supposedly) of pen and paper due to technology, handwriting exercises were seen as highly essential. Things are different now. The present generation communicates via typing and texting, and some of us that learnt to handwrite virtually everything put in a lot of struggle to unravel our muddled scrawls.

Without doubts, the value that was placed on handwriting before now has dropped; but, to what extent has it dropped? And the big question is, to what extent should we care about the decline of the importance attached to handwriting?

Giving Improvement a Chance

A lot of people would want to point fingers on computers for the less importance attached to handwriting. However, the decline gradually crept in with the advent of manual typewriters. However, handwriting went through transformation and came to its present state – cursive form (fewer flowery type); the transformation started from ornate to calligraphic penscript.

Perhaps you’ve learned penmanship while in school; if you did, then you must have taken Palmer cursive lessons – a style that enabled faster as well as better enhanced writing when compared with the styles that existed before. The style featured fewer swirls and curls. Students were taught the new cursive by teachers in lessons lasting less than a half-hour, or at most one hour.

However, with the advent of typewriters which pointed to a shift in writing trend, the time allocated to penmanship was reduced substantially so that students would have more time to concentrate on mastering typing skills. By the time we were ushered into the 90s, computers had already become popular at home and in work places – as a result less priority was placed on handwriting lessons.


Credit : graur codrin
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