This post is intended for men, but a contribution from female bloggers would be great. These are just simple steps on how men can get away with anything if they missed things up with their partners or wives; of course, without degrading the men’s status and without making fun of women. Many examples arise such as: you forgot her birthday or your anniversary, you stood her up by mistake because of car trouble, or you stood her up because you forgot. Whatever the crime, now you have to do the time. Just fellow these ABCD and hopefully everything would be alright (hopefully).
Once it's clear that you've been caught, and there's absolutely no way to wiggle out of the consequences of your misdeed, you might as well admit it. Come clean about the screw-up and try to deal with the situation as it is. If you lie about the details at this stage, odds are she'll either sense that you're not being entirely honest with her, or she'll hear another version of the story from someone else.
It's been said that once a person can fake sincerity, they've got it made. But that's not quite the case here. When trying to recover a relationship, you can ruin everything by apologizing in an indifferent, sloppy way. Be genuine. Show through your tone and expression that you are genuinely sorry for your mistake, and that it will never, ever happen again in the future. Make it clear to her that you are repentant of your crimes (even if you secretly think that they weren't that major).
Although it may seem a little transparent to compensate for bad behavior with special gifts or favors, if done with discretion and style, this is an excellent way to make amends. The key, as always, is presentation. Make up for being inconsiderate by showing just how thoughtful you really are. Give her the little pendant she eyes every time you walk by that boutique, or spend a night doing something she's always trying to get you to do, but isn't really your thing.
Even after you've accomplished A, B and C successfully, you can ruin everything by making the exact same relationship mistake again. Being rude to her friends once might just mean that you had a bad day and were short-tempered, but acting like a jerk on a regular basis proves that... well, you're a jerk. Prove that you've "learned your lesson" by making an extra effort to avoid it in the future.
How To Get Away With Anything
Song Of The Month
"What, what, what?” You are probably wondering why I narrowed my usual “Top 10 songs of the month” to a lame “song of the month”. Well, I really don’t have the time to find and upload the songs to a player especially since school has started today (oh, didn’t I mention that). Another reason is that I wasn’t able to “fish” all the songs because some of them are so new that they aren’t available around the net.
Anyway, to cut the story short; my song of the month is The Riddle by Five For Fighting. The song was competing with Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback, but this song won me over through its lyrics.
Click HERE for the video.
Click HERE to download it (just right-click it).
Click HERE for the lyrics.
Nintendo Goodies
My dear dear friend Joe just came back from New York City, along with many great Nintendo goodies including t-shirts, caps, and sweaters that you can only get from Nintendo World Center located in heart of New York City. Those goodies cannot be bought from official Nintendo retailers online, so if you want to get your hands on them, you have to go to New York or maybe buy them on eBay.
Here is my collection (sorry for the blurry images...I took the pics using my cell phone):
This is my one of my favorite presents of all time. It's hard to imagine my life without the legendary Nintendo (I'm not a geek, but Nintendo is a respectable company that I will always love). Many thanks to my friend Joe who brought those gifts and also the great memories...I owe you man...BIG TIME.
The Nerd, The Geek, & The Dork
I found this piece of information at Ask.yahoo.com about the difference between a nerd, a geek, and a dork. The answer they provided was interesting and quite funny too. Here’s the piece:
“According to Whatis.com, nerds are people of above-average intelligence who place little importance on their appearance. Nerds are often aware of their status, but they don't mind. In fact, many take pride in the putdown, as it means they're smart and not wrapped up in superficial worries.”
“Geek is a more specific term. Back in the day, geeks worked at carnivals, and (according to the dictionary) "bit the heads off live chickens." Thankfully, the term now has a different connotation. Like nerds, geeks are smart, but they tend to focus more on technology. As Urban Dictionary explains, these are the people you make fun of in high school and later work for as an adult.”
“Being called a "dork" is the biggest insult of the three. There's no way you can spin it into something positive. After all, even the dictionary writes that dorks are "stupid" people. And to make matters worse, dorks assume they're cool. Oh, and they smell, too.”
“So, to sum things up, if someone calls you a geek or a nerd, thank them. If someone calls you a dork, consider going back to school and investing in some new deodorant.”
So I guess not all “name-calling(s)” are created equal…
What She Want To Watch?
A recent survey was conducted by Men’s Health magazine, in which they asked 800 American women to rate how hot men look when they’re doing everyday stuff. I have no idea if the results can be applied to Kuwaiti women, but if you think it’s not then that means two things. Either Kuwaiti women are dead inside or American women are horny as hell (although, I know most of you are going to choose the latter option).
The results are ranked as following:
1 through 6 points is the “Whatever” level.
7 through 10 points is the “Help me unhook my bra” level.
Alright, the results are as following:
• Lifting Weights (6)
• Playing Guitar (2)
• Shaving in boxer briefs (9)
• Building Something (4)
• Strolling thoughtfully through a museum (3)
• Playing with young children (10)
• Talking nicely with his mom (7)
• Working in the yard shirtless (10)
• Dancing Well (9)
• Running the grill at a cookout (8)
• Doing Yoga (1)
• Ordering dinner for both of us (6)
• Building a campfire (4)
• Running shirtless (10)
So guys if you decided to run shirtless, please make sure that you have the body for it and your body hair is nicely trimmed.
The False Hope Syndrome
Do you make New Year's resolutions? Most adults do. How successful have you been in keeping your resolutions? If you are like most people, you haven’t done very well. In fact, you might have failed numerous times with the exact same resolutions. Psychologists have reported that on average people make the same pledge for five or more years before they manage to keep their resolution for six months. Also, approximately 60% of those who break the resolution will make the same one again the next year.
Why do we so often fail to keep our resolutions? Psychologists suggested that most of us have unrealistic expectations about our ability to change our behavior (in general, not only at New Year’s), which produce what they termed the false hope syndrome. This syndrome involves exaggerated feelings of control and overconfidence about our ability to change our behavior successfully. We often begin with unrealistic goal (e.g., “I will exercise for 2 hours every day!”). Finally, we tend to expect dramatic, rapid results (e.g., “I’ll probably lose about 10 pounds a week”). Given these erroneous expectations, it is not surprising that we usually fail. When the new behavior proves to be more difficult than we anticipated, and when visible results turn out to be slow, we often abandon our attempt to change.
But why doesn’t the false hope syndrome disappear? Why do we KEEP trying again and again to achieve the same goals? Psychologists simply argued that we often explain our failures in ways to maintain that false hope for the future. For instance, we often blame ourselves for not trying hard enough (e.g., “If only I try a bit harder next time, I’m sure I’ll succeed”). We may also blame external circumstances for our failure and decide that these circumstances are unlikely to occur again (e.g., I won’t be as busy next year as I have been this year, so I’ll have more time to exercise”). Thus, we remain hopeful that we’ll succeed on our next attempt. We convince ourselves that THIS diet will be easier than the Atkins diet, or THIS kind of exercise will be less boring than using a stationary bicycle. Unfortunately, the new strategy is often no easier, no more effective, or no less boring than the last one, and we fail again.
My advice (as well as other psychologists recommend): we should adopt realistic goals (thereby, avoiding overly ambitious plans) and recognize that success will be difficult. If we understand that changing our behavior will be challenging and results may be slow, we are less likely to become discouraged quickly and more likely to structure our environment to encourage our new lifestyle. The key to recognize false hopes and work to replace them with realistic determination.
The Real World: Kuwait
If you are familiar with MTV’s “Real World” reality TV series, then you will defiantly get a hoot at this one. Please note that any similarities in names and habits with the real life are totally coincidental, as I have totally made up what are you going to read below."This is the true story, of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, work together and have their lives taped, to find out what happens, when people stop being polite, and start getting real. The Real World."
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• Khaled: Khaled (24yrs – male) is currently holding a bachelor degree of Business and a graduate from University of California – Irvine. Khaled as he puts it when we interviewed him “I have the looks, the charm, the money, and an ass that doesn’t quit.” Khaled is known to be a true player among his friends and very professional of wooing the ladies. In the show, there’s this weird hate-love relationship between him and Marwa, but she always doubts his commitment issues, so her feelings are always mixed up.
• Jenan: Jenan (23yrs – female) is a strong female activist that always strives for a better place for her people. Her mother hasn’t won in the recent elections; thus, she saw this show an opportunity to deliver her message (and her mother message as well) to the public and condemn them to see the error of their mistakes. Jenan (a liberal) is in constant argument with Abdul-Kareem (a conservative). Will they ever come to peaceful terms and respect the existence of each other?
• Isaac: Isaac (24yrs – male) or “Is7a8” as it stats in his citizenship card is one of the very few minority in the state of Kuwait…He is a Kuwaiti Christian from birth. “I want to be open to other people and I want other people to accept me for who I am” Isaac said when we interviewed him. “People assume we don’t exist and I despite that. My father even told me that some people want us killed.” Surprisingly, Abdul-Kareem is one of first people in the house who accepted Isaac’s religion; thus, since he is also Liberal, he always plays the role of a mediator between Abdul-Kareem and Jenan. Isaac is known for his great sense of humor and as a comedy relief in the house.
• Marwa: Marwa (22yrs – female) is a half-Kuwaiti and a half-Lebanese who grew most of her life in Lebanon due to her father’s job. Marwa is a “free-minded spirit” and very social to anyone she comes across. However, that created a problem for her as she refused to listen to her roommates about Khaled’s true motives. Marwa’s best friend is Isaac, as she understands where he came from and the fact that her mother was a Christian…thus, they always hangout together. However, maybe Isaac wants more than friendship, as he always gets jealous when he sees Marwa talks and fascinates about Khaled most of the time.
• Abdul-Kareem: Abdul-Kareem (25yrs – male) or “Kareem” is very conservative, very religious member of the house. As the rest of the members are out partying in Hard Rock or having a great time in the beach, Kareem would rather stay in the house and updates his blog about the current world issues. “What is happening right now is wrong” Kareem mentioned in his interview, “God is watching us but we are not looking back at him. I’m here to correct the ways of those people and open their hearts a bit.” Kareem is in constant quarrel with Jenan and sometimes they go over the line and bash each other…until Isaac comes to the rescue.
• Deya (‘9eya2): Deya (19yrs – female) is the youngest member of the house and the “most attractive” as her roommates see her. Deya comes from a very wealthy family; thus, she always spend the “house’s budget” on meaningless purchases that serve her desires. Unfortunately, none of roommates decided to give her the helping hand and open her eyes on the real world…even Kareem; “she’s a lost case” as he stated. Sometimes, Deya invites her girlfriends to the house without even asking her roommates permission; thus they always scream at her and her respond to that is crying to her mother over the phone as she stats that she is not welcomed in the house. Yousef is the only one who has a soft heart for her.
• Yousef: Yousef (25yrs – male) or “Joe” is the “meathead” of the house as all his roommates agree. Joe lives a carefree life when he dropped back from college 5 years ago and all he does is working out in the gym and sleeping. When we asked about what’s his passion in life, he answered: “Motorcycles and women.” Even though he is older, Joe is the wingman of Khaled as he lacks the charms that Khaled possess, but they can be the “best buds” most of the time. Joe is completely different person when he is around Deya as he is the only guy who stood next to her when her roommates turned their backs on her. Too bad that Joe is the wrong mentor for Deya as he always comforted her by saying “don’t care what other people think, always do what you want to do.” Joe is currently unemployed.
So what do you think? Will you watch it if it was true? What do you think of the cast? You can make your script, cast, or post any thoughts or comments.
The Legend Behind The Legend
It really pisses me off when people have a knowledge for shitty games like Winning Eleven and Halo (Yes, they are shitty to me), but neglect probably the best game on the universe. The game is non-other than The Legend of Zelda series. However, most of those people I am referring to are mostly Kuwaitis, and to be honest, they don't understand anything about videogames. I mean how on Earth you call yourself a gamer if you are unfamiliar with the Zelda legacy. Fortunately, I found these three videos from a TV show called "Icons".
Although this episode is somewhat outdated since they didn't mention the two upcoming Zelda games: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, GameCube), and The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS). Please, watch these videos and get ready to be impressed. Enjoy
Urban Legend
A friend of mine told me a story that he heard from his friend who heard from his big brother that happens to be his friend’s cousin. The story goes like this:
There’s this 14 year-old boy who loved masturbating in the bottom of his own house pool. Basically, he finds the pleasure of doing what he did while he starves for air or when he was close of being drowned. After he’s done what he usually does, he goes to a “Pearl Diving”, in which he starts to collect all of his sperm out of the pool just so he’s parent and siblings won’t caught his sperm floating on the pool. One day, he commits what he usually does at the bottom of the pool, but he heard his parent’s car parking in the garage. The boy gets scared and tries to go “Pearl Diving” and haunt for all the sperm he scattered in the pool. He successfully collects all the big chunk of sperm that is visible for the naked eye and neglects to collect the smaller ones. The next day, his 17 years old sister invited her cousins for a short dip in the pool. Three weeks later, his sister and all his female cousins missed their period. The whole family went ballistic over the accident and got confused on how on Earth that all of their daughters got pregnant in the same day. Fearing from shame and disgrace, the family agreed on having abortion since they don’t know who committed the crime and the fact all of their daughters are all young in age.
10 years have passed since the incident and the boy has learned his lesson, and he actually got engaged to his girlfriend that he knew her from the years they spent in college. The boy (or should I say the man) decided to have his sperm checked for motility and stuff. Now, the one who took the charge of his sperm sample was none other than his big sister who got pregnant 10 years ago. In the end she found that the DNA sequence of her brother’s sperm is exactly identical to the one who got her pregnant after she ran his data on the computer and the computer detects a history for that particular sperm. She realized that the father of that baby was none other than her 24 years old brother.
That’s the end of our Urban Legend story. Is it true or is it fake? That's up to you to decide.
EDIT: Congratulation to Transparently for figuring out the credibility of the story. Please read his comment below for detailed explanation.
In The Presence of Beauty
While flipping the channels at 1:00AM in the morning, I stumbled upon BRAVO, a channel that is famous for its "gay-friendly" TV shows. Anyway, a re-run of Project Runway was on, a reality TV, in which fashion designers and models compete against each other and their designs are judged and one or more designers are eliminated each week.
Suddenly, a woman appeared that took a spot on the stage that apparently took my breath away as well. It was no other than the famous German supermodel/actress/fashion designer/television producer and artist Heidi Klum. Then I remember watching some of the old episodes in the season she was pregnant but this was the first time I saw her after her pregnancy. Boy, she sure cleans good.
I guess I always had a crush on her since the first time I saw her on my mother's favorite magazine: Al-Jamila. Not only she is cute but she is also sexy. Also, many people (who worked with her) claims that even though she is a model, she is really down to earth (she is also known for her natural beauty as well). So you can bet that I will be tuning to Project Runway this summer, not because concept of the show (which is kinda cool actually) but only to be in the presence of beauty.
PS: Heidi Klum is currently married to the British musician Seal (lucky bastard) and they expect another baby this year.
PSS: There is a Middle-Eastern version of Project Runway isn’t it?
Selection of Funny Videos (Part Deux)
Didn't feel like blogging today, so here are some funny videos for ya. Enjoy!
For (Part Un) click HERE.
Gendered Communication
One of the important differences is that women tend to articulate the process of their thinking and decision-making. Men go through the same processes, but internally rather than externally. Men usually wait until they have the answer and then announce it. Women tend to talk about their internal analysis as they go along. Within a relationship, this can cause problems because men often mistake women's deliberations as the final answer, while women think the man is not even considering the issue. That's why men often accuse women of changing their mind while women accuse men of not caring.
* Make time.
If you know you have a particular subject to discuss, put time aside to work your way through it. Give yourselves at least an hour and possibly longer so that there's time for the man to think things through and for the woman to talk about her responses.
* Spell it out.
If you need space to think, rather than talk, tell your partner. Say: "I'm just thinking about what you've said." If there are long silences your partner may think you're bored or uninterested.
* Don't make assumptions.
Check whether your partner's remarks are her final answer, or just a facet of her decision-making. Jumping to agree (or disagree) with the first thing she says can lead to great confusion because she knows it's probably not her ultimate choice.
* Allow time for a decision to settle in.
This buys you space to decide if what you've come up with really hits the spot for both of you.
* Listen to each other with respect.
If either of you jumps to conclusions or cuts across the other, they'll assume their feelings aren't being considered. This can lead to a cynicism that invades and destroys relationships.
Psychology Help Hotline
• If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.
• If you are codependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.
• If you have multiple personalities, press 3,4,5, and 6.
• If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line so we can trace your call.
• If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be transferred to the mother ship.
• If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a small voice will tell you which number to press.
• If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press, no one will answer.
• If you have a nervous disorder, please fidget with the hash key until someone comes on the line.
• If you are dyslexic, press 6969696969.
• If you have amnesia, press 8 and state your name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number, and your mother's maiden name.
• If you have post-traumatic-stress disorder, slowly and carefully press 000.
• If you have bipolar disorder, please leave a message after the beep, or before the beep, or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.
• If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.
• If you have low self esteem, please hang up. All our operators are too busy to talk to you."
Do You Have A Grudge?
Holy Shit!! I remember when I saw the first one, I couldn't sleep that night because of a particular...ahem...bed scene. The second one looks more horrific than the first and I LOVE IT. There is nothing like a good scare and I think a Japanese-based horror movie will do the trick. The trailer stats that it will release this fall, but I bet it will be showed around Halloween.
Click HERE for the Official site and HERE to visit one of the most scariest website there is.
Videogames x Real Life
When you play too much videogames, watch too many movies, and listen to music all day long; you will start to think that there isn't much of a difference between those three forms of entertainment. Don't believe me? Well, take a good look at what you will get when you cross the world of videogames to other entertainment industries. Make sure to click on the character's/person’s name to acquire more information.
Left: Maria from Silent Hill 2
Right: Cameron Diaz
Left: Aya Brea from Parasite Eve series
Right: Christina Aguilera
Left: Heather from Silent Hill 3
Right: Alison Lohman
Left: Auron from Final Fantasy X
Right: Mel Gibson
Left: Lulu from Final Fantasy X
Right: Tiffani Amber Thiessen
Left: Isant Koudelka from Koudelka series
Right: Sarah Michelle Geller
