Hey guys,

Isn't it funny? We thought we went on very different paths many years ago. Some of you went to Poly, JC then we went to Uni at our own time and went to get jobs of our own and to new places to live. But yet, here we are at the crossroads again. Hi it's nice to meet you all again. Not the happiest place to be. Lost and confused at this place called quarter-life crisis. It's good to see you all at the fork in the yellow wood guys.

Being lost is infinitely more tolerable when you are not alone. Thank God for friends.

By: Nippy | Friday, November 30, 2007 at 2:06 PM | |

Recently it just strikes me how hard it is sometimes for one to go against the grain and paddle upstream against the strong tide of societal pressures. I don't know but I am still very adamant about being true to myself and not falling into traps which attempt to make me feel insecure or insufficient. I still find the beauty trap for women sometimes work for them but sometimes also against them. (strange that I should say them, when I really should mean we) But it would be unfair for me to say this, because perhaps there is as much pressure on men to attain certain successes in certain areas in their lives--such as financial independence, emotional control and restrain etc.

What does it mean to be a single girl in the 21st century who refuses in many ways to follow the mainstream. Am I a feminist? I don't think so. I don't believe there is a gender war here, nor do I believe that we must play games to come out on the top or taht we still have to flatter the (still very much)male-dominated world and sooth male ego to get things our way, nor do we need to threaten to destroy men's need to be dominant or be in control. No. I don't believe that women are from venus and men are from mars--I believe that we are both sharing a planet earth and although we are different we can come to an understanding and agreement. But what do I know? do I know men well enough to say with confidence "hey look here, I don't have to fit into certain moulds and expected behaviors in order to make you understand that we are equals. Just different." No. But I know what I want and that I am not the only person to want that. And I can safely say that men and women want this--to be respected and understood and taken on our own terms.

So what can I say to girls and women who are so unhappy with themselves because they cannot attain that mythical beauty which would bring them happiness, love and respect from men and women alike in the form of curves, slim-ness, long hair, high heels or make up? It is all good that we feel good in our own skin but if the skin becomes an obsession, an obstacle to reaching something deeper inside, and if the definition of a self is something totally external and on the surface now, what will happen when the skin no longer is taunt with youth and the hair greys and disappears--which is our eventual fate. I dread to think of what would happen to these people, to find that their selves are slowly dissolving with years instead of an increasing certainty of the self. Perhaps this is the disease of our modern day glittery world. That in spite of all our things we are unhappy and will always be made dissatisfied with ourselves.

That more we get the emptier we are. The more time and effort we spend on the outside, the less we build inside. But maybe I am just a lazy woman who refuses to dress up/make up to please the world. I don't know what to think. I do know what I miss though that kind of nonjudgmental existence as a child where the world has layers waiting to be exposed and things are never what they seem. Perhaps I have yet to grow up to face a world where sometimes what you see is what you get.

By: Nippy | Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 2:27 PM | |

I was just about to sit down and start an interesting blog entry when my sister came in and demanded that she needed to finish a mystery shopper's report on the computer....


Complete the story to the above introduction in no more than 550 words, your story should have a clear introduction, body and conclusion.

By: Nippy | Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 1:55 PM | |