Tuesday, April 21, 2009

0-100 points theory

One of my close friends has a theory. It is called the 100 points theory.

The basic principle of the theory is that everyone in the world has 100 points. These points are distributed in different skills and aspects that make up any person. For a simplified example, a model may have 80 points in looks, leaving 20 points for intelligence. Whereas a computer nerd may have 90 points for intelligence but 10 for looks. 

There are of course other aspects to people's characteristics like charisma, business skills, musical talent, fitness, artistic talent etc etc. The theory claims that everyone is essentially equal. My friend also says that these points do not necessarily manifest in the persons life. For example, a man who has lost all his money due to bad business skills may have a large weighting to something like chess playing. So if he had the opportunity to recognise and develop this talent it would get him far in the chess playing world. However, this opportunity may never arise and he may just die homeless in a gutter!

I have a few problems with this theory. 
1. I don't believe that everyone has equal points. There are definitely those in the world who are quite skilled at many things and blessed with many fruits of success. There are also those people who are terribly "unlucky" and lead a simple mediocre life. 
2. If the "skill" doesn't manifest itself then why should it be significant? What use is a chess playing championship to a homeless guy? Wouldn't he rather have more points in business management? Surely 1 point in business skills trumps the 1 point in chess skill. So I think that different skills should have different "weightings".

So MY theory is that everyone is on a scale of 0-100 points.

0 points means that the person isn't compatible with life! Eg a baby who is born with a heart defect.
100 points are those people who are talented with everything and enjoy bountiful successes in their life. Beautiful, intelligent, artistic, musical, great parents etc.

Majority of the population falls somewhere in between. 


Sunday, April 19, 2009

Can we still be friends?

I have a few questions.

1. Can members of the opposite sex maintain a close, yet completely platonic friendship?
2. Is it possible to have a physical relationship with someone without either party getting attached?
3. Once the line has been "crossed" is it possible to go back to the way things were?

From my recent observations of my friend's personal lives it seems like the answer for all of the above is a cynical, straightforward no. No. NO!

So if we have the answer/result/solution to the question why must I digress further?
Because often the explanation offers much more than the answer itself. 

In the end it all comes down to emotion. Perhaps I believe that a straight out NO is the answer because I am a rather emotional person. That means that I wear my heart on my sleeve. I cannot feign happiness, consideration, cannot hide my hurt. So for me that means if I have any kind of interaction with one who would provoke emotion, I must have no more unresolved feelings, no regrets, no hurt pride, nothing. I cannot feel anything for this person anymore. 

I often used to wonder why my fellow teenage classmates used to hook up regularly on weekends with their friends. Why not just go out with them? Then I began to think that if you are friends with someone of the opposite sex and you get along with them well, and they are rather attractive, then of course there would be temptation there. For those who have no inhibitions about fulfilling their physical desires it wouldn't make sense to refuse. So if you spend lots of time with someone and ENJOY spending your time with them, whilst all the while being completely aware of how they look...something is BOUND to happen.

So what happens when a good friendship crosses the line? I believe that if there is no emotional attachment then it is possible to go back to being friends. But there is rarely a mutual indifference about the matter. It is also difficult to forget about the incident if you are friends with the person because you have to see them all the time! 

The movie "When Harry met Sally" was about these very topics. The silly thing was that they actually ended up together after hooking up! That was meant to be the happy ending and it was a wonderful happy ending! However, sometimes I wish the happy ending was that they could move past their attraction and maintain their friendship. As the saying goes "lovers come and go but friends are the ones to pick up the pieces". Losing a friendship means losing someone who will be there for you in the long run. It's just not worth it.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

New beginnings in a vaguely familiar place

My decision to move to the North West was not a hasty one. It was not like I was running away from anything. Ha! If I WAS running away I would have accepted the job on the East Coast. Or maybe I would have turned down the offer here and continued my (rather expensive) pursuit in Brisbane and Sydney. 

But as they say, "it was not meant to be". 

It is a lazy Sunday afternoon. I am by myself. As I expected to be. I was worried that I'd be lonely. Worried that I'd crave human contact that I'd rarely miss out on when I was in Perth. Surprisingly I haven't experienced any sort of longing. I do miss my family. I do miss my friends. I do miss my partner. I do love to plan my future escapes away from my current place of residence. However, I don't HATE being alone. I don't even TOLERATE it. I LIKE it! I appreciate my moments of alone time. Where I have nothing to do but think. Which is a big reason to why I started this blog. Alone time is good. Ha! Who would have thought! From the girl that can't even STUDY by herself!


The purpose of a blog

I've always felt the need to write down my thoughts, whether in a journal, or a letter, or a blog (technology eh?). Of course, being available to public scrutiny changes what I will write in here. I cannot be as honest as I am with myself. Is that deceitful? I don't think so. I am quite open and honest in person so my online postings are nothing that I wouldn't share with anyone normally.
I am proud of the fact that I am not one of "those" girls who keeps their true self hidden behind a shimmering facade of perfection. Aesthetics or otherwise. 

But there are things that I prefer to keep to myself. Just like everyone else. This blog will be just that, a collection of my "rambles". Mostly they are for me but, like I said before, I have written them with the knowledge that others will read them as well. It will be good to look back one day and see the sort of person I have become and the journey I have taken to get from here to there. 

I hope my destination is where I wished I would end up.