August 16, 2007

Cheap Gift

Filed under: Mental, Philosophical, Quotes, Communication — Laiet @ 8:36 am

When little, I thought I knew a lot.
Now big, I know my thoughts are little.

Like Mark Twain said “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.”

I love to give my opinions away. It’s a cheap gift, I know. But giving others my opinions gives me self worth (sorta like keeping a blog).

Unfortunately, others also like giving me their opinions – even when I don’t want them.

But, I do like to receive someone’s opinion when I’ve already got the very same opinion. I feel they are smart because they’re clever enough to have an opinion that’s the same as mine.

So I have thousands of my own opinions and I collect yours as well (provided I’ve already got my own variation of your opinion).

Often I wonder where I got my thousands of opinions in the first place.

Naturally my opinions come from all over the place and it’s difficult to keep track of them.

On occasion I have caught myself giving an opinion away when halfway through, it occurs to me that I have no idea where I got that opinion or why I have it at all.

In these cases, I must lost face. I’ll usually say “Actually, don’t listen to me, I don’t really know.”

Hopefully I’ve only lost half my face because I was able to retract half my opinion.

Surely I’d look a bigger fool if I’d given away a stupid opinion proving my ignorance.“It’s better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt” was how Abraham Lincoln said.

Even stranger than this, is that over time, my opinions change. If I’ve given you an opinion and then change it one year on; the opinion I gave you loses its value.

And now I’m going to end with two opinions

… before I give any opinions away, I should know where I get that opinion in the first place, why I kept it and be sure that it’s not an opinion that’s going to change.

Really; shutting up is the best option

In my opinion.

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July 22, 2007

Luxury Problem

Filed under: Culture, Actually happend, Quotes — Laiet @ 11:28 pm

“You’ve got what I call a luxury problem.”

Louise Wilbert – On making non-issues a larger problem than they are

The biggest problem I faced while in Australia was coffee related.

Fussy about how my coffee is made, I must have my cup pre-heated before use. And the order the ingredients go in is of utmost importance.

Coffee (2 spoons) goes in first followed by the sugar. Hot water is then poured in before the milk, which is added last.

All my problems began when a well-meaning Aussie friend told me that the coffee burns if the boiling water is poured before the milk.

This caused me two problems.

1. Habit - I’d go as far to say it’s now a tradition to pour the water first. And who likes change?

2. Browness - How can you judge the browness of your coffee if the milk is poured in first.

Louise set me straight though, telling me not toworry as it was a ‘luxury problem.’

You know, I’m glad that many of my problems are of the luxury persuasion.

And my coffee?

Well I’d rather drink it burnt than break a tradition.

On a side note. Pouring boiling water onto fresh coffee will not necessarily burn it. Water boils at different temperatures depending on what altitude you’re at. Where I am right now for instance, my water boils at about 95 degree and last month it was boiling at 80 something degrees. Not enough to burn my coffee.

This is an excerpt from my book ‘Footprints’ found at www.globalnotions.com available free as PDF if you don’t want to order a published copy.

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May 17, 2007

Green Bathrooms…

Filed under: Culture, Laughter, Quotes — Laiet @ 6:12 pm

Pretty much every toilet in Thailand has a sign which reads “Please help keep this toilet clean.”

So whenever I’m in Thailand taking a dump, I’m staring at this sign; wishing that I had a thick black marker to write an additional sentence.

So the sign would then read.

“Please help keep this toilet clean.

Don’t use it!”

Since global warming is the topic on so many lips, I thought a sign in English would be appropriate.

“Be green; relieve yourself outdoors!”

Many Chinese bathrooms also have a sign which usually reads…

“For urination only. No stools.”

I always have the urge to change the sign so it reads…

“For urination only. Leave your stools at home.”

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April 23, 2007

Proof by means of the quote

Filed under: Laughter, Quotes, Satire — Laiet @ 8:14 pm

Since everything’s been said and done; there’s really no point in quoting oneself when you can more easily copy what somebody else said.

It gives you much more credibility to quote someone else anyway.

People say “Oh, aren’t you smart” when you quote someone else; but tell you how to improve it (or argue with you), if you’ve quoted yourself.

So, it’s best for me; I’ve decided, to never say anything that I believe to be original.

Everything I say from now onwards is going to be somebody else’s quote.

And we’ll start with Oscar Wilde.

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”