The new NEW Facebook.

I've seen a lot of hate being spewed out over the Internet regarding the new Facebook interface. Comments have ranged from 'Stalker-ish ' to 'MARK ARE YOU CRAZY WHY I DUN GEDDIT?!' It is a source of amusement that this topic seems to provoke so much outrage at all, considering that Facebook has gone through many interface changes before.

Those changes provoked similar levels of vitriol and bile being directed at Messrs Zuckerberg & Co. But guess what? You're still on Facebook.

What continues to provide much mirth and merriment is that in spite of all that hate, people continue to use Facebook, regardless of its interface changes or liberal view on privacy. It is because of this that the Facebook team see no problem with all that they are doing. Hardly anyone is leaving Faecbook. There are hundreds and thousands of new users daily.

Simply put, they can do anything that they want, and people will put up with it.

This makes me wonder about the sort of expectations that people have on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Just what do you really want from all of these things? Everyone should know by now that the Internet is a domain that places privacy pretty low on the list of priorities, even if it's Facebook we're talking about. You put your information up there, and people can see it. "Ahh, but I can set privacy settings, right?"

Right up to a point. Because people at Facebook can still see what you've stuck up there. For you to have true privacy, indulge in a real physical social network, not an electronic one such as Facebook. Call your friends and family up. Meet them. Print out your photos. Make copies for everyone. That's what real social interaction is like. Have coffee. Make dinner parties. Consequently, and no surprise here, you can actually control who you meet, what they see, and what you want to keep to yourself. Job done, you have your 'privacy.'

I appreciate Facebook as much as the next guy, and I enjoy it for what it is. It is not the by-word for social interaction and privacy that many people seem to perceive it to be. Which is the point. Facebook will not replace your real friends or the secrets you share with them. Remember that the next time you complain that Mark and the Gang are stripping away every layer of privacy you have.

You asked for it.

Going out into the real world.

I have been rather active lately. Now that I've finally graduated, it seems as though plenty of new opportunities have the potential to present themselves. I'm not too sure what direction my life will take after this. Many things are up in the air. One thing is for certain though.

I will not go back to how I did things before.

I've applied for several different jobs in KL. All have either been advertising/branding/PR jobs or Writing. I realise that I have no work experience in these matters at all, but it's what I've always wanted to do. Playing the numbers game and the creative game at the same time? What a challenge to have!

Having said that, it hasn't been easy. I'm closer to 30 than 20, and I have never had to compete with anyone for a job in my life. I've never been exposed to the cruelty of the job interview or the crushing sense of disappointment that accompanies rejection. It's all new to me. It's something that I am having difficulty adapting to. Waking up, wondering what news shall greet me today, be it good or bad. Worrying where the next paycheck is going to come from.

Trapped by the freedom that comes without the safety net of a parental bank account.

I've been coasting along for so long in life, I barely even realised that any momentum I had ever built up, had already been filed away by the inertia of complacency. My growth has ground to a spectacular halt. I'm glad, for what it's worth, that I am able to even recognise this problem and to have the presence of mind to consider doing something about it. I owe much to those around me that have helped me see this.

Arrogance has been my undoing before this. I hope that humble ignorance can be the start of an epiphanic rebirth of the person that I am going to be, for the rest of my life.

I need an outlet of some kind.

And then I remembered I still own this little corner of the world to rant in.

*sigh*

I had so much more to say when I booted up the laptop. Now it's all gone.

I'm sorry.

I had a dream.

...But no song to sing.

As it is, it has been a rather hectic three weeks.

I am so tired. I am stressed. I need a holiday.

I need some loving.

Worth.

Do not underestimate the value of a 10 minute encounter.

Spending time with someone for whatever amount of time... Most people don't realise that the qualitative nature of a meeting is of far more empirical importance than the quantity of it. You could have 3 hours with a person that turn out to be unfulfilling, dry and turgid.

Or 10 minutes with someone that could change the very way your soul feels.

Are we so caught up on quantity now? Does spending more time with someone, really mean that it is time better spent?

I've thought long and hard about this. I've thought about what it means for me to be able to see someone and to spend time with them. I've considered all of this in the context of my own issues, and my own demons. Of my own insecurities and my own anxieties. Of my own history and my own checkered past.

I would rather have ten minutes with you. Than 3 hours, with anyone else.

Hmm.

I thought the disappointment and pain would be over by now.

But it still hasn't subsided.

I think I'll write about the Yayasan Sarawak Debate Championships when they're actually over. The final is still on Wednesday (13th October 2010), so I'll hold off whatever it is I have to say until then, about it.

On to lighter news and happenings.

Socialising during a debate tournament is always fun. Granted, of course, that the company is suitably agreeable and voluntary in terms of participation. As it is, and thankfully so, many were during this tournament. I know that this sounds quite elitist, but there is nothing that incentivises conversation more than the promise that it will be intelligent, humourous and far-reaching. And that is more often than not more likely to occur during a debate tournament.

Naturally, nobody at a debate tournament is going to be a an idiot. They ARE in a debating environment after all. The laws of natural selection (well, debater selection committees, at least) dictate that a higher quality of conversationist is bound to make it through to the celebrated circle of interaction that forms during tournaments.

I have had the fortune of meeting some truly interesting people, and getting to know people whom I thought I knew, even better. Win-win all round, eh? More so than the debating, this is probably the best part of any tournament. Going somewhere with your friends, and coming away with new ones. Bonding with those that you have shared experiences with. Sharing collective anger when things are definitely stacked against you (more on this later).

May these new friendships last, and the old ones get better :)

'Cause you're amazing. Just the way you are.

Patently, Bruno Mars is singing about a girl that does not exist. A pretty/hot/beautiful girl will have been told so many times that she is, that it would have been embedded into her subconscious self by then, thereby rendering the argument that she wouldn't realise it, impossible.

Unrealistic depictions of romance are commonplace in songs, after all. But I digress. Because at least one line is true in it. Some girls really are amazing, just the way they are. And I despair at the fact that they don't realise it's okay to just be yourself.

I have seen many people in university that seek to fit in by becoming different or caricatures of who they really are, just to be able to socialise and get along with people that they deem worthy of their social interactions. It's one thing to adapt yourself to your surroundings. It's another thing entirely to invent a persona that would seemingly be better for aligning yourself with certain social circles.

The tragedy, of course, is to end up being in a situation whereby you don't even know what's the real you anymore. The question is, has the mask become the face? Or is the face now the mask? The circular argument in this context just ends up driving people away from what would conceivably be their true selves. Is that what we really want? Is that what YOU really want?

This is usually a result of someone hating who they are, due to the supposed barriers that it poses to new friendships, dalliances or interactions. To say that it is sad is an understatement, on par with saying that Hitler's invasion of Russia in winter was merely 'a bit stupid.' By all means, be more outgoing and be more engaging. That doesn't translate into becoming an entirely new being that bears no relation to the old one.

People forget, that there are lines that they needn't ever cross.

No one ever said that finding a place within the complicated schema of a university is going to be something easy. Nothing worth it ever is. But what it definitely is, is simple. And that's not the same.So don't take the easy way out. Don't make the tragic mistake of becoming someone, or something, that you are emphatically not.

'Cause you're amazing. Just the way you are.