Monthly Archive
Browsing entries posted on May 2007
Direct To You
*Paid Post*
Remember some time back, PayPerPost announced that they had some new stuff in the pipeline, tantalizing their Posties? Well, one of them has been revealed. Posties can now cut out the middleman and provide a more direct form of blog marketing.
PPP Direct provides Posties (that’s bloggers like me) with a widget badge they can place on their blog, advertising their availability to write paid reviews. When the badge is clicked, an applet comes up with fields for interested parties to fill in the topic of review, define anchor text and provide blog links, as well as offer a price. This way, advertisers can approach bloggers directly, rather than going through PayPerPost’s opportunity system.
PayPerPost still gets its cut, of course, by charging a 10% service fee. This service fee is significantly lower than that of its competitors who charge as much as a 50%-100% markup so they can keep half the money paid by the advertiser. In addition, about 5% of PayPerPost’s 10% fee goes to paying Paypal fees and credit card transaction costs. They are able to offer such a low price because by having the bloggers themselves generate advertising leads, a lot of their overhead is reduced.
The Postie obviously benefits by making money, but what’s in it for the advertiser? PPP Direct offers a secure escrow-like service, so neither party will get ripped off. The bloggers get paid for their work, and the advertisers get the links and reviews they paid for. The PayPerPost system also allows advertisers to pay using credit cards directly, rather than going through Paypal, or they can even use the credit in their account with PayPerPost to pay for Direct opportunities.
PPP Direct allows more high-profile bloggers to ask for what they think they’re worth, rather than just taking pre-determined prices for opportunities (although there’s nothing to stop them doing so). Meanwhile, advertisers can read through a whole blog to get a thorough idea of its contents and traffic stats, so they can be sure they’re getting their money’s worth. Once again, PayPerPost demonstrates an astute understanding of the needs of both bloggers and advertisers by offering a win-win solution.
Have I reached the bottom yet?
PL3241: Personality and Individual Differences
Optimistic: B
Pessimistic: C
Result: C+
Uh, yay? One grade above the pessimistic prediction. Lynn 1, exams 0.
PL4207: Social Psychology: Theories and Methods
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B-
Result: A-
Yayzors, I scored for this one. Proof that I can swim in the big kids’ pond - as long as I like the lecturer and the subject material. Lynn 2, exams 0.
PL3238: Social Cognition
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B
Result: B+
One grade above the pessimistic prediction. Strangely enough I scored worse for this than for its close relative PL4207 even though that is a level-4000 module. Lynn 3, exams 0.
PL3239: Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B
Result: A
W00t I outdid myself. I’m pretty pleased about this grade, considering that I wasn’t entirely sure how my final essay turned out. Midterms helped to pull up the grade though. Lynn 4, exams 0.
PL4214: Evolutionary Psychology
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B-
Result: C
Ack, ack ack ack. Much much worse than expected - this is what happens when you have a foreign lecturer who places great emphasis on class participation. Speak up or sink, and I sink sink sink to the bottom of the pond. At least I hope this is as low as I ever get, if I fall any lower it’ll be a fail grade. Seriously. NUS has no C-, it’s straight to D which is “acceptable for graduation” with certain conditions, if I recall correctly. Anyway I have no wish to explore the depths, I’m afraid of the nasty things down there in the dark. The result is 2 grades below the pessimistic prediction (I have truly overestimated my psychic abilities) so the final score is Lynn 4, exams 2. Which shouldn’t be that way, since I should be able to predict with 95% confidence at least. Tsk tsk tsk.
Future plans:
Thanks to the generous buffer I built up in early semesters, not to mention my low expectations for myself, I still have a little bit of wiggle space despite the horrendous performance this entire academic year. 2006/07 was a real annus horribilis, and I hope I’ve truly seen the back of it.
Now I have to concentrate on acing my Honours-level modules and pulling my grades up so I can graduate without too much disappointment. When I checked my GAPS, it informed me I had another 16 MCs of unrestricted electives yet to take. I was a bit surprised, I thought I had only 8 MCs’ worth. So that means I can take all the easy-peasy modules and pull up my grade a bit, which is good because I was getting a bit worried over the Honours-level modules available to me.
Secondly, since I’m such a genius and have spent all my Programme points bidding for stupid Evolutionary Psychology which bankrupted me, both points-wise and results-wise, I shall have to spend General Account points instead to bid for non-Faculty modules, which means it’s back to the ol’ Science faculty to do GEMs. I think I shall take “Inside Your Personal Computer” after all, except that since it’s so easy I’m afraid it might turn out to be a trick module. GEK 1542, Forensic Science looks like fun too - is it going to be like real-life CSI?
Oh, and I’ve finally figured out why 2006/07 was such a shitty year. It was because I was an ARS3. Hur hur hur.
Cooking Adventures Ep. 1
*Updated 30th May: Having run out of hosting space, I am now using Blogger to host the pics. Unfortunately my little trick doesn’t work very well, so here is the link to the post with the pictures.
*Updated 25th May: Mad props to Jian for giving me the idea of a cooking blog in the first place.*
For want of a better name, this is a baked pasta casserole. The pulled and slightly wrinkled surface characteristic of cheddar cheese covers a bumpy landscape made up of macaroni elbows. Some of the elbows on top got burnt - I guess 10 minutes at 180 degrees is too much just to be melting cheese. Should try it again with parmesan or mozzarella on top.
Inside - corned beef makes up the meat layer. That alone makes this a super unhealthy dish, because of the sodium levels in canned foods like that. The pasta is still al dente - it should be cooked before baking, as with the meat.
This is a double-layer casserole - meat, pasta, cheese, repeat. Ratcheting up the “will this kill you” factor is the melted butter pooling in the corners of the foil tin. I prefer butter for its taste and stability at high temperatures - I fear trans-fatty acids more than I do a high cholesterol reading.
Ingredients:
1 can corned beef
125g pasta - this is guesswork, I just use roughly one-quarter of a 500g pack.
5 slices of individually-wrapped cheese slices - it takes about 2.5 slices to cover one layer, depending on the size of your container. I used a long foil tin because I’m a lazy person and I don’t have to wash up.
Instructions:
1. Boil pasta.
2. While pasta is boiling, cook meat.
3. When meat and pasta are done, chuck in foil tin/casserole dish/whatever.
4. Cover with cheese.
5. Pop in oven, or under an infra-red lamp, or just use a blowtorch (although that might scorch the cheese).
6. If your cheese has melted through the pasta layer, add more cheese and melt that.
7. Using adequate insulation, take out of oven or whatever heating device.
8. With a paramedic on speed-dial, eat. Watch for twinging pains on the left side of the body that indicate a myocardial infarction.
9. Wait 24 hours to see if it kills you.
10. I am not personally responsible for any consequences you may encounter as a result of following this “recipe”. Unless it cures AIDS, childhood cancers or the common cold, don’t set your lawyers on me.
For Love Or Money
*Paid Post*
It’s not often that your employer comes up to you and asks, “Do you love me?”. In certain contexts you could probably sue for sexual harassment. But PayPerPost is asking that question of me, and the answer is an unequivocal “Yes”, even if they weren’t paying me to write this. On my Friendster profile, I put my occupation as “Part-time Writer”. That was more than 3 years ago. Then PayPerPost came along and made that a reality.
I’ve been with PayPerPost since January and have made quite a tidy sum since then - in the triple digits, if I’m honest. Agagooga and I were comparing our respective blog earnings, and the final consensus was “to each his own”. His is passive income, whereas I have to put effort into earning mine, although the potential earnings from my paid posts are higher.
I even bought myself a little something with the money I earned writing blog reviews. It felt so good to be able to say that “I paid for that with money I earned blogging”, not just because I love earning money (and that’s why I love PayPerPost) but also because it gives a sense of purpose to my writing. I’ve always believed that paid writing is a chance to flex one’s creative muscles, and bearing in mind the fact that I choose my topics, I don’t think it’s a matter of selling out.
Of course, some will beg to differ. I’ve received feedback that my paid posts are less than welcome, but I’ve never tried to hide the fact that they’re sponsored, and I have that little header tag so you can skip the whole thing if you want to. I figure I can’t please everyone so I might as well please myself (and the advertisers).
So yeah, I don’t see myself quitting this gig anytime soon. The going’s good, people - are you sure you don’t want to join me?
Collateral Damage
There’s always collateral damage when a relationship comes to an end. No one comes out of it unscathed, because the immersive nature of forming an intimate bond with someone else consumes so much of your heart and soul.
And after the tears have dried and the wounds scabbed over, comes the awkward phase of being exes. After having been so close for so long, it feels weird to be cut off from the other’s life. But that’s the way it is, and maybe that’s the way it should be. When people are in a relationship they tend to act and think as a single entity, when they are clearly not. Then when it all ends, they founder in the water without having another person as an anchor.
No matter how mutual the breakup was said to be, there is an imbalance. People don’t stop loving each other simultaneously, although they may come to a stage where both acknowledge the love is gone. There is someone dumped, and there is someone doing the dumping. And despite what conventional wisdom says, both suffer.
The dumper usually tries to make amends - out of guilt, out of loneliness - only to be rebuffed by a still-hurting dumpee. Fair enough. In fact I’d consider it good times if no one got maimed or murdered as a result of ending a relationship. The relationship is dead. Grieve, and move on. Being reminded of dead relatives sucks, right? So why would you want to be reminded of a dead relationship?
The best-case scenario would be not having to see the other party again. It’s so damn awkward when you’re subjected to their presence every day. It nags at you, a constant reminder of your failure in the realm of human intimacy. Times like this, you really wish for a total memory wipe, just so you could be free of the tense silences and the regrets that come to mind.
It took me one year to get over my ex-boyfriend. During that interval, there were places I didn’t want to visit because they were tied to memories of us, movies I couldn’t watch without thinking of him, all these signs of a heart still unhealed. It sucked to see him with someone new so soon after we broke up. It sucked because he had moved on and I hadn’t. So yes, it took me one year before I was willing to speak to him again. And it took me 3 years after we broke up for me to finally, totally, get over him. 3 years to achieve the closure I had been craving. But oh, the feeling of finally being set free was wonderful. And now I can totally consign him to the history bin with a perfunctory “Whatever”.
They say you never forget your first love. I would rationally think that’s because your first love is also, in most cases, your first heartbreak. It’s the one that rips all the illusions from your eyes. It teaches you that relationships are hard work, that they don’t last forever, and that talking about getting married doesn’t make it so (hear that, you annoying 15-year-olds calling each other ‘hubby’ and ‘lao po’?). When your first love becomes your first breakup, reality invades and teaches you a good hard lesson.
Actually I think that being in secondary school and changing boyfriends every year doesn’t result in any disillusionment simply because they’re too stupid or immature to introspect and reflect on what went wrong in the relationship. But again, teenage puppy love isn’t fraught with the kinds of problems adult relationships face. Call me condescending but I don’t see how my teenage crushes, and my friends’ schoolday romances, bear any resemblance to their current adult relationships. But then again, some adults are also too stupid and immature to learn anything from their relationships. When I say ‘adult relationship’, I mean one where both parties are mature and aware of the implications, as opposed to the teenage ones where it’s just a part of adolescent exploration.
So yes, you never forget your first love because it was full of sweetness and innocence and you truly believed in the power of love to change the world. Until it ended and the world rolled on, oblivious to your intentions for its improvement. In subsequent relationships you’re a little bit more cynical, and wiser, and your heart is a little bit harder. But hey, at least you still have a heart to give away. Trust me, it’s there. No matter if you think your ex stole it away to smash it into smithereens, your heart is your own to reclaim any damn time.
Answers to inevitable questions
I’m due to go home soon for a short break, during which I will probably be subjected to the scrutiny of various concerned relatives as to my studies, social life, personal life, hairstyle, complexion, weight… the list goes on. To pre-empt all that, I should just print out an FAQ and hand it out when I go visiting or something.
- How long will you be here? Long enough to have my fill of stupid questions. Okay okay, till Monday.
- Aren’t you on your annual 3-month vacation? Yes, but I’d rather rot in the comfort of my dorm room with superfast broadband and no curfew as well as easy access to public transport. Plus I found a job.
- What job? Sales promoter at IT fair.
- Exams finished already? Yes, and results will be out at the end of the month. Was that going to be your next question?
- So when are you graduating? This time next year, barring unforeseen circumstances such as being maimed by an axe-wielding berserker, or a sudden surge in global temperature leading to the melting of the ice caps which subsequently submerges the entire island of Singapore.
- Then you’ll be working in Singapore? *through gritted teeth* Yes.
- The pay is good there, isn’t it? If you have the right job. I don’t think being a barista at Starbucks is a path to the big time, the company’s name notwithstanding.
- Why are you so thin? Genetics from my father’s side, stress, and it’s also a bias on your part because you secretly want me to feel bad, eat more and get fat. Schadenfreude, and gesundheit.
- Are you growing your hair long again? No, I just can’t afford a decent stylist.
- You should leave your hair long and eat more, you know. Boys don’t like skinny, short-haired girls. I don’t like boys like that, then.
- When are you going to get a boyfriend? I’m still waiting for the right girl.
- I think you mean boy. No, I mean girl, since I can’t find a boy who likes skinny, short-haired girls.
I hope a dozen of the best should be able to shut them up sufficiently and cover most bases. I don’t want to cover all - that would include really random things like “Did you watch football last night?” and “Which part of the chicken do you want?”, and some interaction wouldn’t hurt. Wouldn’t hurt me, that is. No guarantees that they won’t be muttering their way home about how uppity I’ve become since I started schooling in Singapore.
And how have you been?
I have been on unofficial holidays for one week exactly, and on official holidays for 5 days. That should tell you how late I finished exams, although I’m not complaining because other people finished even later.
This is what I’ve been doing so far since I was freed from the shackles of actual brain work!
Thursday, 3rd May: At night I watched a collection of Michel Gondry videos. He’s done music videos for Kylie Minogue, The White Stripes and Chemical Brothers, among others. I laughed hysterically when told over the phone that we were going to celebrate the end of exams by going to the library - I blame it on all the stress I have been through.
Friday, 4th May: I dropped off my long-overdue dry cleaning en route to visiting the campus I had not stepped foot in for 3 years: The Victoria Junior College campus. The last time I was there was to pick up my A-level results. Much of it is still the same, but much has changed as well. No more waltzing through the gates - we had to register at the guardhouse at the gate. The tuckshop had been reorganized and its operations outsourced to some company - the elderly, somewhat curmudgeonly uncle wasn’t there any more. There were some improvements to the facade, like a new sign, and some things I didn’t really like, such as the pseudo-cool chairs and tables in the concourse where the red benches used to be. We are a school, not a cafe! Plus you can’t sleep in those chairs the way we used to catch catnaps on the benches. Hehe. After that I walked (yes, I walked) to East Coast Lagoon for a nostalgic lunch of carrot cake. Have not had that in more than 2 years. And then it was down to City Hall to perv gadgets at Funan, and guitars at the basements. What a fun, fun day! And I mean that sincerely.
Saturday, 5th May: Again, back to the library. This time it was the Science library as we scoured the shelves for good fiction. I got my hands on a Discworld novel, hehehehe. Perfect for reading while lying at the beach. We were supposed to head out to Sentosa at 3pm to join the Cavey people at the beach, but we ended up arriving there at 6pm due to certain should-have-been-foreseen circumstances. No matter, we enjoyed ourselves on the beach, up on the observation tower, and in the souvenir shop. It was fine up until the point when one of us realised her phone wasn’t with her. A frantic trip back to the beach saw 3 silly Yousucks kids digging around in the sand, but at least it was worth it in the end as the token male came back bearing a luminescent red gadget. He got a free supper as a reward. It was a fun day but I could have done without that bit at the end, yeah.
Sunday, 6th May: Finally, a respite from all the madness as I kept the Sabbath holy and did not do any physical labour despite the fact that I had to vacate my room the next day. I had a plan, you see.
Monday, 7th May: Apparently my plan consisted of making a couple dozen trips between C block and A block as I slowly transferred my belongings to my vacation room. The corridors were awash with people doing the same, as well as the splish-splash of residents wiping down their new rooms before moving in their stuff. I’m not quite a clean freak - one dusting of the fan and a wipedown of the floor and it was suitable for my habitation. In the middle of it all, I suffered gastric pains from not having breakfast, but was gallantly rescued with the aid of milk and duck rice. It must have been a very good cure because I carried on shifting my juff (’junk’ + ’stuff’) with no further problems. I started at about 12pm and finished at 6pm, so that freed me up to help someone else move her juff. And as if that wasn’t a busy enough day, we went to Arab Street to shisha after that! See, who said we were slacking off during the holidays? Our days are packed, man. Our nights too - we went to Cheese Prata for supper and I didn’t get back to my room until 3am. Fun!
Tuesday, 8th May: A very busy, solitary day. I headed out for a job interview at Great World City, and from there I adjourned to Takashimaya where I sought a replacement for my water bottle which I had left behind on the bus. Unfortunately, they don’t make them in purple anymore, but that’s okay because how do you replace something that kept you hydrated while you were busy traipsing up and down the streets of Krabi and avoiding elephant dung in Ko Lanta? Anyway, I took the MRT from Taka to Dhoby Ghaut to buy refill beans for Smooshy. Buying wasn’t the problem. Taking them home is. 50 litres of polystyrene beads aren’t heavy but try hauling a full-size bolster around town, and you’ll see why I made a tactical retreat to my home base to dump my stuff before continuing to Vivocity. I always say that when I go shopping, it’s planned with military precision. In that case, Ops Bottle Beans Shades was a success, because when I got to Vivocity, River Island was having a sale. W00t! I totally did not expect this, but that made for a really sweet deal on a pair of killer leather boots. I exited River Island a very happy girl, and then proceeded to M.A.C. to finally get the foundation that’s been on my list for ages. Shopping always gives me a sense of accomplishment, whether it’s to buy everyday stuff like milk and fruit, or more expensive things. Retail therapy - it just works.
Wednesday, 9th May: I woke up to the sound of pouring rain, and it was a welcome respite after the searing heat the day before. I managed to get nothing done during the day, except magically revive my fridge and buy enough food to last me until school reopens. Which is 3 months away. My fridge wasn’t running the past two days, because I moved it, and switched it on without realising I needed to let it ’settle’. When it didn’t whirr like it usually did, I switched it off after a quick Google fact-finding mission, and left it for 24 hours. Meanwhile I was looking for replacement fridges and looking up the Yellow Pages for refrigerator repairmen. One can never be too prepared. I am however happy to report that after 24 hours of settling, I flipped the switch and a beautiful mechanical purr started up, and it got cold real fast too. I am happy now.
Prognostications Sem 2 06/07
PL3241: Personality and Individual Differences
Optimistic: B
Pessimistic: C
I bombed the lab report for this one, which will undoubtedly pull down the final grade. My class participation wasn’t all that fantastic either, but maybe there’s less class variation on that measurement, so that has less impact.
The paper was at Temasek Hall, so I completed my collection of taking papers at other halls, with the exception of Raffles and King Edward VII because I don’t take Engineering or Science modules.
The paper was doable, it wasn’t a WTF moment. Although the exit comments among the others were “I had nothing to write” and stuff along that line. It’s true, for the second question on Freudian development of personality, I had 1.2 pages and that was that. The lecturer did say to go for concision, but surely that is rather scanty for 30 marks?
This module is already beyond hope, so I’m just hoping that the final paper will rescue me from the quagmire caused by the lab report. It’s really just a case of barely surviving.
PL4207: Social Psychology: Theories and Methods
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B-
One of two modules which I’m taking with the same lecturer whose module was responsible for my bombed Sem 1. I bear him no grudges, however, because maybe I really did do a crummy job. I did okay on the midterm quiz, although my class participation will probably be a bit low because he told me I wasn’t as vocal as some other people. Our presentation was all right, so that might help a bit. Or perhaps not, because I think everyone’s presentations were all right so that variable isn’t going to help discriminate us on the bell curve.
The paper was fine, in fact I hope I didn’t write too much for the first question - I overflowed to 4 pages and he did say 2-3, but I wanted to cover more ground and be more thorough. I planned everything out nicely so it would at least have some semblance of ‘flow’ and not some random assortment of ideas churned out via memory dump.
As he collected the papers (our class has an enrolment of 50 and we were sharing the hall with at least 2 other classes) the lecturer asked each one of us how we found the paper. My reply was a sheepish grin and a mumbled “uhh”. Yes, not much brain juice left after 2 hours of frantic work.
I’m feeling good about this module, but I had a good feeling about the last one I took under him too, and look where that got me. For a level-4000 module, I should be happy to just get a decent middling grade, because I am a small 3rd year minnow swimming in the big 4th-year kids’ pond.
PL3238: Social Cognition
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B
I think I did okay for this one, but I wasn’t in the zone the whole day. The first of 2 consecutive papers, it wasn’t difficult but I didn’t feel the words flowing out, that’s why I say I wasn’t in the zone.
I did fine for the CA component, although I think we bombed the class presentation (I had way too much caffeine and sugar) plus I wasn’t very vocal in class. It’s going to be hard to justify an A- for this paper as my final answer script had entire paragraphs cancelled out when I realised I was quoting the wrong research study. Bleah. Such errors and omissions do not bode well for making a good impression on the examiner.
I must say I’m a bit disappointed by my performance on the final paper, it wasn’t as though I didn’t know the material which is essentially a repeat of PL4207. In the end, all I can say is I wasn’t feeling it. Sigh.
PL3239: Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B
Another lacklustre paper. I usually slept through the lectures for this one, and stoned my way through the tutorials, so I doubt anything mentioned during class time went in. The only things I learned were whatever I crammed in during the studying for the 2 class quizzes, which may save my ass in the end.
The 2nd of 2 consecutive papers, I was just wishing to get to the end of this and have my mini-break. Even though the first question was on an oft-repeated topic, it threw many of us off because of the integration needed. Doable, but not brilliant. I also couldn’t find any research findings to back up my points - or rather, I didn’t (and couldn’t) memorise the names. I mean I could probably bring up the relevant reading but I couldn’t cite the author. I hope that won’t count for much.
I was just quite numb throughout the whole paper, and even though I went through the questions again and tried to find the answers in my lecture notes, I wasn’t successful. I give up, I don’t care, I have to move on with my life.
PL4214: Evolutionary Psychology
Optimistic: A-
Pessimistic: B-
Urgh. I had 3 to 4 days to study for this one, but I crammed it all into 2 days. Serves me right for procrastinating and reading webcomics when I could have been studiously analysing the inherited mental processes of humans.
The questions were perfectly doable, but where I bombed on this one was time management. I took 45 minutes to finish my rough draft for both essays, this must be a new record. I wanted the layout to make sense, see. But that doesn’t take three-quarters of an hour!
I just couldn’t focus. My mind kept wandering, and it was probably because I couldn’t sleep the night before. I went to bed at 2am, hoping to catch a solid 6 hours, but at 3 am I was so wide awake I could have written my essay then. I tried to put myself to sleep by playing DS in bed, but no go. It might have been the fault of the 3pm cup of coffee, but I doubt caffeine stays in the system that long. When my alarm went off at 8am I leapt out of bed, fully alert. I did sleep, and I even got some REM (because I remember saucy dreams about Draco Malfoy, mmm) and I just don’t know what’s wrong with my bioclock.
The first question for 60 marks was an evaluation question which I had sort of spotted, so that was fine. Neatly written too. The 2nd question was up to me, and again I chose #3. I’ve been choosing #3 for the other papers as well, it’s a little bit freaky. Anyway it was on violence. I crossed out an entire paragraph when I realised it didn’t jive, it was on aggression and while violence is a subset of aggression, it is not the same as explored in my essay. Bah.
And one of the theories I remembered, but didn’t put into the essay due to bad organisation, turned out to be wrong after all, so that was fine. Not to my credit at all, but fine. It was a horrible, horrible essay though. Messy and incoherent.
I don’t know how this is going to be graded, the class has 44 people or thereabouts so a bell curve is theoretically possible. No idea how I did on the term paper as we handed it up only 2 weeks ago and the lecturer didn’t send out any emails regarding collecting our papers. I’ll just be really pessimistic and hope for a decent grade that at least reflects what I learned. Evo psych is fun, it’s controversial but the readings were easy to read (as compared to dry research papers) and used properly, you can amaze your friends with your bizarre but empirically proven reasons behind human behaviour. I just wish it could explain why I’ve been crashing and burning all year.
*Edited* Nods to Agagooga for recommending this module to me. He took it as a USP module, so that’s your academic-cred rating right there. It’s meant for those extra-smart boffins, so you should take it just to feel smart too! But make sure you don’t end up in the same class as those people, that’s just academic suicide.
Making A Bid For It
*Paid post*
And I mean that literally.
The site bid4prizes is a reverse auction site, where the lowest unique bid wins! So instead of ever-escalating numbers with lots of zeroes, you bid an odd little amount, like $52.36, and hope that all lower bids are duplicates.
The thing about auctions like these is that sometimes, someone walks away with a TV, or an iPod, having paid pennies for it. The lowest bid price is one cent, so there’s a statistical probability of that being the actual price. Of course, very popular items would have many bids for it, making the game harder to beat, at which point the reverse auction starts to look like a real auction with higher bid amounts just so they can be in non-duplicate territory. Remember, the word is ‘unique’, so bidding one dollar makes no sense if you’re one of thousands doing so.
Strangely enough, my modules bidding is in a similar vein, except that duplicate bids are fine. And the ‘prize’ of winning a module bidding round isn’t as fun as a new car or computer could be.
The Right Place Right Time Theory
I have an opinion regarding marriage partners. I could be wrong. This is what makes good theories, that they can be falsified. But nevertheless I feel there is some truth in it.
My hypothesis is that people marry whom they marry, because they were in a good relationship at the time they felt like settling down. Few people marry their secondary-school sweetheart, because you don’t want (and can’t) get married in secondary school. (Despite sickening endearments to the contrary - “mi and hubbie” and crap like that.) You hear of people who date for a bit then suddenly they’re walking down the aisle. Well, they were content with each other, wanted to set up home, and figured they’d make a good pair. So why not?
Of course, falsifying evidence comes in the form of people who start dating in high school, and date for years and years before finally getting married. Well, kudos to them for managing to maintain a healthy, loving relationship until both of them were in the marrying mood. Eh, or does that prove my theory instead?
Actual falsification would be in the “No matter what” kind of pairings, where despite crazy hardships, the couple persevere to end up together. This “Right Place Wrong Time” situation would be like, falling for someone who’s already taken, and going through huge shit like a nasty breakup and family conflict because the attraction was just so strong. Evidence for this would falsify my theory, which is based on convenience.
So to sum up, I postulate that people marry their spouses because simply, at the time they felt like getting married, they had a perfectly good candidate and decided “why not”. Nothing to do with fate, it’s more like serendipity.
If I’m in the mood for coffee and I walk past a cafe, why not? I might have walked past cafes earlier. I wasn’t thirsty or needing a caffeine fix then. Besides, one cuppa is very much like another, barring huge differences like instant vs Starbucks and stuff like that. (Nods for the coffee analogy to Vanx.) Of course, sometimes we get huge, HUGE cravings for a certain kind of coffee, with a certain kind of milk, from a certain cafe. Fine. I’m just more “I want”, and less “I must have”, you know?
Comments are open for alternative hypotheses and discussion. Go ahead and tear my argument to shreds, it’s not connected to my self-concept so I won’t break down in tears.
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