Popping the question

Sometimes I think it's so diffcult for some people to pop the question. They try, try till they get married to someone else :) Yea, proposing a girl is difficult, nervous but it's the man who can add that bit of elegance by the way he is proposing. Not that women don't propose - but I think it has to be the man who makes the first move.

I am not adding a "how to propose a girl?" post - there are too many such stuff to read all over the internet, it's just a sweet dream that I would like to share with all my reading mates. There are two characters in this story: Mark & Shannon.
Mark and Shannon have been good friends for over an year and Mark has developed his "be-besides-me-for-a-lifetime" feelings for Shannon. Nobody knows what Shannon thinks about Mark. Does she like Mark? Does she hate him? Is he just a good friend? Is he smart enough to be a life partner? Nobody knows the answers to all these except Shannon. Shannon is sweet (all girls are sweet:) aren't they?), she's witty, she's beautiful, she's jovial, she's practical and she's the best!

Mark is flamboyant, Shannon is sober, he thinks from his mind, she thinks from her heart, he loves Shannon and she....??!! (Mark & Shannon live in Paris and he is permanently going to shift to Sydney to open his restaurant business). He thinks this is the best match for him, nobody could understand him as she could and is desparate to pop the question. He wants to propose her but is very nervous and is not sure if he would lose a perfect friend in Shanon.

Mark couldn't wait any longer and decides that he's just gonna be himself and ask Shannon. Here's how the whole incident takes place. Mark is pensive, tensed & his nerves are taut with anxiety. Can he pull it off?
(Mark & Shannon on their way to work, Shannon reading "Men are from mars, Women are from venus - John Gray" & Mark is "not" listening to his ipod - hes just got the earplugs on!!)

Mark: Shannon, hi
Shannon: (smiles) hmm..Hey Markie, ssup?
Mark: Shan, actually..hmm..you are looking very beautiful as always, wanted to tell you that..I..
Shannon: (cutting Mark) Thanks Markie, and you too are looking smart my cutie boy
Mark: (thinking to himself - cutie boy, is that a good sign or not) Well Shan, thanks,I had a dream we got married..hehe..(trying to be humorous)
Shannon: hmmm...(as in no reaction)
Mark: If we get married, just think, do you mind settling down in Sydney for like 10 years or something? and we have a house...I mean home there? (mark thinking, this is it, shit!!)
Shannon: No, I don't mind
Mark: Do you mind if we don't have kids the first three years coz' we would be busy in our new business and...
Shannon: No, I don't mind
Mark: So you mind I loving you all the time?
Shannon: Hmm...I don't mind
Mark: Wow!!.You are the best & I don't mind too (Mark is confident now) Will you mind taking a day off to roam about, shop, dine out, watch a movie?
Shannon: I won't mind
Mark: Do you mind getting married to me?
(pause...everybody stops talking & start looking at Shannon & waiting for her response...)
Shannon: (smiles) No Mark, I don't mind

For that day, Mark felt everybody had a smile on their face for them, Shannon had this thing in her eyes which said "I am yours, Mark - take care of me". Mark smiled and gave back a reaction which said "I love you more than anything else and will keep loving you till the end".

(Mark & Shannon are in Sydney now, parents of two healthy kids, Sarah & Jason, living happily and looking after their kids & restaurant business)

Guys, let's not make it difficult for ourselves and our sweet ones! Let's keep it simple yet elegant and add grace to the occasion by being ourself. Remember a quick tip - the lady is more precious and important that the gift, doesn't matter if you buy a $10k ring but cannot charm her. Popping the question is an important chapter in our love life - let's not screw it. Love always!

Let there be love in the air
~RJ

Boredom to freedom

This post is a result of numerous discussions, brain-storming sessions, casual conversations, personal experiences all put together. I realized that people repine over the apathy towards life all the while, to a result, most of my conversations started this way:

Me: Dude, wassup?
Person on the phone: Ahh, the usual boring stuff buddy
Me: ??..!! hmm

Should I accede to my inner thought that all my friends were the most boring people on this planet? I am sure that’s not true, these are the people I look upon when I am having a low day – the most full of life guys! (Thanks!). Past few days I have been thinking what is boredom? How is boredom caused? What is the cure to boredom? I am no boredom doctor so I started having conversations with my colleagues, friends over a cup of coffee, which helped a lot because everybody had a different perspective to the way they looked at boredom, their views, their activities etc.

Let’s have a look at the responses that friends gave me when asked when they get bored - No work in office, loneliness, unhealthy conversations, repetitive work, staying at home, mundane discussions, irrelevant meetings, no television, no internet, daily routine, lack of attention from loved ones, waiting for somebody beyond the said time etc.

For one of my friends it was very boring to sleep. He prefers to sleep only because his body needs it, otherwise he feels that’s the most boring activity ever. Given a chance he would like to learn something new, cultivate a hobby or do something creative. Sleeping is just another thing for him – wow! My other cute friend said she hates to eat dinner! LOL!

Professional work plays an important part – no work, repetitive work, too much work etc all leads to boredom. (Damn! How can no work lead to boredom? I am waiting for such a day! ..kiddin’ folks, I know how it feels)

Another important aspect is the nature and the personality of the person. During the exercise of chatting with people, I also realized that the lack of artistic interests can lead no boredom. Sources say that 5 of 10 people don’t have any hobbies, 4 of 10 people do not read, 7 of 10 people do not cultivate interest for a new activity, 6 of 10 people are lazy to follow the same routing for more than 5 months. Phew, exhaustive study!

Making friends, watching movies, surfing the internet, long phone conversations, reading news, observing people & their characteristics, diary writing, spending time with oneself, observing nature, listening to music, youtube, talking to somebody full of life, play sports, keeping fit, watching tv, long rides were the replies when asked about activities people do or prefer to do to kill boredom.

So where are we going making these assumptions & doing such analysis? The goal is, within ourselves we should never feel that we are bored! How sickening it can be that we have a million thousand things to learn and do and we still feel that we are bored. I attended one “happy life” sessions in my office where the speaker told this unique stuff which I never thought of. When we are bored we call up friends to feel better – did we ever realize that when we are ourselves this boring, how will our friend/s enjoy our company?

My friends formed new, never-read, personal, not patented definitions of boredom and I am gonna list all of those here for us to pick the one that suits us and say to ourselves - I am never going to be bored again in life – come what may!

#1 - Applying mind and efforts fully and not achieving the set expectations can lead to boredom - we might do something very interestingly, full of heart but never succeed in achieving the set expectations. This will lead to boredom.
#2 - Applying mind and efforts fully and achieving the set expectations can lead to boredom - a true example of office work! What if we are forced to do something??..!!
#3 - Boredom = useless time + lazy mind
#4 - Boredom is a temporary craving that develops when you don’t find an activity of interest – simple definition, yet true! The next big thing for all of us is finding our own area of interest and spending sometime to inculcate that as a habit or hobby!
#5 - Boredom = when I am doing some stuff; my mind is working on it & my heart says WTF are u doing?? Get a life dude!! – LOL, only kurt can do this!
#6 - Boredom is a prolonged phase of noninterest, monotonous activities to be done without motivation
#7 - Boredom is sitting idle and sitting idle is boring – Sweet thing!

And they did not end there – they gave me the cure also, so here ya go,

#a -make somebody smile, make them happy in turn makes u feel better! – this can kill boredom (Q is can you make the other person happy when you are bored?)
#b - develop a constructive hobby
#c - change to a constant routine
#d – refresh good old memories with oneself and with friends
#e - chat with loved ones
#f - boredom is a state of mind, controlling ur mind can kill boredom
#g – try to do things that u feel like doing and not forced to do

Folks – this is just an attempt so that we can live in a world where people around us and ourselves start feeling that there is nothing called as boring or boredom. Lets make everything interesting! Watsaya?

stay fit, speak your mind & be a charmer!
~RJ

P.S. I know the post is a bit long but boring is such a thing - what can I do? :)