Reality Check: Plan Vs Reality

Plan vs Reality

Well, I thought I was smart and I thought I could handle a shift in my momentum of life. I thought I have planned everything wisely that would ease my shift to the new place. I did take into account various situations and the worst case that could happen too. But I guess adjustment in life is a continuous process and should never end.

I needed to cope with a lot of changes around me. From being independent to determining the next steps in life, everything has to be done appropriately. But little did I know that my plans could fail. Sometimes no matter how much you plan something, it simply doesn't work. I have realised that the more you try to take control of life, the more pressure you endure. That hurts at the end of the day. I stopped looking at what never happened. I am now looking at how to make the most of what comes my way and life is becoming easier that way.

If you are at a point in life where you feel everything is going against your plan, try looking at the brighter side. Look at the good stuff that is happening right now and take that to your advantage. I used to be really bad when it comes to coping up with changes in life. I get very comfortable with a routine life and I cannot adjust too fast with an environment that is not conducive.

Life away from home thought me about adjustments. Shifting from my comfort zone made me who I am today. I think while we are planning something ahead, we should definitely keep option B,C,D and so on just in case plan A doesn't work, at least you can shift to the next step quickly. Life is good right now and I think I can handle any hurdles that come my way.

What about you? How good are you with changes? How do you handle that?

 I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback

Special Edition 100th Blog Post: What Really Matters In Your Career?

Seize The Opportunity

Okay, I know some of you will be wondering where is the video blog or vlog that I promised I'd be doing. This is the 100th blog post on Thoughts and Views That Matter! A milestone to be remembered and cherished in my blogging journey! I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all my FABULOUS READERS who have been following my posts. Special thanks to a few FANTABULOUS readers who never fail to follow each and every post I write. I truly appreciate your feedback and I would like to thank everyone who has nominated me for blog awards and interviewed me on their blog! It is such an honour to be interviewed by bloggers and to be given a place to shine in spotlight for a while! Special thanks to The Glipho team as well for interviewing me for their Meet A Glipher project! That made me go WOW!

Why is this a special edition blog post? Is it just because it's the 100th blog post? NO! It is supposed to be even merrier with my video blog but really, right now, I look freaking terrible so I would keep that for upcoming posts! (I will do it). Today is the day I stepped into my working life! Friday, 15th November 2013. What have I learned today?

I am a Chemical Engineering graduate and I live in the world where everyone(every graduate) fights for a job that is said to be the best for them. Everyone wants to be in the Oil and Gas field just because it pays well. Little did we know that it is not a bed of roses. You will be physically challenged. You need to work under pressure and some graduates still do not find satisfaction in the job they do. That's merely because they are not sure what is best for themselves.

I joined my work today at a place where the business is really new. It is less than a year old. But, I am looking at the brighter opportunities that lie ahead of me and I am grabbing them as I could see opportunities better than disadvantages. I learned that as you try to get a stronger grip of life, that's when you loose more. When you let go of the need to have control over life, it surprises you with a lot of possibilities.

No matter what you do, you should have a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. I am not saying my job would get merrier day by day, but doing what you love matters. I'm glad that 2013 has blessed me with soooo many good news. Way to go!!! Yeay!!!

I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback

A Quick Thanks!

Thank You

Hello readers! Last week, I had two nominations for the lovely Liebster Award again! I would like to thank +A Long for nominating me on Blogger and +Dyane Forde for nominating me on Wordpress! Thank you both so much. Dyane, I appreciate that coming from you because I never really thought you knew what I am writing about on my blog! Thank you! 

I will be relocated to a new place that's nearer to my working place soon. So, there won't be any new posts until I get a proper internet connection. I know I will somehow get it soon because you can't separate me from the internet connection. LOL. You will see me back in action soon. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank +ambarish kumar who has listed my blog under ''my suggestion'' section on his blog! Kumar is an ardent blogger who writes on everything you need to know about the internet and the effective ways to drive traffic to your website and earn money online! If you think your blog isn't doing well, it is time to read FREE tips he has on his blog and implement the suggestions so that you have better targeted traffic and low bounce rate. 

There are two posts on my draft list right now! I will be working on that next but the next post is going to be my 100th post! So, let's see if that will be a video blog instead :))

Best regards,

Jas

 I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback

Look Who Is Misusing The Swastika

Avoid Misconception

The Hindu Swastika

This post is specially dedicated to +BV Bharati . I got the inspiration to write on this issue after reading her post about how the Nazis have been using this symbol which caused great amount of confusion among people of different cultures across the world. Do you know what differs the Nazi version of "Swastika" symbol from the Hindu version of it? I bet most of you do not know the difference and add me to the list too. I know that the difference exist but I wasn't sure until I google-searched about it today. The above image is how the Hindu Swastika looks like. And the image below is what the Nazis use. 

The Nazi Swastika

So, back to the main issue here. Bharati posted this post on her blog. She was explaining about how a holy or sacred symbol became unholy due to the negative image portrayed by Hitler and Nazis. About two days ago, Manchester United apologizes over 'swastika' logo. Now, how sure are we that only the Nazis and people from other associations are involved in this propaganda? 

About a couple of months back in Malaysia, the police force was seen in action when they arrested about 30-50 gangster groups with the respective leaders. Do you know that some of these gangs comprise of Hindus and they actually use Swastika as their symbol? They even tattoo this sign/symbol on their bodies. So when the police was looking for suspects, the public who had this symbol on their vehicles also got caught!

Isn't that sad to see our own people degrading the holy symbol? On top of that, I went out the other day with my favourite Lee Cooper T-shirt, a sleeveless one. The uncle who sells snacks stopped me and told me not to wear it anymore. I was puzzled. Later, he told me that my T-shirt had the number '08' printed on it and coincidentally it was the name of one of the gangs that were caught! There goes my favourite T-shirt! I'm not wearing it at public places for the time being. 

I think, sometimes people dig their own graves by embarrassing their own kind at public! We do not need the Nazis now for this purpose! 

 I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback

The Big "C" : Catastrophic And Calamitic

The Deadliest Disease

While reading about breast cancer some day ago, I came across this website. I remember seeing this posts before from the same website but since it relates to my previous post about breast cancer, I thought of sharing this with you.

Coming to think of donations collected for the cancer patients, we may hesitate to donate when there are too many fake organisations around like Susan G. Komen foundation that is clearly failing to do what it needs to do in order to help the patients. But upon reading the posts on this website, I can feel how cancer can be very deadly. I lost my grandfather to this disease too and it was truly unexpected when we got to know that he is diagnosed with cancer.

This story you can find it this link is about a man who loved loves his wife so much and lost her to cancer. He is now running a non-profit organisation as a tribute to his late wife. He is also a photographer so he captured the moments, the last few moments he shared with his wife together. The loss of his wife may not be significant to this Earth that is already losing so many people within a day. But to him, it means a lot.

We are having holiday season here as the Festival of Lights; Deepavali (Diwali) is approaching soon. My mom has advised me to donate my hard-earned money to an orphanage we have here. It is a feeling that is very rewarding when you share what you have with the less-fortunate!

I will be posting about the Swastika and how it has been misused here by various groups soon. +BV Bharati , I'm keeping this on mind :)

A citation from Wikipedia about Swastika:
The swastika is recognized as a Hindu symbol in most parts of the world. In Hinduism, the swastika is at times in certain sects considered a symbolic representation of Ganesha. In Hindu rites, Ganesha is offered first offerings in every pooja. The swastika is made with Sindoor during Hindu religious rites.

Till then, take care and have a great week ahead. Happy Diwali to all Hindus across the world!


 I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback

How Much Does Google Know About You?

Internet Security Is An Issue You Should Be Bothered About

Have you ever wished to have a unique name for yourself? How many people do you exactly know having the same name as yours?

If you think you have come across more than 5 people sharing your first name and if you are not happy, I will tell you why I, for the first time ever, felt bad for having a unique name. Before I start blogging this year, there wasn't anything much about myself on the internet. Even after I started blogging, I don't remember finding anything much on Google when I 'google' myself. I did not know my blogging activity can take off so fast and I quickly became addicted to it. I found awesome people via blogging and I am going places now.

I tried 'googling' for my name a couple of days before and I was horrified to know that Google actually knows a lot more about myself than I thought it could ever know. First issue here is my name. It can be easily googled since there aren't many with the same name as mine. I never knew using real name can cause a big effect towards my privacy in the virtual world.

I used to register for new websites using my name because I don't need to think a lot about the suitable nickname and it will be easier to deal with mailing and billing (although I don't really buy things from internet). The search engines will actually locate your activities online easily with your details. I found almost everything when I tried searching for my name. This include the blog I have commented on before, the websites I have registered using my real name and there was also a website by the name of meetme.com. I was taken aback when I saw that as I can't recall when I have registered on that website!!

Yes, Google actually knows a lot about you! Have you realised that you need to use your 'real' name now when you are creating an account on Google +? I am having a G+ email and that particular G+ account is not the one I use for socialising. So upon knowing the ugly fact about Google, I have deleted that account but my gmail remained active. The next day when I logged in to check my mail, Google asked me to fill up my real name and put up a profile picture. I tried faking my name but it keeps saying invalid name and it even says that there wasn't any face detected on my profile picture I newly uploaded (as it was an illustration). Now, are we obliged to have an account on all Google products when we are using even only one of its product?

It is so obvious that google is trying to take over the world with the amount of information it stores about each and every individual who are browsing online. There is no privacy at all and their 'dynamic' privacy policy which keeps changing is also another way to completely rip our personal life off.

I found everything and everyone's images when I googled for my name. All those lovely bloggers who used to comment on my blog, their pictures appear in the search result because I am somehow associated to them. Isn't that scary? Today I made the first move to modify the existing accounts under my real name as I don't feel safe anymore about my online presence. 

I think with your details on the internet, people can easily stalk you and find information about you within a blink of an eye. Apart from that, scammers are everywhere! They are waiting to steal your information. If you find that you are having an account on some strange looking websites, don't be surprised. After all, how safe can our details be although giant companies claim that they are keeping all details secured. Be sure about what you post online too and do not expose your pictures online as anyone can grab them, edit them and use for their own business purposes. I think you would have heard about pictures of girls being misused etc. 

Apart from that, I think nobody really bothers and should no bother to do know about my details if I were to appear under a pen name. I personally do not care if you know my name. Writing using our own name has always earned the user a better credibility and audience tend to trust them more. I acknowledge that fact but at the same time, we have many other awesome blogs and blog writers using nicknames to hide their real identity from the public. What do you have to say about this? Do you care for the content of the blog or website or are you placing an emphasis on the background of the writer or founder of the website?

I would love to hear from you!

I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback

A Life Worth Living: A Review

A Life Worth Living

I was working on T.L Scott's book trailer for the past one week. It was a fun learning process as this time, I hired a voice over artist to provide voice over for the trailer. So you might want to watch the trailer and let me know what you think about it overall. I welcome your honest critique that is constructive!

I read his book before coming up with ideas for the trailer so I thought I would post my honest opinion on the book.

Note: This review is purely based on my opinion and my preference and taste when it comes to books. My thoughts and views may be entirely different from yours if you were to read the book. This review is written constructively so that the author of the book could find better inspiration and idea for his writing journey. 

A Life Worth Living's blurb :

Dave and Debbie are a typical middle class family. They work hard to provide for their two children. They have made sacrifices to provide a good home and a good life for each other and the children they love. Somewhere along the way to making a good life they have lost sight of each other.

When tragedy strikes they have to decide if they can make theirs a life worth living.

This is a story of love, loss, and ultimately redemption.

My review: 

I find this book interesting when I got to know a few things about this book. This book is about a man who is workaholic and finds himself spending too much time on his office work. Dave is a hardworking man who equally loves his family. But Debbie, his wife is getting frustrated about his workaholic ways. 

The story uncovers the fact or reality of life as it evolves. It is about the good and bad we face in life. The family faces numerous tragedies in this story. I like the story and the way Scott has planned about the suspense elements in his book. One of it was very shocking to me too when I was reading. If you like stories that is based on family bonding, sacrifices and loss of family members as well as the emotions behind these incidents, then you may like the story of this book. I find it easy to finish reading the book within one to two days. 

Some of the aspects that could have been improved in this book are the writing style, paraphrasing and narration.  

I thought it would have been better if the narration of the story sticks with the first person's point of view and specifically Dave. When Dave is away from home, the narration is being made from Debbie's point of view, so when the word "I .... " comes, I find it a little bit difficult to figure out who is telling the story this time round. There were also some sentences that need to use certain punctuation marks especially dialogues.

I saw a few repetitions in the book. I found sentences being repeated not word by word but they are actually telling the same thing. This can be distracting.

I also thought the blurb should be changed because it doesn't seem to be as enticing as the story.

These are purely based on my thoughts and I can be wrong. Another person may not find these aspects of the book giving issues to their reading experience. Different reviewers will find different thoughts on the book. 

so I suggest you to read the book and Scott is looking for reviewers, so if you are interested you can let me know and I will help you with that.


 I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback