Chp 299. Quit Facebook Day.

I woke up this morning and got ready for office, when I suddenly realized, “Crap, it is STILL freaking May!” Just one of those days when the month just doesn’t seem to end… Salary, where art thou?


Lolz. So, today is Quit Facebook Day.

Today is also World No Tobacco Day.

Ironic, huh? Two habits difficult to quit, on the same day. Declaring today as “Quit Facebook Day” was a really bad idea. Millions of smokers worldwide who are on Facebook would definitely need an outlet to vent their frustration for not smoking today. And where else can one do that except on Facebook?

Stuff like, “Oh I haven’t taken a single puff today! Oh the stress!!” and then a couple of your friends liking your comment as if it is some profound statement that can change the course of civilization, and a few others adding their own two bits about smoking. I mean, Facebook is perfect for this.



Twitter allows you to say the same boring self-centered stuff, but other followers cannot read what others have tweeted regarding your tweet, unless they are following you both or doing some complex search which is… complex.

Of course there are various other platforms where you can do that, but Facebook has the numbers. Ranked second by Alexa right after google.com, there are more than 400 million active users currently.

I’ve been following the “Quit Facebook movement” quite closely the past few days. The May 31: Quit Facebook Day Facebook fan page had around 25,000 members yesterday. Today, on D-Day, there are around 5000 members. So is it safe to assume that the other 20,000 people actually left Facebook? Wow, that would be like… 0.005 percent of Facebook members… Ooooh, scary. Did you feel the tremor? I thought I did, but then again, maybe it was the beans I had last night.

I was following this movement just to see if people are actually going to do it. Of course I’m not that jobless to track each and every l’il person to see if they had really quit or not. It’s interesting because it’s something like a suicide pact, you know. You get together with your friends and make a promise to end your lives together. First guy drinks the poison. Second guy follows. So does the third guy. And then your turn comes and you suddenly chicken out… “Err… guys, actually I’m… having second thoughts about this… gotta go, bye…”



I find this whole drama of creating a Facebook page to quit Facebook really corny. It’s like somebody barging into my house and telling me he doesn’t like living in my house even though he doesn’t even pay me rent. And then he and a couple of other people squatting right inside my house shouting slogans and proclaiming how much they hate my house. Seriously, you don’t like it here? Then get the hell out.

People are complaining that Facebook can delete your account or page according to their Terms of Use. Like the recent controversial “Draw Mohammad Day” page on Facebook which had been removed [Digital Journal] – that eventually led to banning of Facebook in Pakistan etc. Ah. Free speech and the Wild Wild West. It is indeed difficult to draw the lines when you are brought up in such a culture I guess.

Writing an angry post about a product you’ve just bought is different. In this case, you have actually paid for the stuff. As a consumer, you are not happy about the product, so you have every right to write a negative review about it. And other people may read what you’ve written and follow suit. But in case of Facebook, you are not even paying for the service directly and if you are worried about electricity bill or internet bill, then please, it is so simple to NOT visit Facebook.

I’ve been reading a lot about why people are leaving Facebook. One of the reasons is that Facebook doesn’t let you design your own page – lolz. Damn myspace users. Go back to myspace if you want to personalize your page. I loveeeee this comment by a user called Eulatos on gizmodo.com

(Regarding the reason) “And, yet, somehow, I can't even change colors or apply themes or do anything to make my page look personalized”, I’ll put this succinctly and clearly for all the myspace people in the back.

I dont fucking want to see your awesome customized yellow type on a a neon green background, I dont want to hear your fucking shit music and I dont want to see your fucking shit videos when I load up your profile.

I dont want to look at your 75 layers of unorganized trash you have flopped here and there all over the place. The one redeeming quality of FaceBook is its lack of customization. Most people dont have the eye for design, and letting every asshat who thinks they are an artist customize their page and font colors and backgrounds made myspace a completely useless place to go.

And I’ll quit facebook the second they allow people to start doing that. It's why I use desktop or phone based twitter clients, because I dont care about your fancy godawful background.

*BOWS*

Yup, even I will quit Facebook the day Facebook allows personalization. It is simple this way, and easier on the eyes. As a UI designer (ok fine. As a person who works daily with UI designers ), visiting sites like myspace is the worst nightmare one can possibly have. Arrgh, the horror!

Here are three articles you must read (there are many others out there):

• 10 reasons not to quit facebook by smemon.com


• 10 Reasons to NOT Quit Facebook by David Lee King


• The 5 reasons I’m not joining Quit Facebook Day by Avery’s Diaspora News

Overall, hey, I am no fan of Facebook. But the reasons stated above says it all, why I will not quit Facebook. Remember Orkut? Yeah, back in 2004 when membership was strictly through invitation only, it was quite fun because it was exclusive then. Although there weren’t that many Indians around those days, I found a lot of new friends and eventually formed a bond we preserved even till today. And then came the mass exodus of new fraaands and orkut sucked eternally after that.

With Facebook, sure there is the issue with privacy that many people are complaining about, but considering the amount of things we can do on Facebook, both personally and professionally, I think it is a small price to pay.

Seriously, if you feel so deeply about privacy, then simply don’t share private stuff. Worried that your wife may find out about your Facebook mistress? Then stop mailing her on Facebook. You should know that there is no such thing as a 100% privacy once it’s up on the net. There are always ways to hack things and obtain information, and if you don’t know this, then maybe you shouldn’t be online at all. Stick to the good ol snail mail. At least in that case, the post man is the only dude who may read your letters.

I will not rant on why I love Facebook because the three links given above says it all. I am no big fan of Facebook either. It’s just that, there is so much potential with Facebook, especially in my line of work – digital advertising. Dumping Facebook just because of a few privacy issues and other minor flaws when there are no promising competitors around, is really not a good idea. And making such a loud noise about leaving Facebook is stupid. 400 million plus users. Seriously, nobody gives a crap about you or me. Stop trying to sound really important.


Update 21:30 IST: Yup. The Quit Facebook Day today was a failure as expected! I will post the links tomorrow as the news coming in today are still vague (it is still evening in the US, so the numbers can change. But judging from the trend so far, it’s going to be a big flop).

I wonder what those brave 20,000+ people who had quit are going to do now? I mean, if they are truly dissatisfied with this whole social networking and privacy issue etc, then they will not join again. But for those real networking junkies, they will definitely come back to Facebook. Lolz. I wonder if they will change their names when they sign up again? Even at a community site we run misual.com, there had been many instances of members leaving the site and deleting their account due to issues with the admins. They storm out, abusing the admins and other members, but most of them always come back, and we just grin at them from behind our computer screens as they sign up using a slightly altered username… as if we can’t see their ip addresses.

Cheers, and hope you weren’t one of those who quit Facebook today… hihihi…


-------------------

Chp 298. Writer’s block

Lolz. Wrote this really trashy poem last night. Published it. And then deleted it. One of the silly things bloggers do on a full moon night, I guess.

But then, those who had subscribed to my feeds received this post on their mail and reader, and questions came flying back to me. So here it is again... huizzz.


            Thinking,
            Scratching,
            Nothing but blank.
            So tough it is to resolve
            this tremendous writer’s block.

            Feeling,
            Caressing,
            Nothing but crank.
            So hard it is to dissolve
            this enormous writer’s cock.


Ok ok

Yeah, that was gross. And crass. And way below the belt. Literally speaking.

Sorry if that offended you. I just thought maybe I’ll take a different approach and let my mind go crazy, you know. Write stuff that I normally don’t write here. Be wild. Let the little head do the thinking for a change.

And of course I know you’re picturing it right now. Sorry once again. My bad. Don’t picture it. Ok, please stop it now! Seriously, stop. I have a girlfriend.

---------

Ahem. Coming back to the topic now...

I don’t have exactly what you call a writer’s block. I’ve been extremely busy the past few days with work. Hence it is really difficult to think of something to write about with all the distractions and deadlines.

Soon I will post about what I’ve been working on during the past few days. But until I get the green light from my boss, I must keep mum. So far, everything in my life seems to be revolving around work. We even had our Annual Appraisal review meeting today, and I’m grinning right now from ear to ear. Know what I mean?

Meanwhile, this post is just one of those posts I’m gonna wish I didn’t publish when I wake up tomorrow.

Ah screw it. It’s not like I am all sugar and spice and all things nice anyway. Just like you, I have a lot of dark secrets or desires, sometimes. It’s just the way we are. Maybe it’s high time we stop being such a prude and express our feelings outright. Or maybe I should just stop now.

Cheers. And Happy Geek Pride Day everyone! There’s always a little geek within all of us. Well, in my case, it may be a 12" geek. But still, a geek is a geek. Bye bye.



---------

* Disclaimer: This post is written by the blog owner Kima. The size mentioned in this post may or may not be factually correct. Blogger.com is neither responsible for service offered nor are they liable for any defect or shortcoming of the specified size mentioned in this post. All disputes relating to size, performance, service or quality of the “thingie” will be strictly between the blog visitors and Kima. Any dispute regarding the size, performance, service or quality must be addressed in writing, by the blog visitors directly to the blog owner Kima, and blogger.com will not entertain any communication in this regard.

Chp 297. Rest In Peace Ronnie James Dio

One of the bands I grew up on in the early 90s was DIO. And today I learnt that Ronnie James Dio is no more. He passed away on May 16 2010. Cancer.



I still can’t believe it. I have been playing DIO songs non-stop for the past 8 hours in office now.

I must admit, I never really noticed him that much when he was in Black Sabbath and Rainbow. And then came the song that really really really made me go wow and move into this whole Metal genre – Holy Diver.

One of the first albums (read: cassettes that are manually rewind using a reynold’s pen so that we can save the battery life on our walkman) I ever bought was “Diamonds: The very best of Dio”. I feel in love with each and every song.

I don’t wanna say much in this post. I just feel sad knowing that the person who had shown me so much is now at the Otherside... Rest In Peace Ronnie. I’ll never forget how much you have changed me. Rock forever \m/ Cheers.

Below are some of my favourite Dio songs. Do enjoy them in this hour of darkness.

Holy Diver




Rainbow in the dark




Sacred Heart




Don’t talk to strangers




Rock and roll children




Hungry for heaven

Chp 296. Can’t think of a title...

During my recent vacation back home, I visited my good friend and fellow blogger Zorami Zote, who also happened to be a good friend of ❤my gurl❤ (small world indeed!).

I was checking my mail from her lap-top when I noticed that she was signed-in at blogger.com. And so Evil me wrote a new post while she was in the loo and quickly published it. She of course completely freaked out when she found out, and screamed loud enough to wake the dead who’re residing right next to her house She deleted the post immediately.

Well, that was the end of it... or so we thought.

A few days ago, she called me up hysterically, saying that the post was indexed by google (!) during that short duration it was online, and appeared somewhere... I laughed my ass out. She even wrote an “open mail to illusionaire” post

Here’s what I posted from her account:

Matrimonials!

26 years old, female, tall, fair skin, coming from a good family, good qualifications, homely, can drive car at night without headlights on, has an email account, knows how to send sms, an occasional tuibur-er, ...

I can’t possibly write the rest of the post here, lest she flies down to Mumbai personally and strangle me with her bare hands. She’s a great pal, and an even greater sport. Hugz Zor.

When I asked her the name of the website where this appeared, she wouldn’t tell me, so I googled using the appropriate keywords... I didn’t find it, but what I found instead, left me contemplating for a long time, and is the main reason why I’m writing this very post.

~~~~~~~~

As I was searching for Zorami’s matrimonial ad online, I came across a discussion forum that was talking about Mizo prostitutes here in Mumbai!

I know, you’re probably thinking - it’s none of my business, and what any girl does is her own issue, not mine.

Fair enough.

I have always stood for gender equality and women’s right. If there are any incidents of men prohibiting women from going to pubs or holding hands with men etc, I am right there in the thick of action protesting about it.

Likewise, men of a particular community cannot say the women in their community belong to them, and only them. Welcome to the 21st century pal.

Then why do I feel this strange hurt deep inside?

Of course I know for sure there are Mizo prostitutes in Mizoram and elsewhere, just like how there are prostitutes from various other communities too all over the world. Prostitution is a sensitive topic, and we all know the sad story about how many of these girls are forced into this trade, labelled as the oldest profession in the world. In fact I know a few Mizo girls here in Mumbai who are branded by other Mizos as prostitutes. But that is just hearsay, even if it happens to be true.

Just hearing about it from friends is one thing, but to actually read about it in detailed description, on a popular international site I found on google, is a completely different feeling.

I hang out with my Maharashtrian friends here in Mumbai, and if by chance we come across a Maharashtrian prostitute, I’m sure they aren’t going to get all emotional & ethnocentric and exclaim, “How can our own Maharashtrian sister do that?”

So where is this emotion coming from? Why is it so difficult to just ignore this matter and mind my own effing business? I do feel like a hypocrite now, for believing that women have the rights to do whatever they want, because the moment the table’s turned on you, the outlook is very different indeed.

The website I came across is called **** [Edited. Sorry but I feel it’s best that I don’t disclose the name of the website here. After going through the forum thread, I realized they are way too detailed, with many personal addresses, names and contact numbers of prostitutes, pimps, brothels and massage parlours of various Indian cities displayed. If you’re net savvy enough, you can easily find this forum on google search. I just don’t want to be that guy who handed you the noose.]

It is a discussion forum where people apparently discuss about their sexcapades around the world, and share various locations where they can “get women”, in complete detail, right up to the colour of the front gate! The Forum section is divided into various countries.

It’s not like those cheap sleazy free discussion forums where anonymous members post raunchy photos and other anonymous members comment in caps “OH MY GAWD, I WANNA FAKKKK HER B**BSSSSS” mostly in broken English. Nah, this site has class, at least from the language the members are using. And just to view the pictures alone, you gotta pay $19.95 annually, so the quality of the members is quite high. (*sigh* ...the things I have to find out so that I can deliver a well researched post to you, my dear visitors)

The Indian section in that forum consists mainly of NRIs and firangs describing the where, how and who of the Indian sex industry. And you will see quite a number of Mizo women in many of the threads under “India” category. Here are a few examples:

* Edited. Please refer my previous edit note explanation above. *

Unbelievable right? I don’t think it will be that difficult to trace the Mizo girl who had taken that flight from Aizawl to Mumbai for that job interview on that particular date. It is a very small society back home. As I type this, I am even having second thoughts about including the explicit details about the Mizo girls here on my blog. [Edited. All details removed.]

What I have found out from glancing through the entire forum (India section) is that, North Eastern girls are in big demand! In a weird way, yes, it’s good to know others find women from our place beautiful... but then, this is exactly the kinda thing that leads to stereotyping.

Many people here in India still think all North East women are easy just because of our different culture, and probably because they have seen a few loose women from the North East before. Hence reading about the Mizo prostitutes will certainly add fuel to the fire.

And from the descriptions about them, the “clients” clearly mentioned that these Mizo girls speak very good English and quite intelligent, unlike many street prostitutes here in India. So I guess it is safe to assume that these girls are quite educated and probably graduated from a renowned college here in Mumbai... I wonder what made them take this path?

For one, we know that they were not smuggled or kidnapped and forced into the flesh trade unlike many unfortunate prostitutes. Secondly, could it be because they wanted more money (because the more you get, the more you want) and that their taste for expensive and lavish things just kept increasing? Or could it be just that they had to support their family back home?

I don’t know. The more I think about this, the more it pains me. Foreigners in that forum are specifically asking other members for the contact numbers of those Mizo girls. This is definitely not the way I’d want the World to know about us Mizos. Hence the reason why I can’t think of an appropriate title for this post. I do not want to include the word “prostitute” in it as it may attract the wrong crowd here (SEO/SEM). And also because it is so different from the initial topic at the beginning of this post.

This event leaves me pondering on so many issues. Why are they like that, and why am I concerned just because they are Mizos? I see many prostitutes everyday when I leave office late in the night on Juhu Tara road. Yet I never used to “notice” notice them, and they had never made me think... and now suddenly, here is me wishing these Mizo girls should stop selling their bodies. Just because they are Mizos.

Maybe I am becoming the very person I have always fought against, you know, that ridiculous guy who says women shouldn’t do this or that because it is against our Indian culture for women to do it. Yes, that bullshit. Maybe I am becoming just him. Sad.

Chp 295. Before...

If you’re one of those people who looks like the “before” model in a Before and After advertisement about Weight loss, then hugzzz I completely empathize with you.

The past few months, I have gained a lotttt of weight, and have come to a point where I can suck in my belly no longer whenever I pass a chica. Some might call it love handles or spare tyres. I call it “that thingie”. Because I still can’t get used to the fact that it’s a part of my body, my own flesh and blood, jiggling and wiggling every time I make the slightest move.

Being a jock right through school, college and post-grad, I never used to be this large around the waist. And now people often mistake it for a beer belly. *whistles innocently*. I went home recently and the first thing all my friends told me was, “Zu i va heh hmel ve!” which, loosely translated into English, means “Daaayyyymm you look super hot, like a real babe magnet. Killer!” (I did say loosely )

Hence, starting tomorrow – May 5th 2010 - I will be going to gym, working out and burning fat for three months while dieting at the same time.

Though I know I am going to regret posting this image here, I just want it up on my blog so that when I write my “AFTER” post exactly 3 months from now, I will upload the new and improved me, and laugh at this old picture like how you guys are laughing at it right now.



This way, it will also be like a reminder to me that I cannot back down from my attempt to lose weight, as all my beloved blog readers are witness to this. There is no turning back now. *Puts on my Rambo bandanna, with “Eye of the Tiger” blasting in the background*

Here is a count-down timer. It will stop exactly three months from now.



In three months... I may not get the muscle you see above but hell yeah, I AM going to lose my rotund belly.

        The Gym.

The name of the gym I joined is ZAF Club, and it is one of the more reputed gyms in Mumbai. It’s not top class, like Gold’s Gym at Bandra, Lokhandwala and Nepean Sea Road, where many Bollywood actors and P3 socialites are known to haunt. But it’s not that bad, and many Hindi TV serial actors come here. But then, I don’t watch Kasauti, Kyunki Saas Bhi... Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki etc so I won’t know them even if we’re doing abs right next to each other.

The best part is, my office is located in the same building as this Gym, so I can just run down, do my stuff, sweat it out, take a shower, and then run back to office.

It costs me a cool 5 grand for the first month alone, but with jacuzzi, spa and sauna access anytime of the day, including discount for full body massage, daily trainer and dietician monitoring, good music by an in-house DJ, etc etc, I think it’s worth it.

Hence, to conclude... No more

It will just be me singing...

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger...

...for the next 3 months. And hopefully, by then I will be able to show my abs like how Peter Andre did in “Mysterious girl”. Hoooah!