Sequel Mania

With the flood of "Part Three" Movies this year, movie goers have been waiting in anticipation for some gratifying big-screen entertainment to break free from mundane routine of everyday life. However, it seems that movie producers have run out of imagination, while their focus has shifted from creativity to lucre. I guess its when the movie producers try to ape blockbuster hits like Star Trek, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings without concrete substance that they fall flat on the face.

While Spider-man 3 was just-another-superhero-movie depicting the conflict between good and evil, Shrek the Third was stretchy and boring. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was also a let down in spite of its stellar cast and mammoth sets.

I wonder how Ocean's Thirteen, Fantastic Four, Die Hard and Bourne Ultimatum will turn out to be. It's rather hard to predict, let's just wait and watch.

Interviews Redefined

Job hunting and Interviews is something each one of us destined to cross paths with at some point in life, no matter which career path we have chosen, unless ofcourse your family name is Hilton or you join your Dad's business. Interviews can be a breeze for some and can cause stressful agony for others. Either way, it is trend our society follows and can be a great learning experience for all involved.

While you strive to stand apart from the croud of candidates, you may want to probe into the Video Resume trend. Although it is still in its early stages, several job sites and video hosting sites are exploring the possibilities of uploading a video profile versus a word document. Risky and absurd as it sounds, click here to find out what some people have to say about it.

During one of my random surfing sprees today, I came across an article on Interviews in Second Life. For the uninitiated, Second Life is an online virtual world, where you can have an avatar to represent yourself, meet and interact with people just as you would in real life. You can even buy property using Linden Dollars, which can be exchanged for US Dollars in a marketplace consisting of residents, Linden Lab and real life companies.

The article "Welcome to the virtual interview" talks about the corporate world diving into this virtual reality space for recruiment. Typically you would expect a gaming geek to live in such a world, date and build his social circle from his living room. However, the tides are slowly turning where people are flocking to embrace this technology in their stride. Interestingly, this 3D existance has attracted around 6,471,214 residents with $1,545,408 spent in the past 24 hours.

This being just a trial setup, recruiters are going to interview prospective avatars and ask them questions via IM. This initial screening is usually done via telephonic interviews, often followed with in-person interviews. Second Life is making this process more interactive, definitely hip and possibly fun, as candidates can also ask questions and access a variety of information on the company through videos.

So, what are you waiting for? Other than updating your resume, start working on your creative skills, make your Second Life avatar and practice walking, flying and shaking hands in this vast virtual parallel universe.

Expectations Breed Disappointments

Just to illustrate my point, I would like to request you to make a mental note of the last three times you were disappointed. Out of these three moments, was any one (or all) of them because you were disappointed that your expectations weren't met? For intance...

• That movie was such a disappointment, although the previews looked snazzy.
• I was waiting for her call all day.
• The entree I ordered looked so delicious in the photo, but the taste is so flat.
• I expected him to propose, he broke up instead.
• I expected an outstanding appraisal and a raise for all my hard work.

The list could go on and on...

I reckon our letdowns are, for the most part, the result of expectations. We are, after all, the Kings and Queens in our own worlds. A whoosh of the magic wand and the world must sing our tune. We wish, we assume, we anticipate that events to go by our feelings and people take to our way of thinking. Alas, this doesn't always happen.

Invariably we end up building a great deal into our imagination or emotions and when things don't work out we feel let down, cheated or just plain ol' sad. Sometimes we take it to heart and it takes days or weeks to get over it; sometimes a tub of ice-cream will suffice; and yet other times just a wave of the hand is enough to forget about the episode. Whatever the intensity or ramification, we do experience the pang, even if it is for a few moments.

In that case, how can we avoid it, knowing full well that it is us, our minds, our conscience that is partly responsible for it. Must we try and avoid looking forward to anything and anyone, for fear of disappointment? Can we cure disappointments by taking an anti-expectation pill?

Wishful thinking is always encouraged, however the mind has no boundaries. Our thoughts can race faster than the speed of light and can travel in perpetuity across the universe. As humans, we are gifted with emotions such as anticipation, contemplation and purpose, to curb this means to domesticate the energy, which, as we know it, is brimming with potential. To put it simply, life would be dull without expectations.

Quite a conundrum, isn't it?

The Road Not Taken

This famous Robert Frost poem has been one of the most analyzed, quoted, anthologized poems in American poetry. I read it for the first time in school and would like to quote it here.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Since I've just been dabbling in English Literature I would not do justice to the poem if I try to analyze it. However, I would like to quote an analysis about this poem in my post.

"Robert Frost, in this poem, has been out walking the woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down each one as he can see. He would like to try out both, but doubts he could to that, so therefore he continues to look down the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which road to take. The second one that he took seems less traveled, but as he thinks about it, he realizes that they were “really about the same.” This poem says that choice is inevitable but you never know what your choice will mean until you have lived it."

Our Choices

We all are faced with innumerable choices in life, no matter where we are or what we are doing, no one over the age of 15 is exempt of making a choice for himself or herself. Here I am talking about the life-altering decisions. The decisions where you choose fries versus mashed potato for your side dish unfortunately do not qualify. However difficult or unreasonable these choices seem, inescapably we have to choose one, in spite of poor visibility of its consequences into the future.

So, how do we decide? Just like Frost had little cognizance of the nature of the roads beyond what he could see from the point where he was standing, we too can only contemplate and make assumptions as to the outcome of our decisions. With just this much in hand, how do we make the right choice?

It is indeed a gamble of sorts. The only difference being that it is not a matter of money at the roulette wheel this time, it is our life at stake. Well, ummm... no pressure there! It is only after such an analysis that one tends to scrutinize one's decisions, without which all seemed fine and dandy. Right? Wrong.

There are decisions which are strongly ingrained as the "perfect" choices and no matter what you could never go wrong. However, one often tends to question the decisions and motives even after making it and taking the step. It is simply human nature at play. There are decisions which tend can make you falter, which can make you question your faith and even change your outlook toward life after the consequences.

It is the deadly "if only..." phrase that I am talking about.

If only had I done this sooner...

If only I hadn't chosen this path...

If only I had gone the other way...

In retrospection, it is wise to realise one's mistakes and learn from them. But there has to be a line drawn here. Every decision cannot be catagorized as a "mistake". One must learn to move on, accept the consequence and take things from there. It is this act of acceptance and deliberate action that adds on to one's character. It is the maturity gained from such experiences that people see through our personality, that people may come to respect.

Sometimes I like to embrace the optimist inside of me and try not to take life too seriously. I strongly, very very strongly believe in this phrase :

Whatever happens, Happens for the Best

Even though we may not know it at that time

I literally live by it, never regretting my past decisions, confident to take on new choices, following my heart, heeding my mind, with a sense of adventure and ofcourse a smile.