Assalamu'alaikum....

My life.. when it's boring, nothing happens. Nothing. When it gets interesting, it got to be a little too interesting for my liking. Take for example, my Evaluation of Systems class. See, I LOVE that class. Before this, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. But now I know. I'm not that good at designing from scratch, however, I AM good at figuring out when something is easy to use, or when something needs to be fixed. I love learning and reading about Gestalt principles, usability testing, cognitive psychology...... these are the things that really makes sense to me.

Okay, so I just said I love the class. However, we were assigned a group to work with on an evaluation project, and I wasn't liking the issues that was happening in the group (the fights, arguments, blame... let's just say things weren't going well). As much as I would love to rant and go into details, I'm not gonna. Simply because I don't want a written proof that I just went off on a specific person/people. I'm not gonna embarrass him/her/them like that. Of course, I also don't wanna get sued down the road after I become famous (how will I be famous? Dunno, haven't thought that far yet. )

I am, however, going to generalize. I have too much anger to just let it sit and simmer. Hypocrisy, no matter how much all of us try to avoid it or deny it, lives in all of us. And yes, I do mean all. Try and count the times that you have said one thing then did the total opposite, or when you criticize someone for doing something but then found yourself doing the exact same thing. I know I've done it, and I've seen all of my friends do it, too (how do you suppose people find topics to gossip about?). Now while hypocrasy is a universal trait, there's a diference between that and being a full-blown hypocrite. A hypocrite doesn't recognize he/she is a hypocrite. Hypocrites tend to impose their opinions on others. Worse of all, what they say tend to hurt and in some cases, have a long lasting effect. And in my experience, hypocrites also tend to be able to talk their way out of a lot of things, or make it seem like what they say or do is totally right and in reality, it's not.

Certain things, you just shouldn't do. You shouldn't make jokes that hurt feelings (then try to pass it off as "he/she's too sensitive"). You shouldn't embarrass people in public. You shouldn't steal. You shouldn't discard people's ideas all the time in favor of our own. You don't gang up on people and then pretend that it's okay, it was "for their own good". You don't attack a person when their down. You don't impose opinions on others. You don't pretend you're doing work when you're not. These are some of the stuff that all of us shouldn't do, we know this; yet one time or another, we caught ourselves red-handed doing one of these Unforgivables, and the only way to make things better is to repent and apologize if you had hurt somebody.

Sometimes even that doesn't work. Although I try not to let it consume me, I still find myself getting angry time and again over a mean word a friend said, or a mean thing someone did, or being bullied in school. The thing that calms me down is to remember that most of them don't mean to be cruel, and to also remember that somewhere out there someone else might still be hurting over what I did, too. Of course, that doesn't stop me from breaking friendships whenever I feel like I couldn't take it anymore (it's a vice of mine, not good, I know. I'm not the best role model LoL).

Sometimes when things don't work, it's better to part ways. And that's exactly what happened to my class poject group. Some of the group members had to split ways with others so that the yelling would stop and the work could be done. It's not the most ideal situation, but at least it's a step to a better direction. You can't treat people poorly and not expect repercussions. There are times to pick battles, and there are times to just shut up. There are ways to get around annoyances without airing out your (and our) problems in public. People aren't meant to be perfect, that's a given. But we are given the choice to not appear as jackasses. So why choose to be one?

At least the group issues are pretty much resolved. And I learned an important lesson: to not be afraid to admit when a situation isn't working. I thought I learned that some time ago, guess this was a "refresher" course then. If it doesn't work, and you've given it your best shot, then it just doesn't work.

I'm starting to babble, and I need to pee really bad, so I'm just gonna sign off now. Ciao!