Random blurbs

It has been so long since I actually wrote something. I don’t know why, I stopped writing. I used to write a lot. But now I just don’t feel like writing. Scribbling used to be fun for me, while now it looks like a chore. I think it might be because I have been quite happy lately. There have been no conflicts of thoughts inside me. For once I am happy with what I got. And not worried about what will happen.

I have always been quite a boring guy. I have no filter between my brain and my mouth. I just blurt out stupid things. I am no good in sports (of any sort), my signature carom shot: The striker goes across the board missing every possible coin. I feel sufficiently Ninja anytime I can take out the bottom piece of clothing from a stacked pile. I’ll often type a caustic reply to someone and then think, “Eh! Does such latent stupidity deserve such credit? And... Delete reply”. On principle, I never shake hands with a guy who says that he has a lot of time on his hands. I am one of those guys who usually go out in a torn sweatshirt and reduce the resale value of houses in society by 10%. I am that guy in a tense hospital situation who makes an inappropriate joke. I am always that guy. Not because I am an asshole. But because I genuinely don’t think I can say anything to change anything. I would just be more comfortable in a lighter moment. I love wordplay’s and use them so much that others perceive me as retarded. I think I am actually going to start smoking because I am not okay with the idea of someone else’s smoke killing me. 

Considering how lazy I am in the afternoon, u guys should consider yourself lucky that I make all my world domination plans at that time. I grasped Venn diagrams when a hormonal schoolmate explained, “the two circles are breasts, and the common is cleavage.” Mr Venn died that day. Nothing annoys me more than the Facebook orkutiyas adding and re-adding after you have ignored their advances. I think that if you can’t hold your drink, don’t drink. Slurring is not endearing. (In case of physical inability to hold drink, please check arms.) I always wonder how does one even make up their mind to become a proctologist for a career? Or an enema operator? 

I have costophobia, the fear of high prices. Every time I watch Spiderman 3, I have to double-check IMDB to make sure that it didn’t have the same writers as Double Dhamaal. If they had shown me the trailer of my life before I was born, I would have refused to take birth after knowing that it’ll be in 3D. I hope Jesus didn’t seriously die for *my* sins. If he did so, he did it in vain. I pay for my fuckups every day of my life. I’m thinking so far outside the box that I’ve began to question the box’s existence. I get physically uncomfortable when I have un-watched TV shows on my Hard Drive. I want to have a friend called Titiksha so that I can say, “Hey Tits what’s up”. And I don’t understand what’s everyone’s problem with death penalty is. I’m all for death penalty. Might make football bit more interesting. And Someday, just someday, I’ll find out why people use their fingertips to fan themselves. 

I have only a few moods. Flirty. Sarcastic. And sarcastically flirty. Sometimes if I don’t want to meet you on a Sunday, it may mean pure laziness, not dislike. Sleep > Everything Else. I always wonder if you take only a puff of ganja, will you be only pebbled. The voices in my head now have British accents.

That’s the way I have always been. I am shy and I am afraid of new people and I don’t have a clue if you like me. Come say Hi. So that I’ll know there’s nothing to be afraid of.

5 Things You Should Know About People

(Well this is copied from somewhere. I liked it so thought to share.)

1. People want to be loved. Whether it’s by their family, friends or a lover, we just want someone to make us feel safe and important. Otherwise, we’ll feel like we’re broken in some way. We’ll blame ourselves for being alone when everyone else seems to be with someone. We want human touch, we want “I love you”‘s, we want to come home after work to someone we can eat dinner with. We need to feel worth it, we need to feel special, we need a place to go to for Christmas.
2. People want to fuck. This is different than wanting to be loved. The desire to have sex with another person exists in an entirely different part of your brain and people will spend obscene amounts of money to ensure that they have sex with someone. No, I’m not talking about prostitutes (hey girl hey!), I’m talking about your gym membership, your expensive haircut, your new jeans that make your ass look really great. These are all things we do in order to be perceived as desirable. We then go on dates and spend so much money on someone to increase our chances of getting laid. “If I buy you the lobster, you’re letting me do things to you tonight.” These are exchanges that are universally understood. In a way, we’re all whores when it comes to sex. Some people just ask for the cash upfront.
3. People have their own shit to work through. This seems fairly obvious but when you really think about what it actually means, it should flood you with a sense of relief. Your asshole boss is a nightmare but maybe they hate themselves or their mom drinks too much or they haven’t been on a date in five years. Whenever someone comes across as truly difficult, I try to think about what kinds of stuff they’re dealing with. Chances are they’ve been up emotional shit creek without paddle. That makes their acid tongue more bearable.
4. People often hurt themselves the most. This is a difficult and sad concept to grasp. But whether it’s through addictions, dating the same jerk over and over or not realizing that we’re great, we are often the root of our problems. People like to play the blame game and scapegoat their issues on to something else like their childhood and parents. While that’s all very understandable, there must come a point in everyone’s life when we have to take ownership and realize we have the power to change things. It’s like we spend so much time avoiding ourselves and then when we finally acknowledge it, we’re like, “Oh, okay. Now, I know how to fix things!” We’re all fucking crazy. Don’t beat yourself up about it. I know everyone wants to appear well-adjusted but we’re all just silently losing our shit.
5. Secretly we all just want the simple things, which is health, happiness, and love. Tell that to a twenty-something hipster and they’ll be like, “Um, no. I want the new Phillip Lim collection and my own column in Nylon!” And maybe in that moment, they really do want that, but they also would just give it up to be loved and be happy. This might be embarrassing to admit but it seems to be overwhelmingly true. Would you give up all the static for a warm house in the country with your # 1 babe? Maybe not, but as you get older, you will become less fulfilled by the distractions and the noise and the power lunches and the boring conversations and the parties. There’ll be a point when you’re done being surrounded by everybody and just want to have a few somebodies.

By Ryan O'Connell

Is Urban Sprawl the right prescription for Urban growth?

Nowadays people talk about urban sprawl in such a way that probably indicates that it's not s­uch a desirable thing. They refer urban sprawl as a cancer... but is it really a cancer?? Otherwise they would have given it a better name, like, Urban Utopia or something. Maybe just urban living. Or when I was growing up, it was suburbia. Now it's urban sprawl. But is it really a counter-productive thing???

Depending on who you ask, urban sprawl is either the best thing that ever happened to growing cities -- or the downfall of civilization and environment as we know it. Though it has many definitions, urban sprawl is most simply defined as "the spreading out of a city and its suburbs over more and more rural land at the periphery". In other words, sprawl happens when people abandon cities in favour of the suburbs.

Joni Mitchell waxed philosophical in her hit song "Big Yellow Taxi" when she sang: "Don't it always seem to go/that you don't know what you've got till it's gone/They paved paradise/And put up a parking lot." To many, these lyrics are exactly what urban sprawl represents -- the desecration of untold hectares of farmland fuelled by capitalist ideals. However, to others, urban sprawl allows families to grab their own piece of the Dream. So who exactly is right? Advocates of sprawl will tell you that sprawl also allows the opportunity to escape crowded cities that often have higher crime rates. The opposition counters that the impact of sprawl is far-reaching, causing serious air pollution, ruining animal habitats and drastically reducing green space, among other issues.

Those opposed to urban sprawl advocate controlling the problem by building high-density urban areas -- in other words, accommodating more people per square km in buildings that grow up, rather than spreading out. This would spare the outlying rural areas from what is often deemed unnecessary development.

Unfortunately, this type of planning doesn't take into account lifestyle preferences. Many people simply don't like the crowds, traffic and confined living quarters that typically characterize urban living.

Also, it's no secret that homes closer to most urban areas are usually more expensive than homes farther out in the suburbs. Simply put, it's easier to own your home out in the suburbs.

Low-density developments do take up space and may increase driving time. However, they have an important argument in their favour: People like them. Low density means more room and a higher standard of living. While every city has apartments available for those who prefer them, many people choose their own detached homes

Not all communities offer a full plate of amenities, but in those new planned communities that do, the occupants can take advantage of a full plate of recreational opportunities without driving long distances to participate in community activities. Homes built on land outside of urban areas are often better valued than homes in cities because the land cost can be significantly lower. Former farmland or vacant land is far less expensive than land in established areas.

Despite widespread anti-sprawl sentiments, urban sprawls have their own benefits. A reduced housing cost in sprawls is believed to have provided minorities and recent immigrants better housing opportunities.

In addition, better schools in terms of area are often available in the suburbs. People with school-age children find that smaller, less crowded schools with better facilities are preferable to schools in the city. Because schools can have better set of activities in the suburbs.

Crime rates tend to be lower in the suburbs than in urban areas, providing further incentive for families to shift there.

The cost of a house with a garden in the suburbs is often less than the cost of a quality apartment in the city.

It provides a Sense of Community. An individual in a city can often feel lost in the crowd, while living in a less densely populated area can offer more of a sense of belonging to a community.

As rooftops are built, new retail centres springing up providing a way of employment to many people. Not only that, but the barren land outside the cities used for new industries also provide employment to many people.

Low density is likely to help the environment. Gardens filled with trees and shrubs absorb dust and chemicals, so smaller amounts of pollutants escape into the air and water. In contrast, in dense urban areas buildings, roads, and parking lots take up a higher percentage of the land, leaving little for the natural environment to absorb pollutants.

Although the pros of urban sprawl may be less numerous than the cons, it's hard to qualify which factors outweigh one another. And clearly the advantages of suburban development are pretty substantial, considering its popularity and the continuing influx of people migrating to the suburbs.

Urban sprawl is the later stage of urbanization and is an inevitable phenomenon. Just like every other process urban sprawl has its own pros and cons. However, the negative aspects of urban sprawls can be minimised by monitoring their growth in a planned way, so that they do not become a liability either to the society, economy or the environment.