Saturday, November 19, 2011

The past never comes back....

Very often, we tend to regret our past and wish we could go back and change things....

Or maybe we want to go back at some point in time in life where we were happy or relive a moment that we really enjoyed.  But folks....unfortunately the past never comes back...what's gone is gone...


(Photo taken from: My life, my thoughts.)

Some time back... my family was going through a very difficult phase in life.  One member of the family was far away from us, despite being in the country.  That person who is dear to us was going through one of the worst moment in her life.  Since we are all very close to each other, we could not see her suffer alone.  At times we wished life was just like before....just before this one member left the house...  It was then that I really understood that we cannot go back to the past...

Every single moment spent in life never comes back.  Similar situations may arise, you may get to spend almost the same scenario with almost the same people but things are never the same.  By understanding this fact, I think I grew up a little more in maturity...ok ok am not trying to show am more mature than anyone.  It is simply that I had to learn a lot of things in life by the harder way...

One should never dwell in the past.  So we simply need to move ahead in life.  The only best thing that one can do is to simply learn from the past experiences and avoid making the same mistakes.  As for the best moments from the past...well cherish them and try to live life with your loved ones and make the present worth it.  

And not to forget:  every single moment wasted uselessly today will never come back again tomorrow....

So folks,

 - Do not keep regrets
 - Do not waste your time on wish I did this or that
 - Make the most of this beautiful gift god bestowed us: Life

On this note, I will sign off

Loads of Love

Mina

P.s: Thanks Mark for sharing such beautiful thoughts with us on: My life, my thoughts

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Inspirations....

Recently, I have noticed that there is a new trend going on Facebook 
(Or is it that I am the one who never noticed before?)

Since quite some time I saw my friends sharing beautiful and inspiring pictures on Facebook.  Of course I shared a few too and been to the pages from where they originally comes.  

Some of these pictures really reflect the truth while some really touch some strings in the heart.....  As a comeback, I wanted to share some pictures through which I've come across lately and here they are:



There are also some that come with some interesting and inspiring quotes.  Some of my favs are as follows:


From personal experience, I can say that indeed, at times, you have to fall to be made stronger....

The below 2 made me laugh at first....yeah, i really laughed but it's so true!  As times through the journey of life, we meet so many people.  Some leave some sweet memories while others....well we simply wish we never met them at all!  But yet, am sure we did learn something from them!



The below defines love and beauty...simply beautiful lines:





The below is so true.  What's gone is gone....we can't go back to the past but we should never lose hope.  We can always start as from now and look ahead :)


Well, here you are....a few pics that really touched me.

Courtesy: Beautuiful thoughts; Deep life quotes, Positive Vibrations; The Secrets of The SeaMy life, my thoughts.

You can visit these pages when you are on FB.  I hope I have not missed any....I will be back in a moment to update the list :)

Till then,

Take care

Mina

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Mina is back....

Hi there...

It's been quite some time since I last logged in here...I missed writing, though I don't do it too well or too often.

These past weeks was very hectic - in terms of work and my personal life.  At times, I want to come and drop a few words or simply share some stuffs that inspire me.  But when I come home, as usual I am too tired to do anything...yeah, that's me!!!!

Well, during the time I was away, there have been quite a few changes here on blogger....I will have to go through the changes and see how far it's more interesting ;)

So... let me go and find something to write about before I start to rust again....that's how I felt lately....

Anyway, the few of you who read it here...keep coming and do comment on the posts....this is a way for me to get more inspiration to write :)

See you guys soon

Love

Mina

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Here I am....

Hey there....

It's been quite a long time since I last posted something here :(

Well, I've observed lately that I feel so tired when I get back home that I don't even open my laptop.  The weekends often get busy or I feel so lazy that I rather lay on the bed and watch TV.

However, I always think about what I want to write about...as usual the ideas fuse but the moment I sit down to write, I completely forget.

Well...actually, I came online to look for info about Shammi Kapoorji's death.  I heard about it on the radio earlier on and wanted to find out more.

This morning itself I woke up at 5 am and could not find some sleep, so I put the TV on and there was an old movie showing on Zee Cinema : Prem Rog.  Shammiji was in the movie and I was wondering how is he?  I know he was sick since a long time.  But I never thought that I would hear about his death on the same day....:(  I feel a bit sad... May his soul rest in peace.

Life is so unpredictable.  we have to make the most of it...

Well, on this note, I will end up here and promise to write more soon

With loads of love

Mina

Saturday, July 9, 2011

What does it cost to smile???

Smile


A smile is a facial expression formed by flexing the muscles near both ends of the mouthAmong humans, it is an expression denoting pleasurejoyhappiness, or amusement, but can also be an involuntary expression of anxiety, in which case it is known as a grimace. Smiling is something that is understood by everyone despite culture, race, or religion; it is internationally known
(souce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile)

One morning I was going to work and as usual I was listening to my music with a very strict looking facial expression.  I was sitting on the back seat and at one moment I was looking on my right side at a building on the road.  A teen, who was at the other end of the seats saw me looking her way and she gave me a smile.  I smiled back and then looked away.

In that little moment, I was rushed back to the days I was in college or at university.  Back then it was so easy to smile to a complete stranger with whom you exchanged looks for a very brief moment.  Where are the smiles now?

We Mauritians are very known for our smile among tourists.  Well at least that was what I've learned during my studies or when I was younger.  Some tourists whom I met did tell me that the first thing that they noticed upon arriving in Mauritius was the smile!  A genuine one if I go by they way they were amazed.

So what happened?  Is it me who changed?  Am I the one who does not smile anymore?  Or is it that we are so stressed and engrossed with our daily problems that we forgot the little smiles that I used to see whenever I crossed the look of a person?

Did it happen to you?  Were you used to give a little smile to a stranger?  Does it happen to you even today?

Since that day I try to give a smile to people I come across but I often get stares!!!!

Anyway, life is so short and we all have our own problems to face, whatever their nature but try to SMILE even if the person is a stranger....It does not cost anything to laugh.  As mentioned in the quote, it only needs some flexing of the muscles at both ends of the mouth :)  But to be noted that the smile should be genuine and a warm one!  A smile that you really want to share with someone else.  Who knows that may make the day of someone???

So....

Keep smiling!!!



Smilingly yours....

Mina

A little update...

Hello!!!!

Am I back???  I hope :)

Well, actually, it's been a long time I have not posted anything.  I was busy with work during the weekdays and when weekends came I was sick. Yeah the flu has a perfect timing!!!

As usual when I travel (in the bus of course...lol) I have a lot of ideas that fuse in my mind.  But since I do not write them down, I forget all my ideas the moment I step down the bus.

Anyway, this one is going to be a short one.  Just wanted to leave a note that I am still in business.  I am simply not online very often....or maybe I should admit I am not that inspired these days....blame it on being tired and sick pfffttt... To be frank, I hate winters....since I spend most of it either freezing (though winters in Mauritius is far from european winters or canadian winters for instance) or am sick with a flu that does not want to leave me...ughhhh

Well, that's all for a reminder than Mina is not  going away from blogging :D

Till then,

Take care my dears

Love  Mina

Sunday, June 26, 2011

One fine Sunday....

This morning when I woke up...I looked out of my room's window and was amazed with the beautiful weather outside.

Unfortunately, we had nothing planned for the day and definitely no plans to go out.  I just said to myself... what a waste!  By midday after lunch, I had to go to the Eye Hospital since my eyes have been itching since last night.  Ok...I DID go out finally...yeah but it's nothing like going out with the family to have some fun...huh

When I got home, I wanted to rest a bit since as usual, there's a big week ahead at work.  All of a sudden, dad who was repairing the car calls me and asks if my devilish angel is sleeping... I got curious and asked why?  Actually, the family friend who is even more than family to us and who looks after my angel during the day were going to an health expo stuff at the SVICC.  SVICC????  Oh yeah - Swami Vivekananda International Conference Centre...  and they wanted to take devilish angel along.

Now now now...I tried my luck and asked if I could go along.  And...since I was somewhat lucky today...they said yes!!!!  Here was my chance to finaly go out!  Since angel was sleeping...I woke him up...got him ready, got ready myself and off we went to SVICC.

Well, there were loads of ppl there...to say the truth a nightmare for me.  But at the same time the fair was interesting since we got some interesting information about new tech in health sector, usual info about how to lose weight etc etc.  But on the whole, very informative...

Afterwards we headed to caudan waterfront for some diner.  Gosh, Angel was sooooooooooooo happy to run around!  There were loads of kids there with their families and Angel was having great fun to be sooooo devilish and playing with the kids.  So thank you to the family friend and his family for that great moment with my angel :D

Just wanted to share this special moment with you

Loads of love

Mina

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Did it really happen????

I often say that life is full of ups and downs.

Life is full of suprises...some bad and some good.  Don't worry, this post is not about another lesson about life, how beautiful it is or how hard it can be.  I simply want to share one particular day in my life when I realised that life is simply like a very thin invisible thread that my break any moment...

Well, this little chapter of my life happened in August 2008.  It was on the engagement day of my sister.  Since back then I was not working, I helped my parents and sister to prepare her engagement celebrations.  I remember I was tired as hell till the very last minute before something horrible happened to me and that really forced me to think how within a moment your world can change...or the world of your dear ones rather can take a blow...

So coming to the engagement.  It was one fine ceremony and in the evening we had a dinner for all those who helped and those close to the family.  I remember attending to my guests and then at the end I sat to have my dinner with my sisters in law.  Even then from time to time I had to leave the table running here and there since everyone was calling for me: Mina where is this, Mina where is that, Mina can you give me that, Mina we are leaving (and here I had to run inside the house to get them a piece of the cake and snacks we prepared - it's not that they asked for it but I like to share :D)

So in the end, when everybody left, I cleaned a bit, took my bath and then went directly to my bed.  I threw myself as I could on the bed with the idea to just lie down a bit and then change and get my bed ready for a good night's sleep....afterwards...oblivion!!!!

At one moment, I remember waking up and suffocating! (Actually I have asthma and I was having an attack but was so tired to even realise it).  So I started coughing, fighting to breathe and silently praying for this torture to stop.  My dad came to help me.  He gave me my inhaler...of no use!  He gave me little taps on my back...still of no help.  I kept yelling dad am dying...am dying.  

I was trying to fight the attack but in vain and at one point i just said better let it go since I could do nothing against it.  Then I just gave up and started to leave...yeah as in dying!  My dad was holding me and the only thing I heard then was his voice full of panick, fear and tears calling my mom and telling her my child is going...my child is dying!

That was it!  God only knows from where I got the courage to fight....fight for my life.  A few minutes later I was able to breathe again and I could calm down a bit.  No need to say that both me and dad were crying and I could not stop my tears.  Then dad and mom took me to the hospital where I had to take the nebuliser.

I owe my life to my dad...euhhh yeah he is partly responsible for me being on earth...no wonder! 

But on that day, had it not been for my dad's voice full of pain and fear, I would not be here posting on this blog.  I was traumatised for a few weeks afterwards and I was scared to sleep at night.

We can say that it was just a fraction of second between the moment I could feel it's my end and the moment I heard my dad's voice.  For those who have this asthma problem may agree with me that it is one hell of a moment when you get an attack...a severe one...

I should say Thanks Dad!!!  

Some may ask where was my mom?  Well, mom has some health problem and was in her room.  Normally when I have an attack, dad handles it and when it gets worse moms comes to see me.  On that day mom was not feeling well and was so tired.  She was taking her meds when it all happened (i dnt want people to say why my mom was not there!!!).

Anyway...for me it was a near death experience.  

So live life as if it's the last one...

God bless

Love

Mina



Sunday, June 12, 2011

Back to business

Hey there!!

Am back after quite some time ... err yeah I've not given up on blogging yet :D

It's been a very hectic week at work.  When I come back home am very tired but when I go to bed I cannot find any sleep...that makes me even more grunchy and my inspirations does not want to come anywhere near me!!!

Anyway...since some time I've wanted to post a few stuffs and hope by this evening I will be back to share something :)

Till then,

Loads of love

Mina

Saturday, June 4, 2011

A day out with boubou...

Finally Saturday!

The bliss....errr not really...

Anyway, you may ask who is BOUBOU?

Well, boubou is someone real special.  Oh no, he's not my pet! Don't even dare to think that boubou is a pet...his mom would kill me.  Actually, am talking about my devilish angel!!!

So this morning when I woke up, my sis and I decided that we should start buying his stuffs for school!  Finance is a bit scarce so I want to start preparing so that he is ready when time comes.  So we decided to go to Port Louis and look for his bag to start with.  (I guess it was rather a pretext to go out with him).

So we decided to go by bus.  If you would ask me, since I've started to drive I prefer the car.  But parking in the capital is a real headache and at times it's cheaper to go by bus than by car.

So off we went with my boubou and his mom.  It's a real pleasure to be with my angel!

Oh kids! How they are amazed when travelling by bus (I used to be like that too!!!).  It's always an adventure for them.  Even boubou was very happy.  These days am trying to get him learn the names of vehicles.  Some in english, french or even creole.  So whenever he would see another bus, a car, a van or even a truck he would point it out to me or to his mom.  Whenever the bus driver would brake abruptly, he would get angry at the driver and complain to us and whenever we were stuck in traffic, he would not be happy and complain too.  But most of all, he would look at the scenery and glad to see what our little island has to offer to him (with all these road works going on...bah)

Once we reached Port Louis and got off the bus, he wouldn't want to walk at all.  But then he behaved like a big boy and walked all the way where we would drag him.  We even went to caudan waterfront to have lunch.  He was more attracted to the sea than anything else.

It was one of those memorable days that I get to spend with my angel. (sighhh )

And why boubou?

Actually when he was a baby, he used to kinda pout his mouth to form an 'O'.  As he was growing up, when he went for his vaccinations or when he was sick, he would use to make a sound like: 'booooo' - Oh no need to tell you that my heart break to pieces when I heard him doing that sound.

Moving on...when he grew up some more and started to learn words, one of the 1st words he grasped was bou bou (meaning that he's been harmed, or not feeling well etc).  So the bad habit that I have to pick up words and make up a nick name for someone, I started to call him boubou

Anyway, to sum up, I had a great day with my boubou and sister.  My angel was a bit devilish at times but let's say he loves his mawssi (meaning aunty).

Unfortunately I cannot post any of his pictures.  For the time being his mommy hasn't given me the permission and I understand her.  Maybe someday I will be able to show you my little darling DEVILISH ANGEL!

Till then

Loads of love

Mina

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Ascension Day 2011

I was about to log off when a question just came to my mind: What is being celebrated in France today.

So I googled "French public holidays 2011".  I picked a website add displayed and found out that it is Ascension Day.  Uhhh  I know this has something to do with religion.  So I decided to find out more.  Again I googled and finally found out the following:

"Ascension Day (Ascension) marks the day that Jesus ascended to heaven following his crucifixion and resurrection, according to Christian belief. It is the 40th day of Easter and is ten days before Pentecost Sunday. It is a public holiday in France"

It was a good idea to find out.  At least I learned something today...  Just imagin someone asking me why it is a public holiday in France?  What a shame if I could not answer that!

Anyway, just wanted to share it with you :)

Ps: Lately I've grown the habit to google whatever or whoever comes to my mind! It pays most of the time and am updated on loads of things even if 5 mins later I forget everything again!  That's me!!!!!!

One day off...

Hey there!

Finally I could find some time to write a post.  Ok, this is going to be a real small post.

So, as I said last night, today's my day off from work.  It's a bit weird when you are off at home and half the household is at work - dad and my sis by the way.  So when I woke up mom asked me: "where are you taking me today?"  Aaahhh....umm actually I wanted to sleep whole day.  But since mom asked me this question just like a little girl would ask her mommy where are we going...I couldn't tell her what was really on my mind.

So off I went to do a few household chores left for me after breakfast, took my bath, got my angel nephew and mom ready and off we went to the nearest hypermarket.  Actually, I had to pay my monthly installment for the fridge and mobile phone.  Since the credit company has a counter at the hypermarket and I had a few stuffs to buy as well... it was easier for me to get things done properly.  After that we went to buy food (KFC) and we were supposed to head to the beach.

But mom got a little prob - toilet prob (shhhh....).  Mom does not like to pee in public toilets.  So we headed home so that she could relieve herself.  By then we were so hungry that we took our lunch at home itself.

After that we headed to the beach, parked on the parking lot and had a little snack.  My little angel was real excited on seeing school kids on pic nic. He is really attracted to kids!  Then we came back home, took a little rest, I prepared some tea as dad came home.  I cooked part of the dinner and when my sis came back, we had our dinner.  I am now in my room, watching tv and blogging.

So this is one typical off day...not all are same but this one was a nice one :)

Signing off with loads of love

Mina

P.s: maybe will come back later if I get inspired or will post during the week end :)

Oh my my...

What a week!

And there are 2 more days to go!

My week started very badly!  Since Sunday I was not feeling too well: Running nose, body aching and I knew I would be sick :(  When I got back home from work on Monday...GOD I was in one of those bad state with high fever and all.  I took the meds and went to bed.

On the next day, I had an appointment and took 2 hrs permission in  the morning.  When I woke up I thought I would never make it to the appointment and then go to work.  But in the end, I was able to attend both. Great!  My whole body was aching..heck

Fortunately, after a good night sleep and a real miraculous med, I was almost fit this morning as if the fever was a bad dream!  Yeah!  I was all the very fit!  I know I would have a very busy day at work but never imagined it would be THAT busy!  Ok...tough day!  But I am glad I could make it through.

Tomorrow is a french public holiday and am off...errr you may wonder why I would be off when I live in Mauritius?  Umm actually, we work for the french market...company is a french owned company if I can say so :)  I have not planned anything for the day...coz whenever I planned my day it was a complete flop.  So will take the day as it comes and try to make the most of it.

Then Friday back to work and it's gonna be another hell of a day....I can feel it!

On top of everything else, we got the confirmation that a colleague of ours has resigned.  The dept will be restructured and maybe a new person will join eventually.Anyway...will see what happens later.

I was just reading the blog post of someone I know personally.  Wow, she's damn good but unfortunately she stopped blogging.  I may not have many followers on my blog and don't know how to get people coming and reading my posts (at times I have a feeling it's real dull here...) and at least advise me on how I can improve.  Gee...I know only one person who may be visits regularly...Miss S but apart from that....duh!  Anyway, I won't give up.  I'll write as long as am inspired to do so and I feel like sharing.

Hope tomorrow I get some time to write something else it's going to be on Friday night or during the week end.

Till then

Take care

Love

Mina

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Some future posts

Very often when I am in the bus or when I am at work (to be noted, whenever I cannot access my blog pfft) that IDEAS fuse in my head.

But the moment I come back home, after a long day of work, as if every ideas have vanished and as much as I would try to remember: nothing!!!!

So this post is rather a kind of reminder for me.  I will jot down a few ideas that are coming to my mind right now (or even later ) and I will do my best to write something about these during the coming month. Aha...a real challenge huh?  Actually, during week days am dead tired and during week ends....am dead tired as well.  More and more am lacking inspiration but yet I want to develop my writings.

Ok, I admit that the previous craps written by me was in situation of extreme fatigue.  I was almost drooping to sleep...

Oh yes, coming back to my points:


  • Oggy - a tribute to my late oggy
  • Am addicted to.... - food, tv shows, etc
  • My inspirations - people who inspire me
(So far that's all that is coming to my mind.  As and when I get ideas, I will jot them here and once they are done, I will change the font colour)

So for the time being, I'll sign off...unless before going to bed I get some more ideas

Love 

Mina~


Friendship, a myth or reality?

Today I received a surprise visit from a blogger and then I found out that LBS was organising a tea party. (more details on: http://www.theladybloggers.com/).  So to make it short, you have to visit 2 blogs, comment on their recent posts and then come back to LBS and tell why you chose them etc.

So while going through the list of bloggers I came across the blog of one nice lady.  She posted a picture of her and her friends.  That was so cute.  I even commented on her post.  While doing so, I was thinking that I am so unfortunate not to have what is commonly called Best friends!

It's not that I am a loner.  I love to make friends.  Since childhood I have been very shy.  It's always been like that.  Even now I am like this and cannot make long conversations be it with guys or girls.  (Oww...).  So, when I went to uni, I was indeed very shy but got along with 3 other girls.  In the end the group split and with time I discovered how people could be hypocrites.

However at uni, there were a few people whom I could call friends.  There were a bunch of them and the fingers on my one hand are more than enough to count them, hehe.  Unfortunately, once uni was over, everyone got busy in their respective lives.  One got married and is now a happy mom of 2 cute bambinos and the other one...well we used to call him the DODO...he actually disappeared like the DODO.  Only after quite some time we met again on FB.  By the way, the DODO for those who are not aware was a bird found in Mauritius long long long ago.  When the Dutch arrived on the island, the dodo was so good to eat that the Dutch forgot to leave a few specimen alive for future generations.  Yeah it's extinct now and one of our national symbol if I can say so.

Yeah so coming to friendship.  So afterwards I did not meet my friends and have been in contact with some via Facebook or the phone.  From there on, I have met a lot of people, became friends and then lost contact.  Would that be considered to be friendship?  Isn't it supposed to be that friends should be in contact?

I won't say it's their fault.  Nor will I say it's my fault.  Some as I mentioned earlier, got busy in their lives, they moved on, found their life partner, met new people and started to build new circle.  On my side, I too moved on, met new people but could never build a new circle of friends.  At some point in time, I was going through a very bad phase of my life where I closed myself up.  At that time, I could not ask my friends for help and back then I doubted there would be anyone who would say hold on Mina, am here.

When I think of all this, I wonder if friendship is a reality or a myth?  Ok, maybe am exaggerating.  I know many people who have very good friends, who keep in touch very often and even hang out together from time to time.  But unfortunately I do not have such a chance.

Circumstances brought me to a point where I wonder if ever I will have a real best friend?

Mina

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Turning 30

Born in 1981, on the 12th May 2011 at exactly 2.50 pm I turned 30. (Duh!!!!)

Since the beginning of this year, I was depressed every time someone would tell me how old will you be this year or one of my relatives would tell me: Mina it's high time you get married, you are turning 30!!!

On each birthday, when I would complain about my age, mom would tell me that I should be happy that I lived so long.  Huh...in one way she's right.  Nowadays the number of young people dying in road accidents, from diseases etc...it's scary indeed!

So what's special in turning 30??  Frankly?  I don't know!

At times when I think about it, I have a feeling that I am moving up to another era of one's life.  Sounds funny?  Uhhh simply am trying to make it sound more poetic!  Ok ok...Am growing old...still single...still looking for the soul mate and still coming across jerks!

But coming to the depression - yeah!  When I was younger (that was long long long ago) I used to tell my mom that I will live up to 30 years.  After that you are old and life is over.  I even told mum that I will commit suicide since I do not want to live beyond 30.  Yeah you read well - I said commit suicide.  That day, if mum did not contain her anger towards me, indeed I would not be writing these lines here... Actually, mom was looking at me with one of those dagger killer eyes and a knife in her hand!

But I would lie if I say that I didn't think about my stupid idea as the so dreaded 30 was approaching!  

Then slowly as I was moving towards my 30 years I got a revelation!  From who?  uhhh myself!  

I realised that indeed I should be happy to have lived so long.  Life continues....whether there are ups or downs, it's worth living.  Who knows that this so called 30 years may prove to by lucky to me in my personal as well as professional life?  Time will tell.

Yeah, I grew up some more!  Even if am now 30, am still feeling younger in my head!  I guess this helps to be more jovial and see life from a positive  insight.  As I have mentioned in one of my posts here, I feel that it's now that I am waking up from a scary nightmare. 

I simply want to:
- put all my failures behind and move in life and live my life.  There will be lots of joy - I pray! - and also   lots of failures, but I want to take everything positively and make the most of the precious beings I have in my life.

- be thankful to the almighty for giving me each and every day I am living...even if it was a shit one!

Oh yeah!  30 seems to be something that I can enjoy and I think I must make the most of it as everyone knows: the past will never come again and the future is unknown.  What we have is today so better live it as if it's your last one!  

So live your lives and make the most of it.  I would like to end my post with a quote:

Yesterday is history...tomorrow is mystery...but today is a gift...that is why it's called PRESENT

- Master Oogway (the turtle from Kung Fu Panda)
So enjoy your Gift

Love

Mina :)




Planning Fallacy


The below is an interesting article that was forwarded to us at work....enjoy :)
 
The famous Sydney Opera House was originally estimated to be completed in 1963, but it wasn’t completed until 1973. That’s ten long years later than was originally planned. This is an exaggerated example of a tendency that we all have: we underestimate how long it will take us to complete a task or project. This variation of poor time management is called The Planning Fallacy. (Incidentally, the original cost for the Sydney Opera House was $7 million; it ended up costing $102 million.)
 
The Planning Fallacy is a cognitive bias–or a distortion in the human mind–which refers to people’s tendency to underestimate how long they will need to complete a task. As social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D., states:

    “[H]uman beings are generally pretty lousy when it comes to estimating the time they will need to complete a task.”(Source.)

And this is why we create To Do lists that are a mile long, fully expect to get everything on the list done, and feel defeated when we invariably fail to do so.
The Planning Fallacy applies to everything:

    * Writing a paper, or studying for a test, if you’re a student.
    * Going grocery shopping and preparing a three-course meal, if you’re a homemaker.
    * Preparing a presentation for your boss, if you hold a corporate job.
    * Getting ready for an evening out, if you’re going out on a date.

This article will explain The Planning Fallacy in greater detail, and it will give you tips and tools to overcome it (or at least improve your ability to predict how long different tasks should take).
Three Reasons for The Planning Fallacy
 
The Planning Fallacy can be attributed to three basic biases we have when estimating how long it will take to do just about anything:

    * We fail to consider past experiences.
    * We consider the best possible outcome.
    * We focus on the overall task, not on subcomponents.

Each of these is explained below.
 
We Fail to Consider Past Experiences
 
First, we fail to consider our past experiences when planning. When planning, people perceive the specific task or activity that they need to complete as unique. That is, they tend to disregard the time that was needed to complete the same, or similar tasks or activities, in the past.
Suppose that it’s Saturday morning and you’re talking to a friend on the phone. You decide to invite them over for coffee that afternoon, and they accept. There are several things that you want to get done before they arrive, including straightening up the living room.
Even though it usually takes you about an hour to vacuum the living room, dust the table surfaces, and so on, when planning the afternoon with your friend you’re very likely to tell yourself something like the following:

    “I can get the living room straightened up in about fifteen minutes.”

Therefore, you leave the task of putting the living room in order until there’s less than half an hour left before your friend arrives. When they do arrive, you’re only halfway through the task, and you have to go through the embarrasment of apologizing for the mess.
If you hold a job, think of how many times you’ve taken tons of work home over the weekend, fully intending to get it all done, and then you didn’t have enough time to complete even half of the work. And then what happens?

    * Instead of learning from this experience and taking home less work the next weekend, you do the same thing all over again.
    * The week after that you do the same thing once more.
    * Weekend after weekend you lug home tons of work which you should know from past experience that you’re not going to be able to get through.

We Consider the Best Possible Outcome
 
Second, our future plans tend to be “best-case scenarios.” We ignore all of the things that could go wrong. That is, we underrate the likelihood of unexpected, but plausible, complications and obstacles.
 
In the example of your friend coming over on Saturday afternoon, what if the vacuum cleaner breaks down and you have to run out to the store and get a new one? What if you drop a vase while dusting and you have to pick up all of those tiny pieces of broken glass? When you plan cleaning the living room before your friend arrives, it’s very likely that you’ll have a vision of yourself gliding through the task effortlessly, with everything magically falling into place.
 
We Focus on the Overall Task, Not On Subcomponents
 
Third, and last, we don’t think about all the steps or subcomponents that make up the task. Instead, we tend to look at the overall task. “Straighten up the living room” sounds simple enough, but once you take into account each individual task that goes into straightening up the living room, it’s a different story. That is, by looking at the task or project as a whole, we tend to disregard some of the key steps that need to be completed.

How to Overcome the Planning Fallacy
 
When you’re making a plan and estimating how long it will take, do the following:
 
1) Ask yourself how long this task, or a similar task, has taken you in the past. If you catch yourself coming up with all sorts of reasons why this time it’s going to be different, and why you’ll be able to complete the task much faster, stop yourself. The amount of time a task has taken you in the past is the best predictor of how long it’s going to take you in the future. Just accept it.
2) Identify the ways in which things might not go as planned. Specifically, come up with three obstacles that could impede your progress. This exercise will help pull you away from a fantasy world in which everything goes as planned, and back into the real world, in which it’s almost certain that not everything will go exactly as you want it to. Beware of unwarranted optimism, and leave some slack time in your schedule to cover any unexpected “incidents”.
 
3) Write out all the steps you will need to get the task done. Once you see a task broken down into all of its components, you’ll be better able to determine how long the overall task should take. This is a process that Josh Kaufman of The Personal MBA calls, mental simulation.
 
Conclusion
 
Another way to understand the Planning Fallacy is to adopt Hofstadter’s Law, which is the following: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.” Take out your to do list and, based on all of the above, re-think how long it’s going to take you to complete each item on the list. Then, start crossing off items.
Now that you know that this cognitive bias exists, you need to start taking it into account when you plan your day, your week, your year, and so on.
Which of the following do you feel best describes you:

    * I usually underestimate how long it will take me to complete a project or task.
    * I’m very good at estimating how long a project will take.
    * I usually get things done faster than I planned for.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Memorable moments...part 1

Hi all...

The other day while heading to work and sitting idle in the bus, I was thinking about what to post next on my blog.  Then an Idea came to me, why not share some sweet memories...but since I like to bla bla a lot, so it's going to come in different parts or episodes...


Ok, so here it goes:

The Birth of my DEVILISH ANGEL :)


The birth of my nephew was indeed THE best day of my life.  Since the moment I learned that my sister was pregnant, I was very impatient for her to give birth to my nephew.  Yeah, my nephew!  I was hundred percent sure that it was going to be a baby boy and around the 4th month of her pregnancy, it was confirmed.

During the ever lasting 9 months, I used to wonder how my nephew would look like...whether he would love his aunt = me?  I remember when my sister would visit us or I would stay at her place, in the mornings, I would hold her belly and call my nephew and ask him to wake up and guess what????  I could feel him giving me lazy kicks....(even then he used to tease me)

Coming now to the day he was born:  It was a beautiful Tuesday and already a special day for me since it was my birthday as well.  The moment my sis was brought to the ward, mom was informed and we waited a few mins before going in to see both of them (umm my mom is a retired charge nurse, so we could get in before visiting hours).  I couldn't contain my joy and wanted to see my darling nephew the moment we were informed they were back from the operating theater.  I remember mom scolding me since I was so impatient.

As we entered the ward, mom's ex colleague led us to where some new borns were kept while their mom were still sedated after CS.  The moment I looked into the cradle, I instantly recognise my nephew since he was wrapped in the towel I packed in my sis' bag.  God, I still cannot describe how I felt when I saw him.  It was great to finally look at him.  He looked so small and fragile and so precious.  I wanted to cry with joy but it was as if everything was stuck in my throat and am sure I must had a big smile on my face.

Those 9 months seemed soooooo long to me.  And the moment I held him in my arms...GOD!  It's been 2 years now but it seems as if it was yesterday that I first held him in my arms.  I can't imagine my life without him anymore.  I still remember those nights they were at home, when I would wake up hearing him cry, prepare his milk and giving him his bottle (his mom was suffering a lot after the CS).  At times I would take him to his grandma's room, who would wake up, hold him tight and feed him.  Both mom and son spent the first 12 days spent with us and then they went back to their house (not really what we would call a home). I remember inventing any kind of excuses just to visit him.

Unfortunately an unexpected situation happened where he came to live with us along with his mom.  I am grateful to god that I have the privilege to see him grow in front of my eyes, but at the same time my heart hurts for him.

Anyway...that's a bit about that wonderful 12th May 2009.  I am thankful to GOD and to my sister for having bestowed me with such a precious gift.

I have a special prayer to GOD:

"Oh God, please bless him always and my his life be filled with loads of love, happiness and success. Also, please help me to find the means to always guide him in his life, give him a good education and help him lead a decent and happy life."
Me and my Darling angel

Thanks for reading this and allowing me to share that one very special moment of my life

Love

Mina





Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Routine

Well well well...here I am...tired after a long day's work but yet willing to write something down.

Well, the day was simply one out of the normal routine ones: wake up, get ready, catch the bus, go to work work work work and then get into the van and get back home, bathe, eat, watch TV and/or surf on the net and go to bed!!!!  Wow...so interesting!!!  Yeah!

These days all I want is to get away for a few days...take a few days' holiday and relax somewhere on a beach....by a pool or somewhere in quiet and soothing nature.  Even if we get into a routine cycle, life is so hectic.  At times you do not realise how fast time went by...and what we missed at the same time.

It happens often to me that I am so engrossed in my work and when I decide to come out of it, I realise that hey we are already Friday.  I would repeat what I said here in another post: Time flies so quickly!!!  It feels like we are automated during week days and on Fridays we get freed of this automation.

When comes friday, I look forward to a relaxing week end.  BUT....yeah but!  The week end also flies away....quicker that you can imagine!!!!  Uhh I hardly woke up on Saturday...had tons to do and gee why is it that on Monday morning am soooooo tired????

Again, this may sound a bit repetitive (uhhh for those who read my posts obvisouly and that seems to be very close to NULL if not = ZERO) but I really wish I could stop time!  If I has a superpower (question that a colleague of mine asked me once) it would be the ability to stop time.  Back then I said something like reading on the mind of ppl and dunno what more.  But now I wish something else... GOD give me the superpower to stop time!!!

Life's so short and so precious and guess what?  I don't really get the time to enjoy...

Anyway, enough bla bla from me!  Black Eyed peas on tv!!!  Gotcha watch em!

Take care

Love

Mina

Sunday, May 15, 2011

What's on my mind at past 11pm - duh

Here I am at 11:15 pm...feeling sleepy but yet wanting to write something... ok...am out of inspiration but will try to adopt one thing I read in a mail sent to us at work by a colleague.

The main point I grasped was that it explained a method to empty your mind completely and hence try to get some peace of mind.  All that you have to do is to write down whatever comes to your mind.  Does it work?  I guess yeah as I used to do something similar...except that I would not write it down but talk it loud (uhhh only when nobody was at home of course)...

So, let's start with something very simple and since we are a Sunday...well let's talk about Sundays.  I've always loved and hated Sundays....yeah!!!!  Why?  Well, let's look at the negative side of Sundays:  TIME FLIES TOO QUICKLY!!!  I don't know if it's only me who feels it or other people do as well.  It's like, you hardly woke up and the next moment you find yourself already on bed...grunchy and complaining that GOD it's late and I have to wake up early tomorrow!!!  That's why I hate Sundays.

But on the other Side, one good side of Sundays is that we often get to go out with family: the beach or simply driving to nowhere as long as the want for the long drive is there.  Also, long long long ago, we used to go swimming on Sunday mornings: A pure bliss!!!  WE do not really get the time to do so now.

Better change the subject now, else instead of finding some peace I'll be even more sad!

What else can I say now???  Nothing on my mind... lol  My blog's name is what comes out of the mind and am out of stock for the time being.  At times when am at work, I get loads of ideas that fuse from dunno where on my mind.  The moment am home, am so tired that I really forget about it.  Guess it is better like this than to write pieces of crap that mean nothing.

Speaking of crap...I wonder how I would qualify this one?  When I read it some other day maybe I will be in a better position to judge my masterpiece of 11pm :)

I wish I could write more often and produce some quality posts.  But am scared to say things that were not meant to be said - I mean some family matters.  I should say that when I came back after almost 3 years, I was wondering if my blog still existed.  I was happy to find that I can still have access and was wondering how to proceed from there.  I have a few examples of blogs here in Mauritius and they are very good for that matter.  I didn't know if I should also go the way they do or keep it as a window to my soul and a window to me?  


Today I received a comment on my blog...YEAH a comment finally :D...and what the person told me really gave me a boost.  I want my blog to reflect my personality, my thoughts and who I really am.  From there on, I may also get inspired by some leading local blogs that often talk about the mauritian realities.  I believe if I am really inspired then such contents will be found on my blog too.

To begin with, I think that I would like to keep it simple and share what I really want to share as I've been doing so far.  Comments are welcome and these are very important for improvement :)

I think that was a good attempt tonight despite that tomorrow I may find it to be a crap.  But am quite happy about my posts...

Anyway, it's 11:40 pm, time to go to bed.  Shucks...am gonna be grunchy and complain about being late to bed again.

Well...with my best wishes for a nice week ahead,

Love

Mina R

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What comes out of the mind...  is a personal blog and represents opinions and views expressed solely by me.  No one is liable for anything that is written here.  Whatever is expressed in this blog represents snapshots of what is going on my mind.


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Saturday, May 14, 2011

12th May....a day to remember

What is so special on the 12th of May???  Well, 30 years ago a special being was born on that day and taddddaaaaaaaaaa thats ME!!! LOL


Ok, maybe not so special being or special to my dear ones only(huh??).  But yeah, as some call me :A "minante" was born on that day.  

But wait, that's not all!!!!  

12th May became even more important to me since 28 years after I was born, a little angel was born on the same day!!!!  And that little angel is my darling nephew.  I should say thanks to my sister for giving me such a great gift but shhhhh I won't let her know how thankful I am about it :D

So this year, my angel turned 2.  So a few weeks...umm no, make that 1 week before his birthday we were like mads looking for a good pastry shop to make his birthday cake.  Finally a friend of mine advised me "Chez Christian".  So on the Sunday preceding our birthday, we went to Christian to look at cake designs (oh I forgot to mention that my devilish angel has a fixation on BOUBA these days).  My dad nearly had a heart attack when he heard the price of the cake.  But since our angel is soooooooo lucky, god only knows how we got convinced to get him the cake.  OK, it's not really bouba(for those who still remember bouba) but it was near bouba. ps: not that they didn't have bouba design, but it didn't look nice on the catalog.  So we opted for a yellow little bear.  And it was a real pleasure to look at our angel's face when he saw his cake....




Both cakes tasted yummy and I had to cut the poor bebear with great pain in my heart...sniff sniff


Anyway....we simply had a gr8 12th May and I wish many more to come where my devilish angel and I can celebrate together. 

Speed limits in Mauritius

Some weeks back I was driving to a village in the north.  My mom was sitting in front with me and she always warns me about the speed limits.  At one point in time, I decided to really respect the speed limits.

Can you imagine driving at 40km/hr or 30km/hr???  Gosh, despite I was driving and as a responsible driver I must be concentrated on the road, I could do some sight seeing.... I agree that speed limits are very important for security reasons. In a place where there are inhabitants...and pets for that matter, I agree to drive slowly than usual but imagine a road with sugar cane fields as far as you can see and you have to drive at 40 or 50? 

One question that comes to my mind: should the authorities review the speed limits in some regions?

Ummm....

What comes out of the mind...: Be Thankful...

What comes out of the mind...: Be Thankful...

Monday, April 25, 2011

Exister avant tout - source: Week-End/Scope

Ils sont forts, corpulents et affichent des rondeurs parfois trop généreuses. Stigmatisés par une société qui déclare la guerre aux kilos, Alexandre Martin, Lindsay Moothien, Clara Vythelingum et Mme S. parlent de la façon dont ils vivent leur… poids.
L'humoriste, Alexandre Martin, 28 ans, qui pèse 130 kg, vit son poids comme une partie de lui-même. Dans son cas, être rond correspond à un mode de défense. "Quand ado, on devient très gros, soit on se fait taper dessus, soit on s'affirme." Allant jusqu'à raconter, comment, au collège, il a forgé son caractère à travers sa forte corpulence. Son surpoids l'ayant même servi à s'imposer et à se faire respecter : "Quand un élève m'interpellait par un : Éta gros, à la récré, je ne manquais jamais d'user de mon poids pour le soulever." Et Alexandre Martin d'insister que le surpoids ne signifie pas qu'on se laisse aller ou qu'on est malade. "Je suisrond, j'assume mon poids, dans le sens où je vis avec." Pour lui, sa corpulence fait partie de son identité. Avis que partage également Lindsay Moothien qui affiche les 120 kg : "On a le droit de se sentir bien dans un corps rond. C'est lorsqu'on juge son corps trop gros ou parce qu'il nous fait souffrir que le corps devient alors un ennemi auquel on pense. On n'est plus dans son corps. On a alors un corps qu'on n'aime pas. C'est là où on perd l'estime de soi."
Exister. Intervenant, Alexandre Martin fait ressortir qu'il existe différents cas de gens ronds, gros ou obèses. "Certains, comme moi, malgré un régime n'arrivent pas à perdre leurs kilos. D'autres, tout en étant ronds sentent ce besoin constant de manger pour se sentir exister."C'est précisément, le cas de S, 24 ans, 80 kg qui a choisi de témoigner anonymement. Elle raconte qu'étant ronde, elle a voulu compenser son mal-être en mangeant davantage pour se réconforter. Du coup, elle a longtemps lutté contre les bourrelets et était devenue une obsédée de la balance. "Dès que je mangeais, je culpabilisais et en même temps, cela me calmait. Plus je faisais de régimes, plus je grossissais. J'ai eu de vraies phases de boulimies et d'anorexie. Je cachais de la nourriture sous mon lit. J'étais sans cesse fatiguée. Physiquement et moralement, cela a eu des répercussions importantes sur ma santé. Je me voyais comme une fille ronde, alors qu'inconsciemment, je voulais absolument avoir la taille mannequin." Lindsay Moothien, ajoute qu'autrefois, les gens ronds n'avaient pas cette mentalité de penser qu'être gros pouvait être un désavantage. "C'est quand on a commencé à faire l'éloge de la taille mannequin, chez la femme, et, d'un corps athlétique chez l'homme que le regard a changé." Pour sa part, Clara Vythelingum, 45 ans, raconte que son poids tournait autour de 103 kg, il y a deux ans. "Ma mère était obèse. Mes sœurs et moi sommes rondes. C'est dans les gènes. J'ai essayé de faire un régime, mais à chaque fois, je prenais plus de poids. Stressée, j'ai fini par atteindre les 91 kg, (sans régime) l'an dernier. Si mon visage s'est affiné, au niveau des hanches, je n'arrive pas à maigrir."
Remarques. Clara se souvient des remarques acerbes à son encontre. "Une fois, j'étais à l'hôpital avec ma fille de 17 ans qui est mince. Une dame lui a dit devant moi : Guet couma to lézo, maman mange tout pas donne toi narien.Clara a même déjà pris en plein visage :"Aio, to gros, to pas fatigué." Si auparavant ce genre de remarques provoquait chez Clara Vythilingum des complexes, aujourd'hui, elle en a fait un atout : "Je n'ai plus honte de mon corps. Je ne mets plus de vêtements qui cachent ma taille. Je vais jusqu'à porter une robe stretch sans complexes." Le seul problème, "c'est qu'il n'existe pas du sur-mesure pour les gens ronds. Il faut faire coudre. C'est démoralisant de ne plus savoir comment s'habiller et d'affronter toujours le regard toisant du vendeur." Même interrogation du côté d'Alexandre Martin qui garde un souvenir cuisant de son dernier shopping. "J'entre dans un magasin de vêtements. Le vendeur me regarde de la tête aux pieds et lance : Péna ou taille.Pour Alexandre Martin qui doit porter du 4XL, la hantise d'une personne ronde est de trouver des vêtements à sa taille. "Il manque un magasin pour personnes rondes à Maurice. Car, leur XXL égal à une taille médium pour un gros." Et Clara Vythilingum de préciser : "Les magasins ne proposent que des vêtements taillés pour les femmes à taille fine. Normal qu'après cela on en fasse un complexe. C'est bien de dire à un rond de maigrir, mais les régimes coûtent chers pour quelqu'un qui n'est pas aisé. Il y a aussi ceux qui souffrent d'un dérèglement hormonal, et, qui toute leur vie sont appelés à garder leurs rondeurs."
Atout. Et qu'en est-il d'Alexandre Martin et de Lindsay Moothien qui ont su tirer avantage de leurs rondeurs. À cela, Lindsay Moothien reconnaît que tout est une question de personnalité. "Carlos, Raymond Devos ont su malgré leurs rondeurs devenir célèbres. Moi, en étant humoriste, dès que j'arrive sur scène, les gens rigolent. Si j'avais fait un complexe de mes rondeurs : j'aurais dit : Zot pé rire moi. Alors, que les gens sont là pour apprécier mon sketch." Idem, pour Alexandre Martin qui ajoute que chacun de ses personnages déclenche toujours le fou rire : "Même quand je joue du Molière, les gens rigolent. Ronds, gros, ou obèses, l'important, c'est pas gagn tracas lé zot. Il y a même des gens qui me disent, Alexandre, comment to faire pu séduire ène tifille. Moi, de leur répondre : Pas croire, quand ène dimunn gros, li péna ène vie sexuelle épanouie. Les gens ne s'arrêtent qu'à l'apparence. On peut être gros, mais plaire à une fille, parce qu'on sait lui parler. Généralement, les filles aiment bien les garçons qui ont de l'humour." Et, Lindsay Moothien de conclure : "Le regard des autres est difficile à vivre quand on prend compte des réflexions. C'est là où se situe toute la problématique d'un excès de poids mal vécu. Il isole l'individu dans ses relations aux autres. À l'inverse, un rond, gros, ou obèse devrait commencer d'abord par s'accepter et se valoriser, d'où la particularité de certains comédiens qui ont su faire de leurs rondeurs, leurs atouts."


Astuces

Spécialiste du relooking, Danila Lacoste de Harmony Centre donne quelques conseils aux personnes qui ont de l'embonpoint. Pour elle, porter une couleur vive peut faire ressortir quelques défauts comme un double menton, etc. Aux ronds, elle conseille des couleurs foncées. "S'ils veulent paraître moins en chair, il leur est conseillé de jouer avec les nuances : un haut noir sur un pantalon noir ou gris foncé. Du marine avec un bleu plus pâle. Du vert militaire. Trop de détails sur les vêtements sont à déconseiller. Moins il y a de motifs, plus c'est mieux." Danila Lacoste ajoute que les hommes ronds doivent éviter d'avoir les cheveux trop courts. La chemise doit être légèrement entrouverte, "cela affine le cou". Tout en leur conseillant d'éviter de porter des chemises larges : "Cela fait ressortir le ventre." Aux femmes rondes, elle conseille lors du maquillage de choisir un fond de teint de la même couleur que leur peau et un autre fond de teint plus foncé. "En appliquant ces deux teintes sur le visage, cela permet d'affiner les joues et le double menton."