You can't fool me, You can't hide,
You try to withold, Yet in woe you cried.
You think it's unseemly, but can't understand why
Is it a fib or is it sly?
You try to ask, but blank you stare,
There it is, but dare not swear.
By Mrs. Francon
I was reading an article about the book "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand and came about a very interesting topic about moochers and looters. I am going to focus on Moochers for now.
Here is an excerpt from the wikipedia article:
"Moochers are those who demand others' earnings because they claim to be needy and unable to earn themselves. Even as they beg for their help, however, they curse the people who make that help possible, because they hate the talented for having the talent they don't possess. Although the moochers seem benign at first glance, they are portrayed as more destructive than the looters—they destroy the productive through guilt and often motivate the "lawful" looting performed by governments."
This is somewhat related to different kinds of moochers in real life. I am sure everyone has encountered at least one such kind.
Moochers are people who ask for little favors constantly. Moochers think it is ok to impose and will make you feel guilty if you can't do a petty favor for them. They really can seem benign at first but once they start taking advantage of you it becomes a bit of an inconvenience and irksome.
We had one such guy M at my previous job. He was new to the state and asked another dude J for a ride saying he couldn't buy a car right away and asked him whenther he can give him a ride for a few days. J agreed and poor guy used to wake up early to pick M up thinking this favor will be short lived.
However, M's habit became chronic and he thought it was ok to impose on the dude for a ride now and then. J was fed up with M and couldn't think a way to say no because M used to live on the way to work. J then got his friend AA to help him out with the situation. AA indirectly in a conversation called M a "Moocher". I was present in that conversation too and had never heard of the word. I asked AA what a moocher was and he said somebody who imposes on everybody else asking for favors without thinking. M was sitting beside me and since then he never asked J for a ride. He bought a car in the next few days. J was very relieved:)
Some people just expect to do things for them and never return the favor. Even though the favor can be small, if it is continued it can be irritating, because you feel that the person is taking advantage of you because you can't say no. Moochers become used to imposing and it's very irksome and selfish on their part to do so. Personally, I have too much of an ego to ask anything from a person be it free rides, money, food or anything unless it's absolutely necessary. Even if I do, I make sure that I return the favor.
We just returned from watchng a movie "Burn after Reading". I think the title "Burn after Madness" would have been more appropriate for this mindless movie. This movie represents that a movie can be made about nothing and people will call it critically acclaimed. THis movie had a mindless plot, irrelevant unecessary characters, a non sense story and what not. I am surprised that it is critically acclaimed. What were they thinking? Just because the produsers got George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the movie does not mean that people have to applaud it. I don't know hy this movie was made. I share the same sentiment as the lady I overheard seated at the back of my seat when the end credits came up - "What??"
We went to Seattle this weekend for my sis-in-law's son's first birthday. We reached around midnight on friday and came back Monday morning. The party was on Sunday. It was a lot of fun playing with A. He has grown taller since I last saw him. Kids are so cute. The things they do and say even though it's gibberish is so adorable. They definitely are a full time job though. I don't know how I will manage work and kids.
On the way, I picked up a book "1984 by George Orwell". I have always wanted to read that book. I had heard about it when I had read "Brave New World by Aldous Huxley". Brave New World was about a dystopian world. I believe 1984 is also along the same lines. I read an interesting fact about the author. He was born in Motihari, Bengal, India. There was another famous author born in India. I believe it was Rudyard Kipling.
Yup, I was right. I checked wikipedia. Kipling was born in India as well. He is the author of the famous book "The Jungle Book".
My mom went shopping with my dad,
He who needed t-shirts to clad.
He walked around, used all his skill,
And bought shirts total of twenty-six.
My mom fainted seeing the bill,
She was very astounded by his picks!
Questions in my mind;
Inside it remains confined.
Echoing thought;
What do I ought?
Mind boggles;
Puzzled, Dismal, Baffled..
Lonely inside;
That's the downside.
Mystery is life;
Age of strife.
Frustration and anger;
Sadness will wander.
Unknown is past;
Mind remains aghast.
Something very special happened to me today. I found a long lost friend! I had been searching for her all over the web but there was no trace of her for years. None of the friends with whom I was in touch with knew where she was.
Today she contacted me on Orkut and we talked over the phone. It was such a pleasure talking to her after such a long gap. I was almost jumping when I saw her message. She was one friend I can say was a true friend and someone who I had bonded really strongly. I really cherished her friendship.
However, our friendship turned sour. We stopped talking to each other after a stupid misunderstanding in 4th grade and I always regretted it because I lost a very good friend. And I didn't even discuss what the misuderstanding was ..I just stopped talking to her...I never ever talked to her ever again until now! We act so stupid as kids sometimes and after you are mature, you look back and wish things were different. Whenever I saw her in school I wanted to clear misconceptions and become friends again but I never did! After so many years, she told me she wished the same thing. She remembered a lot of things from school and it was so wonderful to relive those memories.
I am just glad that we got to talk again like old buddies. True friends are really rare to find.
