Welcome to Darkside Daily

When I'm not writing about my experiences in this journey called 'life', I'm singing and uploading my own interpretations of modern music. Click on "Cover Songs" to hear them, or on the YouTube logo on the right to see my YouTube channel.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Do Ya 'Thang!

Fact: life sucks; it always has. The real world is a ruthless, unforgiving jungle, where only the strong survive. Let your guard down for even a nano-second and you'll get steam-rolled by the relentless mob that is always trying to one-up you. However, we seem to have gotten it into our heads that this is simply a new trend, an effect of global warming or some sorts. Yet another unpleasant development which we can conveniently blame on the 'West'.


But, if all these evolutionary loonies like Darwin (not the blogger) are to be believed, we all evolved over a few quinta-billion years, or something. Yes, once we were nothing but some single-celled protoplasmic form with a name that rhymed with ABBA, bored to tears, going nowhere. Then one day, one brave soul tired of being just one of the 'blobs', broke from the pack, said "SHAZAM!" and poof! - T-Rex was born.


Today's world is no different, though the competition has become markedly more fierce. Which is why it is important to develop a 'thing'.


They say that humour/empathy/porn is what sets us apart from the animals, but what sets us apart from each other is a lot harder to pin down. See, unfortunately God did a great job of creating us all uniquely the same, hence as our lives unravel it's upto us to differentiate ourselves from the pack. Go for any interview these days and it's not so much about your qualifications as it is about how different you are from the ten other applicants before you. The same goes for one's social life; if you're not bringing anything unique to the table, chances are you'll be sitting alone at that table for a long time.


The same can be said in all walks of life really, even on Kottu. The Lankan blogosphere is littered with obscure blogs that don't really have a theme or a style that is unique to their writing, yet amongst the crowd there are a few memorable blogs. There's RD who is the 'old guy blogger' with his particular brand of humour. There's Kalusudda, who is the blogosphere's 'commentator'. There's Gypsy, the resident 'story-teller'. There are Mommy bloggers, there are poets, there are artists, and then there's Jerry, who's just weird.


As is in kottu, as is in life. Well, not really, but here it does. Being a part of the crowd is never fashionable, be it at work or at your friend's barbecue. Whether we're aware of it or not, we develop certain traits, sayings, speech patterns and sometimes even entire persona's solely to be remembered. In fact, I'm sure if you look at your own friends circle you will find that it comprises of different 'types' of people; one is the joker, the other is the serious guy, the next is the flirt, the next is the junkie, and so on. It's like those picture tag things on Facebook, where you tag friends that fit the cartoon - yes, Facebook, the social experimentation networking site indeed.


I guess what it boils down to, is how far do we go to be memorable? There are some that carry it to extremes for the attention (like 'he-who-should-not-be-named-for-fear-of-legal-action'), and some people that just enjoy being stereotyped. In a world where the rat-race has well and truly become the sole reason to be alive, people that don't have an extra edge, an X-factor so to speak, never succeed.


So what's your 'thing'?

6 comments:

PseudoRandom said...

For a second I thought you had covered that Basement Jaxx track :D

Yeah stereotypes are everywhere. We love to pigeon hole people...it makes them easier to understand. But it also means we take the first impression and then 'fill in the gaps', instead of trying to get to know the person...which is a disadvantage for people who take some time to open up. Apparently the first impression I give varies from 'proud' to 'reserved' to 'judgemental'...whereas people who've taken the time to get to know me will say I'm none of those.

As for my 'thang'...it depends on which friendship group you look at. At uni, I'm the boy in girl's clothes...back home, I'm the overachieving, intimidating one. I'd prefer to be just me, to be honest.

And comment moderation eh? Tee hee :D

Makuluwo said...

Interesting point.. I think it's hardly possible to REALLY be different, man. Even if you try being different, you're part of a huge mass who are also trying to do the same.
My thing is being weird, according to people in my general environment. :P

The Puppeteer said...

The first pic is of the Amoeba bros from the PowerPuff Girls!

Well, no one can really figure me out 'cause I don't try to fit in to stereotypes.

Like for instance most people are surprised when I tell them that my music preference lies in heavy metal, cause they'd never assume that when they size me up. I don't "look" like a metalhead is usually what they say...
Metal heads are apparently expected to wear black, skull and cross bone chains and tons of black mascara! Which I don't. I like colour and I like to think that I've got a better sense of style.

Fact is, I actually like the music, not the stereotype.

N B said...

Wow, i’m all for stereotypes when they’re based on reality, but these are old, tired, and mostly inaccurate cliches about men. almost none of this applies to me or to any of the males that i associate with.

if a woman thinks she knows this about me, she might want to reconsider how reliable her “intuition” is.

there are also implied stereotypes about women that aren’t that much better than the blatant ones about men. Besides i have a dual personality if i may say so. Online devil and well offline saint (somewhat) for those who know and don't know.

Anyway just my two cents. BTW, you are such an ass kisser. Why can't you blog without ass kissing for a day at least gehan? Each post i see you kiss someone's ass. Why? I don't get it.

Anyway thanks for moderating comments. Thats good. I saw the comments on your previous post though. Hilarious gay act :-)

NB

Gehan said...

PR: haha no but it did inspire the title.. :D intimidating?!... welll... sure... watever :P

jerry: LOL :D ur very right...!

mak: yep bit of a conundrum that.. and yea, the weird thing is pretty obvious :P

puppet: really? k i did not know that.. love the cartoon tho.. errm.. k moving on ... :D

yep i get ur point, but like u said its not often u find ppl that are sincerely into the music and nothing else...

NB: yes.

Sabby said...

I got no thingggggg =(

*cries*

And ROFL at the 'yes'. I can actually hear you saying it =P

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