A Year gone by

Its quite clear that I cant stick to a routine , its been nearly a year since I posted anything. I would love to say that I was so busy with worldly affairs that I did not have even a single nano second to devote to this. That would be a bold faced lie. It was more a case of being to lazy and distracted and suffering from writers block . Alot has happened over the last 12 months.

I've been interning for 6 months ( an honset to god working man :D) , I've also been in a meaningful relationship for nearly a year ( it suprises me to see myself write that) , life has been pretty good.

The novelty of coming to work has not worn off, it has dimmed but not gone out all together. The experiances I have had are priceless and most of them are the kind that will make lovely stories at dinner parties :)

I know not how long my return to the blogosphere will last, hopefully it'll work out this time , but u never know life is full of suprises

Opening My eyes to the world of blogging:

When I started My blog it was just a whim that kept growing with time.. I never really thought about the world of opportunities that Open up too you when you join the ranks of bloggers out there. I do not profess to be a guru of blogging I have a long way to go before I get there.. But after joining www.slblogs.org . The sheer size and complexity (I use that term loosely blogging is actually very easy but there are a lot of options about what you use it to do) truly started to sink in.
I'm still looking at the tip of the iceburg and already I've learned so much, thats after just 3 days of going through sites and blog I found on slblogs.
Some might think that I'm just excited about making money, I will not say that I'm not enamored by that :P that would be plain untruthful, But the root cause for my excitement is more to do with being able to share my ideas and being able to meet more people who are as expressive if not more expressive than me. If you do read this I would like to hear what you think about this and other posts..

Emerald Isle in peril : 60 years on

A retreat to simplicity and idyllic island paradise , a place where wonders abound and where kicking back and relaxing is an way of life. This was what our country was and should have been , as we sit at the eve of the dawning of our 60th year of independence and look back can any of us say that we have fulfilled the expectation of our founding fathers who sacrificed so much so that we can could fly our lankan lion high in the sky ?
There was a time when other nations looked to us an example of development and forward thinking , now the heralded shepherd of Asia has become one of the very misguided sheep . A sheep that is so far from the fold that it is slowly and certainly wondering towards the precipice of doom. Some would call me over dramatic and say no there is plenty too be proud off and that everything is not that bad and we should think of the whole context and all that drivel .. to those naysayer i have just one word "NUTZ".
Ok fine the world economy is declining and most nations are growing through bad patch. I'm not going to talk about economics today instead consider the social context we live in.
Thuggery , extortion , corruption and blatant greed runs rampant and unchecked through out the land, in fact one of the great pillars of our country that our fore father gave their lives to form , the parliment is a perfect example of this. Our great and glorious ministers stand and bow before a flag at a parade and then act like common street hooligans in parliament the highest institution in the country, do they think that our country's freedom fighters who wet the earth with their blood would want cretin like them paying homage to them???. From their behavior both within and outside parliament the honorable ministers should are not fit to run let alone stand in on the stage erected by those who really believed in the betterment of sri lanka all those years ago. ranting on about the misguided nature of governance in our island would probably mean I would never finish the is post before I die(more on that later). The governing body aside what off the people who live here have they honored the memory of our forefathers properly and by honour I do not mean hang a flag outside your house every 4th of Feb. DO we value the independence we have do we even understand the cost off it, I think not. If any of the those heroes who thought of independence were walk in to our time, I would put my money on them being disappointed, they risked life and limb to fight for this freedom and now the common folk do not even life one finger to protect it or honor it, how many of the masses who claim to "proud to be sri lankan" try to put a stop to the corruption that has taken hold , How many have stood up and said if 60 years ago a handful of scholars and warriors could stand up to the British raj I too will stand up to those who would usurp and destroy my sovereign nation which I hold dear.
The rot that has set in is affecting everything . society and large is corrupt not only in a monetary sense but also in terms of social values and common decencies. Celebrating 60 years of independence marked by a downward turn in everything our forefathers tried to protect is ironic to say the least.
The Emerald isle is not only about the natural beauty that abounds here. the people of the country have it within each of them the ability to turn it back into its former glory, They can turn it around and make our island home meet the dreams our fore fathers had for it. If we lose the people to the rot then this Emerald will forever lose the brilliance within it.

A blissful escape..

All of us sooner or later wish that during the course of our day that we could have just one moment of peace , or one moment where there aren't a thousand pressing matters that need your attention , basically were time stands still. I know that may sound a little cliche and unrealistic but it does happen. I for one have experienced moments like these sparingly and lately they been very hard to come by , but today after a long and arduous lecture one phone call made me believe in such moments again. I'm not being mushy here in fact mushiness has nothing to do with it what so ever.
It was more a feeling of pure freedom. The conversation was lively and full of comic relief and maybe something deeper to god knows.. All I know is that no amount of laughing and joking around with my friends has lead to a moments of bliss like this (no offense guys) . It is possible that I might be reading too much into all of this for other reasons :d.

All the ranting above has a point .. irrespective of how you find these small moments of solace and grace the important thing is that you do, all of us can do with more of them. In fact maybe we should set aside time to pursue things that might lead us to these moments. Like a treasure hunt maybe by getting more people involved in the search we can all share in them and live happier more fulfilled lives... Man was made curious to develop , but development should not mean an end to curiosity .

The hatching pen

A wise man once said "You cannot blame the tree of the seed from which it sprung was rotten". this is something people seem to forget. Everyone of us in this country complain about corrupt and power hungry politicians and their seemingly inability too unite, some among us look at this predicament in wonder and try to theorize the reason behind such behavior. After witnessing the farce of an election process which was undertaken to appoint a student governing body for a particular educational institute I think we should cease our armchair reasoning and wake up to the facts. which are that

Our very nexuses of education are the points where this bloodthirsty and seemingly boorish political behavior comes to the fore. I mean if a group of 20 year old students have problems trying 2 elect a governing body , should we expect any better from the nation at large, If the future generation themselves cant handle the concept of power how can we expect any better of those we elect to parliament. Let me make it perfectly clear there is no single wrong doer amongst the above student body, what ever that occured was due to a failure off the collective nothing more nothing less.

If as students our generation can not understand the true importance of power and simply clamour for itso that they might wield it to their advantage without understanding the responsiblities and niceties that go with it. how can we as a nation hope for a better tomorrow. Truthfully I was made part of the proceedings , but I do not think the actions of most involved where correct. Not only did this situation throw in to light the sheer ineptitude of my generation when it comes to power, it also showed how little our generation has progressed in terms of being able to enter into a dialog to sort our the problems that arise between various factions. this inability to have open discussion is dangerous when coupled with the our lack of understanding of power. any hope for lasting peace goes out the window when such a situation arises.

There is no point in laying the blame. But a several questions nag at my consciousness
where did society go wrong?
can we change the future?.... what can we do? .. who do we look towards for guidance?..

The problem is obviously in the hatching pen of society. we must cleanse it or watch our country slide into ruin...
I think I know what I will do.. what will you do ?

Friends.. or just acquaintances

Growing up in society you constantly told that making friends is important and you must pick them carefully. So as you go through life you pick up alot of friends and some of them stick with you through your long journey but most fall by the way side. going on to follow their own paths.
Is friendship that important. do they not harm your individual existence. I mean in this country especially after you get into a click of friends they expect you too conform to the group standard. True you became part of the group because you did conform , but times change and so do people right. I say this because I noticed my friends doing the same thing. they want you to do this and that and they have fun but too you its just a lame exercise ..
I understand doing things as a group but it thought groups of friends were suppose to understand each other and relate to each other. So it seems to me that people who call themselves friends but take away from your individuality are not friends but acquaintances.
Maybe in life we never really have friends or maybe we just have a few true friends who we truly relate too. or maybe i'm just anti-social and dysfunctional and have got it all wrong.
What do you think.

island heat

I dont think the recent weather in my Island home qualifies has a heat wave.. but man it has gotten quite hot.. and with the heat the an assortment of skin irritant and boils seem 2 erupt out of no where. The strange thing is the places these things come up in are so weird and random. i think it maybe payback for all the times I laughed at my friends when they suffered from boils and so on. Anyway itchy scratchy aside. I did enjoy the weekend . spent some time with some of my bro's friends playing board games and noting down some strange behavior in 25 - 26 year olds.
You know how when your small it was always about fighting to stay up late as much as you can .. Well growing does'nt seem to change that except instead of just staying up its about staying up and staying out of the house as long as you can. Over the weekend I came home at around 3 am and felt all aglow inside, I swear I even had a lil spring in my step.. maybe the novelty of this will wear of in time or maybe It was the island getting to me ..

Motoring Sl style!!!! Honk Honk!

You don't truly realize how messed up motorists in Sri Lanka are until you get behind the wheel. As a veteran traveler of the preferred public transport system in SL aka Buses I did know that well something was a miss :D. But last Sunday I truly gained a whole new insight in to the matter.
As a new driver (I got my license two months ago, but we all know how strict the driving test in the country is right WINK) I still have much to learn as my father says so often. In a break of tradition my dad decided to let me drive for a longer stretch than normal along the negambo road, Seeing that it was sunday and past 2:00pm i figured "what could go wrong" and prepared my self for nice stroll of a drive...boy was I wrong.
5 mins in to the drive out of no where a three wheeler materializes out of no where and cuts in front of me the innocent driver who was sticking to the speed limit. that miscreant has the gall to show me a certain finger and ask me where I was going(i of course could not frame suitable reply bcoz 1) my father was next to me 2) I was having kittens trying to break and avoid stalling the car). then there was the bus that decide to accelerate when i was trying to turn across the road(that one really made my blood run cold). i could go on foreve about my drive. bUt ultimately I came to several conclusions

1. drivers in this country have no courtesy or patience to speak of
2. everyone of them seems to have either not gone for proper instruction or have forgotten everything they were taught
3. being an obedient driver is a sure fire way to hear people describe your family tree :D
4. Driving for relaxation is out of the question(I'm going to go for a walk instead)
5. I need to forget all my rules and just drive an dpray i dont hit anyone :D
6. next time any one is driving and some idiot pasess you doin nasty hand movements and swearing it might be ME!!!
   

all in all people I think professionla racers should be trained in Sl coz we do not require any special facilities.. the current roads system coupled with the manic drivers is quite enough :d
to those who do drive happy Driving and Be drive Safe(hope you have Insurance )
And remeber when in doubt of in danger or basically to drive Honk! :D

Sorting Life out

Its been almost a month since I last blogged .. Its the sad story of my life but i keep saying from now on I'll blog regularly but I end up not blogging for ages, I cannot remember when I became a procrastinator , but I think began ome time after my 18th b'day.. But when it began is immatireal the point is that it must end. I am no longer willing to just let my life slide away fom me, I want to be back in control.. The hardest part fo me is admitting that I lost control in the first place. (Takes a deep breath). I do not know who will see this but heres the truth for the lastfew months other than my studie I 've pretty much just floated along like a ship lost at Sea.. anyone looking at this blog will propably realise that. I mean a simple example . my blog content keeps jumping from tech related stuff to my crazy mutterings about life. I think I wuill continue in this vein but mostly I'll stick tothe crazy happenings in my life. I will start a seperate blog that will deal with my experiance in learning ruby and my other adventures in the relam of programming.

Essentially what I'm trying to do here through all this is sort out my plan for life. because I can no longer simply stand by and dream. Nor can i stand stil in because I fear failing top achieve my dreams. What do I WANT TO BE?? i want to be several things some of them connected to each other some not . THE time has come to decide what I want to be, I have not figured it all out but there are several things that I have decided.

1. I want to program

• So I want to learn ruby and java
• And be familiar with several programming languages

2. I want to build software solutions
3. Start my own IT Firm and build it into something meaningful
4. This may sound cliche but I would like to change the world for the better

There was a time I was scared to tell people this fearing ridicule.. But now i think laugh if you want but its my dream and my life and I will pursue it come hellfire or frost. Big word I know, B but I believe I have it in me to succeed.. All of us do self belief is the most powerful thing we human beings posses sadly From personal experiance I can tell you its is the last thing we draw upon.
But no longer will I let mysefl be brought down by lack of Self belief.