St Andrews love

Dear Liz,

At this moment, I’m sitting on the beach, watching the waves drift in and out ahead of me, while an expanse of the oldest and most serene golf course in world stretches out behind me. I turn to the right to see a postcard town invitingly beaming at me while to my left lies miles of sand leading to a seal colony. I’ve spent the last week here in what seems like perfect harmony. A visit to a 600 year old university church, a harbour full of fish and boats, many a pubs with ale and lager, majestic castle and cathedral ruins and oh, the golf! Such… beautiful golf! A town full of gallant men, elegant women, happy old couples and ever-young students! What a trip it has been. Wish you were here, but since you are not, you must join me someday on a trip to St Andrews town.

Yours,
Jane 

Lately I find that far too often we rebuke and reproach ourselves for being human. Feelings of jealousy, envy, dislike, and such come upon us and are immediately shunned for being immoral, wrong. We are but human. It is but natural for us to feel emotion. Let us not look down upon ourselves for feeling but look upon improving ourselves from such experiences. We are human and feeling is something we must allow ourselves to do.

Art

Art is magic. Art is beauty. Art is. But art should be also. Art should excite you, fill you with hope and feas, leave you, hold you, shake you, break you, make you. Art should leave you wanting more. Art should make you breathe faster. Art should make you cry. Art should stir that sleeping beast within all of us. Art should get you pulling your hair out, leave you un-satiated, get you in search of more. Art should make you mad with rage, bring everything out and then leave you calm, hollow, maybe even empty.
Most of all, art should leave you vulnerable. Art should leave you vulnerable to feel more than ever before. That's when art is.

An amalgamation of interesting

I had quite a fun conversation with a friend yesterday and we spoke about quite a few interesting things, of fools and kings. Videos were discussed, movies analysed, and songs recalled. This morning I realised that it was, in all, quite an amalgamation of interesting things. So, I thought, why not share them with you and somehow, but not quite, have a similar interesting conversation with you? Here they are:

'Falling in love at a coffee shop' by Landon Pigg - I love this song, even though London's falsetto is a little annoying at times, the song itself is so cute! It's about a guy who realises that the thing he likes best about his favourite coffee shop, is this girl who frequents it. Think about it, it's such a cute story, makes me go 'awwww'.

So, from talking about that song, I went on to another song by Landon, again high on the 'cute' quotient. It's 'Darling, I do' from the Shrek Forever After Soundtrack. It's a beautiful duet between Landon and Lucy Schwartz. My favourite line from it is 'Ships in the sky, looked plain to my eye, the world had less colour without you'. Give it a listen.

Then the conversation somehow shifted to TED videos. And my friend informed me about this really cool/scary/eye-opening one on there right now. It's about how even the most experienced doctors make mistakes and the whole system works on sleep deprivation and how things need to change. (I suggest cute Landon Pigg songs and he comes up with TED stuff :-/ Makes me look like an idiot, but whatever.)

Then we discussed movies, I spoke about 'Stardust'. I'd put it in the 'Fantasy Romance' genre if there is such a thing. It's an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 'Stardust'. The story is about a boy who goes in search of a fallen star to give it to the girl he's in love with (who is a bitch by the way). He finds the star is a girl, he apologises to her and handcuffs her to take back to his 'love'. At the same time, there are 3 evil witches looking for the star's heart to revive their beauty. There are also a few princes in search of a necklace that the star is wearing. And obviously, it all comes together beautifully in the end.

Then I went on to recall this other movie (whose name I didn't remember at that point, but looked it up specially for you, my special reader) 'Stage Beauty'. I watched it cause it starred Clare Danes again (from Stardust). It has an interesting plot line, not really suited for all. Watch the trailer to find out what it's about:

And the final 'media' thing I remember talking about, more like excessively gushing about, was the beauty of Adele's 'Someone like you'. I know that you've all probably seen it, but don't you think it's one of those things you just can't get enough of? The setting, the city, the beauty, the melody, the story, the everything! It's just so.. ideal. So, here you are, I shall leave you with Adele.

Get over it, already!

I think there comes a time in everyone's life when we need to move on, we need to let go. It could be holding on to a relationship that isn't working, a crush that's going nowhere, a book that refuses to end, a friend who's become annoying, Roxanne refusing to turn off that red light, or some other thing that isn't worth the emotional drama. So, instead of swimming, nay, drowning in denial, I suggest you take my unsound advice and, 'Get over it, already!'

How, you ask? In five easy steps of course. Who has the patience for anything more these days?

1) Accept that nagging feeling

Many a-times, we allow ourselves to ignore the obvious, or the not-so-obvious which should actually be obvious. That little voice in the back of your head telling you that you should let it go/ move on; guess what? That voice is, in most cases, right! Call it your gut, intuition, old wisdom, whatever else you want but the truth of the matter is, it's right, there's a problem here and you need to accept it.

2) Think it through... but not too much

Thinking things through is general good advice. It applies to most things. Should I get a tattoo saying 'I love Harry Potter'?  Think it through. Should I date that guy with the cute smile and a slutty reputation? Think it through. Should I support a movement without knowing any of the details and open myself up to warranted criticism? Definitely think that one through! 

But the key, my friend, lies in not thinking over it too much. Losing too many nights sleep over it? Time to stop thinking and start acting. Over-thinking things usually leaves one extremely confused and less resolute than ever.

3) Ask for advice, but don't necessarily take it
If you're unsure about something, ask for someone else's opinion. Ask a friend, ask your mom, or for those of you who are socially awkward, ask your twitter followers. Get that confusion out of your head and into someone else's. It might not move things along but getting that thought out might just make you feel a bit lighter. Also, once you've heard what the other person has to say, it's not always necessary to follow their advice, heck, I never do. I ask ten people for their thoughts but end up doing what I want in the end. This step is basically a formality, it's so that you can rationalise your thinking by saying you sought out advice, considered all options, and charted the best course of action

4) Talk to the right person
Seeking advice is all good and everything, but if you're having an issue with a particular person, talk to them, tell them about it, trust them enough to care about your worries. If they don't, you'll know that they weren't worth the trouble in the first place. So talk to the right person. If you're having problems with a friend, tell them about it. No amount of taking advice from movies, writing blog posts about it, or  eating tubs of ice-cream, will really solve the issue at hand. Chin up, find some courage from somewhere and have an honest heart-to-heart with the right person.

5) Move the hell on
Life's too short, it really is. Feels like just yesterday when I was obsessing over boy bands (we've all been there, let's admit it, be ashamed and move on) and within the blink of an eye, I'm going through a quarter-life crisis writing out advice that I probably shouldn't be giving.
Life's not going to wait for you, you sure aren't getting any younger and with a constant worry tugging away at the back of your mind, you sure aren't getting any happier. So, whatever it is that's troubling you, get over it, get under it, get away from it, get rid of it, do whatever you have to, but do something, move on.
You deserve it. 

On moving on

People move on easily and so should you. Of course you should love, care and cherish but you should also learn how to swim with the tide. It could be distance, university, work, whatever be the reason, people move on and find new people to love and cherish. If you're lucky, they won't forget you but they will certainly have less time for you. Should you try to keep those threads as tightly knit as before? Of course, you should. Do whatever it takes, surprise them on their birthdays, write them long letters, send them personalised gifts, reminisce with them, do it all but add new people to your life. It's very important to do that, especially for young people. You wouldn't want to miss out on the little joys of life just because you didn't let new people in when everyone else did. It's usually more fun to go to a movie with a friend, coffee tastes better with conversation, and cars seem fuller with the passenger seats occupied, so go ahead and let new people in. 

Don't forget the old ones, even if they forget you. Don't stoop to their level. But don't let them affect you as much, look ahead and stand tall. Open your mind to new kinds of people. The fact that they think differently shouldn't be a turn off, it's a beautiful thing, it will help you expand your mind. Learn from them, teach them, and maybe slowly, you'll begin to love them. It's ok if you don't, you'll at least be occupied and you can say that you tried. You tried to swim with the tide when needed and if you make it to the shore, good on you, but if you're still out at sea, worry not, you'll get there soon enough.