THE RULE OF GOLD

Last Sunday my wife and I, along with some other friends of her had our yearly dose of socializing. I had all the perfect excuses not to attend, but my wife said that she didn't want to do it alone, so I went along.

Not one but two different friends of her from the office had babies last month. This is obviously a happy thing and I am really happy for them both. But that's it. Do I have to visit some guys who I haven't seen more than 10 times in my life because they had babies? Well, not exactly. But my wife does. And even though she is a much more social person compared to me, trust me, she didn't want it either. But what the heck, these people are from her office, and these are the people she sees everyday, she felt she had to follow the expectations.

And we did not only visit them, but also bought a golden coin. We bought only one coin for only one of the families, and we only bought some fancy baby coat for the other family, because those coins don't come for free. So, she just had to make a choice, and this choice was made according to some complex social formulations. 

I always hated the ways of society. When I was a teenager, I remember one time when I told my mother how stupid it was to try to live according to some shitty social norms which nobody seemed to enjoy but yet everybody was eager to bash who didn't. And I still think it is stupid. However though, while growing up, i pretty much realized that everybody needs everybody and a society needs some sets of  least common denominators covering everybody, so that the society can survive. If you want to expect people do what you expect from them to do, you just have to do what they expect from you to do. And yes, i know, it is as stupid as it sounds.

Let me tell you that i don't want to sound like i support the opposite: a total individualism. well, it simply doesn't work either. Yet, that's another matter.

It is a pretty common tradition to buy golden coins in Turkey as a gift for happy occcasions such as weddings, child births, and circumcisions. However though, since the gold rates are really very high, people don't do it unless it is an occassion they feel like they must.

So we bought our golden piece, and since it would be rather rude to hand it just like that, we bought a pretty cheap ordinary baby undervest too, and attached the golden coin to the undervest. And we made our visit. And then it came the time to hand the gift. So the guy is sitting there, his wife with the baby in her arms is sitting next to him, and the guy is opening the package. He is like "Oh look, dear, what they bought for our little boy." - or girl, i really don't remember. So he holds the undervest, shows it to the wife, and they both thank us for the...  right the cheap ordinary undervest, and pretend as if that golden coin is totally irrelevant, doesn't even exist, and as if the real gift was the undervest itself. Why? Becauce it would be rude other wise. That's why.

OK now, I totally understand that there should really be ways of doing things as long as we are dependant to each other. And even if we are not dependant, there should still be ways to do things rather than acting like true gorillas. But, I don't understand why we insist on complying the most hypocritic stupid social rules when everybody knows it is totally bullshit.

lack of planning (on your part) is not an excuse (on my part)

I came up with the phrase "lack of planning (on your part) is not an excuse (on my part)" last night while reading a book, and i was ike bam: this is my motto.

Ok now, to be fair enough, let me tell you that i am not good at planning either. in fact i seriously have problems with managing my own time. this very post is actually a proof for that, because i should really be working right now, and obviously, i am not :)...   but again, why i should be working non stop today and the whole weekend? Because a very important client of us has forgotten to inform us about the deadline of a project which i didnt even know it existed until yesterday. So that's why i have to be working instead of writing this post. 

Well now, this post does not actually belong to complaints deparment. I am not writing this to complain about the enormous work burden on my shoulders, but to praise this motto i read yesterday in a book. The motto is so true. I suffered more than enough (like probably everybody else) because somebody else did a lousy job before me.

For example there is this translator who has been coming to the office for the whole week. there is a very urgent job which needs to be finished even sooner than as soon as possible, but the thing is, the client can provide us the materials partially, meaning that, that poor translator has to come here everyday as the new materails arrive, because we dont seem to have enough time to wait until all the materials arrive here.

i really dont know why it must be us who have to work like mules because somebody out there has no idea about what the word "planning" actually means.

ordinary people

I am just an ordinary guy. Whatever classsification you choose, i will pretty much be somewhere in the middle.

• I am not poor, but i am not rich either and i really have to work hard to sustain the kind of life i have. 
• I am not dumb, but i am not  very clever either. 
• I am educated, but thats only good enough to know that i still don't know anything. 
• I am not unlucky, and sometimes good coincidences hit me too, but i don't really consider myself as a very lucky person either.
• I am not unhealthy but not fit either. I am obvioulsy overweight and trying my best to get rid of my excessive fat, but at least, i am not obese or anything. 
• I am good at what i am doing, but i am not the best guy in the field if only there is one.
• I love video games, and play them, but i am never the best scorer.

I don't know, i can't simlpy name anything that i am a true marvel at. I am just an ordinary guy. And i don't think this is going to change in this new year - of which the first da is about to end.

Anyways, i wish you a happy year for all the ordinary people out there.