this is something i thot abt while i was in the shower just now.. i think being in the shower is one of the best places on earth to like relax (no need for the top ten paradise places to escape to... there's one right in the comfort of ur own home!)... chill... and think/ponder/reflect thru ur day or life in general.. and for me it has been a place where i take a lot of time to stay in... preferring the shower to the bath.. (cos i can't for the life of me figure out how can pple take a bath... for me.. it's a place to be a water nymph and PLAY!! it's not as if u can get ANY REAL CLEANING done..ahaha!!) i like to take time off to like be in shower... i can stay in there for like hours... provide that my solace isn't interrupted by occasional LOUD ass knocks by my mom, who thinks that staying too long in water or in the shower for that matter, is a major sin and a HUGE disruption to HER LIFE... *but hey! she's the boss man! so anything she says goes... or not...* =)

there like a couple of ways to look at pride right? pride is: (taken from www.dictionary.com)

1. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
2. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association: parental pride.
3. Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.
4. A cause or source of pleasure or satisfaction; the best of a group or class
5. An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.

anyways like the title says.. it's abt the good part of pride.. hence definitions 1, 2 and 4 are applicable in the blog.. (hahahah delete where applicable.. rem to pri/sec school forms we have to get our folks to sign?! okie... that was lame!)

u know how like they always say u shd always have pride in urself? i think it's not only personal pride which we all shd possess.... i think it's important for us to also have pride in our personal artifacts. for they also reflect onto others, the way u live ur life. while it's essential that u give a good first impression (we all know how IMPORTANT that is) of urself to others... whether by how u are dressed and more importantly, by how u conduct urself, it is also imperative, when pple see ur home and the way u life, that ur lifestyle parallels ur personality and the impression given shd be genuine.

if u give a very good first imperssion to others because u speak well, u're polite, u're well-mannered or even because u know how to dress appropriately, but u have no pride in ur personal artifacts, then sad to say, the initial and perhaps good impression of urself, in the eyes of others, wld be blemished. so what if u have a good dress sense? so what if u speak well? so what if u have good table manners? when pple who visit ur home, they can tell at a glance whether u really have pride in urself and take pride in ur lifestyle.

i suppose, that being at home (ur most comfortable comfort zone) wld be the only place where u can see ur bona fide actual self and where others can see the real u. how u behave at home reflects how u behave outside (altho i wld say that it depends on individuals as well... on also depending on which homes in which country) but, usually when we are outside, we tend to have this slight amount of inhibitions which we shed once we are back in HQ! *so more or less u're the real u when u're outside but with like slight inhibitions because u can't really go wild in a public place, esp a place like sg, where pple will stare at u like how they stare at the caged animals in the zoo, just cos u're trying to express ur true self and inner wild child and anything out of the APPARENT NORM as dictated by society wld be viewed as ABNORMAL*

well... i digressed.. back to the topic. so when u're in ur element, when u are at the most ease with urself, that's the time to see the real u. and despite whatever good impression that u have given to pple at first, when they actually see u in ur element, they can tell whether u've a high self value or not.

one can always put up an act in front of others in order to give a good impression to them but one cannot lie abt the facts that might lie abt on ur cluttered floor. u can have impeccable table manners, but at home, u let out loud burps and farts... u can be well mannered but when at home, u refill ur plate even b4 food runs out, or like stuff food in ur mouth even b4 u chew those bits that were already in ur mouth... u can go to the toilet and not wash ur hands after u're done... u cld present a very clean and neat image but in actual fact, u're messy like hell! ur clothes are everywhere... u leave ur unwashed dishes in the sink.. u are lazy so u don't bother washing used cups with detergent... leave stuff around expecting pple at home to pick u after u... i mean these are just some of the stuff that i can think of... that i know of some pple doing.. and i myself am gulity of some of the stuff... but when i reflect upon it.. i realise that i'm not actually giving a very good impression of myself... even towards my family and of my family and their upbringing of me. i mean what is the point of cleaning up ur act if it's only for show, so that u can maintain this facade with others? there is no point in doing that, cos what u're doing in lying to others and to urself. u clean up ur act only because u want to, u desire to, cos u take pride in ur stuff, u take care of them.

a good impression shd continue on even at home, cos the most critical judges are not the outsiders but ur family, if ur own family have to put up with ur facade then wld u not be the saddest little thing on earth? it shd not be the case where pple have a good impression of u only on the outside. u urself have no pride in ur lifestyle, hence no pride in urself. even if u're dressed in like simple berms and shirts, u can still give a good impression to others and maintain it because of ur lifestyle. u take pride in maintaining a good, clean and neat image even at home, pple can tell. altho it seems that some of us are less sensitive than others, it doesn't mean we are desensitized. we give off vibes and pple genereally are able to pick them up and they can tell!!! we have to take pride in ourselves and also take pride in how we live, our lifestyle (as usual, sounds much better in my head.. dunno if i'm like making sense.. am suffering from headache as i'm typing so forgive if it doesn't make sense.... =) )