It takes one to know one.

It takes one to know one. I mean, i have heard this idiom umpteen number of times. But i believe it has been used and misused umpteem number of times as well. Let us look at this logically.

Every living thing has some basic level cognitive skill. They are aware that they exist. They can very easily identify their own kind, their predators, their prey and their mate. So a lion can identify another lion, can identify a lioness, can identify its prey be it deer, or zebra or it can make sense of a new thing it comes across within its limited cognitive capacity. If i take it forward, you dont need to be a deer to know that the object you are looking at is a deer. you could be a lion or you could be a tiger or you could be a man to identify that a deer is a deer.

So next time you use the idiom "it takes one to know one" i suggest understanding the correct usage of this idiom before using it. After all it does take a knowledgeable user of english to understand how to use the phrase..

As per answers.com, the correct usage of this idiom should be based on the following definition. The idiom means "The person who expressed criticism has similar faults to the person being criticized. This classic retort to an insult dates from the early 1900s. For example, You say she's a terrible cook? It takes one to know one! For a synonym, see pot calling the kettle black. A near equivalent is the proverbial it takes a thief to catch a thief, meaning “no one is better at finding a wrongdoer than another wrongdoer.” First recorded in 1665, it remains current."

As you can see the idiom has a flaw.. u dont really need to be a cook to know the food u are eating tastes like crap.. u just need to know how good food tastes like to understand the difference. similarly, u can also be a cop or someone who watches CSI to know how to identify a thief. so basically, you dont need to be a dog to know that the idiotic annoying barking object is a the dog.. u just need to know what a dog and what a bark is to understand that.. that is cognition.
unfortunately, the world is full of people without enough cognitive skills..

You know, Seinfeld just answered my question on ladies and shoes and put them in perspective.

As per him, women and shoes are like men and cleavage. Doesnt matter how many times you have seen them before, men just get drawn to cleavage and i am no exception.. Now, i understand the relationship between women and shoes.. thanks seinfeld!!!

barking dogs seldom bite..

my first teacher was my mom.. of course everyones is unless of course due to some sad circumstances you had to learn from someone else. I dont think this is the first thing she taught me, even if she tried to i dont think it would have registered in my brain when i was a baby.

However, i remember one set of incidents very well. I used to be called the villain by my aunts and uncles.. just cos of one reason, i used to beat the shit out of my cousin. He was 6 months junior to me and i always liked to make him cry and run away with his toys and they used to lock him in a room just to keep me away. In any case, my mom first slapped me a couple of times when i kept doing this. When i did not stop, she whacked me a few times and i do remember even getting a whip from one of my uncles belt. of course she told me she used to cry after hitting me. moms are moms.. but then i was a spoilt kid and needed to be shown the way. The lesson that she tried to teach me was not to get into fights unnecessarily and not to bother another life. I think i learnt the lesson fast, because in the last 29 years, i have only incident where i have hit someone and in that case, i broke that guys nose with one punch. I was 12 and luckily things did not escalate.

I never entered into a fist fight ever again and i never entered into an argument unless the argument was constructive or it was some position i really held steadfast to. Some of these positions were like my full faith in capitalism, ayn rands objectivism, the question of ethics, and values etc. When did i learn this.. well cant pinpoint a time, i guess by experience, and it was not something insead or bits taught me.

If you are a sane person, you always know to ignore Barking Dogs and just walk past them. Cos your time is worth more than picking up that stone and giving that dumb mad dog a thrash on its back (SPCA please forgive me, i wouldnt advice hitting dogs that mean you no harm and only as a means of self defense). I remember this incident in mangalore when a pack of dogs chased us when we were driving a bike and all i had to do was stop the bike and get off the bike and the dogs just ran away.

Why am i writing this? well one aspect i never learnt was how to stop thinking about the barking dogs after u ignore and walk past them. Even though i ignore these stupid barking dogs, i couldnt stop thinking about how these barking dogs came to be there in the first place. I wonder what this dogs mom taught it, i wonder what this dogs experience had taught it and why they keep barking just increasing entropy in the universe with no gain whatsoever. does the dog want to prove that it is bigger than everything else it is barking at. Does the dog have such a big ego that it doesnt even know it stinks. I really wonder.. I think i have to grow some more to stop caring about this aspect altogether, cos the time i spent thinking about why this dog sucks could have been used someplace constructively.. well actually i think right now i am being atleast creative about it by writing this piece.

you know, my mom did teach me one lesson.. barking dogs seldom bite. just stare at them and they whimper away to pick up barking with some other stranger.. you dont need to go to insead or bits to have learnt this.. just some brains and a life that shows u experiences..

to think or not to think

Thinking about the future is scary.

Thinking about the past is even scarier cos you know those actions are yet to have a reaction which is going to occur in the future, unless of course you travel through time and either go back and change these past events or go forward and figure out the future and act differently.

Well since time travel is not yet feasible, it is better not to Think!!!

You know what they say about fitness. Apparently it is a relegion, it is a way of life. well i have no idea about all that. all i know is it is costing me 68 bucks a month plus 65 bucks a session with my personal trainer and a lot of muscle ache.

So how the hell did this happen. Well as it is the case with me, it is all impulse. As i sat sipping teh halia ( singlish for ginger tea, more about the different types of teh tarik and kopi o and milo-dinosaurs in another blog; for the unititiated, these are some of the types of concoctions you get with tea and coffee in singapore), well back to the topic.. as i sat sipping teh halia in far east square with my colleagues my eyes for some strange play of fate rested on the $68 a month gym membership and my brain goes off in a tangent about how am so unfit and obese and the stuff.

Well to keep matters short, i took leave from my colleagues and went into planet fitness only to end up signing a two year membership for 68 bucks a month. Reason, well i thought it is time i lose the 5 kgs i gained since last november and also relieve some stress. I am totally stressed these days..

The gyms you wouldnt believe are probably run by some of the best known sales and marketing folks in the world. They do know how to squeeze not only the fat out of you, but also the fat out of your wallet. The first thing they did was to set me up with a personal trainer to review my health and fitness level. appointment fixed for thursday evening 5 pm.

Thursday, i sit facing the personal trainer. she aint that cute so u cant blame that for what happenned next. She asks me to fill this rather long form about my health and allergies and if i will faint when i excercise hard. She then measures my height.. For some strange reason, my height falls shorter by 4 cms from my previously accepted value. I have never heard of people losing height after they lose their rather bushy and curly hair on their head, but i was surprised to realise this baldness has cost me 4 cms of my height.. shucks.. the little known side effects of baldness.. while i am brooding and feeling shitty about my lost height, she starts my tests..

BP check next.. 127/74. well that is not bad. lets do some step excercise and calculate my cardiovascular strength aka stamina.. result.. less than average. Strength which they calculated as the number of situps and pushups i can do which were incidentally 16 and 26, and i came out ranked poor about 10 numbers less than average in each of them. And then came the shocker!!! the BMI machine coughs up 40% fat level.

So now, i am sitting there gasping for breath after those tests and the personal trainer tells me i am screwed if i dont do something and then suggests she help me.. Well what do you expect i can do then? i ended up signing up for personal training lessons..

The first session with her, she almost killed me by making me run on the tread mill at 10 incline and 10 speed. Then she asks me to climb the stairs machine and then about 3 sets of couple of abdomen excercises and some cycling.. by the time i am 35 minutes into the training, i can feel my body overheating and my head getting bad blood cos of my poor lungs.. Well she did stretch me though which was the best part of the session..

anyways, it has been 4 days since the last session, i have been regular. today i managed to run 7 speed on a 7 incline for 15 minutes, did a 20 minute cycling at a RPM of 75-80 at level 8. my stamina is on the way back and yesterday i did 20 laps in the swiming pool, something i havent been able to do in a long while..

when i heard about my 40% fat, i thought of printing a t-shirt with the words " hey i am 40% fat! you cant find anyone else more cuddly" but i think if i keep up, i am going to be able to wear a skin tight showing off my tight abs.. soon... right now i am practicing my new pick up line.. "hey do u know i used to be 40% fat"..

I am tired and sick of decisions that i have to make in my life and the bloody obligations and cultural baggage that i am carrying.

I am tired of my not being able have the guts to make some decisions and stick to it. I am tired of letting myself and others down.

I am tired of weighing and balancing pros and cons.

I am tired of sympathising with my myself.

I am tired of what ifs.

I am tired of not knowing what to do.

I am tired of mistakes.

I am tired of my impulsive behaviours.

I am tired of everything that i am.

I am tired of living my life for someone else, but i dont know if i have a way out.

Right now, i am really very tired.