Thursday, January 12, 2006

Syllabus covered!

Blogging and blog-reading is like a unique university module. There is a syllabus, but it's different for each student. There are valuable lessons blogging and blog-reading has in store for each student. Basically, whatever the student ends up learning constitutes his/her syllabus. (So the syllabus is actually released at the end of the course!)

Here's a list of valuable lessons I covered in my 'Blogging and blog-reading 101' syllabus for 2005.

  • Just when you think life can't get better, you discover blogging and blog-reading.
  • A blog can bring you a lot of joys you never thought you could have.
  • When you start blogging about stuff, simple incidents are not so simple anymore. Every little thing has a meaning, an implication, a lesson.
  • Your blog evolves with every post. Just like you do.
  • Blogging and blog-reading can become an addiction, with its own withdrawal symptoms.
  • A single post written by someone can change your life.
  • Your friends can serve as the greatest motivation to keep the blog going. Thanks, Sinnerman, for your inspiring words "There's so much more you can do with your blog, Sayesha!" when I was writing meaningless posts like "I got up, went to work, came back, slept." Thanks, A and R, for telling me over dinner at that hawker centre in Siglap that night, "Sayesha, you should never ever stop blogging!"
  • Your closest friends stop commenting on your blog after a while. But they're still reading. It's either that they feel lost in the crowd or they think "Apni hi Sayesha hai yaar, iske blog par kya comment karna." ("She's our own Sayesha. What's there to comment on her blog?")
  • You can really connect with someone on blogsphere. And if that breaks, it hurts real bad. It's heart-breaking actually.
  • Sometimes blog friends seem to become more significant than your other friends.
  • It's through blogging that we can really see how hypocritical and imperfect we are
  • People can get really bitchy on the blogsphere.
  • One nasty comment can ruin your entire day. But only if you allow it to.
  • Every stranger on the Internet is not a creep.
  • There are creeps on the Internet though.
  • Don't let bludgers (those who have grudges against you or your blog) bug you. Bludgers are buggers who bludgeon your blog. (Wah, cool tongue-twister, eh?)
  • I know a bludger who dislikes me thoroughly, but my statcounter tells me she comes back every day. I wonder why.
  • Commentators do not have to agree with everything the blogger says. You can have a huge argument with a commentator, but if it's done in a mature way, you can end up being friends without any grudges of the old fight.
  • Sometimes, creating an 'anonymous-no-comment-no-profile blog' can help you cope with stuff that your 'normal' blog can't. (Yes, yes, I had created one some time ago to cope with some personal stuff. Don't ask. I killed it recently. It was making me more miserable. I'm so done with feeling miserable. I don't need it anymore.)
  • Sometimes you may have a lot of comments on the post, but something just doesn't feel right till that one person comments.
  • One can get insanely jealous to see their loyal commentator on the blog of someone they don't like very much.
  • Some comments can get to your head. Others can make you cry.
  • The thought of not having a single comment on a post is scary.
  • A note about certain commentators -- if you shoot yourself down, they love you. If you love yourself, they shoot you down.
  • Your profile picture can become your identity. Like a little brand logo of your own.
  • You can fall in love with a complete stranger because of that one post he/she wrote.
  • Blogging helps one to accept criticism better, not to hold grudges and to judge people less.
  • Your blog can make you some really amazing friends.
Now let's see how much of the 2006 syllabus I can cover.



41 comments:

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

YIPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! ME FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!! GOLD!!!!!!!!!! WOO-HOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Now, lemme read. :D

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

WOW! Sayesha writes down the syllabus for blogging...and makes everyone realize that they were studying without the syllabus.
//Just when you think life can't get better, you discover blogging and blog-reading.// How true! How true! And life gets even better once we start blogging. :D
//Your blog can make make you some really amazing friends// This is one of the "BESTEST" things about blogging.

Hey, I just said that "Bludgers are buggers..." tongue-twister 10 times! HA! Why don't you get it copyrighted?
Sayesha and her ubercool tongue twister. :D
Tootles.

Can't help saying it again...ME FIRST!!! MUAHAHAHA!

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

Ab gold aur silver toh le hee liya hai, why not Bronze as well? :D I'm completing the trilogy. HA!

oxymoron said...

blog rule:
gold silver bronze can't be given to the same person for 3 comments.
so i get the deserving silver medal!
now i shall proceed to read the blog.

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

HMPH! Sayesha's blog doesn't have such khadoos rules 'cause she's not khadoos.
SO, I am the rightful owner of gold, silver and bronze. *Hides the three medals in her bag and runs away*

oxymoron said...

// The thought of not having a single comment on a post is scary.
dun worry, this will never happen at sayeshaz!
// You can fall in love with a complete stranger because of that one post he/she wrote.
i would love to read such posts.

Sayesha said...

#The Girl,
Oye tu abhi tak talli hai kya? :D

Tujhe ek special prize for saying the TT 10 times! Shaabaash! :D

#Oxy,
Hehehe... nice rule, man! :)

#The Girl,
Bhaag Dhanno bhaag! Oxy tere peechhe aa raha hai! :D

#Oxy,
//i would love to read such posts.

Sweetheart, long long ago, you wrote one such post yourself! Bhool gaye kya? :)

ps: No, I did not fall in love with you, but that post sure had potential! :)

oxymoron said...

*dhaadaaaaaaam*
tatz me falling off the chair! such appreciation from someone who writes 240 bloody good posts in 365 days.
thnx thnx thnx!
*nursing my wounds from the fall*
i remember which post u r talking about. tatz my fav 2! a rather touchy topic ;)

Abhi said...

maine etri post padi , fir comment link pe click kiya , fir keyboard pe fingers place kee , fir screen ko dekha , thoda aur dekha , fir socha 'apni hi sayesha hai yaar , iske blog pe kya comment karun ", ungliyan keyboard se hatayi and binn comment kiya chala gaya.

Thanu said...

I love the people we meet in this world. I met lot of nice ppl here at Sayeshaz. thanks

Kaala Kavva said...

arre SC mast likha yaar!
ek dum sahi boli sab kuch!
tu itna saara data ek baar mein likhti kaise hai re ?
mai to kabhi compile hee nahi kar pata!

and pata hai an odd thing with me ??
none of my good friends read my blog!
i have to actually force them to!
and they NEVER comment. :)

but thats okay. I feel really nice.
You know what I have a group called 'blog friends' in yahoo messenger! they're so many!

vibhav said...

You learnt so much from 'Blogging and blog-reading 101', must say it's the first time I've come across an account where a person finds a course valuable because of the lessons learnt there, and then actually looks forward to the next similar course!

Blogging has more to it than it appears to have.

:)

Pujya said...

at sayeshaz i have come to realize that its not the trophy but the race that matters...(saala kabhi first he nahi aati..)hmpf!
arre yahan par koi result to declare nahi hoga na..sirf syllabus hi hai na..

atul lakhotia said...

at least u found a course that is valuable!!!

V said...

*The thought of not having a single comment on a post is scary*???

Umm.Well, that's something quite in the usualness for me, atleast.

[Thanks to the unfaithfullness of the readers.]

Anonymous said...

Well do keep the blogging going strong this year too. To me, your blog is like a warm blanket I like to curl up in at the end of the day.

You know, 10th Jan this year was my parents 25th anniversery too. So I decided to pay them a shock visit in India without telling them. Moms first words were "Youve lost weight!" when I showed up at the door at 2 am out of the blue. I mean what the hell... :S

Good posts about orientation ... do one about how you terrorised the hapless juniors sometime...

Cheers
Kais

Rays Of Sun said...

Hola! cool girl!!
Liked two points of all:
1. You can really connect with someone on blogsphere. And if that breaks, it hurts real bad. It's heart-breaking actually.

I know..:(

2.I know a bludger who dislikes me thoroughly, but my statcounter tells me she comes back every day. I wonder why.

The person just comes back to see how much you are loved and hates you even more for that:D



2.

Rays Of Sun said...

I fell in love with Sayesha coz of her ENTIRE BLOG:D

Anonymous said...

//I fell in love with Sayesha// says ROS...

why lady whyyyyy...why compete with me :?:

syllabus hai...cources hai...exams kaha hai?

Anonymous said...

courses*

L said...

Hmm quite true...!!

especially the frnds not commenting after a while... and the blog profile photo stuff...!!

Sayesha said...

#Oxy,
Arre beta chot toh nahin aayi? Hehehe...
Seriously yaar, sometimes some lines just stay in our head forever. Your lines "My feelings dont need her approval. My feelings dont need her permission." were amazing. :)

#Abhi,
Dekha dekha? Maloom tha! :D
ps: I'm guilty of doing the same to your blog at times! :P

#Thanu,
Thanks! :)

#Ze Che,
Hehehe... thanks thanks! Yeah I have a bunch of blog friends too! People I feel incredibly close, but whom I've never met! :)

#The Anon,
//where a person finds a course valuable because of the lessons learnt there, and then actually looks forward to the next similar course!

Haha! You're right. This doesn't happen often with actual uni courses! :P

#Aethyr,
Yup, only syllabus, no result! :)

#Atul,
Yeah! And how! :)

#Tequila,
Baap re, tu toh gusse mein hain yaar.

#Kais,
//To me, your blog is like a warm blanket I like to curl up in at the end of the day.

Wow. That's... wow. What can I say? I feel honoured :)

//Moms first words were "Youve lost weight!"

Geez! Moms!

//do one about how you terrorised the hapless juniors sometime...

Eeesh! :P No man, enough of orientation done! :P

#ROS,
:(
:)
:)

#Spammy,
Arre yaar, you're threatened by girls now?? :D Gana nahin suna "Love ke sala kuchh bhi karega?"

#Viks,
Wah wah. Nice try, my dear! :)

#L,
:)

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

*Jumps up and down excitedly* YESSS! I managed to hide from oxy...*shows her glinting medals and grins with pride*.

//Oye tu abhi tak talli hai kya?:D//
Haan...thodi si...pehli baar itni variety ki drinks lee thi na...is liye :P

Eclectic Blogger said...

//You can fall in love with a complete stranger because of that one post he/she wrote.//

Yes.. my vote for "Sample" Sayesha.. (still have the jharkand series hangover unfortunately)

//Your blog can make you some really amazing friends.//

"Sample" sayesha again..

(Scowling at the author of the post and screaming at a seemingly high pitch) Usko kya kiya thu ne? Kidhar hai Woh????? Abhi batao...

unfuel the planet said...

when are the classes starting???

Unknown said...

well....so which category do i fall into?? :)

Kathy said...

Bloggers rocks*** Sayesha rocks!!
...blogging changed my life a lot, yeah so much,to the extend that i dont want to sleep sometimes haha^_^ (im crazy naa?)jokin'..coz its really make my day ,i told you**it's sayesha's blog,hindi songs and coffee starts my morning!It's a hopeless case haha...^_~

Happy Lohri sweetie...
love,
-kathy-

oxymoron said...

i luv this course-BnB 101. teacher praised me infront of the whole class! yessssssss!
*thumps chest n feels proud*

Raj said...

Yeah, I've learnt all these lessons. But what about the people who visit your blog everyday but never ever leave a comment? I dont know if i should thank them for visiting or challenge them to come forward ,leave a comment and be counted.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that was nice to read Sash. Some very true observations and learnings. Blogs are great :).

I am already eagerly awaiting our next syllabus. :-))

>Bludgers

:D Like that. The word :)

virdi said...

hey your blog has some links ka problem...

V..

Anonymous said...

awww no! that 'creep' word here too! and that too prefixed by an italic 'are'. :/

An honest post! Most painted people won't confess that blogging is an important part of their routine like you have. They won't confess that the thought of not having a single comment on a post is scary, nor will they agree with blog friends being more significant than others at times and other such things.

Reality shows sell better than WWF or the shows with babes flashing their million dollor smiles *coughs*. What makes your blog real is that there is an aura of honesty attached. People feel they know real you. Mindless phylosophy, literary skills, flashy blogs don't work if the real person doen't come out through the blog.

Tinku

Shriedhar said...

wow!
it was amazing 2 kno that i completed my syllabus barring a few chapters,wid in a span of one month :)
wanna move on to next sem.Im very happy that no exams for me on this syllabus.. :)

PuNeEt said...

Wow... another beautiful post

When you start blogging about stuff, simple incidents are not so simple anymore
thats so damn true :-)

Blogging and blog-reading can become an addiction, with its own withdrawal symptoms
I swear...
finally I have some addiction :-)


Your closest friends stop commenting on your blog after a while. But they're still reading
thats so true...
some of my non blogging pals fall under this category

Sometimes blog friends seem to become more significant than your other friends
indeed yess

One nasty comment can ruin your entire day. But only if you allow it to
not really if its from an anonymous ass

Blogging helps one to accept criticism better, not to hold grudges and to judge people less
i have learnt this from blogworld

No wonder I luv ur posts so much...
i can relate it with my daily life

awesome

Cheers

Rays Of Sun said...

#Viks,
Pagle ko pagla koi kaise kare:D

Sayesha said...

#The Girl,
Easy, girl, easy. Warna tere gharwale bolenge 'Sayesha ke saath mat khel, bigaad ke rakh degi tujhe!' :O

#Rinku,
Thanks and cheers, babe! :)

#Eclectic,
Oye! 'Actual' Sayesha is just as good as 'Sample' Sayesha, okay? Yeh kya baat hui, you're makin' me jealous of myself? Very disorienting! :O

//Usko kya kiya thu ne? Kidhar hai Woh????? Abhi batao...

She's hiding. 'Cos you confessed you're in love with her! :D

#Ankur,
Classes are forever on! Jab attend karna chaho karo, jab bunk karna hai, karo! No attendance, no assessment, no exam! Total chill! :)

#Vik H,
Errr... bludger maybe?
Hahahahahaa! Kidding kidding! :D
Actually, you're the comforting kinda commentator, I see you here, I know everything is okay. :)

#Kathy,
Thanks baby. Happy Lohri to you too! :)

//im crazy naa?

Yes, you are, sweetheart! It's a pre-requisite for the course! ;)

#Oxymoron,
Hahahahhahaa! Your comment made me almost fall off my chair laughing! Virtual *dhadaam*! :D

#Raj,
Well, I respect the non-commentators' stand. Either they are too shy, or they just prefer to read. But it would be nice if they just popped in a 'Hi' some time! :)

#Harshi,
Babe I think it's high time you took up the course yourself! Start that blog soon! :)

#Debubhai,
Thanks... dil se! :)

#Virdi,
Haan yaar, pata nahin kya ho raha hai... nerdyKini haaalppp! :O

#Tinku,
Arre you're zinda on my blog? Phew! :) Tujhe creep nahin bola na! Tension kaiku leta hai? :D

And thanks for your comment... was really heart-warming :)

#Shreedhar,
Whoa, you're on the fast track course eh? It took me a year to master all of these, and you got 'em in a month! :)

#Puneet,
Thanks! :)

#ROS,
:D

#Gangadhar,
Thanks! :)

R said...

Mannnnn!! I love your posts. big time. Great guns!!

Jina said...

heyyy..congraaaaaaaaatttttttss.....u r a brilliant student i must admit...covered the whole syllabus hehe...

MeAwinner said...

I am taking all these classes.. almost covered the syllabus..
COol post Sayesha !
#Someone's post can make ur Day-.Ur posts are just like that.I laughed so much "on ur Tiolet sign post abt chat " Hahhahahha
#You have a positive impact ,I do connect to you on so many things,that I feel you are my friend."Blogger-Connection":)
Cheers !
MeAWinner

Suds said...

Great post... Keep it coming..:) Enjoy...

Sayesha said...

#Rohit,
Thanks, dude! :)

#Ursjina,
Hehehe! Cool online course, eh? Just sit on your ass at home and learn! :D

#Chirag,
//May be because there is less to bitch about.

Hahaha! Stop bitching then, and write about other things, I'm sure blogs are not only for bitching! :)

#MeAwinner,
True, these connections are really amazing! You feel like you know the person personally, even though you have not even seen their faces! :)

#Suds,
Thanks! :)