WAH

I'm sitting at my table, listening to the radio station playing classical music. Nice radio stations they have here. http://bostonpete.com/index.htm

Just read bugs' blog. haha they make such a hilarious duo man. Put them on a tiny island with free food and water and a neat shelter, i dun think they need to be saved liao. Pull them out of a gathering and the outing seems to carry a tinge of seriousness. And when they do come, u feel a slight crescendo in people's spirit, like that of a curtain drawing apart for a great show (maybe also becos they are usually late haha). Maybe i'm just exagerating la...but to know them is like knowing a bundle of joy, always so funny and eager to make people laugh.
But is it as always as it seems?
Of cos not la......
Dun be stupid, how can anyone stay happy 24/7 ???

I think it's their name---BUGS. Sounds funny, and thats precisely why they are funny. I mean i cant imagine them having names like Slumps, Grumps or Dunks. Nahhh...thats totally inappropriate. I think its their names that gave them their jovial personality.
But there's one more point, you cant just call a person Blur Sotong and that person magically transforms into a blur sotong right? I mean it takes some qualifications to carry that name before it was given.

Ok so what am i trying to get at?
If you answer correctly you get to go to the toilet.

Ya correct. You there, well done. You guessed it right, i'm talking about Labels.
Labels are very powerful things. They can create out of you something that u are not, and yet labels arent appropriate if you dont have wat it takes. Label are seen everywhere.
Streetwise we have "ah bengs", "youngsters", "ma da (police)", "pastors".
Or we have "ang mos", "chinese", "indians", "Gahmen".
Sometimes we also have "philosophers", "engineers", "doctors", "architects" and of cos..."psychologist".
In psychology/psychiatry we have "autistic", "Asperger", "ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder), "dyslexic", "anorexic"/ "bulimic"....."schizophrenic"....
so many....so many....

But Labels, although very powerful, are not THAT powerful; because they dont necessarily tell everything. Ok let me give an analogy. Say somebody gave you a Louis Vuitton shirt. WAH branded stuff, very nice. You think you got yourself the most comfortable thing in the whole world; exquisite and exceptional. Its says its made of pure silk and you believe it. Then one day you were shopping in Pasa Malam and you saw the exact same shirt!! made of pure silk too! O NO!! Are you still gona believe what you saw on YOUR shirt?
Maybe it IS made of pure silk...just not from Louis Vuitton lor.

Labels are powerful things. But i didnt say they are naturally evil things, or bad things. In fact, sometimes i use labels for myself as a form of therapy. Eg. "Sanguinee", Joviel", "Sophie"...many many more. You can also use it counterintuitively such as "devilia", "blur sotong". That is, using a sort of "reverse psychology" (although in my entire psych study i have never come across that term) for self improvement.

But sometimes labels can be very dangerous. They can plant false memories into you and you wont even know it. I used to find it easy getting caught up with what people label me as and then i just conform to it. Then there arises many more labels from different group of people and then you start wondering if u have a split personality disorder. You get confused, frustrated; even more so when alll the time people are advocating "Be Yourself"!!... But what if THIS is being myself!!!! haha....those adolescent days...
Ah well...they say that if u cant beat yr enemy work with them. Or use them to work with you.
And so i have......
i read in this counselling book, it says that one way to help clients is to help them relabel themselves. For instance, instead of calling someone naggy, we call them oversensitive or overconcerned. It may look puny as a solution, but it works wonders slowly. Small things make big things ma......slowly lor.......