Back after almost a decade...

Hello dear reader...

It has been almost a decade since I wrote something in this space. As the cliche goes, life is now different (much so) since I wrote last (Jul 3, 2011 apparently - :O)

It has been a wild ride - and I am sure we are all much better for it - if you even remember the existence of this blog. :P

The last time I wrote here... 

India had just won the ICC World Cup. 

I was still struggling through my Masters' degree (I was just in my 2nd semester at that point, so pl. bear with me). 

I was still unemployed - it is funny, now that I think about it - the coincidence of my stopping to write with my starting to be gainfully employed (either part-time or full-time). It is almost as if my job(s) replaced my writing... Geez!

America was still presided over by Mr. Obama, so, for better or for worse, it was different.

I still had a non-smart phone (a bright red flip LG at that) and used to be edgy saying "I am not a big fan of touch-screens) *facepalm* - of course this quickly changed when I was able to buy my first Android (Samsung Galaxy Nexus - untainted by Samsung's bloatware yet)...

And in the meantime, the past 10 years have brought great things into my life, and I am sure all in all of yours too...

COVID-19 has to take the cake for the most influential thing in the past decade - hopefully, the vaccines will tame this beast soon!

He-who-must-not-be-named (or more aptly, Umbridge) being the president for one full term and seeing the horrid news cycles spewing out the craziness.

A stable career and work that I enjoy doing (of course there are ups and downs, but, for the most part it is great fun)

The experiences that are unique to being a first-generation immigrant in the US - especially practically starting from the scratch in a brand new place - One thing I plan to write more about

Getting married - best thing that I chose to do

Getting into photography - just enjoying a hobby the most I can - another thing I would like to write more about

Reading (and more importantly, re-reading) a lot - this is one other thing I plan to write about - sort of book reviews, I guess, especially about things I have learned and understood better from it.

So, here's the lowdown - I just read something excellent about a gentleman's journey through his life from Hyderabad to the USA (spanning some 30 years so far) and this has sparked me to get back onto this pursuit of mine - link in comments.

Not going to make lofty promises of posts everyday, but may be once every few weeks about the things that have shaped me (esp. in the past decade) when I have been mute on this platform..

So, yeah - thanks for coming back to Musings with Munaf! Hope you read along and contribute when/where you can!

 

Freelosophy

DISCLAIMER: This post is a kind-of eulogy for everything in the software world that is free and open-source. And hence, I'm sure, it is understood I'm not being paid by FOSS or someone... :D


"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." - Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863


"Given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix will be obvious to someone." - Eric Raymond, 1997


"Only wimps use tape backup: real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)" - Linus Torvalds, 1996






If you're wondering why I'm blabbering about all these oldies here and now (Lincoln was old, Raymond and Torvalds, on the other hand, not so much...), you must not have been in touch with me or at he very least, my FB profile and status updates. I've been in touch with one of the most important sensations I have ever been into. By the way, this is the first post I'm typing on my laptop. I always wanted to do this - be free! Free as in freedom. Freedom from finding software that can serve all my purposes and yet, be free (this time, as in cost :P). Freedom from figuratively looking over the shoulder all the time trying to see if someone knows that you are actually using pirated software. In this aspect, India is very much ahead than probably any other nation in the world. Let me put this into perspective - pick up like 20 computer users in India, 19 of them use any of the versions of Windows. And of those 19, about 10 still use Windows XP. Of those 10 people, about 8 have never spent a buck (literally) on the Windows software they use or most of the times, not even for any other compatible software that they need to use on their machines like, for instance, Photoshop, MS Office, Matlab et al. OK, what is this post about? You might've guessed it - Linux.

First things first : It costs you only the time it takes to download it. Almost every version (a Linux version is called a Distro, short for distribution.) comes free. being true Indians as we all are, we like to get things for free.On the other hand, we have a never ending paranoia. Why is he giving this thing to us for free? It is probably defective, probably sub-standard. I had the similar doubts about Linux back in December '09. Did you know that, linux is probably the most standarized of all the operating systems available? Virtually every big corporation (and I'm talking real BIG) uses one of the Linux distributions - Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Mandriva et. al. (Most likely Red Hat, though.)


Why did I venture into this? I've been asked this a lot - at least ever since I started rallying about Linux and especially Ubuntu to any living soul I know :D. OK, why? Back in December, I was planning on buying a laptop and had started researching for a good one (and so far, I have found it). What I found common with all brands was - laptops with Windows cost a considerable amount more than those without the same. It was during that period that I learnt a lot (a LOT) about things like processor architectures, OS architectures and other technical things. The irony is that - I was supposed to have known them for like 3 subjects that I took and yet, I found the fun in those subjects. Mostly because, knowing things is different from learning them (for like an exam or for an assignment). So, i thought, what other options do I have - for an Operating System. I wanted it to be cheap and or once in my life, I wanted it to be legal. On my desktop, I use a shared (between friends and all) version of Windows XP, which incidentally, cost me nothing :). I wanted my laptop to be totally free (except for the hardware, of course) and yet, legal, cutting-edge, and reasonably user-friendly. That was when I stumbled upon Linux. I pored over thousands of lines of reports, bench-mark tests, and technical details and ended up choosing Ubuntu, especially because it was just about a CD's size and of course, meant for personal users.


Now that I've answered the obvious question, another question. Linux is free, huh? What if it's all a conspiracy and all they want is your personal data and corrupt it all. (Trust me, I've been actually asked this.) Let's face it guys, you are not the center of the universe. No one is out there to get you, let alone all the silly things that make up your data. No one simply cares. And even if they do, Linux is at the very least as safe as the other options you have. Viruses, on the other hand, are a totally different issue. They are not aimed personally at anyone, no? Well, this next thing is not so much because of Linux's (come to think of it, any *NIX), omnipotence, but because of the smaller user-base of the *NIX OSes. There are practically (I can't emphasize this enough) no wild viruses for Linux - as of now, at least. That certainly is one less thing to worry about, don't you think?


True, Linux comes with a learning curve, a very long one at that. I've been using Linux for about 2+ years now, and yet, learn at least one new thing every week - try to beat that with Windows. And, I'm not even talking about any software, just the OS by itself.


Well, I'll leave you to figure out the rest of Linux. If you are at all into technology, I suggest you start using Linux - not great for games, but the thrill of learning something so pure...unbeatable!!


An excellent article I read about the differences in philosophies is here...do go through it and of course hit the Distro websites.




Ubuntu - My personal favorite
CentOS - My second favorite, just a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux - Stability
Fedora - Just a cutting edge version of Red Hat
Distrowatch - Reading material on all the Distributions


"...the Linux philosophy is "laugh in the face of danger". Oops. Wrong one. "Do it yourself". That's it." 

- Linus Torvalds, 1996

Cheers!!


P.S.: Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.

Chapters

Alright, end of exam season and finally, I am almost an Engineer, just waiting for the results and my convocation. Actually, I've decided not to make any promises about the frequency of posts coming about this season of the blog (yeah, right, I like to call them seasons :P). Anyway, let me start off by giving out my current state of mind. Well, people around me are all acting so mature and grown-up, no one (except a couple of them...) is fooling around, people are going around Visa offices and keeping their fingers crossed about their MBA entrance results (not you mama, you're handling it very well... :P) and here I am, just sitting and planning on going abroad in he coming Spring. Actually, there is not much planning, it's almost all set. Anyway, at least, I now have the gift of time. Sounds a bit too sanguine, but then, it pays, You know, I now have new and improved (how can something be new and improved? Don't ask me. :P). respect for the Uncertainty Principle. No comments about that, find out and assume things at the link on this blog. Gift of time. A lot of things that can be done and a couple of things that must be done along with the one thing that gave me this break in the first place. Of course, I am now totally enjoying the 64-bit Ubuntu Lucid and loving messing around with people and computers as usual. Well, what is this post about? The age old question. Well, this is a timeless post. It is at the same time about the past, the present and the future, Kind of oxymoron-ic, no? (Pardon my Indian touch to my English, I'm trying to lose it. :P and I shall try to lose the ":P"s too :)) But of course, let me get into the post.

Well, this post is coming mainly from my experiences. Also, the timing for the post is also kinda perfect because I have just completed one of the most important and enjoyable things I ever did. Nothing so mystic though, it is just my Engineering. Come to think of it, it has become so ubiquitous at least in our part of the country. Actually, I don't feel any different after finishing it. No, I just don't have to worry about not caring for important things. I'll be honest, at least here. I will definitely miss those days, but then, it's not like I'm moving to anything less fun than this. No elucidating here, mainly due to FUD regarding TUP (don't even ask!). Anyway, I'd rather have my peers see the change as a positive thing, mainly due to the development each of is most likely about to see in the near future. Most of us are now gonna get paid, for crying out loud! I'm digressing here, looks like the long stint away from writing has done no wonders to my writing skills (much like my project did not to my confidence, but then, that is a whole other story altogether...). Damn, another lengthy paragraph and I have not stated anything that is not obvious! I gotta pull up my gig now.

Let me start with a for-instance. Let us say you have a life decision to make that is certainly going to have you relocate (for want of a better word...) to a new place. Now the question I pose is not such a difficult one, in that, first of all, it is not even a question so much as a matter of opinion. So, in this situation, would you prefer to have a good friend of yours (at least an acquaintance for that matter...) and continue your life, so to say. Or, simply don't even care whether or not anyone you know is at the new place in hopes that, you can start afresh, so to say. Now, I have not been so articulate in the above few lines, but I hope you got what I meant. Now, here cometh my take.

First things first, I metaphor-ize my life as a set of short-stories. One story ends, the other one begins, and of course both stories need not correlate in the least. But, morals and lessons learnt from the precious stories always find use in making decisions in the next story. In simple words, I like to have a fresh beginning each time I take a turn in my life. No, I'm not talking about ditching my old friends and go finding new ones. Old friends are important but then, they have their own _things_. Time for elucidation. See, I make mistakes and have flaws in each stage of my life, like anyone else. Old friends have the incorrigible habit of nagging on these subjects even though the things happened like ages ago. That's just one side of the coin. Old friends aside, it is also important to bury the skeletons you have in your closet, right? (totally figurative, I have no real skeletons in my closet, you can come and check!) A new place for me, is usually a way to clean my slate and start building a new life for myself. I have done this about 4 times now and have loved the way things have turned out. You know, you usually get to live your fantasy. Tell tehm you were Superman and you are golden! :) That does it, huh? Well, of course, that's just me, trying to bury the skeletons in my closet in any possible twisted manner and living out fantasies. Well, doing this has its downsides too. you need to be patient at the start of each story and by the end of the story you have new skeletons in your closet (I'm using this a bit too much). So, after this part of my life I called Engineering, I will most likely start a new story. This is just my preference. If I had no choice, this chapter would continue for a little more time.

Fine, this was probably one of the not-good posts, but you gotta know I've been away from this for quite many days and this is just like a warm up post. Don't stop reading the blog just because of this post!

Write your own stories. And live your fantasies like you want, because life is too long to be a single chapter, better break it up into chapters. :) :) :)

All the right reasons

It's been quite some time since my last post and it's not even like I'm busy with exams or anything. I've been asked as to why I'm not writing more, and hope to comply by that request (yes, it's true, some people like my blog... :P and thank you people...). There was this website I stumbled upon - http://www.wordle.net/. And ran my blog for a word cloud and well, the result was obvious. "Anyways" is apparently my most used word and somehow, I'm surprised, mostly because the word itself is so redundant ;). Anyway, here's the word cloud for your perusal (yeah, like you even care... :P):

There goes. Before moving on to the crux of the post, let me tell you something else. It is just a stop-gap between what happened between the last post and this one. Well, I wrote my CAT (and please don't ask me how it went, I have pretty much no idea myself; for all I know, I screwed it big time...). And, yeah, due this friggin' Telangana issues, I have completed only one of my 6 exams and it is very boring to sit at home with no idea about the schedule of exams and whether my degree will reach me in time (for what? :P). Anyway, if you ask my views about Telangana, I'm undecided and rest assured, it is not the reason for this post - I'm not as cruel as the TV channels to drone about the issue here too, I'm not affiliated to any TV channel, see...


Fine (I'm trying to avoid the A-word (see above :)) from now on, it is pretty unsettling for me that, I use it so much... :P), the same old question - what is this post about (I'm assuming you can't guess because I haven't titled the post yet :P). Reason. Just humor me and try to define the word; to yourself that is. It is undoubtedly a simple enough word to know (sorry if I sounded condescending...). A reason is something you use to defend your actions or stand (I'm sure the definition is pretty close to the money...). I'm 20 now, and it would be pretty fair if I say I've had my share of watching the world around me and everywhere I go, I find people using reasons for, literally, everything. Don't get me wrong here, I'm all for using your reasons. Science is all about reasons and I have nothing acrimonious about using reasons. Using reasons is one thing, using the right ones is altogether another. In fact, having reasons is important; having the right ones is much more so. Call me old-school or whatever you like, but I believe having the right reason to do something is more important than doing it. I read in some book something about "Ends justify the means.". Well, I beg to disagree as I'm sure, would many of us. Well, let me elucidate. I've heard people saying - "Let us study well." I'll have you know that I'm all for it. But the reason you study should not be to get marks or to impress someone (I happen to know a few people of this kind... :P), or whatever else. The reason to study, in my view, should be to gain knowledge, period. Leaving all that, if you use your wrong reasons, you end up hating the things you do, and sometimes even yourself.


Another example - "Why did you take up Engineering?" (which, incidentally, is the most common question we face in interviews or sometimes even rhetorically, especially by our peers...). I've heard virtually all the answers there can be; ranging from "My parents...", "My brother...", "My teacher..." to "I had no other option.", "Software Job.". Well, no wonder our Engineers today are probably the some of the most incompetent among all the other countries. There are, of course, some people who answer with beautiful reasons - "I love making things.", "I want to make the world a better place." et. al. Well, these people, I tell you, are the real engineers. 


Let me spread out a little. I've been talking about esoterica which we can understand very well. But, I've been thinking about this (it's probably the only useful thing I'm doing in this break.. ;)) and have found that, it is applicable to everything in life. I have seen people who build their paths around money and power and I have seen very few people building their paths around their passions. The latter usually have the right reasons to do anything. There is never a dearth of people with the wrong reasons -  marrying for money, studying just to board the bandwagon (doing things just because others are doing them too..). All the wrong reasons. All they end up being is pretentious pricks whom everyone hate because they are never them. Life (philosopher me again... ;)) simply boils down to having the right reasons to do the right things and sometimes even the wrong things. 


Well, I have a lot more to say about many things and I have this teensy bit of a feeling that, the post ended in a non-sequitur. Nevertheless, I hope I keep writing regularly, at least during these T-holidays.


P.S.: If you like my blog, it is highly possible that you'll like the writings of JRR Tolkien. I re-visited The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and found some creepy similarities. Go ahead and enjoy his works.

We don't need no EDUCATION!!!

Not my usual "posting" time, but then it is a weekend and thus, new rules :). Thing is, "Dead Poets' Society" aired on Star Movies in the afternoon and I ended up speculating how much the current education system in India (not to sound too *blah*, but our education system!!) is similar to that shown in the movie (Hell-ton Academy, as the students call it... :)). Seriously, on a totally related note, everyone must watch this movie at least once, it is an awesomely inspiring movie.


Anyway, let me paint you a word picture of what happens in our education system. Classes 1-7, you are taught to learn things (literally everything) by heart. You are taught to follow text books, never question new things (at least some of the teachers I had/have did that, although it was just because they were not so good at answering questions...). You are taught to remember things which you might end up never, ever using in your future and even if you do, you'll end up finding that, you did not need to remember it at all. (This post also draws from "Surely, You're joking, Mr. Feynman", Dick Feynman, my most favorite physicist...). Next, class 7-10, you are taught that marks are the things that are the most important things you could pursue. And that is not the worst part, the worst part is that people manage to believe it up until later in their lives and some never grow up. Anyway, the picture is quite changing and now, what was a priority of our generation during our 10+2, is now right since the 1st grade. Today, you find schools which apparently give you "IIT Foundation" right from the 1st standard.


Anyway, after everyone leaves the 10th std with flying colors, all start thinking 'all right, now what, IIT, AIEEE, EAMCET??' Seriously, same questions all the time and some of us didn't even know what other options they have. Anyway, here, you are taught that life always comes with four options and as long as you manage to get the right answer by hook or crook, it doesn't matter whether you know about it (like Shakespeare says: All's well that ends well or rather, ends justify the means, which is pretty much a flawed argument...). One more thing is, when you get a good percentage in your 10th standard, you are tagged to the IIT sections and you end up having nightmares about what your life is gonna be. Of course, this was the decision (of taking IIT as the optional in Intermediate) that changed my life a lot; for good or bad, is yet to be seen.


Then comes Engineering (I'm just taking up my own case...). You just care about not having any backlogs and care about percentages. And end up being just as confused as you ever were. Now, that was the picture of the current education system, and what is missing?? Go ahead and read the rest...


Where is the originality? Ever heard of a different and more profound (from other ones...) definition of the Newton's Laws? Or a new perception of Frost or Kipling in the English text book?? Or a different view of the Covalent Bond??? Never are you gonna come across these things, not in our education system, at least. And you know why that is? People (esp. parents) prefer looking at straight 'A's in a report card rather than come to know that their ward is doing something new and you know what get straight 'A's? Reproducing what is given in your texts or notes as it is, pathetic!!


Then comes the question of what you need to remember. Do you really think you need to remember the Periodic Table back and forth? Or the values of Sines and Cosines of odd values (any values, at that...)? Or the height of Mt.Everest, length of Nile?? I'll tell you what the thing is: You don't need to remember these things. And why? Because you can always look up the things you need for your work (no, it is not cheating...). There's this story in the book I mentioned earlier by Mr Feynman: Map of a Cat (or, something like that...) which I'd urge you to read if you ever happen to lay your hands on that book. Anyway, the point of education is not to improve your memory, it is indeed the exact opposite: don't remember things when you can get to them by using your mind. I have this nice analogy to this: Your memory is like the RAM of your computer and your brain obviously is the CPU. All I'm saying is that, when you can process data you already have to get what you want, why waste your memory? Anyway, education is not about testing about how much you can remember; it is about how much you can perceive: Education is perception.


Then there is this thing about judging people by their grades. How can you know about everyone by just a number? This is especially for teachers (none of whom, I'm sure, is reading this...). Grades do not show what kind of person you are. No more comments about this, though. I can't say much about it :).


Then there is the pressure. Especially from parents (your peers are in as much water as you are, right? :P). Get good marks, get a good Software job, get a 5 digit salary, HELL!! It doesn't matter what we want. It doesn't matter even if the thing they want you to do is something you hate. Like Keating says to Neil in Dead Poets' Society: 'You are just playing the role of a dutiful son'. Neil is so much the representation of what we face in our lives from our parents (not since, we grew up, in my case, thankfully...).


I'm kinda done with this system and feel like screaming out the Pink Floyd lyrics in my classes:

We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom...

So, let's all do this!! And try to do this and change our system for ever and hoping the coming generations not have to salvage any of this fury.

One more thing from Dead Poets' Society: CARPE DIEM!! (Seize the day!!). Stop following your precursors and let icons be bygones...

CARPE DIEM!!!!

The Uncertainty Principle

Now, this is physics. The Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Speaking with respect to Physics, this is possibly the most basic and un-foolable principle. It's simple to understand. The gist of the principle is that, it is not possible to measure any property of a system without changing the condition of the system. Let me define some terms here first, "System" is the body or group of bodies or practically anything which is being observed. "Observer" is the person or thing or machine that calculates any or all properties of the "System". Now, why am I freaking you out about Physics? I recently realized a certain way to put the Uncertainty Principle. The wording is something to this effect:

You cannot observe anything without changing it.

Sounds weird, right? I thought so too, until, of course, I tried to apply this. This is creepily true, believe me! Never thought Physics could touch lives in such simple ways (knew the complex ways, of course..).I'm sure you might have noticed too. Let me give an example. Now, a couple of weeks back, I was gloating about my book reading. This is something I totally do :P. Here, the "System" is my reading books. The "Observer", my friends. Next thing I know, I suddenly lose interest in books. I must have read like about 10 pages since that happened. It beat me at first, then, I realized the severe repercussions of the Uncertainty Principle. What happens is, you try to "measure" the future, by guessing or imagining. By the basic Uncertainty Principle, you change the future by moving into a little, if not totally, different Multiverse. Er, I just got lost, getting back to the topic. Another example, I have this friend of mine who was bragging about his date and indeed, we were envious :P. In just a few days, what we come to know is he's broken up. This is creepy indeed.

So, why am I telling this now? Well, I just want to see if this stands with the Principle itself as the "System" and the readers (must be a million by now, of which about 999,995 are from other Universes...) as the "Observers". Must be fun to watch the Uncertainty principle face itself!!

Finally, to all the readers, try to see if the Uncertainty principle is true for y'all as it is for me!! And yes, try and tell me about the experience!!

P.S. : By this post, I might make your life tough (believe me, it is tough to face it when it is right into your face...) but, it is a simple science experiment and I hope you help me out with this...and for more explicit examples, contact me personally...

Outta Time...

Finally, I seem to have gotten over this "writer's block" of mine...Thing is, I don't have many things on my mind as of now - with my GRE done. I'm a bit free to waste as much time as I like to :). Time... Something which eludes my mind even now. The perception of time is different for wach of us, as it is pretty much evident! Time is the thing we all crave for, right? Come exam time and we hear people say, "Hell , if I had just one week more, I probably would have topped the exams." and when it comes to assignments, no one just gets enough (time, I mean...). Well, what is time? Now, I'd better not get started on this, because, I'd be lost in all the un-intelligible equations of the Theory of Relativity, but still, I'll give it a shot...

Time is... Hard to do this, really, face the question and you'll see it for yourself. You might say time is seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades,centuries, millenia, yada yada, but all these are simply units to measure time, something - I might add - we don't understand. I like the concept of Quantum Mechanics about the Multiverses... Every event we do moves us into a new multiverse and all the infinite number of multiverses co-exist (don't ask me where...). Some of us, like me for instance (no bragging), seem to have a completely slow frame of time where, we (I haven't met many like me...) seem to have all the time in the world. It takes little time to do things which others take longer(now, here, the means of measurement is the standard one...). So, seems like we all live in different timelines but yet share the same space in the space-time continuum. Fine, enough technicalities, I'll jump into the real thing now...

They say Time is Money. Wouldn't that mean everyone of us is so rich?? I beg to differ on this issue... It's akin to comparing apples to oranges. Money (I have some insightful perspectives on that, which I'll be sharing shortly...) is the complete anti-thesis of time in my view. If you care about money, you can't respect the fact that, you have time and if you respect time, you don't care about money. Of course, everyone has the right to do what they like with their time, it's the stealing I'm not comfortable about... Hell, you go throw all your own time down the drain, I don't care, but you have no right to someone else's time. I'm sure most would agree to this. I simply mean that, you cannot waste others' time. Well, this happens to me a lot, of course, I'm always at the recieving end (I recieve the abuse, not others' time, mind you...). No, I'm not pointing at someone in particular and yes, I hate it when people do that. Seriously, if I ever get a chance to do that, trust me, I'm gonna pass. I can't do something to others that I hate so much myself. Fine, I'm sure got my point through.

Bottom Line : (nice idea na?) Do what you want to do with your own time, don't waste others'.

P.S. : A GRE score doesn't change a person. I'm still what I was (almost, that is..), and please stop treating me like an Alien (no offense, of course, it's just that, it's freaking me out...).

Stay Cool!!

Live your life when you are alive...

Well, I don't know why, but it feels much better doing this than preparing for tomorrow's exam. I'm good at the subject though...

A thought just crept into my mind, about people who try to live others' lives. The world is full of such people (In case you haven't encountered such people, beware, you might be one of them..).

See guys, you get this life just once, face it, period. You don't owe anyone here, anything. No favours, no obligations. Anything you do must be only because you want to do it... There you go, I read this little quote,

Live life to it's fullest...cos u r never gonna get out of it alive!!!

and I thought, how true... Seriously, just answer this to yourself, how many of us live the dreams of our parents, teachers and distant relatives (what irony..). I have a couple of songs to mention regarding this, "Be Somebody" by Fort Minor and "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi...They've indeed changed my perspective.

Live your life yourself, take your own decisions, listen to your heart and intuition, they're always right. Remember, you can never join the dots forward unless you are not human... For more details about this, click here.. the dots can only be joined backward, so just be yourself. And, yes never ever hesitate to be what you are, because you cease to exist, the moment you are ashamed of yourself...

Bon Jovi in "It's My Life" says,

"It's my life... It's now or never...I ain't gonna live forever...I just wanna live when I'm alive..."

indeed, it feels pretty true, and it is , take my word for it...(only if you want to of course :))

And for people who try to live others' lives, 

Guys, please, you get your life only once, if you've blown your chance, it's not the fault of your kids or sub-ordinates, they get their life only once too, let them face it and be what they want to be... No offence, but still, it doesn't cease to be the truth nevertheless...

Another thing, there are no accidents.. no co-incidences.. just take whatever life gives you.. I've actually experienced this, even the silliest things you do might help you someday.. Just follow your whims (no the all bad ones... ;)). Be reasonable and BE YOURSELF... 

P.S.: Man, I never knew I could write so well, and patiently... :)