The 7 steps to being liked by absolutely everyone

Don’t you find it annoying that there are people out there who just seem to dislike you? Do you make enemies easily? Well then why not try these steps that will allow you to be liked by everyone?

1. Decide to change. If your current behaviours and actions are making you enemies, then there’s a good chance that if you continue as you are doing, you’ll continue to make enemies in the future. So you’ve got to decide to change your behaviour before anything will work. It’s very similar to learning to tie your shoes properly. You can continue to let your parents tie your shoes, and wish that you didn’t have to rely on them whenever you wanted to go outside. But nothing would change unless you learnt how to tie them yourself. And that would only happen if you decided you wanted to learn.

2. Tune your behaviour to the people you’re around. This takes skill and practice, but with a bit of effort, it is possible. So for example, if you happen to find yourself around a group of dedicated, hardworking students, then pretend to be a dedicated, hardworking student yourself. If you happen to be around a group of lazier, fun-loving people that would usually call hardworking students all sorts of dreadful names simply for being hardworking students, then pretend to be the same when you’re around them. The key is to develop 5 or 6 different personalities and be prepared to instantly switch between them at a moments notice. Very similar to switching channels on the television. (Although if you find yourself flicking through channels on the TV looking for something to watch; perhaps you’re better off going outside for a walk. Which means, if you were silly enough to refuse to learn yourself, you have to get your parents to tie your shoes for you.)

3. Don’t make enemies. It’s generally your fault for making an enemy out of someone only when you want this to be the case. So if you don’t try, it’ll probably be the other person’s fault whenever it appears that you and somebody else really aren’t seeming to get along. In which case, as soon as you notice that this is happening, the key is to immediately take steps to rectify the situation. Try and be extra nice to them. Hopefully, they’ll soon stop trying to be your enemy. For example, if your parents are starting to get annoyed at you because they always have to tie your shoes, as soon as you notice them getting cross with you about it immediately begin learning to tie your shoes yourself. That should prevent you from making an enemy out of your parents. (And for most people having an enemy as a parent is not a very nice thing at all.)

4. Be polite. Always. There are some people that think that good manners are very important. There are other people that think that good manners aren't so significant. If you’re not polite around these people, they probably won’t care. But if you’re not polite around the people that think that politeness is important, then they might get upset with you. On the other hand, if you are polite, then those that think politeness is important will likely respect you more, whereas those who are not polite won’t see this as a downside to you. Curious, isn’t it. In other words, if you remember your manners, you’re potentially doubling the people that may respect you. Like your parents, for example. If you’re stubborn enough to refuse to learn how to tie your shoes yourself, then your parents are far more likely to continue to respect you if you remember your manners whenever you ask them to tie your shoes.

5. Don’t swear. Never. The politeness rule applies with swearing as well. Whilst if you do swear there will be a group of people that will look down on you for doing so, if you don’t swear it’s not likely that anybody will find fault in you. And swearing at your parents when they offer to teach you how to tie your shoelaces won’t help anyone or change anything.

6. Spontaneous acts of kindness. Simply trying hard to not upset someone often isn’t enough to make them like you. Many people will only like others if they feel they have a reason to. And this may only be because the other person has done something nice to them. So try to do something nice for as many people as you can. Whether it’s something small like holding a door open for them, or whether it’s something bigger like offering to look after their pets while they’re overseas. But you should be concentrating most on the smaller things, because there’s a lot of people around. So offering to wash the dishes for your parents is a great idea to help them to continue to like you, even if you have to bother them to tie your shoelaces whenever you decide to go outside.

7. Realise that it’s impossible to be liked by everyone.And for those of you that really can’t be bothered learning to tie your shoelaces, you’re aged above 6, and your parents are going crazy, consider getting pull-on boots.

Indie Shuffle

Indie Shuffle offers a wide range of songs and artists to choose from: from electronic to hip hop to remixes & covers to folk & acoustic and to indie itself. This site is a great tool for discovering new music and artists; best of all, it's free! I highly recommend this to fans of the aforementioned genres. You wouldn't regret it, I promise!

K-12 in the Philippines

In the Philippines, we only have 10 years of education (college is not counted). Kindergarten, Prep, Grade 1-6/7 (normal Philippine education has only until Grade 6, but in some schools, we have Grade 7, like mine) and 4/5 years of high school (if there is Grade 7 in the school, then you only have 4 years of high school. If the school has only until Grade 6, then they have 5 years of high school). Usually, the education you're familiar with is Grade 1 until 12. The President of our country recently launched the K-12 program, which means we will have Grade 1 until 12 too.

Everyone has their opinions about this. Some say it's good, some say it's bad. Some say it's a mix, like me. Why? Well, first of all; the good thing about it is we could learn better. The fourth graders and eighth graders in my school are using iPads now, but it doesn't mean that the rest will have iPads too. It's just some sort of test to see if it will be effective in making us learn or if they are responsible enough for them to be "holding" it, which means that it shouldn't get lost. Second; I think the government should first address the other educational problems of this country. Some schools are lacking chairs, the buildings were burned down or destroyed by the typhoons, not enough school supplies, etc. If this K-12 program is supposed to make us learn better, then how would others learn when their schools lack a lot of stuff?

Anyway, my school is not yet following K-12 because I think they launched it after the enrollment, but my school sort of already had K-12, it's just that we have to change the names of our grade/level. Right now, I'm in the sixth grade and I'm graduating this year. Next year, I will be in the eighth grade because we will be changing the level names next year, which doesn't really make a difference. It's just the name. Everyone will be skipping a level next year.

And I hope the new education program will teach me how to end blog posts like these! Haha. Have a great day, everyone x

P.S. On behalf of most of us here, I apologize if we don't post as often because our school just started! Haha, I hope the others would update as well (cough cough). :-)

If the World was a Machine

"I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too." --Hugo Cabret

Hi there, I just want to share with you a movie that I just watched that I really enjoyed. I'm not really going to review it or anything, but rather tell you why I loved it. It'a a mix of an adventure, comedy and drama. This movie is a really nice one for the whole family. Hugo (based on the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret") is about an orphan who lives in the train station and is trying to find out about the mystery of his late father and an automaton. 

The plot has fiction and facts in it, too. I won't spoil the story, but I can tell you that there will be a lot of books and movies involved. Then the characters, on the other hand, are such well played and they make the movie even more enjoyable. Georges Méliès is a former movie maker who has a brilliant creativity and passion for movies, but then he has a heart felting story behind it (watch the movie to find out!) And there's the Station Inspector who was pretty funny and made me laugh because of his awkward and clumsy ways. Hugo, is a determined and brave boy who will stop at nothing to make his automaton work again. Isabelle, a free-spirited bookworm who loves adventure, helps Hugo on his journey.

Now, I won't tell you everything about it so I'll stop about now, hehe.
I learned a lot from this movie and I strongly recommend everyone to watch this movie if you haven't yet, and I hope you guys enjoyed it as much I did! Happy weekends, everyone :)