Schizophrenia & Family

When a person is judged by his/her action, the reason given is usually the character. So how is the character shaped?

Are we born with it? (nature) or Are we brought up with it (nurture)?

R.D. Laing in his Sanity, Madness and the Family (1970), explains the ideas about the role of family in causing psychological disturbance and schizophrenia.

So do I agree with that? Hmmm, partly.

Case 1
A guy who is self-pity and always avoids meeting people he knows. He is very cautious to have someone close to him, hence he doesnt have any close friends. He has the tendency to feel that he is a failure and everyone looks down on him. As a matter of fact, some people don't even remember who he is.

Case 2
A guy who is always buying the latest gadgets and showing them off to his friends. He likes to make comparisons with his friends and make sure that he 'wins' in every circumstances. At the end of the day, nobody really cares of what he has.

So, these are the two cases at both ends of the scale. By examining them, they both maybe the results of a certain kind of family upbringings.

The first guy is from a broken family and is very conscious about what people think / ask of him and his family.

The second guy comes from a lower socio-economic background and has always be envious of his friends from a higher socio-economic background. Thus when he starts working, the first thing he does is to make sure he 'wins' materialistically.

Do all criminals come from some sort of distorted families? Is schizophrenia a result from an abnormal family? So, are our characters really shaped by FAMILY?

Cannonball

I really like the lyrics of this song. First heard the song in 2004 and still like it, especially the very ironic chorus

Cannonball is a song by an Irish singer, Damien Rice. It is a very slow song...some people will like it, but some....hmmm will complain that it is a 'sleepy' song




there’s still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
there’s still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
it’s still a little hard to say what's going on
there’s still a little bit of your ghost your witness

there’s still a little bit of your face i haven't kissed
you step a little closer each day
that I can´t say what´s going on

stones taught me to fly
love, it taught me to lie
life, it taught me to die
so it's not hard to fall
when you float like a cannonball

there’s still a little bit of your song in my ear
there’s still a little bit of your words i long to hear
you step a little closer to me
so close that I can´t see what´s going on

stones taught me to fly
love taught me to lie
life taught me to die
'cos its not hard to fall,and I don't want to scare her
its not hard to fall and i don't want to lose
its not hard to grow
when you know that you just don't know

stones taught me to fly
love taught me to lie
life taught me to die
so its not hard to fall
when you float like a cannonball.

stones taught me to fly
love taught me to cry
so come on courage, teach me to be shy
'cos its not hard to fall,
when you float like a cannonball

Blackout 2009

This is my first blog of the year, and I have to start with this. How depressing!

The Bandar Blackout of 2008 was on 26/27 April 2008. At that time, some places were affected up to 2 days.

The current blackout 'started' last night at around 11pm. I didnt know about it till this morning as I slept early and the weather was cool enough for me not to notice it.

Major inconveniences:

- Ice cream is melting in the fridge

- Grooming for work at morning twilight

- No aircond., no fans, hot hot hot

- No internet

- No TV means no American Idol on SWR

I left my 'blackout'ed village in Pulaie around 8.33pm, and came to my rented house in Sengkurong. Along the way, police was manning major traffic lights, the 'left' side of Jln Gadong towards Beribi (from Riverview Hotel till Land Transport Dept after Supasave), Kebangsaan Lama, Anggerek Desa, The Centrepoint, and many more places are STILL all affected.

What time will the Brunei Blackout 2009 end? And will there be another one?