This is a Guest Post by Olivia Coleman who writes on the topics of online colleges and universities. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: olivia.coleman33 @gmail.com. If you would like to write for TheDolt’s Blog, do read our page Be My Guest; Write A Guest Post.

“I’m addicted to Facebook.” Indeed. At first, I thought Facebook addiction was something to which only university students were susceptible. But now it seems that everyone is on Facebook. Your dog, your mom, your friend’s mom, ex-teachers, literally everyone and we can’t get enough of it. With the new The Social Network movie just out, even talking about Facebook has become a seemingly international pastime. I don’t know about you, but all this Facebook obsessing can begin to weigh on the soul. So for this entire past summer, I took a Facebook-break. Although I’m back at it now with a renewed fervor, I think everyone can benefit from a little disconnection. Here are a few personal benefits I accrued from shutting up those Facebook-finding demons.

1. Increased productivity.

This, of course, goes without saying. But it’s not until you actually stop checking your Facebook profile that you realize how much time you were wasting on Facebook in the first place. As a freelance writer who spends most of my working day on the Internet, I noticed that since I stopped logging into Facebook, I was writing at least twice the volume of articles that I had been writing before. This increase in productivity made me feel so much more accomplished at the end of the day. The fulfillment that stems from a renewed commitment to your work can’t be overestimated.

2. Lessened desire for attention.

Let’s face it. As much as we’d like to think that Facebook is wonderful tool that enhances our social connections and, no doubt it can be to a certain extent is also a great venue for indulging the “Look at me!” part of your personality. While everyone can do with this sort of attention, I’m convinced that the more time you spend on Facebook updating your status, awaiting someone’s comments, the more you seek this sort of instantaneous gratification of immediate attention. It’s almost a sort of infinite feedback loop in which you’re constantly vying for the spotlight. And while the spotlight can be nice and sunny, there are other ways to grab the attention of others, ways that are less cheap and much more rewarding.

3. Increased attention span.

Here’s a common Facebook scenario instead of using the social networking tool to actual connect with others, which is ostensibly what you are supposed to be doing you mindlessly sift through the NewsFeed, waiting for something to grab your attention. This constant shifting from profile to profile, link to link, can precipitate, I believe, a mild form of ADD. As someone who studied literature at the university, I used to read full-length books without a problem. Spending so much time on Facebook, I could hardly even finish a magazine article without becoming distracted. After the first month sans-Facebook, my attention span miraculously returned. I’m not kidding.

4. Some perspective, and a bit of moral high ground.

It’s not until you remove yourself from Facebook that you can really begin to understand how absolutely ridiculous some of its features are. Need I comment on the pointlessness of Farmville? Or how about the varying levels of intensity of the one-click poke? Is there a significant difference between a “poke” and a “superpoke”? Before my Facebook vacation, I participated in these activities without really thinking about it. Once I’ve returned to Facebook, I can now filter out the silly things while employing some of the more useful tools. Also, taking leave from Facebook enables gives you bit of moral high ground when you’re the only one of your friends who isn’t a Facebook zombie. Even if this high ground is not particularly meaningful, it’s always nice to say with confidence that you are “above” the Facebook madness.

So my Facebook break is now over, but I’m positive that it did me some good, and I think it can be refreshing for all Facebook users, albeit in different ways.  If anything, it’ll enable you to more fully gauge the utility of your own Facebook experience, so that when you return to it, you can use its ever-increasing features more wisely.

Vinay Rai is a professional blogger and has been blogging about making money online and tips to improve the blog on his blog Genuine Legitimate Income with Your Website for over two years now. Like Vinay, you can also write a guest post for this Blog. See this page Be My Guest: Write A Guest Post for more information on how you can also write a guest post.

Skills Needed To Succeed In Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is becoming more and more popular these days due to the fact that it requires no initial investment and guarantees you good return for efforts that you put in. In this post I will share some useful tips which will help you become a successful freelance writer. If you want to get paid good amount for your articles then you must take care of the following points:

Freelance writing

1. Spellings

Avoid making any spelling mistakes in your articles. If you have difficulty in spelling certain words you can use online dictionaries which are available for free. You can also use an effective spell checking tool in order to rectify the spelling errors. As a freelance writer it is necessary that you must not make any spelling errors.

2. Grammar rules.

The articles you write are only as good as the grammar you use. As a writer you must know where to put in the punctuation marks, where to capitalize and break the sentence. Without the proper knowledge of grammar, you cannot have a good future in freelance writing.

3. Proofread

Even after doing the spell checking and grammatical corrections one cannot be assured that an article is error free. It is always better to proof read your articles at least once yourself manually; this helps to remove any inconsistencies and repetitive sentences in the article. Proof reading makes the article relatively error free as compared to ones without proof reading.

4. Write Well

If you are not a good writer the number of assignments you get would be very limited. You need to write really well in order to get quality assignments which will help you grow as a reputed freelance writer and expand your business. As a newbie you must look to join a group of bloggers or take some courses and ask your fellow writers to criticize as well as comment on your work. Self study and self criticism is very important in order to improve the quality of your writing and to write compelling content.

5. Market yourself

Modesty and honesty seldom pays in the field of online marketing. You need to really go out and market yourself as a brand in order to get regular freelance writing assignments. It takes time for a person to learn how to market his/her writing, so be prepared to spend some time in order to learn these marketing techniques.

You have already read the first poem written by Savya Mittal that I published a couple of months back. This poem named_Dark Night_ is not exactly his newest but it is good. I love the ending the most. I hope you will like it too

Dark Night

The night that is visible now
Is only evident of the coming up day
Pack your bags and shake the dust of yourself
To rise up to the morning sun
Whenever you feel there is no one beside you
Extend your hands because there is someone new
Waiting for you just you
To take up their hand
Someone whom you dont know
And you are in this night alone because
You are supposed to meet this new being
So dont miss a chance thinking of the old ones you have
Think of the ones you will be with because of this Dark night.

This post was originally published as a note on Facebook by a very close friend of mine, Vishal Tripathi. Vishal was a Code-Warrior (passed out this year) and usually went for Programming events and had gotten into a habit of not coming empty handed from competitions. He has a new found love is his life, which incidentally is none other than the game which  for years has gripped the world and promises not to loosen its grip anywhere in the near future.  Counter Strike. The following note written by Vishal empathises on why Counter Strike is more than just a game.

Little did I know that my character, individuality and psyche would be so emphatically influenced when my brother first introduced me to the best tactical first-person shooter game ever made, Counter Strike (CS). And even now, whenever I put on my headphones and start manoeuvring the mouse ruthlessly with the sole motive of annihilating my enemies, I still feel that instant rush of adrenaline that I had felt when I played it for the first time. That is the distinctive specialty of this game which makes it so effectively peerless.

My relationship with PC and video games has been an old one. I still remember when Dad bought me a Gameboy Video Game and I used to spend endless hours playing Contra, Mario, Duck Hunt, Street Fighter, Pac-Man etc. Then when I had my first PC, the obsession continued with FIFA ’98, Test Drive, Road Rash and Recoil. But somewhere down the line, there was always something missing in them. ‘Something’ that makes you oblivious to the surroundings for that moment. ‘Something’ that can keep you engaged for ages. ‘Something’ that brings out the more frantic and combative part of you. And CS precisely filled this vacuum.

For those who have little or no idea of what CS is all about, I would like to put a few points in the nutshell. Counter Strike, as I said is first-person shooter game where a player spawns as a Terrorist (T) or as a Counter-Terrorist (CT) at two different points on an area of a map (a level as we may say naively). Terrorists can win a round by either successfully exploding the bomb (C4) or by eliminating the opposite force. Similarly CTs can romp home by either defusing the planted bomb or by eliminating the Ts. Team members earn money by killing an enemy, winning the round, planting the bomb (for Ts), defusing the bomb (for CTs) or by rescuing a hostage (for CTs). These round bonuses help you to buy pistols, rifles, grenades, kevlars, ammo and other equipment. That is all as far as our mission in the game is concerned and that makes this game highly tactical and logistic in nature. You don’t have to ponder much over ‘what to do’ instead ‘how to do’ and ‘how to do it better than others. Exclusive prudence has been observed by the designers of the game to make the game as authentic and irrefutable as the real world by including various features such as recoiling of the gun, hitting through walls (spamming) by rifles only etc., faster movement while carrying a knife rather than a rifle and many other that we stumble upon as we play.

Personally for me, Counter Strike has been my instrument of escape from various realities of life. Be it studies, or whenever I feel annoyed, or in a distasteful mood or simply as a means of procrastination. For the same reason I had to denounce CS for over 8 months during the previous months. But now again the zest, the afflatus, the craving has resurfaced and I am already on an overdose (but only for now). It is a game that I will recommend to everyone who uses a computer. Believe me you won’t regret it. And don’t fear the addiction because its worth it. After all I worship the man who said “The time you enjoy wasting is time not wasted”.

In the past ten days, I’ve ruined a paper, burnt an arm, fallen seriously ill,
come home and received more love than you can ever imagine. When I came home, I glanced through old photographs that brought back memories of my childhood, times I did not value while they were still passing. Of the many familiar faces, smiling away, in those old photographs, there are some that are now no more. As I saw them gaze back at me I remembered the lines of a poem I once read which read vaguely like this…

“Where did my Childhood go?
It went to a hidden place
That’s hidden in an infants face
And that is all I know”

As I thought of this I began to slowly realize that despite all the money, power and pelf this world can offer; there is no inheritance that anyone can bequeath you; not by choice but by circumstance greater than the inheritance of loss. I learnt a lesson that we all learn in time; that time is ephemeral and the only thing that does and can stay with you is perhaps the thought of all that you have loved and lost. Without losing it all you will secretly admit; those moments would have little value, because living without them alone teaches those who have lost, what losing something, however small meant to them,

As I write this and time floats by; like any other time this time too is of little value to me. No, not because it is not precious, but because it is yet to pass. History is replete with examples that teach us that things become valuable only when they are scarce. An interesting case in point would be perhaps of the Koh-I-Noor diamond. With a history of 500 years, if it could talk it would have many an interesting story to tell. Stories of the many great men who have won and lost it; but one thing is certain, it is but a piece of rock if you take out all that history from it. The chronicle of a time lost; it really is a wonder that what is now no more is precisely what gives it such value.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, while still alive was considered at most a mediocre composer. He died in penniless disgrace, and yet it was only after it so happened that humanity realized the ingenuity of his work. Today a wad of papers that so much as bare his handwriting is likely to be hailed as a work of genius, even by those who have no knowledge of music. The life of Vincent Van Gogh also tells a similar story. It is the story of how a man condemned by society to be a madman, left derelict and homeless while living, is in death hailed as an eccentric genius. Are these hypocritical judgments on the part of humanity at large? Why is it that humanity is lax in the acknowledgment of the greatness of some and not of others? I am not one to judge; but then again the examples before us speak for themselves.

When I was giving my board examination, as each paper came closer, I thought of the times I had spent in the canteen, bunking without a bother in the world. I also thought of those who were, at that same time hard at work in the classroom. I had once condemned them in the words of Dr. Zeus to be ‘nerds’ and questioned all that they were ‘Losing’ out on. Now when the exams have passed I often wonder how I shall explain to my mother as to why my result was so terrible. When it does finally come I might just wallow in a little sorrow and wonder about what could have been, and then perhaps face the reality of what is; my inheritance from the time that I lost.

–By a friend of mine

The following post was not a post until I copied it here but was in fact a comment on my post on FIITJEE. This 750+ word comment was written by Mrinal Mohit who once used to Blog at MrinalTech.  If you would like to write for TheDolt’s Blog, do read our page Be My Guest; Write A Guest Post.

Here is the comment which he wrote. I thought his comment deserved a post of it’s own and here I give it exactly that. The post is unabridged and has been edited only for proof-reading purposes.

__________________________________________________________________________

Okay, since I’m a VMC student, i might as well share my experiences at VMC.

I joined VMC last year, after a “dad-I-messed-it-up-no-hope” entrance test in which I surprisingly got selected in the Regular Batch. I live in Noida and used to go to the Centre at Punjabi Bagh by carpool. But the Metro is the norm now (a saving of 300 bucks per trip doesn’t hurt either) the main Centre (for regulars) is now shifted at Netaji Subash Place (Codename: NSP) but that’s hardly 5 km from the older Centre.

The Faculty: VMC boasts of a pretty impressive panel of teachers. It was started by 3 IITian brothers -Shyam Mohan, Man Mohan, Brij Mohan, who teach Physics, Math, and Chemistry respectively.

Chemistry: Organic and some Physical:
BADE BHAIYYA!!! In fact, he teaches so good, let’s say it again BADE BAHIYYA FTW!!!! Known as Brij Mohan by non-VMC-ites, he is the eldest teacher in VMC (50 something) but his passion and sense of humor will just blow you away. He inspires you to actually study for yourself (you might forget it all an hour after you come out of the class, but at least it induces energy to study in the class at least). Definitely THE teacher for organic, he teaches nothing more, nothing less than what IIT demands. Might hurt the sentiments of the occasional perfectionist who “chases excellence, not success”, but he is the most practical guy ever.

Say it again. Bade Bhaiya. Organic. This is what I call a class.

Chemistry : Physical :
Kulwinder Bhaiya: The cool surd who (in Bade Bhaiya words) “koshish karta hoon sardaaro waale joke maarke bachho ko jaga ke to rakh sakoon, par yeh Q batch hai ki sota hi rehta hai). Caught me napping thrice. Good sense of humor again, he’s a pretty awesome teacher who can get angry sometimes (you don’t want to be on the wrong side of him).

Physics:
Shyam Mohan: The calm guy. Hair flat, shirt tucked, he exudes calmness. WARNING: There is no use attending the class unless you have spent at least a day on the chapter yourself. Really. The calmness can occasionally induce sleep, but the classes are so rare that you won’t dare sleep. He does like to teach a little more than the topics in the module, which indeed comes useful, but makes you wonder why they didn’t include it in the module (Hope you read this, VMC)

Maths:
Munna Bhaiya: The stylish one among the original 3 brothers, whom you can mistake as a college student (he ain’t even 40). He makes Maths look the simplest among the three subjects (it’s an illusion of-course) He’s pretty tech-savvy and occasionally holds these all-4-batches-taught-simultaneously-through-tablet-PC-and-projector which although a novel concept, can cause lack of interest in the class. People say that he drives a Ferrari and is the CTO of a Silicon Valley software firm, but he does a good job being humble.

Other teachers include Pallu (Maths) Vivek (Maths), Faizal (Physics), and constantly-changing-inorganic-teachers. Can’t go on typing, can I?

There is no set schedule of classes. No weekend / weekday batch as such, probably due to the limited no. of students. One is told the dates of the next few classes on the class day. If one can’t attend a particular class, he/she can attend it with any other batch.

VMC puts a lot of emphasis on self-studying and discourages spoon-feeding and rightly so. Attempting things before reading the solution is the only way the brains gonna grow. Speaking of solutions, I’ve seen that many coaching institutes don’t provide detailed solutions of the exercises in non-correspondence courses. Do they expect students to ask teachers how to solve a question again if they happen to forget it?? Thankfully, VMC provides hard-copies of solutions of all exercise for easy reference.

The performance test are of two types 3.0HRT (3 Hour Review Test, I know, fancy name) which is (duh) of 3 hours, and the IIT-patterned 6 hour test (two papers of 3 hours each), which are held after every month.

On to the environment. All the rooms have a sexy air conditioning system which is a hate-to-love thing if you look at it. If you come to the class straight after school, it is just TOO tempting to snore away under the AC. It does take a lot of willpower to actually study in an after school class (especially physical chemistry); so I prefer to give school a miss on class days. The washrooms and water arrangements are pretty good (kickass in the new Center, in fact) the teachers don’t mind if you walk out the class to take a leak; they prefer you don’t ask them for permission for such petty things.

I’m currently in the class XII batch, my entrances are next year. I’ve been getting rank of ~60-70 in the tests and hope they get better.

To tell you the truth, I’ve never been a big fan of poetry. May it be Hindi or English, poetry has never drawn me towards it. Though I tried reading some poetry a year back but it just didn’t appeal to me. But there are a few which somehow I can read over and over again. Some of those include poetry by Ashok Chakradhar or Saurabh Chaundhary (some but not all) maybe because I know him. I like a few others too but there’s not a point mentioning them all but I would like to mention Vikram Seth’s From and the Nightingale here. It’s written in the simplest language possible but is yet appealing.

Some time back I was tagged in a note ‘Sorry’. I was in hurry at that time so ignored it. After two days I went back to the note and tired reading it knowing that it is a poem and will bore me to very core. But surprisingly quite the opposite happened and I reread it 4 times! It had something in it which made to relate to it or maybe because I know the person for whom it was written.

Written by a very close friend of mine, Savya Mittal, this poem forces me to post it on my Blog. I don’t know whether you will like it or not but just do me a favor, read it slowly and try to sense and understand the meaning of each and every word because each line is a story in itself. I incorporated some changes in the poem like changing ‘u’ to ‘you’ and ‘dere’  ‘there’ so as it make the read more enjoyable. I hope you’ll like it because I loved it

Sorry…

Me not there in my diary
You have taken all the space
As I miss the difference between me and you
You take the place of me
Yes I am selfish
But what can I do
There is no self left behind
I think of you before me
Or rather I don’t think of me

You feel people don’t know you well
But what can they do
If you avoid dose men like you do it to me

I broke your trust,I broke your heart
I know how rude I was
The only thing I don’t know is
How to tell you about this all
The last thing I wanna tell is
U can skip me, you can omit me
But what will you do of you

I know you in, I know you out
I don’t know what this is
But one thing I know for sure is
I just wanna help

The reason being what I think is
Me the reason for this condition of yours
I live today as a part of you
The sadder part is me
But what can I do if this is only me

I want your help, I want your trust
I want it back, I want me back
I am left so empty

My guilt has punished me,my guilt has killed me
For losing on on you
I thought you were a crybaby and I thought u were insane
But as I see you and I think you
I remember what I did

I got me punished I got me killed
I have had it all
No matter
How much u try how much you cry
You can’t forget me
The last thing I just want from you is
Please forgive me for what I did……….

–Savya Mittal