Are you happy?

What constitutes happiness? Is the acquisition of money considered happiness? Or does one find greater happiness the higher they climb a social ladder, an educational ladder, an employment ladder? The illusive concept of love and eternal happiness it brings?

As we tally our achievements across a score board, and the dashes representing our successes in life increase, one must think, for every success I have achieved, what burdens have I also accumulated in the process while pursuing said achievement? At what cost have I reached this stage of grandeur?

A success tally board is a double-edged sword. While we choose to ignore the negative, we forget that the positive ultimately only brings negative along with it. Without the negative, we will never know the true value of the positive.

With every achievement, comes responsibility. Come expectations of you. Come your expectations of society. In an ideal world, expectations are met with the greatest ease. But this is not an ideal world. What does that say of us as human beings? The realisation that we are less than perfect, and yes, that is a fact, can come crashing down hard on you, when you have only kept your eye on the positive side of the tally score board. Keeping the negative in mind simultaneously keeps one grounded, reminding them that no matter what greatness they achieve, at the end of the day, they are nothing more than human beings, nothing more than flesh and blood, nothing more than carbon. And at the end of the day, when we return to the ashes, and to our basic, most simple atomic component, we will be united as one. What we have accumulated through this journey called life will be of no significance.

But one achievement that does not carry a parallel negative charge is contentedness. And with that skill mastered, one finds the meaning of true happiness.

There is no difference between you, or me.

For Dotty, who has been urging me to make a "comeback".

So I hear that the factory unlocked iPhone 3GS is selling for a ridiculous amount of money in Kuwait, something like KD400 for the 16GB and KD450 for the 32GB.

I have a mother that loves me, a dog that worships me, food in my belly, a roof over and a pillow under my head. I have my health, I have strength and will and determination and a family I know I can trust to rely on, my nearest and dearest to lean on, whose wisdom I can draw strength and patience from when times are hard and my faith in myself fails me. I have an education and more privileges in life than many. Men will come and go, as will money and New Years eves. I am blessed to have been leant a few sympathetic ears, shoulders to cry on, and friends to share heartfelt smiles and laughter with, my joys as well as my sorrows. For everything I have yet to accomplish, for all my hearts' sincerest hopes, dreams and desires, for all goals and ambitions I was unable to achieve, the world doesn't stop here. There's always, always next year.