How To Be Considerate: Making Plans With Other People

• When you make plans with other people, make sure you don't have anything going on that day and time.
• Try to stick with the plans you've made, don't change the plans unless it's absolutely necessary.
• Changing or cancelling plans last minute is a big no-no. Remember that other people's time is as important as yours. Cancelling plans last minute will most likely result in wasting people's time, and therefore, it's very rude. Only under very extraordinary circumstances this is acceptable. Unless you don't really care about the other person (which doesn't make it acceptable, but who cares, right?), but if that was the case, then you shouldn't be making plans with that person in the first place.
• If you decide to change/cancel plans anyway, communicate this to the other person as soon as you have made that decision. Don't wait until the other person asks you about the plans.
• If you discover that something more fun is going on at the same time, resist temptation as much as you can, remember to put yourself in the shoes of the people you made plans with. Changing plans to do something more fun, especially if it's done last minute, is particularly hurtful, rude, and selfish. Whether you mean it or not, the message you're sending is that you don't care or respect the people you made plans with.
• If you have already canceled plans with someone before and this is a second (or third) time making plans with that person, be grateful and be careful. If you have read this far, then you should know that changing plans, changing plans last minute, or changing plans last minute to do something more fun, after a second or third attempt, is beyond hurtful and insulting. Considerate people avoid hurting other people, especially the ones who have been nice to us. Not hurting others is one of our most important goals.
• If you decide to change plans and you DO care about the people you made plans with, remember to always apologize properly. A proper apology has three parts: 

1. Say that you're sorry (if you're a considerate person you should feel something unpleasant inside, at least a slight discomfort, so this step shouldn't be too hard to remember).
2. Take responsibility for your actions, don't blame others, it's OK to accept our faults, no one is perfect.  And...
3. Try to make up for your fault. In our case, you should take it upon yourself to re-schedule the plans, that way the other person knows that you really care about them and that you actually do want to go through the plans that you just canceled. Ask the other person when they are available and express your desire to go through the plans, and if you can, expressing a little bit of remorse for having to changed plans and wasting their time is a good sign that you care about them.

• If this is the second time that you have canceled or changed plans with someone, apologize again, and properly. If this is a third time, then properly apologize once again. Basically, every time you actions hurt, waste someone's time, or offend other people, you should apologize properly. Take in mind that apologizing properly means less and less each time. By itself, it won't show the other person that you appreciate or care about them if you are not able to "make it better" or make up for your fault(s).
• If the other person is upset at you, it's OK, it's a natural human reaction when people get hurt, offended or taken for granted. Don't make the mistake to take it personal, be understanding. The other person, if they are still talking to you, probably just wants to go through the plans you made together but feels very frustrated and/or hurt. Don't avoid them, on the contrary, you should be the person reaching out to them. Letting them know that you are sorry (for having hurt them) and about your desire to go through the plans could help them feel better.
• If you're going through an extraordinary situation that justifies all the cancellations and offenses, let them know about it right away (remember they can't read your mind). If you cannot disclose this information, then at least let them know that your situation is extraordinary, reaffirm that you are sorry, and try to go through the plans again in the near future, if this is possible and if the other person hasn't given up on you by then. 

I hope this step-by-step guide helps you to be a better, kinder, caring person. 

The Love For Abuse

Sometimes you wonder why some people remain by the side of their abusive lovers. You've probably been in situations where a friend or someone you know will tell you how bad they are being treated by their partners, how their self-esteem has vanished, and even provide details of the many unacceptable situations they have experienced because of this person, situations no one else in the world would put up with. So you being the good friend you are, decide to provide the only good advice there is in this type of situations, even if you know it may hurt them, but if they have become so blind they can't see it for themselves, it's your duty as a friend to show them the truth. The harsh, ugly, and obvious truth.

Don't Make Assumptions About Assumptions

as·sump·tion [uh-suhmp-shuh n]
noun
1. something taken for granted; a supposition: a correct assumption. Synonyms: presupposition; hypothesis, conjecture, guess, postulate, theory.

I've been accused of making assumptions many many times in the past by different people. I assume most of us have, but maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps it's a flaw I must correct, so I guess assuming most people are as flawed as myself would be wrong. Well then, let's make this right and let me ask you, the two or three people who may read this blog, has anyone gotten mad at you for making assumptions?

Addendum To: Twitter Etiquette According To ce54r

I missed a few tips or "rules" on my last post, but fear not, my friends, because I am here to guide you through the Twitterverse so you don't end up looking like an ass.

Shall we begin?

a. Stop posting links. I'm not sure how I missed this one, since it's so obvious. Perhaps it was because I kinda talked about it. Either way, some Twitter accounts are supposed to post links, that's why they are called "funny videos" or "bizarre news", but if the account is a "human" account, then post something about you or what you do, otherwise it will be another boring linker Twitter profile.

b. Comment on the posts of the people you follow. It happens often that someone who you have no clue what they are about starts following you, so you don't start following right away and wait until this person writes something that will give you any hint about who they are. But they don't. These people should at least @reply you to show they have interest in what you have to say. If you start following anyone, even if they don't follow you back right away, just say something, goddammit! Otherwise we will think you're just blind-following random people and we won't follow you back.

c. Don't look too professional in your avatar, but do have one. Guys in suit and tie freak me out, and girls with modeling pictures scare me. Why? Because these are typically the types of avatar that spammers, linkers, and "social media marketers" use. Same goes with any other too professional looking picture. However, any picture is better than none. There's nothing worse that someone who looks like is hiding from "something". There are too many freaks out there not to be paranoid.

d. Curse. Yes, curse a lot, spice it up. Write fuck, shit, cunt, bitch, asshole, etc. And don't bother to censor your cursing adding lame asterisks. What's the point? Everyone knows you totally meant to say "fuck" if you write "f**k". We all know you have a dirty mind, you're not fooling anyone but yourself. Make sure you check how much you're cursing at cursebird.com. If you are going to censor your cursing, then replace the offending word with one less offensive. For example:

What the frack, instead of "what the fuck".

Bob Saget, instead of "Goddammit".

e. Detail you #followfridays. Every Friday I get to see dozens of people getting "followfridayed", but I have no clue what they do or who they are. You will have to go to each one of those people's profiles and read what the fuck they do, and sometimes that can be a pain in the ass. For this reason, every Friday I decided I was going to only pick 3 people, and give a short description on their background and why other people should start following them. Let's say I like to pimp well my bitches.


That's pretty much it, my darlings. I apologize for being absent minded on my last post.


Your friend always,

Cesar

Twitter Etiquette According To ce54r

I'm sure you have already read several posts on your Twitter timeline about "how to be a successful at Twitter". It seems they never stop, so you get to read over and over again the things that, in my opinion, are rather obvious to anyone who's been on that social network for a little bit. There are no secrets, just common sense. A lot of the people who continuously post links to that kind of information are people who seem to have only one goal: get a shitload of followers, no matter who they are or what they do. Pretty lame.