I am feeling experimental today for some very strange reason, so here i am with a topic in general discussion. and i don't know if there had been such a thread but i wanted to get people's opinions on the age old discussion: peer pressure and how should you respond to it? and try to say something more than the usual "ignore them" please!

well, i thought i'd go specifc on a few relevant matters:

1: appearance. people have social statuses everywhere and clothes matter, as does a pretty face and a slim body. anorexia and bulimia cases are rising amongst guys, even though AN and BN are stereotypically thought of as "feminine illnesses". some people exercise way too hard sometimes to lose that extra two pounds or to "get ripped". some people pass lunch with a bottle of coke or stealing fries off somebody else. designers still like to use skinny models. wasn't there a 22-year-old uruguayan model who died of heart failure after getting off the runway some time ago, just because she had been eating lettice leaves and diet coke to lose weight?

2: drugs...and even just smoking and drinking. some people just don't know how to say "no" to their friends. I don't have specific statisticis or anything but yeah...

3 Marks. in every class, according to a friend of mine, there are the know-it-alls and the average and the slackers, also class clowns, crazy people, art-sy people, etc.

well, i'll talk about the "nerd". i don't know what it is like over wherever you are at, but here, there is fail (below 50%), asian fail (below 80-85%), and, recently, chinese fail (below 90-95%). i find this very stereotypical because i know lots of smart people who are not chinese or asian. and every time some chinese person does poorly, people would jeer "OMG i thought you were chinese" or "i though chinese people were supposed to be smart". people say "shut up" or "mind your own business", but i think they carry their hurt inside, perhaps so well hidden that they can pretend the hurt doesn't even exist.

and also, i know some people who feel pressured to do well. their peers and perhaps parents too mean well, but it ends up making them feel like they must get good marks to feel worthy or competent. one mistake and somebody would go "OMG, *insert name here* make a mistake. *gasp* that must be a sign of apocalypse!!!"

I'll have more to say later one, as i don't want to write an essay or make this post too long. thoughts anyone? it'd be nice to have some of you share anecdotes as well. =]