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1. Nicole - Timeline
2.Gene- Morality
3. Zoey - Characterization
4. Aqeel - Political theme, stories of war
5. Issac - Lifestyle
6. Leona - Voicing of opinions.

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At first, when i was  given this topic i had no idea what my guilty pleasure was and i took a long time to figure it out. I have never been embarrassed by the things i did but looking back, there was one thing I was slightly embarrassed about and that was a game called mystic messenger.

If you have never heard of mystic messenger , let me enlighten you! Mystic messenger is a South Korean female oriented visual novel game and it is basically an interactive story game and you can participate in chat rooms talking to really handsome korean guys and you can even call them! This game is really time-consuming as the chatrooms open up as early as 3 am and when you miss entering a chat room, you have to pay to enter the chat room you lost. This also goes on for a whole week so your sleep schedule will definitely be messed up but nonetheless i think it's worth it haha.

the reason why i found this to be my guilty pleasure is because whenever i'm outside with my friends and a chat room opens, i have to enter it and i'm not sure why but i found it really embarrassing to be in front of my real life friends talking to some fake handsome guys in a game. So I would either walk far away from my friends or just shield my phone from them. Due to my behaviour , my friends would think i'm talking to a boy and would be really interested in what i was doing. I mean technically I was talking to a boy right? Just that he doesn't actually exist haha. I would always just pretend that I actually was talking to a boy and show them the conversation without telling them it's actually a game and they would be shocked as the storyline of this game included handsome guys fighting for your love and their messages can be very sweet and it makes you feel happy inside even though they are not real. Up till now my friends still do not know that it's actually a game and I intend to keep it that way haha.

Even though i love this game so much, the thought of letting people know that you are chatting with boys that do not even exist feels kind of sad and pathetic and i feel like i will get judged for it which is why mystic messenger is my guilty pleasure but i still enjoy it nonetheless.

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Lo and behold! These intrinsic, commonly hidden parts of us.. aren't we all guilty just the same? Pun intended.

We all have them.
Socially accepted or not.
The norm or the other.
These eccentricities we usually keep to ourselves, afraid of its non-conforming nature.
They're a part of us behind our masks, usually connoting "odd" differences.

But me? Some days I'm proud of mine. Guilty as charged! It may be due to my non-conformist disposition, or maybe I don't see it humiliating, even though I have been coined few names for adhering to it. Supposedly "insulting" names, I presume.

Nothing sexy (or far from) about being called a "nerd" or a "geek", I know. However I find immense power in the title. Honourable, actually. You must be wondering right now, just what is it.

Well..
I find complete enjoyment in reading research journals, mostly scientific, academic. Two reasons simply; one, knowledge inspired, second, my love for writing 3000 words academic articles. I am reputed to be that person whom my circle seek for, to comprehend and transcribe "complex" into comprehensive, digestible but never understating content. I also get extremely exhilarated watching surgical videos!

I currently have 2 tabs opened on surgical articles and 1 on psychopathy, specifically understanding the psychology of sadomachism. Got to love Google Scholar! I recommend it to whomever is bored and would love to attain some knowledge... for whatever topic that interests them.

Find me by the corner with my phone or laptop, "geeking" about! Or you can always join me. Winks.

Technical and complex brain stimulation for the win!

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My opinion of guilty pleasures | Zoey Kuan

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My opinion of guilty pleasures | Zoey Kuan

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I think that it is something to be accepted and not to be rejected because I, personally, think that having a guilty pleasure is like keeping a part of you as a secret for many reasons, and to be embarrassed of it or to shame someone's enjoyment is sad.

Some people in this world just can't be nice to others and some of them might not realize the weight their words or actions carry, but I can't judge. I don't know them.

It's sad that people can't enjoy things in peace. They aren't harming anyone and they are just being themselves. Why would anyone shame someone for being themselves? That's just not fair.

Conversely, if someone's enjoyment or pleasure is involved with harming another living being then shaming them for doing that wouldn't seem so unfair, since that is just an act of defending someone, displaying this as 'justifiable' shaming.

Therefore, I think its acceptable if the guilty pleasure is harmless in a physical or mental way and to shame it because it's weird is ridiculous. If they aren't causing troubles, they shouldn't change for someone else because they aren't obliged to take away a part of themselves, and shaming them into the 'ideal person' is unnecessary. They are their own person.

All in all, I feel that guilty pleasures and the reasons why people have them is sort of a tragedy.

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My biggest guilty pleasure would be roleplaying / writing on instagram. i have been doing it for about ten years now, its one of the most contributing factors as to why i want to be a writer now.

a little background on IGRP : its a platform on instagram where writers from all over the world participate in different forms of literate and illiterate rp ( + editing ).

one of the reasons as to why i consider it my guilty pleasure is because i’ve never actually felt comfortable with telling people i write. i spent majority of my time in secondary school constantly worried that someone might stumble upon my accounts if i wasn't careful, i still do honestly. i don’t have a single account where i post my writings , just individual ones for a character im portraying in a community. so there wasn’t like this platform where i could publicly tell people to check out ; most of my interactions are with my internet friends, so i’ve more of less created a boundary between my real life and writing life.

while i was in secondary school , a few of my classmates found out about my account through the notifications on my phone. i had a habit of not logging out. my intuition was correct, i got made fun of for roleplaying/writing — which made zero sense to me because what was so wrong with it ? we write every single day of our lives ; text messages , compos , homework etc etc . it just really sucked to have someone else laugh at something you’re passionate about...

when i came to ITE my writing activity dropped drastically because of the new schedule. i also had this mindset that writing for me wasn't a possible future for me (amongst other dream jobs i had ). i had to do something more realistic with my time, learn something that would be useful in my career. there was definitely a lot of pain and tears when it came to roleplaying despite is being a hobby you’re suppose to enjoy. not to mention i had this biased opinion about how harsh of a place ITE was , its such a big place with all sorts of people with all sorts of opinion. being in a new class i’ve somewhat picked up on how my classmates feel about writing / reading , not all of them were big fans and so i kept my interests to myself.

hiding my guilty pleasure(s) had turned me to a complete different person that i wasnt proud of... to not be able to embrace that side of me which loved diving into fictional worlds , creating my own and character studies.

i got back to writing around mid of last year . that fear of people finding out again definitely came at full force now , i stopped going out a lot because i was being consumed by writing ideas and needed that calm and isolated environment. i got questioned a lot which made me so nervous , it was the reason behind many panic attacks because i was being guilt tripped. so in some ways something i found pleasure in brought me so much discomfort, but i was relentless, i’ve been doing this for so many years. a little negative remarks that wasnt even regarding writing cant and shouldnt get to me, critics right ?

thing started moving so quickly when i finally opened up about writing , when i was told there was a writing cca in ITE i was excited to say the least ! i came for my first workshop and being able to work with other writers was such a rewarding moment in my life.

somehow the people in my class found out about my accounts . it felt like the end of the world for me , that aching feeling in my stomach became a constant and no matter how alone i was it always felt like there were judgmental eyes on me. it stopped becoming about me wanting to be alone , now they’ve had an actual target of reasons to make fun of me. i got called all sorts of stuff , got asked why i even waste my time writing and reading . people painted me as a nerd , some smart kid because i could write and that only piled on to my anxieties, because i couldn’t go a day without them ridiculing me and that expectation to meet . it felt as if i was under a constant cloud of embarrassment, it loomed over me every single day and only got darker.

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Guilty pleasures. An activity that one may feel uncomfortable with if done in the face of the public. Something that could be a little embarrassing.

My guilty pleasure has always been listening to myself sing. Growing up with musicians has always been a huge factor that has been difficult, but a good challenge as well. It may seem typical to listen to yourself, but to each his own. As for me, I would feel anxiety-striken if anyone was to see me listen to myself. Maybe it's just the anxiety, or maybe i believe that people would think that i'm a narcissist. Nonetheless, I do it. It's a good habit for singers, but a little odd if seen from someone else's view.

I believe that guilty pleasures defines a person's eccentric side. Not because they could be a little bizarre, but it defines the part of a person that no one knows about. Everyone has their secrets, their odd habits, and maybe even a weird taste in music, but that makes us human. That brings out the best in us, and makes us mysterious; The idea of the stars in the sky. It's something no one can ever take away from you.

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INTRODUCTION & TOPIC WEEK 1 : GUILTY PLEASURES

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INTRODUCTION & TOPIC WEEK 1 : GUILTY PLEASURES

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hello welcome writer room members , hope you’re all doing well ! we’ve come up with an idea we thought you all might be interested in for the weeks to come.

there will be topic(s) chosen for each week , which you can write about / share your opinions .

— guilty pleasures , we all have them . this week we encourage you to share your opinions on what you think of guilty pleasures or what’s your guilty pleasure(s).

[ what is a guilty pleasure ? ]

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Hi Hi dear students,

Take time to keep calm and WRITE. :)
Hope this will be a good ongoing platform to showcase your writing and encourage reflective musings.