Enlightenment #1: I cannot figure out people.

Its that simple, really.
Everyone else seems to be so much better at guessing what shade of grey another person is.

Me. I've been proved wrong so many times its amazing.

.. that the trustworthy person actually cannot keep any secrets at all!
.. that this man, who always keeps his word, **newsflash** actually doesn't!
.. person with integrity (whatever that means) actually has none.
.. weird person with weird mannerism is actually nice.
.. lady who makes absolutely no sense whatsoever might actually be doing some thinking.
.. person who cannot think beyond self does mean well.
.. well meaning, simple friend has some self-centered motives after all!

Important Note.. There's no one-to-one correspondence in the above list with the people around me right now. But somewhere on this track we call life, something of the sort seems to have happened to everyone.

The Other Important Note.. is that I have now been enlightened.
1. To never trust own instincts on anyone.
2. Choose reliable friend for whom your instinct has actually turned out right. High risk involved here. This feature must have been tested thoroughly and extensively, over a long period of time.
3. Friend must also have much higher instinct hit rate than self, preferably greater than 90%.
4. Use friend's instinct, since self's are of not much use.
5. Preferably back up with another friend who matches criteria 2 and 3, if at all it is possible to find more than one.

And since I have now proclaimed this out loud.. Use your good sense and do not trust me on any one. I can give advice though, that I can. Analyse situations and tell you why someone is behaving the way they are.

But the sixth sense that I have supposedly obtained by virtue of being a woman, that cannot figure out people. No sir-ee. Nyet. Not yet, atleast.
Until then, I'll direct you to Trusted Friend. S/he's alright.