Since the new job, I’ve been looking at things from a very different perspective. Of course, the most obvious explanation is that my job involves looking at people through the viewfinder of an old canon.
But I don’t mean that here. What I’m trying to say is, I’m seeing things from the perspective of the other half. The Wealthy Half, The Powerful Half. When there’s a story to be written, we don’t waste time haggling with the common folk, we go straight to the top. So we only meet the world leaders, the planet shakers. Head honchos of multi-million dollar companies. The rich and the famous. The bold and the beautiful.
It’s a very different kind of journalism from what I learnt in school. Heck, it’s a very different world from what I’ve known.
I’ve seen, touched and photographed precious jewellery & accessories that cost more than an executive condo. I’ve viewed and photographed multi-million dollar homes. And I’m still tickled that people actually buy these overpriced things.
It’d probably be too easy to fall into the trap of wanting to have everything I’ve seen. Wanting to be as rich and as successful as the people I’ve met. Wanting to live the way they live. Wanting to own whatever they own.
But, I’ve always been kind of an oddball.
Between rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful, and mingling with the man on the street, I much prefer the latter.
- I don’t need to be polite to a fault.
- I don’t need to exchange my namecard to learn someone’s name.
- I don’t need to talk seriously and laugh softly.
- I don’t need to keep a straight face and a straight back.
- I don’t need to worry about ruffling politics or stock market movements.
- I don’t need to walk around in proper shoes.
I’ve never mixed well with the foie-gras-nibbling, champagne-sipping crowd anyway.
Besides… I don’t make enough to own an island. I don’t make enough to own a jet. I don’t make enough to own a bungalow, condo or a flat. In fact, if I didn’t need to dig into the savings to get past the last week, it’s been a good month.
It doesn’t mean I’m particularly unhappy either. I have a lot of fun managing my paycheck.
- How much should I put into insurance?
- How much should I put aside for savings?
- How much should I put aside for my own wedding?
- How much should I put aside for my retirement?
- How much can I spend on shopping after all my other expenses are paid off?
(i.e. all the above, plus the following: phone bills, 家用, travel expenses, tithes & faith promises, personal necessities.)
Maybe when you earn less, you are more easily contented. Or maybe you just learn to love whatever you’ve got.
- I don’t need a phone with a golden, gem encrusted snake or a 5 figure price tag.
My phone was a birthday gift from my family and was bought on a discount from getting a renewed phone plan. - I don’t need a watch with a sapphire glass face and hand crafted movements.
My watch costs a hundred and fifty dollars and I’ve been wearing it for the past 8 years, changing its batteries and watchstrap time and time again. - I don’t need a car.
Trains don’t ever get stuck in traffic, or have trouble finding parking. The best part of my day is taking a long bus ride home with the dar. Next best is taking the train home with Chester Bennington or David Tao, knowing that no one I meet at work will ever see me. They’re too busy driving their swanky Bentleys and getting charged for passing ERP gantries… - I don’t need to live in a 44 million dollar conservation bungalow…
…with a soccer field for a garden. I don’t need to live in a 30 million dollar penthouse off orchard road, with a Jacuzzi and wine cellar. I just want a 4 room hdb flat, near an mrt station (to save on traveling cost), that is big enough for me and my future, 2 kids, and an extra room to convert into a studio. (we can’t decide what kind of studio yet though) - I don’t need a 80 thousand dollar wedding.
A wedding is for a day. What lasts is a home, and memories of the wedding. So while I won’t spend much on the gown and all the peripherals, I’d get a good photographer, and videographer, and spend most of my money on home reno. - I don’t need a 2.2 million dollar sapphire diamond necklace.
Or a 10 thousand dollar engagement ring. Or any engagement ring in fact. A tiny $200 diamond on my wedding band is good enough. - I don’t need a fantastic career in a bank.
I don’t need to be chained to a desk from 9-5. I prefer the active life of a potatographer. The extra stress and even longer working hours I can do without. - I don’t need a 9k camera. Or a 6k guitar.
(Although they’d be rather nice to have… )
In general though, monetary things don’t mean that much to me.
An ex-classmate gave me a lift home for the first time and I offered to contribute to his petrol cost. He seemed shocked that I would do something like that even when he knew I didn’t make as much as him or the others. And he said, “Maybe it’s true that poor people are more generous.”
I protested of course. No one calls me ‘poor’. Except me. =)
I like to think of it this way. When God gives you a little, you learn to manage it well. And just maybe, He’ll give you more to manage in future. It’s about what you do with your talents thing. Not how many talents you got at hand.
My buddy from JC said I’ve changed. That I’ve become more practical. Which I must agree. I used to want a 7 storey home the land area of Wisma Atria, and the Mercedes SLR.
Now, I tell people that my future husband and I will be poor and in love. And if you think that’s being romantic, you’re wrong.
It’s being realistic.