Capitalism and the rising cost of living

Today as I was riding in the car on my way home with my hubby, he said his life wasn't fun enough, and I mused that I never felt that way. He asked me how I had fun, and I said I have fun thinking about my day, reflecting on perhaps the sermon that was preached on Sunday, and the friends I met, the conversations we had, what went wrong at work and how I can solve it... and all these things are fun to me.

I started talking about how I really am annoyed by capitalism, which causes the widening income-gap divide, and the rising cost of living in Singapore now (people now find it hard to afford HDB flats, cars, and I am sure the price of food, transport, movies, everything is just more steep now). A colleague in his late 40s/early 50s told me life used to be so much slower in the past, and people with a civil service job could afford a lot of things. I guess it's still true today. But even more so in the past. People could buy more with their meagre paycheck and lead more relaxed lives. Things just didn't move so fast and there weren't so many things to have to settle.

Then I was musing today that today it is unthinkable for a couple to share a laptop. You MUST have 2 laptops, one for each. Then I thought, it wasn't that long ago that a family would only have 1 computer! And if you needed to check your email, it was once in a while, and it was a big deal, and you logged on just for a while and then logged off cos there was nothing left to check and you had better things to do. What a different world this is from now! I am sure with iPhone, soon everyone will need their own computer and iPhone! And be online all the time...

This girl I have been mentoring just blogged that she realised upon reflection that she has been leading a rather mindless, escapist life and not been giving 100% because she did before and failed, and it was fear of failure.... What a shocking revelation, and you know, it's kind of true. I have noticed that she is tend of... mediocre when she could be fabulous! It's like, she's afraid to try and give it a heroic attempt. I wonder how to get her to do so... to encourage her to be serious about something and go for it! I have no such problems. In fact, I almost give everything my best. If I gave a half-hearted effort... unless it was something i really didn't care about (even then), it just would feel too weird.

I was counselling someone not to worry about money and the future, because our security should be in God all the time, and not only when we have a huge nest egg stored away (especially not then, as money can vanish anytime), when this was one of those bizarre right-back-at-you moments, and I realised what I was mouthing applied right to me too, in terms of putting my security in God. I realised I do feel insecure sometimes, because I compare subconsciously with others, and with my own expectations of what I thought I ought to have achieved by now... but all that is just illusions and transient stuff. What matters is what God wants for me, and what God has planned for me. And I know I can count on this verse "'I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you..." and "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Cor 2:9.

Mandy Moore!

Hello!

Have just watched a lovely Mandy Moore movie - Because I Said So. It is now one of my FAVOURITE MOVIES, because she looks so fresh and beautiful in every scene with her in it. She is utterly loveable in that movie, and yes, I can totally identify with the overprotective-mother and daughter-struggling-to-retain-some-control-over-her-life storyline. She is also so talented as a singer! I love her songs "Only Hope" and "Extraordinary". And I recall her movie "A Walk to Remember" brought tears to my eyes.. so I'm gonna go back and watch it when I get the chance. She is like, Winona Ryder or, Lindsey Lohan but better. She is like another Taylor Swift - a wholesome Hollywood image with some nice singalong songs :)