happiness and money...& food & sleep

It's the end of a not-so-good week. but i'm somewat getting on better and not feelin so complainy or unhappy....so i'm kinda ending this week in a happy note. whelll could have been the money because i got paid for most of my tuitions this week...but i think it was more of the food i've been eating. i somehow started enjoying 'sinful' food from thurs and it's been good...cakes, fried food, coffee, more cakes and other delicious food. and in some weird way, food did make me happy....actually the other thing that made me happy was being in the company of people...meeting up with my parents irish friends was a welcome break, and meeting up with jh to try her dress....which we ended up at Aiwo at Raffles city to try out their healthy buffet. it really IS healthy..but too much veg for my liking...i couldn't eat anymore quite quickly. look the serving is so small! and i was so full after that.

New Zealand ice-cream towards end of the night and more chats.

we were talking about all kinds of things, and money. how somehow our parents can save up like tons of money so easily and our somehow disappears days before our next payday. where did all the money go?? how to save like that? i deduced that coz we're young and start collecting the debts in life (education, car, house, travel, etc) while our parents somehow have cleared their debts le. ok...i know it'll differ from family to family...and interestingly a large proportion of my expenditures goes into fixed stuff more than entertainment..(Ww & I keep a record of everything that we spend...literally everything..as long as we don't forget. it is really a good way to keep track and watch how we spend)

today i was reading this article given out during sunday school about happiness & money. The Real Truth About Money: Why we remain keen for green even though it often gives us more social anxiety than satisfaction by Gregg Easterbrook. it says that "there is no significant r/s b/w how much money a person earns and whether he or she feels good about life"....
"paradoxically, it is the very increase in money-which creates the wealth so visible in today's society-that triggers dissatisfaction.As material expectations keep rising, more money may engender only more desires."
"...there is a final reason money can't buy happiness: the thing that really matter in life are not sold in stores. Love, friendship, family, respect, a place in the community, the belief that your life has purpose - those are the essentials of human fulfillment, and they cannot be purchased with cash.
Everyone needs a certain amount of money, but chasing money rather than meaning is a formula for discontent. Too many Americans have made materialism and the cycle of work and spend their principal goals. Then they wonder why they don't feel happy."

yeah..like Paul writes in Philippians 4:11-13 " I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

come to think of it...i am contented. i'm happy with where i am. i happy with where i'm going. i'm happy with what i have...and ok with what i don't have. i know there will be things that come by to distress me, things to challenge me, things that may not go the way i expect or want. but i know that all these things are a part of God's purpose and will...life is really more meaningful this way and there's much to be learnt.

anyway meimei's going Xiamen for choir trip...her first airplane experience...excited for her! ha....and as usual i was borrowing her clothes for dinner last night. and took this pic with the help of the mirror and find ourselves really similar...when i look closer i realize we've got similar front teeth...and meimei thinks she's taller than me. oh duh...