challenge

Money can't buy happiness ...

Publié le 1 Septembre 2023 par Charly C.

Catégories : #beliefs, #challenge, #controversy, #happiness

... or can it?

They say that "money can't buy happiness."

This sentence makes me hysterically laugh for days. You may be wondering why. Well, let's see some examples.

Proof #1: Actual happiness

I found this charming pendant in a downtown tea shop. It's pretty easy to read "serotonin" on it, along with the discounted price. Was it a pendant or earrings? I forgot, but it was made of silver. The bottle was small and i really liked how it was sold.

In this example, one can literally see how they can buy actual happiness.

I would rest my case here, but this is somewhat of a silly entry and i have a few more examples.

Proof #2: Hobbies

Here i inserted 2 pictures because there are almost countless types or forms of hobbies. But look at the doll and see just how happy she is and it's infectious. Every time i see this doll, i start smiling like a fool. She was expensive too.

Now, if i didn't have the money to buy her, then i would be less cheerful or even happy.

Let's have a look at the second image here. It's an incomplete collection of a Japanese comic (=manga) by the name of "Inuyasha." I own many similar collections, some complete and some incomplete. It's probably been like 15 years or so since i bought them.

Of course i didn't buy them all at once, but whenever i had enough money, i's buy maybe 2 to 4 at once. I had to cancel some orders at times. But my point still stands: without money, i wouldn't have the collection i now have. And it does bring joy.

The same can be applied to any other hobby: sewing, cosplaying, cooking, stamp collecting, woodworking, and whatever is out there.

Proof #3: Health and other stuff needed to stay alive

I hope i don't need to explain the above picture.

In the first pic, i was waiting for an IV in the ER. Here, going to the ER is free of charge, but this isn't the case for all countries: I'm especially looking at you, USA. And you can go to the ER for almost any medical emergency, regardless of the investigation or treatment we receive.

Yet, we have to pay for anything health-related that is not an emergency. Even these can be free of charge if you're employed: health insurance is dependent of your employment status. Of course, you can pay for your health insurance out of pocket to the state or to a private insurance company. Even with insurance, some investigations are not free of charge. Some examples include the ATPO blood test, an EEG, most surgeries, and going to the dentist.

The ATPO costs about 10 euros, the EEG costs about 100 to 150 euros, and the price for any dentist visit depends on what you need. If you go to the dentistry school, you can have various treatments done for free, but you'll have to pay for the materials used, such as the stuff used for fillings.

What we can understand is that without money, it is quite difficult to properly take care of your health. But having the money to pay for your medical bills, life is easier and less stressful. This adds to a person's happiness.

Now, food. Sweets are not essential for survival, but most of the savory foods are. Simply put, we die without food. However, if you don't grow your own food, you'll need a lot of money for a week's grocery shopping trip. And even if you grow your food, you will need money for the tools or substances you need to use. And even after paying for these agricultural helping items, you'll know if you grow everything you need to cook or not. Let's take black pepper, sugar (of any kind), pans, pots, cooking and eating with utensils, glasses, and cups, all require you having to buy. Of course, depending on what you need, you may have to pay just once, and you'll use them for years.

Depending on the item you need, your bill will need a different amount of money. Without money, it will be difficult to buy any of the items mentioned earlier.

Other stuff that requires you to be "loaded" are: a place to live in, clothes, maybe a car (that will add other costs) or some sort of transportation, clean running water, cleaning supplies, and possibly electricity. Without the right amount of money, it will be difficult to maintain any of these things, especially if you consider using them for years to come.

This is it for now, i think. If i come up with more examples, I'll have to write another entry.

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Blogmas '22 - days 1 through 4

Publié le 4 Décembre 2022 par Charly C.

Catégories : #blogmas, #Christmas, #celebrating, #challenge, #memories, #winter

Hey there!

It's that time of the year again - December, which means Blogmas around here. Since i didn't post in a long time, this will give me a chance to update the blog.

DAY 1

On the first day, over-bloggers were challenged to participate in a contest for a paid account.

The conditions were to tag 2 people and like the page - easy peasy lemon squeezy. I have no idea who won. The winner hasn't been announced yet.

DAY 2

blue car traveling — a random car we saw in summer, uptown

On the 2nd day, we're supposed to write our wishlist to Santa. OK, Santa, i hope you're ready for this:

move to Japan in 2023
buy a house
succeed at making a life for us in Japan

Putting this out to the universe, because.

DAY 3 and 4

It appears that the staff forgot to give us homework for the 3rd day. And the 4th day was designated a rest day.

However, i didn't rest almost at all. I cleaned the bedroom and tidied up a bit along with doing some decluttering. This feels great :D

I guess we'll have another update soon enough.

See you soon!

Do you want to buy me a coffee? this is a 1-time donation, thank you very much!

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Blog-March: First 5 Challenges

Publié le 14 Mars 2021 par Charly C.

Catégories : #blogmarch,, #love, #challenge, #women, #celebrating

Hello everyone!

I haven't posted in a while, and I really wanted to write since the first day of March, but somehow, like I always do, I procrastinated instead.

The admins of the platform hosting my blog decided in February to launch another challenge, similar to the one for December.

Like for Blogmas, we get several topics to write about every day. Or nearly every day.

I'll borrow the official image from the staff's blog, and share it here, blow. Yes, it's in French, but I hope it's not very difficult to understand or figure out.

I'll also share the translations for each day, as I complete the day's challenge, or task.

not my picture, read above.

DAY: MARCH 1ST - International Compliment Day

I personally never heard of this day or celebration, yet I think we all need it. And we shouldn't wait for a specific day to say something nice to someone.

To you, my reader, I want to say YOU are a wonderful and unique person. You sure have your quirks and stuff, but that's OK. That's what sets you apart from the rest.

To my fiance, I want to say that you are the best, and I could never ask for or dream of anyone better than you to be with.

DAY: MARCH 2ND - International Tennis Day

When did we get an International Tennis Day?

Many people disregard women's tennis, however, there are many female tennis players who made history. I should only briefly point to Steffi Graf who was number 1 for 377 weeks.

In recent years, the Williams sisters, and especially Serena, were at the top. They are relevant because there are few Black women in a sport dominated by white women (or people).

In August 2020, there were 2 Romanians in the top 10 WTA: Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu. This is relevant as I currently live in Romania, and this country wasn't particularly known for its tennis players. Especially not in WTA.

Steffi Graf - Wimbledon 1990; found on tennisarchive Tumblr account

DAY: MARCH 7th - Celebrating Grand-mothers

Or Grand-mothers' day. I also didn't know this day/celebration existed.

I'm also a bit confused by this celebration because I find it redundant with Mother's day. The way I see it, you can't be a grandparent without being a parent first. And once you become a parent, you'll always be one.

But let's indulge, as there's nothing wrong or bad about that. For this challenge, I want to share the pictures of 2 grannies and the teaching of one of them.

Here we can see fiance’s great grandmother (Mrs. Serafim) holding fiance’s 2-year old grandmother (Marioara), surrounded by granny’s older sisters - Lenuta (6) and Viorica (3?). The photo was taken in 1933.

I really wanted to share this very old picture, even if it's not a good representation of granny. But, most of the things granny knew, was knowledge she had from her mother. And in this post, Anna shared some of that.

Here we can see my grandma holding me and a cousin. A picture from 1982. I look more like granny these days than I did back then.

There's just one thing i can say: Granny, i miss you.

DAY: MARCH 8th - International Day of Women's Rights

At least this is how it's known officially. We call it International Women's Day.

However, the terminology is very important in this case. If we call it "International Women's Day" we celebrate one thing, and if we say "International Day of Women's Rights," then we celebrate something else.

In the first instance, we kinda maintain gender roles and an old-fashioned lifestyle for women. In the second instance, we recognize women are also humans and they also have rights. They have the right to live their lives as they see fit, even if that is living an old-fashioned lifestyle.

It means, they are free to choose and nothing is imposed onto them.

DAY: MARCH 13th - National Sleep Day

This day needs to be an internationally celebrated day.

And we need one every week, on the weekend, haha.

I don't have much to say about this day, unfortunately. But I can recommend a Youtube channel with good music to help you sleep.

The channel's name is Nemo's Dreamscapes and one of the songs I managed to fall asleep to can be found here. I must say, I can't usually sleep with sounds or music around me. But these old songs were so calming.

And this concludes 5 challenges in a single entry. Because each entry would have been too short otherwise.

See you in the next entry!

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