Trying To Live Simply

[West_end]

Thanks very much for the greeting. You have a great weekend too

 

Appreciate one & all who has posted replies/comments.

 

Like to share this encounter:

 

Had lunch today with 4 of my subordinates. At end of the our meal having our cuppa of coffee, all 4 of them whip out their iPhone to fiddle with while I'm just simply enjoying my cuppa (with my hp kept away).

 

The next moment, one of them asked me,"Where is your phone?" !!!

[Karoon]

i don't really agree with this man, but despite his problems he appears to have life sorted out...

 

Every morning, Chee Soon Juan drives his three children to school in his 19-year-old maroon Nissan, the exact model of which he has trouble recalling.

 

He tells Yahoo! Singapore he still has a car now because it has long been paid for, along with his three-room flat located in one of the oldest estates of Singapore.

 

There, the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) spends his mornings at an old desktop computer in the family's shared study, responding to emails, and writing articles, commentaries or books.

 

Apart from running the SDP, writing, selling and carting his books to bookstores and searching for the occasional foreign university research fellowship, Chee doesn't draw a salary from anywhere.

 

"I've long left my profession, which is in psychology," said the former National University of Singapore lecturer, who was dismissed and sued in 1993 by then-department head S Vasoo. His loss of the suit later compelled him and his wife to sell and move out of their Jalan Pemimpin house and into his current home.

 

Asked how he could devote himself purely to politics even with three young mouths to feed, Chee responded, "It's really difficult to commit to both (teaching psychology and politics)... either you get in the whole haul or not at all."

 

Chee was declared bankrupt in February 2006, after losing two defamation lawsuits to former prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, and being slapped with a hefty $500,000 bill in damages. Because of this, he is unable to stand for elections or travel out of the country without written permission from his official assignee.

 

More surprising, however, is the fact that despite his circumstances, his wife of 20 years, Huang Chih Mei, doesn't work either. She told Yahoo! Singapore she experienced drawing a full-time salary for a grand total of a week in her life thus far, at a marketing research company.

 

"After a few days, I felt I didn't like it... It didn't just involve research and data harvesting, but also meeting clients, presentations, socialising," she explained, sharing that even the nature of the research work she did was more commercially-driven than academic, which is what she preferred. After witnessing her successful boss emerge from a messy divorce, the PhD holder became convinced she didn't want that kind of life.

 

Perhaps, notes Huang, the fact that both her and Chee's relatives are essentially self-sufficient is one that brings relief to them both.

 

"They (her relatives) don't depend on me, so we have the kind of freedom... we just take care of ourselves," she says, explaining that her parents back in Taiwan are settling down to their retirement with the proceeds of real estate investments her father made in the past, for instance.

 

Living the simple life

 

At one corner and along part of the walls in Dr Chee Soon Juan's house is a floor to ceiling bookcase filled with volumes and photographs of different members of the family. (Yahoo! photo/Jeanette Tan)

 

Because neither Chee nor his wife work, the family lives a life that is, well, just about as simple as it can get for that of a beleaguered opposition party politician.

 

The children

[Jetabout777]

have you ever heard 'working like a dog'?

 

'like a dog' is used to describe overworked.

 

yes it seems we are dogs.

 

 

if use an animal to describe someone not working....i would prefer 'kangaroo' or 'kaola bear'

 

Nowadays, this simile "work like a dog" is passe la. Dogs have it better than humans, especially kept dogs.

 

I wish to be a kept dog of a chio bu living in a bungalow at Sentosa Cove.

[Vid]

Nowadays, this simile "work like a dog" is passe la. Dogs have it better than humans, especially kept dogs.

 

I wish to be a kept dog of a chio bu living in a bungalow at Sentosa Cove.

 

Kept woman keeping a kept dog

[Jetabout777]

Kept woman keeping a kept dog

 

As a human, it has been observed that kept women are usually housed in apartments.

 

Hence, as a dog, I would prefer to be a kept dog of the first wife living in a landed property so I would be able to run around. [laugh]

[Vid]

As a human, it has been observed that kept women are usually housed in apartments.

 

Hence, as a dog, I would prefer to be a kept dog of the first wife living in a landed property so I would be able to run around. [laugh]

 

True. But normally first wife is not chio. Kept one will be There are exceptions though

[Neutralsg]

have you ever heard 'working like a dog'?

 

'like a dog' is used to describe overworked.

 

yes it seems we are dogs.

 

 

if use an animal to describe someone not working....i would prefer 'kangaroo' or 'kaola bear'

Reminds me of the Beatles song with this lyrics "It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog"

[Neutralsg]

Thanks very much for the greeting. You have a great weekend too

 

Appreciate one & all who has posted replies/comments.

 

Like to share this encounter:

 

Had lunch today with 4 of my subordinates. At end of the our meal having our cuppa of coffee, all 4 of them whip out their iPhone to fiddle with while I'm just simply enjoying my cuppa (with my hp kept away).

 

The next moment, one of them asked me,"Where is your phone?" !!!

It seems common these days going by your comment above and this THREAD?

[Maroon5]

must ask the question: Who am I?

 

yeah. simple question but tough to answer.

[Ladykillerz]

being contented is good but too contented is relative.

somehow you need to push your limit so that you can improve yourself, your life, other people's lives.

[Kerwen]

Read this somewhere...

 

Making a point to always try to live simply. I don't need a lot of stuff. Society makes us think we do, but I don't. I don't have a lot of money but I get by just fine.

 

I'm able to pay the bills, eat pretty healthily, get myself a few things here and there. I don't buy into technology, wasting money on iPads, smartphones & stuff that is not needed.

 

I like living this way because I'm rarely ever stressed out worrying if I'm going to have enough money or something. I've made my life simple and never been happier.

 

There're others who spend their lives trying to get the better job title, making more money, wishing for more money, buying huge homes with space they don't use and struggling to pay the house payments.

 

Buying 'new and better' cars, filling their closets with clothes, shoes, buying 'better' tvs. Filling their homes with stuff and more stuff... they've the high when it first happens, then it goes away and they're depressed again. They're always wanting more, thinking the next thing will be the thing to make them happy again.

 

They spend their time on looks. They spend their time trying to keep from being 'bored' by constantly watching tv, stay on the computer, texting, tweeting...

 

I've seen people who can't do nothing for five minutes, they have to take out their phone and play with it. They have no clue how to be alone with their true selves.

 

It is sad what these people miss out on.

 

i am working towards this direction too

though i must say the temptation are there when you see your peers/friends changing to bigger hse, faster & powerful car, branded goods

for me, i am just a humble person, prefer not to laden myself with more debts, just simple hse & small car i am contended already

[Jman888]

simple doesn't mean not pursuing financial wellbeing, LKS is the richest man in asia but he has simple life (like cheap shoe, eat porridge, etc).

 

if the simple life mean doing the minimum and settle for lower standard of living, then that simple is due to not been successful. It is not simple for the very rich guy to lead a simple life

 

having said, i belong to the poor type but no choice must say my life very simple [laugh]

[Jamesc]

its all very familiar....

Yah lah, dun know why TS say cannot find people who do nothing.

 

Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm there must be thousands who do nothing.

 

[Neutralsg]

simple doesn't mean not pursuing financial wellbeing, LKS is the richest man in asia but he has simple life (like cheap shoe, eat porridge, etc).

 

if the simple life mean doing the minimum and settle for lower standard of living, then that simple is due to not been successful. It is not simple easy for the very rich guy to lead a simple life

 

having said, i belong to the poor type but no choice must say my life very simple [laugh]

Agree. In some countries, it is not easy for the prominently rich to sit by a coffeeshop alone without being risked of being fussed or kidnapped.

For you, it's easy lah because the kidnappers may not get any $$$ even if you offer yourself to be kidnapped since you belong to the poor type.

Gotta go now. Good nite!

Edited March 3, 2012 by Neutralsg

[West_end]

i am working towards this direction too

though i must say the temptation are there when you see your peers/friends changing to bigger hse, faster & powerful car, branded goods

for me, i am just a humble person, prefer not to laden myself with more debts, just simple hse & small car i am contended already

 

Think you're already there... not to be laden w debts and contented with your lot.

 

 

[Jim]

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simple doesn't mean not pursuing financial wellbeing, LKS is the richest man in asia but he has simple life (like cheap shoe, eat porridge, etc).

 

if the simple life mean doing the minimum and settle for lower standard of living, then that simple is due to not been successful. It is not simple for the very rich guy to lead a simple life

 

having said, i belong to the poor type but no choice must say my life very simple

 

Fake it till you make it. Those who need to impress others with expensive belongings obviously has not "arrived". Because when you have, you dont have care about what others think of you. You are finally free to be yourself, to live simply.

[Wasted]

True. But normally first wife is not chio. Kept one will be There are exceptions though

 

 

for some the look is secondary, but the luck the women bring them !

 

[Ithunk]

for some the look is secondary, but the luck the women bring them !

 

How about both?