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Money

15:10 / 02.11.01

How do you feel about money?
About a year and a half ago £100 pounds was a large amount. Less than ten years before that a fiver was. Now I've got shedloads. Well I don't really, not compared to proper adults, but it feels like it. I don't really want an awful lot, but it seems to come attached to any sort of positive career move. And this is only just the very beginning.
But my girlfriend has set me thinking. She is a bit of a science genius and has several bits of paper to prove it. She had two choices industry or academia. She chose the latter without any hesitation. No thought for money or anything, she has a calling and she knows where it is.
I don't have a calling. I'm jealous. I want one too. In general I quite like my job, it is pleasant enough, but I could quite happily give it up. I don't really want to do something just for money, but I am not really clear on the other options. I know there are other options though. Do any of you kids have good ideas on options?

15:39 / 02.11.01

Money? It's a gas.

powerful... urge... to.... quote... pink.... floyyyyyddd... musssssst.... resisssssst!

It's just energy. It's tokens for food and beer. I don't feel I need it, but not having it really sucks (never want to be homeless again.) If the rest of your life is working, chances are the money thing is taking care of itself.

As a measurement of energy, it's subject to the same conditions of use as electricity. Respect it, but don't fear it: don't use it on pointless things unless they're fun: don't leave it running when you're not around: and never stick your fingers in a live bank manager.

Unless you really want to.

04:50 / 03.11.01

Yeah, I like money. Used it to buy the first Promethea trade today. But, if I couldn't have afforded it, eh. No big deal. All in all, even if I'm homeless (I think) money still wouldn't be the MOST important thing to me. (Neither would life).

18:22 / 04.11.01

I also would like to have a calling. However, right now, I've got none and don't know how to get one.

Maybe I'll work it out in the future. In the meantime, you've got to have some money... my theory is, if you're going to do something you don't particularly want to do, you might as well pick the job that pays the most. If that's all that differentiates potential employment, and you can't find something that lets you grow as a person, man, might as well go for the most profitable option.

I think that some of the most interesting people have never had a clue what they wanted to do for most of their lives. Uh, not that I'm saying your GF is boring.

19:08 / 04.11.01

quote:something that lets you grow as a person

I'm not sure that work can truly grow you as a person though. I mean any sort of corporate world job is just about profit. It would cool to be an artist with a gift and a calling. But being giftless and callingless, like most people, is kinda I dunno...its not bad, life is pleasant enough...but spending forty hours a week doing something that you know doesn't truly matter in the grand scale of things...hmmm, dunno

20:19 / 04.11.01

what i mean is, a job that doesn't necessarily stimulate you, but gives you enough time to find things that do, without taking over your life. In other words, something that doesn't utterly crush the spirit.

09:20 / 05.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Buk:
...but spending forty hours a week doing something that you know doesn't truly matter in the grand scale of things...hmmm, dunno

It depends on how you look at it. I could say you're spending 24 hours a day doing something that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, because, you know, eventually the universe will grow too cold to support life either way.

The trick is to realize that none of it matters in the Grand Scheme of things, but that the Grand Scheme of things really doesn't matter much to ME either so it can go fuck itself. You want an important job? Be a janitor. Be a garbage collector.

I think a job can help you grow as a person, but, of course, I don't think anything can GROW YOU as a person.

22:03 / 06.11.01

I would say the GRAND Scheme of things is to ENJOY YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW!!!

that doen't mean yor life is defined by your place or type of Employment. As an "artist" with varied callings... I'm still as able to say... Hey, why can't i just be happy with a high paying job instead of demanding LOTS of time off to persue my Art... which to date has cost me more money than anything else.

Still we are EACH different. And the amount of money I spend on comics would make my brother's (let's say) head spin. Still it's a joy I won't compromise...

I would say the important thing is to examine why you do what you do. So what if your job is only OK if you spend your off time loving life!!! By the same token why follow a calling that will lead you to sorrow?

22:48 / 06.11.01

quote:Originally posted by PATricky:
I would say the GRAND Scheme of things is to ENJOY YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW!!!

It reminds me of the heroin addict and the average Joe theory.
So, you either spend your life on the street using heroin as an escape. All you ever have to buy is your heroin, right? So, you're happy, you have a good life -- at least in your eyes maybe mind.

Who cares eh? However!
The guy who works every day and has some time to do what he likes makes your life possible. We can't all be heroin addicts, if we were where would are heroin come from? Maybe if there were, ah let's say 20 people here in Canada (no jokes) we could all do whatever and be 'happy'. But the fact is, money is what drives us now.

So. I hope I didn't totally mess up what I am trying to say, I guess I will see with reactions... Yes I will.

hurm.

tom-karika nukes it from orbit

11:08 / 07.11.01

Money upsets me. It would cost me an average of £7.50 a note to make £5 notes, and £35 a note to make £20 notes. £50 notes would cost £48 to make, but many shops won't accept them. So how the hell does the royal mint manage it?

13:42 / 07.11.01

Economies of scale. You have to think bigger Karika.

13:44 / 07.11.01

The happiest times in my life have always been time rich and cash poor. Well not so much poor as just enough to get everything I need...and I don't need much.
...but it might just be part of growing up...maybe those are things to be left behind...maybe there is value in something else...just thinking out loud

gentleman loser

14:46 / 11.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Abydoss:

The guy who works every day and has some time to do what he likes makes your life possible. We can't all be heroin addicts, if we were where would are heroin come from? Maybe if there were, ah let's say 20 people here in Canada (no jokes) we could all do whatever and be 'happy'. But the fact is, money is what drives us now.

I see your point, but the guy who goes out and works every day is making an personal choice just like the heroin addict is. No one is putting a gun to either guys head.

What does a human being need to survive?

Air, Water, Food, Shelter, Clothing, Heat.

That's it. That's all that Cro-Magnon Man needed and that's all you need. You might not be that comfortable, but you can survive that way. Homeless people do it all the time.

I'm making an extreme example, but I hope you see my point. You don't have to buy the designer clothes, the $40,000 SUV. the matching pair of jet skis or the house in the suburbs to survive or be happy.

The times I've felt most free is when I've had nothing.

Someday you are going to die.

Could be fifty years from now.

Could be five minutes from now.

There's nothing worse in my experience than growing older and being full of regret for the time you've wasted.

I'm not slaging career minded people or those who's dream in life is to become a billionaire. Not at all. I am sick of people looking down their nose at me just because I'm not a materialist like they are.

I may be a loser, but I'm a free loser.

[ 11-11-2001: Message edited by: gentleman loser ]

15:24 / 11.11.01

Yeah, get you, Walden is one of my favourite books. There is pressure to conform to material standards though. Yeah I know a really strong, intelligent, cool person can just ignore those pressures but sometimes it isn't easy.

19:46 / 11.11.01

this morning i was thinking it would be cool to organize an international-stop-believing-in-money-day. for a 24 hour period everyone on the planet decides that paper money is good only for rolling cigarettes or making paper airplanes, that coins are only good for melting down for other uses. what exactly would bankers use this day to reflect on?

08:29 / 15.11.01

quote: i was thinking it would be cool to organize an international-stop-believing-in-money-day

Its the collusive fantasy aspect of money that I find interesting. Just like the fairies in Peter Pan it only exists because we believe in it; just like God in medieval times it is so all pervading we can hardly consider that it isn't real. I wonder about magic sometimes, and think money is the biggest practical application of magic we have, too big to notice, too useful to disregard, and too deeply embedded in our sense of values to challenge.

quote: what exactly would bankers use this day to reflect on?
Like medieval saints they would repent the worlds loss of faith, and seek to re establish their true god. Proselitizing bankers.

19:39 / 15.11.01

think of this whin you go to work your boss trades you hours of your life for money . you will never get those hours back no matter whut you do and whin you spend your money , you are spending hours of your life. life is going on all the time EVEN WHENE YOU ARE AT WORK.

so you might as will do some thing that you think is fun . me i love my job the pay stinks but i love it. it's a choce it's money for your life. whuts important to you a new house a posh car or happyniss. money can't make you happy. it opens doors for you but do you really wont to pay the price in terms of how much of your life you give up to get there. be happy my friend do some thing you love so you don't dreed waking up every day but look forword to it. in short have a LUST FOR LIFE

01:58 / 22.11.01

Ever since I became a multi-millionaire rock star person, I think I've really lost concept of the worth of money. I don't really think about it too much - I've got a steady stream of big bucks that will never really stop, and I can really be as frivolous with my funds as my imagination allows me. I remember growing up lower middle class, and it's just such a distant memory now. I highly recommend writing several hit singles and recording a handful of multiplatinum albums, because it is a very lucrative endeavor, trust me!

18:45 / 22.11.01

I have to go with the 'I'd like as much as I need' point of view. I would quite happily go for less money and satisfaction with my life, without ending up in bankrupcy court. As an aside I tend to think that everyone has a calling, it just becomes apparent to different people at different times what theirs is and then there is no obligation to follow it.

tom-karika nukes it from orbit

08:00 / 23.11.01

If I had exactly as much money as I needed, I reckon I wuold be pretty poor.
I'd be happy if I had as much money as I wanted, but on demand, rather than having a huge stockpile to think about or need to spend. Spending mney would be an effort, an issue. But I wish it didn't involve so much gambling, knowing that if I spent the wrong money at the wrong time, that would be considered as good as the end.

[ 23-11-2001: Message edited by: Mr.Karika ]

02:01 / 24.11.01

what I Really Want To Be When I Grow Up is so close I can taste it...but I need money to get there. I need to study, practice, buy equipment, practice, study, practice, practice, practice. it costs - and so does supporting my girl. i have no discernable talents (that Im willing to sell, ba-DUM!), skills, or "calling"

but I do have two goals:

make my girl happy, healthy, and comfortable
be a photographer

not so much to ask for, really

so I work, and when Im doing it I sparkle

05:27 / 24.11.01

Hey Bitchkitty I totally empathize with this
quote: make my girl happy, healthy, and comfortable

I don't know how old your girl is. Mine are 12 and 5, and teaching them the intrinsic worthlessness of money is really difficult. In fact raising a child to be happy with it's own resources while they are continually stimulated by false need propaganda from TV and friends is a ongoing.

I tend to use the idea "the more money we have the less we'll see each other". Which is true in our circumstances because I pretty much control the amount of work I do. I guess as a photographer you should be able to do that to.

Any thoughts?

Mordant Carnival

19:47 / 24.11.01

Hmmm. I meet so many careerists who have got to my age and a little older and are just so fed up with thier lives. They've got the job, the money, the nice home, the car.... and they are bored, unfullfilled, exhausted, and sometimes a little scared. They've discovered that the money = happiness equation they were raised to beleive in sometimes just doesn't add up.

Coz money isn't real. It is a dream, a ghost. If you have what you need to be comfortable than you'll be okay- you don't need to be on 40,000 a year to be happy. You need... whatever it is you need.