My amazing life

VTech

k-dog wrote:

bernithebiker wrote:

k-dog wrote:

I've got loads of hair if that helps anyone. No money though.

Sell it?!

I've got lots but the longest is about an inch. Not sure that's worth much...

I too have lots, just not on the top of my head

k-dog

Mine's (almost) all on my head.

Barely even got any on my face. Only male in the extended family who doesn't have an impressive beard. Not that I'm really complaining. I like not resembling a bear like my dad (with a beard and bald head now!)

secretsam

I've never been to Dubai.

But I've been to Derby.

Is it the same?

4kicks

Derbys got more culture. Dubai is like Essex when the suns shining.

Cleat Eastwood

4kicks wrote:

Derbys got more culture.

So has a mouldy yoghurt - and I wouldnt want to go there either

4kicks

Better a mouldy yoghurt than a cheesy end, perhaps?

pinno

This threads gone all nicey nicey - boooo.

Why don't you crochet each other a bunch of flowery doylies?

ballysmate

pinarello001 wrote:

This threads gone all nicey nicey - boooo.

Why don't you crochet each other a bunch of flowery doylies?

Twice this thread looked as if it was going to take off and twice people seemed to kiss and make up.

VTech

Ballysmate wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

This threads gone all nicey nicey - boooo.

Why don't you crochet each other a bunch of flowery doylies?

Twice this thread looked as if it was going to take off and twice people seemed to kiss and make up.

I have it on good authority that in a previous life I sold my soul to the devil.

Bring it on

ballysmate

VTech wrote:

Ballysmate wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

This threads gone all nicey nicey - boooo.

Why don't you crochet each other a bunch of flowery doylies?

Twice this thread looked as if it was going to take off and twice people seemed to kiss and make up.

I have it on good authority that in a previous life I sold my soul to the devil.

Bring it on

I take it you got a good price. Pray tell what you bought with the money I am sure EKIMIKE and Matty would love to know. :roll:

VTech

I bought a tennis court and some land with a lake

paultheparaglider

Wimbledon and Hyde Park?

MountainMonster

paultheparaglider wrote:

Wimbledon and Hyde Park?

Please....... that is just for poor people or royalty, don't be silly.

4kicks

this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22781377
A life "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"

Mccaria

Went to a dinner party on Saturday (on antibiotics so scarily sober) and had to listen to a long discussion as one couple debated the options of taking out the swimming pool to put in a tennis court, or buy the house next door to expand the garden and have the tennis court put in the new space. Really, really needed a drink.....

VTech

Mccaria wrote:

Went to a dinner party on Saturday (on antibiotics so scarily sober) and had to listen to a long discussion as one couple debated the options of taking out the swimming pool to put in a tennis court, or buy the house next door to expand the garden and have the tennis court put in the new space. Really, really needed a drink.....

Whereas on the other hand, I would be thinking, well done, fair play to you and I would go home and try and think how I could do the same (maybe not buy next door but you get my meaning).
Having drive, ambition and determination is a great asset for anyone.

Mccaria

VTech,

This dinner party took place in one of the top ten affluent post codes in the UK. There is drive, ambition and determination in abundance, but that offers no defence to being bored rigid by someone discussing plans for his tennis court.

VTech

I guess it depends how the conversation took place, I obviously accept that it was not appropriate at that time from your comment. In reality I dont mention my home at work or any other time than when asked, here seems a different place simply because I like to give as good as I get
Could they have been excited ?

verylonglegs

Wouldn't that drive and ambition be more admirable if they were channelling it into volunteer projects at a local level?
That dinner party sounds like one step up from the self-obsessed nobbers who'd appear on Location, Location, Location crying, yes that's right...the one episode I witnessed a woman was crying on camera because spending £800k on a house was so so traumatic. If that's what money does to you then it really isn't anything to aspire too.

Mccaria

They may have been excited, I know I wasn't.

VTech

How do you know they dont ?
Making assumptions is ohh so easy, less easy to know the truth and facts.
I could also appreciate that spending 800k on a house would be traumatic, its a fair amount of money.

nathancom

4kicks wrote:

The nice thing about Dubai is its function as a black hole for all the money-focused, emotionally and morally bankrupt oxygen-thieves who any sane person wouldn't want to exist outside of that particular self-selecting, self-aggrandizing seventh-level-of-hell.

It serves a wonderful purpose; to keep the type of people, with their defining ambition to take a photograph of an airline seat, far away from me.

Ive lived in 15 countries, including 3 in Arabia, and the only way Id go back to Dubai is heavily sedated.

I vote this for post of the thread award.

To be honest, I feel sad for Vtech. One day he will realise that spending money on useless stuff has just been a vain attempt to distract himself from his own mortality. Then, perhaps too late, he will consider the nature of the world and his place in it and realise he has squandered his time. Or he will carry on spending money and consuming like a good capitalist and believe he is a swell guy because that is what fast cars, golf clubs and swimming pools make you.

VTech

nathancom wrote:

4kicks wrote:

The nice thing about Dubai is its function as a black hole for all the money-focused, emotionally and morally bankrupt oxygen-thieves who any sane person wouldn't want to exist outside of that particular self-selecting, self-aggrandizing seventh-level-of-hell.

It serves a wonderful purpose; to keep the type of people, with their defining ambition to take a photograph of an airline seat, far away from me.

Ive lived in 15 countries, including 3 in Arabia, and the only way Id go back to Dubai is heavily sedated.

I vote this for post of the thread award.

To be honest, I feel sad for Vtech. One day he will realise that spending money on useless stuff has just been a vain attempt to distract himself from his own mortality. Then, perhaps too late, he will consider the nature of the world and his place in it and realise he has squandered his time. Or he will carry on spending money and consuming like a good capitalist and believe he is a swell guy because that is what fast cars, golf clubs and swimming pools make you.

Not sure I agree with your vote to be honest but the second part isn't too far from the truth.
I would change money for time any day. More so as the years pass.

daviesee

VTech wrote:

Not sure I agree with your vote to be honest but the second part isn't too far from the truth.
I would change money for time any day. More so as the years pass.

Then do it.
I did this year.
So, I earn less, but I earn more than enough and have the time to enjoy it.

VTech

I have commitments and people who rely on me.
I have however took a huge step back over the past year, I have a full day off every week and travel far less than I've done over previous years.

daviesee

Try taking off 3 days a week. I can recommend it.
Cut back on expensive projects if required.
People will get by.

team47b

VTech wrote:

I would change money for time any day. More so as the years pass.

How old are you going to be before you make the decision to act on that platitude?

Talk is cheap

ballysmate

nathancom wrote:

To be honest, I feel sad for Vtech. One day he will realise that spending money on useless stuff has just been a vain attempt to distract himself from his own mortality. Then, perhaps too late, he will consider the nature of the world and his place in it and realise he has squandered his time. Or he will carry on spending money and consuming like a good capitalist and believe he is a swell guy because that is what fast cars, golf clubs and swimming pools make you.

I don't feel sorry for VTech at all, neither do I envy him. You are assuming a 'one size fits all' to how people should live their lives and trying to fit your values and ideals onto him. He has through effort and fate got to wherever he is, and has chosen his path in life. If he feels he wants to provide all he can for his family and even lavish them or himself with material things, who is to say he is wrong? Certainly not me, nor you. As the years go by, his outlook on life will certainly change, I know mine has. I don't look back and think I was wrong. I realise that I thought differently in those days, probably because circumstances were different.
As regards spending money, perhaps it's time for a reality check for you. People, and by that I mean everyone, spending money is what keeps the vast majority of people in employment.
It is all relative isn't it? Yes to me, and I assume to you, a swimming pool would be an extravagance. But to some people outside the bubble of cycling, it would be equally outrageous to spend more than £100 on a bike. After all, it's ONLY a bike.
I have often wondered what drives someone to become 'super rich'. What drives a millionaire to go on to earn 10 million and then 100 million? After all, they have all the money they can possibly need or spend. But they do it. I wouldn't. But because of the majority of people that are so driven, the rest of us benefit by employment.

4kicks wrote:
The nice thing about Dubai is its function as a black hole for all the money-focused, emotionally and morally bankrupt oxygen-thieves who any sane person wouldn't want to exist outside of that particular self-selecting, self-aggrandizing seventh-level-of-hell.

It serves a wonderful purpose; to keep the type of people, with their defining ambition to take a photograph of an airline seat, far away from me.

Ive lived in 15 countries, including 3 in Arabia, and the only way Id go back to Dubai is heavily sedated.

Never been to Dubai. But I wouldn't class everyone there or visiting there as 'money-focused, emotionally and morally bankrupt oxygen-thieves'. There again, I perhaps wouldn't make such a generalising statement. But perhaps that's just me.

bernithebiker

team47b wrote:

VTech wrote:

I would change money for time any day. More so as the years pass.

How old are you going to be before you make the decision to act on that platitude?

Talk is cheap

Indeed.

I gave up trading 10 years ago, and have no regrets whatsoever. I have a mate that I worked with that is still doing it. He is constantly stressed, has put on weight, drinks far too much, and rides less and less (we used to do alot of cycling together in Geneva).

Every time I see him I yell at him to stop, to get out, to do something different, but once you're that deeply entrenched it's tough to get out, it feels scary.

And the weird thing is, the more money you have, the more you need; those Porsches, Sunseekers, etc. all need servicing, insuring, there's the nannies, the luxury holidays to destress; before you know it, you need 200k a year just to cover your bases.

He has more than enough to retire happily right now (41 years old), but I know he won't and it's crazy.

4kicks

Ballysmate wrote:

nathancom wrote:

To be honest, I feel sad for Vtech. One day he will realise that spending money on useless stuff has just been a vain attempt to distract himself from his own mortality. Then, perhaps too late, he will consider the nature of the world and his place in it and realise he has squandered his time. Or he will carry on spending money and consuming like a good capitalist and believe he is a swell guy because that is what fast cars, golf clubs and swimming pools make you.

I don't feel sorry for VTech at all, neither do I envy him. You are assuming a 'one size fits all' to how people should live their lives and trying to fit your values and ideals onto him. He has through effort and fate got to wherever he is, and has chosen his path in life. If he feels he wants to provide all he can for his family and even lavish them or himself with material things, who is to say he is wrong? Certainly not me, nor you. As the years go by, his outlook on life will certainly change, I know mine has. I don't look back and think I was wrong. I realise that I thought differently in those days, probably because circumstances were different.
As regards spending money, perhaps it's time for a reality check for you. People, and by that I mean everyone, spending money is what keeps the vast majority of people in employment.
It is all relative isn't it? Yes to me, and I assume to you, a swimming pool would be an extravagance. But to some people outside the bubble of cycling, it would be equally outrageous to spend more than £100 on a bike. After all, it's ONLY a bike.
I have often wondered what drives someone to become 'super rich'. What drives a millionaire to go on to earn 10 million and then 100 million? After all, they have all the money they can possibly need or spend. But they do it. I wouldn't. But because of the majority of people that are so driven, the rest of us benefit by employment.

4kicks wrote:
The nice thing about Dubai is its function as a black hole for all the money-focused, emotionally and morally bankrupt oxygen-thieves who any sane person wouldn't want to exist outside of that particular self-selecting, self-aggrandizing seventh-level-of-hell.

It serves a wonderful purpose; to keep the type of people, with their defining ambition to take a photograph of an airline seat, far away from me.

Ive lived in 15 countries, including 3 in Arabia, and the only way Id go back to Dubai is heavily sedated.

Never been to Dubai. But I wouldn't class everyone there or visiting there as 'money-focused, emotionally and morally bankrupt oxygen-thieves'. There again, I perhaps wouldn't make such a generalising statement. But perhaps that's just me.

Of course, its always wrong to make a broad sweeping generalization, even about place which I have had first-hand knowledge of, and as an honest-to-god old school libertarian (libertarian, not librarian, do try and keep up) I want to say "people should be allowed to live their own lives, live and let live" etc. I also well understand the societal value of a capitalist system and the associated "trickle down" to the less fortunate - Ive got my MBA, done the megabank stuff and run two businesses both of which make money (yay!) pay taxes (boo!) and provide employment for the local community here (me da iqual..).

But my issue with Dubai is once you have a system entirely dedicated to the pursuit, and the pursuant odious, obsequious ostentation, of money, all other values go out of the window and ones role as a functioning member of society (think of the old John Cleese and the two Ronnies "I know my place" sketch if you need a visual aid here) becomes redundant. Im quite happy to tar everyone associated with Dubai with the same brush because you cant, honestly, tell me hand on heart people are visiting or living in Dubai for their own betterment or for charitable ventures...how many folk songs have the chorus "he moved to Dubai and then.."