Memage and Spoilage (no spoilers included!)

[ivyblossom]

1. Meme

I rarely do memes, but this one seemed so revealing I thought I'd give it a shot. Gacked from bitch phd:

1. How much money is in your wallet right now?

$51.37

2. How much money would you need in the bank to feel secure? Rich?

For me it isn't so much the number that makes me feel secure, but whether or not that income is secure and steady. This is what happens when you spend years as a student or any time at all unemployed, I guess. I did not feel at all secure when I had 5k in my bank account but no steady income. Right now I'd feel perfectly secure with 45 dollars in my chequing account, knowing that I'm getting paid in a few days. But in terms of specific amounts, I'd feel secure as long as I have enough cash in the bank to cover my rent and my bills, and to allow me to not skimp on the groceries or going out for dinner and drinks. That's probably somewhere around 1200 dollars a month, give or take.

I'm not sure how to define rich, and I can't imagine what it would take to get me there. The easy answer is that I would feel rich if I couldn't think of what to do with the money I had. If money was coming in and after I had assigned bits of it here and there to bills and payments and so forth, and was still some left that I wasn't sure what to do with, and ended up sticking in a savings account or investing, that would be rich. At the moment everything beyond my immediate needs is going on to my credit card, and after that it will go into savings for a house. The moment there isn't that one more thing you need to save for, you've either already got it or can already afford it, that's rich.

3. If someone gave you $100, no strings attached, what would you do with it?

Put it on my credit card. If it were a couple of months from now, I'd say I'd put it in my down payment fund.

4. If someone gave you $1 Million, no strings attached, what would you do with it?

Buy a house. No question. Buy a house and furnish it. And buy a lot of new clothes. And shoes. Lots of new shoes. And I would give some cash to my sister and my brother-in-law so that they can add an addition onto their new house. And send my parents on a nice holiday to India. And there are a string of people I would buy various ipods for.

5. How much does something have to cost before it starts counting as “real” money, as a purchase to be considered and evaluated, but below which you’ll buy without really thinking about it?

Anything beyond two or three dollars is real money. There is very little I will buy "without really thinking about it". I don't even buy groceries "without really thinking about it". I think this is an odd question, and I can't quite imagine buying anything without weighing whether or not I really need it.

Well, you know, outside of ibooks. I will apparently buy an ibook without thinking about it.

2. Spoilage

In other news, I have hereby been spoiled for HBP. I will not say anything about it, particularly since we must remember that spoilers are just rumours at this point, we mustn't take them too seriously. But I frankly love being spoiled. I've never felt that a book or movie was actually ruined for me by knowing (or hearing rumours about) what was going to happen. It just heightens the anticipation of it, for me at least. Even if the rumours are true, I enjoy the process of seeing how it all happens, and what it's like when it happens, and where we're left afterwards.

But what about the surprise of being spoiled and then reading the book only to discover that the spoiler was wrong. That's got to be the most shocking of shocking spoilers, because you think you know and you didn't! Real surprise! If anyone is interested, I'm prepared to provide this service. IM me between now and Friday (ivydamned on AIM) and I will tell you a spoiler. It may or may not be true. Then you can be magnificently surprised when you read the book, uncertain whether or not I lied to you! How's that for added anticipation!

But for the moment I refuse to even express any emotion at all about the rumours I've heard, let alone discuss them publicly. Your virgin eyes are safe with me, friend.