Money
Happiness can't buy money! When living in Canada I was always running out of money. One of the worst feelings is waking up with no cash and nothing left to pawn with over a week until payday. Don't ever work as a kitchen staff in Canada. A server in the front might be all right, but unless you are dealing drugs to all the restaurant staff as well, working in the kitchen will leave you poor. So glad I moved to Japan because I haven't been broke in a long time. Going from $8 per hour to average of $35 is a big deal. This afternoon I will make just over $160 for 40 mins work. Absolutely wonderful! Tomorrow it will be $60 for around and hour and a half and the day after tomorrow will be $240 for around 5 hours. Everyday is different. In Canada you have to have a useful skill to earn honest money and be happy. Thrift and adventure seldom go hand in hand they say. Here in Osaka being a foreigner has its advantages. There were many jobs when I arrived in the year 2000. Now its not the case. I'm lucky because I have keeper jobs and I create my own work. There are ways to get paid above average, but I will not disclose those methods because I might be living here for a while. Ahhh what the hell? It's no secret. To get paid more you have to work for yourself.
Its not how much you make, but how much you keep that is important. I'll cheers to that Mr. Robert Kiyosaki. Most guys here will let their wives handle the finances and get a weekly or monthly stipend. I will never let that happen. Little kids get an allowances don't they? A grown man having to ask his wife for money ( his money ) is weak. I would hear some guys complain that their wives only left them a small amount to spend. Wrong! They left themselves a small amount to spend. Its OK if you lie to me, but the worst thing you could do is lie to YOURSELF! Sure giving your pay to your spouse is a great way of growing your savings ( that is if she can be trusted ), but come on! Subjugating oneself is not worth it. I admit that my savings are nothing to brag about. Currently I am paying 2 rents and of course 2 sets of bills and daycare. Not cheap. When I was living with my wife I spent millions of yen on well... enjoying life and also on a lot of unnecessary waste. When I drink I can become extremely wasteful with money. Sure that I'm not the only one. Always try to stick to a budget of 100 000 yen ( $1000 Can ) per month for spending, but that never follows through. To some people that is more than double what they need for entertainment purposes. Looks like I'm in the business of collecting memories.
I read a book that says roughly around 7 000 000 yen ( $70 000 ) a year is the target amount for living a happy life. Any more is not really necessary and much more isn't so good. The author compared it to drinking a glass of wine. 1 glass will be good for your health while 2 glasses will be fine, but with out increased benefits. Once you keep imbibing more and more health benefits go away and trouble begins. I agree with the author because a person can live comfortably at $6000 a month. $2000 a month can rent a nice place to live and $2000 for spending and $2000 for saving. Sounds good to me!
I really enjoy playing poker. There are no REAL casinos here in Osaka. Not sure why that is because they have many other forms of gambling. Pachinko, slots, horse and bicycle races as well as boat. Small lottery tickey kiosks are everywhere too. A few times a year I will get together with friends and we will play poker for real money. It feels nice to win of course. Time goes by super fast when we play. I am so happy when I can drink, smoke and play poker at the same time. At some people's places we have to smoke outside and that sucks. On a losing night playing with friends one can throw away about 10 000 yen ( $100 ). No big deal and you can triple that if you win. Many hours of great fun either way. There are fake casinos near where I live. You buy chips and can play most of the popular card games and roulette. You can't win real money, but you can exchange your chips for drinks and bank the remainder for another day. Now you see the problem is that one of these fake casinos is walking distance from my place and I get bored at night and love poker and roulette. So far have been playing for about a year and a half. Bad things happen when I drink and go over there. I tend to play all night and place big bets. Very stupid indeed because even if I do win I can't win money. Emotional decisions can really do damage to one's bank account. Not going to tell you exactly how much I lost, but it's in the $1000s. So much fun playing, but a bad feeling in the morning when the bank account is drained. I always promise myself that I will never go there, but I relapse. Really freaking stupid. Guess the good thing is is that I can afford to lose a nice chunk of change and still be all right. Never gamble what you can't afford to lose. Anyways I like having power over my own finances and don't and never will let anyone else handle my money. I'm far from perfect, but I love gambling and will continue to play. Just have to play the right games. Very freaking stupid to play games that even if you win a lot, you can't take home the winnings. I must change my ways. A good idea would be to change my money to a foreign currency or better yet buy gold and silver.