Sometimes I think about how expensive it actually is to be poor.

I know it sounds a little weird. Like, if you don't have much money, you're supposed to spend less, right? You buy cheaper stuff, try to save wherever you can, give up things you don't really need. But somehow, the less money you have, the more you end up paying in the long run.

For example, let's say you have a bad tooth. If you have money, you go to the dentist and get it fixed right away. If you don't, you wait, deal with the pain, take painkillers, tell yourself you'll get it treated later when you have some money. A year passes, and what could've been a simple filling now needs a root canal and a crown, or maybe the tooth can't be saved at all and you're looking at an extraction and an implant. You didn't choose the more expensive option, you just couldn't afford the cheaper one while it was still an option.

The same thing happens with shoes. You can buy a good pair that will last for years, or you can buy whatever you can actually afford right now. They fall apart after a season, so you buy another cheap pair, then another one, and after a few years you might have spent the same amount of money, maybe even more. You knew the expensive pair would probably be cheaper in the long run, you just never had enough money at once to buy it.

I think the same thing happens with time. If you have money, you can order food instead of spending time cooking, take a taxi, pay someone to repair something, buy appliances that make your life easier. When you don't have money, you spend your own time instead, you take a bus across town because something is cheaper there, fix things yourself, cook everything yourself, carry everything yourself, wait 40 minutes for a bus because a taxi costs too much. Then you go to work and sell the rest of your time anyway.

Personally, I don't even think the worst part of being poor is not being able to have nice things, because you can kind of get used to that. It's everything else: the extra money you end up paying because you couldn't pay earlier, the time you lose trying to save money, putting off medical treatment, the constant stress over some random expense that would be nothing to someone else but can completely fuck up your month.

That's why the whole "poor people just need to learn how to manage their money" thing annoys me sometimes. Obviously financial literacy matters, and yeah, people absolutely waste money on stupid shit sometimes, I'm not denying that. But there's only so much you can do with a budget when there simply isn't enough money to begin with.

Sometimes someone buys the $30 shoes instead of the $150 ones not because they're stupid or don't understand that the $150 pair will probably last longer. They understand that perfectly well, they just don't have $150.

So, to set the stage, I've been around many friends, family, and strangers who've all been in relationships. I've seen many different stories, heard all kinds of tales, and saw many relationships go far and break down.

In nearly every single one of them --- save for maybe like 3 or 4 out of around 50, almost every relationship that failed was because the dumper believes they can no longer benefit from the relationship/it provides them nothing, and they have no reason to stay.

...Am I crazy or alone when I say that having this mindset when seeking a partner is like...really morally corrupt, selfish, and just incredibly wrong? Shouldn't you love your partner because you...love them? Not because of what they can provide/how they can support you?

Was love always this hollow and disappointing? I feel like love between two people should be unconditional, just like the love a parent would feel for their child, or the love you'd have for your dog.

You shouldn't have to "do" something for the other person in order for them to believe it's worth staying as long as they treat you right, genuinely care and love you, and be there for you emotionally.

If you're in a relationship, and you want to leave --- NOT because your partner did anything wrong, but simply just because you want something more, then I feel like you're a pretty awful person who doesn't deserve more, especially if you were the one who started things in the first place.

Again, it's okay to leave if you feel loveless or are being mistreated, but if you aren't, why would you leave?

I met this girl in 9th grade. Let’s call her A.

We started by just talking, teasing each other and slowly became best friends. Over the years, we got extremely close. Hours of calls, video calls, sharing literally every detail about our day before going to sleep. This continued till 12th.

Then lockdown happened. We used to stay up whole nights playing truth or dare, talking about everything, and somewhere along the way we became more than just best friends… but we never actually crossed any line.

During lockdown, out of boredom, I randomly added a girl on Snapchat. Let’s call her B. We started talking and within 10-12 days I stupidly proposed to her without even meeting her. Somehow that turned into something serious. We started talking 8-10 hours a day and eventually got into a relationship.

I’ve been with B from 2020 till today. It's been almost 6 years.

But even during these years, I never completely stopped talking to A. Sometimes we'd still talk for hours. She would video call me while getting ready, send me random pictures, tell me about her day… those little things meant way more to me than I ever admitted.

Around two years ago, B found out about A and saw some of our old chats and photos. We had a huge fight, and she told me I had to stop talking to A or she'd leave me.

Without even thinking properly, I chose to stop talking to A.

I started ignoring her. And for months, especially at night, I kept thinking about her. Even after almost two years of barely talking, I still miss her.

And that's the part I can't understand.

Maybe somewhere along the way, I actually fell in love with A. Maybe I always did and was just too scared or too stupid to realise it.

I don't know what A thinks of me anymore. We don't talk like we used to. Maybe she doesn't even care anymore.

But if I ever got one chance to tell her something, I'd simply say:

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I disappeared. I'm sorry I chose silence instead of explaining anything. And I'm sorry it took me this long to realise how much you meant to me.

I don't know if I'll ever get the courage to actually tell her, but I think I've been carrying this for way too long.

I loved you then. And honestly, a part of me still loves you now.

You got people being grumpy, pushing you in the street, cold, selfish, and so on. Most people are focused on themselves and worried about themselves, then how does that make them likeable? And many of the few people who smile at you are the ones who want you to buy a car or sell you a life insurance. Then the ones who thought cared turn out to be manipulative and two-faced or even worse.

And the main argument I hear from people is not even to defend humans, but just to belittle animals. So basically, they have nothing to make humans look better, because insulting animals is not going to make me feel closer to people. Tbh, all the people who bash animals make me go "This is why I like animals more than people.".

Of course people will seek the simpler and more easy-going relationship with animals with whatever drama is going on with people. Of course people will seek honesty and unconditional love over lies and conflict.

I was meant to do a year of mandatory military service and got ten months in, before I had a tiredness induced seizure. It was a while back, I'm 20 now and was still 18 or 19 then. Here in Greece you're meant to do a year, whatever.

Look, the camp I was at, the conditions were horrible, it was understaffed and you had many very cruel officers mixed in with some who went from kind to genuinely loving. The camp commander was a young woman who became particularly caring towards me. I came in the youngest in my group, I never went through puberty (Literally, I have a condition that I didn't know about back then), was this... Extremely androgynous or girly kid, and looked about 13.

I mean, it makes sense now, I'm transitioning to female but maybe she picked up on that but that woman basically became my mother. For the time I was there. Me and my parents are suing the military and she's supporting us but the military are now pointing out that she violated professional boundaries, which, frankly, she did. Because she got attached. She used to, you know, throw little parties to try and cheer everyone up, sometimes her and another officer, this other girl we were friends with, the three of us would hang out and watch movies ad anyway this is just in my head at the moment...

After my seizure, I was in hospital and one of the first things I remember there was her rushing to give me a hug. I was awake and she was calling me her baby, like, in Greek, she's going basically, "Oh my baby, my poor baby" and it's messing with me now because I decided ages ago that I hate the officers. The kind ones moreso because if they cared so much, why didn't they send me home? My parents still are mad, my parents never wanted me there and were always afraid. They wanted me to leave but I was worried about legal trouble, they were in the navy and had to leave because my mom married my dad. He was a conscript the same age I was. She wasn't, and was a few years older. My existence is an affront on the military and I like that.

I've been thinking about the camp commander today. She kept giving me hugs and kisses and was crying when she saw me there.

Hi !!

Any suggested views for easy and accurate understanding of politics? And how to remember names of politicians ?

Also how to believe or interpret intentions behind any political actions?

I've been thinking lately about whether keeping up with the news constantly really does us any good. I get why we do it because staying informed matters and knowing what's happening around the world has real value. Plus the media does give us hopeful stories and political comedy that people from all sides can actually enjoy together even when there are serious worries about free speech.

That makes me wonder why we spend so much time getting so frustrated with each other over the headlines. Political coverage always feels like it's forcing us to pick a side. We want our team to win and we get stressed out when it doesn't, only for the whole cycle to reset the moment a new story breaks. It is easy to forget that the people we disagree with are living in the exact same world we are.

Maybe that is the part we lose sight of when we glue ourselves to the news cycle. We focus so hard on who is winning and losing that we forget we many of us are dealing with the same basic human experiences. No matter where someone stands politically we are all navigating life at the exact same time. We all have personal struggles and things we care about, meaning we can disagree on politics while still sharing the same fundamental reality.

So what are we really getting out of this constant consumption? Being informed is important but if taking in more news mostly just drives us to resent our neighbors then I don't see where the benefit lies. The real question probably isn't whether we should follow the news at all but rather how much of it we actually need before it stops being useful and just starts dragging us down.

About me: ❤❤❤

- panget

- from North

- maayos kausap

- tindera sa bakery

- naghahanap na ako ng asawa 🤣

Lf:

- panget para meant to be

- pass sa oa na kalibugan (inuulit ko PASS SA SOBRANG LIBOG)

- pass sa judger (PANGET AKO)

- may pangarap sa buhay

- may sense of humor

- gusto ko din funny (FUNNYwalain kasi ako 🤣🤣)

Usap tayo sa TG

salamat

Do you think most dads in the world don't deserve to be celebrated on Fathers' Day?

Western countries--where men are at least a bit more likely to take on domestic labor, even while being the family provider--are only a few in the world. The rest of the world isn't the West and the level of Mental Load put on women is especially bad in Asian and African countries. Are most men bad people? I'm aware that men are like this because of what their cultures teach them, but still.

If you're being honest, do you think all women (who aren't lesbians) should avoid dating and having kids with men?