R$ vs £ - Greed or need?

Well, those who know me reasonable well knows I have quite the utopic view about capitalism. I truly believe capitalism the worse necessary evil we have to live with, for several reasons.
One of the things I don't really understand is how countries who are supposed to be poor (or "developing" - to use the politically correct term) can afford to sustain high enormous prices on products which can be found so much cheaper in other countries.
I do know about taxes, and everyone has to make a profit to survive (bing! There you go capitalism being evil!) but I do wonder if the HUGE difference in prices are mostly greed and the certainty people will pay whatever is asked for it, to either:
1. sustain a status of "look, I worked hard, I can spend sh1tloads of money buying this, you can't"
2. simply out of necessity
3. just liking the item and have no option but to buy it even at higher exorbitant value.

Now nothing wrong with the second reason, if you need something, and there is no way out of it than what can you do really? What annoys me with capitalism is the 1. and 2. points, where you could easily live with another cheaper option, simply not to buy whatever is being exploited from you, and force the prices down.
In my view, it is as easy as that. But maybe I am wrong?In here we have the example of Jaguar, which went bankrupt because people would not buy their cars anymore on the prices they were charging. It is sad to see a national industry go away, but have them lowered their prices I am sure they would have survived. See prices for houses, cars, mobile phones, anything here don't survive too long a surge on prices because people stop buying.Of course I am using Brazil as my criticism view, unfortunately a bad one this time.But coming from there and having this outlook on people

I was raised seeing people getting suffocated by debits. On credit card, on financing in 817373 instalments payments to have things they don't really need, they just want. To keep up with their friends, put up a front and try to live a life beyond their means, and it is a circle vice, and when you least expect everyone is caught on it. Sad affair.Thanks to mum and dad, I got the right hang of it. Bought my cars always with prompt payment. Never spend more than I make. First thing I do when I get my salary is to put a big chunk of it aside on my savings. Never buy more than I need. Maybe that's why I can't understand how this industry is still fed by people buying these things and throwing money at something so replaceable.


Fiat 500
Price in Brazil - from £21834.00 (R$ 61.900.00)
Price in U.K. from £9100.00 (R$ 25782.00)


Ac Dc gig
Price in Brazil - from £53.00-£106.00 (R$150.00-R$300.00)
Price in UK - from £45.00 (R$ 127.00)


IPhone
Price in Brazil - from £670.00 (R$1899.00)
Price in UK - from £342.00 (R$ 968.00)

**Currency converter

Now, I can't leave this post without saying how bad the Fruit/Veg prices are here compared to Brazil where they are sold at ridiculous low prices. I was going to include how cheaper the Avocato, Apple, Lettuce were in Brazil, but boy how wrong was I? They are cheaper here now! Ok, they don't taste the same (they are frozen to survive the trip and then thawed again for sale) but I was soo surprised to see the prices we are paying for food in Brazil now! Maybe it is a great sign people are earning more and affording to have more... Mmm, food for thought... - no punt intended ;)

Things one should think more about - I

Something I read on Ms. C blog got me thinking...

Things one should think about improving to make one's life better.

Pack healthy snacks to eat along the day !check! I am known for doing so and my friends are always snacking off my stock too,lol. I Hate feeling hungry because I believe this kills your muscle tissue which means more fat in your body so I avoid it at all costs! But yeah, sometimes I do forget to pack it....
After 30's you kinda need to think a bit about these things - without being too paranoid !check! Don't know about the not being paranoid bit, but yeah, its weird like after 30 (even if just a few months after, I may add) I naturally think more about it, like you start to know you're not in this life forever and you need to make an effort to make most of it.
Smile and laugh more !check! I laugh at everything. And smile too. I am soo easy! And silly.
Drink a lot of water !check! I drink tons of water already. I also use the excuse to get a break and stretch my legs to get water. I was never a fan of fizzy pop and juice is only nice for me with food. I think I should thank my parents and my schools to make sure I was always into water and juice/fizzy pop were only for special occasions :)
Keep your back straight x Need to work more on this one. Posture was always a problem for me, the only time I can remember having a great posture is when I did swimming lessons. Shame here they don't have it as the same package as the membership. But will try yoga or just being more conscious about it.
Be less online and more live action !check! I think I've been pretty good with this one since last year! I rarely refuse an invite to meet up and come up with ideas as well... Sometimes I try to make "online friendships" to become "real" ones, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working, unfortunately. So now I do my best, I offer my phone and my time. If they want to take it good, if not, what more can one do, really? I am just content I got to keep the online thingy going on as well :)
Drink less alcohol !check! I've been cutting my alcohol intake a lot. I never drunk a lot per se, but during the last year I was having at least a glass on Fridays, but it turned into two and then you don't want to leave half a bottle there... So I stopped it. I have it small bottles (they sell tiny ones here which comes with 2 glasses worth of wine) when I feel like it, or will drink some when with friends and not driving...
Pay attention to things around you !check! Hehehe, that's something I am always doing as well. I guess as I am working from home now is a bit more difficult but even driving around, or just watching TV or surfing the net I am always trying to catch new things in the air and notice people, things around me. They intrigue me, I always catch myself thinking about their past, what brought them there.
Take more photos. Write more. Life is too busy to expect our poor
little brain to remember everything. !check! Could not agree more. I am always a great fan of pictures and videos and anything that helps our poor memory/attention spam.
Sing !check! I am always singing, humming. So yeah, check that too.

Adding a few of my own:
* Forgive - Life is too short for begrudges.
* Give up - Nothing wrong with failure, it's only a sign you've tried. If you know you've tried your best, don't waste more energy than is needed and move on. Life will sort things out.
* Dance - is there a better way to just let your body go as it wishes? (Ok there is, but preferably in public dancing is still a better choice of not getting arrested.)
* Make jokes - You never know when people will find it funny (or that is so bad is good ) and is a great feeling to make someone laugh or just smile :)
* Compliment people - Forget about weakness, let's try some strong point for a change and it is bound to go back to you, even when you don't want to.
* Pay attention to the sky. It gets you thinking beautiful things, even when is gray and dark. You know one day the clouds will go and all will be fine again. Inevitably.
* Say what you think - but without being rude, just strong. Life is short to live one that is not your own.
* Mean what you say. Always.
* Look on the bright side of life. Pollyana style all the way for me.

"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." (James Joyce)

A conversation last week made a light go in my head on how is important or indeed possible for us to learn from our mistakes.
Hearing someone actually telling me how they would never learn from their mistakes was a bit of a shock, but provoked a sea wave in my mind.
Maybe is just me, but I believe learning from our mistakes is the path to avoid things we know made us unhappy, angry, frustrated, ill, everything that made us suffer in the past. And this way, we would then make sure to act towards a better, happier, brighter present, and consequently future, too. And how consciously decide to ignore mistakes you've made before? Or is it done unconsciously?
I could be wrong and no matter how hard we try we will always make mistakes, the same ones over and over again because that's what we are, and that how we live, but I'd like to think we are better than that, and more intelligent, if so only to fool ourselves thinking we are doing our best to grow up, to change, to adjust, to learn.
So yeah, I will do my best to remain alert.
Keep trying not commit the same errors without loosing who I am.
Be less paranoid, not letting myself go, not take things so personally, be less jealous, express my opinions and desires more out-loud but without being in-your-face.
Just a few of a big list I have, but hard things to do. "Old habits die hard" but I hope they die, sooner or later :)


"Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from." - Al Franken

A little less conversation, a little more action please.

One of the things I can't get over with the new job is the huge unmeasurable amount of talking that is done. And most of the time is for nothing.
They have conferece calls for absolutely everything. Some days there are two conference calls to talk about the same thing!! (literally to repeat it to different people)
It drives me nuts how these are not productive at all, and the time wasted could've been used doing what they talk so much about doing.
Don't get me wrong, this is a big company spread all over the world and we need the meetings to know what everyone is doing, but I do believe it goes over the top most of the time.
My boss is constantly on meeting, which a few minutes between them to actually do his work! He ends up staying up until 11:00 PM at least every night to take care of e-mails and do any work he has to do.
Sometimes I wonder if they do it on purpose. It is always easier to escape to a meeting instead of doing what you have to do.
My approach,I find, is much better. Twitter, blogs and MSN messenger can always fill my day. I'll do my work on the spare time.
You'd think they'd know I don't work that hard, but they always love my results, and think I am wonderful! =)
So my theory of having fun while working, may just be what everyone needs to deliver!

“the end is not as fun as the start”

Just when I thought everything was going smoothly, something had to happen to shake everything again…!

U2 wisely sang “the end is not as fun as the start” and now I appreciate how great those words are.
Why does the end have to be so bitter, so difficult, and so hard to make a decision on?
In my utopia world, the end would be just as sweet as the start, you follow your guts and when you realize, you are already in it.
It wouldn’t have fights nor include hurting each other or being spiteful.
The promises of a new start would always be around the corner along with the excitement and the certainty everything would be ok again.

But I have to also point out I believe the reason for endings to be so sad and hard is so we mortals understand we’ve got to move on.
By endings being as painful as possible, it makes us want to get rid of the plague once and for all.
If it was good maybe we would be tempted to start all over again so we could have the ending bit.
Or we would always think is worth to try a bit more, try a little bit more to keep things going without actually putting a full stop on the situation…

Maybe some people make it difficult to avoid the fact that the best thing in their lives is gone.
And forcing them ro be nasty paints it in a bad and ugly light makes easier to walk away from it.

But I feel I am different…
Having two crucial endings happening in my life, I still feel I need to finish both in good terms. I just can’t imagine being the mean one starting and picking up a fight, even more because I am hardly the one who caused the ending in the first place.

Maybe the fact that part of my utopia is happening in real world, where I have two wonderful bright starts to look forward to makes me less needy for those bitterness.
And hopefully these starts will take a looong time to reach an ending, if ever.