You happy?
- I’m happy
- I’m not happy
- Ups and downs
- Could be worse
0 voters
Are you happy?
Just wondering.
Tinman
Like a pig in shit.
Why your poll doesn’t have “Very Happy”?
I am very happy here and when a time comes when I won’t feel good or happy I’ll move on to somewhere else.
So far, i love the place, been here 13 years, many great things have happened here for me. Taiwan has and is being good to me. 
I went to “The World Candy Festival” in Tai-Nan county today. I was with my gf’s niece and two other little kids (Two 7 year olds and one 3 year old. The 3 year old is like the cutest thing I have ever seen).
That made me happy. Kids + Candy = Loads of fun.
I also spent NT1500 on candy and have had up’s and downs about that one.
Happier than I’ve ever been. Why do you ask?
What is the #1 reason why most immigrants immigrate to most foreign countries.
Hint: It ain’t “happiness”, whatever that elusive adjective means.
I’m not happy, but it’s not Taiwan,it’s me. Even if I were to go to Eutopia, I would still be unhappy. Something within me has to change before I’m happy.
Bullshit on that “something within has to change to make me happy”. All of my problems are external and can be easily solved if someone gives me stuff. To wit:
- Lots of money
- a beautiful girlfriend(s) slavishly devoted to me who willingly gives me lots of great sex, 2 or 3 times a day
- …uh, lots of other stuff, too, but if I have enough money, there’s no objects that make me happy that I can’t buy
Yeah, maybe if I were truly enlightened like Buddha or Christ I wouldn’t have to spend 1500 bucks on candy to make myself happy, I’d be happy rolling around naked with no possessions in shit like a brainless pig. But I’m a greedy human and I want stuff.
“In this country, this is the way it is. First, you get the money. Then, you get the power. And then…you get the woman.”
Posession is not what makes one happy. You can have all the money in the world, a gorgeous house and car, a beautiful woman who does whatever you want whenever you want and still be unhappy.
What makes you truly happy is what you are and what you do, not what you have. IMHO of course. 
Got more money than I’ve ever had working here. Girls seem to think I’m handsome and I can get a date everyday if that’s what I wanted.
Girls and money…It’s not enough.
Tinman
I am less happy in Taiwan today than yesterday cause sun ain’t shining now.
I wil be happy with the next typhoon-off day, taking some time to read some books with a torch.
I am unhappy because the lunch box sucked today. I am happy because some things can not be worse than now.
Ups and downs . ups and downs …and Taiwan only confirms more the height or the deepness of these feelings.
It’ ain’t Taiwan who is making the difference, it is oursleves no?
I have my ups and downs here. There are good points to Taiwan : lower cost of living compared with Europe, good food, some beautiful scenery (mostly outside the cities) and the fact that it is much easier to get to other Asian countries from here than it would be from Europe.
However, there are also the downs : the complex and highly irritating visa system (I’m tired of doing visa runs every 2 months :fume:), constant red-tape, the general cluelessness of most service personnel and the fact that I put my career on hold to come here with my partner, although I would miss him too much if I’d stayed behind. I also had to have an operation while I’ve been here, which has probably soured things a little…thankfully the hospital I used was very good despite not being one ‘Westerners’ would consider using!
Ups & Downs. I’d probably have the same answer for anyplace on earth and if I was still a working stiff. Most place are the same in one subjective matter: in each place you must give and take. Maybe you have more of one thing in one place, which conversely means you would have less of another.
In Taiwan it’s: Low Taxes, people generally mind their own business, good and accesible food, my family, TheGingerCave, mostly agreeable weather, cheap yet decent healthcare, Hakka small “c” capitalists, and a few good friends.
And we all know what’s bad about this place, so I won’t rehash it again. 
I could be very happy here. In fact a lot of the time I am quite happy but after 6 years I’m very close to pulling the plug. It’s the job (teaching) that get’s me down. When I first came to Taiwan I had a bit of a work ethic which has all but disintegrated. Now it’s mostly a matter of taking the money and running.
The people I work for, and some of them are genuinely nice people are selling a pretty crap product a lot of the time. Some are money grubbing arseholes who don’t give a shit about anyone and just want a white face in the classroom.
Eucation is an afterthought in this country. As I said I could be very happy here but I don’t want any further part in this industry
Majority is happy…Then say hi and try smiling next time I see you on the street…
T
double post
[quote=“mod lang”][quote=“WeiLong”]I could be very happy here. In fact a lot of the time I am quite happy but after 6 years I’m very close to pulling the plug. It’s the job (teaching) that get’s me down. When I first came to Taiwan I had a bit of a work ethic which has all but disintegrated. Now it’s mostly a matter of taking the money and running.
The people I work for, and some of them are genuinely nice people are selling a pretty crap product a lot of the time. Some are money grubbing arseholes who don’t give a shit about anyone and just want a white face in the classroom.
Eucation is an afterthought in this country. As I said I could be very happy here but I don’t want any further part in this industry[/quote]
[/quote]
Nearly 20 years of schoolin’ to teach Taiwanese kids the hokey pokey…
[quote=“Tinman”]Got more money than I’ve ever had working here. Girls seem to think I’m handsome and I can get a date everyday if that’s what I wanted.
Girls and money…It’s not enough.
Tinman[/quote]
Interesting article on the relationship between money and happiness here:
moneycentral.msn.com/content/inv … 144928.asp
Some quotes:
[quote=“quote”]Turns out money really can’t make you happy – though the rich, as a group, are definitely happier.
Perhaps each society’s richer people are also happier because happiness comes not from absolute wealth but from relative wealth – recall H.L. Mencken’s quip that “a wealthy man is one who earns $100 a year more than his wife’s sister’s husband.”
“Think about what you have rather than what you don’t have, both materially and in your relationships and your personal strengths. To use the language of economics, don’t try to rectify things that aren’t your comparative advantage.”
Much of the advice is pretty slippery. For instance, married people are much happier than single people. So perhaps you should get married?
Not so fast. More-sophisticated surveys show that the causation runs both ways: Happy people tend to find spouses, while those suffering from depression don’t find it so easy.
Oswald also suggests self-employment, if you can pull it off without losing out financially. "Everything associated with self-employment – independence, autonomy – is also associated with being happy." [/quote]
I totally agree with the last graph. Self employment, however, can also mean working on something creative–writing, photography, painting, sculpting, carpentry, studying Chinese or whatever it is that makes you want to jump out of a warm bed on a cold morning. (my $2 NT)
I am happy in that I am not over-happy. On fortune’s cap, I am not the very button.
Nor the soles of her shoes, neither.
[quote=“Wookiee”]
I totally agree with the last graph. Self employment, however, can also mean working on something creative–writing, photography, painting, sculpting, carpentry, studying Chinese or whatever it is that makes you want to jump out of a warm bed on a cold morning. (my $2 NT)[/quote]Cold morning, warm bed…Two things that do not go well with the sound of an alarm clock.
[quote]For instance, married people are much happier than single people. So perhaps you should get married? [/quote] Putting a bit of pressure on a relationship, “get married you’ll be happy.” How about happy first then marriage? Better foundation to a happy union I’d say.
T.