Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
Aida
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Annie
Lion King
Wicked
Watched a couple with my mum when I was young, and as I grew older, I brought my wife along as she hadn't been to any plays in her youth.
We went quite often. As in, whenever some of the more popular plays came along, we'd just go, even re-watching a couple of them a few times.
And we never watched from the far up seats. Typically, we get the $250 seats and above per person. It was definitely pricey, but we were enjoying it so "why not" right...
It was in the recent years that I felt that it was pretty much over done...
Yes, I think everyone should go for a play once or twice in their lives. It's an experience. Some like it more, some like it less, for others it becomes a hobby.
I discussed this with my wife when she wanted to watch Les Miserables with a couple of her friends. I had watched it 3 times and I wasn't willing to spend anymore money watching it again. So I told her to just watch with her friends since she hadn't watched it before.
But I also added that it was starting to get out of hand... cos during that period, every time a "famous" play came to Singapore, we would go and watch it. It was only a couple of months earlier that we watched Wicked and Annie.
It pretty much came down to...
"Hey, we're going almost every time some group comes to Singapore, and we're re-watching some of them already. Yes, I agree we should go to a few for the experience of it, and that's been done. We can't be going to EVERY play that comes to Singapore. Cos that's what we're currently doing. There are hundreds of plays. We can't be chasing them all."
So yep, we decided that Les Miserables was going to be her last one.
It's not that we don't like plays, but I think there's got to be a line drawn.
We like food, but that doesn't mean we should hunt down all the Michelin starred restaurants to experience them all.
Yes, I agree, it would be nice to try a few, 1 or 2, and that should be enough... for us at least. I think that's reasonable.
I thought about it, was that reasonable? Just cutting out all/most plays. It's likely that it's going to be once or twice a year only. What's a couple of hundred dollars?
So I was thinking about it... There's so many things to consume at so many different intervals.
Everything is also good to experience.
Some people may say, just let your wife go.
But that's the thing isn't it? If we go down this route, then there's consumables everywhere.
Once or twice a year, there's a play.
Once or twice a year, there's another Michelin starred restaurant.
3 - 4 times a year, we travel.
Once or twice a year, she may want to buy a new bag/wallet.
It's really easy to add another $1k - $2k per month due to this once or twice a year thinking.
There's an infinite number of things to consume. Services, food, products, whatever.
But resources are finite.
So in line with the values of this blog, we try to allocate the limited resources as best as we can. We put it to areas where it gets the most amount of value, value in terms of quality, happiness, whatever.
We like a constant flow of good food and we like travel.
So instead of 1-2 Michelin starred restaurants, we rather go to many good restaurants throughout the whole year.
And we take multiple trips throughout the whole year.
To us, it's just better use of resources.
I'm sure there will be people who think, your wife earns her own money, she gets to do whatever she wants with it.
So when I discuss with my wife and she accepts the logic and rationale, it doesn't mean that I'm imposing my values on her.
If we come down to it, if we can't discuss things, or somethings shouldn't need to be discussed, then what can or should be discussed?
If I can't discuss financial planning with my partner then...??? Huh??? Doesn't make sense.
Anyway, your choice on how you want to maintain the relationship with your partner.
Some people run their finances separately, that's fine, whatever floats their boat.
To me, after watching my parents and how they managed their finances, I found it better to keep communication channels open about how and where to allocate resources so that we can best optimize our overall happiness and at the same time plan for our future.
Of course different people have different life experiences. So maybe someone had an experience where they see one parent squander all the money of both parties when they combined their finances. So they would likely want to keep their finances with their spouse separate. So that's fine, whatever you like.
Well... that's about it for this post... we've trimmed off watching plays.
It's not that we don't enjoy it, we do. But it's a high expense for the happiness it brings.
As in, it's not a good deal to me... (read my post about happiness points) it's just about equal value.
I do think people should go and watch a play once in their lives, it's quite fun. Sit near the front, the experience is very different from the back.
If I had the opportunity to watch only one play in my life, I would have selected Les Miserables. The others were nice, but IF I needed to choose one, that would be it.
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