I'm a neighbourhood girl, don't give me an atas boy.

Today in the MRT, I suddenly thought about something that someone told me about sometime ago (years, maybe).

Although I understood perfectly what he was trying to explain at that time, it is only now that I truly comprehend what it meant.

I told him I couldn't understand how some girls can trade love for money, and he said that I will understand when I grow up and really step into the society, and live as part of it. He said I was too young, and that I haven't experienced enough, and thus cannot understand the difference between the happiness that love brings, and that money can offer.

We humans are greedy creatures, and by nature. And so, of course we will welcome positive changes & opportunities to upgrade. And once we've experienced how easy and carefree life can be, how respected and treasured our existence can be, we will inevitably be hesitant to accept otherwise.

If you've always been driven around in a nice car by a gentleman, who opens the (superlow) car door, to have high teas & dinners in expensive places, how willing is it for you to squeeze in a MRT with smelly & noisy people and travel for one hour to meet a guy to queue for dinner in Foodjunction?

Not very likely. It's easy to trade up, but nobody will want do a downgrade if given a choice.

In Singapore, stories of the rich & wealthy are so common. Friends who are envious of the opportunities, lifestyle and future that friends of friends have planned because their dads own some big company or hotel.

Of course I'm envious too, only of their easy lives.

That day after our meeting at IDA, while Sam & I were waiting for the valet to get his car, I suddenly thought of the days when I used to go out with guys who parked at valets and dined in hotels. I'm ashamed to say that I really enjoyed being pampered like that, and though those days are over long ago, I can still remember the proudness & importance I felt then. Like a damn peacock who shows off his colourful feathers at every opportunity.

And it's true that there is a difference between that kind of happiness & those that love can bring. So its not difficult to see why some girls are willing to trade one for the other, isn't it? It really depends on the kind of happiness you seek. One of simple individual joy, or one of society recognition?

And it is only now that I started working much harder than I used to, then I understood why I managed to steer back here. Because I have no respect for people who have never endured hardship, and so, I will never want to be with someone that belongs to that category. I would rather a guy who scrimps and saves up to buy me a small gift, than one who showers me with LVs & Guccis, because money come easy to them, there is no meaning, no sincerity in their extravagant gifts anymore, no?

Though I never really experienced the extremely luxurious, I'm glad I returned to where I belong. TF, home (read: HDB flat)-cooked food, & MRTs.

I'm a neighbourhood girl, don't give me an atas boy.