Link love (Powered by fried chicken and trivia)

It was a bit of a ranty pants week here on the blog. In case you missed it, I covered arranged marriages and name changing (in both cases, the comment threads are great and most definitely worth reading – some have even helped me further clarify my views, which is always appreciated. Oh, and I managed to learn something about my own culture to boot).

Off the blog, my friends and I were trounced at a music pub quiz (they’re always skewed toward the oldies – who the heck are the Boomtown Rats and have you ever heard of them?!) on Monday; I watched the entire Godfather trilogy for the first time and dug it; and I’ve been trying out the ring I bought off Etsy for the wedding, on a finger that it does fit. Result: I no longer know if I even want a wedding ring. I do like this ring and think I’d like to keep it for special occasions but I don’t like that it’s double the size of my engagement ring (and thus feels unbalanced) and still needs sizing. I’ve yet to find anything else I remotely like, and I really don’t care enough about jewellery to spend any more time on this.

To the links!

I was in the carnival of personal finance this week and last week

I think this is fascinating: one writer on why she keeps a Single Girl’s Starter Kit around, and what that entails

I like Donna Freedman’s take on buying quality stuff: “buy once, cry once”

Jess Lively reminds us that copying someone else’s formula for success may not work for you.

A powerful and inspiring read from Stephany about changing her life story, and thus, trajectory

Little Miss Moneybags talks ‘leaning in’

Over at So Many Places, some hard talk on seeing – and dealing with – beggars. I know to expect to see some in KL, as I have on previous occasions there – but I imagine it will be much worse in other countries we visit, and I don’t know how well equipped I am to deal with that

Are things really more expensive today than they were for our parents? Funny About Money crunches the numbers

How people really get rich (vs how we think they do). Via American Debt Project

Fully behind Meg of LandingStanding; sometimes being able to say you’re pregnant would be a great reason to explain some of your preferences without being judged for them

Hope your Easter weekends are going swell! If you have a five day weekend, I’m jealous. With any luck, I’ll be going for a bush trek today and visiting a waterfall.