The word of the week is palpable.
July 3 – Better Thoughts
I've been thinking lately more about
budgeting, and possibilities.
That word is the key: possibility.
In previous entries, I mentioned that
there's a 'gap' that I'm trying to overcome in terms of my wages versus debts:
$10K more year and I would be slightly more than breaking even in terms of my
net take-home income versus monthly expenditures. Yet I've been so focused for
the last year on increasing my income that whenever I looked at my debt, I
would shut down mentally, seeing it as a burden that gets heavier every day. I
couldn't see any way to get out that didn't involve in me essentially throwing
up my hands and 'giving up' on repayment.
This last month, I've forced myself
to set that aside and think about it again.
If I want to get things rolling in
terms of repayment, I need to budget a total of $1500 a month to go towards
debts, which would result in 90% of my debts being repaid within two years.
That minimizes the amount of interest that will accrue( and I'm not even thinking
about what I've ALREADY paid over the years )which is incentive to
stick to the plan to see it to fruition.
I think that's reasonable, but I have
to get there sooner rather than later.
The important thing about running
these kinds of numbers is that you have to leave room for hope. For a long time
now, I've just been plugging away at what I can see in front of me, juggling
things so that I have never missed a payment and in doing so, giving up on any
long-term financial goals due to my current situation.
Raising my eyes from the ground, I can see
a way out, but it's all dependent on a decent income increase within the next 6
months. After that, the wave will catch me... and I'll have to let go of what
I'm clinging to in order to make it to shore.
July 4 – Follow Your Bliss
Life is what you make it.
It can be blissful or unbearable: the
choice is up to you and how you live your daily life, and none knew this better
than the remarkable John Joseph Campbell:
My takeaway from his words is that
happiness is a state of being we can all attain with effort, but few of us can maintain
it consciously every day. Living your life under a cloud will color
everything you see, so simply allowing the light to shine on your daily
activities will reflect back far more happiness than just hoping that the sun
will come out - it's an interesting distinction and one I'm working on myself.
Speaking of bliss, I mentioned last
week I found something at my parents place while searching through the
storage boxes for comics... it was this:
 |
| That's a BucConeer 1998 souvenier coin there too! |
Now, the story behind this was that
when I moved to BC nearly 10 years ago, some of the boxes from the move went
missing... conveniently including one with the new-ish camera. At the
time, I was unable to get anywhere with moving company and had to accept the
loss it as part of the price of moving. I also thought that the same box held
my cherished dice bag( above )containing all of the dice I've
ever used for decades for my RPG games. I'd held off buying any more dice
since, partly for the reason that I didn't want to replace these originals if
they were still around, and partly because I never got back into a regular
monthly RPG group( with a too-brief, wonderful exception a few years ago ). It was
obvious I was still holding out hope of finding the bag, and I was rewarded
this week for my patience!
The bag itself is unique, in
that I've never seen anything like it anywhere for sale, online or off: I found
it at BucConeer, the 56th world science fiction convention I attended in
Baltimore in 1998. The bag's skin resembles that of a Dragon, in that it has a
'pebbled' texture with the appearance of scales: I fell in love with it
instantly and it cost me a total of $15 USD at the time, a bargain!
I'm incredibly happy that I found it
underneath some larger books in a box full of Car Wars RPG supplements, so it
was completely invisible without the whole box being emptied. Which I thought I
had done when I was going through all my stuff after the first couple moves
around the city here years ago.
Joy and happiness!
July 5 – Living In Paradise
Ah, Victoria... you're so glorious!
The weather here is finally
stabilized and we're into the 'dry season' with little to no rain for the next
few months. The grass has turned Brown except where it's watered regularly( with
restrictions )and the temperatures have stabilized.
It's the perfect time to go and
explore Vancouver Island... Except I can't, because I have too much to do. But
I can still look and plan for next year:
July 6 – Phone Return = Good!
Looks like I made a good choice in
returning my recent LeEco phone.
I received notice a few weeks ago
that my phone had been received by Banggood in China, and just today I
received the bulk of the refund( less shipping fees, they're coming soon
)via PayPal. I'll be sure to deal with Banggood again, as there was absolutely zero
questioning of my return: it was quick and easy compared to that of many
people in the forums I've seen when dealing directly with China-based
companies, who tend to clam up when it comes to returning money for purchases.
Back to the phone: things aren't so great with LeEco lately.
If I had returned my phone, I
could've been stuck with a device that while technically sound, wouldn't have
received any kind of upgrades in the near future and more than likely any
warranty service would have been haphazard at best. I'm glad that I followed my
instincts and returned it as quickly as I did, despite the disappointment that
engendered in being stuck with my failing Oneplus One.
However all is not lost: I found a
new phone today on eBay - that I can afford!
Well, 'new' is a relative term: it's
a Samsung Galaxy S5, and I just paid far less for it than its initial $600
price tag when it first came out in 2014. While its specs aren't quite as good as my
OnePlus( only 2gb RAM vs 3 on the OPO )the screen is excellent and it
has a number of features that my OPO doesn't: a heartbeat monitor( which I
will use sparingly! )and a barometer, which is great as I plan to
monitor the daily weather in the service of migraine prevention. Here's the rundown:
This will give me a phone that I can
use for at least another year( or even two ) without issue in terms of
speed, and without my having to cave in to Telus to get a phone on
contract - never again!
Now I just have to find a
decent-and-cheap case for it... on eBay, of course!
July 7 – That's too early...
It seems I can't catch a break with
my physical health sometimes.
This morning, I awoke at 4am with
some awful stomach pains, similar to the random-but-nasty leg cramp last week
that snap me awake around the same time. It felt as though my entire abdomen
was burning and I had to spend the next hour hunched over a heating pad in
order to find any relief.
I didn't get back to sleep.
Looking things up after breakfast, I
narrowed it down to the Rectus Abdominis group, or as they are more commonly known, one's abdominal muscles, as the culprit. From what I can determine, my posture over
the last several months has been more 'forward' and hunched due to my new job
position, despite my efforts to ensure that I sit upright in my chair. The
sitting itself is also a factor, in that my stomach muscles have become
foreshortened even with my regular walkabouts every 20 minutes, the regularity
of which my coworkers have often commented on lately.
Tension, it seems, lives everywhere
in my body, and I'm having difficulty getting rid of it even with regular
stretching and walking daily. This never happened when I was riding my
bike to work, and so that's a goal of mine: to get back on my bike,
despite my fear of another hamstring-related failure...
Next up on my daily / weekly regimen:
adding some Tai Chi and breathing exercises. We'll see how that goes, and I'm
thinking of adding both acupuncture and massage therapy as I can find the funds
to afford either this summer.
July 8 - Pressure Release
In the morning today, I went to get a
massage - talk about good timing!
Serendipitously, this Thursday while
hosting one of my writing group's monthly meetings, one of the members picked
up on my brief aside that I was in some discomfort sitting at the table and
mentioned that she was a massage therapist. After the meeting, she sent me an
e-mail offering me a free trial session today, which I gratefully took her up
on as I've been putting off any such treatment due to a lack of funds.The fact
that my archaic work health coverage will only cover $10 per session for
massage( unbelievable! )was also a factor, so I didn't want to 'waste'
large amount of money on someone whose treatment might not have any major
effect.
I really should've just spent the
money, as the effect was indeed major!
During my treatment today, there was
a massive release of tension throughout my body: she said it was
directly related to my posture while sitting, as I had suspected, especially
around my hips. Afterwards, I felt like I was a dangling puppet in a jar, my
limbs were so much looser and I walked without more than a twinge or two
in my foot tendons for the first time in many months.
I'll be going back next week again,
as I certainly won't go back to feeling like a over-tensioned tennis racket
waiting to snap should I move the wrong way. Unfortunately, my abdominals are
still really tense and woke me up again last night , though this time it was
just on the manageable side of uncomfortable rather than agonizing, which was
an improvement.
Lesson learned: spend the money on
massage to avoid further pain and lifestyle fragmentation...
July 9 – A Poetic Day
I was a 'hunter' for a day today!
My girlfriend invited me out to join
her poetry group downtown, as we did a poetic scavenger hunt for a few hours
this afternoon. She provided us with a list of six route items to 'collect' /
experience, and we all went on our merry ways:
After an hour and a half, I made it
back to Sam's Deli, where I sat down and for the next 30 minutes worked on my
poem objectives. I ended up with five complete poems and five Haiku, which I
thought was a nice balance. After everyone else had arrived and had a little
bit more time to work, we went around the table sharing our creations in
general order and they were quite impressive! I received some excellent
feedback on my own works, of which I've selected one for your reading pleasure
below, complete with picture - enjoy!
I have to say it was a glorious week
and weekend weather-wise: sunny, with warm breezes and nary a hint of rain.
Which is par for the course for Vancouver island in the summer months: not too
hot, not too cold and just the right amount of humidity to be comfortable
without the problems at either end of the scale. It looks pretty good to me for
the next few weeks and I hope that August will also see us experience this
moderate forecast:
It's been a good week, even with the
waking-at-4am difficulties I've experienced. I'm hoping that the massage this
week and next will alleviate most of those issues along with stretching and
other exercises that I'm doing to bring my body back into a more balanced
state. Eating well, a positive mindset and my eye on the ball( writing / better
job / building my home business )this summer will see me make great
improvements in my life before the end of 2017.
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