em_c

Did you get an allowance as a kid, and if so, how much was it?

Nope. I could earn money for doing chores, but it was never a guaranteed tranche of money. And by chores I mean things like washing and hoovering the car, or heavy yard work, not cleaning my room or doing the laundry or dishes. Those were just expected.
How old were you when you had your first job, and what was it?

I was fifteen. I tutored a classmate in pre-calculus at community college where I took summer classes. She paid me $10 per session and would take us both for coffee afterward in her fabulous beat up orange Corvette. We were both so happy when we got our final grades and she went from getting a D to a B+. I often wonder what happened to her.
Which do you do better: save money or spend money?

Oh, spend it, for sure. If I'd been better at saving, I'd be in a much better financial position. But would I have had as much fun? I think not.
Are people more likely to borrow money from you, or are you more likely to borrow from them?

The former. I don't like borrowing money.
What's the most expensive thing you've ever bought?

A house.

I have worked hard over the years to get over my doomer self. I think that the systole and diastole of civilizations and cultures is a real thing. Simply put, "Laissez le bon temps rouler" isn't a way to run your life 24/7.

But you see, here in the West, we have come to the point where the party is over and the taps have run dry and it is time to go home, sleep it off, and go back to work tomorrow.

It isn't the end of the world. Your individual opinion of what we should be doing isn't particularly important to the folks running the show who have bet their already fractured reputations on the idea that the party can and will go on. These folks are in the process of losing their bet, but that process isn't one amenable to a news cycle, so be patient and watch whatever peculiar haruspicy works best for you to try to stay a little ahead of the curve.

Myself, my methods for adapting to the world and predicting what is heading our way involves reading headlines and maybe the first paragraph of things out there on the nascent nervious system of the world (the internet) and try to stop as soon as they stop reporting facts and start telling me what the facts mean.

This is, at very best, a stupid and low-accuracy means of getting into the bottom of things. But if I am careful, and watch things from 30,000 feet, I can sometimes see outlines that have a slightly better chance of occurrence than not paying attention. Right now these, at least to my readings, show that the downhill slope of this particular cycle is starting to steepen. It doesn't signify the end of the world, it just means that the party is over and it is time to go home.

I thought the picture below fit this piece very well.

[Two leaves.jpg]

jazzfish

From today's Ask A Manager update:

I am still job searching. It's extremely rough out there, and I have not been able to get very far in interviews for the same job I left at this company because I am so early career. I've been getting feedback from companies when they do not move forward with me that they just have more candidates with more experience, always.

Money is at least sorted for the short-term. Assuming I can in fact sell this place and find somewhere else to live, it's sorted medium-term as well. Beyond that, I refer you to John Maynard Keynes: "In the long run, we are all dead."

(Context makes that quote much more interesting than simple fatalism. Keynes was arguing with someone claiming that certain economic policies would make things worse in the short term but in the long run we'd all be much better off. Keynes believed strongly in fixing what we could now, an attitude I appreciate even when I have trouble implementing it. Can't have a better future if you can't get yourself into the future.)

Books on shelves, roof overhead, food in pantry, snoring cat. Breaking out the xmas stuff this weekend, I think. Could be worse.

degringolade

Today is a blessed intermission from the "atmospheric river" which has been dumping rain here in the upper left for the past three or four days. Temperature is mild (currently 62 F.) and quite breezy. The windows and door is open and I have the fan running in the back to see how many air exchanges I can achieve during this welcome intermission. Febreze is also being applied to freshen air that has been stagnant with "old man stink" during the deluge. So, in other words, life is good.

I just endured another birthday. Not that the getting old is bothering me, but I finally managed through blistering sarcasm and mockery to convince my children to no pay any attention to the date. I have had enough birthdays that celebrations are no longer required.

Birthdays should be celebrated for children. My grand-daughters birthday is treated much in the same way as Mardi Gras. I am happy with this. But the trouble is that folks who emphasize birthdays and the resultant gift receipts are probably just fishing to make sure that they stay on the gravy train of attention and gifts.

Nope, it is my feeling that birthdays get dealt with the same way as christmas. There isn't a Santa Claus or Birthday fairy. At age eleven you get a cake and a present and you deal. Stretching it beyond that is plain foolish.

[78611d4e-5af9-4354-a094-74e753818a57_684x756.jpg]

degringolade

I have been stuck at home for a couple of days now. The current buzzword for "lots of rain" in the Pacific Northwest is "atmospheric river". It has been dumping rain here. I suppose that if I were a real Pacific Northwesterner, I would "damn the torpedoes" and don layers of raingear and savor those rainy moments.

Fuck that!

So I am inside more than is my preference. So lets talk about isolation in the modern world.

At my age, isolation is not the huge deal that it was in my salad days. Truth be told, isolation is preferred about ninety percent of the time. So there is an approximate 2 hour window every day where I do enjoy human interaction. It doesn't have to be much, a phone call or a greeting during a walk or a conversation with a neighbor while getting the mail does me just fine. But serious rain does limit the opportunities for these interactions.

I still kind of wonder about the place of conversations in settings like the one we are reading. I am enough of a geezer to remember sending and receiving physical mail and how important that was in maintaining connection. In the infantry, "mail call" was an important time and letters were cherished (or feared, depending on the correspondent). But they were always an important tie to the outside.

I was (am?) a science fiction junkie. But the sheer number of wannabe science fiction writers. I have been pondering an old Isaac Asimov tale "The Naked Sun". How much of the semi-isolation of communication via the internet is "good" for a person? This simple question then expands into something that was brought to my attention: What are the implications of folks using what is laughably referred to as "artificial intelligence" as a cope for lack of interpersonal communication?

Big can of worms there, I think that it might even require a formal sit down and ponder month.

jazzfish

The Cinematheque is doing a Hong Kong New Wave action series, which means I finally get to see a bunch of movies I've heard about for ages.

( City On Fire )

( Peking Opera Blues )

( The Killer )

degringolade

Sorry that I haven't been posting lately. It is just I got nothing to say while waiting for shoes to drop.

nanila

If you had to participate in one Olympic event, what would it be and why?

Curling. It looks delightful. And there's no way I'm running long distances, contorting myself into weird shapes, flinging heavy things, or hurling myself off high platforms.
What is the one song you always sing along to?

Just one? There are loads. I have no shame. The ones I belt out loudest are Evanescence “Bring Me To Life”, Joan Jett's “I Love Rock n Roll”, and Guns n Roses “Paradise City”.
Do you wear a seatbelt in the car?

I'm sorry, what?! Apart from this being the law, I don't want to die or suffer horrific disfigurement from being in an accident, the chances of which wearing a seat belt has been exhaustively demonstrated to reduce.

So yes, I do wear a seat belt in the car. Always.
Car, SUV or truck and why?

I favour a car. Preferably something small and fast. I like being able to accelerate quickly, and the less time I have to spend getting from A to B, the better. Much as I enjoy going fast, I also find long drives really damn boring.
Are you a good/bad driver? Explain.

I think I'm okay. I had to pass the UK driving test, which is legendarily difficult, and it definitely made me a better driver. I'm careful about keeping my distance and I always make sure I'm well rested when I get behind the wheel.

jazzfish

Took Mr Tuppert in to the vet today for his annual vaccines. Apparently when you get a rabies shot they give you a cute lil tag. I may put that on his collar, Just In Case. The odds of him getting out are basically nil but why take chances.

He's got a heart murmur, but it looks like that came up last time, and it's not gotten any worse, so that's just a Thing That Exists. Between that, the one tooth that the vet's been warning me about since he arrived, and what might be early-stage arthritis, this is a cat that is made of Problems (But Not Yet). I'm okay with that. Chaos started showing wear at about this point (thirteen-ish) as well, and he got another four years after that.

I did have a moment of "oh no" when the vet-tech took him to the back for shots and blood-drawing. Nothing real or serious, just the sudden realisation that I'm not nearly ready for him to go away, to be taken into a room by a kind and gentle tech and not come back out again. Of course I'll be there when it happens, this time, but still.

When we got home I gave him a little bit of tunafish, and filled up his treat-puzzle with treats. I don't think he's gotten -all- of them yet but he certainly spent some good time snuffling and crunching. Currently he is sacked out on the bed Recovering. Seems fair.

sister_raphael

I've been so busy! I have anew (second hand free) laptop which has now become my social media one, so I can keep all that kind of thing away from my publishing, writing and online banking. It's been a bit of a job to sort out what files go on which computer, but it's done now.

I've had family come to stay for a short visit and I'm still in the middle of the mother of all spring cleans which is getting rid of a lot of craft things- donated to friends who can use them right now to make and sell things for Xmas.

Anyway, once I figure out how to un-disable the usb ports, I'll be able to get photos from my phone for uploading to social media, including here.

Stay tuned.

degringolade

In the morning following my wake up and my body slowly and a little painfully getting up to speed (and that speed is slow) my process consists of drinking coffee and trying to kick-start my cranial neurons. While the caffeine is taking effect, I usually peruse what is referred to as "the news".

Today was no different. But for some odd reason, a not particularly good song from the '80's wandered unwelcome into my brain while I was perusing the antics that constitute "the news". I think that this trite little title is the core of the matter. While everyone does, they usually want change in order to cement what they feel is their rightful privilege. You see, that is the root cause of the problem.

I am going to ponder this for a bit. In the end, it all comes down to what you feel is the critical core of human society. I tend to think that the vast majority of folks out there feel their individual needs are that core.

[last bit of fall.jpg]

thornsilver

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

nanila

Watch on YouTube

Apparently I went for a lot of canal walks this month. This was partly because both children were off school for multiple days with a high fever, and I worked from home far more than I’d planned. There are even more cats than usual, too, because I made a lot of new, temporary moggie friends in Cyprus.

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