loveintheicee-blog

[casbitchh]

not to brag but i just got an update on my retirement fund that if i retire at 68 i’ll have $10 a week until i die at 90 😎

[kremlin]

@wikwalker hi sure yes anything to give me an excuse to procrastinate the post i should be writing right now. here are all teh drugs and how to manage them. you can trust me, a drug addict

first of all: https://www.erowid.org/ , erowid always

don't be afraid of drugs, if they're the right drugs, you should do them since they will be a blast regardless and overcoming fear is also good (but outside the scope here)

OK to do as much as you want: alcohol - social benefit greatly outweighs health effects, no reason to avoid if predisposed to abuse since that'll happen sooner or later. what can i say? don't be a fucking dork. when you start drinking, really overdo it as much as possible without dying and get a few real nasty hangovers under your belt so you know how much is the right amount to drink.

weed - innocuous enough to be fine but will make you stupid in the long term. make sure to only buy from a real drug dealer and never some legal institution. cut it out when you're a "real adult". don't smoke weed and watch TV routinely, go out and do things so you naturally grow to hate it. good to go through this as early as possible to minimize the time you spend as a cringe weed enthusiast

i guess those are the only two.

ok to do infrequently (annually): "lsd" - or whatever it is, probably not lsd, blah blah blah, if it works and is sold on blotter its fine and won't make you go nuts or whatever. opt for a better psychadelic imo. see psych rule at bottom of section

mushrooms - better than acid since you know what they are. rule of thumb is to always do more than you think you want. minimum 1/8oz. see psych rule at bottom of post

dmt - if you somehow have a dmt hookup you don't need to be reading any of this. lasts 10 minutes which leads to tendency to way overdo it, don't do this, my favorite webcomic artist is permanently crazy from exactly that. using a crack pipe is also not the uhhhh most dignifying-feeling thing to do either. it's harder than you think.

mdma - for use at electronic music event or rave. overuse causes brain lesions or something.

coke - wait until you're in your 20s, have maxed out your roth IRA for a couple of years in a row, and havent missed a car payment in a similar timeframe. better still if you've worked a very shitty low paying job and know the value of a dollar. if you still find yourself buying candy you're not ready. too expensive to be worth it to get hooked on. know that you are VERY ANNOYING to anyone who also isn't high. don't fuck around with the guy selling it to you. avoid discussing or thinking about business ideas. you can't afford to make it a habit + kinda turns you into a piece of shit after a while, but at least a very interesting one

ketamine - another sick drug that rules, but save it for a special occasion. don't try and go into the k-hole your first time

rule for psychedelics - you get one good strong trip a year and that's it, make it count, always opt for doing a bit more than a bit less. but don't make it a habit, otherwise you turn into a very stupid very annoying "hippy" style cliché and believe in ghosts, aliens, crap like that.

ok to try once prescription opiates/benzodiazepine (xanax), valium, this kind of shit - worth trying so you can go "holy shit, this stuff is way way way too good to ever use responsibly" and then never do again. especially if you're white. for some reason we just can't handle this shit. if a doctor prescribes it to you, idk, that's your call to make.

ayhuasca - this is just dmt in a different form. do some other psychadelics a number of times before you do this. once you realize the whole "substantial visual hallucinations" thing is made up, its time. do exactly this: -buy root online (legal). receive box of dirt -boil dirt into "tea" (read erowid for exact recipe) -take over-the-counter anti nausea medicine or anything that will give you a stronger stomach -drink tea (its nasty as fuck, get it down quick) -have someone bigger than you keep an eye on you for the next five hours. -have the experience, which is absurdly intense, has no bearing to the real world, etc etc. don't be a bitch and throw up, if you do it'll only last an hour or so. again there is no way to provide a consistent description of the experience except that you will meet god. you only ever need to do this once and never again. trust me

peyote/salvia/etc - try em if you want, you'll never ever want to again afterwords. these are drugs for idiot teenagers too lame to get real drugs. imagine being very very sick from poison and utterly terrified at the same time. No good

whippets/nitrous oxide - just find a dentist that uses it and don't bother creating hundreds of pounds of trash on your floor for this crap that lasts ten seconds. you have to understand the extremely short timeframe coupled with the cost makes zero sense. go to a phish concert parking lot and do some people watching -- you do not want to be these people. only use is as a motivator to get routine dental exam. also if you somehow manage to make it a heavy habit your fucking legs stop working, no shit, but they start working again once you quit.

don't ever do heroin/meth/pcp - is is truly a mystery why you should never do these 🙄

synthetic weed/k2/shit from the gas station - it is so funny that they sell this as "weed that won't pop you on a drug test". its not weed. it is some dubious chemical sprayed on yard waste. smoke it to have a terrible time and go nuts. only buy drugs from legitimate drug dealers!

kratom - anyone's guess as to why this is legal but it's heroin for pussies. its still heroin

dxm/cough syrup - do you ever wonder why it is exclusively teenagers robotripping? it's because it sucks ass. is like a cheesegrater on your brain in terms of health effects with repeated usage. you're better than this king

inhalants - these are at the bottom of the list for a reason. do not huff gas. don't huff paint. do not consume computer duster. not fun + fastest way to make yourself a complete, uh, (word i can't say anymore) and then dead

not listed quaaludes- unavailable due to no longer being manufactured. these ruled apparantly

sincis2c - unavailable due to not existing, i just made this up

amphetamines - cannot provide objective take here. they're my albatross, lifelong (posted 4:55am natch)

[centrally-unplanned]

People think we are in a recession because nothing is affordable right now and wages have been stagnant for decades. Why should give a shit about the stock market? Its a bunch of made up shit so rich people can make money for free.

Rent is 1700 a month, eggs are 8 a dozen, and medical care is unattainable. Please start living in material reality instead of the moneyrealm that stock brokers and econ students delude themselves into believing in

I already have discussed this to death so I won't give a full rebuttal, but its all wrong. Wages (in the US, this was about a poll of Americans) adjusted for inflation are higher than ever, eggs are about the same price they have ever been, 60% of Americans own stock, half of Americans have things like Roth IRAs which are again stock.

Rent is a problem, that is one of the real ones - its regional, median rent-to-wage ratios are stable but in big cities its definitely worse. If your complaint is about rent just talk about rent, don't make up egg shit.

I do assume you were trolling but I will do my best to be charitable on this. The reason you know American's financial situation is fine is because you can just ask them, and they say they are as fine as they were in 2019 or w/e. Then you ask them about "the national economy" and that distant ghost figure all sucks apparently. Its vibes.

[teamfreewill2pointo]

I’m curious as to what you think Jensen and Jared and Misha’s net worth is? None of them have changed online for a decade? Kinda weird.

There's no way to know and those online guesses are not accurate at all.

I started putting money into a Roth IRA account much earlier than my partner because I started working earlier than my partner and was better about investing for retirement. Anyone just looking at the raw numbers based on salary would assume I have more than my partner, but he invested his entire Roth IRA in Nvidia, then pulled out when it was high, so he turned $X into $12X.

He now has 3 times the amount of money in his IRA compared to me, even though I held a higher salary for longer and started working earlier.

Salary is not the same as net worth, especially in the entertainment industry, where actors frequently accept lower salaries in exchange for a percentage of money earned by the media.

We have no idea how much they've inherited, how much they've invested, and we don't know where they've invested or when they started investing. Gen and Danneel both come from wealth and wealth begets wealth, so it's likely that the Padackles have more than Misha, but if Misha was able to invest in some wild cards, he could have more.

Jared's father is an accountant and another part of wealth accumulating is knowing the system. It's not just about how much you earn, but also how much you keep.

Jared uses another accountant for his money management, and considering all the con stories he has about his accountant, there's a pretty good chance that he's working really closely & regularly to maximize the money that he has, so I think he has a lot more money than what those articles believe.

[delightfulwombatyouth]

Thank god it's Thursday (I have Friday off)

Got paid. 80-90% of my paycheck and my next paycheck will be thrown at my CC debt but after that it should be fine in that it will be less than half a paycheck (assuming no big bills).

I want to get back to where I was in the middle of lent. No drinking, no smoking, get off coffee again - I think the extra cortisol is just stressing me out more than I already am with little benefit.

I have worn so many hats this week. Sys admin with backup and restoring stuff, general IT with fixing our phones, took a phone call to talk to a customer about a new project they want (they liked the work I did for their coworker), database administrator stuff regarding ETL stuff and then general UI/scripting issue help with other people's projects. Today I should be pretty free to just focus on only 2 different projects which is nice.

Will be making my first ROTH IRA contribution today and some more into my dividend/investments. Think I'll be over $10 a month in dividends now, easy street here I come! Lol

[emi1y]

💸💸💸

feeling like an adult bc i finally understand what im doing with money and what works well for me. paying all my bills/ insurance/loans with a credit card set to auto pay so i don't miss payments but don't overdraft my bank accidentally (from experience). paying my credit card balance in its entirety every paycheck instead of waiting until its due each month so i can keep a better eye on it and so i don't reach the end of a month with a bill larger than i can afford. afterwards putting as much as i feasibly can into a savings at a completely different bank so that when i check my main account i don't see how much i have saved and don't think of it as usable money. keeping my checking acct as low as i can to minimize how much i spend because i think i have no money. i've been researching stocks and funds and all that grown up stuff for a while and i think by this summer i'll be able to start investing in umm a fund or whatever you want to call it to save for a down payment on a house five years down the line. when i move in april and have cheaper rent i'm going to start putting the difference into a roth ira bc my company doesn't match retirement plans. then in june it will be my 1 year mark at my company and i'm going to ask about a raise so i've been documenting my work and the new skills i'm being trained on so i have a solid stack of evidence with me. anyway the wildest part of all of this really is just the fact that for the first time ever i'm able to visualize a life 10 years from now. it's not just a gray nebulous void. i have tangible goals and i can see the path it's going to take to get there and I'm excited to be working towards them even though it means not seeing the rewards for years and years and years.

[twilightakiishi]

hi venus ^o^ 8, 12, and 38 for the ask game pretty pls <33

hi hana :3 ty for the ask!!

8. any reoccuring dreams?

OMFG YES! YALL not recently but in highschool i dated this guy for a short while…just a few weeks. and the entire time, i had this dream several times a week that seemed to continue longer every time i had it, but basically, he would invite me to his house, and when i would reach the front step, the door opened with a creak and no one behind it. it was dark, and there was a really long staircase right in the entryway with a muddy greenish light emanating from the door at the top of the steps. i’d walk up the stairs, and the closer i got to the top, the more it STUNK. like….rotting meat and must. and when i entered his bedroom, there were organs strung above his bed with fishing wire, just dangling above it. stomach, liver, tongue, lungs, all of that. and it smelled horrendous. and then the door would slam behind me. when i broke it off with him, i never had the dream again…….literally fucking insane 😭

12. what’s some good advice you want to share?

this is a good question...I have a few small tidbits!

the two things i practice the most that make me the happiest version of myself are mindfulness and gratitude. taking a moment out of my day to really savor the taste of the food i'm eating, listening to the sounds of birds chirping or wind blowing when I walk to my car in the morning, focusing on the sensation of soft blankets when I get into bed...it takes a lot to be present, but it'll help slow your life down in a good way. stop and smell the roses, like actually!

gratitude can be daunting, if you feel like there isn't a lot to be grateful for. but practicing gratitude for even the smallest things will make you happier! it's as simple as acknowledging in your head, "wow, I'm glad I own this pair of shoes. I like them. wow, I haven't had a headache today. that's awesome. wow, a warm shower. very nice." I think a lot of people don't acknowledge the mundane enough. just because it's something you do or see every day doesn't mean you should take it for granted!

putting money into a roth ira in your early 20s will set you up good for the future, if you have the means. even 5% of your paycheck a month, or every 3 months...whatever you can manage. it helps a lot!

umm...that's all I can think of right now. but yeah :0

38. fave song at the moment?

kind of in a music drought rn...but here's one I've been listening to omw to work pretty much every day! as an emo I get kinda shy when y'all ask me this, but this is outside of my usual genre and I love it! it's fun to sing along to.

[jehovahhthickness]

This might be a dumb question but do you have a Roth IRA? If so,did you start it on your own OR through your employer?I have been thinking about opening one but I'm not sure where to begin or even how to open one. Is it smart to start up one on my own?

I do have one!

IMO, it’s better to invest in Roth IRA than a 401k because I left one of my big girl jobs in 2021 and had over $8k in my 401K and only could cash out about $2-3K of it. The rest, my former employer kept. I’m so heartbroken. I wish I knew better when it came to money management.

You should totally have a Roth IRA and max out of it, which is about $6k a year.

You should also have multiple high yield savings accounts … I think right now, the interest rate is about 4.15%? Apple just launched a high yields savings account and I think they have the highest rate right now if I’m not mistaken.

Never let your money sit in your bank because it’ll never accrue interest.

I believe there are life insurance policies you can buy, that you can borrow money from if you ever need to.

[unknownchaos]

[looks at mirror] Music, music... Music! [angelic choir starts playing]

And thus, I am summoned like Betelgeuse with my scroll of music recs. Are you ready for Dad Rock? Are you ready for Metal? Are you ready for my entire 500 song playlist of music? You are now :)

(This post is long. Like, really long. And I don't even have all 500 songs in here. My recommendations from my playlist are below the cut. If you'd rather just see all the songs in my playlist, you can find them here. I'll see you on the other side, soldier o7)

These are some songs that I listen to whenever I work out/go to the gym. Nothing like a bit of rage to get you through those reps:

Reapers - Muse The Handler - Muse Psycho - Muse Winter Rain - Sick Century Welcome To the Family - Avenge Sevenfold Enter Sandman - Metallica As Above So Below - Beyond the Breach In The End - Black Veil Brides Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold [Obligatory Slipknot and System of a Down mention here] Sun Killer - Spirit Box Rules of Nines - Spirit Box Blessed Be - Spirit Box Twilight Of The Thunder God - Amon Amarth Dethrone - Bad Omens Inspire the Liars - Dance Gavin Dance

If you like metal bands with female lead singers, I highly recommend Spirit Box. The lead has an absolutely angelic voice and the band itself is incredible.

If you like amazing electric guitar solos/sections then Muse (Specifically their songs Psycho and Reapers) is the band for you

For drums, Welcome To The Family has a sick drum solo at the beginning of the song. It's insane

Here's some songs with gorgeous Vocals/Instrumentals that blew my mind when I first heard them (and continue to blow my mind whenever I listen to them again):

The Parting Glass - The Choral Scholars Of University College Dublin This Is How It Feels - D4VD & Laufey The Rockrose And the Thistle - The Amazing Devil Out of North - Jesper Kyd Promise - Laufey Swan Upon Leda - Hozier Secret Worlds - The Amazing Devil Inkpot Gods - The Amazing Devil Requiem - Dies Irae

All of the Assassin's Creed: Valhalla soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot recommend listening to it enough

The Amazing Devil is similarly incredible, check it out

Now for "oldies that you've definitely heard already but I like them so I'm putting them here anyway," enjoy:

I'm Alright - Kenny Loggins Heat Of the Moment - Asia Just Like Paradise - David Lee Roth God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II - Kiss Any Way You Want It - Journey Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas I Was Made For Lovin' You - Kiss You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses Kiss On My List - Daryl Hall & John Oates The Gambler - Kenny Rodgers I'd Rather Be A Cowboy - John Denver Calypso - John Denver Make Your Own Kind Of Music - Mama Cass House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals What's New Pussycat? - Tom Jones That's life - Frank Sinatra Bad, Bad Leroy Brown - Frank Sinatra Vienna - Billy Joel Dust In the Wind - Kansas Leaving On A Jet Plane - John Denver 500 Miles - Peter, Paul, and Mary El Paso - Marty Robbins Private Eyes - Daryl Hall & John Oates American Pie - Don McLean The End of The World - Skeeter Davis Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters

TF2 has done irreparable damage to me because I can't listen to half of these songs without immediately thinking of one of the mercs (cough cough What's New Pussycat? cough cough Scout cough)

I don't have much else to say about these songs besides go listen to them if you haven't heard them already

And finally, songs that didn't fit into any of the above categories but I wanted to include them anyway:

Living Proof - Gregory Alan Isakov My Love, Mine All Mine - Mitski Dark, Dark, Dark - Gregory Alan Isakov Broken Coastline - Down Like Silver Southern Soldier - 2nd South Carolina String Band Dixie's Land - 2nd South Carolina String Band Bug Like and Angel - Mitski Dandelion Wine - Gregory Alan Isakov San Luis - Gregory Alan Isakov The Stable Song - Gregory Alan Isakov Amsterdam - Gregory Alan Isakov Any Will Wood Song Dream, Ivory - Dream, Ivory Any Phoebe Bridgers Song Any Hozier Song Wishing Well - The Oh Hellos Warm Glow - Hippo Campus

While these aren't all the songs I would recommend, they're all I'm going to put on this post. I know a lot of these songs are really popular, but I hope you end up finding a song you haven't heard before or one that you like :)))

[lovecrafts-iranon]

Lately my way of avoiding thinking about how awful I feel about writing and chess has been to think about money. I've been taking on a lot of extra shifts. Having a higher paying job (as in not being either a hotel front desk guy or security guard) is out of the question though because I can't take doing too much actual work. I saved up enough money that even if the insurance doesn't pay for it, I can have top surgery. I have also been contributing to my roth ira (investment account) and donating to charity. Aside from big ticket items like moving states, buying a house, and other trans surgeries, there isn't really anything I want to spend my money on. I don't want any short term nice things right now basically because of how bad I feel. And where would I even put them. But if I ever feel better, I know having some money will be helpful, like i could pay somebody to come in every month and wash dishes again, which I'm not doing now because what's the point, not like I need that time saved in order to write. It is nice that every time I put more money in an index fund, I'm taking years off my torture sentence (having to work).

[inkofamethyst]

August 14, 2023

Went to Target, noticed that many of the decorations on sale were deep greens and pale purples, realized that maybe I'm not quite as original with my ideal room colors as I'd anticipated. What is life but a series of events in which I realize that I'm not as special as I thought I was (I am being dramatic and hyperbolic but still).

Took out my mini twists (finally); in loveeee with the ultra-defined fro. Game-changing style for sure, but I can't wait this long in the future to take them out bc the twists were majorly raggedy.

In this day and age, and into the future, I can imagine personal branding becoming more and more important in landing academic jobs. And by that I specifically mean having some sort of online presence that connects who you are to what you do. That one old friend of mine, probably the person I've known the longest outside my family even if we really don't ever speak, she is very successfully building an online brand doing just that, and it's pretty incredible to watch, actually.

Speaking of branding, I'm trying to come up with pseudonyms to change my name to. Mostly to minimize the effect of this blog on any personal branding I may decide to do (I recognize that the internet is forever and that the damage is therefore already done, but no one needs to know that I have a deeply and perhaps inappropriately personal tumblr whatsoever). Genuinely, I'm the kind of person to grow unreasonably attached to the first thing I come up with (floralfountainpens), but I want to spend some time considering several options. I give myself a month max to think on it.

Oh also I'm normally a matte lipstick girlie but my mom convinced me to try the maybelline lifter gloss and I think I actually kind of like it?? It's really buttery, non-sticky, and, best of all, works well with my skin tone even though it looks crazy pink. I've been a little inspired by Barbie, I guess. I dig it.

I'm watching phd vlogs on youtube (because of course I am), and this small vlogger I'm watching right now talked about how she was a commenter on some papers at a conference for the first time. As she was describing this role (and I've seen this done once or twice I think at the national conference I went to the past two years), I was horrified at first by how daunting the task seemed. I really struggle with trying to sound appropriately intelligent (...to prove that I am capable of being in a situation and not raise anyone's doubts which I now recognize is not a particularly healthy attitude), so coming up with meaningful commentary/critique, especially if on the spot, sounds horrific. Then, I realized how similar it is to something I did in my last two years of undergrad. For the last two years, I was a moderator for what is essentially a conference for my humanities program, and I had to perform a fairly similar task: asking insightful and coherent questions to panelist presenters whose work I was seeing for the first time. I actually received compliments on my moderation. So I'm not as fully unprepared for that kind of thing as I might think. Which is a little cool. [edit: I think one of the biggest takeaways from my experiences as a moderator is that coherent and simple but interesting questions are better than rambly and intelligent-sounding questions. Of course, I'd like to go to more talks and symposia in grad school to really dissect this kind of role so that I may be prepared for it, just in case.]

And you know while I'm far from being a crypto bro, I'm starting to like,,,, lowkey get into investing???? In the simplest ways possible, really, with a Roth IRA and a CD (and medium-yield savings account I guess), but the idea of getting started early, making regular contributions, and then possibly not having to worry about retirement (assuming we survive as a species long enough for me to get there) is kinda sick ngl. Most of my money isn't really liquid, I guess, which is a little nerve-wracking, but The Market generally seems to be headed upward, so I'm not pressed in the slightest right now. The FDIC can't hold my hand forever if I wanna see real gains. At least, that's how rich wealthy people see it.

Last thing: I liked Barbie for its obnoxious femininity. The first two-thirds or so felt like a release. It was silly, it was goofy, it made me smile. The last quarter or third or so in its seriousness did have a real message which I could relate to on some level, but it felt fairly didactic, especially the whole monologue on what it was like to be a woman or whatever. Like yeah, the message was there, but I felt like the movie beat me over the head with that bit out of fear that the audience wouldn't get it maybe? I think They Cloned Tyrone did a better job at having a clear overtone message without being as in-your-face with it (or maybe they just balanced the message with the plot a bit better idk). There are certainly other criticisms of Barbie that I've encountered, and while they have merit, I feel like I can just accept this movie as its own new thing. [edit: To add, a """seminal work""" [edit 2: isn't it peculiar, calling a movie like this "seminal" ... what about ungendered terms for the same thing... alternatives include influential, groundbreaking, formative, innovative. I like the term, generally, but I sort of wish there was a feminine equivalent.] doesn't need to be flawless, in my opinion. It merely needs to exist and set in motion some sort of change in thought as a result of its reception (whether that change is how the audience approaches media or how creators approach media or something else entirely). I think Lost is another example of an imperfect work that changed media and still deserves recognition despite its shortcomings. Time will tell whether Barbie is the start of some wave or if it merely remains a one-of-a-kind event.]

TODAY IM THANKFUL FOR THE STAR TREK STRANGE NEW WORLDS MUSICAL EPISODE???? Never in my life did I think that this serious sci-fi franchise would be able to pull such a thing off, but that error's on me because this franchise switches between silly and serious at the drop of a hat. Like,,,,, "Apologies, the most confounding thing: I appear to be singing; most unusual, so peculiar" LITERALLY CRYING AAAAAAAA THE WHOOOOooOOoOoOOooOLE THING (vocals, orchestration(!!!!!), plot, ensemble, choreo, technobabble) WAS SO STINKING FUN

((in two weeks im flying away.))

[edit: this post was all over the place (even more than usual) because it's more of a collection of thoughts from the past several days rather than a single entry written all at once]

[big-fi-little-re]

Current Financials: August 2024

As for the money, here's a rough look at what I've got. The market took a little tumble between last night and today, but that's ok as most of my earlier calculations were still with figures less than where they sit now.

Investment Accounts: ~400k

Cash Accounts: ~45k

An additional $3k has been set aside for business expenses. There is also technically a couple thousand floating around in various crypto, but I don't check it and don't really care to anymore because it makes my taxes too hard.

My expenses are roughly $1k per month on average. Some months I spend like $400, other months I spend close to $2000. As mentioned before, I am currently living with my family and taking care of my sick parent, so expenses are low. Even when living alone, I just don't really spend that much money beyond the cost of housing and health insurance.

I am expecting about $15k in a final check to come within the next few weeks. I will be living off of this money for the next year and have not factored it into my above accounts. I will also not be collecting unemployment.

The game plan is, generally, that I will not touch the above investment accounts (brokerage, IRA, 401k that I'll probably roll into my IRA) at all. My cash accounts are effectively an emergency fund for myself and my loved ones. I recently had to loan a dear friend several thousand dollars to help her out of a bad situation that was in no way her fault and I am glad that I chose to keep so much in cash for immediate availability.

I will likely put any additional income into my cash accounts and continue a $500 per month deposit into my investment accounts. It would be nice to have a large chunk of cash on hand for a down payment in the future. I know I could put it into my investment accounts and withdraw later and pay the taxes and all that, but I like simplicity. I know it's not the best move in terms of financial min-maxing, but again, simplicity. Most of my decisions err on the side of whatever causes me the least amount of stress and paperwork. I don't plan on ever doing a Roth Conversion Ladder in my life, sorry.

Onward to whatever comes next. I will update in a few months I think.

[euroclydonn]

I think it is good to be the best kind of human that you can be. And that inherently requires self-care. So yes, I have come to the conclusion that taking care of one's health is a moral good. It's also a necessary discipline.

I would like to discuss this though, cause I am fully aware that this idea may have logic gaps. So I will lay out my thought process.

-not taking care of your health (not eating regularly, not drinking water, not going to the doctor, not performing hygiene practices) can only end in your own detriment. however, it is also not something that everyone is capable of doing. BUT I would also argue that a great many moral goods are not universally accessible. Donating to charity and volunteering are morally good but not everyone can do those things.

Furthermore, not only are these things detrimental to the self, but cause detriment to the greater community. If you aren't taking care of your health and you exist in an ideal community (one that cares about you) you will cause others around you to worry. If a classmate started coming to my class reeking and talking about how they haven't drank water in 48 hours, I'd be incredibly concerned. It would weigh on me, my other peers, and my instructors.

Now I would also assume that this person is depressed. Depression is an illness and illnesses are morally neutral. But just like with volunteering and donating to charity, illness can prevent moral goods. I think it would be completely understandable for an ill person to fail at taking care of their own health. I will also say that I think it should be a top priority. If this hypothetical depressed classmate was talking about how they'd been so busy lately with investing their money in a Roth IRA, I'd probably think to myself "maybe they should take a shower before doing that"

Another thing is that not prioritizing self care will make depression worse. If you're depressed and you give in and go ok time to play video games to numb the pain and let my hair become a giant matt and let my room start reeking and lose my job and my education, you have given into despair. You are failing yourself. You will make your depression worse.

I think you owe things to yourself. You owe yourself the best life you can make. You owe yourself the best health you can manage. The best education you can get. The best social circle and living space. And that can be simple bests. A nice apartment that makes you happy. A grocery store clerk you lights up your life. Maybe the best health for you means being able to lift your pencil to write your name. It is all individual. But not trying your damnedest for the life you deserve is a failing. And I would argue that it is a moral failing.

[ihatetbrlists]

Review #29: Financial Feminist

Financial Feminist, by Tori Dunlap

From my TBR? Nope, read the day after discovering it.

First book of 2024 and my first book about financial education as well. Lately, I've been getting really into this sub-genre of YouTube channels and blogs about financial education content specifically directed at women. This book was recommended by Bitches Get Riches in one of their recent articles.

I picked it up expecting it to be something like Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez but more specifically about discrimination in the workplace or the wage gap but it's actually an actionable guide to getting your finances together as a woman.

Now, I'm not an expert. This is, after all, the first book I've read about financial education. But I do think that someone with a bit more knowledge than I do would have found Financial Feminist to be pretty basic. I did too, at least for some chapters.

The book covers what your relationship with money should look like, how to get out of debt, how to budget, how to start investing, how to negotiate for a raise, how to be a feminist consumer (kind of) and more.

Considering that there are also many mini-essays by other (I assume) famous authors in the field, the book doesn't have the time to get into detail about any of these topics, giving us a bird view. That's fine for stuff like "how to budget" but not for the chapter about investing or ethical consumerism, something I would have really enjoy reading more about.

This book is at its best when it's explaining step-by-step how to get out of debt, create an emergency fund and set a budget — and even then, it assumes that the reader already has a high income. Jessica, the fake person we follow the financial journey of, earns 4k and budgets almost 1k for her fun money every month. In what world does the average reader of this book have 1k left after accounting for necessary spending and debt repayment

This book is also very US-centered and I'm not American. In the chapter Investing (my favorite) (since I know nothing on the subject) I had to leaf through a lot of talk of Roth IRA and 401k and you'll die in poverty if you don't start investing NOW. Useless to me, but at least it made me appreciate the social security in my country.

Other things that didn't pass the vibe check:

there are various mentions of how people of colour or LGBTQAI+ members or people with disabilities have it even worse than white women, which is not the same as actually discussing their challenges.

the author mentions Dave Ramsey disparagingly a bunch of times — like, we get it, he is Bad (and you are therefore Good).

lastly, the author used this book to self-promote her other products. Which, fair, I suppose. But also very annoying (you know when you are watching a video on YouTube when the Youtuber starts going off on a tangent that is so obviously a prelude to the inevitable "and that's why I use whatever product I'm supposed to be sponsoring". That's what some paragraphs felt like)

Verdict: This could be a good book for you if you know nothing about financial independence and want a light read. But if you want to save a few bucks, you can probably find the same information by scouring the author's blog.

[that-is-just-so-typically-me]

Things That Happened This Year That I am Especially Grateful For

In no particular order:

- Fought my way through a rough senior year and graduated (Summa cum laude! Neat!)

- Went to a new continent and experienced a change in my world view I never knew possible

- Got around three different countries where the official languages weren’t English for two weeks, a lot of it by myself

- Was brave enough to date someone for a little while, ended it mutually and amicably, and learned a lot about myself from the experience

- Started my first professional job

- Learned how to perform more auto repairs like removing and installing a 12V battery and replacing audio parts.

- Had an entire summer of absolutely indescribable sex with someone who understood and complemented me sexually in a way I didn’t realize was possible

- Learned how to solder semiconductor chips

- Created a respectable bedtime routine and started sleeping somewhat regularly (if not always well, but still!)

- Reconnected with many old friends and deepened some of my friendships to the best they’ve been since well before the pandemic and felt my heart spring to life in ways I’d forgotten it could feel

- Bought and sold stock, and started a 401k, a Roth IRA, and an HYSA (all by teaching myself!!)

- Volunteered in my community for the first time in ages

- Took my first pole-dancing classes

- Began the necessary first steps for my plan to move to the PNW in the next 2-3 years!! Ahh!!

- Began a regular exercise routine and regained a lot of the strength and flexibility I lost while grinding myself into the dirt working three jobs and attending school last year

- Made massive improvements on my lifelong forward-head posture (and my back now hurts less!!)

- Read six entire books (given how bad my brain fog has been, it’s miraculous for me)

- Started making chainmail and cross-stitching while watching TV as a way to phase it from just a numbing experience and backdoor my way to more creativity and getting my brain the healing benefits of “flow” play activities in my downtime

- Actively worked on myself and saw measurable changes in so many small ways, like listening better and learning how to better let things go

- Started realizing how kind of wise and bright and capable I think I actually am after all

Less Grateful for But Feeling Proud About Nonetheless

- De-escalated a domestic violence incident at my work

- Said goodbye to my beloved animal companion who has been with me since only a few days after my ex left me

- Coped through the death of my friend and mentor

- Set hard but necessary and self-loving boundaries

- Did not self-harm with razors once

- Survived some of the most relentless and powerful body image issues of my life (still in the thick of it but not giving up yet)

- Showed up for my friends in all of my imperfections even when it was frightening to show up with all I am when I am not at 100%

Grateful to have made it this far, with all of the good and the bad and everything in-between. These things might be so small to some but I am so proud of myself and so grateful for the many things and people I know I am so wildly lucky to have in my life. 💚

[franklyalarmed]

My Christmas Eve retirement hyperfocus session resulted in some interesting tidbits of wisdom:

You can open and/or contribute to an IRA in one year at any time before tax day in the following year. This means you could open one and make contributions for 2023 any time before April 18th 2024. Great news if you want to contribute more than the yearly cap(but only works the first year).

The yearly cap is $6500 for 2023 and $7000 for 2024. If your earned income is less than those numbers, your cap is the total of your earned income for that year.

There's a tax credit you can qualify for if you're "low income" and contribute to a retirement savings account, but it's "nonrefundable" which means it can lower the amount of taxes you owe in the event that you underpaid this year, but it can't cause you to get a tax refund.

Traditional IRA contributions are tax deductible, but Roth IRA contributions are not. Once you retire, money you pull from a traditional IRA is taxed, but money you pull from a Roth IRA is not.

I think I'm going to open a Roth IRA, because I'd rather deal with taxes now than force Old Me to have their retirement income be taxed. Also because the savings grow, and I'd rather be taxed on the money I put in than the hopefully much larger amount the account would eventually output.