#y’all I will kid you not I almost shed actual tears during the end of act 1 song
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Finished listening to the Puppetshade Chronicles Part 1
I LOVED IT
everything from the worldbuilding to the characters and music was amazing, I may or may not be back in my Paul Shapera Era
definitely some fanart coming
#paul shapera#the puppetshade chronicles#so good#L3x is my favorite I was so scared when he died#y’all I will kid you not I almost shed actual tears during the end of act 1 song#so sad it��s over#also#the way I was kinda angry at Jes for leaving the bunker 23 gang#then Lauren Osborn#Lauren Osborn is some type of Siren i swear#30 seconds in to Jes’s song she started to grow on me#Also Oliver Marsh killed it like always playing Yery#The new people singing were also really good!#the guy who sang for stringless Oki killed it as well#everyone killed it#definitely adding some of these songs to my Lore playlists for future animatic use#shaperaverse
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I don’t write enough Invisible War!Lawrence content (even though his look for it is almost fully finalized) so I’m going to spoil you with some lines from my WIP folder [Context: between the end of the first game and IW, after years of psychiatric therapy, Lawrence is in his mid 30s, out to hunt the remaining MJ12 scientists who worked on the “Esper Project”. He wants revenge not only for himself, but for all the children who died during the experiments]
”I beg you... Stop, Lawrence! Please!” “You beg, “sir”? In my nightmares I see my younger self begging you to stop using me. Oh, how I’ve longed to see that expression as you freeze this time around” (Oh yes. I HC Wally is still alive by then, Now if Larry will actually end him... I don’t know)
(Lawrence meets up with Paul. This is before the latter has to be put in cryostasis to avoid death. The former has made a “deal” with Saman, who’s financially helping him to eliminate the last MJ12 members who are now in hiding. In my IW lore, the dates are a bit different from canon. The Chicago terrorist attack caused by Lawrence, in which Alex’s parents die, happens when they are 2/3 years old. This means Alex is also not born in 2055 obviously) “Those who ruined our lives... They all need to pay. Saman told me these researchers either have no family or cut all contacts with it...” “You... You’re willing to kill that many people?!“ “Oh Paul... Think of it. To never experience the world as a normal child would, without a worry, safe in the arms of your parents... Being free to be your own person. Yes, I’d kill for that”
(Upon seeing the desperate pleads of some researchers he clearly remembers experimenting on him without remorse) “I’d be moved to tears,,, if I still had tears to shed”
Y’all Lawrence in Invisible War isn’t fooling around 💀 Also yes, Saman lied to him when he told him there were no kids in the building, so Larry actually saves lil Alex and adopts them out of guilt for killing their parents. He ends up becoming kind of an overprotective dad at first.
Now this will totally not bring out some later angst in the story
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What’s in a Year? (Or I decided to track my days and what I do until my time here ends in 2020)
Note: This is ramble-y because I’ve come to realize that I ramble when I have big thoughts and feel comfortable sharing them. Please bear with as I explain a big movement on the blog, and where this year’s going.
So I’ve officially begun my final year in Japan.
It started on 7/24 –last Wednesday- marking the end to one of the biggest choices I’ve ever made. I’ve certainly changed more towards the person I really am: I’ve shed a lot of the mask I used to wear and have started to let my softness safely come back out. I think I’ll forever remember this time not as halcyon days, but as a time I became myself and started to really relax back into myself. I still have struggles because I’m A) human, B) not perfect and don’t have to be, and C) spent a lot of my life talking down about myself and learning how to shape my emotions to be pleasing. But like a tangle, it’s all coming undone: I get to weave who I am now. No one choses who I am but me.
All this say that this final year isn’t an unhappy ending to my time here: I actually feel like I’m going out on a high note and have had an impact –and been impacted– in so, so many ways. I’m glad to finish this year, glad to be starting a life with my partner next year, and glad that I’ve grown so much. I can honestly say that I love the work I’ve done as an ALT, good, bad, and otherwise. It’s all be valuable.
(Especially my kids: god, I love my kids so, so much. I’d stop drinking Ginger Ale for them, and that’s like, the best drink on the planet, especially when they release the Cranberry flavor around Christmas!)
I didn’t imagine being here this long. Honestly, I’m not really sure what I imaged during that first year. So many times, I wanted to hop on the next plane home because it was hard not being the smartest, most capable kid. I’m really glad I stuck with it and have done all I’ve done. I can safely say that I’m doing something good. I can say that I’ve grown, and while I’ve still got a lot of healing to do from some aches that I’ve realized solely by living alone, I’ll be healing with more vigor and confidence in myself.
I can earnestly say that I’m looking forward to my next step in terms of career, whatever it is. (I do have an idea: it’s just hard work from here on out y’all.)
I don’t really know what all’s going to happen over the next 362 days: for the first time in my life, I really can’t imagine where I’m going to be except for Narita with my luggage, goodbyes in my heart, and a phone full of contacts to keep in touch with. And probably a final haul from Animate because why not? Oh, and to a sashiko shop because I have an addiction that needs feeding.
How I’ll get there (other than taking the gran class on the shinkansen because I am 1000% worth the expense) is a mystery, but one that I’m going to catalogue for my own posterity over this year. I’ve never done this before, but… well, get ready because it’s happening.
(And yes, I have a hashtag for it: #whatsinaday2k19. Simple and easy, in large part, for me.)
This is quite a personal journey that I ultimately decided to share because I think a lot of people my age -26 almost 27- and older struggle with the next step and that liminal space of not knowing. I figure if I shout it all out into the universe –or onto the internet– then maybe… Maybe it will help someone. Maybe during this year I can reach out and grab hands that need the smallest tug or help to right themselves, and end up with tons of people crossing the finish line –at least this proverbial one– with me. That’d be pretty great, if I could have that happen.
One of my life mottos is that I want to make it to the finish line with as many people as I can. I’m not big into competition unless it’s with myself, and thankfully, that’s becoming less and less of a thing. I’m actively rewiring myself to be okay with success at my pace and at my own level of ability and comfort.
I want everyone to make it to whatever goal that is: if that’s having a day where pain is a 3 instead of a 10, then that’s victory. If that’s changing the world, then that’s victory. If that’s brushing your teeth, tearing down fascism, brushing your hair, pushing back against social injustice, changing sheets, or standing tall and hoping in the face despair: that’s all victory.
Yes, we can measure victories in terms of impact and dynamic size, but honestly, more and more I prefer to celebrate everyone’s victories, no matter the size. Good is good is good, and honestly… everyone’s got different victories in their lives at different points. Who am I to judge?
I’m scared of all the uncertainty, of the “what ifs” that buzz around my head at 3 a.m. I’m scared that I’ll flop and that at 27-almost-28 (next year) I’ll have weirdly peaked. But I think everyone’s a bit scared most of the time when it comes to success: it’s daunting and it’s challenging and it so often comes with hiccups. I don’t think we ever get over that bit of imposter syndrome that often chases those feelings either.
But you know what?
I’m gonna keep on pushing and do the damn thing anyways. And it’s all gonna turn out okay. I just know it will. I’ve come this far through so much else that all I can do is succeed, one day at a time.
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like crystal glasses, falling
hey guys! i participated in the @soulmakazine2018 with @ahshesgone and this is my entry! please see HERE for ash’s i n c r e d i b l e art; she was the best friend and inspiration for this, and i’m so thankful for her influence on this piece.
i hope you enjoy!
“Pass the salad, wouldja?”
Forks and knives clink on Tsubaki’s finest china while everyone tucks into the mountains of food before you. It is the biannual Spartoi dinner, an event that had grown organically once the mental scars from the battle on the moon made themselves known. You started coming because you thought humans needed companionship during rough times, but you are no longer certain you know anything about them at all.
Ox is chewing with his mouth open to your left. A gob of something lands on your arm with an impact soft as a fly and just as pestilent, drawing all of your focus to that small spot near the crook of your elbow. You can almost feel the saliva eating into the fabric, sinking closer and closer to your skin and then what will you do, then how will you keep the contamination from spreading through your skin through your veins inside your mind --
“Dude, the salad. Or do you need that in writing, too?”
Black*Star’s sneer splits your focus. His right eye is a nauseating blend of pallid yellow and deep purple, and there are many more small scrapes along his chin as if he had been knocked onto the pavement. Given the jobs he takes these days, he likely had been.
You tell yourself that Ox’s spit will not actually rot you from the inside out, and pass the bowl overflowing with vegetables Tsubaki must have picked from her garden. He takes it from you and doesn’t care that his fingertips slam into yours, doesn’t care that dead skin cells from the both of you are now in free fall, becoming dust.
“Would anyone like more to drink?” Tsubaki asks from the head of the table, a carafe of red wine in hand.
“Please,” says Maka from her right, and Soul shifts beside you.
“Same here,” Kilik adds, one arm around Black*Star and the other around his wine glass.
Yours is empty. It appears your father was right about your humanity, or rather, your distance from it. Alcohol does not affect you as it does your peers, sleep has only ever been a choice, and the smile lines you see at the edges of Tsubaki’s mouth will never crease your face. You are a visitor in their world, an observer and an escort. You do not need to fit in, though you wonder why you share their feelings. Loneliness seems unbecoming for a god.
(rest under the cut, or on AO3)
“She never used to drink,” Soul mutters to himself, as if saying it out loud will shed new light on why that is.
You remain quiet. It has never been your place to judge the souls of man (Leave living to the living, Black*Star once told you, sprawled out to watch the setting sun while his face burned with the glow of it), but there is something about being an observer that leaves you empty. Perhaps like them you are still growing, and in another hundred centuries this malaise will be a hazy dream.
“So Death, got any big gigs coming up? Maybe a plague or a natural disaster we should know about?” Liz is leaning back in her chair, nails lacquered daggers, looking at you with eyes that bring you back to the cold Manhattan night you met.
“Sissy, his name isn’t Death, it’s Kid. Death the Kid,” Patti says, worry lines creasing her forehead.
“Death is what he deals in, sounds fine to me,” Liz replies. She arches a perfectly sculpted brow at you and says, “Well? What’s up and coming in the underworld?”
“He’s not an oracle,” Soul snaps, sitting up. His anger filters into you through the lowkey resonance neither of you can escape at this proximity, and you try to diffuse some calm to him. It only seems to tighten the snarling coil in his soul.
“Aww, defending your new soulmate?” Liz purrs, leaning in. The tablecloth bunches in Soul’s fist. “Thought you’d be surly forever now that you’re not attached to Maka’s hip.”
Thoughts pour into your mind as his soul ruptures into yours, he’s too angry too out of control too why did Maka leave, I was trying to be her friend, what about that night beneath the harvest moon when she put her hand on my heart that afternoon picking strawberries when she took a bite and her lips glowed like stained glass that morning she was humming in the kitchen with flour in her hair that moment when --
You cut the thoughts with the sharpest knife your mind can muster and grab his hand. You’re okay, this is fine, you’re okay, you tell him, projecting a calm you hope he sinks into. You know he wants nothing more than to lose himself in your combined souls, feather out the edges until he no longer has to be himself. There was a time you had thought you wanted that, too, but after many tear-soaked practice sessions it became clear that you would never be Maka and he would never make you any more human.
Soul exhales through his nose. Maka is still determinedly in conversation with Tsubaki farther up the table, her face turned sharply away. Soul glances at her and then fixes Liz with a smoldering stare. “What about you, now that you don’t have the prestige of being Death’s weapon? Guess you’ll need to find a new sugar daddy.”
Kilik snorts and Black*Star grins. “Attaboy, don’t let her talk to you like that,” he says, purpled skin crinkling around his bruised eyes.
Harvar sighs and tips back in his chair until the front legs lift. “Are you both really going to be like this? We hardly have to see each other any more, does it kill you to act civil for a few hours twice a year?”
Liz snorts and starts talking to Patti about the high-rise penthouse suite she spent the night in a few weeks ago. Next to you, the tension drains out of Soul, and he slumps over his still-full plate. “I hate these things,” he mutters, moving a piece of broccoli around with the tip of his steak knife. “It’s been years since we’ve had anything to say to each other.”
“Speak for yourself,” says Black*Star in tones of mock offense. “I for one love to spend time with people who sit around judging or just plain ignoring each other.”
Maka stiffens and narrows her eyes. “You have something to say to me?” she asks, voice low and somewhat hoarse, like it was the day she requested a personal day to move away from Soul.
“Not everything’s about you, princess,” Black*Star replies. “In fact, I’d go so far as to say most things are not about you. So go on, get back to whatever little conversation you were having to avoid looking your former teammates in the face, Miss I’m-Too-Good-For-Y’all.”
“Now now, let’s be nicer to each other,” Tsubaki says with a nervous hand on her throat.
“Oh come on, we all know she’s not that great anyway,” Ox says from the other end of the table. A faint flush appears in Maka’s cheeks, and you feel the growl building in Soul’s throat echo in yours from the force of his emotion.
“Funny for you to say, Dr.-- oh wait, that’s right, you never could finish your dissertation, could you?” Maka says with a smile more suited for Medusa.
“Oh, real original, go for what has been common knowledge for over a year now; nobody cares,” Ox says, but the hand gripping his steak knife trembles.
“Yeah, get a room already, you nerds obviously need a hatefuck to clear the air,” Liz adds with a jagged smile at Soul.
“Guys, please,” Patti says, hunching over in her chair. “Stop.”
“I dunno, I think we just need to stop having these pointless get-togethers.” Everyone turns to look at Kilik, who has scooted back in his chair like he is about to leave. “What are we playing at? Nobody here actually gives a shit. We fought together when we were kids, but guess what? We were kids! We saw a lot of shit! And now we’re expected to play nice with the actors in our nightmares? No thanks.”
“Nightmares? A little dramatic, don’t you think?” Harvar says, giving his untouched wine a bored swirl.
“Yeah, well, you know, some of us saw a liiiiitle more bloodshed than others,” Black*Star says, teeth glittering. You have to quell the urge to go put a hand on his shoulder.
“Cry traumatized all you want, I’m just saying either deal with it or shut up,” Harvar replies with a shrug.
“I’m going to bring out the roast,” Tsubaki says a little too loudly, and shuffles back into the kitchen.
The reminder that they are guests in her home seems to dampen the mounting aggression. You take a bite of mashed potatoes and wonder if the act of eating is, for you, the same as throwing it away. Does the small enjoyment it brings make it worth the energy the plant used to convert sunlight to sugars, the human effort in feeding and tending the land, the water pulled from faraway aquifers, the fossil fuels burned to transport it to you, Tsubaki’s time in preparing it? You will live either way. The energy for life should not be wasted on a death god.
Tsubaki returns with a beautiful beef roast that she carves on a side table. When the platter piled high with meat comes to you, you pass it straight to Soul and tell yourself that someone worthier of it will now get to benefit.
“Would you pass the green beans, Harvar?” Maka asks, ignoring the disgusted looks from Liz and Ox. Unease sours your stomach. You don’t remember them being this rude to each other.
“Not really in a passing mood, thanks,” he says, and takes a delicate bite of salad.
You see the old anger flash in Maka’s eyes and open your mouth to say -- something, anything to stop the imminent violence you can see unfolding as if you have choreographed it -- but then Soul stands up. He strides over and grabs the bowl of roasted green beans without acknowledging Harvar’s exaggerated scoff, and then takes the three steps to Maka.
You expect him to place the green beans down near her plate, but instead he waits. Seconds tick by as he stands at her shoulder, bowl proffered, and you don’t know what to make of the sudden stillness from Soul’s side of the bond.
Maka tilts her head back. You feel it when their eyes meet, a buzzing mosquito that has finally decided to land. “Thank you,” she says, and helps herself to a portion of green beans. Soul stands there a heartbeat longer, face full of the depth of emotion that makes you wish again that you were human, before returning the bowl and taking his seat.
Conversation resumes, but it is quieter somehow, less for show, as if seeing what had been the longest-standing partnership speak again made everyone realize that civility has always been a choice. You remember how much their teamwork had always meant to everyone, had meant to you. You frown. Perhaps Black*Star was wrong, and you have living yet to do. Perhaps that, too, is a choice.
What happened between you and Maka? you ask Soul, who is still toying with the food on his plate. It was never something you felt was your business, but now you see that your detachment from the lives of those around you was not because you were concerned about their feelings, but because you did not want to hurt when you carried their souls to the other side.
Far too much, he responds alongside images of all of you trying group resonance, Maka’s expression when she burned dinner, everyone making faces at Stein behind his back during class, Maka holding out her hand. We didn’t know how to be in love and in pain at the same time. I want to be able to talk to her again.
You look around the table at all these people you had fought and laughed and bled beside, and for the first time in almost five years think of yourself as part of the group instead of by nature separate. You have been a fool to believe you should not still care for the lives of your friends even if you will outlast them, because whether or not you're human doesn't matter when you're brave enough to try. So you sit up straighter and ask with a directness you haven’t allowed yourself in so long, “What do you all want to do with your lives?” The question is met with abrupt silence. Everyone turns to look at you with varying degrees of surprise and indifference, which you can’t really blame them for. You don’t remember the last time you addressed them all like this, as a friend instead of Lord Death. “What are you, our high school guidance counselor?” Black*Star says. “Yeah, not to be rude to the boss that hasn’t given a shit about us in however long, but why are you asking now?” adds Liz, ruffling Patty’s hair. “I want us to act like friends again,” says Tsubaki. The worry and uncertainty that had clouded her eyes before is gone, and in its place is a fiery determination you last saw before the battle on the moon. “I want to stop waking up worrying one or more of you has gone and gotten yourself killed —“ a glance at Black*Star, who is fully attentive for once “— and then I want to teach the children of Death City that they are important and loved and will never have to throw away their lives for a conflict their parents or parent’s parents started.” A tear is running down her nose by the time she stops speaking, but her voice does not waver. “I wanna become a botanist,” Patty says with conviction, wiggling out from under her sister’s hand. “I wanna document all the native flora around here and see what kinda cool stuff they might do for medicine or agriculture and whatnot.” Liz looks momentarily taken aback. “I didn’t know that.” “You never asked,” Patty replies, and looks away. “I want to run for Congress,” Maka says, meeting everyone’s eyes. “I am disgusted about how we were the primary line of defense against kishin for so long, that others couldn’t have been trained in our stead. There must me thousands of people out there with weapon genes who don’t know how to deal with it, and I want to make sure those who are out there know they can learn to control it.”
Soul sits up next to you. “I don’t really know what I want to do,” he says, looking steadily at Maka. I only know who I want to do it with.
The vitriol from earlier in the meal fades. You see tired faces, some nostalgic, others hurting, and a few, like Harvar’s, blank.
“I don’t know what I want to do either,” Harvar says into the silence that followed Soul’s admission. “Nothing at all. What does that leave me?”
You see Kilik nodding while Liz stares at her plate, eyes empty. You are afraid of what you’ll see when you lean forward enough to catch of glimpse of Black*Star’s face, but that’s okay, because you have decided to live.
“I think that leaves you with possibility,” you say, meeting Black*Star’s eyes. “Not knowing means there is room to discover.”
Ox snorts. “Easy for you to say, Lord Death,” he says, putting his hands on the table. “But for the rest of us mortals, we can’t just up and decide to do something and have it all magically work out.”
More nods around the table. Maka is chewing her lip, looking like she has remembered something she would rather forget, and Soul has slumped in his seat again. “You’re right,” you say. "Anything people do takes time, and effort, and there are no guarantees. But it seems to me that the first choice anyone has to make is whether they are willing to try."
“Does any of it really matter though?” Kilik says, fist balled on the table. “The choosing, the decisions, any of it? What does it matter if I work for this job or that one, wear this color shirt or another? At the end of the day, we’re just slowly rotting meat.”
“I thought so, too,” you tell him. “I thought that nothing I did would matter to you, because what does a death god know of how to live? But here we are, really talking to each other for the first time in so many years. I think,” you pause to look around again and see traces of the people you had known bleeding through like sections of old photographs, “I think that will be the key for us. We were told for so long what does and doesn’t matter. Now we have to choose that for ourselves.”
There is another silence, though it is one you cannot place. Tsubaki breaks it after a minute to usher everyone into the living room for dessert and coffee, so you sit on her sofa and imagine what it would be like to see everyone smiling again.
Maka approaches you with two black coffees. “That was a lot,” she says, handing you one. “I didn’t know you had so many feelings.”
“Neither did I,” you tell her, and take a sip. It is intensely bitter.
“It sounded nice, but --” she pauses and looks around the room. You follow her lead and notice that the same small groups are gathered like pockets of the same magnetic charge. You suppose it was too naive to expect anything else.
“Change takes time,” she says, glancing briefly in Soul’s direction. “Unless you force it. But that creates its own problems.” She sighs and takes a step back. “Thanks for saying something anyway. It was a nice reminder that things don’t have to be this way.” She leaves.
You watch her walk over to Soul and place a light hand on his arm. You feel through the bond a wave of surprise and anticipation before you seal it shut in your mind. It is not your place to witness whatever comes next from such an intimate vantage. You do, however, watch the shape of them, hips squared and arms uncrossed. Perhaps something positive will come of this reunion, after all.
Soul sidles over to you once Maka is back in conversation with Tsubaki. “Well, that wasn’t so bad, I guess.”
You nod. “Was it a productive conversation?”
“I think so,” he says, and clears his throat. “She said she was sorry about how she ended things, and that she wants to talk again. She, uh.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets. “She said she still has my old bomber jacket, the one I thought I lost.”
That reminds you of how Black*Star used to take your shinigami mask every time he came to see you and wear it half on, half off until he left. You think of the power in such gestures, and allow yourself to hope.
So you and Soul enjoy some of Tsubaki’s fruit tartlets while quiet conversation hums around you. Every now and then, you catch lingering glances from one group to another, a considering stare where before there would have been outright hostility.
You take another sip of coffee. For now, it is enough.
#soul eater#somazine#madi tries words#i'm still staring at this art with the biggest heart eyes y'all
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My Net Worth After Laboring For 37 Years: $659,786.34
See what I did there? My net worth after LABORING for 37 years? Because it’s LABOR DAY? And I’m updating my NET WORTH??
Gah, nevermind…
If there was ever a day people were forced to calculate their numbers though, today would be it :) What better way to reflect on all those years of working than looking at what you have to show for it? After all, isn’t that the point of working so hard? To be able to keep whatever you’ve earned at the end of it all?
Let that simmer on your brain plate for a while… And if you really want to put things in perspective, grab your Lifetime Wealth Ratio by logging into your social security account online and tallying up the reported income over your lifetime, and then comparing it to this same net worth number of yours. How does THAT make you feel? Want to vomit? Love it? Confused as to where it all went??
Only you hold the answers to that, but before you can get there you need to actually know where you stand. So let this be reminder #1,038 to START TRACKING THAT MONEY OF YOURS if you haven’t done so already. And if you’re only going to do it once a year, let it be on Labor Day where you’re hopefully patting yourself on the back for good reason!
Speaking of patting yourself on the back, I’m going to give myself a hearty one right now for not shedding a tear (yet) knowing that my 5 year old is shipping off to Kindergarten tomorrow, eek… The principal joked during orientation that there will be plenty of tissue boxes handy, but that they aren’t for the kids at all – they’re for us parents, haha…
I WILL TAKE 20 PLEASE!! Today it’s Kindergarten, and tomorrow it’s college and girls and stealing our cars to drive hundreds of miles away where there’s no family or parents in sight and forgetting all about us – AGHH!!! Don’t leave me, Baby Penny! I need you!!
*Goes to call his own mom and mercilessly apologize for his own wrongdoings to her growing up…*
Now On To August’s numbers…
This is the first time we’ve actually had a loss in over 10 months! It was only $600’ish, but could this be a little foreshadowing of what’s to come on the horizon? Is the market finally ready to crash and burn after years of skyrocketing?
Time will tell, but it doesn’t change any of the game plan regardless… It almost always comes down to hustling, hustling, hustling, and then stacking, stacking, stacking!
(PS: we post up these updates every month to show a real-life snapshot of what someone’s money looks like as we never get to see this stuff in the real world…. Tracking this has been one of the best things I’ve ever done with my money, so we share it every month here – warts and all – in hopes it helps you on your journey too. You can find all 116 of our net worth updates anytime you’d like here.)
Alright here we go…
CASH SAVINGS (+$707.50): The one department we almost always have full control over! As long as this number is green more often than it’s red, you’re trending in the right direction :) You can’t build wealth if you don’t have any extra money leftover by the end of the month.
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN (TSP) (+$702.10): You know how I always say my wife never knows what’s going on with our money, even though I BLOG ABOUT IT FOR A LIVING AND TELL HER EVERY SINGLE MONTH WHERE WE’RE AT??
Here’s a perfect example of what this looks like :)
Me: “Honey, guess how much is in your retirement account now?”
Wife: “$1,000!”
Me: “No.”
Wife: “$1,200!”
Me: “No…”
Wife: $1,500!”
Me: “Higher please.”
Wife: “Higher? $2,000!”
Me: “No.”
Wife: “$3,000!
Me: “No – geez, higher”
Wife: $5,000!”
Me: “I give up…”
Haha… okay, I didn’t say that last part, but my Lord woman! I tell you what it is every month! At least get in the ballpark with your first 5 guesses, haha… On the flip side, she IS always happy and surprised whenever we get to the final answer, so there is that ;) The power of automatic investing!
ROTH IRAs (-$543.24): Nothing too sexy going on in this department, just a snapshot of how the market’s going at this particular time. We haven’t added anything new here for a handful of months as we usually wait until the end of the year to max it out once we know my business financials more (it’s always fluctuating).
SEP IRA (-$2,338.08): Same with this guy too – nothing new added and prob won’t be for awhile as well. Never gets old looking at the returns though, especially without lifting a finger :) If you ever wondered how the rich keep getting richer, btw, it’s because they just keep throwing more and more money into investment opportunities like this. The 10% return works the exact same way whether you have $6.00 or $6,000,000 in there. One just spits out a $hit ton more cash on the other end!
Here’s a screenshot of our Vanguard account for August (we’re fully invested into VTSAX):
CAR VALUES (+$346.00): This should typically be red of course, as no cars really appreciate in value except for maybe rare/collectible ones, but it’s what KBB showed for the month so I just copy/paste the numbers in to stay consistent. The only time we’ll really tell whether they’re accurate or not is when you go to sell ’em :) (And same goes for your house or any other assets too)
Here’s what Kelly Blue Book is showing for each of them:
Lexus RX350: $12,419.00
Toyota Corolla: $4,085.00
CAR LOAN: (-$469.37): Alright guys, y’all were right last month when you said I’m scheduling my payments wrong and should be hitting the “principal only” payment button! I logged in this morning to see when the next payment date was, and it was literally NEXT YEAR! Haha… Cuz I’ve just been pre-paying ahead wayyyyy to many times, d’oh.
So per your recommendations, I’m now applying my $500 allotted budget fully to principal only and will continue doing so until we’re finally caught up to normal payment land again… Thanks for setting me straight :)
And that’s August’s update!
Here’s an overall snapshot on how the past 12 months have gone:
And once again, my kids’ net worths too… One day they’ll be sharing all this on their own blogs!
I hope you’re doing well in your journey over there :) As always, I’ve listed a number of ways you can track your net worth below if you’re new to the scene, and you can find all 100+ of these net worth updates here, as well as 300+ reports by other bloggers here too: The Blogger Net Worth Tracker.
Enjoy your day off from laboring today!! But just because you’re not doing any work physically, doesn’t mean you can’t do any work mentally. Fire up that Lifetime Wealth Ratio of yours and start making plans NOW to improve it!
I’m gonna quiz you in a year from now on the next Labor Day :)
…that is if I survive bringing my kid to school tomorrow :(
My Net Worth After Laboring For 37 Years: $659,786.34 published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B
0 notes
Text
My Net Worth After Laboring For 37 Years: $659,786.34
See what I did there? My net worth after LABORING for 37 years? Because it’s LABOR DAY? And I’m updating my NET WORTH??
Gah, nevermind…
If there was ever a day people were forced to calculate their numbers though, today would be it :) What better way to reflect on all those years of working than looking at what you have to show for it? After all, isn’t that the point of working so hard? To be able to keep whatever you’ve earned at the end of it all?
Let that simmer on your brain plate for a while… And if you really want to put things in perspective, grab your Lifetime Wealth Ratio by logging into your social security account online and tallying up the reported income over your lifetime, and then comparing it to this same net worth number of yours. How does THAT make you feel? Want to vomit? Love it? Confused as to where it all went??
Only you hold the answers to that, but before you can get there you need to actually know where you stand. So let this be reminder #1,038 to START TRACKING THAT MONEY OF YOURS if you haven’t done so already. And if you’re only going to do it once a year, let it be on Labor Day where you’re hopefully patting yourself on the back for good reason!
Speaking of patting yourself on the back, I’m going to give myself a hearty one right now for not shedding a tear (yet) knowing that my 5 year old is shipping off to Kindergarten tomorrow, eek… The principal joked during orientation that there will be plenty of tissue boxes handy, but that they aren’t for the kids at all – they’re for us parents, haha…
I WILL TAKE 20 PLEASE!! Today it’s Kindergarten, and tomorrow it’s college and girls and stealing our cars to drive hundreds of miles away where there’s no family or parents in sight and forgetting all about us – AGHH!!! Don’t leave me, Baby Penny! I need you!!
*Goes to call his own mom and mercilessly apologize for his own wrongdoings to her growing up…*
Now On To August’s numbers…
This is the first time we’ve actually had a loss in over 10 months! It was only $600’ish, but could this be a little foreshadowing of what’s to come on the horizon? Is the market finally ready to crash and burn after years of skyrocketing?
Time will tell, but it doesn’t change any of the game plan regardless… It almost always comes down to hustling, hustling, hustling, and then stacking, stacking, stacking!
(PS: we post up these updates every month to show a real-life snapshot of what someone’s money looks like as we never get to see this stuff in the real world…. Tracking this has been one of the best things I’ve ever done with my money, so we share it every month here – warts and all – in hopes it helps you on your journey too. You can find all 116 of our net worth updates anytime you’d like here.)
Alright here we go…
CASH SAVINGS (+$707.50): The one department we almost always have full control over! As long as this number is green more often than it’s red, you’re trending in the right direction :) You can’t build wealth if you don’t have any extra money leftover by the end of the month.
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN (TSP) (+$702.10): You know how I always say my wife never knows what’s going on with our money, even though I BLOG ABOUT IT FOR A LIVING AND TELL HER EVERY SINGLE MONTH WHERE WE’RE AT??
Here’s a perfect example of what this looks like :)
Me: “Honey, guess how much is in your retirement account now?”
Wife: “$1,000!”
Me: “No.”
Wife: “$1,200!”
Me: “No…”
Wife: $1,500!”
Me: “Higher please.”
Wife: “Higher? $2,000!”
Me: “No.”
Wife: “$3,000!
Me: “No – geez, higher”
Wife: $5,000!”
Me: “I give up…”
Haha… okay, I didn’t say that last part, but my Lord woman! I tell you what it is every month! At least get in the ballpark with your first 5 guesses, haha… On the flip side, she IS always happy and surprised whenever we get to the final answer, so there is that ;) The power of automatic investing!
ROTH IRAs (-$543.24): Nothing too sexy going on in this department, just a snapshot of how the market’s going at this particular time. We haven’t added anything new here for a handful of months as we usually wait until the end of the year to max it out once we know my business financials more (it’s always fluctuating).
SEP IRA (-$2,338.08): Same with this guy too – nothing new added and prob won’t be for awhile as well. Never gets old looking at the returns though, especially without lifting a finger :) If you ever wondered how the rich keep getting richer, btw, it’s because they just keep throwing more and more money into investment opportunities like this. The 10% return works the exact same way whether you have $6.00 or $6,000,000 in there. One just spits out a $hit ton more cash on the other end!
Here’s a screenshot of our Vanguard account for August (we’re fully invested into VTSAX):
CAR VALUES (+$346.00): This should typically be red of course, as no cars really appreciate in value except for maybe rare/collectible ones, but it’s what KBB showed for the month so I just copy/paste the numbers in to stay consistent. The only time we’ll really tell whether they’re accurate or not is when you go to sell ’em :) (And same goes for your house or any other assets too)
Here’s what Kelly Blue Book is showing for each of them:
Lexus RX350: $12,419.00
Toyota Corolla: $4,085.00
CAR LOAN: (-$469.37): Alright guys, y’all were right last month when you said I’m scheduling my payments wrong and should be hitting the “principal only” payment button! I logged in this morning to see when the next payment date was, and it was literally NEXT YEAR! Haha… Cuz I’ve just been pre-paying ahead wayyyyy to many times, d’oh.
So per your recommendations, I’m now applying my $500 allotted budget fully to principal only and will continue doing so until we’re finally caught up to normal payment land again… Thanks for setting me straight :)
And that’s August’s update!
Here’s an overall snapshot on how the past 12 months have gone:
And once again, my kids’ net worths too… One day they’ll be sharing all this on their own blogs!
I hope you’re doing well in your journey over there :) As always, I’ve listed a number of ways you can track your net worth below if you’re new to the scene, and you can find all 100+ of these net worth updates here, as well as 300+ reports by other bloggers here too: The Blogger Net Worth Tracker.
Enjoy your day off from laboring today!! But just because you’re not doing any work physically, doesn’t mean you can’t do any work mentally. Fire up that Lifetime Wealth Ratio of yours and start making plans NOW to improve it!
I’m gonna quiz you in a year from now on the next Labor Day :)
…that is if I survive bringing my kid to school tomorrow :(
My Net Worth After Laboring For 37 Years: $659,786.34 posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ
0 notes
Text
My Net Worth After Laboring For 37 Years: $659,786.34
See what I did there? My net worth after LABORING for 37 years? Because it’s LABOR DAY? And I’m updating my NET WORTH??
Gah, nevermind…
If there was ever a day people were forced to calculate their numbers though, today would be it :) What better way to reflect on all those years of working than looking at what you have to show for it? After all, isn’t that the point of working so hard? To be able to keep whatever you’ve earned at the end of it all?
Let that simmer on your brain plate for a while… And if you really want to put things in perspective, grab your Lifetime Wealth Ratio by logging into your social security account online and tallying up the reported income over your lifetime, and then comparing it to this same net worth number of yours. How does THAT make you feel? Want to vomit? Love it? Confused as to where it all went??
Only you hold the answers to that, but before you can get there you need to actually know where you stand. So let this be reminder #1,038 to START TRACKING THAT MONEY OF YOURS if you haven’t done so already. And if you’re only going to do it once a year, let it be on Labor Day where you’re hopefully patting yourself on the back for good reason!
Speaking of patting yourself on the back, I’m going to give myself a hearty one right now for not shedding a tear (yet) knowing that my 5 year old is shipping off to Kindergarten tomorrow, eek… The principal joked during orientation that there will be plenty of tissue boxes handy, but that they aren’t for the kids at all – they’re for us parents, haha…
I WILL TAKE 20 PLEASE!! Today it’s Kindergarten, and tomorrow it’s college and girls and stealing our cars to drive hundreds of miles away where there’s no family or parents in sight and forgetting all about us – AGHH!!! Don’t leave me, Baby Penny! I need you!!
*Goes to call his own mom and mercilessly apologize for his own wrongdoings to her growing up…*
Now On To August’s numbers…
This is the first time we’ve actually had a loss in over 10 months! It was only $600’ish, but could this be a little foreshadowing of what’s to come on the horizon? Is the market finally ready to crash and burn after years of skyrocketing?
Time will tell, but it doesn’t change any of the game plan regardless… It almost always comes down to hustling, hustling, hustling, and then stacking, stacking, stacking!
(PS: we post up these updates every month to show a real-life snapshot of what someone’s money looks like as we never get to see this stuff in the real world…. Tracking this has been one of the best things I’ve ever done with my money, so we share it every month here – warts and all – in hopes it helps you on your journey too. You can find all 116 of our net worth updates anytime you’d like here.)
Alright here we go…
CASH SAVINGS (+$707.50): The one department we almost always have full control over! As long as this number is green more often than it’s red, you’re trending in the right direction :) You can’t build wealth if you don’t have any extra money leftover by the end of the month.
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN (TSP) (+$702.10): You know how I always say my wife never knows what’s going on with our money, even though I BLOG ABOUT IT FOR A LIVING AND TELL HER EVERY SINGLE MONTH WHERE WE’RE AT??
Here’s a perfect example of what this looks like :)
Me: “Honey, guess how much is in your retirement account now?”
Wife: “$1,000!”
Me: “No.”
Wife: “$1,200!”
Me: “No…”
Wife: $1,500!”
Me: “Higher please.”
Wife: “Higher? $2,000!”
Me: “No.”
Wife: “$3,000!
Me: “No – geez, higher”
Wife: $5,000!”
Me: “I give up…”
Haha… okay, I didn’t say that last part, but my Lord woman! I tell you what it is every month! At least get in the ballpark with your first 5 guesses, haha… On the flip side, she IS always happy and surprised whenever we get to the final answer, so there is that ;) The power of automatic investing!
ROTH IRAs (-$543.24): Nothing too sexy going on in this department, just a snapshot of how the market’s going at this particular time. We haven’t added anything new here for a handful of months as we usually wait until the end of the year to max it out once we know my business financials more (it’s always fluctuating).
SEP IRA (-$2,338.08): Same with this guy too – nothing new added and prob won’t be for awhile as well. Never gets old looking at the returns though, especially without lifting a finger :) If you ever wondered how the rich keep getting richer, btw, it’s because they just keep throwing more and more money into investment opportunities like this. The 10% return works the exact same way whether you have $6.00 or $6,000,000 in there. One just spits out a $hit ton more cash on the other end!
Here’s a screenshot of our Vanguard account for August (we’re fully invested into VTSAX):
CAR VALUES (+$346.00): This should typically be red of course, as no cars really appreciate in value except for maybe rare/collectible ones, but it’s what KBB showed for the month so I just copy/paste the numbers in to stay consistent. The only time we’ll really tell whether they’re accurate or not is when you go to sell ’em :) (And same goes for your house or any other assets too)
Here’s what Kelly Blue Book is showing for each of them:
Lexus RX350: $12,419.00
Toyota Corolla: $4,085.00
CAR LOAN: (-$469.37): Alright guys, y’all were right last month when you said I’m scheduling my payments wrong and should be hitting the “principal only” payment button! I logged in this morning to see when the next payment date was, and it was literally NEXT YEAR! Haha… Cuz I’ve just been pre-paying ahead wayyyyy to many times, d’oh.
So per your recommendations, I’m now applying my $500 allotted budget fully to principal only and will continue doing so until we’re finally caught up to normal payment land again… Thanks for setting me straight :)
And that’s August’s update!
Here’s an overall snapshot on how the past 12 months have gone:
And once again, my kids’ net worths too… One day they’ll be sharing all this on their own blogs!
I hope you’re doing well in your journey over there :) As always, I’ve listed a number of ways you can track your net worth below if you’re new to the scene, and you can find all 100+ of these net worth updates here, as well as 300+ reports by other bloggers here too: The Blogger Net Worth Tracker.
Enjoy your day off from laboring today!! But just because you’re not doing any work physically, doesn’t mean you can’t do any work mentally. Fire up that Lifetime Wealth Ratio of yours and start making plans NOW to improve it!
I’m gonna quiz you in a year from now on the next Labor Day :)
…that is if I survive bringing my kid to school tomorrow :(
My Net Worth After Laboring For 37 Years: $659,786.34 published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B
0 notes