Saturday, January 28, 2012

Birthday beverages and haggis

As I write this I'm sitting outside Starbucks enjoying the free birthday beverage they offer up. Today it's a peppermint mocha. 

I have a stop to make at the Goodwill to drop off some household goods from my recent downsizing and move underground. 

Family lunch today promises lasagna and haggis - the haggis in celebration of cousins visiting from Ontario - from the Scottish side of the family. 

I'm meeting 42 with a degree of uncertainty, to be honest. Financial commitments surpass my income at present and that weighs heavily on my soul. 

Perhaps 42 will bring with it some unforeseen prosperity. 

Fingers crossed. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Top ten ways to annoy a gifted child

I picked this up over on Facebook... certain members of my family should enjoy this one!

Click HERE

Saturday, January 21, 2012

"I want to have enough money I don't have to worry about it, but I don't want so much money I have to worry about it." -R. A. Rogers III, 1987

When I asked my friend Bob about his view on money, he replied with these words of moderate thought.

That was back in grade 12 when I really had very little concept of the value of money. At that point my only real reference was almost abstract in nature. I had been raised to believe that it was better to give than to receive; greed being next to the root of all evil - a love for loot. Abstract because for all intents and purposes i had everything i ever needed. To quote Dylan Thomas, I was living "golden, in the mercy of his means". (Fern Hill, 1945)

My then 17-year-old brain would, as it learned in electronics class, "take the path of least resistance". As a result, I didn't really 'get' why one should save some shekels...after all, if it's just sitting there, it's extra, right? Having extra when others have less, or none seemed to me to be greedy. After all, to sit on mass wealth just to have it IS greedy, right?

I grew up in a time of prosperity. Right before the crash of the 80s, we'd moved. The house we sold fetched more than the house we bought, so we never experienced the "21% mortgage". I was 10. After that, for the most part its been easy... downhill.

I was 38 at the time of our most recent serious economic plummet.

I was il-prepared, to say the least. I'd never experienced "no cash flow", and hence learned the hard way WHY you should have a stash of extra cash. The cash can and will stop - eventually.

Two years of little-to-no income put me in a sad state - economically and emotionally. It has been a good lesson to have learned - driven home far more effectively than had i simply read about it - however it would have been better had I paid more mind to the advice given me by those who had either been there, or were wise enough to understand that economic downs are indeed real, and do indeed affect far more than your own personal standard of living.

I've been slow to blog about this, and reluctant to share the more personal side of it, for obvious reasons. But what's more, I've generally been sharing less and less of even the happier moments in life - which is yet another consequence of an economic struggle. (My best guess is that so much of my energy is directed toward resolving matters of economic survival, very little remains for much else.)

On the upside, there is a plan in place - one that goes against my grain of following the "path of least resistance", a painfully slow and seemingly plodding repair.

My biggest personal challenge is to keep on the radar the less-immediate: other people, recreational pursuits and those things spiritual that are indeed requisite and necessary for the good of the soul.

In closing, to address Bob's concern about having "...so much money I have to worry about it", I simply feel that at this point it's a problem I wouldn't mind having - after all, first-hand experience far outweighs casual observation.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Flying high

About this time two years ago I blogged (or rather, bragged) about my trip to Vancouver - specifically Chilliwack for coconut cream pie, just prior to the Olympics.

Since then, life has been - as Mike McDonald put it - "a series of ups and downs, with brief interludes of happiness." This of course applies most specifically to my work life and cash flow.

Since I have no plans for travel (summer vacay this year consisted of a day trip to Golden, blogged (or rather, bragged) about HERE.) I thought perhaps a little airline humour would be in order. I was trolling through old emails just now and came across this forward from back in August 2010, so many of you may have seen it already.

The search continues for multiple income streams. WIth my most recent application to WestJet, I consider this most blog-worthy. You'll want to click on the images to enlarge. (CTRL + SCROLL if you play on a Mac)


Kulula is a low-cost South-African airline that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Check out their new livery! And have a read about their Customer Relations.








WHAT A PITY KULULA DOESN'T FLY INTERNATIONALLY.

WE SHOULD SUPPORT THEM IF ONLY FOR THEIR HUMOUR - SO TYPICALLY SOUTH AFRICAN.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

2012

It's the new year - which also happens to be my house number.

In a conversation around the table tonight at my friend S.'s, we pondered this whole business of the proposed world end on what, December 21? When I queried the group about the significance of my house number being the same, they figured it made sense that mine would be the first to go.

Hmm... a little far-fetched, if you ask me.

My horoscope today reads:

"Your thinking is so far forward that some may have a hard time coming to terms with it. Don’t despair! You should be able to convince at least one influential person that yours is the best plan. You’re not a natural-born leader, but when called on today you’ll do what needs to be done. You’ll see the results somewhere other than your bottom line, at least for now. The pay off is in more valuable currency than money."

I've heard worse.

A few hours shut-eye, then I'm off to New Years Day brunch! Photos will follow, and if we're lucky I'll write a year-in-review post soon.

About Me

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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
English student, Pottery enthusiast, Yoga novice and lover of all people. I make friends over a warm handshake and a beverage. I discover, every day, someone willing to help me along my path.