Monday, March 13, 2017

ass straws 3


ASS STRAWS 3

Because there seems to be a fair amount of interest in my upcoming divorce from the workaday world, given the level of submitted comments-you do read the comments, right?- I thought I’d extend the “sucking ass through a straw” articles by one more posting.  Everybody’s first line of questioning, reasonable given their curiosity as how they might apply this information to themselves, is How Can I Afford To Do This.  Then follows, If I Do This, How Can I Avoid Being Bored To Death.  Well, of course we can all do this financially.  I’ve been harping on that for decades.  And as far as boredom, that is just a problem of discipline.  There, you are welcome.  No, I’m kidding.  I’ll go ahead and elaborate for a few pages just because I can’t make everything easy for you.  Anyone can throw up a hundred word article, surround it by twenty three video ads that take five minutes each to download on broadband, and call themselves a survivalist guru.  And they do-and then they all pick each other for inclusion into “the top 100 prepper web sites”.  One wonders if the operators are all descendents of Barnum.  No, here you get mind numbing detail in text rather than graphics.  Deal with it.

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Inflated word counts are NOT a marketing ploy to give you a warm and fuzzy feeling your money is well spent.  If anything, most online survivalist publications are not long enough, with print versions being padded and far too lengthy ( such as Ragnar Benson’s last floating turd “Survival End Game” which, at 100 pages, was excruciatingly painfully extended drivel.  I couldn’t read it, literally.  Either the guy is 101 years old and demented or his estate got a ghost writer to churn out some horrid slop ).  No, I’ve tried to give you both entertainment value and extended knowledge to optimize your decision making process and hope I’ve succeeded.  By your generous support, I think I’m doing okay.  And by generous, I mean a buck a month.  Generous, as in more contributors than your average blog.  I don’t want that much from any of you, but I do expect a token from all but the most poor ( if you truly can’t afford a buck a month, no worries.  I’m worried about making enough to live on but I’m also concerned about truly helping others.  It isn’t just about ego-my words being read-or money-my readers paying for all my hard work.  It is also about being a contributing decent human rather than a greedy merchant ).

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I can live off $200 a month.  This is what I’ve averaged over many years in writing income.  Half to the NOL to live here in town, a quarter for food and a quarter for incidentals.  You know, such luxuries as transportation ( bike parts-some of which have doubled ), clothing ( thrift store clothes are cheap but I insist on new underwear and socks ) and publishing costs ( e-mail is $40 a year, $60 to host the web site none of you use, $25 for Adobe software ) as well as a few odds and ends such as Christmas presents and the annual trip to visit my folks and the $45 property tax that keeps increasing 10% a year.  Before the Big Squishy economic dump of 2008, I was averaging $300-$400 a month in writing income.  Less money is reaching my loyal minions now so the drop was expected.  Amazon commissions are generous to me but taxing on the readers to maintain regularly ( which is why I’ll be diversifying away from Amazon dependence ).  Already, just with the decrease in stress from informing work I’ll be quitting, I’ve had increased clarity mentally and feel I can offer up much more in value and boost that income to $300 a month.  Then I’d have zero money concerns.  If not, fine.  I’ll adapt, overcome and improvise.

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As I’ve been trying to tell you, being self employed pays poorly.  But if you can live on far less, it doesn’t matter.  If you could quit your job, would you REALLY miss owning a car?  I sure don’t.  I still to this day pedal off into the blowing snow with hatred in my heart for all things internal combustion engine.  I don’t want tools that chain me to a sucking ass through a straw job.  Okay, as far as being bored, it really isn’t a worry.  Look at old people.  The retired.  If they engage in time wasters such as TV and reading, all day, they grow weary and die sooner.  But look at the ones who seem destined to live until a hundred and three.  They stay busy.  They go for a walk every morning ( well, really a “shuffle” more than a walk ), they sweep their front steps every day.  Inside they probably can be imagined as vacuuming and dusting every day, needed or not.  They make a ritual out of dozens of activities, the point of which aren’t that they are necessary but that they keep you busy, and not just with a few things.  But dozens.  Let’s compare my schedule with a paycheck and without.

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With a job, I awoke an hour and a quarter prior to leaving.  Changing the ads on the blog, answering comments, checking a few regular sites for new content-that took about a half hour.  The rest of the time is eating breakfast, taking the dog out, personal hygiene and the like.  A half hour on the bike taking the long way to work for my cardio, twenty minutes on my time at work to get everything ready and paperwork filled, then five hours working.  A half hour to get packed up and bike home ( mainly waiting at traffic lights as the streets are always mobbed now-the cheese dingus whore masters ) and a half hour walking the dog and drinking coffee and making lunch ( I drink one cup on awaking and three after work to fuel my brain for writing ).  An hour to an hour and a half writing.  Rolling cigarettes and chatting with the NOL as she arrives home, call it a good half hour.  An hour of Internet reading.  Showering and shaving rounds us up to twelve hours.

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The planned schedule when NOT going to a job is as such.  An hour on the blog and breakfast, then an hour writing.  Walk the dog.  Bike out to my place, dig for an hour and a half hour other maintenance issues such as removing scrub brush, cleaning or what not.  That is three hours right there ( the two months of severe winter with snow on the road, I’m still working on a substitute there.  The bike ride I can do in a loop in town on the cleared sections, but the muscle workout I’ll need to substitute somehow ).  Getting home, another hour writing.  Half hour cigarettes and another dog walk ( I’ll also need to plan on the dog passing as there won’t be a replacement ).  Half hour visiting the NOL.  An hour Internet reading.  An hour book reading.  Then I’ll be cooking dinner.  Right now I do so two days a week but I’ll be switching that to five.  The two days off the NOL can cook.  I’ll also be doing more Old People Chores.  More daily detail cleaning.  Mostly unneeded, but filling in the other two hours to equal the twelve total I filled while seeking a paycheck. 

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Am I wasting my life in Make Work, filling in the clock until death?  Of course not.  I’m paying the other half of the rent in labor, and I’m staying healthy and I’m freeing my mind to mull over the next batch of writing.  It is all positive, not a negative.  See how easy that all was?

END

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21 comments:

  1. You have a very strange definition of 'easy' lol Can't say I know what an NOL is but damn, $200/month in writing? I look forward to the day I'm making that much. So far I'm averaging roughly $2.80 or so per month, but thankfully things are starting to improve. I figured out how to make my books free on Kindle. It's only temporary but I'll be able to put the new book Firearm Valhalla as well as Living amongst the Dead for free at the same time once I get around to finishing up that Guest Article for you. So hey, that sounds pretty good huh? New blog and free books! I've actually set one of them for free just to see how it works but it has nothing to do with your blog so I won't bother with that.

    As far as 'wasting life' is concerned, I don't think there's such a thing provided you're doing what you enjoy and it makes you happy. It's when you're stuck ALWAYS doing things that you don't want to do, when you don't have time to explore the passions you have in life, the things that drive you, THAT is when your life is being wasted. That's my view anyways. Been looking for a profession that gives me joy for over 5 years now, perhaps I'll manage to someday make writing that profession. That would truly make me enjoy life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "NOL" is New Old Lady. The last wife was "#4" or "the BTN" ( Better Than Nothing ). The baby momma was "HOL", a play on the 2001 evil computer HAL. Stood for Handmaiden Of Lucifer.

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  2. Hmmm.... I think you may end up busier than you think working on your lot(s). I know I can easily spend many days just doing the most basic maintenance on just one corner of my primary lot; if I am willing to devote the time. I would usually rather excavate or build than trim bushes, kill weeks, cut down brush, etc. But clearing the unnecessary stuff pays off in lots of ways (wildfire prevention, wildlife repulsion, etc). It really sucks to find out that a rabbit thought your solar panel wires were a nice garnish to your cardboard and plastic underlayment.

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    1. My Test Pit is caving in ( too much moisture trapped underground eroded the post, I think ), I still have garbage bags full of crap from the ex to throw away. I need to weed much further out. More sage to cut. THEN I can get into other stuff like a handrail on the steps down to the B-POD, shoring up one sandy wall spot, etc. Oh yes, I shall stay busy.

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    2. You can get sand bags pretty cheap and find instructions on line for using what you dig out of the pit to fill the bags. This can give you very sturdy walls, fill in behind with rocks to support the wall and allow any water to drain away, and you could end up with a nice place.

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    3. I thought you needed a specific type of soil in them?

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  3. the problem Jim is you made "survival" to easy.
    1. stay warm and dry
    2. eat regular and stay regular
    3. try not to get shot, stabbed, bludgeoned.

    What else is there to say?

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    Replies
    1. Of course I made it too easy, and yet, three plus million words later I'm still blathering. That is skill, my friend! :)

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  4. Now that you live in town maybe you can make some coin by having a garage/yard sale once a month. Become a "flipper" of small crap that you obtain for little or nothing, and then sell it on Saturdays during the warm part of the year.

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    Replies
    1. GAAAA!!!! I think I'd rather shovel snow for $5 an hour than haggle prices with blue hairs.

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    2. Around here the blue hairs are becoming just another cog in the garage sale machine. I go to quite a few and you can tell times are tough,people from all walks of life and all ages are garagin.
      One thing though u better learn a little spanish.

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    3. I didn't even think about the Latinos. I just don't feel my sanity needs to dicker endlessly.

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    4. PRICE YOUR STUFF. No haggle. Price it cheap, or price most of it cheap (the good/new/fully-functional stuff can have a 30% of best sale-discount price at a store). Make sure to have some small stuff for twenty-five cents each that is of no value to you that you paid nothing for. This will keep them coming back.
      I've been a small operator of used merch in pdx since 1997, and have a great margin (free to something) on the unique junque, generating a small income from almost no effort. pdxr13

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    5. I hear what you are saying-it works for you. Some folks have a radar for this kind of salvage. Good on you. Me? Not a people person, no network, no desire to. Other people, this should work well, as long as your transportation costs don't get out of control. And you can live on a micro-income. The key to any future successful business. Low costs, lower cost of living.

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  5. Awkward scenario... Do you intend to regularly visit the food bank for freebies, this time as a customer?
    Peace out

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    Replies
    1. I never want to see the place again. I'll be able to outlast them, financially.

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  6. Everything always works perfectly, on paper.

    The best learning comes from finding solutions to problems that pop out of nowhere. Not just 1 problem. 5 problems at 1 time. "Problems" is Murphy's older brother.

    You don't drink nearly enough coffee and you put way too much cream and sugar in it. To stay on the balls of your feets for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, for years on end, you need jet fuel baby, black and hot and constant. Well, maybe a little sugar and cream, but just a little, to make it palatable.

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    Replies
    1. I think Murphy is an asswipe. That make Problems a hemmoroid.

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  7. Last night I ordered a 10 pak of black Magpul 30 rd pmags in 5.56 for $80 at MidwayUSA. After thinking about it for a spell I think I'm going over there and ordering 10 more.

    Last time I used clips was when reloading mags for the M16 in the army. What a pain in the ass, that I'm not willing to repeat.

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    Replies
    1. I don't seem to recall it being a problem, but memory has faded to just carrying the clips rather than loading with them. I could be way off. Still, even if a PITA, it seems a useful tool.

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  8. Loaded magazines do a good job of protecting the cartridges. Stripper clips make for lighter and more compact re-load of magazines. Strippers in bandoliers are the best of both.
    You can get Canadian C-1 FAL in "poodle shooter" 5.56? No?

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