#1561, Tuesday, December 15: Self-indulgence near the end of the line...

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Post 1561, Day 349 of 2015
- 1,810 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Nothing is permanent. Everything changes, has ups and downs, becomes present, becomes absent. Everything.

I take comfort in that. Today, I'm considering money in light of my belief in impermanence, the inevitability of change.

Why?

Yesterday, my investment accounts hit an all-time low total return (negative). I now have less invested than what I've put in. But I don't feel bad: I still have ten percent moreeven after that loss, than I started with this year. And, that loss is on paper, I have years to go to build it up before I have to start taking some money out.

Since I am invested in dividend-paying stocks, when I do begin to tap it, I will be withdrawing those dividends, and I expect to derive a nice supplement to my income from that. I believe I am miles and miles better off than I would have been if all my money were 'safe' in a savings account.

Also yesterday, I noticed there are only seven more weeks until I begin my retirement, and my income drops by about fifty percent. So I feel I am in the last heyday of material wealth, before belt-tightening starts.

I have celebrated my transition to unemployment by making some purchases of the I-always-wanted-that kind. Sort of like the reason I choose my hats these days.

I bought a beautiful new electric jazz guitar, and an amp to go with it. I have never owned an electric guitar in my life, and I remember seeing a blonde, hollow-body, carved-top Epiphone at the Cafe Wha? when I was thirteen, and thought it was the most beautiful guitar ever. So I got one like it, but more modern, and Asian-made (buying one of those original early-60s Epiphones would cost as much as a new car).

I am not worried about the future. It never, by definition, arrives, becomes now. This is a self-indulgent impulse buy. I do that rarely these days (when I was younger, impulsively was the way I spent all my money). It's an in the moment kind of thing, but I surround it with dreams of becoming...

Nothing is permanent, you have to enjoy what comes and not hold on. At the end of a good night, the Tuesday open mic was canceled. Sigh. That was a good run.

Food and Diet Section

Today's Weight:                   203.8 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/14):          204.2 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                   -  0.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Progress! Yeah, me!

Food Log

Breakfast
A Quest bar.

Lunch

Sriracha chicken breast and guacamole on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax bread, and a salad of Kale, chard, spinach, cole slaw mix, shaved parmesan cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At Flat Iron Grill: 

Bacon-wrapped meatloaf with sautéed zucchini and winter squash. Not shown: A small salad with blue cheese dressing. 

Snack
A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 1;  Coffee:  24 oz.;  Water: 104+ oz. plus 2 shots of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey.

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