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Post 2099
- 7 years and 180 days since I started this blog -
- 7 years and 180 days since I started this blog -
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I have had a series of negative things - accidents, mistakes, all, one way or another, my fault. Don't worry, I have already forgiven myself and gotten over them.
So, still happy.
First, you need to know that I've been keeping a budget since my mid-twenties. Of course, back then, it was a pencil-and-paper affair, but it made sense to me to do it back then, and there's also that matter of me being entertained by numbers - I'm a mathematics-oriented guy, since failing 10th-grade algebra. I was very taken by the first home finance program, Dollar$ and $en$e, when it came out, and when it was discontinued, I switched to the competing, adequate-but-not-as-good Quicken (for DOS), and have used it for more than thirty years now.
So, I budget.
In the last three weeks, there have been a series of unforeseen budget-busting expenses. Because I've been committed to living within my means (e.g., no debt) for the last decade (my response to the personal financial collapse I experienced in 2007 that culminated in divorce, joblessness and homelessness, and precipitated my move to Syracuse in June, 2008), I sold some stock (which is to say, I dipped into my retirement savings), and will have to sell some more a little later in the year. So, I have handled it.
I'll tell about these financially bad events, and how I responded (well, I've already told you how I responded financially, but there's the psychological element that had to be dealt with). Here's the story:
Three weeks ago, I got the formal invitation to my niece's wedding. It is going to be a big, fancy affair. I got a call from my brother, wanting to know what I thought about it, and had to consider some factors I hadn't: That I would be unable to stay at my sister's (she had a full house with out-of-town people). It became obvious to me that if I didn't help out, my brother and sister-in-law would be unable to attend the wedding. They could not afford a room in the hotel (three-hundred bucks!).
So, I encountered my first unplanned-for expense: An additional trip to Brooklyn, and the cost of an AirBnB apartment. Some of that had been anticipated in my budget, from adjustments I made when I found out about the wedding, before I knew the plans, but the cost of lodging had not been. No blame, but it turned out to be just the beginning.
Next, I had planned on spending some money getting out of Syracuse for the Winter, which meant covering travel costs in next year's budget (I had done this last year, when I bought my ticket and paid for my lodging in Chiang Mai).
Then, I found an incredibly cheap flight to Lisbon, still cheap even after adding the extra airfare from Syracuse, and bought it. Finding good, cheap lodging, though, was difficult - given the longer stay and higher costs, it was three times as expensive as Chiang Mai had been (although the airfare was cheaper). I realized also that my day-to-day living in Portugal would be more expensive as well, but that was next year's problem.
I made changes to my budget, but I was quickly approaching my limit. And I had decided to go back to Chiang Mai as well, and proceeded to book that. Even extending my time to a month, I found a good airfare and AirBnB room that, with manipulation of other budgetary items, didn't bust my budget - but definitely left me with no slack.
I had booked my Chiang Mai flight around plans to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I thought Mardi Gras was the second Tuesday in March, but after booking my flight and getting my AirBnB (and after a few days had passed, including the long weekend I wrote about last Tuesday), I found out I was wrong about that date, wrong about what I "knew". It turns out the day of Mardi Gras is set by something called the Ecclesiastical moon, some kind of Church nonsense, and the date can vary within six weeks. This year, Mardi Gras is the first Tuesday in March. I'd been off by three weeks! I would be in Chiang Mai when Mardi Gras happened. I'd have to miss it, or re-book.
I made the fiscally irresponsible but culturally necessary decision to re-book. And broke my budget, right there, because that exercise cost me over $400. But I remained true to my priorities, and saw that If I took some cash out of my margin account, I could cover that overage. I didn't like it, but the decision felt right, and was definitely the one that favored happiness.
That was my second unanticipated, un-budgeted expense.
The next hit came by a sad accident. After a night of revelry, including a concert and a birthday celebration, I had a comical and costly accident. Slightly drunk at the end of the evening, I was taking a post-midnight walk on the Creek Walk in downtown Syracuse when my phone rang. Struggling to get it out of my 'murse' in the near dark, it went flying overhead, bounced off a couple of rocks, and ended up in the creek (to all intents and purposes, an open sewer).
I bought a new iPhone the next day, for an out-of-pocket cost $300, and a further additional $30/month, which, after my switch to T-mobile is still less than I was paying for Verizon, but that was one of the things that changed my budget... So it still had an effect.
I had a dentist appointment Thursday, which was free. But I was told I had a broken crown. Saturday morning, I got the reply from my insurance company for my estimated out-of-pocket cost for that: $800.
Saturday night, I met up with band-mates Tami and Brian after a show they did. I was getting impatient waiting for them in the parking lot, and took out my phone to call and make sure they were okay, when Brian tapped me on the shoulder and startled me. I dropped the phone, and shattered my three-day-old screen. Another $180 to repair.
Let's recap: unforeseen expenses for niece Katie's wedding, expensive travel booking error, new phone, dental cost, screen repair. About two grand in unforeseen, unplanned, unbudgeted expenses. Of which, only the dental work was, strictly speaking, necessary.
Yet, at no point did I allow money issues to change my mood. I let go of the immediate anger-anxiety response as each thing happened, and figured out, after coping, how to adjust.
That's what my habitual gratefulness has brought to my life - an unshakable sense of calm and acceptance, and the ability to not let external things determine one's happiness.
Is it weird to be grateful for gratitude?
Today's Weight: 201.9 lbs.
Previous Weight (6/28/18): 201.4 lbs.
So, still happy.
First, you need to know that I've been keeping a budget since my mid-twenties. Of course, back then, it was a pencil-and-paper affair, but it made sense to me to do it back then, and there's also that matter of me being entertained by numbers - I'm a mathematics-oriented guy, since failing 10th-grade algebra. I was very taken by the first home finance program, Dollar$ and $en$e, when it came out, and when it was discontinued, I switched to the competing, adequate-but-not-as-good Quicken (for DOS), and have used it for more than thirty years now.
So, I budget.
In the last three weeks, there have been a series of unforeseen budget-busting expenses. Because I've been committed to living within my means (e.g., no debt) for the last decade (my response to the personal financial collapse I experienced in 2007 that culminated in divorce, joblessness and homelessness, and precipitated my move to Syracuse in June, 2008), I sold some stock (which is to say, I dipped into my retirement savings), and will have to sell some more a little later in the year. So, I have handled it.
I'll tell about these financially bad events, and how I responded (well, I've already told you how I responded financially, but there's the psychological element that had to be dealt with). Here's the story:
Three weeks ago, I got the formal invitation to my niece's wedding. It is going to be a big, fancy affair. I got a call from my brother, wanting to know what I thought about it, and had to consider some factors I hadn't: That I would be unable to stay at my sister's (she had a full house with out-of-town people). It became obvious to me that if I didn't help out, my brother and sister-in-law would be unable to attend the wedding. They could not afford a room in the hotel (three-hundred bucks!).
So, I encountered my first unplanned-for expense: An additional trip to Brooklyn, and the cost of an AirBnB apartment. Some of that had been anticipated in my budget, from adjustments I made when I found out about the wedding, before I knew the plans, but the cost of lodging had not been. No blame, but it turned out to be just the beginning.
Next, I had planned on spending some money getting out of Syracuse for the Winter, which meant covering travel costs in next year's budget (I had done this last year, when I bought my ticket and paid for my lodging in Chiang Mai).
Then, I found an incredibly cheap flight to Lisbon, still cheap even after adding the extra airfare from Syracuse, and bought it. Finding good, cheap lodging, though, was difficult - given the longer stay and higher costs, it was three times as expensive as Chiang Mai had been (although the airfare was cheaper). I realized also that my day-to-day living in Portugal would be more expensive as well, but that was next year's problem.
I made changes to my budget, but I was quickly approaching my limit. And I had decided to go back to Chiang Mai as well, and proceeded to book that. Even extending my time to a month, I found a good airfare and AirBnB room that, with manipulation of other budgetary items, didn't bust my budget - but definitely left me with no slack.
I had booked my Chiang Mai flight around plans to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I thought Mardi Gras was the second Tuesday in March, but after booking my flight and getting my AirBnB (and after a few days had passed, including the long weekend I wrote about last Tuesday), I found out I was wrong about that date, wrong about what I "knew". It turns out the day of Mardi Gras is set by something called the Ecclesiastical moon, some kind of Church nonsense, and the date can vary within six weeks. This year, Mardi Gras is the first Tuesday in March. I'd been off by three weeks! I would be in Chiang Mai when Mardi Gras happened. I'd have to miss it, or re-book.
I made the fiscally irresponsible but culturally necessary decision to re-book. And broke my budget, right there, because that exercise cost me over $400. But I remained true to my priorities, and saw that If I took some cash out of my margin account, I could cover that overage. I didn't like it, but the decision felt right, and was definitely the one that favored happiness.
That was my second unanticipated, un-budgeted expense.
The next hit came by a sad accident. After a night of revelry, including a concert and a birthday celebration, I had a comical and costly accident. Slightly drunk at the end of the evening, I was taking a post-midnight walk on the Creek Walk in downtown Syracuse when my phone rang. Struggling to get it out of my 'murse' in the near dark, it went flying overhead, bounced off a couple of rocks, and ended up in the creek (to all intents and purposes, an open sewer).
I bought a new iPhone the next day, for an out-of-pocket cost $300, and a further additional $30/month, which, after my switch to T-mobile is still less than I was paying for Verizon, but that was one of the things that changed my budget... So it still had an effect.
I had a dentist appointment Thursday, which was free. But I was told I had a broken crown. Saturday morning, I got the reply from my insurance company for my estimated out-of-pocket cost for that: $800.
Saturday night, I met up with band-mates Tami and Brian after a show they did. I was getting impatient waiting for them in the parking lot, and took out my phone to call and make sure they were okay, when Brian tapped me on the shoulder and startled me. I dropped the phone, and shattered my three-day-old screen. Another $180 to repair.
Let's recap: unforeseen expenses for niece Katie's wedding, expensive travel booking error, new phone, dental cost, screen repair. About two grand in unforeseen, unplanned, unbudgeted expenses. Of which, only the dental work was, strictly speaking, necessary.
Yet, at no point did I allow money issues to change my mood. I let go of the immediate anger-anxiety response as each thing happened, and figured out, after coping, how to adjust.
That's what my habitual gratefulness has brought to my life - an unshakable sense of calm and acceptance, and the ability to not let external things determine one's happiness.
Is it weird to be grateful for gratitude?
Food and Diet
Net Loss/Gain: + 0.5 lbs.
Diet Comment
I admit to being a little disappointed, but not at all surprised - the chief thing wrong with yesterday's eating was zero vegetables and lots of salt, and, even sugar-free chocolate gets half it's calorie content from carbs, and I ate a lot of chocolate late last night - so, a weight gain from fluid retention. Not only that, but I totally blew up at the after-gig meal at Denny's tonight. Starting the weekend off badly, and knowing what's coming, will get worse, in a socially enjoyable way.
Food Log
Breakfast
4:40pm: Brussel sprouts with eggs and prosciutto, and two ounces of sugar-free chocolate.
Lunch
Skipped.
Dinner
10:50pm, at Denny's: Bacon avocado cheeseburger with bacon-cheese tater tots and a chocolate peanut butter shake. Later, at home, two ounces of sugar-free dark chocolate.
Liquid Intake
4:40pm: Brussel sprouts with eggs and prosciutto, and two ounces of sugar-free chocolate.
Lunch
Skipped.
Dinner
10:50pm, at Denny's: Bacon avocado cheeseburger with bacon-cheese tater tots and a chocolate peanut butter shake. Later, at home, two ounces of sugar-free dark chocolate.
Liquid Intake
Espressos: 1; Coffee: 20 oz.; Tea: 0 oz.; Water: 64+ oz. and some unspecified quantity of Jameson's Irish whiskey.
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