Saturday, September 14, 2013. 2,861 views
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Friday, October 11, 2013. 1,670 views
Saturday, April 24, 2010. 14,369 views
If you think your day was boring, well, I guess that's tough, because there is no such thing as a boring day around my house and boring people don't last long with this blog. But there are grouchy days,we have those here. This bout with food poisoning has left me in a weakened condition such as I have not experienced since I got out of intensive care ten years ago. I didn’t even go out to the library, so yes, I’m ill. You still have to keep hydrated and eat even if you don’t get the full nutritional benefits. This is my third day on tea and vegetables, or is it the fourth day? You just be careful I don’t steal Christmas.
The phlebotomy course is postponed, likely indefinitely. I’m not taking any lessons that demand the memorization of vast quantities of unfamiliar terms unless I have a partner taking the same course. If you think finding a single woman or honest man around this town with $1200 is easy, you must be nuts. Miracles happen, but I’ve always drawn a thick line between memorizing to pass the test and real book learning. There is a difference and somebody should tell that to Broward Community College, kind of let them in on the trade secret. Because they sure as hell don’t know the difference on their own.
Band rehearsal y’day went as predicted. Take five top quality trained musicians with experience and even the stuff we fake is studio quality. I’m rusty but the month off didn’t hurt as bad as it could have. I have more trouble remembering the name of the songs than the bass line. But we are drifting toward putting on concert-grade shows for a non-existent audience.
That music includes numbers like “California Dreamin’”, “Let’s Give ‘Em Something To Talk About”, and “When Will I Be Loved”. You like it? That could be because it is heavily “listening” music that is best played in a recording studio. Should this band ever actually connect with an important gig, we would be irreplaceable in a local sense. Just don’t hold your breath.
That’s why in the early morning hours today I looked up the stats on the short time Jag and I performed as a duo. Item 1648, yes, I keep track, shows it was an impressively cost-effective time in late 2010, and that would have been when I needed it the most. It says we learned twelve tunes which would have represented a major effort for me, but I see the list, so it must have been. Remember, there is no place you can go learn to sing and play bass at the same time. Except for isolated cases, it is just not done.
Here’s more advice. Don’t park at Dadeland if you shop Trader Joe’s. I’ve heard a lot about this restaurant, apparently it’s food from all over brought together. This location is near JZ’s place but I’ve never gone in there. As you see, they don’t get along with Dadeland. If you read the sign right, you can’t even drop into Trader Joe’s even if you just dropped a wad of cash at Dadeland. Does anyone know what the feud is? Trader Joe’s reputation is that it does not follow trends, it sets them.
ADDENDUM
My view on the economy for 2014? A holding pattern. I guessed wrongly how much the government would borrow and spend to prop up the real estate market four years ago. Foreclosures are down because the banks are no longer required to repossess. People in over their stupid heads get bailout money “so they don’t lose their homes”. Nor have people learned. Household debt grows, productivity slides, and credit card use is still growing. And in case you don’t know, there has never in history where debts at current US levels were ever paid back. It has never happened.
The three sources of revenue are borrowing, taxation, and inflation (printing money). The feds have chosen inflation, but taxes are creeping upward again. The way the US works, there are about twenty major “ifs” that could bring real disaster. The one most overlooked is how the US must grow to survive. It cannot survive even a short period of staying flat, much less a decline. Don’t quote the stock market over the last year, since most of those gains were not the underlying value of the companies, but the result of government incentives and other manipulation.
Thus, I’m still saving up for the right piece of property. My largest expense is still rent, though I probably pay less of it than most people. I’m willing to live just about anywhere to own a property, but not willing to spend a lifetime paying for it. That’s just how it works over here. I’m still kicking myself for not buying that three bedroom in Boynton. But I would have had to borrow. I’m watching for a bargain and may soon post a request for owner financing in the spring of 2014.
The presumption for me—and all budgets are based on presumption—is that once I own a property, the only remaining compulsory expense of any consequence is food. And by the time I can’t afford food, the nation will have other things to worry about. I am still concerned how everything on the grocery shelves now costs five bucks, but I knew that was going to happen and was able to prepare.
Put another way, there can hardly be any among us who does not know that every trip to the supermart these days is $30 or $40. Part of my plan for 2014 is certain items I will buy in bulk. I didn’t much before I didn’t own the place I lived and had to be ready to move due to things like condo development, rent increases, and crazy old men who think they are smarter than me. This idea that you have to survive forever is dumb. Order is always restored after chaos, and you only have to survive the first 90 days. That is, you don’t have to outrun the bear.
