Life at Large: Taking Stock and Regrouping (Ulog No. 13)
I have been somewhat scarce on these pages for a while... but then again, I have been pretty "scarce" from pretty much anything involving social media, blogging and the like.
Which is not to say that I have been avoiding the computer, just that my time using it has been dedicated directly to the business of generating an income... and (sadly) I am back in a reality in which "playing with blogs and social media" no longer fits under the broader heading of "generating an income."
Japanese maple leaves in snow...
It's funny ("strange," not "haha") to think of this, in the broader sense of things.
Although I have been some version of self-employed since 1985, I have actually never been able to translate "enjoying myself" into any kind of reliable income stream. A temporary one, sometimes... yes, but not a reliable one. I seem to inevitably end up back at "grinding it out" simply for survival.
The "Do what you love, the money will follow" people can — quite frankly — go eat my crusty socks.
Death, Taxes and Ironies
I'm still chuckling at the irony of the fact that we have to come up with $5,500 for property taxes by April 1st so around the 1st of November I reluctantly chose to start powering down this account because there was some $4,000 there. I'd rather have stayed invested and kept plugging away at building stake here.
The irony, of course, is that about a week later the crypto markets fell off a cliff, and that $4,000 became worth $1,250. Time to re-plan and re-group.
Grass in the summer sun... could use a little "summer sun" right about now.
For a large part of my life I have wrestled with the (purely psychological) issue of feeling like I am being "persecuted" by a "mean universe" that kicks me in the balls every time I have a financial need or decision. Of course, there's no such thing... there are only poor decisions and unfortunate timing.
We tend to blithely overlook that "poor decisions" can include such things as trying to attain/live a life you can't support... learned that the hard way, in the late 1990's when my first marriage wound down.
Regrouping... and "Tangibles"
Whenever things get difficult, I always seem to end up back at dealing with "tangibles."
What I mean by that, is that I find myself leaving the "virtual" and "ideas" space and going to the space of physical tangible things. The "I have this physical object for sale" space.
A recent sunset, from our back yard. NOT color enhanced!
Which sort of made me reflect on the ongoing crypto debacle: We look at something like "an egg" or "a pair of shoes" and there's a tangible value there that most people are aware of. That value may not be the same to all people, but it does fundamentally remain, in some fashion. In contrast, we look at "one Steem" or "one Bitcoin" and all we have is an illusion; the value purely comes from belief... it's utterly intangible. My Steem doesn't actually have value till I use it to buy a gold coin... so its value exists only "by proxy," much like fiat currency. A $100-bill is merely a piece of paper with an engraved portrait of Benjamin Franklin... and it's good for nothing till we exchange it for something.
Well, about enough of these musings for now. Recycling some old photos from posts, as well, because I am also kind of done with the whole "spend two hours selecting and formatting photos and making the post pretty" gig. Just don't have the time, at the moment.
Hope everyone is doing well! Comments, as always, are invited and welcomed... because engagement does matter. Working on a "real" post about that, for some undisclosed time in the future. Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 181128 12:16 PDT
I love disc golf but try making a living from this passion of mine....translation : I totally agree with you about this silly, hyped up ,nonsensical notion of doing what you love and the money will follow. Bah humbug !!
The closest I ever came was seriously considering the pro golf tour in Europe when I was 19; played a few pro tournaments as an amateur and placed pretty well... but even then, decided against it.
"we have to come up with $5,500 for property taxes by April 1st "
I'd be interested in knowing what services you get for that $5,500?
That is a lot of money! Do you think that the services you need could be more efficiently provided by a free market where there is competition to provide services for your dollars? Are you paying for extravagant pension plans for civil servants - higher than your own?
In the US, property taxes are used to pay for local services. So the bulk of that money (probably well over half) is most likely going toward education (local K-12 public schools). The next biggest chunk is probably going toward public safety; think police/fire/EMS. That’s what my town’s budget looks like anyway.
Regarding pensions, my town shows a total education budget of about $52 million of a total town budget of $89 million. Of the education budget, $32 million goes to salaries. $1 million goes to pensions.
Police department budget is $6 million. Salaries make up 90% of that.
Town pension expense for all employees except education comes to $3 million (out of $37 million).
I'm sure some of them could be, others would be trickier; for example, I like paved roads and not having to worry about gathering a "bucket brigade" if the kitchen catches on fire. The challenge of "free markets" is that they tend towards services only the 10% wealthiest/most educated/intelligent can afford, with the remainder living in various degrees of squalor... as a result of which aforesaid 10% are at constant risk of being attacked/robbed by those in squalor.
Which isn't to say that government isn't too big and wasteful, just that all answers have problems.
I am actually really encouraged to read this, especially coming from someone like you with a mountain of life experience who has “been there, done that.” I frequently struggle with ... guilt? ... over the fact that I work a soulless 9 to 5 that inspires no spark of passion and doesn’t even come close to being something I love. I am tempted to make a drastic change and go work somewhere I am passionate about. My main problem is that I have no idea what that would even look like, much less how i could get paid to do it. So hearing you say that this is not really a practical or realistic goal to have or quest to pursue makes it much easier to soldier on in my current state.
I have missed reading your musings lately. Glad you are not leaving altogether 🙂
Nah, not leaving it altogether. But just have to give it its appropriate level of priority in the greater scheme of things, which means switching from "quite active," to "whenever I have a little time."
Not thrilled about @ned laying off 70% of the Steemit, Inc. crew... can but hope that it's an invitation for the witnesses to take more control of things around here, rather than just waiting for all the direction to come "from above."
As for "do what you love, the money will follow," I'm not suggesting it's impossible, just that it's mostly unlikely. Most of us tend to be drawn to "leisurely" and "intellectual/thought-based" things... and whereas plenty of people appreciate that, they seldom feel like they should have to pay for such things.
Funny, because I have agreed with @evilhippie to start selling things here, mostly little tangible art objects for Steem. Just to do the transformation from reality to magic dust and see what happens.
I have always liked the idea of Steem being used for something other than just "investing." After all, this does claim to be a currency, and currencies (at least to me) suggest that they are used as a medium of exchange. That's why I am also hopeful that some of the ecommerce initiatives will eventually take root.
I agree, the more trade we can create the better. I have to talk to my accountant about how to handle VAT (MOMS) etc. But we decidede that it could be a fun way to invest in crypto-currencies. Steem has some very nice features, like being fast and free, when it comes to trading.
Keep knocking out some posts even if the payouts suck!
So glad we don't have property tax in the civilized world! (we do have a few others though)
Where we used to live, we had property taxes and they would just end up as a lien against your property value till you paid them... or they exceeded the assessed value of your property, forcing a foreclosure sale. Or they came out of your proceeds if/when you sold the house. Here in Washington state, they take legal action against you when you fall 3 years behind... since we like our house, we're gonna have to "pay the piper."
A portion of my property taxes is paid as part of my mortgage payment. It tends to give me peace of mind that as long as my mortgage remains current, so does the taxes on my property and the roof over my head is secured.
Yes, that is conventionally how most property taxes are paid... since we own the property free and clear, we just get a statement with a "please pay" request. It's funny how — even without a mortgage payment — how expensive home ownership is.
Gorgeous photos !!!
And life and nature live!
Андрей Державин - Чужая свадьба
https://youtu.be
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.
Ah my friend. You are quite a posh chap to spit your mind out @denmarkguy.
Me, I certainly would have expressed it in an entirely different 'mystical' soup of letters myself.
Yeah! all a big kick in the balls fer sure. };) LoL
We are SO proud to have you as a member of our
FANTABULOUS @steemitbloggers family!
uvoted and resteemed!
❤ MWAH!!! ❤
interested in joining the Steemit Bloggers Community?
It is always something crazy. A while back they tried to say everyone was finally getting hooked up to sewage and water lines. I forget what insane amount they think everyone for next few blocks where going pay each but they were out of their mind. They were going have to tear up the brand new two time replaced in three years sidewalks as well to lay all the pipes. Just such wasteful spending. Needless to say it’s been a couple years now and shocking no one paid a cent and they have not done more than dig up a single sidewalk 1 by 1 and put a caution tape around it. No one around here has that kind of money just floating around to toss at the city.
It’s a shame when the backup plan turns out not to work either. I know I need to do some regrouping as well. Not something I need to do today but I see it on the horizon. Interesting times ahead for sure.