The Left hand of God

So not a ton has been going for the past month. Mostly just getting settled down and into the daily grind of my life. Bits here and there that certainly change but nothing momentous and I rather like that truthfully.

I am pretty well used to my new home at this point although god knows that there are still plenty of things I still need to do. Furnishings, decorations, various updates on a small scale level…. truly once you own a place the work never completely ends but it certainly decreases as time flows. And as we all know, the spice must flow. The other thing that has been happening is that I have been going out and trying things in the neighbourhood. I went to Harriet brewing a few weekends ago which was fun, live music with no cover. Too bad that the beer is ‘meh’ at best. I am still a huge fan of the brewpub 4 blocks away and the bar 2 blocks away has nice atmosphere but the beer is kinda overprices and their taps are mediocre at best. then there is the light rail which I was able to explore a bit when Trevnor was visiting. It is damn nice to be able to go downtown for $2. Or free really since there seems to always be some sort of ‘ride for free’ pass going on during the weekends. So yeah, going out way more often which is a bit more expensive but …. so be it.

I am also getting settled into my new job after a full month. Its a big adjustment but so far I am happy. Sure there is no WFH but overall it was clearly the better choice and not just for the raise (although that part is great I must admit). The team of people (which just shrunk by one) is nice and helpful, the job is fine, the workload isn’t insane…. really its just a big step forward. I will probably only stay around for a year to two in this position before I actively start pursuing my next step but that’s just the nature of employment these days. Its certainly not the America that my parents grew up in.

One of the other changes going on, that was touched on just a tad, is that I am putting way more effort into financial planning than I used to. I am not sure whether its the new job/income, the new home, the fact I am getting older, something else or a combination of all of the above but I am certainly spending more time working with budgets, planning for retirement, etc. Its interesting because I have yet to stick to a budget since I actually made one. But now I am actually aware of exactly where my money is going at any given time. Plus there have a large number of random 1 off expenses since I began the entire process. At the same time I have significantly increased the amount of money that I am contributing towards my 401k. Retirement doesn’t seem like quite as much of a pipe dream as it used to be. It almost certainly won’t be what it was for the boomers but maybe I can get ahead of the people in my generation who are eyeballs in debt.

I am planning for the future in other ways as well. I have started making and bringing my lunch to work every day which is healthier and cheaper. I have started going to the gym again. I have cut way back on the beer. I am trying to lose the weight that inevitably creeps up on you as you gain a few years and get a bit more sedentary. This happens to me every so often anyway but it feels a bit more structured this time around so we shall see I suppose.

I am still taking time to enjoy myself, don’t get me wrong. Its not all budgets and sobriety. I have tickets booked for another vacation, I have been going out here and there as I mentioned previously, been reading a lot and watching netflix here and there. Very little video gaming but that’s not much of a surprise truthfully, seems that ranks lower as I get older, particularly in the summer. Got another vacation planned. One thing I haven’t been doing much of this year is riding my motorcycle. Nothing intentional, just lots of crappy weather and other obligations I suppose. It didn’t help that I couldn’t get her completely up and running until the middle of June so I have only had about 2.5 months worth of riding season and lots of other things going on there. If the weather was only better today I would probably go for a ride actually…. and still might regardless.

That’s about the story as it goes so far anyway… we’ll see what adventures come about though. There is always something over the next hill.

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