No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

October 2016

This post marks almost a year of ER.

I am trying to optimize my morning stretch routine. I call it "Stretching for Old People".

Stretching for Old People

Do each of these for 30 breaths except for the optional one. I try to meditate and focus on my breathing while stretching and counting breaths.

1. Reach for the Sky, while standing, raise arms, arch back with belly forward
2. Touch the Earth, while standing put hands on ground in front of feet
3. Squat, move to squat position with hands between legs
4. All Fours, support yourself with hands and feet, as if in upper pushup position
5. Back Arch, lay on stomach, raise torso with arms, look up
6. Cross Leg Sit, sit on floor with crossed legs, lean forward
7. Sitting Leg Stretches, from Cross Leg Sit, extend one leg forward and lean in that direction, do both legs
8. Side Leg Stretches, lay on back, arms to each side, lift leg up and over to other side turning hips, turn head to opposite side, do both legs
9. Optional - Back bridge, lay on back with feet near butt, fists next to head, lift body supporting with feet, fists and head for a few seconds.

Meal Prepping

My breakfasts are water, coffee, fruit and a homemade breakfast burrito. I make 16 of them at a time and freeze them, which takes about 2 hours. In the interest of not gaining weight, I eat a breakfast burrito and try not to eat anything else until dinner time (evening meal).

Breakfast Burritos (usually made in a batch of 8 or 16)

large tortilla
1 Tbs refried beans
2 Tbs mashed potatos
2 Tbs scrambled eggs
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp bacon bits
1 Tbs grated cheese

Roll into a burrito. Wrap in tin foil. Put in ziploc bag and store in freezer. Thaw in refrigerator for a day, remove foil, heat in microwave and serve.

The cost is about $1 per burrito.

You can add small amounts of other things to the burrito, such as: sweet potato, corn, chickpeas, carmelized onions, cream cheese, sauteed mushrooms, sauerkraut.

I intend to try to improve this recipe by adding vegetables (cole slaw mix, sauerkraut) to improve nutrients, and by calculating calories/fat and adjust the portioning to what I think I need to eat.

The benefits of meal prepping are: you can make what tastes good, you can control what and how much you eat, it is inexpensive, it reduces the time spent on cooking each day.

Minimalism

I am in saving mode at the moment, waiting to find out the impact of health insurance and income tax on my budget. For the next few months, I am trying not to spend anything other than for food/housing and important maintenance items. I am getting good practice at saying no to many impulsive desires that pop up in my head. I find myself "bottoming out" with minimalism, in other words, it can become boring and I need to think of things to do. The first impulse is to buy something, but if you can get past that, you can get to the point of reading, writing, exercising, building or some other activity which is more creative and uses what you already have.

There are very few things that I am required to do each day. Daily household work and maintenance can be done in just a few hours. The rest of the time, I can choose what I want to do. It is not always easy making the right choices, I still spend too much screentime sitting around. I have to be creative to avoid boredom without starting some expensive project.

Alcohol

I was looking back at my logs and found it somewhat pathetic that each month I would resolve to drink less alcohol and yet I did not do anything about it. So I stopped drinking alcohol. There are occasional desires to drink but not too bad.

Travel

Last month we drove to northern Ontario and van camped along Lake Superior near Wawa, and near the west side of Algonquin Park. The natural beauty was spectacular. Canada is too expensive to spend a lot of time in, however. I went backpacking in northern Michigan and was exhausted and had foot pain. I feel like I am getting too old for some of the adventures I dream up. It is good to do more than you can handle sometimes, but not when it makes you feel like you have failed when you are done. Next time I will try to condition myself better, hike shorter distances each day and get better shoes. I do not plan to drive out west this winter due to some health issues and the cost of travel. Although we may drive south for a shorter trip in February, to escape the winter for a short time.

Fitness

After some interruption due to travel, backpacking overexertion and recovery, I need to restart my bodyweight and cardio routines. I am clearing an area in my garage to allow for a pullup bar, parallel bars, jumprope area and staff spinning. This should keep me going during snowy weather when I can't bike or walk outside easily.

Projects

During the summer I found a cheap folding kayak in relatively good condition. I have been slowly building a sailing rig for it (leeboard, rudder, mast partner and step, mast, sprit rig). When I am done it will be a good long distance touring machine with the possibility to sleep aboard. In my garage workshop, I have many bits and pieces of sailing gear so have been able to put most of it together without buying expensive equipment.

I need to install an antenna for my ham rig. We have new neighbors who trimmed trees and are keeping up the property nicely, so my old method of hanging wire in trees may not work anymore. Between not wanting to spend any money and not knowing which antenna to put up, I am currently in analysis paralysis. Time is running out, when the snow flies it will be too late for this season (we get a lot of snow). I mainly listen and don't talk much, so all I really need is a wire outside somewhere, but as a matter of pride I like to have a fully functional transceiver.

Cleaning and Organizing

Cleaning and organizing is a thankless job that is surprisingly difficult to do. When you are cleaning up, it seems like you are not getting anything done and it feels like you could be building something instead of cleaning. In fact, cleaning is an essential part of building, or at least preparation for building. Organizing is a complex mental exercise of figuring out how to store things so you can find them again, and performing triage as to what to keep, what to pack away, and what to throw out. I am trying to spend a lot of my time doing cleaning and organizing. There is a big benefit to mental clarity and satisfaction once you have cleaned and organized an area.

Maintenance

I am currently caught up with vehicle maintenance (knock on wood). I often think about going car-free and how this would simplify my life. I have learned quite a bit about doing repairs on my own, which is satisfying. It is easy to spend more than necessary when you DIY car repairs, through mis-diagnosis and changing parts out to see if it fixes the problem. But that is part of learning.

The house is ready for winter. I do have to plan for painting in the spring, and reroofing the garage at some time.

Work

Sometimes I think about getting a job, for something interesting to do as much as for some extra money. But jobs require you to show up at certain times, so I don't think I want to do that. It would be nice to learn a new skill, or practice excellence in an old skill. It would be nice to be around people all day, although people who are forced to be around each other out of economic necessity are not always nice to each other. I think what I am looking for is not a traditional work situation and I haven't found it yet.

Social

We have had friends over a few times this month and will be visiting others soon. It is nice but it does not really satisfy the need to be part of a tribe. I am part of a few internet forums, but this type of engagement is somewhat artificial. Ideally I would like to be part of a group of people working on fitness, gardening or building things (motors, electronics, computers, makers). At the same time I am somewhat reserved and want to protect my privacy from crazy people or people who criticize. I don't want to get into a group which requires purchasing expensive equipment, and I don't want to pretend I can keep up with fit younger people in a fitness activity. I live in a town that is very seasonal, and winter time can be lonely. I have made some progress by getting together with people but it is not even close to what I need as a social being. However, I don't believe that my ideal social group exists, so optimization of what does exist is the better path to follow.

Calendar

Spending more attention to scheduling things has really paid off in improving life. Putting an event on the calendar is half the battle towards making it happen. Originally, I thought that waking up every day and deciding what to do that day was like paradise; the problem is that nothing extraordinary ever happens by itself. Adventure needs to be conceptualized, planned and brought into being. Of course, not every step needs to be planned, but the event needs to grow out of one's imagination to come into being. The skill of imagining and creating activities and events is critical to fully living one's life.

Goals

Conceptualize and implement interesting things to do
Meet people and create a social network
Eat food by rational choice
Be active with physical fitness activities

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

November 2016

Health Insurance

We selected a higher deductible health insurance for 2017 and reduced the cost for two people from $770 to $462 per month. The old deductible was about $7,000 and the new is $14,000.

Spending Fast and Reducing Consumption

I am in a spending fast in November, restricting my spending to food and fuel. I am making a list of things I want/need but have also been able to find free stuff to avoid buying stuff on my list. It is fairly easy for me to not purchase things because I have collected a lot of stuff over the years (wood, fasteners, bike parts, camping gear). I am not in complete control of my spending, my wife also purchases things, so the spending fast may not be such a monumental accomplishment. I went out to a restaurant only one time in November.

In late November, I broke my spending fast by purchasing some electronic components and an online course, so I did not make it the entire month without spending money. However, looking at the list of things I wanted to purchase, many of those things are unnecessary and I may not buy them at all.

I considered stopping driving for a time, with the idea to use a bicycle for food shopping. I hesitated because we love to take long rides through the countryside and because my favorite food store is across a highway with a somewhat risky section of road for a bicyclist. I could get off the bike and walk on the grass at the highway exit ramp, which would reduce the danger. The city in which I live is a good candidate for no car living, however I love being mobile and seeing the land. I often drive with no destination in mind, just to look at the country.

I have reduced the number of internet sites that I participate in. I try to start my browsing sessions by searching on keywords of interest rather than clicking on bookmarks or reading through reddit. I still spend a lot of time on the internet. I started an online course.

Social Engagement

In the past month, I went from being lonely to having so many social engagements as to wish for private time. So I stopped creating events for a period of time, then started to get bored and now wish for company again. It seems that the many lonely people out there desperately need someone to create events and invite them to the event. I wondered whether people would even want to come visit but each time it was greatly appreciated and I was thanked many times for hosting.

Event Planning and Hosting

Create a contact list of persons who you would like to socially engage with.
Select a date about two weeks into the future.
Select the people who you would like to invite to an event.
Make up a name and short description of the event.
Two weeks prior to the event, send an email with the name, description, time, date and location of the event to all of the people you would like to invite.
One week prior to the event, call the people you would like to invite and chat with them, ask them if they will be coming.
Four days prior to the event, call anyone who is bringing something (food, drinks, alcohol) to find out if you have everything you need.
One day prior to the event, buy any food or beverages needed, and clean up the area where the event will happen.
On the day, prep any food and beverages.
Be a gracious host, welcome everyone, serve everyone, talk to everyone, thank them for coming.
Clean up.

Fitness

I drank alcohol one time this month, and did not care for the effect. Perhaps I will not drink alcohol at all any more. This is a major shift from someone who at one time was known as a homebrewer and a connoissuer of the malt beverage.

I am bicycling or walking between one and two hours a day. I have neglected my stretching and bodyweight fitness this month and hereby resolve to spend more time on them.

Skills

I learned a new skill, to darn socks. This month I am keeping a threaded needle on my dresser and every time I discover a sock with a hole in it, I immediately stitch it up.

Food and Lifestyle

Meal prepping continues to provide dividends of free time, good food, easy meal preparation and calorie control at low cost. I continue to make a batch of breakfast burritos and freeze them, taking out one per day to defrost (I eat a "normal" dinner). Most recently, I made 24 burritos in three hours, which cost well under $1 each. The size and calorie content of each burrito can be portioned based on one's needs. It is easy to size the portions to avoid eating too much. Burritos are a packet of food, and packetizing food consumption makes it easier for me to limit my caloric intake to a certain schedule. I take one burrito out of the freezer each day so my consumption is defined and there is not more food available for snacking (in theory). For weight loss, I can decide to skip breakfast and eat a burrito at noon.

I fantasize about a vandwelling, meal prepping lifestyle, where I drive to a store, purchase ingredients, cook and prepare a half month of meals with fresh ingredients, store them in a solar powered freezer and drive off to camp in a remote location with food prepared for two weeks. One could live at extremely low cost, with the only daily responsibilities being personal hygiene, fitness, gear maintenance and organization. Suddenly, one's day becomes entirely available for reading, personal interests, socializing, crafting, meditation, pleasure and observing nature.

I miss the desert. This time of year before the winter holidays is usually a time of long nights, cold temperatures and binging on chocolate and high calorie snacks, which are a weakness of mine. If the choice were mine, I would travel during this time to escape the traditions of the holiday season.

Politics

Despite the advice from my respected teacher, Epicurus, I became a political candidate for public office. The mental disturbances manifested themselves almost immediately as I played an internal 3D chess game against multiple players day and night. I justify this disturbance to my tranquility as being necessary to defend the quality of life in the place I live. I am currently fascinated by direct democracy and collaborative democracy.

Ongoing Goals

My goals are essentially the same as last month, and I did a fairly good job of accomplishing them this month. Next month I will try to optimize and make incremental improvements.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

December, 2016

I packed most of my clothes into a bin, and am trying to live on a reduced number of clothes. My goal is to reduce my clothes inventory. I currently use one set of clothes for exercise, one set for working (garden or mechanic stuff), one set of morning clothes (soft clothes) and one good set of clothes. I'm not trying to live out of one bag, but in that direction. I cleared out one drawer in my chest of drawers and am using just that drawer at the moment, although it does not hold all my clothes, it holds most. Through the month I have been more or less following this strategy. I am not throwing the unused clothes away yet, I am keeping them for the future.

I am moving toward a plant based diet, with a focus on simplifying preparation. My current favorite plant based meal is bean tacos, which is cooked beans with shredded cabbage, nutritional yeast flakes and hot sauce on toasted corn tortillas. Thats it, and it is my usual lunch. I continue to meal prep breakfast burritos with these same ingredients in flour tortillas. So my chosen diet is pretty monotonous, but it is food that I eat with pleasure and look forward to. During this month I learned about health benefits of sprouts and have started a routine of sprouting, with the intention of replacing chopped cabbage with sprouts on my burritos and tacos.

My changes in diet caused some disruption in our household. We had an unspoken custom that we eat together and share meals. My switch to breakfast burritos eliminated eating breakfast together. Then I started skipping lunch in order to lose weight, so my wife had to cook for herself. This worked fine, except that there was a transition period where she felt uncomfortable cooking for herself and not cooking anything for me. I had to reassure her that I did not want any food and she should cook something that she liked for herself. Once she was comfortable with that, we could both eat what we liked. We still eat dinner together, but I try to opt out when possible and eat my preferred food, bean tacos. December is a month of chocolate binging, cake consumption and rich holiday dinners. I am not trying to stop the binges but I weigh myself each morning and if I am above a certain weight, I don't eat breakfast. If I am above a certain weight plus 2 pounds, I don't eat breakfast or lunch. That is my attempt to rationally control my diet. I am finishing the month at my target weight, which means the rational approach worked. Next month I will go back to dropping weight.

In early December, we experienced heavy snow over a long period of time. I stopped walking and stayed inside for the most part. I went into hibernation mode and did not exercise much. I have taken advantage of good weather later in the month to do my daily hour of walking.

I spent time organizing my electronic hobby stuff and generally going through my gear. A lot of internet time viewing videos and reading trivia. Too much internet time leads me to dreaming of travel and adventure. It is early in the winter season, too early to be getting restless already. I am getting things accomplished, but am running out of things to do. I believe that every person is responsible for their own boredom, and one must discover interesting things to do. Hopefully I can find things to do for the remaining months of winter.

I accomplished a number of geeky things this month, such as learning to use sailing routing software to find the optimum route based on wind forecasts. I used the software (qtVlm) to race in a simulation race on sailonline.org and did pretty well racing against the experts. It was 6 days of focusing on the race, waking up to process wind forecast changes every six hours and strategizing for most of my waking hours. Normally I would not spend so much time on a simulation like this but it was blizzarding outside, so I'm glad I had something of interest to do while trapped inside. I installed a few computer games which was OK but I got bored after playing the first or second game. I built some ham radio stuff which worked. I am quite happy about what I accomplished, however, the lack of exercise and too many hours at the screen made me feel depressed and desperate for a change. I need to switch out of the digital screen watching mode and focus more on exercise and living in the natural reality rather than the virtual.

My net worth is looking good. At the end of the year, I can say that this was the best year of my life. Life never stops providing challenges, and financial independence does not mean that one lives in an ideal paradise of 100% happiness, but it is pretty close and you can get closer and closer. Over the past year I have learned, and I now know how to live to be happy. For me, happiness means having modest, very selective desires and interests, that are achievable with the limited resources of time, energy and money that I have available. This breaks the behavioral pattern of trying to buy happiness by purchasing things. When you start looking at what really brings happiness, health comes to the forefront. Eating a simple, healthy diet and exercising for an hour a day have become the key activities in my life. After one's own health, social aspects are important and relationships deserve care and attention. Surprisingly, the most important things in life come with very little cost. It takes discipline to make the right choices, and to follow up the rational decisions that one makes with appropriate behavior. If a person can control their desires and follow the rational path, life and happiness await them.

This blog may go silent for some time. I am planning to change usernames next year on a number of sites that I visit in a (probably futile) effort to be anonymous.

To those who read this, I wish you tranquility and happiness in 2017.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Greetings to the forum and to all those interested in or living in early retirement. I hope this message finds everyone well and moving their lives in the right direction. I have not posted in some time in part because I was involved in an election and partly because I want to reduce my exposure on the net.

The Epicurean based philosophy which I wrote of earlier continues to be my guide to happiness, tranquility and the good life. The deep philosophical questions that I am confronted with on a daily basis are: should I do my stretches today? should I do my fitness routine today? should I walk or bike for an hour today? should I eat healthy food or this unhealthy food which tastes great, and should I drink alcohol this evening? Life decisions are pretty easy when you don't have to work for a living and you get to decide what you do every day.

I am very happy that I have been able to live for over 2 years without the demands of wage slavery. I feel like I have turned the tables on the capitalist system and am riding a wave of investment growth instead of working my life away. My net worth is close to what it was when I quit my job, even though I pull out a monthly allowance. There seems to be some risk in the market at the moment, not that I follow it closely, but I am not too worried, I have a buffer and can take some loss. Life is great when you get to decide what to do with your time. The key part of my strategy is not spending much and reducing desires. This occasionally leads to boredom, and the need to find new low cost fascinations to follow.

My current fascinations include growing microgreens, a basement hydroponic garden, low cost backpacking gear, walking, especially walking along Lake Michigan and travel by van camping. I hope that microgreens will become a steady self-production food item. I have a great hydro garden with lettuce, parsely, cilantro, kale and tomatoes. Hydroponics works but it is very slow and energy intensive. I don't like dealing with the nutrient solution, which is salty and very corrosive. Microgreens are faster and more nutritious so I may turn off my high power lights and focus more on microgreens. I don't do a lot of backpacking but I like to experiment with tarp shelters and I try to maintain a complete set of gear that I could use to through-hike a long trail. In the summer, I built a sailing rig for my folding kayak which is almost done but yet untested. I am learning about mindfulness meditation. I hope to take the camper van south to escape winter for a month or so. With these fascinations and various maintenance jobs around the house, I get a few things done every day and am satisfied and feel like I am improving my life every day.

I ran for public office and lost the election. I was very detailed and public about issues that needed to be addressed and what I felt needed to be done. I had a great campaign committee and strong support. It was extremely stressful because suddenly it was not just me in a personal campaign, I was a leader with responsibilities to my group. It is also unpleasant to have to pretend to be a normal person. My opponent copied my platform so now my goals may be accomplished and I have no responsibility to attend or participate in government. Being politically active is against my personal philosophy, so I am not unhappy that I did not win the election. I became politically active to defend my neighborhood and I hope that I have accomplished that even without a victory. My mental health will be far better than if I had won.

I continue to seclude myself from media, and do not watch tv or listen to radio, with the exception of occasional foreign tv over the internet. I do not participate in social media. I am trying to reduce my screen time and exposure on the net. I find that when I search on a specific subject of interest, I can find very valuable information. However, much of my screen time tends to be mindless redditing. Sometimes I find good information on a new subject which I did not know about. While I was a candidate, I joined a number of political groups, but now I am unsubscribing. Most news is BS and everyone is trying to spin things in a certain way. The less politics I see, the happier I seem to be. When I am bored, I tend to waste time watching videos, but I am working on spending time on meditation or writing/creating rather than watching youtube or redditing. Media addiction has been a long term issue with me, and I am pretty happy where I am right now, but I need to stay vigilant.

I am somewhat concerned about the winter season. It is less comfortable to do anything outside, so I may not get the exercise I need. I will need to keep looking for new fascinations to follow to avoid boredom. I have even thought about getting a job, but they require you to show up at certain times and I am not interested in that. I would like to be involved in some group doing something interesting, but don't know of any such groups in my area. I will have to look around a bit.

I wish everyone well, and please remember that despite bad news, you can build a pleasant life by controlling what visuals enter your mind and focusing on the people and things around you.

halfmoon
Posts: 697
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by halfmoon »

sky wrote:
Thu Dec 07, 2017 5:29 pm
I am somewhat concerned about the winter season. It is less comfortable to do anything outside, so I may not get the exercise I need. I will need to keep looking for new fascinations to follow to avoid boredom. I have even thought about getting a job, but they require you to show up at certain times and I am not interested in that. I would like to be involved in some group doing something interesting, but don't know of any such groups in my area. I will have to look around a bit.
I don't know if you like animals, but you could volunteer at a shelter and/or foster a rescue dog. This would get you outside exercising and meeting others. There are LOTS of groups on Meetup or Facebook that get together with their dogs, either for hikes or just socializing while the dogs play.

Papers of Indenture
Posts: 197
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 11:40 am
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by Papers of Indenture »

Just checking in. Epicurus is a special interest of mine. I like the way you articulate the principles.

My wife and I are 32 and hoping to be in your position one day.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Pain Free, Pete Egoscue

Daily Exercises

Standing Overhead Extension, p. 219

Stand with your feet straight, hip width apart. Interlace your fingers, rolling the palms toward the ceiling, extending the arms overhead with elbows straight. Look up at the back of your hands. Work on keeping the arms in vertical alignment with the shoulders and the rest of the body. Hold for one minute.

Arm Circles, p. 216

Stand with your head up, feet squared, and arms at your sides; put your hands in the golfer's grip, with fingers curled, knuckles flexed, and thumbs extended. Raise your arms out to your sides keeping your elbows straight, palms down, and thumbs pointing forward. Lift your arms until they are level with the shoulders. Squeeze the shoulder blades together slightly, and rotate the arms forward in a six inch diameter circle, 25 times. Reverse the circles by turning the palms up and thumbs back. Repeat for a total of fifty times in each direction.

Elbow Curls, p. 218

Using both hands and the golfer's grip, raise them palm out so that the flat area between the first and second knuckle joints of the index and middle fingers rests on the temples in front of the ears; the thumbs are extended downward, parallel with the cheeks. Droaw the elbows back evenly and in line with the shoulders. From this starting position, slowly swing the elbows forard until the touch in front. Keep the knuckles in contact with the temples, the thumbs fully extended and the head erect. Do twenty five Elbow Curls.

Spread Foot Forward Bend, p. 235

Stand with your legs spread wide. Keep your feet pointed straight ahead. Bend over at the hips and touch the floor directly in front of you. If that's too difficult, you may use a block or other prop for support. Tighten your thighs and relax your torso toward the floor. Hold this position for one minute. Next, without straightening up again, slide your hands to your right foot, keeping both thighs tight and the torso relaxed. Hold that position for one minute. Then slide left to the center briefly before moving your hands to the left foot. Agina, keep your thighs tight and your torso loose. Hold for one minute. Finally, move to the center, bend your knees, and roll your torso upright.

Air Bench, p. 57

Stand with your back to the wall. Press your hips and the small of your back into it while walking the feet forward and simultaneously sliding down into a sitting position. Stop when you've reached roughly a ninety degree angle. The knees should be over the ankles. If you feel pain in the kneecaps, raise your body up the wall to relevive the pressure. Hold for one to three minutes.

Cats and Dogs, p. 221

Get down on the floor on your hands and knees. Make sure your knees are aligned with your hips and your wrists with your shoulders. Your lower legs should be parallel with each other and with the hips. Make sure your weight is distributed evenly. Smoothly round your back upward and your head curls under to create a curve that runs from the buttocks to the neck, like a cat with an arched back. Smoothly sway the back down while bringing the head up, like a perky dog. Make these two moves flow continuously back and forth rather than keeping them distinct and choppy. Do one set of ten.

Downward Dog, p. 224

Assume the Cat and Dog position. Curl your toes under, and push with your legs to raise the torso until you are off your knees, and your weight is being supported by your hands and feet. Keep pushing until your hips are higher than your shoulders and have formed a tight, stable triangle. Your knees should be straight, your calves and thighs tight. Keep the feet pointing straight ahead in line with the hands, which need to stay in place, no creeping. The back should be flat, not bowed as the hips push up and back in too the heels. Breathe. Hold for one minute. It may take several days or weeks to get teh heels flat.

Kneeling Counter Stretch, p. 227

Kneel with your hips over your knees while extending your arms palm-down on a chair or low table. Relax the trunk so the back seems as if it's trying to fall through between the arms. Breathe deeply. Hold for one minute.

Runner's Stretch, p. 235

Kneel on one knee. With the other leg, place the heel of the foot in front of the knee that is on the floor. The heel and knee should make contact slightly. For balance, rest your hands on the floor or on a chair placed just in front of the forwardmost foot. Curl the toes of the back foot under and stand up on both feet. Your hips should be square, heels down, and both legs straight. Contract the thigh of the front leg as you position the upper body so that it moves over the front foot and leg. You should feel a stretch along the back of the forward leg. Keep the upper body relaxed as you hold the stretch for one minute. Release the stretch by kneeling back down into the starting position. Reverse the legs and repeat.

Kneeling Groin Stretch, p. 258

From a kneeling position, place one foot out in front of the other with the knee bent. With the head up and the back straight, place your interlaced hands palm-down on the front knee, and lunge forward. Keep your hips square, and avoid twisting the trunk. Do not let the front knee move beyond the ankle. Hold for one minute then repeat on the other side.

Static Extension, p. 56

Kneel on a block or chair with hands on the floor under the shoulders. Let your back and head relax toward the floor and shoulder blades come together. Relax. There should be a prnounced arch in your back. Keep your elbows straight, and shift your hips forward six to eight inches so that they are not aligned with the knees. Hold for one to two minutes.

Sitting Floor Twist, p. 252

Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front. Bend your left leg, and cross it over the right. Keep the left foot flat on the floor and running parallel to the right leg. Place the right elbow outside behind yoou. Tighten the muscles of the straight leg, and flex the ankle back toward the knee. Hold for one minute, then repeat on the other side.

Upper Spinal Floor Twist, p. 223

Lie on your side with your knees bent, to form a right angle to the trunk. Extend both arms along the floor level with the shoulders, keeping the elbows straight with the palms together and parallel with the bent legs. Slowly lift the upper arm up and over to rest behind you on the floor palm up, while you turn your head to face the ceiling. Adjust this arm position, if necessary, by finding a shoulder slot that's comfortable, while relaxing and breathing deeply. Allow gravity to settle the arm to the floor along its entire length from fingers to shoulder. Meanwhile, make sure the knees don't slide apart. You can hold them in place with the other hand. When the shoulders have leveled out right to left (which may take several minutes) lift the extended arm and return it to the starting position while exhaling. Repeat on the other side.

Foot Circles and Point Flexes, p. 53

Lie on your back with one leg extended flat on the floor and the other bent toward the chest. Clasp your hands behind the bent knee while you circle the foot clockwise thirty times. Meanwhile, keep the other foot on the floor with the toes pointed straight toward the ceiling. Reverse the direction of the circling foot and repeat. For Point Flexes, stay in the same position on your back with one leg extended and the other bent. Bring the toes back toward the shin to flex, then reverse the direction to point the foot. Repeat twenty times, and switch legs.

classical_Liberal
Posts: 2283
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:05 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by classical_Liberal »

...
Last edited by classical_Liberal on Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

I have been here the whole time, but my life doesn't change much so I did not have much to write about in this journal. I am coming up on my 5 year anniversary of quitting my job, so I will put some thoughts together here soon.

classical_Liberal
Posts: 2283
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:05 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by classical_Liberal »

...
Last edited by classical_Liberal on Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by ertyu »

Would be very interested in reading the 5-year thoughts post when you write it!

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

It has been about 5 years since I quit my job, so here is an update. My life is somewhat unremarkable and perhaps not that interesting. My budget is not extreme, so sometimes I question whether I fit into the ERE category and whether it is of interest to the readers here. I still visit this forum and occasionally post because I learned quite a bit here and find it a friendly place. I came here very early in the lifetime of this forum under another username, and was active in other retire early forums before this one. I used to have a web presence and a "how to" website on retiring early. So even though I am not an "extremist" now, I started out thinking that way. I also like the aspect of limiting my impact on the natural environment by living a modest lifestyle, which I try to do to a certain extent.

I live on $2,000 per month income (per person), which currently comes from an investment account, but soon will come from pensions. My investments were a bridge between "retirement" and the time when I am eligible to draw a pension. I own a house and have had no problem living on this amount. Health insurance has always been the potential budget killer, but I have been lucky, no health issues and the Affordable Care Act mean that my outlay for health cost has been reasonable. I spend a small amount on hobby type purchases, perhaps $50 to $100 per month. Most of the budgeting and payments for our household are done by my wife, who does a good job, and this means I don't have to worry about financial stuff at all, other than checking the status of my accounts every month or two. We do have a home equity loan which paid for home roofing costs. I could pay it off, but prefer that it is paid out of our monthly budget and keep as much in investments as possible. Other than that, we have no debt.

My lifestyle is not extreme and would probably be boring for most people. I don't drink alcohol, don't like to go out in the evenings and prefer home cooked food to restaurants. I go to bed early, and usually get up when the sun comes up and wakes me up. I don't do any extreme life hacks because my household life is a compromise with my wife, who doesn't care for things like vegetarianism and no car living. I live in a warm, comfortable home, which is energy efficient and currently maintained well. I do most of the maintenance myself, although I have had roofing companies come in for the house and garage roofs. I am embarrassed to admit that I own three vehicles for two people, but they are all old and I expect that one of them will die soon, so I just keep them waiting to see which will go first. I can easily walk to shopping and other city amenities in my neighborhood, and chose to live in this neighborhood for that reason. I do much of the maintenance on the vehicles myself, but anything that requires a lift or major work that I don't know how to do goes to a mechanic. I dislike airports and air travel, and hope to avoid it if at all possible. One of my vehicles is a camper van, and we have traveled through much of the USA since quitting my job. Unfortunately, my wife has developed back pain issues which reduce our ability to travel long distances. I am becoming more and more of a caregiver, doing the lifting and carrying that she can no longer do. Although, I am the one being taken care of most of the time, she tends to work through the pain.

I have reduced my media consumption to improve my mental well being. I don't watch television, and rarely listen to radio. I spend too much time on youtube, mainly looking at hobby and personal interest channels. I look at news headlines but try not to read much news. My lack of media awareness makes me feel like an outsider to human culture. The more I observe what other people do, the less respect I have for human culture, even though I am part of it. Sometimes I consider how I could create my own media world by disconnecting entirely from the internet and choosing to read only certain books which I choose. My criteria for media selection would be to focus on things which will help me improve my life.

I worked in a political environment in my career, and would like to retire from politics. I am not currently active in local politics. However, when one feels that their interests are threatened, it makes sense to be engaged in politics, so I may start to participate again. Where I live, it is investors and the tourist trade that are pushing out local residents, and I may become active to stand up to this. In my career, I had difficulties with a few colleagues (city administrators), one of whom is in jail for embezzlement from the city, and the others have moved on to other communities. Politics is a dirty business, avoid it if possible. Especially now that witch hunts seem to be the norm and truth doesn't matter.

My general goal is to simplify my life to reduce maintenance responsibilities. This also serves to reduce expenditures. I do tend to bottom out on simplification, to the point where I have nothing to do and feel the need to "do" something. I think that every human has an itch that makes them unsatisfied, even when in a state of perfect bliss. So I do find various things to do as hobby activities. I like to build things starting from base materials. I am currently building a sailing canoe. In the past year, I have sewn my own design backpacking quilts and clothing that fit better and are more effective than anything I could buy. I designed and built an automated microgreen growth chamber and started a large number of perennial herbs which were sold on a farm stand this spring. I designed and built a bicycle camping trailer and tested my quilts in winter weather in my backyard. I have a beautiful garden with some food plants mixed in. We travel in our camper van one to two months a year. I have taken backpacking and bike touring trips this year. Even doing all this, I have a lot of free time where I do very little.

I like waking up in the morning and deciding what I will do that day. I have tried minor business activities and applied for jobs, but dislike the responsibilities and commitments related to employment. Even volunteering requires you to show up at a certain time, which stresses me out and ruins my whole day. For me, it is far better to learn to live below my means and do the things I like to do without any pressure to earn money. I will say that occasionally I miss the feeling of being productive financially and getting things done that others value. Although, when you have enough money coming in each month, the money part of having a business is not that important to me. In the past, I wanted to share what I had learned (which is not that much) with others with websites and online video. Now, due to a lack of respect for human culture and a fear of being confronted with insane people, I don't put myself out there much pretending to have some special knowledge or insight of interest. My disassociation with modern culture makes communication with normal people difficult. Generally my priority when getting together with other people is to avoid drama, although lately the issue has become avoiding contact with the corona virus. In the past, we used to have friends over and used to get together with others, but this year, we have become hermits.

What would I do to improve my life? I would like to be part of a group of friends who meet regularly. I would like more physical activity in my life. I would like to simplify my vehicle situation. I probably should clean my garage. Thats about it. If I were single, my life would be more extreme, I would probably live on a sailboat and explore Atlantic islands. But I am quite happy in my current comfortable life. I would like to grow and preserve more of my own food, and I am making progress with this, however, I seem to be making every possible mistake in an effort to learn how not to garden. Next year will be better! At the time that I write this, I expect changes to happen after the election and as some type of solution is found for the coronavirus. My life is sort of on hold at the moment, and I am not sure what may come up in the future that I have to respond to. I don't know for sure what we are in for in the next year, so I just focus on keeping a happy home and being ready for whatever comes.

My idea of a perfect day in retirement is to wake up after the sun comes up, walk a mile, eat some breakfast while checking out sailing and van camping youtube channels, do some stretches and exercises, work on my hobby projects, do some clean up and organizing in the house, work on the garden, look for things to maintain on my home and cars, take a nap, go for a bike ride to the beach, eat dinner, do some reading, play on the computer and go to bed. That is pretty much a typical day for me. Some days are punctuated by exciting events such as cutting my hair, trimming my beard, mowing the lawn, getting groceries or taking out the garbage. I do get out of the house and go on adventures now and then. For the most part, time passes quite pleasantly at home.

So that is my somewhat unexciting early retirement. I am happy with it, making the best of what I have and trying to keep everything in good maintenance. I hope that my home remains an island of tranquility despite any stormy weather or social madness.

User avatar
Ego
Posts: 6359
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:42 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by Ego »

I enjoyed this update. May I suggest a build thread on the canoe?

You probably already know but tomorrow morning (9:30am PDT) Dr. Jed Fahey the sulforaphane guy is doing a Q&A with Rhonda Patrick, free and open to everyone. I will not be able to participate but I am hoping she uploads it later.
(scroll to the bottom of the page)
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/sprouting

J_
Posts: 883
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Netherlands/Austria

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by J_ »

Thanks for your update sky.

I read/guess (perhaps more than you actually mean) that there is some of lack of adventure/commotion in your life.

Although my wife does not like long boating trips I do sometimes long ones on my own. Last year two months sailing from Anchorage to Victoria (together with the owner of the sailing boat). Some time ago I used my little motorboat on a three months trip through the dutch- and belgian canals.
You like sailing and boating too as I have noticed from your posts.
Our solution is that my wife goes partly with me on some tracks. Or she accompanies me to the starting point or collects me at the finish of the trip. And we stay there ( at the start or the finish) fore some holiday together.

Can that be a solution for you, perhaps with your van?.... if I am right with my guess.

1taskaday
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 11:45 am
Location: England

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by 1taskaday »

Sounds like an idyllic way to live...apart from your wife's back pain.

Thanks for the update

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

@J_

At the moment, the prime directive is to survive the second wave of covid, so I choose to self isolate at home.

Zanka
Posts: 165
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:33 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by Zanka »

I just read the whole journal. It is not often I come across something on the internet that makes me feel the way I am feeling right now. I do not know how to put it, super inspired in a very relaxed way, maybe would be pretty close. Thank you for sharing.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

Here is a how-to I recently put together, to make a backpacking quilt.

https://i.redd.it/82qm5xqnunv41.png

This quilt is designed for a high level of comfort at low weight and bulk volume. The goal is to get a good night's sleep and to manage persperation with good breathability.



The cut out plan shows a length of 80 inches. I have tested this and it fits well with my standing body height of 72". With the quilt loosely covering me laying on my back, the top of the insulated quilt comes up to my nose, although I can pull it up higher with some tension at the foot end. I would consider adding 2" to 4" to the length for additional cold weather comfort. I suggest taking your body height and adding 10" to get a cut out length to fit you.



The width is 48 inches; this seems to be a good width for me, I am broad shouldered and 265 lbs, if your dimensions are smaller, you might take 2" to 4" off the width to obtain a lighter quilt. However, do not push this reduction too far, you may find that a quilt with an inadequate width will cause drafts on your back.



The foot end is tapered down to 32" and is then folded to make a footbox with a width of 16". The taper starts at 20" from the foot end. This seems to be a good taper, although I might start the taper at 16" from the foot end next time. It would make it easier to move one's feet in and out of the footbox.



The footbox is a flat folded footbox, where both corners are folded to the center and sewn. The tapered lengths of each side are sewn together. This leads to a footbox depth of about 21" and width of 16". This is adequate and comfortable, although a few extra inches in width would be nice, but there would be a weight penalty for the additional footbox width.



Shoulder pockets are added to each side by folding the outer 6" of each corner along the head end and sewing the fold into a pocket. The shoulder pockets' purpose is to shape the sides of the quilt so that it falls in a way that reduces drafts.



Insulation doublers are an experiment. If you have extra insulation and want a quilt that can handle colder temperatures with a modest weight and volume penalty, you can cut insulation pads and use a loose running stitch to attach them to the main section of insulation. The insulation doublers as shown on the image will cover your core body from the neck to the upper thighs. This may make the quilt too warm in warm weather. If you frequently have cold feet, you could add a 12" x 12" insulation doubler over the foot area.



Draftstoppers are a single layer of ripstop nylon fabric which serve to drape down to the ground and seal warm air in, while preventing cold drafts from coming in through gaps and folds which can open up as you move through the night. The draftstoppers are very effective and useful, especially in the shoulder area. You can use draftstoppers to shape the quilt near your head, pushing the fabric under your neck or shoulder to create a hood with an opening to breath through. Draftstoppers add comfort at very low weight and volume.



My preference is for a lightweight ripstop nylon with no coating to allow for maximum breathability. Climashield Apex insulation is an excellent choice in either 5 oz/sq yd (rated at 30F), or 3.6 oz/sq yd (rated at 40F).



I recommend cutting out the nylon ripstop fabric using a soldering iron and a straight edge. This seals the edges of the fabric and prevents fraying. Make sure you have good ventilation, the fumes are likely toxic.



When pinning up the layers in preparation for sewing, put the insulation on the bottom, then add two layers of ripstop nylon with the good sides facing each other. Place the draftstoppers between the two layers of ripstop nylon. You might want to pin back a corner of the draftstoppers to avoid inadvertently sewing it in the adjacent seam near the shoulder corners. Pin all layers together and trim back any bits of excess insulation showing around the edges of the nylon. Sew around the edges, except the middle 16" of the foot end. Reach in between the two layers of nylon and pull the quilt inside out.



Fold the foot end so that the corners come to the middle of the foot end. Work the nylon so that it covers the bare insulation and sew the folded foot end closed. Now pin the taper together to create the footbox, and sew it. Add extra stitching in the joint where the two sides of the quilt come together at the footbox, this is a high stress area.



Fold and pin the two shoulder pockets, taking care that they will fold inside out with the footbox, so that they do not show the seam. Sew the shoulder pockets and turn the footbox and pockets inside out.



Sew the edges of the draftstoppers together along the 9" edges. Your quilt is complete!

Western Red Cedar
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:15 pm

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

I read through your journal over the weekend and really enjoyed it. Daily walks are also really important to me and help me lead a balanced life while staying in touch with the natural world. I do some of my best thinking while walking. Backpacking is one of my favorite activities and I tend to prefer solo excursions as a means to reflect and stick to my own pace.
sky wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2016 5:20 pm

When you stop working and move into a car, van or RV everything about your life changes and you start living like a nomad again, but you still have your civilized mind that wants you to be PRODUCTIVE above all else. But nomads aren't productive, they are free and happy. Your civilized mind hates that!!!!! Every moment of your life you were told it didn't matter if you were happy, only that you were productive. Suddenly you are happy but not productive and your mind rebels at that and demands that you DO SOMETHING!!

Do anything because you are a tool, a machine and all your value comes from production. Happiness is totally irrelevant--production is all important.

You're going through that now. When you retire and move into a car van or RV the civilized mind hates it!!

But, the nomad mind is still in there, that's the reason you feel this strong urge to become a NOMAD, it's literally written into your DNA, it's your normal, natural human way of thinking!

The nomad mind is sane
The civilized mind is insane

Because it's your normal, natural mind, eventually you will regain your sanity and the insanity of civilization will slowly drop away.

For awhile it can be very difficult to make the transition and you have to be willing to go through the chaos that will reign in your heart and mind while the poison of civilization is leaving you. It's very toxic and by disobeying it and not producing but being happy instead, it will punish you and you will be miserable for awhile.

There is nothing to do but go through it and let the toxic poison of the civilized mind out of your heart and mind.
This post, in particular, really resonated. I didn't notice that it was from Bob Wells until I replied, but really appreciate you adding it to your journal. It reflects a mindset I've observed during different nomadic and "civilized" periods in my life. I tend to dream of and plan big adventures while I'm in a civilized period. During some of my longer travels, I've focused heavily on what I'll do when I get back home. This dynamic had baffled me for years. Last year I spent a month in Europe but found myself looking at Permaculture, homesteading, and tiny house/cabin construction videos every morning before heading out for the day.

I'm planning a sabbatical and I've been spending a lot of time thinking about activities or hobbies that provide purpose, or make me feel productive, that I can use during my next long-term adventure. The nomadic/civilized mind framework provides another dimension to think about.

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: No Time Like Right Now - sky's journal

Post by sky »

I used to think that working to improve "civilization" was a way to improve the human condition. Now I question that and wonder if the human condition would be improved by returning to a more prehistoric tribal nomadic lifestyle. At least on the individual level, as an option to civilization, which is based on the slavery-feudalism-wageearner system with its inherent heirarchy and brainwashing to keep everyone in line.

Post Reply