Gus' road to retirement

[Mister Imperceptible]

I ate too much ice cream tonight because of your post in the Getting Old Sucks thread. Went for a 45 minute swim at the Y. Then remembered your post and pulled into a Stewart Shoppes. Mint Cookie Crush and French Vanilla were on sale. I ate 3 bowls of ice cream.

[Mister Imperceptible]

I am experiencing regret.

[prognastat]

I'm right there with you, we had a pot luck yesterday and I decided to go off keto and indulge in all the carbs. Ate bout 3 plates of pizza, cake, pie, donuts and more. It was great in the moment, but it didn't take long for both regret and also feeling terrible(tired and sore) set in. At least I guess it's a reminder of why you shouldn't be doing it regularly.

[SavingWithBabies]

@Augustus Thingiverse is tons of fun. So many things. Best part is realizing some random odd need and finding someone already did the work to make it or something similar. I'm now on my second printer -- still have the first filament one and am going to keep it but my quest for printing really small things lead me to the resin-based printers so I've had one of those for a month (included in last months budget but my wife wasn't too crazy about my decision to buy another one -- went on sale for $370 or so).

@prognastat If you haven't yet, try Fathead pizza. I waited until last week and finally tried it. Way easier to make than I had realized and really good. I'm going to make it again but try rolling the "crust" really thin to make it more of a cracker crust style. Guilt-free keto pizza that is actually good.

[prognastat]

I haven't had that particular kind of keto pizza so far. Have had some made with cheese and riced cauliflower that was pretty good, though I assume one made with almond flour would probably turn on more on the crispy side. Only downside is almond flour is so much pricier than regular flour. Though I guess if you compare it to eating out pizza either delivery or at a restaurant it's affordable.

How have you felt about switching to resin based?

[SavingWithBabies]

@prognastat Resin has been interesting. I didn't expect the resin to smell so strongly. It is much more of a hassle to work with liquid and it's toxic too of course. For the smell, I ended up spending another $120 or so on an activated charcoal filter, duct fan, duct and motor controller. Apparently, this is the same equipment marijuana growers use! That worked really well -- I put the printer in an enclosure and suck the air through it and vent out the charcoal filter back into the same room. I'm still getting used to working with the liquid. The fine detail is amazing but if I didn't need/want it, I definitely would prefer using a filament printer.

[prognastat]

Has the increase in print fidelity been worth the added hassles you encountered?

What kind of prints has it been most valuable for?

[SavingWithBabies]

@prognastat I think so. I'm not 100% sure yet. I want to print N scale things so 1:150 or 1:160 scale. With this resin printer, I can print a 10.5mm tall person and have some detail which is a bit mind blowing to me. It's not super easy because you have supports and such (with it printing upside down hanging down figuring out supports is still tricky for me). So I'm using it to print non-functional models although I do want to try printing some small model train trucks so I can insert some commercial wheel sets and make my own train cars. And similarly print some locomotive shells (the shells clip onto a commercial base that has the electric drive train). So for now I'm tinkering while improving my CAD skills and trying to figure out a way to make this hobby break even in costs.

On the forum/Facebook groups, it seems like most resin printer owners are table top gamers doing miniatures, dentists printing dental things, jewelers printing items to cast and the model railroad/diorama people.

[classical_Liberal]

Enjoy your summer! The reading list sounds like something I would enjoy.

[classical_Liberal]

No, two more months! It's really getting to be a drag, but I do have two weeks off at the end of July. Sept can't come soon enough for me.

[classical_Liberal]

Life, for you, sounds magical! Just remember to suck off this tit of contentment for as long as possible. Life will eventually throw a curveball, so don't do anything to shorten the best of times. Congrat's man!

[wolf]

That was an insightful description of how your focus changed during the last 10 years. It sounds amazing. I guess the "money problem" is solved then?

I'm actually kind of sad to go on my road trip, because I've been enjoying myself so much right here. I've heard the idea thrown around that you should make your life a sort of vacation, instead of dreaming of vacationing for 2 weeks a year, or dreaming of FI, you should be building your life in such a way that you're on a perpetual "vacation." I call it maximizing joy. This is my primary focus now.

I think you mean the quote from Seth Godin

Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from.

[suomalainen]

Congrats, man. Enjoy it for what it is while it lasts, knowing that this too shall pass, either because you get your fill of it and you're ready to try something else, or because that unexpected curveball gets foisted on you.

[Mister Imperceptible]

I hope you spend more time dancing in your underwear at home before you have another kid.

[suomalainen]

Not a jinx, just a restatement of the facts of life - impermanence, hedonic adaptation, etc. For me, I think the key is the mindset-shift - the things you do every day: preparing meals; grooming; caring for kids, spouse or others; tidying up; creating/fixing things; etc...these are all forms of work. Working for money is also a form of work. Sometimes we work for money so we can avoid doing these other jobs; sometimes we take care of these other jobs so that we don't have to work for money. At the end of the day, work needs to be done and it gets done one way or the other. Why spend so much time stressing about it being this work or that work?

Point being - as you said above too,

A balanced schedule, some productivity but nothing overwhelming the entire day, consciously choosing what to focus on, etc seem like they may be the key to my eventual retirement.

Accept the fact that life requires some work without differentiating that this work is "good" while that work is "bad". It's just work and although you might have preferences, perhaps it's not a negative thing...but thinking makes it so.

That said, full-time work (whether paid or chores) + parenting = unbalanced and therefore draining.

[classical_Liberal]

Upon reflection, perhaps what really kills me about working full time is that it overwhelms everything else. When I'm done working after a full day I'm drained, and all my other aspirations are pushed to the wayside. If it were just a portion of my day each day, and I could do some work in the morning, and hit the beach or write or read afterwards, it might be a positive thing?

Pretty sure you are psychically channeling me here! There can be the group work side of this too. It forces some social interaction. Which, even if you don't love all the personalities, tends to be good to a limited degree, too much time with people who aren't my type overwhelms. Also, there's the whole "forced" group dynamics. Because lets face it, adults have a hard time playing well together to reach a goal, but in a job most feel obligated to show up and do their part. Even amateur sports teams are hard to keep together in 30's+ age range (I've tried, it sucks). I kind-of like accomplishing group goals, it creates comradery.

This whole thing goes back to my main problem. Paid work for someone else, at least my experience of it in the US, has very little respect for personal schedule. Sure, there can be some flexibility, as long as you put in your 50 hours or whatever. However, the total time commitment and/or the days or time of day they want you, always force a whole bunch of compromises on personal life. I wish I had an answer. At this point the best I can see is part time, or full-time with large breaks. Not sure which will end up better. Unless you want to work for yourself, but that's not an option for me in any serious endeavor because I'd be the worst boss I ever had. My personal expectations for myself are way too high.

EDIT: Although there is the concept of work and play intermingling/being indistinguishable, but I'm no where near this Wheaton level.

[classical_Liberal]

Interesting update. How long were you off in total?

I think #1 will eventually happen to me, but I'm most worried about #4. I tend to find a home for my anxiety no matter what I'm doing, at least when I can blame it on work and having lives literally in my hands it stays out of personal matters. I just don't think I'll stress about money though, for some reason, once I decided to place accumulation on the back burner all my money anxiety is gone.

[suomalainen]

Ebbs and flows, man, ebbs and flows. When we’re in the flow, an eddy could look pretty good. When we’re stuck in an eddy for a while, getting back in the flow starts to look interesting. I think the thing about ERE or semiERE or FI or FIRE or whatever version you have is that it allows you to transition from ebb to flow and back again at will and without fear. THAT is true freedom. Why be stuck in either one when you don’t want to?!

Congrats on jumping back in the flow, following the feeling of what you need when you need it. Smart man.

[2Birds1Stone]

This is very interesting to read about, coming from someone who is just behind you. The time I had, despite not as long as yours, was nowhere near enough imho. Please keep us updated if your sentiment changes.

[2Birds1Stone]

A lot of food for thought. I went back and reread the last 6 months of your journal to refresh my memory. It sounds like the job was providing you with much more than an income in terms of structure and feeling of purpose, and your time off was spent largely unstructured. Did you retire to anything else besides surfing and spending time with the family? I feel like I would need some sort of structured times (PT job, volunteering, big projects) after a while off to feel like I'm doing more than just counting down the days as well.

Did your burn rate end up being the $2k/month you predicted?

I actually don't worry about a recession during a period of unemployment. It actually sounds like the most stressful time to try and secure work. c_L pointed out in my journal that a recession would just lower the cost of most things I wanted to do in semiERE anyway.

As suo pointed out above, it takes guts to go after what you want, even if it's something you didn't think you would originally. I really look forward to following your next chapter.