I Was Once Found But Now I Am Lost

[Henry]

So we got to about $1.6MM, loaded up the car, moved to the semi-country where I am now neighbors with hedgies, fourth generation dynastic wealth cow breeders and a slew of poseurs who send me lawyer letters for cursing them out in the street even though they deserve every fucking word I have to offer. I almost got my ass bit to shreds by a pack of hounds chasing a fox. I have to go the post office to get my mail. Suffice it say we no longer have $1.6MM. I have no idea what I'm looking at here.

[Mister Imperceptible]

No fucking way Hooray Henry

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0

[unemployable]

Feel the same way after ERE2.0 arrived

[Henry]

"Midway on life's journey, I found myself, In a dark road, the right road lost."

Dante's first line in The Divine Comedy.

Thank God I am significantly past midway. At least I better fucking be.

[Seppia]

If you realized that you made a mistake in picking your new location, and assuming you don’t see a way to integrate with the environment, it’s a very easy fix with the money you got.

I know this is very un-ERE but sometimes throwing money at the problem isn’t a stupid option.

[Seppia]

Let me elaborate: in your situation, it seems like you possibly “over accumulated” the $$$ capital and probably did not pay enough attention to other forms of capital.
Depleting the $$$ part will not be catastrophic.
Even assuming you’ve bought the place, a move somewhere else more suited to you should not deplete more than 10% of the $$$ capital, with a huge benefit in other forms of capital that are now rare.
You’d be trading something you have plenty of for something that’s very important and scarce.

[Henry]

Let me elaborate: in your situation, it seems like you possibly “over accumulated” the $$$ capital and probably did not pay enough attention to other forms of capital.
Depleting the $$$ part will not be catastrophic.

Excellent points. And somewhat paradoxically, you reference the psychological issue in play i.e. convincing oneself that depleting the type of capital one has become overly reliant on is not catastrophic. Like telling children that "you will make new friends" now that the family is moving. At that stage in life, that's their primary capital so they are not going to be immediately receptive to the idea.

I honestly don't know if I made a mistake. I think I was prone to a utopian vision. And the "Wherever you go, there you are" is more truth than trope. As is its corollary that "wherever you go there will be douchebags." Maybe I need to be more aggressive in my quest for alternate sources of capital.

[theanimal]

I'm confused. You lost your wealth, or it's tied up in your house, or both?

Also, Jason?

[rube]

Welcome! (back?)
Interesting (internal) debate/challenges. Nothing to add at this point, but I'll follow it with interested.

[Slevin]

A slew of poseurs who send me lawyer letters for cursing them out in the street even though they deserve every fucking word I have to offer. I almost got my ass bit to shreds by a pack of hounds chasing a fox.

So what is this story about you screaming at people in the street bad enough that people are threatening to sue? Is this a long escalating issue of neighbor issues or something and then you blew up about it?

[Henry]

Although not a 55 year old community, it has a contingency of elderly people. I had to tell these Cocoon motherfuckers to stay in their lane. It took some doing, but I prevailed. Also had to remind them it's not 1942 Germany but that's a whole other story.

The area is beautiful. Dates to colonial period. Horse country. I hike 4.2 miles most every morning. Have to pause for heavy farm equipment. Complete lack of commercialization. There is no further land development as the general area is controlled by the heirs of the Johnson & Johnson founders. I hear their guns and helicopter. The local auto shop has Trump's account on their bulletin board. His golf course is down the road. The one the US Open backed out of when he was being his goofball self in the oval office. The whole area SWATTED up when he brought the Saudi backed guys to play.

Ultimately, it comes down to you play you pay. A lesson in Thomas Sowell trade offs. We needed a location and place to die in and from that standpoint, it's perfect except for the fact that we are still alive. There was an asset realignment between money to house with a fairly significant overall decrease because of mortgage commitment. The house has appreciated 12% since we moved, the first time we experienced that which has somewhat offset the kick in the balls the nasdaq unleashed Messi like into my groin. We are homebodies so it's worth it.

There is no grand lesson other than don't immanetize the eschaton. Nothing that David Byrne or The Lost Generation or Jacob Lund Fisker or the Unabomber has not prophesized about. Life is far from fucking linear. I think I'm just in fucking shock. The internal hive seriously stirred. Maybe what first time parents go through. Like what the fuck did we just do. I'm prone to absolutism so this is a lot to navigate. Thank God I never had kids. Although I do believe the guy raising the bar is the devil as I now imagine hell to be an eternal high jump competition.

I spend a lot of time studying the Holocaust. It seems to reflect my internal state. Appreciate the questions. Makes me think about this. Hope I don't sound like that whiny bitch Prince Harry. Talk about mistakes. I get the whole primogeniture and Mummy was killed in a car wreck thing but he was pulled by the short ones out of heaven on earth.

[chenda]

I think he's just slowly cracking on to the fact his biological father probably isn't the current King of Canada. But anyway Henry, I've missed you trademark humour.

Maybe you need to try some slow travel around the world, try out some new places and see what suits you. I have some suggestions...

[rube]

Hi Henry, I agree with Chenda, I like your humour and I don't even care if you're a copycat or not.

Good luck with the housing/area situation, or your internal state of mind. Perhaps both.

[unemployable]

So be careful what you wish for, you just might get it?

[Henry]

@ Chenda

I watched every episode of The Crown. That's nearly 100 years. Not one red head in the family. Just brunettes and Aryans. My understanding is that it takes two possessing the ginger gene to create a red head. Diana's sister - Lady Sarah Mcwhateverthefuckhernameis - red hair. James Hewitt - red hair. Occam's red headed razor. Not to mention that despite all their flaws, entitlements, eccentricities etc. it is a line of relatively intelligent people. Queen Elizabeth was a player. Charles is a royal douche and sadist but he is by no means dumb. William knows the score. Harry? Dumb ass backup quarterback jock who believed the head cheerleader when she said she loved him.

So be careful what you wish for, you just might get it?

Yes. Plus the overhead.

[chenda]

Yup, they have largely avoided going full-on House of Habsburg but Hewitt by all accounts isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the drawer.

[Henry]

I am working my through The Power of Mimetic Desire by Luke Burgis. It's an explication of the French philosopher Rene Girard. In a nutshell, it's about the imitative nature of our most basic desires and the destructive force it has on ourselves. In the process of obtaining the things that others have, we end up adopting their most basic desires. Kids with toys syndrome. Steal your best friend's girlfriend and you not only end up with his girlfriend but his desire for having that girlfriend. So you want to get to ERE? Your best chance is to eliminate the non-ERE's from your life and add as many ERE's as you can. Cloister like nuns. It's why it's easy to find a crack house. Not so easy to find a crack studio. As much as we like to think we are going after what we personally want, we are not. I believe the Hannah Arendt meaning vs. truth dynamic in which the former ineluctably prevails explains the dark side of mimetic desire i.e. the Holocaust, Salem Witch Hunts. But it also applies to internal struggle. Somewhere, I believe it's at the core of my bundle of bullshit. Truth is static. Meaning is dynamic. But you can't have one without the other. So having a stable truth without meaning will slide to an ad hoc pursuit of meaning that will lead to an amnesia of the truth i.e. David Byrne how did I get here. Chris Rock has a bit on how life is not short but long and those long days need to be filled and it's best not be filled with longing or regret.

And WTF re: Mr. Imperceptible. That boy went from being a mere pain in my assholes to Shutter Island level crazy. He actually asked for my contact info. I have too much shit to lose for that. And I'm not doing that with a guy. Or even a chick for that matter as the last time I did that my dick almost ended up in a Motel 6 ice machine. I'm assuming he was the twice banned mojo JLF referenced. Hope he gets the help he needs but he probably won't and will end up back here reading this post at which point I'll give him some bullshit explanation that he'll actually believe