NewBlood's journal

[NewBlood]

2025 update 17/52

­This was a pretty nice week.

I spent a few days in City 1 to drop off my cat and hang out with my parents and friends. I had dinner with friends on Monday, which was nice despite the fact friend's wife is back on medical leave for burnout. she seemed ok, she found her limit earlier this time, and we had a nice dinner. We didn't talk about work at all, just joked around about a bunch of stuff. I always have a hard time figuring out whether I should broach the subject or not if they don't. She must be tired of hearing the same questions all the time. Or maybe not.

I went climbing twice with FCP. Still awesome. Best climbing partner. Best gym. We did some hard stuff for us, and were reasonably successful. I'm good on overhang (relatively speaking), FCP is good on slab. I get so much more tired and sweaty on slab. My goal is to learn how to not brute force slab routes. I have such a hard time trusting my feet and figuring out the right positioning. My knee was ok except on a dihedral route, I had to back off. Can't wait for PT...

I then took the train to go visit my grandma. One of my cousins joined me there. It was really nice to hang out with him and get to know him better. He's 10 years younger, so there was always a pretty big disconnect but as we grow older, the age difference doesn't matter as much. He has a completely different life, pretty much the opposite of ERE. He spends his days working for and interacting with crazy rich people. (and spending loads of money). I tried to drop some hints.

Here is my current ERE-spreading strategy, since most people in my life know I work for myself and have lots of free time:
Me: "I try to have pretty low expenses, so I can work only as much as I want"
Him: "oh I met a woman who was traveling a lot who told me something similar. That's like a cheat code!"

Success? we shall see. I doubt it, but that spured some interesting conversations.

The two other climbing sessions were much better, both knee-wise and partner-wise. Maybe even promising (partner/date-wise? we shall see).

However, this blew up in my face pretty spectacularly....
After spending about a week exchanging hours of messages with facebook climbing person, which highlighted some red flags I was willing to overlook because the vibe was generally pretty good (or so I thought), they suddenly cut off all contact because I took 5 mins to answer a (non-critical) message among many other such messages because another one of my cousins called and I took the time to talk to her. (even though I had warned them I was spending time with family and wouldn't be able to be on my phone some of the time).

People out there have mental issues. On the one hand I'm grateful they showed me all those red flags within the first week, better to not invest a lot of time with volatile people, but I've been feeling pretty demoralized and down. It was the first time in a while I had been somewhat excited about someone and I thought there was some potential for once.

Contract is going ok, still waiting for something in writing for the next one. I did get an email saying they're on it...


Goals for the week:
- back to city2
- PT
- work call to get feedback on milestone 3
- phone call with tax office
- go climbing twice, once outdoors
- date(s)? WTFK...

[Jean]

I think in France, ERE is much less interesting, because it appears as just a self financed RSA.

Also, since we'll go to my forest, you'll get to spend at least a week end to get better at slab climbing

[NewBlood]

Also, since we'll go to my forest, you'll get to spend at least a week end to get better at slab climbing

So needed!!
It's gonna be a blast.

[NewBlood]

April expenses

The accountant still hasn't answered me, despite sending him another email. I'm going to have to just make up stuff for the W8-BEN so I can finally get paid...

income: $0
back-of-envelope adjusted for taxes total net worth (ATNW): + $3.5k
back-of-envelope adjusted for taxes liquid net worth: + $5k
cash balances: + $4k

3% of ATNW: - 62 eur/month.
now equal to 94.5% of post-tax minimum wage (aka my spending target).

4% of ATNW: - 82 eur/month.
Now equal to 126% of post-tax minimum wage

Despite all the mayhem, net worth is slightly up. Why? because the euro keeps getting stronger against the dollar, so my chunk of savings in euros is making things look quite good.
EXCEPT: I'm spending in euros.

Yeah, it's way time I switch my accounting to euros to make it make more sense. (duh)
Even though net worth is technically up, my spending power is way down. It's the lowest the dollar has been since I moved back to home country. I don't like it.


Expenses were crazy high this month. I bought a lot of stuff for my apartment (piece of furniture, various things from Ikea, and art frames). I went to visit my grandma (160 eur train ticket, plus restaurants to treat my grandma and the cousin who always drives us around). It's the first time in a looong time my eating out expenses are higher than my grocery expenses (which were also high). And I paid for turbotax...
Climbing-related spending was quite reasonable, relatively speaking, but will be very high next month to pay for a 5-day climbing club trip...

Withdrawal rate in March was 5.75% of ATNW. ie: BAD.

Eventually, apartment-related spending will die down. I moved back from the US with almost nothing... Next on the list are a vaccum cleaner (the one that comes with the apartment is shitty and only works for about 5 min before seizing) and plants.

[NewBlood]

2025 update 18/52

A good week.
Monday was spent with grandma and a cousin, then on Tuesday I took the train back to City1, picked up my cat and finally back home (city2) on Wednesday. It felt good to be home after 10 days on the road...

I went to see the PT, who doesn't think my knee pain comes from the meniscus (my GP isn't good at diagnosing injuries...). She's not sure what it is though, which is annoying. She gave me some exercises and we'll see how it evolves. She told me I can still climb, avoiding the move that's painful.

So of course I went bouldering with a friend on Thursday (very light bouldering, friend doesn't climb much, we only went because it was raining and our other plans fell through) and climbing on Friday with two people from my club who are very good and gave me some good pieces of advice. I was pretty intimidated though. I hadn't climbed in over a week, and I felt very weak. I felt like I couldn't do anything, but I also only tried new routes, so hard to compare with how I was before my travel.

Sunday, I was supposed to go back climbing outdoors, but the outing got canceled because of thunderstorms everywhere. So I went back to the climbing gym with someone else from my club. We're more evenly matched, which felt better.

I also went to a pub quiz which was a lot of fun, I met a couple who just came back to home country after living in Canada for a long time, we bonded over trying to figure out our taxes here, will meet again to have a tax brainstorm.

And I went on a date, which was ok. I doubt it'll go much further, but we're still chatting online.

Goals for the week:
- go back to City 1 while my mom is away to keep an eye on Dad and dogs...
- climb 3 times with FCP or go surfing if weather allows (not looking good)
- dinner with 2 sets of friends
- maybe see my cousin
- get some work done

[brainstorm]

Good luck with the recovery! Glad you have a PT who's encouraging movement and activity. Maybe you can do some extra upper body work and get crazy strong while you rehab? Guy at my gym had a bum knee and did a ton of weighted hangs - now that he can climb again (with a brace), he's crushing it. But I'm just a boulder bro, I'm not sure what rope climbers do. Some hanging with lots of pullups and campusing for endurance?

Re: filing taxes, I've had great experience with FreeTaxUSA, and they offer self-employment features. In case next year you're feeling more comfortable and want to go with a cheaper option...food for thought

[NewBlood]

Good luck with the recovery! Glad you have a PT who's encouraging movement and activity. Maybe you can do some extra upper body work and get crazy strong while you rehab? Guy at my gym had a bum knee and did a ton of weighted hangs - now that he can climb again (with a brace), he's crushing it. But I'm just a boulder bro, I'm not sure what rope climbers do. Some hanging with lots of pullups and campusing for endurance?

Thanks brainstorm! I'm having a hard time figuring out what's going on with my knee. I don't have any issue while climbing except on very specific moves which I'm avoiding. So not a lot of motivation to get better at pull-ups.
The cool thing about rope climbing, is that you can pretty much just keep climbing with 3 limbs instead of 4 if needed

PT prescribed lots of lunges, and I do have very weak quads, and a hard time being disciplined about bodyweight exercises. So I'm gonna try and be good about this and see what happens. She was a sub and I'm seeing the person she was replacing next week, so I'll see what the main PT thinks.

Re: filing taxes, I've had great experience with FreeTaxUSA, and they offer self-employment features. In case next year you're feeling more comfortable and want to go with a cheaper option...food for thought

Thanks for the rec! That is what I used when I was living in the US, it's great indeed. Unfortunately, you can't use it if you have a foreign address...
I'm probably gonna use TurboTax again next year since I'll have income from home country this year, to make sure I understand how to report that, and that should cover all things I need to know for subsequent years, for which I'll just do it on my own.

[NewBlood]

2025 update 19/52

This was a very fun week.

I spent every single day with friends, and I am realizing maybe I'm not as much of an introvert as I always thought I was?

I went back to city 1 to help out my dad with the dogs while my mom was away, but really, it was more about placating my mom's anxiety at the idea of leaving my dad alone, which he resents. So not the best set up for a fun week.

The upside of my dad being an antisocial grouch though, is that unlike my mom, he doesn't care if I'm not spending any time with him. He probably prefers it. So no guilt tripping me because I'm away from the house every single day.

I went climbing 3 times with FCP, had dinner with two sets of friends, went to a marathon to "support" a friend's brother (ie waving silly signs while drinking wine at one of the rest stops then going to a restaurant and taking a nice walk by the river), checked out a new hipster bar with a friend, and went climbing with my cousin.
I also did walk the dogs with my dad and go grocery shopping to replenish the stocks, I'm not a monster.

The downside of all this fun is that I spent quite a bit of money going out, my friends have expensive taste...

I think I climbed too much last week. On the last day with FCP we went to an old industrial site they put climbing routes on, up to 33m, which was pretty cool even if the routes were kinda boring. the view at the top overlooking the whole city was awesome. that was my 4th day in a row climbing though. And even after 3 rest days, I couldn't really do anything on Sunday, and was feeling pretty weak.

Goals for the week:
- figure out and finish home country taxes
- go back to PT
- 1 climbing class, climbing with an acquaintance, and hopefully go climbing outdoors if the weather cooperates
- go see a show by the choir I had joined and then quit

[NewBlood]

2025 update 20/52

This was a very busy week back in City2.

Busy with local taxes, getting involved with a new non-profit organization, kind of dating, work stuff and of course climbing.

I had an appointment with a govt tax guy who's supposedly an expert on foreign income stuff but he wasn't all that helpful. I had also met a couple from Canada who came back to home country last year and were also struggling with taxes so we met up to try and figure things out together. That was a lot more useful and also really fun to hang out with these two potential new friends.

I signed up to be a volunteer with a non-profit and attended a meet-up with them, then a big event at the city hall (so fancy, and interesting to see how the local politicians respond to the issue at hand) and an evening at a museum. I'm not completely sure this is my crowd, but it's a cause I care about. The main event I'll volunteer for is in 3 weeks, then I'll decide how much I want to stay involved.

I also attended a show by the choir I had joined but gave up on because I had missed too many sessions. It was nice to see the end results, but no regrets, I don't think it's for me or that I'll join again next year. It's a new fledgling inclusive choir, so the quality isn't great at all (not that I'm any good at all myself). I like the idea of it but not so much the reality, unfortunately. I was cringing a bit during the show. I'd like to find a more established choir with a better choir director (better song choices and arrangements) that still accepts inexperienced people like me.... we'll see.

I went to one climbing class, then went climbing with an acquaintance/date. We started a strength cycle, so climbing classes for the next few weeks are one hour of strength training and one hour of hard climbing to failure. So tiring and not super fun. I feel like I'm regressing, but they tell me it's normal and will pay off eventually. We're all suffering together and the atmosphere is great though.
PT is also (leg) strength training and going well I guess. Still no clear diagnosis but my knee is slowly feeling better despite all the climbing.

I went climbing outdoors on Sunday but was feeling pretty tired and weak due to all the strength training. Still great to be out on a new cliff (granite slab this time Commander! damn that's hard. grippy but no hand holds. I think I prefer limestone at the moment).



Workwise, thinks are progressing. I finally received the TOR for the new 2-year contract, which were awfully vague, then had a call with the project manager to clear things up a bit. It was a good call, I now have a better sense of the budget and working conditions and it should be a pretty good deal for me. Basically total freedom and fully remote, the number of days they've allocated to my role adds up to about 80% FTE which is nice, close to zero travel, and good enough money. Now waiting for the actual contract.

Goals for next week:
- finish local taxes
- PT
- 1 climbing class
- rest
- make some progress on work contract 1
- have lunch with a friend
- date?

[NewBlood]

2025 update 21/52

I was out all of last week and didn't get around to write the week 21 update.

Here it is, from what I can remember.

I finally finished my local taxes but have no idea if I did it correctly for the US interest and dividend incomes. I made another appointment to ask about it. At least here you have the right to be wrong, pretty cool. The most time-consuming part was filling a form for each of the (17!!!) accounts that I hold in the US (checking, savings, brokerage, retirement, etc...). Gigantic PITA. I'm gonna close a bunch this year, will still have to fill a form for them next year to say I closed them, and the year after should be easier. what a pain.

I went to one climbing class only, I needed to recover a bit and rest up before next week's climbing trip. That was another strength training class, very tiring. Went to PT, more leg strengthening as well. My knee is feeling better and better.

I finished up a chunk of my work contract, waiting for feedback on that. I also realized they paid the first installment even though I never sent the W8 form. I really need to get around to it.

I spent a nice evening in town with a friend, bar and food by the river, beautiful weather, good conversation.

Most of the week was consumed by navigating a new dating situation which is a lot more chaotic than I'd like. There were some awesome moments, but too many not awesome ones as well. Not sure how to proceed on that one. It's not like there are a ton of better prospects, so I'm trying to be patient and see if we can sort out and improve our communication, but it's not looking great.

[NewBlood]

2025 update 22/52

This week was spent climbing and canyoning, which was awesome.

I went back to my favorite (so far) outdoor climbing spot for 2 days with FCP. Neither of us is super comfortable with lead climbing, so the hardest route we managed to tackle was a 5c+, which was plenty. I really struggled on it. It was great to spend more time with FCP outdoors, lots of great talks about life, relationships, work, climbing. We camped one night by a river, it was lovely.

The next day I left my house super early to go on a 5-day trip with my climbing club. Climbing and canyoning in a pretty popular place in Spain. I hadn't done any canyoning before, except once when I was a teenager, which wasn't on the same scale at all. I wasn't comfortable with high jumps or rappelling down from very high. I loved everything else. I don't think that'll become my sport, but I was very happy I tried and got to discover some beautiful scenery. It was also very refreshing because last week was hot! We were there just in time for a pretty early for the season heat wave. Climbing in 35ºC is far from ideal. We chased the shade and stuck to narrow parts of the canyons. One day we climbed at the edge of a stream, trying not to get the ropes wet.

There were 15 of us, 2 of whom are quite difficult people to deal with, but all in all everything went well and the atmosphere was great. The 3 instructors are not sober people though, much beer was had by almost all of us every night, we never started cooking before 10pm or went to bed before midnight. My muscles were sore all the time. I ended the week quite exhausted but happy.

I might add pics later if I get around to it.

The only downer was really crappy communication with the person I started dating, who apparently can't comprehend long days and poor cell service in the mountains. This isn't gonna last long I think.

Goals for next week:
- recover from past week
- one climbing class
- PT
- volunteer for big event with non-profit I became a member
- finalize paperwork for new big contract?
- dinner with friends
- figure out dating situation?

[NewBlood]

May 2025 Expenses

income: 3600 EUR (after all gov deductions)
This is my first chunk of income since I quit my job in Dec. 2023.
There will be another chunk from last year once the liquidation of my first biz is complete.
However, in that time, net worth has gone up by about $50k .... crazy.

back-of-envelope adjusted for taxes total net worth (ATNW): + $16.5k !
back-of-envelope adjusted for taxes liquid net worth: + $2.5k
cash balances: - $300

3% of ATNW: + 31 eur/month.
now equal to 96.6% of post-tax minimum wage (aka my spending target).

4% of ATNW: +42 eur/month.
Now equal to 129% of post-tax minimum wage

The crazy yoyos continue. I still haven't switched my accounting to euros, because I'm lazy.

Expenses weren't quite as high as last month, but they were high.
I spent over 600 eur in climbing-related stuff: 450 eur for the 5-day climbing trip (with a bit more to come for travel expenses I think). plus my gym membership in city 2, 4 times climbing in City 1 with FCP and my cousin, 1 night camping with FCP. All so much fun and worth it. But needless to say there is a lot of slack in my spending if I needed to cut back.
June should be quieter and less spendy.

Withdrawal rate in March was 5.02% of ATNW. ie. not good but less bad than last month.

[NewBlood]

2025 update 23/52

Another late update...

This week was consumed with dating person (DP).
We spent some very good times together after not really resolving our communication. Things go well when we are together in person, but tend to get volatile and chaotic when we're not. DP has lots of traumas, and is very insecure, I don't know how to deal with that...

This week coincided with lots of neighborhood fests here in City 2, so we spent a lot of time hanging out there, listening to great live music, having drinks and conversations with friends.

I also worked all day Saturday for the big event organized by the non-profit I joined. It was really interesting to be part of it behind the scene, to see what it takes to make something like that happen (think 35,000 people in the streets kind of event). Concretely though, it meant 12h+ of hard manual labor (moving stuff, setting up tents, providing security, dismantling stuff, etc...).
I was exhausted at the end of it and opted out of the after party for volunteers and just had drinks with a friend. A pretty great day overall, I would do it again next year, but maybe for only half-day so I can also enjoy the actual event as a participant.

I spent the rest of the weekend at a big friends reunion, some of whom I hadn't seen in 4 years. 12 kids, 10 adults, lots of catching up and great conversations. I really enjoy these people and hope to see them more often going forward.

Work-wise, things are moving along. Contract is still not signed but I had a couple of meetings, waiting for the project manager to find a big chunk of extra money to fund compute needs. Either way, my part is set up and I'll start working in earnest soon. We're setting things up for now.

I went to only one climbing class this week. The slower pace felt good, I really needed to recover a bit. We are done with our strength cycle, now onto working on hard projects. I tried my highest grade so far, and it felt really close to being doable!

Goals for next week:
- one climbing class
- progress on contract
- go to city 1 to climb with FCP and my cousin and attend a concert with friends
- host a friend for the weekend in city 2

Some pics from last week's trip:

[Stasher]

A canyoneering trip, how fun for your group. Awesome experience for those willing to try.