JULY REPORT
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social : $60.89
Personal Transportation:$30.00
Food and Household: $191.60
Girl Stuff: $33.08
Skillz/Gear: $0
Health: $90.67
Kids: $50
Shelter/Utilities: $300
TOTAL: $756.20
July seemed like a really long month for me even though not that much actually happened. I guess I was doing some internal processing. My ridiculously high spending on food and household this month was mainly due to the fact that I did the Warrior Diet about every other day and treated myself to the $4.99/lb prepared meat buffet at the excellent little Polish market right by the pool where I swim, and I also chose to eat very, very well (healthy yet decadent) otherwise. My WHR is down to .71, but that might have been mainly due to the swimming. Anyways, I am too much of a sensualist (yes, eating is one of the many things I live to do rather than vice-versa-lol) to be a Warrior long-term, so I plan to slash this category in August.
WEB OF GOALS
Success for me = Flexible temporary and self-employment and passive income = 2x current expenses earned by working 16 or less hours/week on average with July/August and Mid-December-Mid-February being my total vacation months. The reasons why this is my goal rather than total financial independence are that I am already old (50), I am already enjoyably self-employed, and I have reasonable expectations to collect Social Security at a level that exceeds my well-established-as-frugal monthly spending habits even if I cash in my chips early. Of course, also because I detest working full-time for somebody else and I don't want to do it ever again, even if only for another 5 years.
Anyways, I have been attempting to just wake up and live my ideal life every day, so I was supposed to be on vacation this month and I planned on mostly reading and swimming and I was really in a great mood at the beginning of the month, but I didn't really stick to that plan and I got all wound up in my new business project and ended up feeling rather hot and grouchy by mid-month. So, that was a mistake.
1) Book Business- only logged a couple maintenance hours. Net Income $289.
2) Permaculture/Shelter?Vacant Lot Development Project- about 30 hours, still mostly manual lawn maintenance (sigh.) No expenses. Unfortunately, experienced a bit of a hunger gap in the garden because my second planting of greens did not flourish, but started harvesting cabbage, eggplant, ground cherries, beans, peppers, cucumbers and, finally, tomatoes (yay!) by end of month. Unfortunately, I currently live in frugal foodies paradise because there are so many excellent, relatively inexpensive ethnic markets and restaurants, and my sister and I are both quite decent cooks, so much of this produce was converted into gourmet decadence on a budget rather than subsistence fare. However, I vow to do better next month.
3) Swimming/Biking- still light on the biking, but I logged almost 60 hours of water aerobics and swimming this month, including the walk back and forth to the pool. My water aerobics class is super-fun because most of my classmates are a really rowdy group of middle-aged women who teach in urban schools. No expense because I have my free-for-me junior-senior-citizen pass.
4) Drumming- dropped off the list because I am getting enough of an arm workout with the swimming, and my sister decided to write a play around her set of songs rather than perform them herself. I should either pick this up again or add something else that is in the fine arts category.
5) ACT Test Prep Business- ended up spending too much time on this during what was supposed to be one of my total vacation months. At least 50 hours and another $90.57 in start-up costs. Anyways, the website is now presentable and functional, and I am very happy with the cool design I came up with for the flyers, and even though I intermittently felt like a hot and cranky hamster on a wheel while working on this project, it was reasonably fun and interesting because I did 5 or 6 things I never did before and improved my level of technical literacy.
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- around 18 hours. Quite enjoyable. Did go over budget on social/entertainment again, but might have been worthwhile.
7) Substitute Teaching- on vacation.
8) Dating- I was having fun at the beginning of the month, but then too many illiterate or much too young men were contacting me, and my recent-ex sent me into a guilt spiral and another ex re-appeared, and it was too hot in my apartment, and some idiot attempted to solicit me for prostitution etc. etc. etc. I think maybe I was still on the rebound but didn't know it, but now I am totally ignoring my ex and not allowing him to push my buttons, and I am once again relaxed-in-my-feminine-energy; strong, open, warm and responsive. I have met 4 men in person, and I am still dating one of them ( I didn't like 2 and 1 didn't like me.) According to recent research on the topic, the rational method is to date 12 people before making an informed choice. Spent around 20 hours and $14.
Conclusion:
Income (including misc.) -Expenses= -417.20
Start-Up Costs= 90.57
Personal Ratings System
Spending- (B)
Earning- (N.A.)
Quality of Life (B- , with higher than usual level of variance)
7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
-
Kriegsspiel
- Posts: 952
- Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:05 pm
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
I think it's hot you got solicited. Good on you!
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
I guess it mostly annoyed me because I wasn't expecting it. In my current semi-retired, empty-nest, second-childhood, single-and-living-with-my-sister lifestyle, I might be feeling/behaving as though I am 69,19 or 9 on any given day. When somebody addresses me from the window of their car on a day I am feeling/behaving like 69, it is my expectation that they are going to ask me for directions. OTOH, it's all sort of relative or depending on context, because when I was camping down in South Carolina and Florida this past winter, it was a fairly regular occurrence that while I was out on my morning solo walk/hike, some older gentleman would inquire whether I desired a lift in his golf-cart, and even if one of them would say something bluntly directive like "Come on. Get in.", it wouldn't bother me very much and I would just smile and say "Oh, no thank you. I really do want to walk." Anyways, the guy who solicited me was reasonably friendly and polite once it quickly became clear to him that was not my vocation or intention in strolling about town, so it wasn't so bad. One time when I was a teenager, in a similar situation but much better neighborhood, the man in the expensive car was a well-dressed, quite attractive man in his 30s, and he became angry when I backed away down the sidewalk, so that was scary and confusing because he seemed like somebody I might babysit for in another context.
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
AUGUST REPORT
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$68.25
Personal Transportation:$60
Food and Household:$185.4
Girl Stuff:$31.4
Skillz/Gear:$10.49
Health:$68.18
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities: $300
TOTAL:$773.72
WEB OF GOALS
1) Book business- couple maintenance hours. Net Income-$315.60
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- around 20 hours, mostly lawn maintenance, but more time spent on much more enjoyable tasks of harvesting and processing this month. Total of 76 lbs. harvested, mostly several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, but also cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, basil, parsley, variety of peppers, ground cherries, eggplant, pole beans and beets from my plantings. Also, included in the total are grapes one neighbor let me pick from his arbor, pears and mint I foraged and other varieties of produce (mostly zucchini) my sister and I were given by fellow gardeners we are dating, so maybe subtract 8 lbs. for my actual yield. I made tomato pie, salsa, stewed tomatoes, chili, pesto, grape and ground cherry jam and mixed pickles. Tragically, my random planting of mostly large squash on my third lot was mowed down by the clueless hireling of another vacant-lot-lord, so I predict little possibility of reaching my goal of 365 lbs. total harvest this year. The permaculturist I am dating is also into urban renovation, so he helped me trespass and evaluate the abandoned house next to one of my lots. It wasn't as bad as I feared, definitely needs a new roof but somebody had already neatly gutted it and started to run new electric before giving up, so I might buy it at auction if/when it comes up. The lot on the other side is currently up for auction, so I might buy that one and, also the third lot next to my other two. Likely, I can get all these properties for less than $5000. I've also been researching the possibility of getting Wwoofer volunteers to help me with some of my bigger projects once I get better organized. Expense- $0
3) Swimming/Biking- Loving it! I've been swimming and/or doing water aerobics for at least an hour 6 days a week and walking to the pool, but last week the pool was shut down this month, so I broke down and bought a new used bike for $50 because the weather was so cool and nice and the repairs needed by my old used bike were just too many and frustrating. The city has been consistently adding fresh bike lanes to routes through even some of the sketchier neighborhoods, so the destinations I most desire to reach by bike seem more attainable with less fear. So, maybe 50 hours swimming/biking/walking this month. Expense- $50 which I included in personal transportation category rather than gear, since I do intend to use the bike for transportation. I'm officially going to add hiking, defined by me as "purposefully walking in natural setting" to this category starting next month. I did log one 8 mile hike along the river with the other guy I was dating, and I intend to do more now that it is getting cooler.
4) Fine Arts Category Place Holder- Didn't do much of anything except listen to musical performances and watch some decent movies this month. Need to come up with a new project for myself.
5)ACT Test Prep Business- logged another 10-15 hours. Ran my website past my kids and their friends and got the thumbs up and only a few minor suggestions for improvement, so that made me happy. My sister and I decided to put off our first live sessions until the end of October because it has been too difficult to market the business while the schools are out of session. Now that I realize how easy it was to make a reasonably attractive and functional website, I am thinking about other ways I might use this new skill. For instance, I might offer my services to some of the wonderful local restaurants and markets that are owned and operated by non-native English speakers. Many of them are completely off the virtual map now, and there are a lot of suburban bikers and bar/show-goers that come into town and might visit them if they knew they existed. Also, under consideration are ways to offer part of our prep course online and possibility of non-profit status so we can help the low-income kids around here get better scores. My sister and I decided to start having our weekly business meetings during happy hour at different bars-just because we can, so that added a bit to the monthly expense in this category, My half came to $24.50 including website hosting, business line, 3 drinks and 1 order of General Tso's Cauliflower.
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Around 14 hours. Had a couple of very fun family gatherings and entertained one old friend who was in town. Maybe around $40 of Entertainment/Social budget spent in this category. Well worth the expense.
7) Substitute teaching- On vacation, but had to spend $45 to renew my license with the state.
8) Dating- Super fun month! Kind of hard to calculate how much I spent in this category. I mean I did buy pastry to bring for dessert when one man was making me dinner and I did buy the kind of expensive beer another man likes when I invited him over to my place for dinner and I did buy my own coffee while waiting for meet-and-greet, but per standard operating procedure, my dates did cover significantly more of the shared entertainment expenses. So, my out-of-pocket was around $18 plus dinner ingredients, but overall standard of living improvement achieved by putting myself on the market was way, way huger. As mentioned above, I got a free property inspection by experienced professional, free tire repair, many meals, lots of drinks, movie, concert and bodyguard/chauffeur services for other outings around and about the city, very interesting conversation and cordial companionship and plenty of very, very high quality of what I was primarily shopping for too
My sister is also actively dating, so it seems just like when we were living together in our early 20s. She shares the homemade Peppermint Schnapps one of her dates dropped off for her and I share the seafood enchiladas I doggy-bagged on date with her, and we are both like " You look so cute in that print dress you scored at the thrift store!" and having dance parties in the kitchen all the time. We want to invite some of our old roommates from our youth to come visit us because we are having so much fun 
Conclusion:
Income (including misc.) - Expenses = -$208
Start up Costs and licensing= $69.50
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending - ( B) (still out of control spending in the "foodie" category, most everything else fairly well in line)
Earning- (N.A.) (was supposed to be a total vacation month and very nearly was )
Quality of Life- ( A-, the minus only due to wanton destruction of my squash crop and optimistic hope for even better months to come, otherwise life has been very, very good.)
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$68.25
Personal Transportation:$60
Food and Household:$185.4
Girl Stuff:$31.4
Skillz/Gear:$10.49
Health:$68.18
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities: $300
TOTAL:$773.72
WEB OF GOALS
1) Book business- couple maintenance hours. Net Income-$315.60
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- around 20 hours, mostly lawn maintenance, but more time spent on much more enjoyable tasks of harvesting and processing this month. Total of 76 lbs. harvested, mostly several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, but also cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, basil, parsley, variety of peppers, ground cherries, eggplant, pole beans and beets from my plantings. Also, included in the total are grapes one neighbor let me pick from his arbor, pears and mint I foraged and other varieties of produce (mostly zucchini) my sister and I were given by fellow gardeners we are dating, so maybe subtract 8 lbs. for my actual yield. I made tomato pie, salsa, stewed tomatoes, chili, pesto, grape and ground cherry jam and mixed pickles. Tragically, my random planting of mostly large squash on my third lot was mowed down by the clueless hireling of another vacant-lot-lord, so I predict little possibility of reaching my goal of 365 lbs. total harvest this year. The permaculturist I am dating is also into urban renovation, so he helped me trespass and evaluate the abandoned house next to one of my lots. It wasn't as bad as I feared, definitely needs a new roof but somebody had already neatly gutted it and started to run new electric before giving up, so I might buy it at auction if/when it comes up. The lot on the other side is currently up for auction, so I might buy that one and, also the third lot next to my other two. Likely, I can get all these properties for less than $5000. I've also been researching the possibility of getting Wwoofer volunteers to help me with some of my bigger projects once I get better organized. Expense- $0
3) Swimming/Biking- Loving it! I've been swimming and/or doing water aerobics for at least an hour 6 days a week and walking to the pool, but last week the pool was shut down this month, so I broke down and bought a new used bike for $50 because the weather was so cool and nice and the repairs needed by my old used bike were just too many and frustrating. The city has been consistently adding fresh bike lanes to routes through even some of the sketchier neighborhoods, so the destinations I most desire to reach by bike seem more attainable with less fear. So, maybe 50 hours swimming/biking/walking this month. Expense- $50 which I included in personal transportation category rather than gear, since I do intend to use the bike for transportation. I'm officially going to add hiking, defined by me as "purposefully walking in natural setting" to this category starting next month. I did log one 8 mile hike along the river with the other guy I was dating, and I intend to do more now that it is getting cooler.
4) Fine Arts Category Place Holder- Didn't do much of anything except listen to musical performances and watch some decent movies this month. Need to come up with a new project for myself.
5)ACT Test Prep Business- logged another 10-15 hours. Ran my website past my kids and their friends and got the thumbs up and only a few minor suggestions for improvement, so that made me happy. My sister and I decided to put off our first live sessions until the end of October because it has been too difficult to market the business while the schools are out of session. Now that I realize how easy it was to make a reasonably attractive and functional website, I am thinking about other ways I might use this new skill. For instance, I might offer my services to some of the wonderful local restaurants and markets that are owned and operated by non-native English speakers. Many of them are completely off the virtual map now, and there are a lot of suburban bikers and bar/show-goers that come into town and might visit them if they knew they existed. Also, under consideration are ways to offer part of our prep course online and possibility of non-profit status so we can help the low-income kids around here get better scores. My sister and I decided to start having our weekly business meetings during happy hour at different bars-just because we can, so that added a bit to the monthly expense in this category, My half came to $24.50 including website hosting, business line, 3 drinks and 1 order of General Tso's Cauliflower.
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Around 14 hours. Had a couple of very fun family gatherings and entertained one old friend who was in town. Maybe around $40 of Entertainment/Social budget spent in this category. Well worth the expense.
7) Substitute teaching- On vacation, but had to spend $45 to renew my license with the state.
8) Dating- Super fun month! Kind of hard to calculate how much I spent in this category. I mean I did buy pastry to bring for dessert when one man was making me dinner and I did buy the kind of expensive beer another man likes when I invited him over to my place for dinner and I did buy my own coffee while waiting for meet-and-greet, but per standard operating procedure, my dates did cover significantly more of the shared entertainment expenses. So, my out-of-pocket was around $18 plus dinner ingredients, but overall standard of living improvement achieved by putting myself on the market was way, way huger. As mentioned above, I got a free property inspection by experienced professional, free tire repair, many meals, lots of drinks, movie, concert and bodyguard/chauffeur services for other outings around and about the city, very interesting conversation and cordial companionship and plenty of very, very high quality of what I was primarily shopping for too
My sister is also actively dating, so it seems just like when we were living together in our early 20s. She shares the homemade Peppermint Schnapps one of her dates dropped off for her and I share the seafood enchiladas I doggy-bagged on date with her, and we are both like " You look so cute in that print dress you scored at the thrift store!" and having dance parties in the kitchen all the time. We want to invite some of our old roommates from our youth to come visit us because we are having so much fun Conclusion:
Income (including misc.) - Expenses = -$208
Start up Costs and licensing= $69.50
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending - ( B) (still out of control spending in the "foodie" category, most everything else fairly well in line)
Earning- (N.A.) (was supposed to be a total vacation month and very nearly was )
Quality of Life- ( A-, the minus only due to wanton destruction of my squash crop and optimistic hope for even better months to come, otherwise life has been very, very good.)
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
SEPTEMBER REPORT
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$49.39
Personal Transportation:$23.63
Food and Household:$202.10
Girl Stuff:$31.32
Skillz/Gear:$0
Health:$91.92
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$300
TOTAL:$748.40
September was jam-packed with activity. I was working hard and playing hard. I had to deal with a couple unexpected health emergencies ( accidentally ate some peanuts and had to go to ER) in the last week, but otherwise, it was a very fulfilling and interesting month.
WEB OF GOALS
1) Book business- put in far too few hours here because I was spending so much time substitute teaching. September is one of the months which I really should devote to this activity, because some of the best opportunities are available. Net Income- $416
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- Thankfully, I spent much less time on lawn maintenance this month due to season coming to an end. Unfortunately, my harvest was rather weak due to loss of all squash crop last month, destruction of most of melon crop by squirrels and ants, and extreme bitterness of fall mixed salad planting. Total of around 38 lbs. for the month and I'm at around 160 lbs. total for the season, far short of my 365 lb. goal. I will likely have to process a lot of green tomatoes to even make it to 200 lbs. On a more positive note, I did finally manage to rough out my complete basic layout/design for my two adjoining lots, including detailed plans for my modular semi-submerged green-house. My autumnal prep tasks for next season are going to be pretty easy and inexpensive. I just need to gather at least 21 abandoned tires for the low northern composting wall of my greenhouse and do a simple cardboard, manure and fallen leaves sheet mulching on about 1/8 of the property. Expense- $0
3) Swimming/Biking/Hiking- Still mostly devoting myself to swimming and water aerobics most days, but took several moderately (couple hour) long bike rides and one 6 hour hike, in addition to my usual practice of walking just about everywhere. I also mixed in a few hours of yoga and interval strength training towards the end of the month. It is likely that I am going to significantly alter my exercise practice next month since I don't like walking around with wet hair after dark.
4) Fine Arts - Still more consumer than producer.
5) ACT Test Prep Business- On hold. Spent a couple hours discussing future plans. Expense- $8 for maintenance of business line and website.
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Two family gatherings. Spent less than usual because my DD24's BF insisted on picking up the bill for brunch. So, around $30 total.
7) Substitute teaching- Spent the first two weeks of the school year helping run an ad hoc over-flow kindergarten full of recent immigrant and inner city children. This was a seriously challenging, yet very rewarding experience. Sort of halfway between a normal teaching assignment and what I imagine it must be like to run a refugee camp orphanage. The first day we had 19 students, the second day 23 and the third day we were up to 28. More than 1/3 of the children had very limited English, more than 1/3 of them were frightened and crying, and several of them were constantly trying to escape. Two of them were dropped off with no paperwork and no ability to tell us their names. It was extremely hot in the school building, and the free government snack we fed them on the first day was applesauce that had been colored electric blue. One boy, who was tiny even for a 4 year old, ended up pretty much stained from head to toe with the stuff, but at the end of the day he looked at me, grinned really big and requested "WATER!" in English, thereby proving himself to be in possession of fairly high level survival skills. The other substitute who was teaching the group with me was more experienced bad cop to my good cop, but even she had to shake her head at one point and say "These poor babies." One evening, after dealing with this reality, I attended a quite posh champagne-reception panel discussion on the greening of Detroit which was in part trying to promote organic gardens and organic foods in public schools. Kind of gave me the feeling that we are doomed because the ideal solution is so, so, so, so very far away from the situation on the ground. I felt like a soldier recently back from the front line attending some political banquet.
The situation calmed down after the first couple weeks, and I spent the rest of the month mostly assisting a very experience, very good teacher with another kindergarten group or covering for the school librarian. One of the interesting exercises the experienced teacher did with her group was to have them intermittently strive to increase their stamina for hopping on one foot and then sitting quietly and "reading" a book in a manner that was very much in alignment with modern research on achieving mastery. We also helped the children into yoga positions or exercises in order to calm them down or focus their energy. I did have the opportunity to distribute some sugar cane one of the men I was dating managed to grow in his backyard to a group of 6th graders one day and teach them a bit about gardening in Michigan. Income-$601 (light due to serious paycheck lag)
8) Dating- On Labor Day weekend, I had 4 dates with 4 different men and had a wonderful, wonderful time floating on the waves of fresh desire into state of sensual fugue, and I think that is when I decided that maybe it would be in my self-interest to become polyamorous in alignment with my general practice/philosophy of permaculture and/or healthy systems oriented design of my lifestyle. Now, in the world of concepts, there exists something that is known as a "model", and another thing that is known as a "plan", but, in retrospect, it very well may be the case that what I attempted to create and label with the word "polyamory" was more along the lines of what is known as a "scheme." The brain of an ENTP does not work in the same manner as the brain of an INTJ. We approach even the most complex of problems with an abundance of enthusiastic sprinting hubris and energy and/or tend to wander in loping circles off and back then on to central path. Anyways, I totally lost track of my analogies, because, for instance, I do not know if I am the fruit tree or the farmer or the sun (or all three? )in this realm. Then, I suddenly realized that I was lost deep in some land of logical fallacy, if I believed that the fact that one of the men I was dating practiced permaculture and another had his Master's in Resource Ecology meant that my sexual practice was in alignment with permaculture philosophy, but I couldn't even figure out what fallacy I was committing. Plus, what doe it say about my values system that I seem to only be willing to welcome men who can press 220 into my poly-amorous circle? It is likely that I have made a big mess of things since I somehow managed to get dumped by the man I found most attractive and simultaneously inspire ongoing, unremitting infatuation in the man I found the least attractive and attempted to dump myself in friendly fashion. So, I am a little wee bit back to the drawing board on this, also due to the fact that I decided that it might be in my self-interest to first establish one relationship at the level of "Would feel comfortable calling and asking to drive me to the emergency room if/when I accidentally ingest peanuts." before attempting to establish others.
Conclusion:
Income-Expenses= $1017- $748= $269
Start up costs- $8
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending- (B) My 4 month average has been $734 without great variation, so I am going to have to commit to some new or renewed better practice to change this number.
Earning- (B) My work experiences were very fulfilling, but definitely could have done better on the dollar/hour.
Quality of Life- (A-) Much, much busier and more variable than August, but another very, very good month overall. Just need to keep on tweaking the details and widening the margins.
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$49.39
Personal Transportation:$23.63
Food and Household:$202.10
Girl Stuff:$31.32
Skillz/Gear:$0
Health:$91.92
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$300
TOTAL:$748.40
September was jam-packed with activity. I was working hard and playing hard. I had to deal with a couple unexpected health emergencies ( accidentally ate some peanuts and had to go to ER) in the last week, but otherwise, it was a very fulfilling and interesting month.
WEB OF GOALS
1) Book business- put in far too few hours here because I was spending so much time substitute teaching. September is one of the months which I really should devote to this activity, because some of the best opportunities are available. Net Income- $416
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- Thankfully, I spent much less time on lawn maintenance this month due to season coming to an end. Unfortunately, my harvest was rather weak due to loss of all squash crop last month, destruction of most of melon crop by squirrels and ants, and extreme bitterness of fall mixed salad planting. Total of around 38 lbs. for the month and I'm at around 160 lbs. total for the season, far short of my 365 lb. goal. I will likely have to process a lot of green tomatoes to even make it to 200 lbs. On a more positive note, I did finally manage to rough out my complete basic layout/design for my two adjoining lots, including detailed plans for my modular semi-submerged green-house. My autumnal prep tasks for next season are going to be pretty easy and inexpensive. I just need to gather at least 21 abandoned tires for the low northern composting wall of my greenhouse and do a simple cardboard, manure and fallen leaves sheet mulching on about 1/8 of the property. Expense- $0
3) Swimming/Biking/Hiking- Still mostly devoting myself to swimming and water aerobics most days, but took several moderately (couple hour) long bike rides and one 6 hour hike, in addition to my usual practice of walking just about everywhere. I also mixed in a few hours of yoga and interval strength training towards the end of the month. It is likely that I am going to significantly alter my exercise practice next month since I don't like walking around with wet hair after dark.
4) Fine Arts - Still more consumer than producer.
5) ACT Test Prep Business- On hold. Spent a couple hours discussing future plans. Expense- $8 for maintenance of business line and website.
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Two family gatherings. Spent less than usual because my DD24's BF insisted on picking up the bill for brunch. So, around $30 total.
7) Substitute teaching- Spent the first two weeks of the school year helping run an ad hoc over-flow kindergarten full of recent immigrant and inner city children. This was a seriously challenging, yet very rewarding experience. Sort of halfway between a normal teaching assignment and what I imagine it must be like to run a refugee camp orphanage. The first day we had 19 students, the second day 23 and the third day we were up to 28. More than 1/3 of the children had very limited English, more than 1/3 of them were frightened and crying, and several of them were constantly trying to escape. Two of them were dropped off with no paperwork and no ability to tell us their names. It was extremely hot in the school building, and the free government snack we fed them on the first day was applesauce that had been colored electric blue. One boy, who was tiny even for a 4 year old, ended up pretty much stained from head to toe with the stuff, but at the end of the day he looked at me, grinned really big and requested "WATER!" in English, thereby proving himself to be in possession of fairly high level survival skills. The other substitute who was teaching the group with me was more experienced bad cop to my good cop, but even she had to shake her head at one point and say "These poor babies." One evening, after dealing with this reality, I attended a quite posh champagne-reception panel discussion on the greening of Detroit which was in part trying to promote organic gardens and organic foods in public schools. Kind of gave me the feeling that we are doomed because the ideal solution is so, so, so, so very far away from the situation on the ground. I felt like a soldier recently back from the front line attending some political banquet.
The situation calmed down after the first couple weeks, and I spent the rest of the month mostly assisting a very experience, very good teacher with another kindergarten group or covering for the school librarian. One of the interesting exercises the experienced teacher did with her group was to have them intermittently strive to increase their stamina for hopping on one foot and then sitting quietly and "reading" a book in a manner that was very much in alignment with modern research on achieving mastery. We also helped the children into yoga positions or exercises in order to calm them down or focus their energy. I did have the opportunity to distribute some sugar cane one of the men I was dating managed to grow in his backyard to a group of 6th graders one day and teach them a bit about gardening in Michigan. Income-$601 (light due to serious paycheck lag)
8) Dating- On Labor Day weekend, I had 4 dates with 4 different men and had a wonderful, wonderful time floating on the waves of fresh desire into state of sensual fugue, and I think that is when I decided that maybe it would be in my self-interest to become polyamorous in alignment with my general practice/philosophy of permaculture and/or healthy systems oriented design of my lifestyle. Now, in the world of concepts, there exists something that is known as a "model", and another thing that is known as a "plan", but, in retrospect, it very well may be the case that what I attempted to create and label with the word "polyamory" was more along the lines of what is known as a "scheme." The brain of an ENTP does not work in the same manner as the brain of an INTJ. We approach even the most complex of problems with an abundance of enthusiastic sprinting hubris and energy and/or tend to wander in loping circles off and back then on to central path. Anyways, I totally lost track of my analogies, because, for instance, I do not know if I am the fruit tree or the farmer or the sun (or all three? )in this realm. Then, I suddenly realized that I was lost deep in some land of logical fallacy, if I believed that the fact that one of the men I was dating practiced permaculture and another had his Master's in Resource Ecology meant that my sexual practice was in alignment with permaculture philosophy, but I couldn't even figure out what fallacy I was committing. Plus, what doe it say about my values system that I seem to only be willing to welcome men who can press 220 into my poly-amorous circle? It is likely that I have made a big mess of things since I somehow managed to get dumped by the man I found most attractive and simultaneously inspire ongoing, unremitting infatuation in the man I found the least attractive and attempted to dump myself in friendly fashion. So, I am a little wee bit back to the drawing board on this, also due to the fact that I decided that it might be in my self-interest to first establish one relationship at the level of "Would feel comfortable calling and asking to drive me to the emergency room if/when I accidentally ingest peanuts." before attempting to establish others.
Conclusion:
Income-Expenses= $1017- $748= $269
Start up costs- $8
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending- (B) My 4 month average has been $734 without great variation, so I am going to have to commit to some new or renewed better practice to change this number.
Earning- (B) My work experiences were very fulfilling, but definitely could have done better on the dollar/hour.
Quality of Life- (A-) Much, much busier and more variable than August, but another very, very good month overall. Just need to keep on tweaking the details and widening the margins.
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
> since I somehow managed to get dumped by the man I found most attractive and simultaneously inspire ongoing, unremitting
> infatuation in the man I found the least attractive and attempted to dump myself in friendly fashion.
Come now, that happens regardless of schemes/plans/methods. Chemistry/electricity happens, but you're also herding stray cats and the only consistent thing is they'll show up on the doorstep when they're hungry.
> infatuation in the man I found the least attractive and attempted to dump myself in friendly fashion.
Come now, that happens regardless of schemes/plans/methods. Chemistry/electricity happens, but you're also herding stray cats and the only consistent thing is they'll show up on the doorstep when they're hungry.
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
@Gtoo: Your points are true and not true and very true. I am currently more like a "stray" animal (monkey-in-a-bunny-suit ?) than all of the men I have dated except for one who is back in grad school at 51. I share an apartment with my sister and do not own a bed or a car. They all own trucks, and houses and rental properties and boats, etc. etc. etc. Therefore, it is more like I am up in a tree in an urban park and they are all sitting on benches on their territory on different sides of the park trying to lure me over "Hey Sweetie, you have such pretty eyes..." with bags of roasted nuts and candy "... why don't you come over and watch the sunset with me?" So, my objective is to quick run in and grab some nuts and then quick run back up my tree, before one of them can catch me and put me in a 3200 square foot cage with a vacuum cleaner attached to my paw or any other variation on the theme of my remaining life energy being largely spent on maintenance or improvement of stuff or projects or emotional states that are not mine, mine, mine. Basically, the deal is that as long as I don't have to do anything like help fix a motor or listen to work gripes, I am willing to engage in sexual practice empathetic with scientific evidence that the average size of human males relative to females puts them on the primate polygamy scale at approximately harem size of 1.6 and the modern invention of arithmetic that informs me that (.6) X 3 = 1.8!
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
I have learned from this journal never to put "Clean Me" post its around the house.
I can imagine a man and woman on their first date. She is afraid that he is going to want her to iron and fold his underwear. He is afraid that she is going to want to spend all of his hoarded money. Both are projecting a fear of what the other will want from them without knowing what the other really wants.
So how do they get past that? Spend time together to see if any bad personality traits appear? Communicate about what they want in a relationship? Have a relationship until a train wreck happens?
I can imagine a man and woman on their first date. She is afraid that he is going to want her to iron and fold his underwear. He is afraid that she is going to want to spend all of his hoarded money. Both are projecting a fear of what the other will want from them without knowing what the other really wants.
So how do they get past that? Spend time together to see if any bad personality traits appear? Communicate about what they want in a relationship? Have a relationship until a train wreck happens?
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
@ sky: I'm not terribly romantic, but I do have tendencies towards cozy sentimentality, so I am not afraid that a man might want me to provide him with basic personal care services, like making soup or sewing button back on flannel shirt. What I fear wasting my energy on is helping a man maintain his massive ego state in a manner out of alignment with my values system. For instance, finding myself helping him do maintenance on yet another rental property he has acquired because, in theory, I owe him half the rent on the suburban house in a very nice neighborhood I am occupying with him, and if I say "It would be my preference that you sell the house and all the rental property, and we can live in the camper.", he says that I am not being "realistic", when really what he means is that it is not his preference to live in the camper because he is not in good enough shape to be comfortable on the camper bed and he feels more emotionally secure surrounded by all his stuff. Then he posts stuff on Facebook implying that I left him because he wasn't funneling enough money my way, when really I left him because I was bored with him as a recreational companion because he couldn't keep up with me, so I always had to go hiking by myself, and I didn't want to be stuck providing him with nursing care in near-future years, and because he made me livid with anger because he was going to borrow money from his ex-who-was-still-in-love-with-him in order to swing his next rental real estate purchase without a mortgage, and because he kept telling me things like how to load the dishwasher his way, and he wouldn't let me have my garden on the only sunny spot on his property.
According to sexual dichotomy theory (simplified version), the three things a person who is in rising masculine energy desires are sex, food and admiration. I have zero-percent poker face, so I am not very good at either faking or suppressing admiration. What I admire the most are intellectual and artistic accomplishments and skills. The kind of man I am most doomed to become instantly infatuated with would be a talented writer who is also a serious alcoholic or any variation on that theme. If he is also 6'2" and able to press 235 lbs and manifest some dominant behavior, then it is like little red translucent shutters snap down right over my eyeballs, and I am down, down, down, down for the count. Of course, I do also care about whether somebody is basically a decent human being who cares for the planet and other people.. I simply do not care very much about whether a man has very much money or stuff hoarded up. Seriously distant 9th or 10th on my list, unless there is a baby who needs a bottle in the mix, and even then I am more likely to be the one who is smiling while cooking the lentil soup and washing the gray cloth diapers with the tot hanging naked on my hip and humming "Even though we ain't got money..." while the Van Gogh-self-portrait-handsome depressive musician variant in black turtleneck is sitting grim in the corner with his beer and his Nietzsche and a thought bubble over his head that says something like "Kill me now. Please."
According to sexual dichotomy theory (simplified version), the three things a person who is in rising masculine energy desires are sex, food and admiration. I have zero-percent poker face, so I am not very good at either faking or suppressing admiration. What I admire the most are intellectual and artistic accomplishments and skills. The kind of man I am most doomed to become instantly infatuated with would be a talented writer who is also a serious alcoholic or any variation on that theme. If he is also 6'2" and able to press 235 lbs and manifest some dominant behavior, then it is like little red translucent shutters snap down right over my eyeballs, and I am down, down, down, down for the count. Of course, I do also care about whether somebody is basically a decent human being who cares for the planet and other people.. I simply do not care very much about whether a man has very much money or stuff hoarded up. Seriously distant 9th or 10th on my list, unless there is a baby who needs a bottle in the mix, and even then I am more likely to be the one who is smiling while cooking the lentil soup and washing the gray cloth diapers with the tot hanging naked on my hip and humming "Even though we ain't got money..." while the Van Gogh-self-portrait-handsome depressive musician variant in black turtleneck is sitting grim in the corner with his beer and his Nietzsche and a thought bubble over his head that says something like "Kill me now. Please."
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
Have you developed a selection process?
A few go-no go pre qualification questions, a checklist of desirable or undesirable character traits, or prerequisite lifestyle requirements?
A few go-no go pre qualification questions, a checklist of desirable or undesirable character traits, or prerequisite lifestyle requirements?
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
@sky: If I was interested in once more yoking myself into significant long-term, extensive monogamous partnership with a man then I would have to develop a very complicated selection filter, just like if I was a salaryman trying to figure out my tightly coupled, ideal career on which I would be highly dependent for the next 40 years. Since it is my intention to pursue multiple, loosely coupled, highly independent relationships with men, my selection criteria need not be so intense. So far my filters are IQ over 120, very sexually attractive to me, and decent human being. Apparently, there is the opposite of a shortage of men who meet these basic criteria and are willing/wanting to join my polyamorous circle. Therefore, it would obviously be in alignment with my self-interest to increase and vary my filters. For instance, I might want one lover who is very reliable, another who is very fun, and a third who is very cuddly, or one who will take me to the theater, another who will take me hiking, and another who will feed me very well.
I should note for the record here that every woman in my acquaintance who is currently in her 60s or 70s, however culturally conservative, has given strong stamp of approval to my plan for polyamory. Nothing but "You go!" and "I wish I had thought of that." and "Sounds good. If you do get married again, be sure to get one who is younger than you." and "I'm not mad. Represent."
I should note for the record here that every woman in my acquaintance who is currently in her 60s or 70s, however culturally conservative, has given strong stamp of approval to my plan for polyamory. Nothing but "You go!" and "I wish I had thought of that." and "Sounds good. If you do get married again, be sure to get one who is younger than you." and "I'm not mad. Represent."
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zarathustra
- Posts: 172
- Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:15 pm
- Location: VEGAS, BABY
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
Damn, I love your journal! Can't believe I haven't read it before now.
Well I believe you know that I am also attempting to build a "stable" of men, as my roommate calls it, for similar reasons. I find it quite freeing, as I can focus on the qualities I really like and not worry so much about total compatibility. My problem is that so far I've only made the step to sex with one of them and the others I am hesitating on. I'm not quite sure why. Any ideas?
Well I believe you know that I am also attempting to build a "stable" of men, as my roommate calls it, for similar reasons. I find it quite freeing, as I can focus on the qualities I really like and not worry so much about total compatibility. My problem is that so far I've only made the step to sex with one of them and the others I am hesitating on. I'm not quite sure why. Any ideas?
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
@zarathustra:
A friend of mine also recently used the word "stable" to describe my new practice. That is so NOT what I am about. I want all the stallions to run free and happy across the lands and do whatever their nature compels. I just want the freedom to do what I want to do too. I mean, the genetic evidence is now in and it is pretty clear about what constitutes "natural" human sexual behavior, and it is not my choice as a modern woman in possession of some modicum of power and freedom to go along with that model. Therefore, just as with the Omnivore's Dilemma, I have to choose what sort of practice I believe would be most in alignment with my self-interest. Decent contraceptive methods and anything approaching social and economic equality for women are brand-spanking new innovations, therefore the sort of thing we are talking about when we are talking about polyamory is still in fetal state. Until this past month, I was strictly serial monogamous for 35 years, but then I hit the "no longer give a damn" age of 50 and it suddenly occurred to me that I was adhering to a code that was 1 part osmotic transmission of Catholic sex guilt via my father via the nuns who frightened him via Paul via Mithras-born-with-shrunken-leg-despiser-of-the-sensual and 1 part some terrible article on the topic of how not to be a total slut I read in Cosmopolitan magazine when I was 14. Guess what? The skies did not darken and produce great bolt of lightening to mark my forehead with giant red S, and I didn't even suffer any post-coital tristesse, and the huge positive was that I truly have zero care what any of my lovers are up to when they aren't with me beyond vague well wishes. I mean, I was kind of bummed out for a minute when I realized that the man I found most attractive had likely decided to no longer pursue me, but then I went to an outdoors art exhibit on the topic of play and there was this super-cute guy smiling at me from one of the sail-swings we were both using and I was like "Smorgasbord!!"
OTOH, I think you might be engaging in better practice if you are choosing to facilitate proximity bonding with your male partners before becoming sexual with them. It can take up to two months of close acquaintance before a man accepts you as a member of his vasopressin-influenced circle of protection or "one of his women." So, maybe the 5 dates before sex rule should apply to poly-amory as well as monogamy, at least in some instances? Dunno. We are cutting some fresh trail here.
A friend of mine also recently used the word "stable" to describe my new practice. That is so NOT what I am about. I want all the stallions to run free and happy across the lands and do whatever their nature compels. I just want the freedom to do what I want to do too. I mean, the genetic evidence is now in and it is pretty clear about what constitutes "natural" human sexual behavior, and it is not my choice as a modern woman in possession of some modicum of power and freedom to go along with that model. Therefore, just as with the Omnivore's Dilemma, I have to choose what sort of practice I believe would be most in alignment with my self-interest. Decent contraceptive methods and anything approaching social and economic equality for women are brand-spanking new innovations, therefore the sort of thing we are talking about when we are talking about polyamory is still in fetal state. Until this past month, I was strictly serial monogamous for 35 years, but then I hit the "no longer give a damn" age of 50 and it suddenly occurred to me that I was adhering to a code that was 1 part osmotic transmission of Catholic sex guilt via my father via the nuns who frightened him via Paul via Mithras-born-with-shrunken-leg-despiser-of-the-sensual and 1 part some terrible article on the topic of how not to be a total slut I read in Cosmopolitan magazine when I was 14. Guess what? The skies did not darken and produce great bolt of lightening to mark my forehead with giant red S, and I didn't even suffer any post-coital tristesse, and the huge positive was that I truly have zero care what any of my lovers are up to when they aren't with me beyond vague well wishes. I mean, I was kind of bummed out for a minute when I realized that the man I found most attractive had likely decided to no longer pursue me, but then I went to an outdoors art exhibit on the topic of play and there was this super-cute guy smiling at me from one of the sail-swings we were both using and I was like "Smorgasbord!!"
OTOH, I think you might be engaging in better practice if you are choosing to facilitate proximity bonding with your male partners before becoming sexual with them. It can take up to two months of close acquaintance before a man accepts you as a member of his vasopressin-influenced circle of protection or "one of his women." So, maybe the 5 dates before sex rule should apply to poly-amory as well as monogamy, at least in some instances? Dunno. We are cutting some fresh trail here.
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zarathustra
- Posts: 172
- Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:15 pm
- Location: VEGAS, BABY
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
so much love to you, girl. i really love your insight and perspective. it gives me courage to continue down this self-reliant, goal-driven, free path i've been trodding for a while now.
and i agree on the stable comments! freedom is the goal.
my main partner is so encouraging and accepting of all of this, it's mind-blowing and just makes me like him even more. for example, i was going to take a pork butchery class and because it was going to go late into the night, he had gone to pick up some lights for my bike for me and delivered them to me before i went (he's a total caregiver type). he looked up the location of the class for me too and mentioned the teacher was attractive. i didn't think much of it. well, yeah, he was! now that butcher has asked me out and my partner is so tickled because he said as soon as he saw the teacher he knew i would be going out with him and he heartily approved. lol. so weird! but also super awesome.
and i agree on the stable comments! freedom is the goal.
my main partner is so encouraging and accepting of all of this, it's mind-blowing and just makes me like him even more. for example, i was going to take a pork butchery class and because it was going to go late into the night, he had gone to pick up some lights for my bike for me and delivered them to me before i went (he's a total caregiver type). he looked up the location of the class for me too and mentioned the teacher was attractive. i didn't think much of it. well, yeah, he was! now that butcher has asked me out and my partner is so tickled because he said as soon as he saw the teacher he knew i would be going out with him and he heartily approved. lol. so weird! but also super awesome.
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
@zarathustra: lol- Best of luck with the butcher...and the baker, and the candlestick maker. Rub-a-dub-dub.
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
OCTOBER REPORT
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$38.67
Personal Transportation:$0
Food and Household:$276.40
Girl Stuff:$28.25
Skillz/Gear:$0
Health:$140.30
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$300
TOTAL:$833.70
October was not a great month overall. I was knocked down by virus, minor injury and multiple family crises at the beginning of the month. Things improved the last couple weeks as I got back on track and did some serious work on my vacant lot development project.
WEB OF GOALS
1) Book Business- Still letting this one drift mostly passive for no good reason. Maybe put in an hour or two of bookkeeping. Net Income- $214
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- This is where I focused most of my energy this month. I started sheet-mulching some new beds, planted some perennials, dug the pit for my sunken greenhouse, and gathered a bunch of abandoned tires for thermal mass. I am extremely happy and excited because just yesterday (November) I scored an entire 20 ft diameter pvc and patented hub, geodesic dome greenhouse with shade cover included for only $80 off of craigslist, thereby rendering my entire extended project much easier and somewhat less expensive, although somewhat less unique and creative. Unfortunately, the cute little monsters have given me another cold, so I'm not up to assembling it today. Beyond serving as a greenhouse, I need it to be a sort of mini-migrant-worker campsite for myself on the property, so I can treat it more as alternate Zone 1 than Zone 4 in my permaculture design. Due to unusually warm temperatures, I am still harvesting tomatoes and salad greens. So, I have made it past the 50% mark for my yearly goal of 365 lb. harvest and project a total of slightly over 200 lbs. by end of November. I invested a lot of capital in this project this month, mostly in the form of property taxes paid and tools, some on building supplies and plants. I plan/hope to be seeing some kind of net yield starting next year. The lovely woman gardener who sold me the dome, told me she has had no problems with snow or passive heating to above freezing(she used water barrels) and has been able to start propagation in mid-February. Once I have the dome assembled, all I will still really need in order to be able to somewhat live/camp/work on the property will be some sort of lock-box-shed-post for my tools. Total Investment- $574.70
3) Swimming/Biking/Hiking- Fairly weak in this category this month, but I think my overall physical activity was nearly the same since I was digging pits and hauling tires. I am too chicken to walk home from the pool after dark now that the days are shorter, but I am brave enough to do it on my bike. Unfortunately, my virus kept me out of the water for most of a week.
4) Fine Arts- nada
5) ACT Test Prep Business- Still on hold. My sister's recent mental health crisis is seriously influencing my desire to move forward with this project. However, I still consider it to have been a worthwhile use of my life-energy, because I significantly upgraded some of my technical skills- Expense-$8 for maintenance of business line and website.
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Less fun, more crisis, in family social mode this month. However, things seem to have leveled off and I am looking forward to the holidays. I put up with a lot of bother, but I did a good job of not taking on any expense, so my total for the month was actually slightly less than usual.
7) Substitute teaching- Down to a dull roar in this category. I want to level off at about two days a week. I think that would be enough to give me the feeling of being a useful member of my community, but not so much that it will drive me nuts. I do have fun interacting with the kids. Makes me feel like I am a kid again when I am marching around town in a Halloween parade or seeing how long I can keep hopping on one foot or reading a story about a stinky school bus. I think the kids like having a teacher who lives in their neighborhood (most of them commute in from the wealthy suburbs.) A group of boys saw me walking home from my garden the other day, and they were yelling "Miss,Miss, hello, hello!" and then "Are you a farmer, Miss?" and we were all laughing. OTOH, serious downside has been that I keep catching colds from the kids. I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing long run for my immune system. - Income- $953
8) Dating- Kind of dropped the ball (or balls) in this category. This was mostly due to stress from family crises and not feeling all that great due to colds, but partly due to the fact that I don't quite know how to resolve my new practice of polyamory with my previous practice of never being the pursuer and my current nearly phobic level of lack of desire for commitment. The man (sailor)to whom I literally communicated "I am not interested in moving forward." is still in hot pursuit of me, and the man (permaculturist) I find most attractive, not so much. I think around 243 men have expressed an interest in dating me, and some of them seem quite reasonably attractive, so supply is not the issue. The primary problem may be that what I think I want is for there to be around 3 attractive men who are willing to semi-reliably pursue me, but also understand that our relationship is such that there is no obligation for me to, for instance, inform any of them that I plan on being in Alaska for 6 weeks. Like, maybe I might say "Hey, guess what? I'm going to Alaska for 6 weeks! See you when I get back." rather than just answering his text with "Sorry, would love to get together, but I'm in Alaska!" , but zero percent level of commitment that would entitle man to respond "Didn't you maybe think that was something we should discuss?" Anyways, I have been recently engaged in correspondence with a French guy, negotiation with a 35 year old, and cheerful banter with a liberal-minded film-maker type, so we shall see. I have a very low tolerance for not getting laid, so I'm sure that I will work things out one way or another.
Conclusion:
Income- Living Expenses = $333
Start Up Costs= $583
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending- (C) Up quite a bit this month for no good reason and with no improvement in lifestyle. November is going to be a different story altogether.
Earning-(B) Mostly enjoyed the work that I did, but still mostly either low $/hr or just sweat-equity into the "well yet to yield."
Quality of Life- (C+) Events at beginning of month s*cked. Mostly they were out of my direct control, but perhaps not entirely outside of my ability to predict and plan for a bit better. End of month was much more enjoyable as I engaged myself in my permaculture project. August (relaxed) and September (busy) were such very, very good months, October (stressed and somewhat depressed) being not so good overall was even more of a contrast. I want to figure out what I was doing right and be sure to continue those practices, and do a better job of preparing for bumps in my road. So far, November is looking to be a bit of an overall "housekeeping", "battening the hatches" and forward planning month. I will likely make some changes in my web of goals this month.
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$38.67
Personal Transportation:$0
Food and Household:$276.40
Girl Stuff:$28.25
Skillz/Gear:$0
Health:$140.30
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$300
TOTAL:$833.70
October was not a great month overall. I was knocked down by virus, minor injury and multiple family crises at the beginning of the month. Things improved the last couple weeks as I got back on track and did some serious work on my vacant lot development project.
WEB OF GOALS
1) Book Business- Still letting this one drift mostly passive for no good reason. Maybe put in an hour or two of bookkeeping. Net Income- $214
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- This is where I focused most of my energy this month. I started sheet-mulching some new beds, planted some perennials, dug the pit for my sunken greenhouse, and gathered a bunch of abandoned tires for thermal mass. I am extremely happy and excited because just yesterday (November) I scored an entire 20 ft diameter pvc and patented hub, geodesic dome greenhouse with shade cover included for only $80 off of craigslist, thereby rendering my entire extended project much easier and somewhat less expensive, although somewhat less unique and creative. Unfortunately, the cute little monsters have given me another cold, so I'm not up to assembling it today. Beyond serving as a greenhouse, I need it to be a sort of mini-migrant-worker campsite for myself on the property, so I can treat it more as alternate Zone 1 than Zone 4 in my permaculture design. Due to unusually warm temperatures, I am still harvesting tomatoes and salad greens. So, I have made it past the 50% mark for my yearly goal of 365 lb. harvest and project a total of slightly over 200 lbs. by end of November. I invested a lot of capital in this project this month, mostly in the form of property taxes paid and tools, some on building supplies and plants. I plan/hope to be seeing some kind of net yield starting next year. The lovely woman gardener who sold me the dome, told me she has had no problems with snow or passive heating to above freezing(she used water barrels) and has been able to start propagation in mid-February. Once I have the dome assembled, all I will still really need in order to be able to somewhat live/camp/work on the property will be some sort of lock-box-shed-post for my tools. Total Investment- $574.70
3) Swimming/Biking/Hiking- Fairly weak in this category this month, but I think my overall physical activity was nearly the same since I was digging pits and hauling tires. I am too chicken to walk home from the pool after dark now that the days are shorter, but I am brave enough to do it on my bike. Unfortunately, my virus kept me out of the water for most of a week.
4) Fine Arts- nada
5) ACT Test Prep Business- Still on hold. My sister's recent mental health crisis is seriously influencing my desire to move forward with this project. However, I still consider it to have been a worthwhile use of my life-energy, because I significantly upgraded some of my technical skills- Expense-$8 for maintenance of business line and website.
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Less fun, more crisis, in family social mode this month. However, things seem to have leveled off and I am looking forward to the holidays. I put up with a lot of bother, but I did a good job of not taking on any expense, so my total for the month was actually slightly less than usual.
7) Substitute teaching- Down to a dull roar in this category. I want to level off at about two days a week. I think that would be enough to give me the feeling of being a useful member of my community, but not so much that it will drive me nuts. I do have fun interacting with the kids. Makes me feel like I am a kid again when I am marching around town in a Halloween parade or seeing how long I can keep hopping on one foot or reading a story about a stinky school bus. I think the kids like having a teacher who lives in their neighborhood (most of them commute in from the wealthy suburbs.) A group of boys saw me walking home from my garden the other day, and they were yelling "Miss,Miss, hello, hello!" and then "Are you a farmer, Miss?" and we were all laughing. OTOH, serious downside has been that I keep catching colds from the kids. I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing long run for my immune system. - Income- $953
8) Dating- Kind of dropped the ball (or balls) in this category. This was mostly due to stress from family crises and not feeling all that great due to colds, but partly due to the fact that I don't quite know how to resolve my new practice of polyamory with my previous practice of never being the pursuer and my current nearly phobic level of lack of desire for commitment. The man (sailor)to whom I literally communicated "I am not interested in moving forward." is still in hot pursuit of me, and the man (permaculturist) I find most attractive, not so much. I think around 243 men have expressed an interest in dating me, and some of them seem quite reasonably attractive, so supply is not the issue. The primary problem may be that what I think I want is for there to be around 3 attractive men who are willing to semi-reliably pursue me, but also understand that our relationship is such that there is no obligation for me to, for instance, inform any of them that I plan on being in Alaska for 6 weeks. Like, maybe I might say "Hey, guess what? I'm going to Alaska for 6 weeks! See you when I get back." rather than just answering his text with "Sorry, would love to get together, but I'm in Alaska!" , but zero percent level of commitment that would entitle man to respond "Didn't you maybe think that was something we should discuss?" Anyways, I have been recently engaged in correspondence with a French guy, negotiation with a 35 year old, and cheerful banter with a liberal-minded film-maker type, so we shall see. I have a very low tolerance for not getting laid, so I'm sure that I will work things out one way or another.
Conclusion:
Income- Living Expenses = $333
Start Up Costs= $583
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending- (C) Up quite a bit this month for no good reason and with no improvement in lifestyle. November is going to be a different story altogether.
Earning-(B) Mostly enjoyed the work that I did, but still mostly either low $/hr or just sweat-equity into the "well yet to yield."
Quality of Life- (C+) Events at beginning of month s*cked. Mostly they were out of my direct control, but perhaps not entirely outside of my ability to predict and plan for a bit better. End of month was much more enjoyable as I engaged myself in my permaculture project. August (relaxed) and September (busy) were such very, very good months, October (stressed and somewhat depressed) being not so good overall was even more of a contrast. I want to figure out what I was doing right and be sure to continue those practices, and do a better job of preparing for bumps in my road. So far, November is looking to be a bit of an overall "housekeeping", "battening the hatches" and forward planning month. I will likely make some changes in my web of goals this month.
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
NOVEMBER REPORT
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$176.60
Personal Transportation:$58.41
Food and Household:$315.20
Girl Stuff:$43.94
Skillz/Gear:$31.22
Health:$146.70
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$358.30
TOTAL: $1180
November was a mostly happy sort of pull everything out of the closets, wander about in the mess for a while, and then tidy it all back up better sort of month. I spent a lot of money (for me), but mostly it was warranted and not indicative of a trend. My food and household budget continued to be ridiculously high because I continued to be a self-indulgent "foodie" without much garden output this month. This will change!
WEB OF GOALS
I totally remade my Web of Goals and upgraded my record-keeping. My updated Renaissance Lifestyle Categories are:
Category #1-Erudition
Category #2-Skill Attainment/Improvement
Category #3-Social Practice
Category #4- Health and Fitness
Category #5-Beauty, Style and Charm
Category #6-Habitat/Permaculture (Home, Hearth, Garden)
Category #7-Travel and Novel Experience
Category #8-Financial Practice
Category #9-Work,Trade and Entrepreneurial Activities
Category #10- Creative Projects/Arts & Crafts
Category #11- Random or Fresh
Category #12- Meta-planning and Organizational Projects
I also decided to readopt the practice of making too many goals and continually adding to the list, so I am now at #45 and counting. The majority of my goals could be filed under at least 3 of my Renaissance Categories, so making progress on any of them should result in a climb and pull up the web towards my ideal. So, next month I will start tracking/reporting my progress under this new integrated approach.
1) Book Business- Passive state. Income-$172
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- I am now the proud, very, very happy owner of a quite large geodesic dome! : ) My tall children came over and helped me assemble it, and one of my in-possession-of-building-skills polyamours is helping me reconstruct/improve the doorway. I just need to cover it with plastic and I am good to go for growing a bunch of my own perennials on the cheap in the spring. I planted some more perennials, including a blackberry patch, and finished sheet mulching the new beds. I am having pretty good luck scavenging mulch, compost and logs. Total Investment: $193
3)Swimming/Biking/Hiking- Actually mostly did aerobic dancing for exercise this month due to lack of desire to go out after dark and quite a bit of cold, rainy weather.
4) Fine Arts-nothing
5) ACT Test Prep Business- On hold
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Out of the crisis zone, back in the fun zone this month. My sister, Princess Cuckoo-Bananas, had all charges dismissed by a judge who referred to her behavior as "sassy", and she decided that it might be a good idea to not mix her post-cancer-prescriptions for hormones and marijuana with alcohol anymore. We spent a fun weekend constructing my dome with my kids and our youngest sister who flew in from New York to help because she is an experienced public defender. Thanksgiving was also very enjoyable. I, of course, had to buy the giant .59/lb turkey, and it actually broke my mother's oven rack, but ,luckily, it spilled away from me. We also celebrated my DS27 birthday, and I made all the foods that were his favorites when he was 7 years old, such as super-cheesy-cheesy-noodles and layered pudding and cookies pie.
7) Substitute teaching- Still enjoying the variety of the challenges and the feeling of contributing to my community. Every day something fun or funny is bound to happen when you are interacting with such an interesting diverse population of children. I am hoping that I will have the opportunity to integrate this activity with my permaculture project in the future. Income $522
8) Dating- My new polyamorous practice really started clicking this month. The very attractive permaculturist and I seem to be back in a steady groove, and I also acquired another very attractive partner who is in an open marriage. I find that having at least one partner who is clearly polyamorous himself, rather than just dating around or trying to make me his new girlfriend, makes the practice easier for me. The fact that both of my current polyamours are extremely attractive to me, but quite different personality types, is also helpful. The one particular thing that they both have in common is that they both wear glasses and have the sort of tall muscular build that looks bigger undressed than dressed. So, it's like I'm getting two different Clark Kent to Superman transformations for the price of one. I'm relatively kind of schlubby looking compared to either of them, but I'm past the age/stage for needing to be validated as "pretty, pretty princess" ,so I am free to enjoy all the masculine beauty I can somehow draw into my circle with whatever charms or wiles or schemes I can muster. I also thought it was sweet that both of them sent me very nice text greetings on Thanksgiving while we were all off celebrating with our own families.
Income-Expenses- (-486) (Not a trend!)
Start-Up Costs- $201
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending- Way high, but not a trend (C)
Earning- (B-)
Quality of Life- (B+)
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$176.60
Personal Transportation:$58.41
Food and Household:$315.20
Girl Stuff:$43.94
Skillz/Gear:$31.22
Health:$146.70
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$358.30
TOTAL: $1180
November was a mostly happy sort of pull everything out of the closets, wander about in the mess for a while, and then tidy it all back up better sort of month. I spent a lot of money (for me), but mostly it was warranted and not indicative of a trend. My food and household budget continued to be ridiculously high because I continued to be a self-indulgent "foodie" without much garden output this month. This will change!
WEB OF GOALS
I totally remade my Web of Goals and upgraded my record-keeping. My updated Renaissance Lifestyle Categories are:
Category #1-Erudition
Category #2-Skill Attainment/Improvement
Category #3-Social Practice
Category #4- Health and Fitness
Category #5-Beauty, Style and Charm
Category #6-Habitat/Permaculture (Home, Hearth, Garden)
Category #7-Travel and Novel Experience
Category #8-Financial Practice
Category #9-Work,Trade and Entrepreneurial Activities
Category #10- Creative Projects/Arts & Crafts
Category #11- Random or Fresh
Category #12- Meta-planning and Organizational Projects
I also decided to readopt the practice of making too many goals and continually adding to the list, so I am now at #45 and counting. The majority of my goals could be filed under at least 3 of my Renaissance Categories, so making progress on any of them should result in a climb and pull up the web towards my ideal. So, next month I will start tracking/reporting my progress under this new integrated approach.
1) Book Business- Passive state. Income-$172
2) Permaculture/Shelter/Vacant Lot Development Project- I am now the proud, very, very happy owner of a quite large geodesic dome! : ) My tall children came over and helped me assemble it, and one of my in-possession-of-building-skills polyamours is helping me reconstruct/improve the doorway. I just need to cover it with plastic and I am good to go for growing a bunch of my own perennials on the cheap in the spring. I planted some more perennials, including a blackberry patch, and finished sheet mulching the new beds. I am having pretty good luck scavenging mulch, compost and logs. Total Investment: $193
3)Swimming/Biking/Hiking- Actually mostly did aerobic dancing for exercise this month due to lack of desire to go out after dark and quite a bit of cold, rainy weather.
4) Fine Arts-nothing
5) ACT Test Prep Business- On hold
6) Extended Family/Friend Scheduled Plans- Out of the crisis zone, back in the fun zone this month. My sister, Princess Cuckoo-Bananas, had all charges dismissed by a judge who referred to her behavior as "sassy", and she decided that it might be a good idea to not mix her post-cancer-prescriptions for hormones and marijuana with alcohol anymore. We spent a fun weekend constructing my dome with my kids and our youngest sister who flew in from New York to help because she is an experienced public defender. Thanksgiving was also very enjoyable. I, of course, had to buy the giant .59/lb turkey, and it actually broke my mother's oven rack, but ,luckily, it spilled away from me. We also celebrated my DS27 birthday, and I made all the foods that were his favorites when he was 7 years old, such as super-cheesy-cheesy-noodles and layered pudding and cookies pie.
7) Substitute teaching- Still enjoying the variety of the challenges and the feeling of contributing to my community. Every day something fun or funny is bound to happen when you are interacting with such an interesting diverse population of children. I am hoping that I will have the opportunity to integrate this activity with my permaculture project in the future. Income $522
8) Dating- My new polyamorous practice really started clicking this month. The very attractive permaculturist and I seem to be back in a steady groove, and I also acquired another very attractive partner who is in an open marriage. I find that having at least one partner who is clearly polyamorous himself, rather than just dating around or trying to make me his new girlfriend, makes the practice easier for me. The fact that both of my current polyamours are extremely attractive to me, but quite different personality types, is also helpful. The one particular thing that they both have in common is that they both wear glasses and have the sort of tall muscular build that looks bigger undressed than dressed. So, it's like I'm getting two different Clark Kent to Superman transformations for the price of one. I'm relatively kind of schlubby looking compared to either of them, but I'm past the age/stage for needing to be validated as "pretty, pretty princess" ,so I am free to enjoy all the masculine beauty I can somehow draw into my circle with whatever charms or wiles or schemes I can muster. I also thought it was sweet that both of them sent me very nice text greetings on Thanksgiving while we were all off celebrating with our own families.
Income-Expenses- (-486) (Not a trend!)
Start-Up Costs- $201
PERSONAL RATINGS SYSTEM
Spending- Way high, but not a trend (C)
Earning- (B-)
Quality of Life- (B+)
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
Look at you, gettin' that Superman d....
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
Yes, I am so happy that I finally received notification from Amherst via young Zalo that it was safe to come out of the closet and let my freak, eh, I mean Polyamorous flag fly, because it is now to be accepted as a respected lifestyle choice. As my 60 year old polyamour (who looks/vibes kind of like a buffer Paul Newman and helps run a non-profit involved with the issue of prisoner rights and adopted/fostered 5 of his 7 kids in addition to heading up an IT department) put it "I feel like I was born 30 years too late." The funny thing is that my other polyamour (who is 51 and looks/vibes kind of like a taller Black Thought) helps run a non-profit involved with community policing and clean-up (in addition to being a permaculturist and stock trader.) So,since I am also a permaculturist who teaches underprivileged children and deals in rare books on the internet, the puzzle pieces all sort of fit together (if someone who looks/vibes like what might result if a Cabbage Patch Kid had sex with Leonid Brezhnev somehow rates.) I am thinking maybe an artist/musician in his 30s who looks/vibes kind of like Anthony Kiedis or Iggy Pop would be a balanced third for my circle, but I'm not rushing things. My point here being that there are a lot of very nice community-minded individuals, such as Zalo, myself and my polymours who just happen to very much enjoy being free to have more than one "dance" partner.C40 said: Look at you, gettin' that Superman d....
Re: 7Wannabe5 Journal Take 2
DECEMBER REPORT
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$80.77
Personal Transportation:$151.90
Food and Household:$228.40
Girl Stuff:$20.85
Skillz/Gear:$0
Health:$82.72
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$300
TOTAL: $914.60
This month I started with a new system for tracking my overall web of goals and lifestyle improvement. Because I am attempting to track webbed metrics, it is a rather necessarily complex tracking system. Basically, I made a list of 46 complex, but measurable, goals I wish to achieve. Most of these 46 goals were purposefully constructed to, hopefully, lead to benefits or improvements in at least 3 of my 12 Renaissance Lifestyle Categories. On the spreadsheet I track how much time I spend towards each of the 46 goals, my discretionary spending, and my happiness level on each day. Then at the end of the month (and forward) I can determine correlations towards improvement. Some of the 46 goals were on HOLD for the month of December, and others were just happenstance neglected. So, I will skip over most of those ones and cover the goals I spent the most time on, in order of time spent.
My Renaissance Lifestyle Categories are:
Category #1-Erudition
Category #2-Skill Attainment/Improvement
Category #3-Social Practice
Category #4- Health and Fitness
Category #5-Beauty, Style and Charm
Category #6-Habitat/Permaculture (Home, Hearth, Garden)
Category #7-Travel and Novel Experience
Category #8-Financial Practice
Category #9-Work,Trade and Entrepreneurial Activities
Category #10- Creative Projects/Arts & Crafts
Category #11- Random or Fresh
Category #12- Meta-planning and Organizational Projects
My average happiness daily happiness level for the month of December was 3.32 on a 4 point scale, with a SD of .38. So, a solid and fairly consistent B+ sort of month.
Goal 1: Leisure and Basic Maintenance: (Categories covered: NA) After allotting 8 hours for sleep every day, I was left with 496 hours to spend according to my druthers. I did not want to go to the bother of tracking my activities every moment of every day, so Goal #1 was not really a goal, but simply a measure of how much time I spent on leisure and basic maintenance activities not directly associated with any of my specified goals, such as watching TV by myself, showering, sweeping the floor or dithering away on the internet. I apparently spent 250 hours on this non-goal last month. The correlation between my happiness level and time spent on non-goal oriented activities was slightly negative but basically irrelevant at -.05. IOW, my perception of whether I am spending my time on directed vs. leisure/basic maintenance activity has no effect on my happiness level on a daily basis. My busiest day left me with 0 hours of leisure and my least directed day provided me with 13.1 hours of leisure. I spent on average slightly over 8 hours of leisure and basic maintenance each day, with a SD of 3.75 hours. Of course, daily measure is not reflective of all possibilities, but this pretty well matches up with my observation that I am usually pretty happy no matter what else happens, as long as I get enough sleep.
Goal 17:I will maintain my work of substitute teaching in my community at the level of approximately 80 days/year.(Relevant categories: 2,3,9) I spent a total of 47.9 hours working towards this goal in December. There was a daily happiness correlation of -.187 with time spent on this goal, but if I corrected for multiple days in a row, it flipped to a very strong positive correlation. So, first piece of quite useful information I have mined from my tracking system is that I should probably not substitute teach 2, and definitely not 3 days in a row, because it is challenging,fulfilling and sometimes fun, but also exhausting. Of course, common sense might have also informed me of this, but...
Goal 40: I will attempt to achieve and maintain sexual health and fulfillment through the practice of ethical polyamory.(Relevant categories: 3,4,5,7,11.) I spent 47.45 hours on this goal in December. There was a daily happiness correlation of .34 with time spent on this goal. The total in this category included time spent with current or potential partners on various forms of communication and recreational activities such as dining out, hiking or watching movies, as well as actual sexual activity. The total does not include time spent sleeping with any of my partners, although the oxytocin level effect might be relevant. The correlation was more positive if I corrected for the annoyance of having to plan and text back and forth etc. etc. due to lack of proximity and desire to maintain independent functioning, but I don't see anyway to easily improve that factor.
Goal 26: I will plan at least two trips a year with the intent of engaging in trade or scavenging to more than cover expenses.(7,8,9,11.) I spent 43.5 hours on this goal with a daily happiness correlation of .32. Important note would be that I was not successful at covering expenses of my Chicago trip through trade and scavenging activities, but I did organize well enough that the trip served several purposes, including attending the ERE meetup : ), and was quite fun. I was somewhat surprised to note that according to the correlation coefficient, I apparently enjoy travel almost as much as sex, at least at this level of time expenditure. So, that's another possibility for improvement if I can cover the expense.
Goal 5:I will maintain practice of one hour of walking/dancing/biking or swimming 6 days/week.(3,4,5.) I spent 24.5 hours on this goal in December, with a happiness correlation of .21. So, I fell just slightly short of my goal in terms of total hours spent. I would have guessed the correlation to be much stronger. It is probably rather weak due to the fact that on 2 of the 3 occasions I skipped exercising more than one day, I was very busy with other physical activities. I don't want to experiment with how crappy I might feel if I didn't exercise on a regular basis, so ...
Goal 42:I will hostess a social event or organize an outing each month (3,5,7,11,12) I spent 21.9 hours on this goal in December, with a happiness correlation of .29. This was mostly my share of organizing and participating in the big family Christmas party and associated events. It was a very fun gathering, and my pecan pies and 5 layer red velvet and white chocolate cheesecake were a huge success. Most of my social spending for the month went to the expense of ingredients for baking decadent desserts for 15 people and some small presents for my adult children.
I spent less than 20 hours on any of my other goals in December, but since I have so many, this added up to the remaining unaccounted for time. I tried to track my discretionary spending on a daily basis, but I have to go back and redo it because the day I shopped/spent was not always the day I consumed or made use of the purchase, so the correlation is useless. I have already started shifting my time/energies back towards some of my goals associated with more with categories 6 and 10 in the month of January and forward. For instance, instead of mostly dancing for exercise, I will be taking a scavenger/scouting walk around my domain, and mapping the information I acquire. It is my theory that exercising in the fresh air makes me happier than exercising indoors, but I guess I won't know until I run the end of month correlation analysis!! Unfortunately, much of my analysis will likely not be relevant to people with different personality types, but perhaps my methodology will prove to not be too highly correlated with pure silliness.
SPENDING
Entertainment/Social:$80.77
Personal Transportation:$151.90
Food and Household:$228.40
Girl Stuff:$20.85
Skillz/Gear:$0
Health:$82.72
Kids:$50
Shelter/Utilities:$300
TOTAL: $914.60
This month I started with a new system for tracking my overall web of goals and lifestyle improvement. Because I am attempting to track webbed metrics, it is a rather necessarily complex tracking system. Basically, I made a list of 46 complex, but measurable, goals I wish to achieve. Most of these 46 goals were purposefully constructed to, hopefully, lead to benefits or improvements in at least 3 of my 12 Renaissance Lifestyle Categories. On the spreadsheet I track how much time I spend towards each of the 46 goals, my discretionary spending, and my happiness level on each day. Then at the end of the month (and forward) I can determine correlations towards improvement. Some of the 46 goals were on HOLD for the month of December, and others were just happenstance neglected. So, I will skip over most of those ones and cover the goals I spent the most time on, in order of time spent.
My Renaissance Lifestyle Categories are:
Category #1-Erudition
Category #2-Skill Attainment/Improvement
Category #3-Social Practice
Category #4- Health and Fitness
Category #5-Beauty, Style and Charm
Category #6-Habitat/Permaculture (Home, Hearth, Garden)
Category #7-Travel and Novel Experience
Category #8-Financial Practice
Category #9-Work,Trade and Entrepreneurial Activities
Category #10- Creative Projects/Arts & Crafts
Category #11- Random or Fresh
Category #12- Meta-planning and Organizational Projects
My average happiness daily happiness level for the month of December was 3.32 on a 4 point scale, with a SD of .38. So, a solid and fairly consistent B+ sort of month.
Goal 1: Leisure and Basic Maintenance: (Categories covered: NA) After allotting 8 hours for sleep every day, I was left with 496 hours to spend according to my druthers. I did not want to go to the bother of tracking my activities every moment of every day, so Goal #1 was not really a goal, but simply a measure of how much time I spent on leisure and basic maintenance activities not directly associated with any of my specified goals, such as watching TV by myself, showering, sweeping the floor or dithering away on the internet. I apparently spent 250 hours on this non-goal last month. The correlation between my happiness level and time spent on non-goal oriented activities was slightly negative but basically irrelevant at -.05. IOW, my perception of whether I am spending my time on directed vs. leisure/basic maintenance activity has no effect on my happiness level on a daily basis. My busiest day left me with 0 hours of leisure and my least directed day provided me with 13.1 hours of leisure. I spent on average slightly over 8 hours of leisure and basic maintenance each day, with a SD of 3.75 hours. Of course, daily measure is not reflective of all possibilities, but this pretty well matches up with my observation that I am usually pretty happy no matter what else happens, as long as I get enough sleep.
Goal 17:I will maintain my work of substitute teaching in my community at the level of approximately 80 days/year.(Relevant categories: 2,3,9) I spent a total of 47.9 hours working towards this goal in December. There was a daily happiness correlation of -.187 with time spent on this goal, but if I corrected for multiple days in a row, it flipped to a very strong positive correlation. So, first piece of quite useful information I have mined from my tracking system is that I should probably not substitute teach 2, and definitely not 3 days in a row, because it is challenging,fulfilling and sometimes fun, but also exhausting. Of course, common sense might have also informed me of this, but...
Goal 40: I will attempt to achieve and maintain sexual health and fulfillment through the practice of ethical polyamory.(Relevant categories: 3,4,5,7,11.) I spent 47.45 hours on this goal in December. There was a daily happiness correlation of .34 with time spent on this goal. The total in this category included time spent with current or potential partners on various forms of communication and recreational activities such as dining out, hiking or watching movies, as well as actual sexual activity. The total does not include time spent sleeping with any of my partners, although the oxytocin level effect might be relevant. The correlation was more positive if I corrected for the annoyance of having to plan and text back and forth etc. etc. due to lack of proximity and desire to maintain independent functioning, but I don't see anyway to easily improve that factor.
Goal 26: I will plan at least two trips a year with the intent of engaging in trade or scavenging to more than cover expenses.(7,8,9,11.) I spent 43.5 hours on this goal with a daily happiness correlation of .32. Important note would be that I was not successful at covering expenses of my Chicago trip through trade and scavenging activities, but I did organize well enough that the trip served several purposes, including attending the ERE meetup : ), and was quite fun. I was somewhat surprised to note that according to the correlation coefficient, I apparently enjoy travel almost as much as sex, at least at this level of time expenditure. So, that's another possibility for improvement if I can cover the expense.
Goal 5:I will maintain practice of one hour of walking/dancing/biking or swimming 6 days/week.(3,4,5.) I spent 24.5 hours on this goal in December, with a happiness correlation of .21. So, I fell just slightly short of my goal in terms of total hours spent. I would have guessed the correlation to be much stronger. It is probably rather weak due to the fact that on 2 of the 3 occasions I skipped exercising more than one day, I was very busy with other physical activities. I don't want to experiment with how crappy I might feel if I didn't exercise on a regular basis, so ...
Goal 42:I will hostess a social event or organize an outing each month (3,5,7,11,12) I spent 21.9 hours on this goal in December, with a happiness correlation of .29. This was mostly my share of organizing and participating in the big family Christmas party and associated events. It was a very fun gathering, and my pecan pies and 5 layer red velvet and white chocolate cheesecake were a huge success. Most of my social spending for the month went to the expense of ingredients for baking decadent desserts for 15 people and some small presents for my adult children.
I spent less than 20 hours on any of my other goals in December, but since I have so many, this added up to the remaining unaccounted for time. I tried to track my discretionary spending on a daily basis, but I have to go back and redo it because the day I shopped/spent was not always the day I consumed or made use of the purchase, so the correlation is useless. I have already started shifting my time/energies back towards some of my goals associated with more with categories 6 and 10 in the month of January and forward. For instance, instead of mostly dancing for exercise, I will be taking a scavenger/scouting walk around my domain, and mapping the information I acquire. It is my theory that exercising in the fresh air makes me happier than exercising indoors, but I guess I won't know until I run the end of month correlation analysis!! Unfortunately, much of my analysis will likely not be relevant to people with different personality types, but perhaps my methodology will prove to not be too highly correlated with pure silliness.