7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Where are you and where are you going?
chenda
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Location: Nether Wallop

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by chenda »

I am glad the drug is helping to some extent 7, and I hope things start improving further soon.

But who is Zuka, and why is someone leaving creepy boots for you ? :shock:

7Wannabe5
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@chenda:

The word "Zuka" was spray painted on one of the interior walls of the house when I bought it. My neighbor told me that he thinks a homeless girl was squatting in the house. There were a bunch of teenage girl clothes mixed in with the filth and empty cereal boxes that fell out of the attic when I took the ceiling out. Whoever broke into the shed, and the house previously, has to be a pretty small person, because they slithered into very small openings. Zuka might be she, he or they, but it is the name I now use to refer to the minor vandal(s) who is plaguing my project. The cowboy boots were actually more likely to fit somebody my size than somebody the size of Zuka. It's a mystery.

My son and I were recently chuckling over another mystery. Somebody had posted a sign that said "Hog Prayer" on one of the poles on the main drag near my project. Our internet search revealed no further information.

A few weeks ago, as I was exiting the chain drugstore located on nearby corner, I observed a sure sign of the upcoming resource scarcity apocalypse/collapse. A very old man with long tangled gray hair and beard had driven a very old lawn tractor hauling a very old wooden cart through the city-scape into the parking lot. A baby wearing nothing but a diaper was sitting by himself in a corner of the cart. A couple of women in their 30s exited the drugstore right after me and we were all just looking at the baby in the cart trying to decide what degree of "not right" to assign this situation. Then an extremely obese young woman came out of the store and plopped herself down in the back of the cart next to the baby, and the old guy took off on the tractor. A couple days ago I noticed that the chain drugstore was having a going out of business clearance sale.

It's interesting to me that one of the geographical areas most likely to be livable in a few decades is still so clearly in economic decline. I joked to the Permaculture Manager that the city was going to be the Gateway to the North in 20 years when all the climate change refugees start flowing through, and he said "It's not even going to be 20 years." (He is the only guy my age I know in person who actually totally believes in climate change.) But, he still thinks my little house is a total disaster, and I should level it or sell it. OTOH, he got a lot of work done already on turning the garage into a sealed warehouse for my books. He even salvaged security bars for the one door that will be left unsealed. So, given that I have historically had to shell out at least $200/month+$2400+/year for warehouse space, and I will still have all the garden space to play with, I think I am going to come out okay with this investment even if I do have to level the house.

Married2aSwabian
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Married2aSwabian »

Good to hear from you again 7WB5 and that your meds are helping somewhat. Hope your condition continues to improve.

Yes, when the zombie / climate change apocalypse comes, the Motor City and the rest of Michigan will be the gateway for all the Mad Max crazies looking for shelter and fresh water. Shall we start building the wall on our border with Ohio and Indiana now? :D
Canada will surely keep the border shut, so zombies will all be stuck here… I’m thinking a group of us here should commandeer N Manitou Island and build a fort.

7Wannabe5
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Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@Married2aSwabian:

Thanks. I like your escape to island idea, but I’m partial to the East/Huron side of the state. Too many fancy Chicagoland types on the Michigan/West side.

white belt
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Joined: Sat May 21, 2011 12:15 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by white belt »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:29 am
It's interesting to me that one of the geographical areas most likely to be livable in a few decades is still so clearly in economic decline. I joked to the Permaculture Manager that the city was going to be the Gateway to the North in 20 years when all the climate change refugees start flowing through, and he said "It's not even going to be 20 years." (He is the only guy my age I know in person who actually totally believes in climate change.)
I actually am not convinced the migration will happen in under 20 years (maybe 30-40 years). I believe you are vastly underestimating the number of people living within ~100 miles of the coasts who despise the midwest region (due to weather, culture, etc). Those people will just move incrementally away from the bad weather effects and I suspect the urban dwellers will just move to cities located slightly further inland. I think a better bet short term would be people moving inland and slightly north to states like PA, NY, MD, etc and a re-invigoration of the major cities in those areas like Philadelphia, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, etc.

Gilberto de Piento
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Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

Canada will close the border and the US will bring democracy to Canada as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or maybe the Mexican American war and the Mexican Cession is a better parallel. :? :shock:

At least a small amount of smart money is moving into key areas of the Midwest already. Movement will happen slow and then all of a sudden.

I hope Jacob doesn't read this journal or all this climate change talk is going to get it locked. :lol: This forum needs a well moderated climate change thread.

7Wannabe5
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Beyond what I have read in the regional reports put out by the concerned scientists, I am actually pretty agnostic on what is likely to happen. However, I was imagining the refugees mainly coming from the New Dustbowl rather than the Coastal Cities. I just moved myself over 1 degree further north in realm with plentiful fresh water, and it is my intention to gain foothold another couple degrees north within next 5 years or so. Side benefit being that I got away without even installing window air conditioner this summer.

white belt
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Joined: Sat May 21, 2011 12:15 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by white belt »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Mon Jul 19, 2021 8:07 am
In order to entirely function as Renaissance Man in the realm of shelter, you would have to do something like build your own shelter and other community assets(fire station, schools, waste removal, library, road maintenance crew) from scratch on the commons.
I know this is a couple of months old, but can you elaborate why functioning as a renaissance man would mean building personal and community assets on the commons? I'm not sure if I understand.

7Wannabe5
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@white belt:

Oh, I just meant if you were attempting to reduce your expenses towards zero by accumulating wide variety of skills. So, I was listing all the community services generally covered by property tax. Even if you own vacant land, you still have to pay property tax, so the land would have to be "in the commons" if you wished to avoid property tax or insurance. For instance, you can rough camp for free on federal land if you move every so often, but you will have to haul your own trash out and you won't have library privileges. So, you will have to be your own Recycling Truck Driver, Librarian, etc.

However, the reason I was thinking about this was in contrast to the FIRE model of paying cash for a house to provide shelter and paying cash for productive assets (other people's businesses) to provide cash flow. I certainly do not hold myself up as a model of Renaissance Ideal :lol: , but if/when you build/rehab your home and build/create your own businesses/intellectual properties/other productive assets, you have to wear more hats than if you just pay cash for them. Heck, there are even books on the topic of being your own banker or insurance company, so infinite regress beyond the bumper of "head tax" is theoretically possible.

OTOH, Active Investment Manager, DIY Home Owner Maintenance, might be as far in the regress in those realms as one desires to go given fact that infinite hats are not possible, and maybe you would like to Ice Skate, Felt, Learn Sign Language, Write Fan Fiction, Master Puff Pastry, etc. etc.

llorona
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Location: SF Bay Area

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by llorona »

Oh, my. Such strange Zuka goings-on!

Here's to hoping the medications work.

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

7w5, how are you doing these days? Any updates on your various projects?

7Wannabe5
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

You know how sometimes your lifestyle become dominated by just one part of you? For instance, you are living like a brain in a jar, or you are living like you are under the rule of your reproductive organs, or maybe something more muscle-related for the jocks out there. My current perspective is that humans are really nothing but a form of digestive tubing with various add-ons such as opposable thumbs, eyes, etc. evolved for the purpose of enhancing the survival of the digestive tubing. Metaphorically, I feel like an earthworm, bloated,writhing and stranded on the sidewalk, after somebody stomped on one end of it. Yet, I somehow continue to be very, very busy with all of my many projects.

I will write more later. I need to pop another immodium and two more tylenol and go buy some mechanical pencils to bribe my students into learning about systems theory at the 8th grade level.

7Wannabe5
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I just scrolled back and discovered that according to this journal, I've only been in my current flare of inflammatory bowel disease for the last 4 months. It seems like an entire era already. I am getting worse and worse. I've been to my primary care physician twice, and urgent care once in the past month. I've filled prescriptions for anti-inflammatories, prednisone, and two very strong antibiotics. I am counting down the days (10 now) until I will finally see the specialist who might be able to prescribe something even stronger or surgically remove my colon.

I am also teaching 8th grade science full time in an inner city public school setting. I need to complete just a couple more mini-online courses and get CPR certified, and then I will also be officially certified to teach, and my pay rate should bump up at least 75% from permanent substitute/guest teacher status*. It's very challenging (understatement) to get through the day, but I have a good deal of autonomy, so I am doing some fun things with the kids, like creating an eco-survival card game, and building geodesic domes out of straws and pipe cleaners, and making them watch videos about aquaponics. Systems Thinking is one of the prescribed over-arching concepts in the official New Generation Science Standards, so I'm approaching all topics/projects from that perspective.

It's kind of odd being back in a full-time professional setting after being mostly slacker or self-employed for the last 18 or 19 years. I am on a team. I have to go to meetings. I am supposed to develop myself professionally, etc. etc.

So, pretty much all I am barely able to do lately is deal with my disease and my teaching job demands. I fall asleep as soon as I come home from work, because I am so exhausted. However, I did hobble over to the Money Dimple on 5 different Saturday mornings to help the Permaculture Manager, whose carpentry skills are significantly superior to mine, turn my dilapidated garage into a sturdy sealed book depository/lab space. It just needs paint and a new lock-set on the one remaining door. I signed off my remaining share in last permaculture project to him as payment. Unfortunately, I've been unable to do very much work towards re-invigorating my book business lately, so I don't have very much inventory to store in the depository right now since my sister is inclined to keep our survivalist arts and crafts skill book collection in her basement for the time being.

*One random crypto investment I made on a whim actually appreciated more $$ than I made teaching last month at my current rate of pay. :? I recently re-read "YMOYL" and thought to myself that I simply no longer believe Money = Life Energy Hours. It's much more complex than that.

DutchGirl
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Location: The Netherlands

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by DutchGirl »

It sounds like you've got a lot on your plate already with the teaching and well, keeping yourself alive and fed. Take care... Hopefully your health improves over the next weeks and months.

Dave
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Dave »

Hi 7wb5,

I wanted to chime in and echo a sentiment others had expressed some time back - there are a significant number of anecdotes of some folks with IBD having some relief following a carnivore diet. If you haven't looked into this type of eating, and based off much of mainstream nutrition thought, this sounds absolutely laughable and like a bad idea. I also think I remember your comments that traditional medicine says that there may not be a dietary solution, but this is obviously not a mainstream approach.

If I were in your shoes, I would absolutely explore this possibility, despite the financial, ecological, and lifestyle system ramifications. I read The Carnivore Diet and The Carnivore Code, the second goes a bit deeper and probably is more your type of book.

I'm obviously not an expert and don't have personal experience with the situation, but I wanted to reiterate the thought in the small chance it could possibly help. Obviously proceed with caution, but if you did want to explore this there are a number of MDs who advocate the carnivore diet who you could work with.

Regardless, I hope things improve with your health!

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

That sucks, I'm sorry things aren't going better with the digestive problems. Glad to hear about the teaching job and the crypto gains though.

Married2aSwabian
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Married2aSwabian »

Really sorry to hear that you’re not feeling better, 7WB5. I hope that you are able to get good care and treatment.

I can empathize, as serious gut problems run in our family.

7Wannabe5
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@Dave:

I’m willing to try anything; I even went 10 days on nothing but Ensure and chicken broth. Nothing seems to help very much consistently or over the long run. Can a human go on living and even attempting the education of others with bright green goo oozing out of her? Apparently, the answer is yes, at least in the short run.

@GdP, M2S:

Thanks. I keep thinking I’m being a wimp about this, but then yet another horrific symptom emerges.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by mountainFrugal »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Wed Nov 17, 2021 10:46 am
Thanks. I keep thinking I’m being a wimp about this, but then yet another horrific symptom emerges.
You are not a wimp, you are @7!

Gilberto de Piento
Posts: 1942
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

It sounds miserable to me. I'd probably fall apart.

Have you considered the low fodmap diet? I say this only because I have a friend with ibs that has to use it.

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