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worldofluckyI noticed it has been awhile since I last posted, so I figured I would go over the things happening and our plans to change/fix things
We (as in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
imake1tgirl) and myself have been very fortunate. We have survived her being sick, school, new jobs, and moving to two new cities. We have broken down what we need to do to fix our current situation (not between us, the marriage is going great, we love each other, and at least as far as I know everything is great there). We did however have to address three areas, Financial, Health, and Social. What I am writing here is more for me to work out for myself and less for everyone, just a warning if you read something that doesn't make sense, it probably does to me.
FINANCIAL:
This is probably the hardest area (or at least a close tie with Health). I make decent money, actually I make more then I ever have before at a job I really do like. Our problem however is the student loans and credit cards that are killing us. The student loans were needed for us to get through school, the credit cards are 95% for moving andimake1tgirl's health costs. Both were unavoidable.
imake1tgirl unfortunately went back to work too soon after her health started stabilizing. That combined with the fact that her Adminstrator tried to get her to cover up a narcotics theft (which I am proud to say she didn't, she reported the lying SOB's to the state) meant she quit her job. My job can maintain all the bills, plus a little extra. We have realized that little extra is not cutting our debt down soon enough, this means more budgeting, less going out to eat, definitely less paying for others, and just being more frugal. Honestly I am good for that, I can just sit home with the wife and play on the computer (and on her), that fixes most of what I need. Basically this means we will probably volunteer less to go out to eat and we wont pay for others. I apologize to those of you we do that with now. Actually I shouldn't say we will go out less, rather we wont actually buy meals (a cup of tea/side of fries is probably ok).
This means less trips to Oak Harbor, only make trips to Bellingham to see parents (we were going to start coming up and seeing friends). It also means less "fun trips" to Seattle. Although I do plan on using some of my allowance money (yes we give ourselves allowances) to go to the museum, visit the underground, etc. However, instead of that coming out of household money (like it does now), it will just come out of allowances. This also means people that travel with us, I am hoping they understand we will ask to split gas/expenses instead of covering it ourselves.
HEALTH:
Health has been maybe the harder part. Barringimake1tgirl's sickness which she details in her journal we have a few other items. Last year around this time we started weight lifting at a gym. It was by far the best thing I have done in a long time. True, the expenses of having a trainer is probably partially what led to our above financial problems, it was worth it to get that habit. The wife and I worked out steadily for 5 months, true it wasn't as often as I would like (only twice a week), it did however give me definition and built up strength. Unfortunately the trainer worked my legs a little too hard and it resulted in my knee getting worse. I should have stopped when it started being uncomfortable, but I got that testosterone filled desire to "not give up".
That resulted in us stopping weight training (in addition to the cost). As we speak the MRI results indicate that it may not be the ligament damage causing it (there is a broken bone chip because of the ligaments, but from what I read of the results it doesn't sound like the ligaments are fully ripped). This is a good thing, it means they should be able to tighten the ligaments down with surgery with possibly close to 100% fix (doc had thought they were ripped all the way). I will find out more on July 15th when we go in to go over it. This problem started when I was 14, I really would like to get it fixed by the time I am 38.
However, whether or not they are fixing my ankle we have started our weight training program again. This time it is at home, we have a weight bench, the wife has figured out some good programs and we have just now set up the workouts to start. My goal is to work out as much as possible (true its not the big machines of the gym, if I advance that far I will go back). We are even looking at places to swim at. I really need to get in shape, the time keeps slipping by, and while I don't think I have deteriorated any in the last couple of years, I would like to get healthier and in shape. I think this would also help my sleeping, I may go to bed mentally exhausted, but my body isn't tired and I think that interrupts my sleeping ability, plus if I lost a bit of fat, my apnea will reduce itself hopefully.
SOCIAL:
This has been the trickiest area. We have a lot of friends, and we do some outings and/or gaming. We have met new people, have watched some of our older friends lose their way and are starting up a LARP again. All of this means our social life is in upheaval.
First, I probably wont have much of an extra social life for the next six weeks. We will game biweekly of course, but extra things will be reduced for both financial reasons, and the fact I am trying to study for the FAR section of the CPA exam. If I seem like I am not interested in doing extra things, I apologize, its not meant as an insult, rather its just me trying to prioritize things.
Second, I am excited about Dying Light (www.dyinglight.org), I think this will be great and it will probably absorb a lot of my free time preparing.
Third, group games. I have noticed over the last few years how things have changed. My GM style has changed a bit (in a way that does not make me or a large group of my gamers happy), and the atmosphere has changed. I think I am going to go back to the basics. This means I am going to tell people when they are being rude to others that they are being rude. This goes for everyone, so if you happen to get me to say that to you, please realize I will say it to everyone. The games are going to have more action, and yes there is roleplay when we have action, but the whole point of roleplaying in my view is to be someone else in an exciting and dangerous environment. If I wanted a peaceful "no action" kind of game I probably would play something consensual online. I like old-school shadowrun, AD&D, free the princess, take the treasure, and make enemies kind of game. I think we are going to go more in that direction then what it has been the last few years. I just thought it was only fair to warn everyone, the "Genestealer" game wont be unusual in its action/violence/mayhem, although there probably wont be genestealers themselves for awhile, you guys have done a good job of eradicating most vectors of infection.
Fourth I am going to try and quit arranging things so it fits everyone's schedule (this is non-gaming items). I want to go on the "Duck" tour in Seattle, the the Air Museum, to the Underground, etc. I always try and fit it in so everyone might be able to make it and it never happens. I think from this point on I will just start posting whenimake1tgirl and I are heading down and everyone else is welcome to come if they want. I think this relieves pressure put on our friends and makes it just easier to work out when/where we are doing things.
As always happen I think I lost my train of thought so I will wrap it up there, its just reiterating things I am going to do, but it lets me get clarity as I write it.
We (as in
imake1tgirl) and myself have been very fortunate. We have survived her being sick, school, new jobs, and moving to two new cities. We have broken down what we need to do to fix our current situation (not between us, the marriage is going great, we love each other, and at least as far as I know everything is great there). We did however have to address three areas, Financial, Health, and Social. What I am writing here is more for me to work out for myself and less for everyone, just a warning if you read something that doesn't make sense, it probably does to me.FINANCIAL:
This is probably the hardest area (or at least a close tie with Health). I make decent money, actually I make more then I ever have before at a job I really do like. Our problem however is the student loans and credit cards that are killing us. The student loans were needed for us to get through school, the credit cards are 95% for moving and
imake1tgirl's health costs. Both were unavoidable.imake1tgirl unfortunately went back to work too soon after her health started stabilizing. That combined with the fact that her Adminstrator tried to get her to cover up a narcotics theft (which I am proud to say she didn't, she reported the lying SOB's to the state) meant she quit her job. My job can maintain all the bills, plus a little extra. We have realized that little extra is not cutting our debt down soon enough, this means more budgeting, less going out to eat, definitely less paying for others, and just being more frugal. Honestly I am good for that, I can just sit home with the wife and play on the computer (and on her), that fixes most of what I need. Basically this means we will probably volunteer less to go out to eat and we wont pay for others. I apologize to those of you we do that with now. Actually I shouldn't say we will go out less, rather we wont actually buy meals (a cup of tea/side of fries is probably ok).This means less trips to Oak Harbor, only make trips to Bellingham to see parents (we were going to start coming up and seeing friends). It also means less "fun trips" to Seattle. Although I do plan on using some of my allowance money (yes we give ourselves allowances) to go to the museum, visit the underground, etc. However, instead of that coming out of household money (like it does now), it will just come out of allowances. This also means people that travel with us, I am hoping they understand we will ask to split gas/expenses instead of covering it ourselves.
HEALTH:
Health has been maybe the harder part. Barring
imake1tgirl's sickness which she details in her journal we have a few other items. Last year around this time we started weight lifting at a gym. It was by far the best thing I have done in a long time. True, the expenses of having a trainer is probably partially what led to our above financial problems, it was worth it to get that habit. The wife and I worked out steadily for 5 months, true it wasn't as often as I would like (only twice a week), it did however give me definition and built up strength. Unfortunately the trainer worked my legs a little too hard and it resulted in my knee getting worse. I should have stopped when it started being uncomfortable, but I got that testosterone filled desire to "not give up".That resulted in us stopping weight training (in addition to the cost). As we speak the MRI results indicate that it may not be the ligament damage causing it (there is a broken bone chip because of the ligaments, but from what I read of the results it doesn't sound like the ligaments are fully ripped). This is a good thing, it means they should be able to tighten the ligaments down with surgery with possibly close to 100% fix (doc had thought they were ripped all the way). I will find out more on July 15th when we go in to go over it. This problem started when I was 14, I really would like to get it fixed by the time I am 38.
However, whether or not they are fixing my ankle we have started our weight training program again. This time it is at home, we have a weight bench, the wife has figured out some good programs and we have just now set up the workouts to start. My goal is to work out as much as possible (true its not the big machines of the gym, if I advance that far I will go back). We are even looking at places to swim at. I really need to get in shape, the time keeps slipping by, and while I don't think I have deteriorated any in the last couple of years, I would like to get healthier and in shape. I think this would also help my sleeping, I may go to bed mentally exhausted, but my body isn't tired and I think that interrupts my sleeping ability, plus if I lost a bit of fat, my apnea will reduce itself hopefully.
SOCIAL:
This has been the trickiest area. We have a lot of friends, and we do some outings and/or gaming. We have met new people, have watched some of our older friends lose their way and are starting up a LARP again. All of this means our social life is in upheaval.
First, I probably wont have much of an extra social life for the next six weeks. We will game biweekly of course, but extra things will be reduced for both financial reasons, and the fact I am trying to study for the FAR section of the CPA exam. If I seem like I am not interested in doing extra things, I apologize, its not meant as an insult, rather its just me trying to prioritize things.
Second, I am excited about Dying Light (www.dyinglight.org), I think this will be great and it will probably absorb a lot of my free time preparing.
Third, group games. I have noticed over the last few years how things have changed. My GM style has changed a bit (in a way that does not make me or a large group of my gamers happy), and the atmosphere has changed. I think I am going to go back to the basics. This means I am going to tell people when they are being rude to others that they are being rude. This goes for everyone, so if you happen to get me to say that to you, please realize I will say it to everyone. The games are going to have more action, and yes there is roleplay when we have action, but the whole point of roleplaying in my view is to be someone else in an exciting and dangerous environment. If I wanted a peaceful "no action" kind of game I probably would play something consensual online. I like old-school shadowrun, AD&D, free the princess, take the treasure, and make enemies kind of game. I think we are going to go more in that direction then what it has been the last few years. I just thought it was only fair to warn everyone, the "Genestealer" game wont be unusual in its action/violence/mayhem, although there probably wont be genestealers themselves for awhile, you guys have done a good job of eradicating most vectors of infection.
Fourth I am going to try and quit arranging things so it fits everyone's schedule (this is non-gaming items). I want to go on the "Duck" tour in Seattle, the the Air Museum, to the Underground, etc. I always try and fit it in so everyone might be able to make it and it never happens. I think from this point on I will just start posting when
imake1tgirl and I are heading down and everyone else is welcome to come if they want. I think this relieves pressure put on our friends and makes it just easier to work out when/where we are doing things.As always happen I think I lost my train of thought so I will wrap it up there, its just reiterating things I am going to do, but it lets me get clarity as I write it.
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Date: 2009-07-04 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-05 09:09 pm (UTC)