Ok, to start this 'Joys' section off, lemme just list some without giving it to much thought, then explore each of them in at least a little more detail. Music, travel, conversations, exploring new topics, television/movies/online-visual-entertainment, computers, computer type games, roleplaying, drinking, driving, cars, and gadgets.
Music
I've talked plenty about music here on this specific blog. I'm both general and particular about my music. General, in that I don't have a specific genre or band or artist that I particularly care for more than the rest. Sure, I tend to lean toward grunge style rock and classical, but I just listened to some folk, some blues, some country, and some hip hop in the last 20 minutes on my playlist. Music affects my mood and is affected by my mood. So when I'm happy, I listen to something different than when I'm sad. And when my mood is more neutral I'm open to just about anything and let the next song up take my mood wherever it may go.
I tend to focus on getting the best out of my music, but that's more about the gadgets than love of music.
I've been in a bit of a musical doldrum as of late. No new music has really caught my fancy and kept it. Some random songs that I've recently added to my list:
Metallica - Damage, Inc.
I've loved this song for a damned long time, but for whatever reason I never had it on my playlist. And I have a LOT of Metallica on my playlist. So I added this yesterday after hearing it on my brother's playlist. The intro is just pure amazing! I could (and have) listen to that part alone on loop for hours!
Eddie Money - Take Me Home Tonight
This is more about Caitlyn than me. I heard it again on one of my brother's play list just about the time I was going to return to playing on D+X and it was like 'coming home'. So yeah, it will forever be tied to her.
Leo featuring Mary Spender - Fast Car (Acoustic Version)
I ADORE this version of this song, and am quickly becoming a Mary Spender fan. She's young, just learning her craft, experimenting, has a great voice and a great guitar sense. This is a perfect mix for this song along with Leo (who BTW makes some great covers of modern pop in a VERY heavy metal fashion!).
There are some other songs. Fade Away by We Are Fury, Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by Hozier and a cover of that same song by Seafret. But really those are all the new songs I've had since using Google Music (a few months now at least).
The last thing I'll say about music is that I strive to have it anywhere I go. It's on my computer and now uploaded into the cloud. It's on a Walkman media player in my car. It's on my phone. It's on my iPad. I now travel with a portable bluetooth speaker, and will often connect my phone or iPad up to the TV, the speaker system near the TV, the bluetooth speaker in the bathroom, or of course my portable speaker. There's even a large media system out in the garage that's really REALLY loud.
Travel
This one has grown a lot since I've had the money to travel more, but I've always liked traveling. It doesn't matter how as I like driving, going by train on short trips, and even accept flying. I like short trips like a day trip to a nearby city. I like longer trips like a long weekend in Chicago or Detroit. I like long trips like going to Mardi Gras or visiting friends in Dallas or San Francisco. I just like to get out and travel.
I'd talk more about my car here as I picked one specifically because I travel, but I'll cover that more under the actual cars section.
Conversations
This one I would hope most people enjoy, but when I talk to people about liking a good conversation they tend to look at me like I'm the odd one out. For example, last week two co-workers and I went out to 'have a beer' after work. There's a great local brewery that serves wonderfully crafted food and we went there to both have a drink but also have dinner. Now if I were seriously just going to go drink and eat, I'd choose someplace else. That place is great, but their prices are commensurate with their greatness. After work I just want to stuff some sustenance down my pie hole and then get on with my evening. But I agreed to go specifically because I like these two co-workers and wanted to have a conversation with them.
The actual topic of conversation is almost irrelevant as a good conversation will just keep on going and going and going. Sure, I might start off talking to a friend about politics, but if we keep going we'll cover us politics, world politics, his time in China, traveling, specifically traveling to Indonesia, the whole concept of vacations, working out how many hours we work at something we dislike to do something that we actually like, talking about how we now use math from school, school itself, our time in school together..... it just goes from subject to subject naturally and organically. So long as there isn't something specific to stop it and all the participants are engaged in the conversation it can go on until something forces it to stop (a desire to eat or sleep are generally the key things that stop a conversation).
And these conversations can happen anywhere with anybody. On my recent trip to Beer City, we hit a brewery that was on our list and ordered us up some tasty cold beverages (it was a long walk and we were both very hot). The bartender was just great though and we talked with him for about an hour. It was about travel and beer and science and beer and cars and beer... but it was great!
Exploring New Topics
This one is maybe a little odd. But I like finding out about something new and exploring it down enough so that I have more than a merely basic knowledge about the subject. I don't ever really look into it far enough to be an expert, but I'm good enough that I could help someone make a choice with the information I have. One recent example of this is trashcans. Yeah, you heard (read) me right; trashcans. The trashcan we had in the kitchen was old and dilapidated and just needed to be replaced. It's the one we use for recycling so the lid doesn't need to seal, but I do want a lid to keep it from being an eyesore. Well, 3 hours of research showed me that the push and spin style trashcan lids are so last century, and now we're on to foot activated lids, hand activated lids (push a bar and the lid opens), or... waitforit... motion activated trashcan lids! I found out about these including power source (having the option of a battery or plugging it in is preferable, and the battery should be standard size instead of a custom one), direction and range of the motion sensor (it should be pointed up so that you can walk in front of the trashcan without opening it, and should reach about 12 inches above it so it doesn't catch your arm at shoulder height carrying something over it), and even relative size (our current can used 13 gallon bags, but they were a bit small for it as it wasn't designed to have bags at all, so I'd be looking for a 15 or so gallon bag trashcan). That time spent earned me the simplehuman motion and voice activated trashcan in bronze brushed aluminum.
Yeah, you read that right... my trashcan is also voice activated. Just say 'Open Can' and it will open! It's awesome.
Another recent example is sheets. I got the new bed earlier this year and a set of microfiber sheets. The sheets are working okay, but I'd really like to try something nicer... something more luxurious. Enter cotton. Specifically Egyptian cotton and Peruvian long-strand cotton. Also enter terms like sateen, percale, and linen. I had to learn about thread count (anything over 300 is a marketing ploy, anything over 1000 is just getting worse and worse). That was a few hours this morning and it earned me a set of Peruvian long-strand cotton sheets in percale for just a touch over $100 (a really good price!).
I've fallen down the 'learning' hole many times and enjoyed myself every time (so long as it's not pulling me away from something that I really do need to accomplish). Fingernail clippers, speakers, small SUVs and CUVs, versions of Android, aluminum cans vs bottles for recycling, wireless charging, incandescent vs halogen vs LED lighting, USB flash drives, zippo lighters, styles of representative governments, classic lunch boxes, vending machines.... the list goes on and on and it's one of the many ways I keep up my store of useless knowledge.
Viewing Entertainment
This is my go-to entertainment source. I, by far, spend the most leisure time doing this. Movies, television shows, shows on streaming services, youtube videos, netflix, hulu, amazon prime, facebook.
I have a list on my Google Notes for television shows and movies that I want to watch. I try to keep it updated with what I've already watched and things I've later heard bad things about and no longer consider worth wasting time on. You see, I'm fairly particular about HOW I watch videos. I could watch them on my phone, my iPad, my computer (which has that gorgeous 21:9 screen that's perfect for movies!), and one of my two televisions. But if I'm going to watch a professionally made movie or series, I want to do it while sitting on the couch on the big screen TV. The screen is 4K HDR and hooked up to all manner of boxes that can provide that top of the line viewing pleasure. Even my glorious computer monitor doesn't look as good. Plus there's the seating position. Sitting upright in my comfy computer chair just doesn't feel right for watching a movie or show. It's not bad for youtube or facebook videos, but those aren't the same. But I've mentioned this before... the only viewing time I really have is between 10 minutes and an hour before I go to work in the morning. All the rest of the TV time is mom's to use, and she does use it watching shows that I don't want to in a manner that I find frustrating.
Speaking of youtube, since I have youtube red (or youtube premium now?) I don't have those advertisements, so watching even their longer form content is pleasing. I tend to watch youtube channels and binge them like any other show. My two most recent catches are Hoovie's Garage which showcases this younger guy that goes out and buys 'hooptie' cars and then has adventures trying to get/keep them running while putting as little money in them as possible. Some are obvious hoopties but some of his cars include a Ferarri, an 80s Acura NSX, and a 2005 Rolls Royce Phantom. The other recent pick is 'Knowing Better' and it's from a guy teaching things that have common misconceptions about them. They're both very low quality. Honestly just a step up from being taken on a phone camera, but they're entertaining.
Movies in the theater offer up two challenges. First, I don't have many people that are close to me that want to watch the movies in the theater that I want to watch. I have my brother and his sons, but about the only area where our interests overlap is Marvel Studios movies. So the last thing I saw in the theater is Avengers Infinity War. The other challenge is just that watching a movie at home is just about as good as the theater quality wise and better in many ways. I mean, come on.... 4K HDR on a big screen TV with a Dolby rated 5.1 speaker system that can shake the walls? Pretty awesome! Plus I can drink what I want, when I want, how I want. I can pause the movie to go to the bathroom or talk about a particular scene. I'm not cut off from the world and can take phone calls, text, or facebook. And I have a damned old comfy couch to spread out on. So movies in the theater are rare.
But watching them at home is tough because of the Mom issue discussed above. It makes it almost impossible to rent a movie as I might only get 10 minutes over the 2 day rental. Then I'd either have to finish it in front of my computer or just rent it again. So I tend to purchase digital copies of the movies and at last count have spent about $1700 in two years for this method. The last batch purchase was all the Quinton Tarantino movies. I've seen them all, but watching them in order from Resivoir Dogs to the Hateful Eight is just great (even if it was done 20 minutes at a time over a couple months!).
Computers
I've talked on here about computers and specifically my computer. It's not the best in any way, but it's the best I can build with the money I spent! But my love for computers goes beyond that... I like diving into Windows 10 and finding ways to perform everyday tasks better. I like finding programs to make even regular tedious tasks better. I like to learn programs and keep up my skill in other programs. I just honestly like computers and just about everything about them!
Computer Type Games
I put this seperate from computers as I also include console games in this category. In addition to my gamer rig of a computer I also have an XBox One S and more recently an NES Classic. I like finding those games that I can really dive into. The most recent of these was Assassin's Creed Origins and I'm looking forward to about 5 games coming out in the next year or so. I don't play on the XBox ONE S all that much as TV time is just dedicated to other viewing, and sadly after about a weeks orgy worth of Super Mario Bros, the NES Classic is turning into the same thing. It looks cool under the TV but rarely gets used.
If I were living on my own, I imagine I'd play more of both of those and might even get a new Playstation system. I'd probably skip the Nintendo Switch, but only because it's graphics quality is fairly low and they haven't had an exclusive title that would pull me in.
Roleplaying
Duh... D+X is a big part of my roleplaying, but I also play Dungeons and Dragons with my brother and nephews. And at D+X we've started up an area for extra roleplaying that isn't necessarily based on a forced feminization premise. While I haven't spent real money on D+X (beyond donating to them once, I think), I have spent money on D&D. I wanted a players manual of my own to draw and make notes in, I wanted some graph paper to make maps out of, some nice pencils, a dry erase board that we could put on the table and graph out battles and such, some really nice metal dice, and a board for rolling the dice on (rolling them on the solid wood table would damange the table and even wear out the dice faster). All in, I've probably spent close to $200 on all of that stuff, plus $50 for a Geek Squad Bag of Holding messenger bag to carry it all in!
Drinking
I like getting socially inebriated. I put 'socially' in there as I just don't do it alone. Both my father and my older brother were just a step or two away from being alcoholics and I have a fairly obsessive/addictive personality. If I crossed that line, I'd probably drink all the time at home.
I like exploring whiskys and craft beers. Being in Michigan I'm blessed with dozens of breweries within driving distance and they're all putting out seasonal and special run beers. If I can't find something new to try I just need to turn around as there's going to be something nearby!
Driving and Cars
I put these two together because they just flow into one another. I like driving slow with the windows down and the radio up, basically cruising. I like driving fast down the highway and letting my car take over as much of the driving as possible. I like driving quickly down city streets, accelerating quickly and taking corners just a touch behind 'too fast'. Now all of these are going to be different experiences in different cars. Driving Fiona, my 2012 Ford Focus is vastly different than driving Isabella, my 2017 Ford Fusion.
Since I got this job and the ability to afford a real car payment, I've been trading up just about every 2 years. I had Fiona for under two years, Ginger for about a year and a half, and finally Isabella for the last year and a half. I already want a new one. Thankfully I"m in a lease now so I can't get out of it early. But I've already picked my next car at least four different times. From a Ford Mustang Ecoboost, to a V6 Chevy Camaro with the exhaust kit, to a Caddy ATS, to now a Volvo XC-40. I'm sure in the next year while I'm still to far out to start actually looking for a new car, I'll have picked another 3 or 4 'next' vehicles.
Gadgets
This should go without saying... I love little gadgets. From finding out that I need one, to finding out what the different options are and why there are price differences, to researching final products to make a selection. Just on my desktop near me I have my phone (Google Pixel 2 XL), my old phone that I use as an alarm clock (Google/Motorola Nexus 6), my wireless charger (for the Nexus 6 in upright mode so I can see it at my bedside), my flashlight (Mag-Lite XL50 in blue), my fingernail clippers (feather brand from Japan), my USB flash drive (SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 64GB), my D&D pencil (Palimino Blackwing 602), my smartwatch (Huawei Watch with the silver adjustable strap), my computer accessories (Logitech G903 mouse, Logitech G810 RGB keyboard, Razor Tiamat headset, Kanto YU2 speakers, and the Acer XR341CK 34" 21:9 Monitor).
My love of gadgets falls into the Exploring New Topics as each of these items were thoroughly researched and I believe I have the very best items for what I desire (and can afford).
So those are all things that bring me joy and make me happy. Now on to the Home subject.
Around 30 years ago my father put up a carport to park his truck under. It was attached to the garage and made out of the old roof from our patio. Over the many years he'd made a lot of improvements and since it was attached to the house, any time it broke he'd get the insurance money to improve it again. When he passed away, I started parking my car under it. Well, 8 years ago a particular heavy wet snowfall broke it off from the garage and crushed my car.
'Crush' makes it sound worse than it was, but it was still bad. The roof was a nice looking corrugated aluminum and it only detached from the garage and swung down, still held up on it's poles on the other side. But all of that weight did land on one side of my car. There were dents from the corner of the hood, all the way over both doors, and down to the trunk lid. I was dirt poor so I had shitty car insurance, and the home owners insurance wouldn't pay for it (I'm sure part of that reason was that pulling all those dents would have cost more than the total figure of the car.
A few months later, my older Brother and one of our cousins tore out the old one and used the insurance money to buy a new one. The failure point of almost all versions of these carports was how it attached to the garage. There just wasn't a way to tie it in correctly that would bear the weight of repeated Michigan winter snowfalls. So instead of patio level corrugated aluminum, we went pressure treated wood. We dug 7 4 foot pits to cement in the poles. We put up 2x8 framing and 2x4 struts. We covered it with OSB board and covered that with roofing tar paper. It was over-engineered in just about every way we could think of.
And it turns out that we couldn't think of a lot ways it could fail. A couple years ago some of the tar paper pulled away from the OSB and it started to get waterlogged. It only took one rainy season for that board to fail. My brother and I had plans to take the roof off and replace all the OSB with pressure treated water proof wood and then top it not only with tar paper but shingles as well. But that waited for over a year and when we got to doing that this weekend we found out that almost all the struts and framing under those water logged OSBs would need to be replaced too. This was going to be a pain in the ass job.
So I stood back and considered it. The car port was nice as it gave me 'covered' parking. But it was never anywhere near ideal. It let snow and rain in so long as it wasn't falling straight down. With the snow, it was too small of a parking spot to clean off the full car when it got a dusting, so I'd have to pull it out first and then get out to clean off the windows. It offered absolutely no security (my last car actually got broken into while parked under it). And even with the wind strong enough, it could blow stuff into my car (both Fiona and Isabella have both been scratched by some smallish branches hitting them to hard).
So why not pull it down? The only two advantages I could think of that I was definitely getting was shade in the summer that kept it a few degrees cooler than the outside temp most of the day (some hours the sun would sneak down low enough and shine right into the car, warming it right up), and it kept the windows from getting that frost/fogged affect in chilly to cold weather.
We all (older brother, mother, and myself) agreed that it would just be easier to pull it down and those few advantages just weren't worth the effort of practically rebuilding half of the damned thing. The only thing that made us all hesitate is the fact that Dad put that there and it's been there for decades. But I'm sure he'd understand. So yesterday R and I tore down the carport and this morning we pulled all the pieces into the backyard and piled it up as the dump is closed today and it will have to wait a couple weeks for us to have a trailer and time to get it down there.
R and I were talking while working and we discussed some changes that we could now do with the car port out of the way. We have an old metal shed (must be 25 years old) that just looks like shit. Two smallish trees have fallen on it and dented the roof and doors all to hell. It's faded and been repainted badly. It's just full of junk that could all be thrown away. And it sits right behind the car port... er... parking spot. With the carport out of the way it wouldn't be hard to get one of those portable dumpsters to throw all that stuff away and even toss the shed in (after breaking it up into pieces of course). We'd then have to put up a new fence as the shed acts as part of the property boundry between front and back yards, but we could make a huge gate so that if we so desired we could easily pull a car into the backyard.
That whole discussion got us talking about improvements to the house. But it also lead R to give me his plans for the future. You see, we both live here because of Mom. We want to help out and be close and do what we can. But neither of us really love this house. I had always assumed that after mom passes away, we'd both either live here or sell it and build up a house the way we want it. So I am constantly looking for home improvements that I can talk mom into. Like the roof and the HVAC system and now the car port. I had talked a bit to R about taking out a home improvement loan and finishing off the outside of the house.
Putting up privacy fence around our back yard. Tearing down that shed and putting up a new larger one. Cleaning off the patio and refinishing it. Putting some nice paver stones in front of the patio for putting the grill on. Tearing down 2 trees that need to come down. New windows. Tearing out and replacing our 25 year old asphalt driveway. And maybe even tearing down the garage and putting up a two stall garage.
Roy's answer was just a quick no. His reason was simple... he was going to move out in about 10 or 11 years.
That was news to me. I knew he had thought about moving up to the U P when he retired, but I thought that was 15 or 20 years from now. So assuming that Mom passes away in the next 10 years, I'm going to have the house all to myself. And therein lies the problem as I DO have 20 to 25 years left to work, but I will be hard pressed to get this house anywhere I like it and even harder pressed to buy a house of my own in the 15 to 20 years after R moves up north.
I guess I have to start considering options. Let's say that mom passes away within the next 10 years. As much as I hate thinking like that, it IS likely. At that point we're going to have the house to split up between me and my two brothers. Let's guess that the house and property is worth about $100,000. The house is probably worth less, but it's on good property and in a good neighborhood, so the value goes up there. If R and I continue to live here, B is going to want his $33,000.
So right there, I'm going to have to take out a mortgage for at least that amount. Putting that out over 20 years is only between $200 and $250. Plus taxes and the mortgage insurance would put it up to around $300. As R would be moving out sooner rather than later, I'd take on that debt and therefore own 2/3 of the house. But when R leaves, I'm going to owe him that same $33,000. After 10 years I'd still owe $19,000 on B's payout, and would be adding another $33,000 to it. So I'd owe $52,000 on a roughly $100,000 house.
If I retire at age 67, that will be 2042.
So those are the numbers I'll work with. Its 2028. I owe $52,000 on this house and it's worth $100,000.
Option 1: Stay here and continue to live the way we are now. That means taking care of big problems when they come up and do the occasional light improvement. But nothing major changes. I'd have 14 years to retirement. So to pay off the $52,000 in 15 years I'd have between a $375 and $425 mortgage payment so lets say $475 a month with all the taxes and such. That's cheaper than an apartment, but it also comes with all the homeowners maintenance.
I'd have to put some money into the house. But if I did them as I go along and do the big ones with home improvement loans that I can pay off faster, I could make sure I own it free and clear in fair condition by the time I retire.
Option 2: Stay here and improve the house. Instead of taking out just $52,000 to be paid off in 15 year, I take out a full $100,000 and put it all into paying off R and improving the house. That's a $48,000 improvement all at once. That would get me a lot. That's a new driveway, a new entry way, new electrical, new plumbing, and maybe even new carpet throughout. It might even be a minor upgrade to the bathroom. The cost of a $100,000 mortgage over 15 years though is between $700 and $750, so lets say $800 all in. Now as this is 10 years down the road, my $700 student loans would be paid off, so that payment is doable.
But I'd be paying quite a bit of money for a house that I still don't particularly like. The floors, ceilings, and walls are all crooked in one way or another. The layout is great for the 1920s it was built in, but it sucks now and forces it to have a small kitchen separate from the dining area. As I wouldn't really dine in the dining room if I were living alone, that would be a big practically empty room. And I don't even like the location. It's just on the outside of the city so it's not close enough to really be 'living' in the city but too close to be 'outside' of the city.
Option 3: Move. Sell the house, pay off R and the previous mortgage with the funds from the sale and use the rest as a down-payment on a nicer house. Like above, that would be a $48,000 down payment.
Now I'd absolutely love to live in a nice condo downtown, but honestly I don't want that home association payment after I retire. But one thing that should be possible is buying one of the 'bad' houses in an up and coming neighborhood. I could easily get a house near downtown for about $40,000. I've looked before and the only issue there is finding the right one. It's not about worrying whether one is available or not. So I'd now have this new house and property free and clear. I could then demolish the house and build a new cozy house with the same $100,000 mortgage and it's $800 a month payment.
A quick online search shows that building a nice house for $100,000 wouldn't be too hard.
I don't know. It seems do able. Option 3 would be nice, but it would also be the hardest to accomplish. I mean, how hard will it be to sell this house? Will I get that much for it? Can I build a house for that money? How long until this all starts by Mom passing away? Will R really retire and move in that time frame? Will I still be living and working in this town?
It's a lot of questions, but at least I can see that it's do able at those values and those time frames. It's way better than not having an Option 3, or just plain being stuck in Option 1. And you never know... maybe R will want to proceed to Option 3 before he retires, letting us get out of this house earlier and into a new/newer house with more time to pay it off.
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