Tag Archives: Lifestyle

Errant Literary

My 40th Birthday

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I don’t feel much older than last year, but there is a distinctive sense that comes with the big four-oh.

I awoke earlier than expected. After lazing in bed for a bit I decided that I would take advantage of the early start. I drove to the Treasure Hunt store, stopping by Starbucks for my free birthday treat along the way.

I ordered the Tomato Mozzarella Panini. I had gotten in the driveway and then realized I had mistakenly hit “in-store pickup,” so I had to maneuver out of the line and find a parking space.

Once I got inside, it was incredibly loud. The seats were packed with customers and the space behind the counter was abuzz with activity.

The pickup didn’t take long at all. I was soon back outside and walking to me waiting car. Upon my first bite of the sandwich, the spinach sort of flopped out. It was wet and soggy and sort of bland. The rest of the meal tasted good though. I paired the sandwich with a pear and that was my breakfast.

I stood in line at the Treasure for around 10 minutes before they opened the doors and everyone began filing in. I had brought my own bag, so I didn’t bother grabbing one of the big blue ones the store provides.

I went straight to the clothes bin and got some nice picks.

Amazon Basics Men’s Pajama Pants Size XL

There were two items I picked out too hastily and didn’t notice large stains and other damage. Not a big loss, just 2 bucks.

I think maybe they were short staffed because the manager was running the register and he’s usually at the back counter on the PA system the other times I’ve gone inside.

Oh, and I picked up two sealed bags with Microfiber Golf Towels. Also a nice find.

Errant Literary

The 2024 Fall Semester Begins

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I am now into my third day of fall classes, well class, I only have a single enrollment this time around. I will be finished with my degree program in December.

It is perhaps a bittersweet feeling knowing I will be finished, but that I may not be able to put my degree to work for an employer. My 3-month job search was a total failure. It has become quite clear that I will not pass a background check.

If I am going to work it will have to be for myself.

But that is very much a consideration for the future. Presently, my goal is to earn an A+, or close to it in my Business Communication course.

Writing has never been a strong suit of mine. Neither was math, but I suddenly found it understandable once I started college. Somehow I couldn’t grasp numbers in middle and high school. Perhaps it was my ADD interfering?

I came across a quote in my textbook which I found quite humorous and wanted to share:

If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building.

Kyle Wiens, CEO, iFixit, the largest online repair community

I got a real kick out of this quote. From my experiences posting on social media, I can attest that punctuation is often treated as an afterthought if it is not completely ignored.

Far be it for me to morph into some sort of “Grammar Nazi,” I try my best to muck through the walls of text to get the message the OP wishes to relay.

Errant Literary

Something Colourful (part 3)

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I have been looking at used cars for a while now and I think what I really want is something multi-coloured.

I remember my father’s 3rd sailboat (Molly Griffin) was painted many different colours. He had me pick out the ones I liked, and I mixed some together to get a nice colour.

The hull was golden yellow with a ruby red gunwale and strake, the cabins were purple/violet, and the decks and cockpit area were teal.

Cars with a single colour feel very limited. If I am going to be driving around and spending lots of time in my car, then I want it to be a reflection of myself.

I have been looking at the BMW i3 and Mini Coopers primarily.

I really like the wood inlay on the BMW i3s in the dash and the multi-coloured seat materials. It is also nice that it includes flat panel screens, even on older models. It really feels like a car that was advanced for its time.

The mini coopers are stylishly designed although they typically come in two tones unless you get one with a custom wrap.

Either choice looks good, but I am leaning towards the BMW.

See the continuation of this article: https://fatwalletrefugee.com/2024/03/30/car-hunting/

Errant Literary

Unlocking the Road (part 2)

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My Search for a Quality Used Car

Now that I have gotten my license the next step is to get a car. I have been looking at many different brands and different models and I think I have done a good job narrowing down my options.

There are three cars left on my list, but I am not sure which one will be the final choice. I was initially looking for something I could use for a courier or delivery side gig, but I heard most of these companies do background checks.

So, if I don’t need something with a lot of cargo space, then the next sticking point is I want something with good fuel economy. I do want the car to have either a Mild-Hybrid or a pure electric powertrain. Gas and power are fairly inexpensive here compared with other states.

Well, here are my options:

Kia Niro (Hybrid)

Chevy Bolt (EV)

Nissan

My price range is limited to $16,000 and I am looking for something from around 2018 or newer. I mostly want to make sure the car has modern technology in it as far as the instrument panel and cameras. Anything that helps me drive safer will be of benefit.

I’ve got until May at the earliest to make a decision.

See the continuation of this article: https://fatwalletrefugee.com/2024/03/12/something-colourful/

Errant Literary

Licensed!

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Part 1 of the Car Hunting series of posts.

I took my road test last week and passed. It was actually a lot easier than I was expecting.

I spent a long time reading the manual, practicing driving, and watching YouTube videos about the test and the maneuvers I would need to know.

Surprisingly, I didn’t need to know much. I didn’t have to parallel park, perpendicular park, pass another vehicle, or back around a corner.

Technically this was my 3rd attempt. But the first two times were in Washington state back in 2007. There I had to know the above items as well as learn how to safely navigate a double-lane traffic circle.

Thankfully none of the previous skills were necessary for the North Carolina road test.

Now that I am licensed, the next step will be to start shopping around for a vehicle. I have been looking at mild-hybrid and fully electric cars. I am not sure which I will go for, but I will likely get a used car.

See the continuation of this article: https://fatwalletrefugee.com/2024/02/29/unlocking-the-road-my-search-for-a-quality-used-car/

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

Just a Shy Guy

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Daily writing prompt
What is something others do that sparks your admiration?
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I’m always impressed by public speakers and streamers. I get quite camera shy and forget what I wanted to say.

Even when I use the phone, I tend to write out what I want to say and any talking points to cover. I much prefer communicating through email where I have the time to “get it right.”

Of course once I run out of things to say then there are long awkward silences. Those make me want to hit the pause button and go write out a new script.

If only life had a pause button like my old Sega Genesis.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

Year in retrospect

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Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
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There is no such thing as an uneventful year. However, some events are simply unremarkable when viewed with the passage of time.

This year I,

  • Got my drivers permit (test in 2024)
  • dropped some college classes while acing others
  • planted out some fruit trees
  • our house was repainted
  • replaced old boards in the back deck and stairs
  • put up 10′ fencing around the garden
  • turned 38 this year.

Nothing really feels super impactful. Maybe next year will be a stunner, who knows.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

What is one thing you would change about yourself?

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I’ve been on medication for my cholesterol since 2020. I had made some attempts at changing my diet and exercising more often, but I just couldn’t keep it up.

Thankfully there are inexpensive generics available for my medicine.

But, I would like to change my lifestyle.

I watch YouTube channels like Julien Kang and Gym Jong Kook and I envy their dedication to fitness. I would love to be able to maintain that kind of lifestyle.

Since I am not working and I don’t have a vehicle or any current activities beyond the grounds of the property I have become quite sedentary.

I spend most of my day studying in front of the computer. Afterwards, I might head over to the living room and sit down to watch episodes of I Am Solo or My Little Old Boy on Viki.

We have an exercise bike and there’s even a BowFlex in the basement. I sometimes, very occasionally, take walks around the house and sometimes the property.

One summer, a long time ago, when I was still quite active I made walking paths all around the property and graded them with gravel. There are flower beds along some of the paths, but they don’t really get enough light.

I even dug out a small watering hole for frogs. I taken to referring to it as the “pond.” Although, now it is surrounded by a bamboo grove, but I still hear the frogs each season.

I’ve run off and lost my point.

If I could change something it would be my lifestyle. I want to lose weight, improve my diet, and get off medicine permanently.

Errant Literary, Side Hustles

3 Ways to Earn Extra Income Online

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Don’t you hate it when you click on a link titled like this and it turns out to either be a generic list of activities or a veiled suggestion to think for yourself?

You won’t get that here. I hate it when I fall for clickbait, and I’m sure you’ve probably run into that stuff yourself. So, I should probably get to the list.

Referral links included. Use or ignore, no worries.

1. Rev: Closed Captioning

If you have watched any videos online, you will have likely seen the CC option to enable subtitles or closed captioning.

Rev is a company that employs freelance workers to create those captions. I came across this service back in 2021, and my application was accepted after a short while.

The way it works is, after logging into your account, you can review a list of available captioning jobs and watch previews of the content. Once you find one you want, you can claim it.

There are estimates on each video for how long it is expected will take to finish the project. So, you try to finish the work within the time limit. If a job is proving difficult, you can ‘un-claim’ it and leave it for a more experienced captioner.

The service uses a ranking system to designate job availability. As you improve your captioning skills and receive good grades on your completed jobs, your rank will improve, and you can get access to higher-paying captioning tasks.

They issue payment for jobs completed each week on Fridays. Payments are sent to your PayPal account.

You need to be 18 years or older to work as a freelancer at Rev.

Here is the Eligibility article for the service.

2. Get Paid To sites

You may or may not have heard of these; they’ve been around since the early days of the dotcom boom and subsequent bust.

Generally, these types of sites are used by commercial businesses to advertise apps or digital products to highly engaged target groups. They also serve as hosts to data acquisition firms and survey issuers.

The main players in this space are Prodege, Almedia, and ironSource.

Prodege is the parent company of InboxDollars, MyPoints, and Swagbucks.

Almedia operates FreeCash, and ironSource runs Tapjoy.

Many of the offers or deals on the site can be completed for free, such as completing a survey, answering a poll, or playing a game. They also offer points for using their referral links when you shop at online retailers.

You can upload your receipts from grocery stores to get points on the items you bought. They will have special deals where you can get large chunks of points for buying specific branded items.

The sites each have different point valuations for redemption. Swagbucks is 100 points per dollar, and MyPoints is 150. FreeCash and InboxDollars both use direct USD reward amounts. All sites allow you to redeem for gift cards, PayPal, or a bank transfer. FreeCash also allows for Crypto redemptions.

The game offers are the most lucrative, in my opinion. The highest-paying game I’ve seen was $395 USD (Puzzles & Survival). You need a smartphone if you’re going to do the mobile games.

Android is preferred, but you can manage with an iPhone. The main problem with Apple devices is that the Privacy settings on them block the tracking cookies that are used to track your gameplay and completion of other types of offers. This can be disabled in settings, but updates will usually re-enable it, which could cause you to lose money.

You can see my lifetime earnings above. I joined Swagbucks in January 2020 and have earned $3833, with $3013 of that from deals and games.

Most of the platforms support users from the US, UK, Canada, and other countries. I have guides to the offers and games elsewhere on the site.

3. Payhip

I must apologize, but this last one skirts dangerously close to “think for yourself.”

Payhip is a selling platform primarily for digital goods and services. I started using it after I ran into problems with Amazon Publishing. I have used Payhip to publish a free digital magazine.

https://kasanje.com/b/wqb2S

I actually made more money with Kindle Unlimited. However, after a while, it became too much trouble because they kept sending me mixed signals about which categories my content should be listed in.

This option for making money is less certain than the two previous choices I provided. With this avenue, you will need something to sell.

  • If you have some insight into a particular subject, maybe you could put together a course teaching the topic and sell that.
  • Have a large photo collection? You might consider packaging it all up for sale as stock imagery and slap a price on the download.

There are websites where you can try to sell stock imagery, but the competition is intense. I think you would have a better shot if you promoted your collection on WordPress.

That is it for my list of “3 Ways to Earn Extra Income Online.” I hope it has been of some use to you.

Please let me know in the comments if you have any other ideas for making money online. I’d love to get your insights.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

Are you more of a night or morning person?

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I am a “stay up too late, wake up too late” person.

I tend to wake up around 11AM-12PM, sometimes later, if I haven’t got anything going on. Coffee seems to be my first consumed item come the new day.

There is always a mad dash to clear as many daily activities as I possibly can before settling down to study or work on a class project. I always feel like I am running behind schedule.

This isn’t a consistent pattern for me though.

There have been weeks where I managed to go to bed on time (11PM), I get a full nights rest and begin the new day fresh and ready to go. But this usually doesn’t last much longer than a week.

I keep telling myself that thing’s will be better once I finish the semester. However, I’ve told myself that for the past two years; and here I am playing the night owl once again.