october goals wrap-up October 31, 2008
Posted by deepali in goals.6 comments
Epic fail.
That is all.
how much do you need in your savings account? October 29, 2008
Posted by deepali in budget, personal growth.5 comments
As I watch my savings balance go up, and the DJIA go down, I start to wonder if I shouldn’t have so much in savings. Should I be putting some in my ROTH IRA? Should I adjust my 403b allocations?
On the other hand, I’m about to undertake a big change, so maybe I do want more in savings to have something to draw from. I googled around and found that there is no set amount for savings, though people say “6 months living expenses”. I don’t think I would ever go that long without a job, so I’m not sure I’d need that much, but maybe it’s less about a backup and more about freedom. That is, if I wanted to go that long without a job…
But then there’s the other side of the equation – how much sense does it make to have a lot of money in savings for no explicit purpose? We can’t predict the future, after all.
I’ve been thinking a lot about anticipation and being present in the moment. We all pay lip service to life in the moment, but our actions show otherwise – always behaving in anticipation of uncertainty. And in a way, then, we choose death over life. But on the other hand, failing to plan is planning to fail.
So where is the balance between and the now and the sensible?
life and death October 27, 2008
Posted by deepali in spirituality.2 comments
Early this summer, I bought a couple tomato plants. One of started to turn almost immediately, although the little bugger fought long and hard to stay alive (and produced several delicious tomatoes). The summer got away from me, and I didn’t care for the plants as much as I would have liked, and they began to fade long before the summer ended. I am not sure I had any tomatoes after mid-July. As the fall seeps in and brings cold winds, I expected the plants to die. In this zone, tomato plants like the hot sun of summer, and as winter approaches, they will wither and die out. Often, they will come back in the spring, depending on variety.
Today, I walked out into the brisk cold (around 50 degrees or so), and noticed that the second plant is not only still alive but bright green and bushy. Even more amazingly, there are buds all over the plant. And yet even more amazingly, there are actual green tomatoes, almost full grown in size. Despite a dry summer and my lack of watering, the plants survived into the fall. And now that we have received a fair amount of rain in the past month, they are putting out the flowers they should have in August. Of course, with the weather as it is, the tomatoes will not ripen, and once we go below freezing, the plants will definitely die. But for now, perhaps, I can have fried green tomatoes.
And in perhaps the most amazing and meaningful moment of my day, I noticed something truly astounding. There is a branch off the main stem that, due to weight, has almost entirely broken off. The leaves are withering; the branch is dead. But there are 3 very green, very vibrant tomatoes growing at the end.
I think perhaps, we get so caught up in the story of something bad happening, that we give up for dead. But it only takes a little spark of life (and maybe a big Saturday rainstorm) to keep the fight going. And, perhaps more importantly, life continues whether we make an effort to control it or not.
quote of the day and october goals October 25, 2008
Posted by deepali in goals, news.2 comments
So October got too crazy and I stopped tracking my goals. Coincidentally, I had a lot of goals this month too. Perhaps it was a sign that I need to lighten up.
In political news, I have been mulling over some recent gaffes from our politicians. Biden, man, you need to shut up and sit down. I cannot fathom what goes through that man’s head. And I think McCain was right to keep a tight lid on Palin – everyday she displays her ignorance of the world around her. While the fruit flies comment was particularly cringe-worthy, I think the answer to the question of “what does the VP do?” takes the cake. If you were interviewing a candidate for a job, and you asked them to explain what they think the job is about, and their answer showed an ignorance of the culture, structure, and principles of your company, would you hire that person? Is the joke over yet?
the fake america October 22, 2008
Posted by deepali in misc, news.3 comments
There’s been a lot of talk lately about “real Americans”, which of course then makes me think about “fake Americans”. The Daily Show had a quick quiz for you to determine if you are “real” or “fake”, and of course, I’m a “fake” American.
This sort of polarization really pisses me off. The people who talk about “small town values” and the “heart of America” also talk about “terrorists” and “9/11″. They mock “community organizers” and “big cities”. It doesn’t take the Daily Show to point out the shameful irony here. Northern VA, which also saw the tragedy of 9/11 firsthand, has recently been called “communist”. It is also not part of “real VA”.
I’m tired of this. I’m from the “real America”. Me and Joe the Plumber share the same hometown. A city that is, by the way, “circling the drain” (according to the WSJ). And now I live in the “fake America”. Am I a different person?
Small towns are not wonderful places. They are friendly in the movies, but in reality they are economically depressed, mostly due to big box chain stores choking local businesses. And of course, the CEOs of these chains tend to be big-time Republican contributors. Small towns vote Republican because of social values, when they really ought to be thinking about how they’re being screwed financially. Unions keep jobs in small towns, not gay marriage bans.
I grew up in a small-town. So did a lot of “east coast elites”. We left for a reason – there is a narrow-mindedness that becomes endemic when everyone thinks and looks the same. It is not often intentional, but it is there, and it closes the mind to other possibilities. And for those of us who think in possibilities, this way of thinking is stultifying.
I think Obama appeals to a lot of people because he is NOT from a small town, and has therefore been exposed to a number of different types of thinking. I also think this scares a lot of people.
The real irony though, is the misconception on all sides that small-town America, the “real America”, is all hockey moms and Joe Six-Packs. It’s not. Some of our most vibrant minority communities live in small towns. The Great Lakes states have some of the largest communities of Arabs, Muslims, South Asians, and Eastern Europeans. They live in small towns too. And despite what John McCain might think, they make decent family men too.
I will admit, I have my own perception of what a “real American” is. At minimum, you should be able to name all 50 states, several Constitutional Amendments, several presidents, and the chronology of our major wars. You should know that this country’s founding fathers believed in secularism and freedom. You should, in a nutshell, be able to pass the standard citizenship test that every American not born here had to take. And I will posit, that most of McCain and Palin’s “real America” would fail miserably.
So what does “real America” mean anyway? Frankly, I’m proud to be a “fake American”.
abundance and want October 21, 2008
Posted by deepali in budget, personal growth.10 comments
So I am back from my trip into the American West. I am happy to say that I survived quite well, if a little sore. It was hot in the desert during the day, and during a long hike, there is a lot of time for reflecting. One thing I noticed – it is so easy to indulge when there is plenty, and so difficult to ration when there is little. We hiked in with water because we were told we wouldn’t find any on the way. But with 2 gallons of water on me, the first night lacked any sort of discipline in water usage. On the last day, of course, with 1 litre to go, I was more discerning with its use.
The same can be said of anything in life, particularly money. While debt is not a great thing to have, it has one benefit – it imposes an external spending discipline. In want, you find yourself being extra careful and extra frugal. Out of debt, though, and abundance will ruin you if you aren’t paying attention.
life isn’t all soup kitchens and yoga October 14, 2008
Posted by deepali in personal growth, spirituality.3 comments
So I’ve been meditating for exactly 4 weeks and I’ve turned into a Zen master. All sorts of teachings are spilling forth from my mouth, despite the fact that I actually have no experience in the things I am talking about. Really, I think I’m on the verge of becoming a new-age nutcase.
But there is one teaching that doesn’t sound so kooky to me – the idea of ownership. I am going to go out on a limb and say that there are certain types of us who have a problem with this. It isn’t that we avoid responsibility, but that we think that negative emotions or thoughts are “bad” and we don’t want anything to do with them. So we practice meditation and yoga and dole out food at soup kitchens and embrace our enlightenment and higher emotions. And pretend that we’re defeating the negativity that surrounds us.
Here’s the thing – we all have negative emotions. They are often a conditioned response to a situation that maybe seems similar to something we’ve been burned on before. Maybe we feel insecure and defensive, so we get angry. And then we beat ourselves up for an “inappropriate” response to something, when intellectually, we know how we should have reacted.
Ownership means taking the bad with the good. It means understanding that the negative emotions spring from the same source as the positive ones. And most importantly, it means that the ultimate responsibility lies within ourselves. No one else makes us happy or sad or angry. Only we do.
And on that note, I’m off to Utah for several days, unwired and out-of-reach.
october goals: week 2 check-in October 11, 2008
Posted by deepali in goals.2 comments
So for the most part, I didn’t get anywhere with goals this week, though I will have gone to yoga twice this week. Everything else was a bust! It was a long week full of long hours at work, which makes you forget you have other things you need to do. I am also going to be working today, but I will try to get some cleaning done from my decluttering list.
mapping debt October 9, 2008
Posted by deepali in budget, personal growth.6 comments
I spent my 20s in debt. It’s a bit weird to think about, but except for the first year after college, I’ve carried credit card debt for the past 9 years. Now I only carry debt on a monthly basis. When I look back at how the debt began to accumulate, I realize that it was mostly due to trying to maintain a sense of security. When you graduate college without a clear sense of what you want to do, but with overwhelming ambition, you end up in a sticky situation of getting paid pennies but trying to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
So of course, you spend. Which is what I did. At some point, it begins to accumulate on itself, so it’s not just the spending, but the interest you are paying on what you’ve already spent. Ironically, I taught budget management for a while, and all of the lessons would have applied to me, except that I told myself they didn’t. Making minimum payments will not get you out of debt. Except in my case, of course. Even more insinuatingly bad, I also told myself that making small (but more than minimum payments) wouldn’t help, and I just needed a windfall.
It took sitting down with a friend and just chatting about the future to make realize that I wasn’t going to get anywhere with what I had hanging over me. The big breakthrough had three parts: creating a budget, creating a set monthly payment (well beyond the min), and forecasting the funds in my accounts (credit and checking) six to twelve months into the future.
Because my strength is in making things visual. If I can see a picture, particularly with future trends, I can wrap my mind and arms around the situation and take ownership. The problem is mine, and so is the solution. I’m a mapper. I map statistical data (into nifty graphs), I map timelines (love project management software), I map goals. And of course, I map geographic data. So all I needed to do was map my debt. And my way out of debt.
When you can apply your skills and strengths to your problems, you’ve accomplished two things. You’ve found a way to manage the situation into comfortable territory – it becomes something you can control and deal with in your way. And you’ve also found the solution within the problem, and it is something that you know you can do (and well).
So get creative. What are you good at? How can you apply that to the obstacles in your life?
is it election time yet? October 8, 2008
Posted by deepali in misc, news.1 comment so far
So Dr. S would like my thoughts on the debate. I think he is going to be disappointed, because frankly, I have nothing interesting to note. I thought it was a snoozefest. I thought they both sounded like boring old fuddy-duddies who are totally out of touch with reality. I think the townhall format is disastrous, because honestly, Americans ask useless questions. The sentiment behind them is obviously valid, but the phrasing of the questions are such that answering them in any real way will take more than 2 minutes. So why bother? Instead, let’s resort to our same old soundbites. Which they did.
I learned only one new thing last night – the American education system is in serious trouble. Why is critical thinking such a rare quality? Only one or two of the questions reflected any sort of in-depth thought and coherence. It isn’t that people are stupid, it’s that we fail to place an importance in teaching people how to think and communicate clearly. The topics are important and need to be addressed. But the questions should reflect more thought.
The first two debates were much more informative, because the questions were better. While I appreciate the opportunity given to people to ask questions in their own words, I really do think we could occasionally benefit from an editor.
On that note, back to the grind. My fingers are starting to hurt from typing and I’m worrying about tendonitis.
