Weekend!
If I tell you that Jaybird is still at work, on his way to a second 14-hour day in a row, and that my own work has been so intense that today I plumb FORGOT we were closing early at 5 — thank goodness my student and the security guard were on top of things — well, you probably don’t need to know any more than that to understand how our week went.
Also, people keep dying, both people I was personally fond of, and also famous people whose work has helped shape my life. I don’t like it. (I realize it’s inevitable but I STILL DON’T LIKE IT. *shakes fist at heavens*)
With all that in mind, my hopes for the weekend are threefold:
- sleep
- relaxation
- a break from all the dying for a couple days (at least for me and the people I know – I realize we aren’t really set up to just lay off the dying altogether. I might have to reread one of Pratchett’s books where Death is the protagonist; that usually helps.)
More pragmatically, I know we’re going to go pick out new upholstery for Jay’s beloved loveseat (that thing is older than I am), and also take his mom out to lunch. And I think that’s it? Which means that points 1 and 2 above seem probable, at least.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Photo is “Footrace finish line, 1925” from the Seattle Municipal Archives, used under a creative commons license)
The weird thing about weeks where the lottery hits 1.6 billion is that your lottery daydreams go all haywire.
I previously made distinctions between “not enough worth daydreaming about to buy a ticket” and “enough worth daydreaming about to buy a ticket”. I mean, win a million, get 40% of that and you’ve got $400,000. Get 60% of that and you’ve got $240,000.
Which is enough to pay off the house, pay off the car, and put the rest in the retirement plan and after you realize that your retirement plan could seriously use another million, rather than a mere paltry low six figures if you hope to retire and live (MODESTLY!) off the interest because if you can reasonably pull down 2.5% a year and you want to live off of, oh, $50,000/year (easier to do when house/car is paid off), then you need at least two million in your retirement fund and this daydream sucks I wanted to daydream about winning a million dollars and now I realize that the daydream ends with adding money to my retirement plan and then not even having enough money to go out to Taco Bell afterwards, let alone a steak place, let alone take a vacation.
So you daydream about winning $100,000,000. Ah, *NOW* we are getting somewhere. Daydream about buying a nice little 3-star Bed and Breakfast and turning it into a 4- or 5- star Bed and Breakfast. Daydream about going to cooking school. Daydream about going to *CULINARY* school. Daydream about throwing out the alarm clock.
Once you start daydreaming about $1,000,000,000? You can start dreaming about having staff. Not merely someone to work the front counter at the B&B, but, like, someone whose job it is to take the car to get its oil changed and who will hire people on your behalf to make sure that the lawn is mowed and that the flowers don’t die. Then you have to daydream about talking to this person. Who you probably didn’t even know before they started working for you because you wouldn’t want to hire a friend because that would be creepy.
And now you’re talking to strangers every day. This daydream sucks.Report
Yeah, I ran the math on a billion. Take the cash, you’re talking 400 billion or so after taxes. Take 20% off the top — charity, hookers and blow, whatever. Invest 80%. Decide to take out 1% a year, max. (Highly conservative, obviously).
After taxed and all? You’re still talking like 200k a month. Ridiculous money. 1.5 billion? I’d have just set up a limited corp or something and just paid my parents a 6 figure salary. Just because.
I’d have set up a 100 or 200 million dollar foundation — scholarships, supports for the arts, charities…I mean I could happily spend my life giving out 2 or 3 million a year to people. To the opera. To the local schools, to the museums. To kids.
It’s funny. The mere thought of “f*ck you” money makes me think “Hey, I can afford to do nice things for people!”
Because really, I can’t imagine how to spend 200k a month. I mean once your house is paid for, your car paid for, your student loans paid off — you simply can’t take that many vacations. Can’t buy that much stuff.
But I have to say — if I ever DID get a ridiculous amount of money, I’d make sure I couldn’t touch the principle. Better safe than sorry.
If I won a million, though — I’d probably do roughly the same. Spend about 100k on stuff (pay off the house, student loans, any car payments, do some home upgrades) and then just invest the rest. Let it pay for a vacation a year, or major repairs or something. It’d be…10k or so a year in worries I wouldn’t have, that’s what it’d be.Report
“you simply can’t take that many vacations. Can’t buy that much stuff.”
Depends where the vacations are. I’m going to SPACE, baby! The bottom of the Marianas Trench! The top of Everest, on a turbocharged Segway on steroids!Report
Every time the Powerball prize gets up around $100 million we play a few tickets just to we can participate in the what-if game. It’s actually a really good exercise for realizing who you care about. When you start making a list of the people you would want to take care of, it means something. Mom, brothers and sisters. That’s easy. A few close friends that you would maybe open a bar with just so you would have a reserved booth in the corner. I used to think I would help tons of people I knew. As I get older I realize I would help less people I know and a lot of people I don’t know. That prize Wednesday night? That’s find-really-smart-people-and-pay-them-to-do-nothing-but-solve-problems money. I guess this means I am finally becoming a decent human being. Hooray for evolution!Report
Finally watched the first ep of The Expanse last night, and was captivated. Had it not been so late and I had to straighten out a home network issue I would have watched another and stayed up way past my bedtime. Tonight I might go to a show, but if I don’t, there will be some more The Expanse.
For those who have seen it – what was up with the match head in the drink? Flavoring? Nutrition? Saltpeter? If it’s explained later then don’t spoil me, but I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to get it.Report
Packing for vacation!!! I have to pack two bags because it will be a last minute decision if I’m vacationing in Hawaii or Japan. Totally different packing required. I love surprises!!!
If I do go to Hawaii, I’m going to need to lose 20 pounds on the flight. I did not prepare for a bikini based vacation. LOLReport
I’m sorry to hear you lost people dear to you, Maribou.
This weekend – so much nothing. It’s wonderful – I’ve slept in, eaten, gone to the homebrew store, eaten again, dropped the kid off for a visit with our friend’s niece, gone to pick her up and played a silly card game before taking her home. That’s about it. Tomorrow promises to be similarly non-jam packed.Report