Saturday, January 22, 2011

Peace (or Purposeful Ignorance)

On the surface of things, it appears that I have a huge challenge ahead. A mountain in front of me, and a promise that I'd be on the other side tomorrow. But I am not worried. After all, what's a mountain but sloped ground?

The situation:
- I told a special friend that I would be in England on Wednesday. Due to money not coming through yet, I shall have to wait till monday to book the ticket.
- I have just $600 spending money for a 4-week holiday to England, Bulgaria, Paris and home again
- I have just found somebody I am fairly interested in, and I leave in 3.5 days. Then 4 months after I come back, she leaves for 4 months

All of which, individually, are potentially mindboggling in their capacity for inducing stress. None of which phase me too much. My mental, internal answer to the demands of pressure is a vague, ignorant smile; much like the one you would give to the crazy man who talks to you on the train.

And ignorant is the key word here. Because I am certain of three things:
It is possible for me to back out now.
It is also possible for me to succeed greatly.
I will want to back out if I think about the facts.

In fact, it could be described as a battle between the 'Facts' and the Hopes. 'Facts' like 'You know the money won't last' 'You may not be able to book the ticket so close to departure' 'You don't have to go'. And Hopes like 'I've been in worse places' 'Things will work out for my benefit' 'This is going to be an awesome trip'

So I am choosing to not be informed of the 'Facts', but rather to be completely besotted with the Hopes. Ignorant, yes. Nieve, possibly. Stupid, no. Because sometimes the best Peace is not found with Knowledge, but Self-Knowledge :)


Jonathan

Sunday, January 16, 2011

5 Step Plan to Take Over the Universe!

Well Hello!

So, I kinda haven't blogged in months, but I can explain. I was overseas. That said, looking at my last blog, things have changed, gone up and down, and kinda ended up in a very similar position. Ah travel, how you ruin our perceptions.

SO! I won't bore you with where my friend and I went, as I don't have any pictures, because my friend has the camera, and he can't get it to work. Balls. BUT, I did discover a 5 step plan to own a house in a couple of years, and from there, take over the universe.

I say discover, because I didn't really think of it, the bones of the idea just popped into my head, and I embellished. But I guess the main reason I didn't dismiss this out of hand without thinking about it is because, for the first time when I went travelling, I left the country missing home. Maybe it's the people I've met this past year. Maybe I realised I actually have no problem with growing older here. Maybe I have set up everything here already. I don't know. But I do know that today, when I thought about how to aquire a house here, I enjoyed planning to stay here for the next 5 years.

SO! My five step plan starts when I get back from England (I leave in a week, to spend ALL my money my grandma put aside for me. Instead of saving for, say, a house. Can anyone say 'Irony'?). It goes like this:

STEP 1: Work your ass off for 2 years, save $40,000.
I have never had a fulltime job. I enjoy not working the normal hours others work. And maybe I will continue this by working at a bar or something, but I plan to work full, 40 hour weeks. Man that sounds scary! Also, working at a bar or a store earns you around $40,000 a year (or $800 a week). I have survived this year on around $200 a week. At one point I was earning $400 a week and I saved a grand a month. Give me twice the salary, I save $400 a week, I end up with $40,000 in 2 years. Easy.

STEP 2: Buy a $500,000 house.
Borrow 10,000 from parents, friends, charity, bums, whoever. Then grab a half million dollar house with a 10% deposit. Oh yeah. Make sure it's a house I would like to live in (because eventually I will)

STEP 3: Find people to rent my house
In Perth, prices are ridiculous, so it shouldn't be too hard to find people who will rent the house off me, and charge them enough for the repayments on the mortgage (maybe plus a little for my hard work)

STEP 4: Grab a second house as a booster
Use the first house as collateral, use the same mortgage-rent trick as before, wait 2 years for the house price to go up, kick out the tenants, sell the house, put it towards the first house. Hopefully, by that stage, most of the house is paid off.

STEP 5: Move into house. Take over universe.
Being used to paying rent, this last year of greatly increased rent should be bearable, because I will be paying off the last of my house. Job done. Take over th universe.
The End


Now, this is not a good plan. This is not the best plan. But it is A plan. Which I have not had before. I call that a win :)


Jonathan