T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 53

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #53!

Here are some things I really like and that you might too.

Financial Independence/Retirement Articles

Five Learnings from Five Years in Retirement (ESI Money) – “My suggestion: don’t wait. Grab the bull by the horns. Retire as soon as you can.”

How to Stay Motivated to Save When Your Investments are Booming (The Three Year Experiment) – “It feels like no matter how old I get, I still have the same lessons to learn–pay attention, be careful, think before you buy.”

Video

Frivolity on the internet involves cat videos for many, but there’s plenty of room for dog videos too.  Enjoy this short clip of a dog becoming a Peeping Tom by pulling a move that we rock climbers know as stemming. 

Who’s Inspired Me

Mira Rai. 

Rai is a Nepali ultrarunner who’s won some of biggest ultra races on the planet.  Her story is one of trauma, neglect, and becoming a child soldier to put food on her family’s table.  In the end, her story is about liberation and redemption through sport and movement. 

This Redbull article details her amazing life, and there’s a great 15 minute video in it if you’d rather get the story that way.  It’s well worth it.

What I’m Grateful For

The three quiet blissful days I spent in the woods recently, away from everything.  And the fact that I have a shower and a bed to come home to.  Both are necessities in their own way.

Lyrically Speaking

Can you hear that knocking in your soul
No, no, you don’t listen
Can you hear that knocking overload
No, no, you don’t listen
Never see the high beyond the low
No wonder, you lay twitching

From “Wanderlust” by Delays

In 2004 I was in the height of the “front loading” part of my career.  I worked long hours, and thought about work when I wasn’t there.  In those days I commuted on the D.C. Metro and had a full hour each way to read and listen to music.  One day that summer a new record from a new band found its way on my mp3 player and became one of my desert island discs.  The band were called Delays and the record was Faded Seaside Glamour. 

I listened to the record every day on my commute, sometimes both morning and evening.  For whatever reason it was the perfect pop-rock for the times I was in.  The songs are dreamy, magical, the production flawless.  And that soaring falsetto of the lead singer, at first I thought it was a female.  Later I found out it was a guy named Greg Gilbert.  The Chicago Tribune accurately coined his voice an “androgynous falsetto”.  Either way, just listen to songs like “Satellites Lost” or “No Ending“, the guy’s voice is magical. 

Greg Gilbert died on September 30th from bowel cancer at the age of 44.  I saw the news and I was devastated.  This record means so much to me because when I hear it to this day it reminds me of 2004, of that time in my life when I was paying my dues – overpaying my dues – to create a future of financial freedom and thus time freedom.  I succeeded in creating that future. 

But how much time do I have left?  Gilbert was 44.  I’m well past that.  After hearing of his passing Thursday night I blasted out the song “Wanderlust” and those words above came out – “Can you hear that knocking in your soul.  No, no, you don’t listen….”  The knocking in my soul is telling me how short time is, and the sad reality that so many like Gilbert won’t get as much as they should. 

I need to listen.

R.I.P. Mr. Gilbert, and thanks for the art you gave us.

Miscellaneous

Morning vs evening exercise – “Is there an optimal time of the day to workout?” (Dave’s comment: Attia shows again how so many studies that make headlines are based on flawed methods and really don’t amount to much.)

Why do the planets in the solar system orbit on the same plane? – “If you’ve ever gazed at a model of the solar system, you’ve likely noticed that the sun, planets, moons and asteroids sit roughly on the same plane. But why is that?”

Academic Inequities: Nontenured Faculty Punished More Harshly For Controversial Speech – “Academic freedom is more of a lofty privilege for the few rather than a right for the many.”