T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 69

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #69!

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

Financial Independence/Retirement Articles

The Arc Of The Practical Creator (More To That) – “Understand that there is no easier or harder. There is just challenge.”  Dave’s comment – this is really good and I include it as a FIRE-related article because it describes well exactly what I did to pivot from a career in a technical field to one in an artistic field as a entrepreneur.  I’m moving into stage 3 as described in his post, and I couldn’t be happier or more grateful. 

Three Years Of FIRE (Stop Ironing Shirts) – “Some things have gone according to how I thought, other things have not!“

Video

I really dig this guys vibe and a strong part of me sees the possibility of living on the road at some point in the future.  All options are open 🙂

Who’s Inspired Me

J.R. Harris. 

Harris grew up in the projects of Queens New York.  After being the first person in his family to finish college, he decided to escape.  And escape he did.  He first drove a car to Alaska, which in the 1960’s was a far bigger adventure than it is now.  But he really found his mojo on his feet, and he ditched motorized movement for a life of walking. 

To date he has circled the globe 13 times.  You read that right.  Think about that – walking around the world 13 times.  He’s now 78 years old and still lives in Queens.  And he’s still planning adventures around the planet.  Oh and during his amazing life he also co-founded the oldest black-owned marketing research and consulting firm in the United States.

You can read bout J.R. in this great piece from Afar magazine.

What I’m Grateful For

The simple things, like the unusually amazing spring we’ve had in the D.C. region this year.  It’s mid-May and we haven’t had the oppressive 90 degree days that we usually get.  That is until today….

Lyrically Speaking

She summered every winter through a calendar from paradise
A cheap dressed up temp-job and a tan by cold florescent light
‘Anticipation’ playing from the radio it mocks her life
‘I was here’, she scribbled in a restroom to prove she was alive 

From “Working Girls” by Pernice Brothers

Joe Pernice is famous for his syllable-dense and literate lyrics that are often open to interpretation.  His career started out fronting the Americana band Scud Mountain Boys which led to 8 albums as leader of Pernice Brothers and significant indie stardom.  During that time Pernice even wrote a fiction novel called It Feels So Good When I Stop (<– affiliate link) and released a solo album or two. 

I found him in the mid-90’s when I discovered the Scud Mountain Boys and was fortunate to see him live with that band on a reunion tour many years later.  If you like country-tinged roots music like the Eagles but with better songwriting check out the Scud Mountain Boys.  If you like a more pop-rock sound you’ll like his Pernice Brothers records better.  Either way you can’t go wrong.

Miscellaneous

Our Misguided Obsession With Twitter – “The social-media The social-media platform has become a spectacle driven by a narrow and unrepresentative group of élites.”

Scientists grow plants in soil from the Moon – “Scientists have grown plants in soil from the Moon, a first in human history and a milestone in lunar and space exploration.”

The driver who hit me got two years in prison. But I got a life sentence – “I’ve been unprepared for everything that’s happened to me since a criminal driver plowed into me in July 2019, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that I was also unprepared for the feelings that confronting my attacker in court stirred up.”