T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 167

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #167

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

**Note To My Readers – I sometimes get complaints about ads on my blog (too many).  I’m kind of astonished that anyone browses the internet without an ad-blocker.  I haven’t seen ads in over a decade, and you shouldn’t either.  Please use an ad blocker, your life will improve 500%

Financial Independence/Work Life/Retirement Articles & Content

Gen Z is defiantly ‘giving up’ on ever owning a home and is spending more than saving, working less, and making risky investments, study shows (Fortune) “younger generations are so disappointed and frustrated by the state of the housing market they are spending more of their earnings than they are saving, they’re working less, and they’re making risky investments, according to a paper by Northwestern University and University of Chicago researchers.”

Survey: 43% of Americans Don’t Have Savings to Pay for a $1,000 Emergency (US News) “Emergency fund balances are down, and one-third of Americans say their savings wouldn’t cover one month of living expenses, according to a U.S. News survey.”  Dave’s Comment: I love these financial surveys which is why I keep posting them.  I think the vast majority of my readers are in a much better situation than the answers given in this survey, so they’re a great read when you want to congratulate yourself and realize how well you’ve done – even if you think you haven’t.

Video

My brother and I got into watching wrestling (the fake kind) for a short while in our youth. My favorite was when one wrestler would jump off the ropes and fly across the ring to pummel the other guy.  Watch this jaguar put that move on steroids and launch from 25ft up in a tree to take out a caiman.  Nature is cruel and awesome!

What I’m Grateful For

My Yamaha FG-401 dreadnought acoustic guitar.  I bought her sometime around 1993 or so and she’s been a workhorse.  This winter has been very hard on her as her neck has warped a bit from the low humidity in my house.  I’m confident the high humidity that will be here soon will take care of it and I should really take better care of her.

Lyrically Speaking

You see, I just work there to finance my real life
That begins with scribbles on pages

From “Notebook” by The Innocence Mission

I get up early every day, very early.  I love the quiet time of early morning to do my graphic design work.  No helicopters, minimal airplane and ambulance noise, and mercifully no loud rumbling cars and trucks.  I have a special morning music playlist of what I call “chillax” music, and The Innocence Mission features prominently.  Karen Peris is the chief songwriter and singer for the band, and I could listen to her sing a list of chemicals in a bio-weapons lab.  Her voice soothes me and is the perfect way to start a day. 

This is rainy day music folks, so don’t expect a dance party.  But if you like to chill the Innocence Mission might be for you.  They’ve released 13 albums dating back to 1989 and they’re still going strong with a great release in 2024.  As for the lyrics above, they wrote them for me.  The last decade of my job I was really just working to fund my artistic dreams, which really didn’t need any funding at all except for free time.  As a bonus check out the lyrics to the whole song.  It’s a song about working a boring/stupid job to support a life of creativity and art.  It has gems like

“I write in my notebook
With feeling that takes me by surprise
And thoughts that I don’t know I have
They’re hidden by useless facts
That I’ve compiled at the office where I work
Where there is no time for feeling anything”

Hello!  I think I need to do an entire blog post about this song 🙂

Miscellaneous

Training harder could be rewiring your gut bacteria – “Training harder may do more than build muscle—it could transform your gut.

Data center builders thought farmers would willingly sell land, learn otherwise – “Even in a fragile farm economy, million-dollar offers can’t sway dedicated farmers.”

How Instagram addictiveness lawsuit could reshape social media – platform design meets product liability – “A Los Angeles courtroom is hosting what may become the most consequential legal challenge Big Tech has ever faced.“