"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers
and to the sound of trumpets."
-- Voltaire --
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I've been thinking more about post #3631, about the mortgage rates. The more I think about it, the more interesting it gets.
If I carry a balance on the credit cards, it's oh, say, 9% or more. The mortgage would be 2.75%. The mortgage is obviously a cheaper loan. If I invest the mortgage money, I'd make say 11-12% on it (I just checked those numbers and am surprised it's so high, given that 1/3 is in bonds that pay very low), and I'd pull from those investments as I need it to pay back the mortgage and pay for purchases that otherwise would have been on credit cards. PLUS, I get a tax break on the mortgage interest whereas I don't get a break on credit card interest. Of course, when I pull from investments, I'd have capital gains tax - but there's talk of eliminating capital gains tax, so ....
A difference of like 8-9% on paying out and bringing in? Damn!
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I'm very socially isolated here. For the past two years I've talked with almost no one, beyond occasional conversations with Becs and The Man. Maybe weather and lawn care with neighbor George. I see Daughter and the Nugget almost every day (except weekends, when they seem to go off somewhere), but I can't really talk with Daughter, and Nugget isn't speaking English yet. About the only other people I see are store clerks. None of those contacts involve much in the way of conversation, and certainly never about ideas. About the only food for thought I get these days is from my reading, either books or internet. I don't watch much TV and am rarely interested in movies.
Man, I never thought I'd find myself missing coworkers!
Know how you occasionally find little old ladies who leap on any eye contact to engage you in lengthy and desperate-seeming conversation? Now I know where they come from. At least I have the internet.
Daughter knows almost everyone on the street, and chit-chats with everyone. I can't do that. I don't know how to chit-chat. Daughter is content with small talk. I'm not. Plus I've done the suburban housewife thing a few times in the past, and I just don't want to ever again get caught up in those petty spats and intrigues and social debts and imagined slights. It leads to more trouble than it's worth. And it's worse when you're a single woman.
I could have Mensa and various Meetup groups, but although I mark events on the calendar, I don't actually go to anything, mainly because I feel guilty that I'm not making any progress on either house, so it feels wrong to go gallivanting when there's so much that isn't getting done. That keeps me pretty much nailed in the house (although it doesn't get me up off the chair in front of the laptop). Besides, the Meetup people are, I don't know, not "deep"? Again, there's petty spats and intrigues and social debts and competitions. Some of those people are flat-out crazy. Some are nasty. Many are shallow. I'm not desperate enough I guess to navigate those piranha-infested shoals.
I'm not lonely, though. Oddly enough, it's not people-contact I'm missing. If so, I'd get up and go to Mensa, Intertel, or Meetup stuff. I'm pretty much content alone. Always have been a bit of a loner.
What I miss is discussing ideas.
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Bonus - Nugget 17-month update:
Sudden nap attack.
An installation at Grounds for Sculpture.
Grounds for Sculpture. Everything here except the littlest beer drinker is a statue.
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2 comments:
Ah, I was wondering if you'd managed a trip to Grounds for Sculpture and am glad to see you have. Especially with the Nugget.
I share your feelings, obviously, about conversation and friends here in the Great Garden State. It feels like 95% of the populace over 21 is either married or so obsessed with the hunt for it that not a serious thought enters their head.
Don't miss the co-workers so much, though. The zeitgeist has changed and to speak of personal opinions on issues is forbidden. Mostly, I work around young women who are either planning to get married, planning the birth of their first child or both. Because everyone's on the clock and everyone's time is billable, there isn't anytime for conversation and everyone but the attorneys eats lunch at her desk.
I am loathe to suggest a book group but perhaps volunteer work at a library? I had success with them and with a daytime knitting group.
Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
I didn't go to Grounds for Sculpture. There was a storytelling event that day that interested Daughter and Hercules (I had alerted them to it), so they went.
There's lots of groups I could get involved with, but, as I said, I feel too guilty about not getting things done on the houses to spend time out socializing, let alone doing volunteer work elsewhere.
If I do eventually decide to volunteer somewhere, I'll probably look up an RSVP group and ask to be on the SWAT team.
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