The Happiness Thread

It is, isn't it? This one was my dad's and I inherited when he passed. I'll be giving it to my kid soon.

 

Thank you. Yes, Nissan Frontier I am familiar with (and have no clue what a Navarra is, so you must be right).

I have 2 Chevy Silverado Ex cabs - a 2000 (the black one above) and a 2003 which is silver. The silver one is 4x4, the black one is not. My 3rd truck is a 2007 GMC Sierra 2500HD crew cab (also black) I love trucks.

 

That's awesome! You guys deserve it. I don't know how your brains aren't melting.

 

Broke out the Halloween decoration this weekend!!!! Goodbye summer It is time you leave and make room for Fall pumpkin everything.

 

Is Lego HP any good? What platform do you have it on?

I'm a bit of a HP geek and a mate of mine mentioned that she played it too, but I haven't actually looked in to it, but may be worth getting it for a bit of fun

 

I have it for the PS4. It's decent, though the controls for casting magic takes a while getting used to. I do enjoy using Leviosa to pluck students up into the air and spin them around in a cartwheel as fast as possible before flinging them afar.

 

I want to grab it for the PS4 now too... did you D/L it, or buy a CD copy? I'm gonna look into how much it is etc...
I had a quick look at some reviews on line and it seemed quite fun!

 

You know that feeling you get as a story just flows from your fingertips? Beaverus lice, that feeling is great. 41k words in three days. Probably doesn't sound like much but after about two weeks of writers block its a welcomed change.

 

I went to church today. I also helped a friend organize her apartment and celebrate her husband's birthday. My mom has calmed down about the anti-catholic stuff that I talked about in the not happy thread. I have one friend whose mother cut off her college tuition when she reverted to Catholicism and another friend whose mother refused to speak to him for months after he left a protestant church for Catholicism. So, it could be worse. Their stories put things in a lot of perspective for me and make me feel happy that my mother and I are on speaking terms, even with our disagreements. Mom also told me she was impressed when I got up early to attend mass while out of town with relatives. And she hasn't disparaged my catholic friends and family members. Also, I have decent income this month so I was able to make a few student loan payments and get ahead while putting a bit into savings.

And my friend's roommate made me bulletproof coffee so I'm super hyper now.

 

I'm mostly posting here because there isn't an 'I've been extremely busy' thread.

So In the last couple weeks I've helped found a YouTube web series and pod cast.

We're about half way through with the first episode of the webseires, and the first podcast should be up tonight.

I wrote the script for the webseries, and did a few of the voices, but most of the effort went into brining a group of people together to work towards a common goal.
Every day is still shaky on whether we make it through, or this all falls apart, but the feeling of making something like this... it's just exciting.

 

This makes me happy.

 

Had some good days at work. I am also looking forward to church on tuesday, and I might get to go 2-3 more times this week. Most catholics would think of me as weird for loving a holy day of obligation but I quite like masses on days of obligation. The evening mass for my parish is always bilingual on holy days of obligation. We have a large spanish speaking population. I'm part colombian, but my family grew up speaking english so it's nice to be in touch with the spanish part of my heritage when I'm at church. There are some lovely, well-written hymns and prayers that are used for bilingual masses.

I also got to attend a lecture about Banastre Tarleton that was offered at work today. Perks of working for a foundation that manages two history museums

Yes, I'm the weird 20 something that likes the 'not popular' music scene, church, and history lectures.

 

How do student loans work in the US?

I ask because, in the UK, you only HAVE to pay in a fixed proportion of your earnings over a certain amount; and the balance of the loan gets written-off after a certain point; and the interest rate is bloody good.

Result being, the advice is DON'T pay over the odds, because you'll get a better interest rate saving it; plus, if you never earn enough to get far enough ahead to actually pay it off, you NEVER have to pay it off, just let it stew until the government gives up!

BUT, if your deal is a lot more real-world than that, the advice you'd get from Martin Lewis (Google him) is DON'T put your money into savings until you've cleared your debts, because any interest you earn on saving will be dwarfed by what you're paying on your debt. With the proviso that you may want savings for a specific purpose, such as a couple of hundred pounds/dollars/??? for a real disaster where you've absolutely got to have cash, or to build up your credit score in some form.

 

I dropped my phone in the bath last night and it appears to have escaped unscathed besides the front-facing camera now being blurry. This is a relief because it's a work phone and I wasn't looking forward to explaining...

 

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
me and my boyfriend are writing together and oh my gosh writing with someone is amazing cus you can get excited together and oh my gosh i love what we are writing!!!!

 

I would never be that lucky. You should buy a lottery a ticket.

 

Student loans are a bit more real-world here. It varies depending on if it's subsidized or unsubsidized. The stipulations are also different for government loans versus private loans. My loans are government loans, which I'll explain. If it's subsidized, then the govt. pays your interest while you're in school. You get a six month grace period where you don't accrue interest or have to make payments if you graduate or leave school. You can potentially apply for what is called a 'deferment', which is a temporary reprieve where you do not accrue interest and have no obligation to make payments. It's a bit more complicated than that but that's the nutshell version. Deferments can be issued if you're unemployed, attending graduate school, or are experiencing some sort of financial hardship. I qualify for the unemployed deferment because I do not have a full-time job and my work is very seasonal. I am not obligated to make payments, but I enjoy making payments without the interest because it allows me to get ahead. When I finally make my last payment, I'll be doing a joyful dance around the house. I hope to make my last payment before the end of 2018.

 

Financially I'm doing pretty darn well for myself. I'll soon be able to move wherever I choose to learn the native language of. All those years of being a cheapskate stock investor are paying off, woot.

Been thinking of three places to move to,

Norway, Japan or Hong Kong.

 

You appear to be substantially in the same position as a UK student, except that yours won't be written off, so it makes sense NOT to pay it off for as long as it's interest-free.

If you put the money that you would have paid off the loan into a savings account, by the end of 2018 you should be able to have saved enough to pay it off in one lump sum. And you can afford to throw a small party, to accompany your joyful dance, with the interest that your savings have earned. But, if you can swing a continuation of your interest-free deferment, just keep on saving until they start charging you interest and then pay it off in one whack. Any interest earned after your 2018 "I've now saved enough/I've now paid it off in full" deadline is absolutely bunce. And, bear in mind, once you've got your savings account into top gear, it'll cruise along all day.

Boring sums...If you save $100 pm, at the end of a year you'll have saved $1,200. At 5% interest, it will have earned you $60...because the AVERAGE amount in the account was only $600. Next year, that $1,200 will earn $120...and the $60 will also earn..another $3. By the time Uncle Sam comes calling for the $1,200 at the end of 2019, there's $183 JUST FOR YOU!

Short answer...don't pay it off, whack it ALL into savings...but don't touch it!

 

Just as a f'rexample = easier maths! But bugger-all% of something is more than bugger-all% of nothing.

 

Going into a bookstore with money is such a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. To avoid buying more than I expected, I usually just bring the exact amount of cash needed for whichever book I am buying.

Well....usually. Yesterday I went to Strand, a bookstore I frequent. Went in, brought "The Ocean at the end of the lane" by Neil Gaiman. Left the bookstore and remembered the Barnes & Noble just up the street. Went there, brought "Stardust" by, once again, Neil Gaiman. "Okay" I thought to myself, "Time to go home."

I didn't go home. Instead I remembered another bookstore a couple of blocks away from Barnes & Noble, so I walked over and brought my friend from Denmark a Doctor Who fairy tales book (she loves Doctor who) and I brought another Gaiman book, "Anansi Boys."

Then I remembered another bookstore called Kinokuniya and walked over. After walking around a bit....I brought two books from Haruki Murakami, one called "The Strange Library" the other called "After the quake."

After all of that I forced myself into the train and made my way home.

Why put this in the happiness thread? Simple: I've got a lot of interesting books to read now!

 

These make me so happy for some reason lol.