While I didn’t exactly take my talents to south beach (sorry for the basketball reference, wrong crowd) it is true that I wandered off and rarely post. This topic jumped out at me and i couldn;t resist. It looks like sdr doesn’t need my support, so many intelligent posts, some really great writers have emerged, I like it.
I read through the whole thread, instead of my usual m.o. of pointing out good quotes and opinions I agree with, let me just say that the overall thread, as i read it from the start to right now contained the civility, intelligence and just the righ amount of comedy that I always loved about this place. It seemed to wane for a time, maybe it has returned, even brian should be commended.
Perhaps San Diego is still out of whack economically, maybe that is the source of the overwhelming anger found on other threads. But on this specific topic, ignore what your neighbor has, what you remember as a kid and just take a big look around. You are fine!!! We are all fine!! We have what we need, we will probably always have what we need, and as weberlin said already, everything else is icing on the cake. You can do all of the things you want to do, you can buy a house on 2.5x of your earnings, you can save more than enough for retirement, you can send your kids to college, you candrink the good wine and eat the good food. But, you just might have to take a lesson from your parents and grandparents, you might have to spend less than your neighbor, you might not get to live where you want to, you might have to make a couple of sacrifices, but it’s good for you, I promise. I bet everyone has a few co-workers who make almost the same that you do, yet you can find one that is a financial mess and one that is completely happy and secure, look closely at them, what is the difference? While one is still paying off the credit card bill from their 2004 vacation and complaining about everything, there is another who is perfectly content with their simple life. look in the parking lot at your work, there are cars worth 50k and 1k, yet the incomes arent 50x, is the 50k car driver 50 times more happy?
You can write me off as a nutjob because of my choices, but I’m a guy who lives below my means and I swear to you it is liberating because i have no worries about globalization or the middle class. My zip code and my wheels will not impress anyone, but my balance sheet and warchest is enviable by my design, not the government or the powers that be’s plan, but my plan, you can do it too, you just might not be able to do it at the beach, you might have to make a few sacrifices, but then again if you are lucky to still have a grandparent around, they will tell you that sacrifice is good for you.
