A more average life

As a hypothetical, what would my life be like if I was more average and spent most of my income instead of what I do now? This leaves me with about another thousand dollars to spend each month. How much of this would be broken down in consumer durables and more on going expenses.
Maybe I'd take up driving, $300-$400 a month (car, insurance, maintenance, fuel, parking) it's a stab in the dark guess
or living in a nicer place, ~$200/month
Film photography ~$40/month
Eating out a bit more $100
The Odd Movie $20
snacks $40
That leaves about $200-$300 for replacing durable goods. Most of it disappeared in a few large categories. Maybe I'm just not being imaginative enough. I'm sure my place would look a lot different. Maybe it would actually be an unshared space, though that would have to cost more than $200 more a month. Well, maybe I could find a basement suite.
I don't think it'll make me any happier though. I'm facing the larger purpose of life issues and the biggest deficiency in my life isn't material, it's sleep.

Waterloo info session

So it turns out that one of the schools that I want to go to is holding an information session and it is also within comfortable walking distance to my place.. How convenient isn't it? I'm looking forward to this and hopefully getting some of my questions answered. It's disappointing that the website says that I'll only be considered if there is room left after considering all the other candidates. Though does that mean before or after people accept the offer of admission. It is generally recommended that people apply to several schools. Several of those offers get turned down. How they allocate that pool of spots is of interest to me. I need some honest information about my chances of getting back into school for what I want.

Growing Job Disastisfaction

I'm starting to get increasingly dissatisfied with my job to the point where if I'm late, I get very tempted to just turn around and go back home. I'm constantly tired and sore and feeling rather unfulfilled. I don't know how others feel about the concept of easy money, but showing up, going through the motions and getting paid is getting old for me. I don't feel like I've accomplished anything at the end of the day.
Somehow, a year ago, I never thought that I'd be seeking income from the sort of small time self employment sources, but I'm seriously considering it now so that I can feel that I've done something to deserve something.
On another note, I should really get something pinned down for what comes next in my life and when that is. I was wanting to go back to school, though now that I'm told that I'll be at the end of the list of candidates. I'm not sure I want to count on that happening.

Very Bad Sign

After a week of working, I slept an extra four hours on the first day of my weekend. Didn't know my sleeping pattern was that bad. I've really got to do something about that.

Outcast

I'm feeling like an outcast. Defying the norm does kind of distance you from people. Reading some other blogs right now talking about emergency funds and trying to control spending. I don't have an emergency fund and can justify my not having one. I have enough in investments to cover a good portion of my expenses and usually have enough cash on hand to not have to worry about jobloss. Also there's a stunning lack of high end stuff in my life. Most of what I have is fairly basic, granted I have a lot of things that other people don't. A blog for one, a computer, a camera, granted not high-end ones. I'm contemplating a digital SLR though. For now my high end luxury item is my fork. There is just about enough metal in that fork to make a regular quality knife-fork-spoon place setting. The things that actually affect my livelihood though are few.
Also, trying to control spending... I don't have trouble with that. Stuff was just simply hard to replace and I've had to learn that I don't need to stress over little things, I can simply replace them.
So, do I comment on those blog posts, or do I come across as bragging?

Setting Big Goals

I'm at a point in my life where I'm looking for something to strive toward. Been going through several personal finance blogs lately now that I'm getting back in the swing of things. I've seen the goal of becoming a millionaire pop up more than a few times. To me though, those are numbers on a page. I have a small list of things that I value that I wrote in a note book a few years ago.
-Protecting friends
-Spreading positive influence
-Honesty
-Knowledge
-Defending beliefs
-Environment
-Rights
-Fairness
-Adventure
I'm surprised justice didn't make the list. I've always been the one to document and report crimes that I see and return lost property. Maybe it's time to revise my list a bit.
That aside, I'd like to go on a big adventure every now and then. Addressing the other things on my list, I'm tempted to set another big goal. The one that's been floating my mind is to give a dollar to charity for every dollar I have to work for. It's a rather lofty goal considering that I also have to live and pay taxes. Realistically though saving up over 30 years might generate enough investment income to pull this off. This really is one of those lunatic chases and I'm not sure I want to commit to this, but why strive for the things you know you can do when you can explore new possibilities of potential? I suppose I'll start keeping a tally and revisit this idea every now and then.

Money vs Happiness

I'm listening to a very fascinating discussion right now on money vs happiness? Would you give up money to get happiness? These are definitely not mutually exclusive by any stretch of the imagination and someone raised an interesting point that I'd love to share with the world. You can only ask this question if you have money to start with. People in the lower or middle class never discuss how much better life would be if they only had less money.
This question is really more a release from obligations and a rebalancing of life. I'm over due for one. Where to from here though?

Walk in the park

Last night, I went out on a photography walk and there was a part where I was completely surrounded by deer. That made me feel so connected to the world. The sunset was also amazing. Trying to decide what sort of lighting I like better, when the sun is high in the sky, the lighting is far more even. Is it more interesting though? Either way, I had fun in the hours leading up to sunset.
I'm now eyeing a digital SLR now that I'm thinking of putting a few large prints on my wall. Also considering a new point and shoot to complement that, but going to put that off for a while. While I wasn't blogging, I actually picked up a film camera, which I'm learning to use now. It's a good camera, with good lenses that can be used on newer digital cameras.
I'm still learning to use my film camera and I've been running under the philosophy that my 50mm prime was one of the only lens I needed. Next time, I'm going with my zoom.

Survived another week

Work has grown incredibly dull. Last weekend, I did a 12 hour overtime shift, the money was good. Other than it isn't mentally taxing, I don't know what I'm doing there any more. The hours are hard on me, and it would be nice to get some temperature control. Dust is also annoying. I feel that I'm over due for a change. My best skills are by far my thinking ones and I've not had a chance to use them in some time. We'll see what happens.
I suppose as general catch up, I've stopped tracking things as closely as I used to and I've also started spending more. Last week, I spent about $11 on a hobby, film and batteries for an old camera. I'm hunting for a digital SLR, though shooting film in the mean time. My cousin is getting married next month, so I'm running a roll or two through this camera to get used to it.
In the short term, my goal is to put up a picture or two in my room.
In the slightly longer term, my goal is to apply to go back to school.
My main worry right now is not being able to get back into engineering.

Back after a year

A lot of things can change over the course of a year and a lot of things have. Rather than ramble on about those though, I figured I'd comment on another blog post I recently read. It was about ING Streetwise funds. http://www.steadyhand.com/industry/2010/09/23/ing_streetwise_crossing_the_line/

She also talks about fees,

“Say you invest $10,000. You can save $170 per year.”

Her math here would imply that investors are paying 2.7% elsewhere for balanced fund management. While I have sympathy with this theme (balanced funds are the most overpriced fund category), the numbers don’t add up. There are few balanced funds that charge that much.

I for some reason am reminded of car insurance advertisements. All the major companies out there advertise how much the average person who switched saved. They can all do that because there is no insurance company out there able to draw in an abundance of new customers who want to pay more for the same coverage. In fact, most people aren't going to switch for a small amount, they'll only switch for a relatively large amount. Since all the ads discuss the average savings of the people who do switch, this is a relatively high figure. They don't actually assert that they have the potential to save everyone hundreds of dollars, they merely want to make it sound like that.

Not everyone can save $170 per year, and ING doesn't assert that everyone will, they merely want to make it sound like that.

Hmm, what sort of stuff do I usually talk about on this blog? A mix of money and philosophy of life? I need a bit of a refresher.