pentaparadise.com

Increasingly, I prefer spending time alone, during which I often times drink coffee of various sorts and temperatures and, also, learn the German language bit by bit. Lately I have additionally devoted time to learning of finances, presently being read is N.N. Taleb’s “Dynamic Hedging”, which is quite a fun read, having it so that I know nothing of finances (I have also read Mr. Taleb’s “Fooled by Randomness”, which indicates the man does, indeed, have a keen mind. Which makes it more unfortunate that, in a recent interview, he revealed that the present persons in charge, by presidential appointment, of our economy actually know nothing about what they’re doing? Oh well).

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 20: German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks to children during a visit at Erika-Mann-Grundschule elementary school on October 20, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. Merkel is visiting the school because it has become a model for its integration of non-German schoolchildren in the immigrant-heavy Berlin district of Wedding. Many schools in Berlin face the challenge of having student populations that in some cases are up to 80 percent non-German and where many of the youngest pupils arrive without any German language ability at all. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Since I have been severely broke as of late my dinners consists mostly of either eggs or oatmeal, the purchase of these things being because they are cheap and just nutritious enough to prevent any sort of vitamin or otherwise deficiency from arising, at least in the short run.  In addition to these commonly consumed foods, I have, on a few days of the past weeks, had various “dollar menu” or “value menu items” from both the McDonald’s and Wendy’s menu. However, I have yet to purchase a “value” or “dollar” item from Burger king in recent times, and have been hankering to do so, if only to see what sort  of new thing has been whipped up by the just mentioned lord.

The current recession is a fairly predictable thing, and will be for some time to come. This being my opinion as a result of my being informed about economics both from a traditional, i.e. predominates, Keynesian equilibrium model and the Austrian free market model. In general, my opinion is that, because we, meaning the United States, have become credit dependent, which, in fact, lead to the recession (the credit “crisis” being precipitated or catalyzed by the Fannie Mae Freddie Mac affair, something wholly avoidable which was not avoided.) In short, by pumping more money into the economy, which, because of the fractional reserve system, is not really money at all, but credit with a small amount of gold acting as collateral, it seems as though the mistake is being repeated, thus the recession will most likely continue, probably worsening as it goes.

Related articles

• It’s all about….debt…… (nicholasarrand.wordpress.com)

For no reason other than a change of habit, I arose several hours earlier than normal, which is nice. This allowed me to leave work earlier than usual, after vacuuming, dusting, and shipping some books, and spends some time at the local Barnes and Nobles, learning the German language. Recently, I had, completely independently of my actions taken to learn said German language, acquired a new bit of knowledge about the language. That knowledge being that, for some reason or other, the Germans put their negations after that thing or statement which they wish to negate. This has proved to be quite fruitful knowledge as it helped me to understand the syntax of written German quite a bit more easily.

Maybe I’m just a little out there, but I’m kind of let down that I won’t be around for the days of deep space travel.  That would definitely be something I would want to stick around for. It seems really intriguing to think about all of the different stuff that is going on out there in space.  There are vast alien worlds out there waiting to be explored, with crazy characteristics and maybe even life.  I’m sure there are some fairly interesting cosmic sights as well to be seen. The thing I would like to see the most, though, is just the stars themselves.  There is just something about the idea of being an interstellar merchant and traveling the stars that seems like it would be a fairly interesting lifestyle.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - OCTOBER 02: In this handout photo provided by Disney, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses Oct. 2, 2009 at the Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. with the 12-inch-tall Buzz Lightyear toy that spent 15 months in space onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Aldrin and the space ranger toy were joined Oct. 2, 2009 by ISS Expedition 18 astronaut Michael Fincke in a celebratory 'homecoming' parade in front of thousands of guests at the Walt Disney World theme park. Disney Parks and NASA sent the Buzz Lightyear toy into space in 2008 as part of an educational initiative to encourage students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The toy returned to earth Sept. 11, 2009 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery STS-128. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Sometimes I miss being a school, but other times it’s good being home.  At home I have a lot more space to spread my stuff out.  I don’t like leaving a mess, but there’s not much space at school.  Here, everything can go in its place, aside from the stuff that’s mostly for school, like my sheets.   It does have its downsides though, and there are quite a few.  One of the big ones is being under my dad’s rules again.  They’re not particularly hard rules, but it just gets kind of old when you’re 21 and still have to deal with the little things like that.  The other thing is that I fall into some bad habits just from being in “that” environment.  None of those habits are too bad, just getting lazy and sleeping in late, things like that. Overall it’s just two really different atmospheres.  At school I can enjoy myself more and I’m around my friends all the time.  At home I see my friends from time to time but not as much I had hoped.  Oh well, school is just a month away anyway.

My wardrobe is pretty predictable nowadays.  Its summer and I’m working so my clothing choice tends to be pretty limited.  There are only a few pairs of beat up shorts that I wear to work and the same goes for shirts.  Sometimes it gets repetitive, but for the most part I don’t care. Today I wore this beat up old pair of cargo shorts.  They feel a little gross from all of the job sites I’ve been to and all of the dirt that gets on them.  It’s kind of a good feeling though; like that they are your “work” shorts.  They’re great for holding stuff in them, parts, water bottles or whatever you find really. As for a shirt, I just grabbed whichever one was on top of the clean pile, which tends to be a short pile while I’m home.  I don’t have a lot of work shirts, and most are probably too beat up to be worn anywhere, so I kind of just make do with what I have.  The shoes, well they were nice until they became work shoes.  This job has its own way of making shoes pretty much useless after about a week, unless you only wear them there.  Looks like I’ll have just a little more shopping to do before I go back this semester.

Related articles

• Let’s work together. (curlybug.wordpress.com)

To want is a pretty powerful thing.  Wants make us steal, lie, cheat and sometimes even kill, depending on how strong the want is.  But wants can be a good thing too, like encouraging you to work out to get the girl. For me, my wants are a little harder to single out; it’s more of an overall thing.  My one strongest want would have to be a big house and a lot of land out in Wyoming.  There’s just something really serene about being out in the middle of nowhere in your dream house, maybe a dog in there somewhere. It would be a pretty good sized house, with a huge kitchen and living room and a decent sized in-ground pool in the back yard.  The rest of the backyard would be a huge open field, perfect for running with a dog or playing soccer or football.  That would definitely be the perfect thing for me.

I’m not a very seasoned traveler, but on several occasions, I’ve been to San Diego.  At the time of these trips, I was living in Maine, so it was quite a long haul from home!  I went to see family there, and had a wonderful time.  We of course visited the San Diego Zoo—a must see, and did a side trip to Disneyland.  On one trip, I spent a good part of the summer with my aunt and uncle, and part of this was at a beach house, and I spent long days on the San Diego beach, enjoying the waves and the perfect weather.  It felt like it was a long, long way from Maine—another beautiful state, but a totally different kind of beauty.

Related articles

• Prop. 8: San Diego mayor, once a gay-marriage foe, cheers ruling (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

If I had a thousand dollars to spend, but it had to be spent at just one store, I think I’d pick Gap Kids.  I love to dress my daughter up in cute, well-made clothes, but as she gets older, it’s more and more expensive to do so.  My daughter is autistic, so it’s especially important to me that she look nice, because she often acts oddly, and I don’t want to add to this by her looking out of place also.  Gap clothes are trendy enough so she would look sharp, but not sleazy looking as so many kids clothes are.  They have a lot of nice basics, and I could stock up in lots of sizes.  It would be a truly enjoyable spree!