So This Is Interesting
Here's a link to an article that looks at the election results in a different way...
In that article it discusses the GDP of each county and which counties voted which way. It looks like for the most part, the higher GDP counties voted for Hillary, while for the most part, the lower ones voted for Trump.
If we changed the whole voting process where instead of an electoral college by state, we had each county gets votes based on its GDP contribution... We' have significantly different election results.
I feel like we definitely should change the voting system in some way to update it. If we just go with popular vote, or we go by county, or state, but instead of an electoral college vote, it's done by a GDP and people who contribute the most to the economy get more of a say than those who aren't contributing.
It's a bit like if you have a group project right? And there are 10 people in the group. What usually happens? The 80/20 rule kicks in. 20 percent of the people in the group, 2 people, end up doing 80 percent of the work. That's been proven time and time again to be true. Yet on the grading, everyone gets an equal grade? That doesn't seem right.
So, maybe use something like GDP of a county, or some other metric to make it so that people who work harder, get rewarded with a bigger share of the vote? Perhaps that might be a good way to go about it.
Or maybe there's another entirely different way to go about it. But, it's tough no matter what because the vote is never going to be 100 percent one day. That means that there's always going to be some group of people who aren't happy.
This year, I'm one of the unhappy ones. But in past elections there were plenty of people who were unhappy with the election outcome.
It's definitely interesting though that the higher GDP counties on the whole voted mostly for Clinton over Trump. Interesting stuff.
A Year From Now
Okay. So, earlier today, I messaged a friend of mine. I haven't seen this guy since 2010, when I went out to Cali to visit. My mom and his mom were friends when we were growing up and pretty much... He was my first friend, ever. Well, besides my mom, who was OBVIOUSLY my first friend ever.
He's been messaging me lately to keep my Facebook messages in check. So, I'm like okay. Then he's like... Why not just chill? And I'm like... Chill... I'll try. And he's like NOOOOO... COME CHILL! Come to Cali.
I was like oh... Snap.
So, I'm going to make plans to do that in the next year.
I was thinking, hey, maybe he's still friends with people from high-school/middle-school/all the way down to first grade that we went to school together with.
I mean, you never know! It could actually be that me going to visit Cali... And hanging out with him, I run into a girl I went to first grade with.
Okay so maybe not. But, wouldn't that be funny if that love of my life I had been searching for was there all along? That we went to first grade with one another...
I mean, you never know?
Life is strange like that.
If nothing else... We can just bro it up on the beach and then grab brews at a bar. Or whatever. It would be fun to reconnect.
On a different and interesting note with this Cali connection, we were also discussing something else about my Facebook status updates, and something more for me to "chill" about. See, this guy that I know... His sister... Well, she married in to a family who... Well, let's see, her husband's father was at Trump tower on the 29th of November to have a chat with Trump and Pence.
He seems fairly confident we won't all die in a fiery train-wreck by the end of the Trump administration. Which, is the opposite of what Trumps Twitter seems to suggest. But who knows... Maybe Trump is just a drama queen on social media. In all honesty though, my social media has been just as bad as Trump's social media. SO, I guess who am I to talk?
Anyways, we were discussing this whole thing and basically his bro-in-law's dad says, in so many words, and I'm paraphrasing here... "Everyone just CHILL the heck out... I was a vice president myself once, and I just met with the president elect and vice president elect... and it's not THAT bad."
Okay I don't know exactly what he said when they met... But my friend was just like... in so many words "Chill".
And so it must be not SOO bad if my friend heard it from his brother in-law's father, a previous Vice Prez of The United States... who recently got to "chill" with Trump and Pence.
As a democrat still saddened by the outcome of the election and still hoping for some kind of Christmas miracle that Hillary will somehow through some kind of technicality still become president... I guess, I'm going to trust him. After all, I've known this guy since we were toddlers, so if his sister's husband's dad, a previous vice prez of the US who hung out with the president elect and vice president elect within the last week says that we'll survive the next 4 years...
I'm going to have to trust him.
So the theme is... When everything is unknown, be it love, or presidents... Chill.
Ocean Grove
So, I'm sick. It sucks. I made it through work today though. Barely. Then I went to the store, and then came home and napped.
I got Wawa for lunch, mac and cheese (comfort food) and a chicken cheesesteak sandwich, which is actually pretty good, it's nothing like the real thing, but it works in a pinch.
Anyways, so I'm sick. I made dinner, and worked on stuff at home. I was going to actually try going out writing at Movie Tavern. I've never written there! Seems like a pretty appropriate spot though to write this book.
I figured sitting at that bar and having a beer while sick wasn't the best idea. Instead, I had tea and honey.
Well, I'm working on this current scene which takes place in Ocean Grove, NJ. It's not the first scene that takes place there... There's a number of scenes. I actually went there forever ago for inspiration and walked around. I'd never actually been. So, I'm writing this scene and the problem is I've never been in the actual town of Ocean Grove. When I went back in the day... 2013, I parked in Asbury Park. Then walked around there, then went to the Ocean Grove beach, then walked around the boardwalk ish area, then back to Asbury. Then got some beer and food, then went and saw fire works on Ocean Grove... July 4th 2013.
But I never actually walked around the town. Right now, I need to write a scene that was on the beach, but moves into the town. So, I'm going to have to take a field trip there, maybe over the time I have off during xmas break? Perhaps if there's a day where it's in the 50s, I can swing it. If not, I'll just have to wait until spring or summer.
This original scene was supposed to take place at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park... But I changed it because it didn't fit the story line.
At the moment I'm just Googling Ocean Grove and looking at photos and things. There's one photo I found that struck me and it's right after Sandy. Then there's another set of photos from 2016 and it's basically the same view, and all of that stuff is fixed and restored.
You'd never know anything was amiss.
For some reason my mind just went down this little thought pathway where I started to think about what it is that we care about, or where we are in life when certain things happen.
How tables turn, and things you never knew anything about can become significant or important. But also, how things that were very destructive or disruptive can kind of be restored back or fade away...
And unless you knew the history, you'd never never even know it happened.
But I mean, here I am, I have a few scenes in my book that are set in Ocean Grove. A few months ago someone randomly mentioned Ocean Grove in conversation, and immediately, I was like "Oh yeah!".
And they were like, "You know it?"
And I was like... "Oh... Yeah, it's... A long story."
I didn't want to get into the details that I was writing this book and what have you.
But, here I am with these few scenes that take place there, and so, personally... I guess this Ocean Grove scenes are... I've spent time writing them. I've spent HOURS with these scenes. My characters who I've spent the last 4 years or so with, spent time there.
It's weird. When you write a book, that story and the scenes and the character become kind of like your friends I guess.
It's complicated. But, anyway, to me, Ocean Grove is significant because of the time I've spent with the characters there...
But 5 years ago before I started this book, I wouldn't have said I had any sort of attachment to that place. I'd be like Ocean whatnow?
I'm just rambling, and also I'm sick, so I don't have to make sense.
But, it's interesting how places and people change over time. Things you had no interest become the most important things ever... And then perhaps with some more time... They begin to fade a little. Or, things that were troublesome, are fixed, and then it's easy street again and no one would even know anything was ever wrong or bumpy.
But it's always changing, just like the tides.
Just makes me wonder, 5 years from now... What will be important in my life that I have no idea even exists at this moment. Or, what will become just a bump in the road, that at the time seemed like a mountain. You know?
All that from a photo of the Ocean Grove beach.
Well, back to working on a little more of this scene before getting some sleep.
Money and Women
Let's see... Well.. In another step further on trying to streamline my finances and bill payments and what have you... I've established check writing on my one trading account. It's a new feature they added, so instead of a checking account, you can just write checks straight from your trade profits.
So, now what happens is I have check writing and a debt card that can be used just like a checking account directly from the same account my dividends are coming into. I can also grab ATM cash using the card and be reimbursed ATM fees, which is pretty swanky.
I'm basically trying to set things up so that I can use divided and investment income to pay for things. Maybe a fun little travel get away. Or a car repair bill. Or a new item around the house, or a house repair bill... Etc. etc. I can use my credit card for some things but there's other things that just need old fashioned checks, like paying property tax. Or my gym membership doesn't allow credit cards for some odd reason. But yoga does... Go figure.
SO now what happens is... 9 to 5 daily grind paychecks -> Bills/personal items/food/car/housing/free time stuff (Pay mostly on cash back credit card, pay rest by bill pay/checks/debit card) -> Free cashflow left after expenses along with credit card cash back goes... -> Into investments -> Investments produce dividends from passive holdings and capital gains from active trades (active trade capital gains goes back into building more dividend producing investments/holdings and also goes to build up investment losses, which I have none of this year so far! Fingers crossed it stays that way, had a couple of losses last year but still made more money over the course of the year) -> Dividend income goes to supplement paycheck income... Which is back where I initially started with my paycheck.
It's effectively an income/wealth building feedback loop. The idea is one day my passive dividend investment income will actually overtake my paycheck income...
And then? Hello retirement!
That's a ways off though. Well, I mean it's all up to how much well my investments perform I suppose. A few of them have recently raised their dividend paychecks a good 10 percent year over year. If that trend continues I'll basically get a 10 percent raise every year from my dividend holdings.
It's basically a race against the clock to see how long it takes my dividends to surpass my work salary. Of course no matter what, once I hit the age of 50 my trust fund gets cashed out... SO it's kind of pointless for me to even do this whole investment thing on my own, since once the trust is cashed out that will then just be converted into income generating investments and managed on my behalf and then I'll just get a monthly paycheck from that, but my own thing is something just for fun I guess mostly. I'm just kind of geeking out over personal finances here really.
I think it's cool.
Anyways... So yeah. Tweaking my personal finance flow/process. Fun times! Sorry, sometimes I geek out about stuff like that.
What else? Oh, so speaking of work... My boss shows me this video the other day... It was one of those all over the news type stories about a guy that stole a container of gold from a bank truck in NYC.
Well anyways, in the video clip, we're sitting there watching... there's the name of someone specific. Her last name. As soon as I see it, my heart kind of skips a very small beat. Okay to be fair she probably see's my last name every time she gets on the highway... Sometimes people just have last names that are also popular names of places or things or whatever...
Although when she see's my last name it's not the same as me seeing hers. I mean, she broke it off with me... So, to her it's just more of "Oh, that guy". Where as to me it's more of a "Sigh, oh well."
Not that I'm still holding on to the idea that I might have some kind of chance with her eventually one day... I guess that's all over...
I wanted her, she didn't want me... And that's fine, it happens. Doesn't mean I'm still not reminded of her.
I just thought it was funny again just like this past weekend when I'm sitting there at Starbucks sitting next to these girls keep saying her first name over and over again as they are talking about their friend.
It's just... I don't know... it's hard not to be reminded of people you know? I don't know. It's hard not to think of people.
It just made me think about her more than usual. Although, let's be honest, I think about her fairly regularly. That's pretty much been how it has gone since day 1 when I first met her. She just kind of... Latched on to my mind and she's been there every since.
Some people you are just really taken with, other's not so much. We all start this journey of life and along the way we meet people... As we meet people you either like the person a lot, or you don't much care for them...
When two people meet one another that they both like a lot... that's when they end up together. Sometimes it happens where one person likes the other but the other doesn't like the one person back... Happens ALL the time I'm sure. So you just keep journeying along in life until eventually...
There's someone new and you both like one another and then things just click.
I mean just last night I was at work and trying to leave since my work day was over, but there was an event and they needed me to come last minute. I was kind of grumbling about it and so I walk up to the room and building where the event is, and all my grumblyness just faded away because standing there was a very cute girl... And I couldn't help it! I was just immediately like... Well, okay see, that's how it might happen! I might be annoyed even that I have to go somewhere and I might walk into the room and then there's the girl that I might one day marry!
You know? You never know! So, anyways I helped her and she was happy and even though I left work a half hour later than I usually do, I was in a good mood because... It could be something like having to stay late for an event, or needing to go help someone that you don't want to go help...
And it could be that one person that you end up spending the rest of your life with! You know?
I guess that's one of the things that's so cool about love and marriage and all that. Is that you just never know where this person will enter your life, or when.
Yes, for a long time I wanted it to be that other girl... But I'm okay with it not being her... I was gaga about her for a LONG time... and so maybe part of my heart obviously still has space for her because it skipped when I saw her last name in the video that my boss showed me... but... then I come back to reality.
Life is interesting I guess. There's at least that. Life is... A lot of things I suppose... Two life things are definitely...
Money and women.
Isn't that kind of what most people chase in this world? Chase higher incomes, and chase the one that makes your heart beat faster. Both of them always seem, just out of reach though... Never able to be obtained.
Who knows? I sure don't! Wish I did though.
I know, I'm supposed to chase enlightenment and hard work, and relationship with a higher power and being for into community and that kind of stuff...
Well anyways... What I do know though is, now it's Friday night, and I actually have to work the Saturday shift tomorrow. I'm feeling a little sick, a bit of a scratchy throat. Blah. I'll probably go to sleep early. I'm just making some dinner at the moment. Then I'll head to bed in a little while.