Well....
It's been a bit of an interesting week hasn't it? :-(
I must admit to being disgusted, dismayed and other similar dis's about the US election result. I really expected right up to the last moment that sanity would prevail and Trump would be defeated in a landslide. What astonishes and horrifies me is that apparently nearly half the people in the US are xenophobic, homophobic, racist arseholes. I keep expecting to see a few gloating posts in my flist that require de-friending and yet the reaction has been universally "OMG, WTF??" so far. So I have to ask: "What the hell?".
On the home front I am due to pick up my new car tomorrow morning! Well, almost new anyway. I've bought a Toyota Camry Altise hybrid (petrol/electric) with only 8500km on the clock for $24K. New price is ~$30-32K so it's a good deal I think. The downturn in the mining industry in Western Australia has meant that there are a number of cars bought by people who expected to have lucrative jobs that are being dumped on the market as the jobs evaporate.
It's very frightening, of course, to hand over that amount of money in one hit & I'm currently gazing at a bank cheque for more money than I've seen in one place for a long time that has to be handed over tomorrow morning. I'm paying the entire price in cash (which helped discount the price) and, since I'm starting to prepare for retirement it's reassuring to own it outright. I only had about $15K to pay off on my house so I've re-negotiated the mortgage to $30K and taken the rest of the car's price out of savings. When I sell the old car that will further offset the cost. Anyone want to buy a (very) used 2007 Honda Accord Euro Luxury model for about $6K? :-)
The difference to pay off my mortgage is only going to result in a change from 3 years to six so it still means I retire with a paid off house & no debts. Not a lot of superannuation but still. One of the advantages of being a maths teacher is that I can always get work tutoring students who are finding maths difficult.
We're currently in the arse end of the school year; reports, exam marking and so forth. I'm *really* looking forward to the Christmas break which, in the Australian system is about 6 weeks. Healthwise I'm having difficulties at the moment: I have bursitis in my right hip that is VERY painful and is making normal day to day activities quite difficult. It's not a really huge level of pain most of the time, only about level 4/5 or so, but it's just so unrelenting that it wears me down. I had a cortisone injection a week ago that I was hoping would give me respite for a year or so. Instead it had no effect at all, which is very depressing.
Anyway... I'm hoping that you're all enjoying good health and good fortune. I know I should be posting more often but... I'm *reading*, just not posting. :D
I must admit to being disgusted, dismayed and other similar dis's about the US election result. I really expected right up to the last moment that sanity would prevail and Trump would be defeated in a landslide. What astonishes and horrifies me is that apparently nearly half the people in the US are xenophobic, homophobic, racist arseholes. I keep expecting to see a few gloating posts in my flist that require de-friending and yet the reaction has been universally "OMG, WTF??" so far. So I have to ask: "What the hell?".
On the home front I am due to pick up my new car tomorrow morning! Well, almost new anyway. I've bought a Toyota Camry Altise hybrid (petrol/electric) with only 8500km on the clock for $24K. New price is ~$30-32K so it's a good deal I think. The downturn in the mining industry in Western Australia has meant that there are a number of cars bought by people who expected to have lucrative jobs that are being dumped on the market as the jobs evaporate.
It's very frightening, of course, to hand over that amount of money in one hit & I'm currently gazing at a bank cheque for more money than I've seen in one place for a long time that has to be handed over tomorrow morning. I'm paying the entire price in cash (which helped discount the price) and, since I'm starting to prepare for retirement it's reassuring to own it outright. I only had about $15K to pay off on my house so I've re-negotiated the mortgage to $30K and taken the rest of the car's price out of savings. When I sell the old car that will further offset the cost. Anyone want to buy a (very) used 2007 Honda Accord Euro Luxury model for about $6K? :-)
The difference to pay off my mortgage is only going to result in a change from 3 years to six so it still means I retire with a paid off house & no debts. Not a lot of superannuation but still. One of the advantages of being a maths teacher is that I can always get work tutoring students who are finding maths difficult.
We're currently in the arse end of the school year; reports, exam marking and so forth. I'm *really* looking forward to the Christmas break which, in the Australian system is about 6 weeks. Healthwise I'm having difficulties at the moment: I have bursitis in my right hip that is VERY painful and is making normal day to day activities quite difficult. It's not a really huge level of pain most of the time, only about level 4/5 or so, but it's just so unrelenting that it wears me down. I had a cortisone injection a week ago that I was hoping would give me respite for a year or so. Instead it had no effect at all, which is very depressing.
Anyway... I'm hoping that you're all enjoying good health and good fortune. I know I should be posting more often but... I'm *reading*, just not posting. :D