Crazy bird, atheist and loving it, mass airflow sensor, taxes and robodinosaurs
Oh. My. God. There is this crazy bird at my apartment that needs to die. No, that isn't me affecting some British cuteness in description of a female neighbor. I mean an actual bird. This thing is crazy. It sings all night from darkness till dawn. All. Damn. Night. It's like one of those car alarms that chooses a few different sounds before repeating them. I counted 12 different sounds before I decided I could no longer distinguish them and why the hell was I awake counted sounds the bird makes anyhow.
This thing nests somewhere close to my apartment, in a tree, I assume. I've thought of going outside in my nightgown in the middle of the night with a broom to go beat the tree and hope I scare the bird away. Fortunately I decided beforehand that probably wouldn't work and the neighbors might be frightened and call the police. Maybe the neighbors are also being kept awake and one of them owns a b.b. gun. I don't know how b.b. is supposed to be spelled. I assume it's short for ball bearing, so I'll settle on b.b.
I didn't get to sleep until after 4:00 am.
Goddamn bird.
After our flight to see "300" Friday night, Ian and I stayed up into the wee hours talking about whatever came to mind. It was one of those neat moments where we both met in the same mood of somewhat introspective philosophical chattiness. We talked about subjects like religion, spirituality, how many children we wanted, what is a socially responsible number of children to have, overpopulation of the earth, back to religion, and what mixture of daycare v. care at home we'd ideally like for said future child or children. Good stuff.
At the end of our talk, something struck me. In past serious relationships, I lamented that my lover and I were very different spiritually. Through my 20s, I was very spiritual - pagan for much of it in belief, if not practicing. Always looking, though, asking, searching. Everyone I dated was just a spiritual null. That is not to say they were atheists as just uninterested in even considering the issue. It's like the old saying that the opposite of love is indifference. The opposite of spiritual exploration is not atheism, it's lack of interest. My relationship with Ian is the first I've experienced where I not only feel we're on a similar wavelength spiritually, and growing together... but what's truly odd there is that together we're growing away from things spiritual much less religious. I used to say I didn't know what I believed, then that I was agnostic, then I got tired of explaining that meant that I really did care but was skeptical and what did and did not resonate with me, so I abbreviate to the shorthand of telling people I was an atheist even though it wasn't true. Now more than ever, it's really true, however. I don't believe there is a god. Neither does Ian. This is not a choice of indifference or disinterest or anger or pessimism, but one of intellect and conscious examination. We're each comfortable with this choice, as we talked about that Friday night.
Going further afield on this note, one thing we discussed is the notion of how it's safer to go ahead and believe since you lose nothing if you're wrong, but gain much if you're right. Logically, this is true. But who is able to flip their spiritual beliefs on and off like a lightswitch? Who can choose what to believe and disbelieve consciously? It's not enough to just go through the motions of religion. If there is a god, god can tell the difference. Maybe there's sense in saying that if you keep trying and keep praying, someday the light of heaven will shine on you and you'll Get It. Maybe. But what a lie, what a dreadful and important outright lie until then. That lie isn't for me, or for Ian.
Truth be told we've often discussed how much we admire and envy religious cultures with strong communities for their social ties. Religion (not belief in god, mind you, but the religion made by and maintained by man) has a lot of uses and benefits. We recognize that we're on the outside by not being part of one. It's just that tricky bit about believing in god, isn't it?
And in considerably less weighty news...
Brought the Rat Mobile back to the car dealership Saturday. At first we thought we'd need $3 grand worth of repairs - turned out to be only $1600, with a chance we might need to replace the other half of the catalytic converter. Not 100 miles out of the dealership, the check engine light came back on. "So on with the boots back out in the snow" back to the dealership. Turns out it was the mass airflow sensor - one hour of repairs for $255. Not nearly as bad as I feared! It may have been the cause of the catalytic converter going bad. ALL of this may date back to that salt damage in Massachusetts the first two years I owned the car. The mechanic can't be sure, but it's entirely possible they're all related. We're all hopeful this is the end of car woes for awhile. I hope so because my birthday is just over a month from now, and I need to get emissions and the registration done.
Taxes and Retirement Accounts
Got our taxes done Saturday. We're both in new tax brackets, and I converted $2500 of a traditional IRA to a Roth. As a result, we both had lower tax returns than we expected. I owe the state $140! I never owe money on taxes. That's annoying. Oh well. It's still a refund for us both, and at least the car repairs were lower than anticipated. We'd already saved up the dough, so what's left will all go toward the move.
I think that I'll just let the rest of that IRA stay where it is for the next few years, however. I definitely prefer Roth, and I'd like to convert it. Every dollar will count when we're living on just my paycheck when Ian's in school, however. Not the time I want to be responsible for more taxes than necessary.
Parked it in front of the TV and loved it
Saturday night we reunited with the wandering misterpeep upon return from his trip. We grabbed a bit to eat and then watched "Borat" at his suggestion. My jaw was sore from hanging straight down for two hours of watching that movie. It was so stunningly offensive... and funny. But gee, it was hard to hear the dialog over the sound of that guys' balls clanging together as he walked. This is what my lottery winnings could buy for me with a video crew to follow Pete and Louis around the country.
I Netflixed the first 2 discs of Season 1 of "Lost" which I've never watched. In an odd stroke of coincidence, Pete also just happened to start watching season 1 on Saturday. This show has been on for 3 or 4 years and 2 friends independently pursue watching it on the same day. How odd! The Quil is wearing Ian around as a suit currently - poor sweetie. So in an extremely unusual turn, he sat and watched the show with me episode after episode on Sunday. We got through the first 8, the first 2 discs. Good show! I hear its gone downhill this year, but I'm eager to find out what happens. Ian thinks it's the Island of Doctor Moreaux. My vote is on robodinosaurs. It makes about as much sense as anything else in this show.
I sure hope asthmatic totally useless screaming blond girl gets eaten by one of the robodinosaurs.
Traceroo
This thing nests somewhere close to my apartment, in a tree, I assume. I've thought of going outside in my nightgown in the middle of the night with a broom to go beat the tree and hope I scare the bird away. Fortunately I decided beforehand that probably wouldn't work and the neighbors might be frightened and call the police. Maybe the neighbors are also being kept awake and one of them owns a b.b. gun. I don't know how b.b. is supposed to be spelled. I assume it's short for ball bearing, so I'll settle on b.b.
I didn't get to sleep until after 4:00 am.
Goddamn bird.
After our flight to see "300" Friday night, Ian and I stayed up into the wee hours talking about whatever came to mind. It was one of those neat moments where we both met in the same mood of somewhat introspective philosophical chattiness. We talked about subjects like religion, spirituality, how many children we wanted, what is a socially responsible number of children to have, overpopulation of the earth, back to religion, and what mixture of daycare v. care at home we'd ideally like for said future child or children. Good stuff.
At the end of our talk, something struck me. In past serious relationships, I lamented that my lover and I were very different spiritually. Through my 20s, I was very spiritual - pagan for much of it in belief, if not practicing. Always looking, though, asking, searching. Everyone I dated was just a spiritual null. That is not to say they were atheists as just uninterested in even considering the issue. It's like the old saying that the opposite of love is indifference. The opposite of spiritual exploration is not atheism, it's lack of interest. My relationship with Ian is the first I've experienced where I not only feel we're on a similar wavelength spiritually, and growing together... but what's truly odd there is that together we're growing away from things spiritual much less religious. I used to say I didn't know what I believed, then that I was agnostic, then I got tired of explaining that meant that I really did care but was skeptical and what did and did not resonate with me, so I abbreviate to the shorthand of telling people I was an atheist even though it wasn't true. Now more than ever, it's really true, however. I don't believe there is a god. Neither does Ian. This is not a choice of indifference or disinterest or anger or pessimism, but one of intellect and conscious examination. We're each comfortable with this choice, as we talked about that Friday night.
Going further afield on this note, one thing we discussed is the notion of how it's safer to go ahead and believe since you lose nothing if you're wrong, but gain much if you're right. Logically, this is true. But who is able to flip their spiritual beliefs on and off like a lightswitch? Who can choose what to believe and disbelieve consciously? It's not enough to just go through the motions of religion. If there is a god, god can tell the difference. Maybe there's sense in saying that if you keep trying and keep praying, someday the light of heaven will shine on you and you'll Get It. Maybe. But what a lie, what a dreadful and important outright lie until then. That lie isn't for me, or for Ian.
Truth be told we've often discussed how much we admire and envy religious cultures with strong communities for their social ties. Religion (not belief in god, mind you, but the religion made by and maintained by man) has a lot of uses and benefits. We recognize that we're on the outside by not being part of one. It's just that tricky bit about believing in god, isn't it?
And in considerably less weighty news...
Brought the Rat Mobile back to the car dealership Saturday. At first we thought we'd need $3 grand worth of repairs - turned out to be only $1600, with a chance we might need to replace the other half of the catalytic converter. Not 100 miles out of the dealership, the check engine light came back on. "So on with the boots back out in the snow" back to the dealership. Turns out it was the mass airflow sensor - one hour of repairs for $255. Not nearly as bad as I feared! It may have been the cause of the catalytic converter going bad. ALL of this may date back to that salt damage in Massachusetts the first two years I owned the car. The mechanic can't be sure, but it's entirely possible they're all related. We're all hopeful this is the end of car woes for awhile. I hope so because my birthday is just over a month from now, and I need to get emissions and the registration done.
Taxes and Retirement Accounts
Got our taxes done Saturday. We're both in new tax brackets, and I converted $2500 of a traditional IRA to a Roth. As a result, we both had lower tax returns than we expected. I owe the state $140! I never owe money on taxes. That's annoying. Oh well. It's still a refund for us both, and at least the car repairs were lower than anticipated. We'd already saved up the dough, so what's left will all go toward the move.
I think that I'll just let the rest of that IRA stay where it is for the next few years, however. I definitely prefer Roth, and I'd like to convert it. Every dollar will count when we're living on just my paycheck when Ian's in school, however. Not the time I want to be responsible for more taxes than necessary.
Parked it in front of the TV and loved it
Saturday night we reunited with the wandering misterpeep upon return from his trip. We grabbed a bit to eat and then watched "Borat" at his suggestion. My jaw was sore from hanging straight down for two hours of watching that movie. It was so stunningly offensive... and funny. But gee, it was hard to hear the dialog over the sound of that guys' balls clanging together as he walked. This is what my lottery winnings could buy for me with a video crew to follow Pete and Louis around the country.
I Netflixed the first 2 discs of Season 1 of "Lost" which I've never watched. In an odd stroke of coincidence, Pete also just happened to start watching season 1 on Saturday. This show has been on for 3 or 4 years and 2 friends independently pursue watching it on the same day. How odd! The Quil is wearing Ian around as a suit currently - poor sweetie. So in an extremely unusual turn, he sat and watched the show with me episode after episode on Sunday. We got through the first 8, the first 2 discs. Good show! I hear its gone downhill this year, but I'm eager to find out what happens. Ian thinks it's the Island of Doctor Moreaux. My vote is on robodinosaurs. It makes about as much sense as anything else in this show.
I sure hope asthmatic totally useless screaming blond girl gets eaten by one of the robodinosaurs.
Traceroo