Narrowing It Down To The Bare Essentials
I am happy I never use my phone anymore. It sits in the corner of my apartment, charging, while it sends off a mobile hotspot signal, never to be touched again. I mean I grab it when I go out of town, but not when I go places around here. The thing is a $35 piece of shit and I never really plan on using it again (except for SMS 2FA). I hate my phone.
But how can I simplify even further? I have no plans of getting rid of my tablet. Too useful. I have a RPi which is sometimes useful (esp for STLCC). And...yeah.
I don't know what triggered me wanting to make this blog post because I have made posts like this 1,000x's before but...
Did you hear Demi Lovato overdosed on heroin? It's true, but luckily she is in stable condition after being treated with Narcan. I hope she conquers her #addiction because even though I have had some (small) snarky things to say to her on Twitter, I honestly admire the fuck out of her, her career, attitude, outlook on life, etc. A very cool person IMO.
#FuckHeroin #Recovery
I am expecting a very high electricity bill
How aprappo that i am buying a solar panel on the final month that I have a large elec bill. LOL. I am gonna pay it, of course, but I should have probably got on Budget Billing before running my AC w/ the window cracked 24/7 for a month straight in 95+ degree weather :/
But this bill does not really concern me at the moment. I am much more interested in the fact that my ($970) student loan may be discharged soon and I will be hearing back from them p soon.
Anyway, I'm kinda bored at the moment. Sorry for the lame update.
Minimize And Chill
So the day has been spent going through this and that in my apartment and seeing what stuff I could get rid of and the majority of it I have been meaning to get rid of for quite some time. Little things. Knick-knacks, old cordage, a couple kitchen utensils that literally never get used, etc. I also went through all of my “important” paperwork in my closet and emerged with a fair amount of stuff I would never need again. This AM (around 1:30 AM) it was all about the extra toiletries I had in the bathroom that had been picked up from here and there. Mostly mini-toothpaste containers and other various items. I still have MORE than enough toiletries but many things that I would never get to have been disposed of. I also pitched the mini fan that my parents got for free from the hospital that they let me have. Technically it wasn't free. My dad's insurance paid for it. As well as about 6 other of the exact same fan. This one sat in their office, unused, I asked if I could have it, they said “yes”, I brought it home, I overused it, it started to make weird noises, and now it is in the trash.
All systems are a go for getting my solar panel in a week here as well as the 7800 mAH battery + collapsible lantern. I will be using the hell out of it for basically everything and when I do, I will be disposing of my floor lamp. The fucking thing takes five (5!) lightbulbs and it looks odd/awkwards when I don't have all five in there, so instead of burning cash on that shit, I will just donate the lamp to...whoever and use the (portable) lantern for everything. That includes the bathroom, kitchen in the daytime, literally EVERYTHING bc why use electricity when I can be using a solar lantern? :)
I also plan on getting a mini-USB fan that is handheld that I saw somewhere. They seem very cool.
That's about it for now
Be back in a bit!
Why Dogmatic Minimalism?
Why drastic minimalist living?
Why not? I have been practicing #minimalism for 8+ years now and when I see someone else with a lot of stuff or a normal amount of stuff (which i tend to think is pretty minimalist these days) or I see someone carrying next to nothing, I think: “Fine! There is no such thing as too many or too little things to either carry with you or to possess in your home.” Then again, some people are hoarders, others less so. I am not going to concern myself with this condition here.
What I do know is that how much/little you own says very little about the person. Very little about their personality. It may show you that they live a somewhat alternative lifestyle (which they may be doing), but it doesn't tell you anything else. No mold to speak of.
So, to get to the question at hand, the answer is; I am doing this because when I set out on the minimalist way of life in 2010, I decided I would go as minimal as humanly possible no matter how long it took and stay that way as long as I desired (probably forever).
I don't really care of other people are living this way (in fact, from what I have seen from minspo (my word) videos on YT, basically no one practices dogmatic minimalism OR anarcho-minimalism). New things are happening in the world and I believe (for what it's worth) we will see many, Many more people adopting a minimalist lifestyle in the years to come. Tons of (thousands of) “minspiration” videos on YouTube, but, I think when the trend wears off, people will either quit the experience altogether or go as far as I am taking it (dogmatic minimalism).
The Little Things
there are (were) a lot of little odds and ends i had around my apartment that i was thinking about “letting go” (throwing away) and i finally did so tonight. i threw away stuff in the bathroom that was unnecessary/redundant, tossed an old wired PC mouse, extension cords, shit like that. Was feeling a bit motivated from watching the YT channel “Lost Yet Free” where some dude travels w/ basically nothing but a toiletry kit and a fucking phone and that seems p fucking epic, if you ask me. I could get down to this level of #minimalism, as it is certainly dogmatic + fits in great w/ my anarcho-minimalist lifestyle, but, i am in no rush. I take things one day at a time.
So anyway, i had some coffee just a bit ago and made the thing a latte or mocha or whatever bc i wanted some flava flav, and am now enjoying the crickets. Beautiful night.
change of set-up
i gave myself yet another area to do work/surf the Web/etc. by bringing out the stickered dresser from the closet and setting the Anker + Tab A on it for a standing desk set-up. Looks/feels pretty good. I gotta stand more often because my bacck actually hurts from sitting most of the day. I think that is why the standing desk was invented in the first place, lol.
But i am feeling good.
time for a podcast, i think.
A Moment of Discouragement
Do you have these? I do.
Do you have doubts? I do.
But I get back on the horse. Every time. It is important to remember this because even though I had a very slow, very unproductive, very boring day in the past 24 hours, I must remember to remain positive, optimistic, and motivated for what is to come. I don't know how long it will take for the loan discharge paperwork to arrive, but when it does, I will have everything I need (everything) to enroll at STLCC and start the FAFSA/Pell GRant process and be on my way to the Fall 2018 semester. I am enrolling in four courses, I decided. And I already have some credit hours to my name, so, I can take four courses for the time being and still be on-track for a two year graduation “deadline”. I feel very good about this.
In the meantime I joined AWPWriter.org (Association for Writers) and I will utilize that when I have to/want to for this and that. I will more than likely pay the $75 membership fee as well as the book (self) publishing in a week here, so, I can amuse myself by doing so. LOL! I really don't know why I write.
And yeah. This is where I stand :)
Extreme Poverty
You name the documentary, report, longread, or ask any University Dean, professor, economist, and they will tell you the same thing: the only way to get out of poverty, even extreme poverty, is through higher education.
I am not one to toe the line and say higher ed is the end-all/cure-all to all of the world's problems (it isn't), but, when it comes to simply getting a job in a First World counry for an individual (such as myself) who is “low” in the income Totem Pole, higher education is the only way to break the cycle of...being broke.
So I am doing just that, with STLCC (this isn't an STLCC ad).
I checked the mail today and though I did not get my prior student loan discharge paperwork yet (I am positive it will be discharged), I am still doing what I can to prepare myself for the meeting with the student advisor that will be happening in the next couple of weeks. For now, I think I will be pulling the RPi out of storage (simply because the STLCC Website is easier to navigate in a desktop environment) and work on what classes I wish to take in the Fall 2018 semester.
Be back in a bit
Quick Update
ok, so i fixed the keyboard (the Anker) so i think i can actually do some mobile blog posts now. Thank Dog.
anyway, been reading/watching some great, productivity-centric content on the WWW today and been adjusting to life w/o cigarettes as i am back on the lozenge again and feeling v good. Also, waiting for it to cool off so I can walk and get a pop in a little bit.
The RPi has been put away because I have no use for it for the time being, and I will need a decent laptop (probably Samsung Chromebook Plus) WHEN i start STLCC in Fall 2018 (right around the corner). In the meantime, I am waiting for my college loan (discharge) paperwork to be sent to me in the mail to see if it has been processed and then I can make the trip to the STLCC satellite campus down the road and finish the enrollment process. I will sit down and do everything that needs to be done until I am FINISHED and not have to come back because the classes fill up quick and I do not want any delays.
I am looking at life as a “life is happening FOR you, not TO you” mindset and this is the best piece of advice I havegotten in a really long time.
Also – “encouragement comes to you when you are already in the middle of hard work”. Now that one was paraphrased but the mesage is the same. Work hard, and the encouragement will come. Good advice.
Be back in a bit
a change of pace
this is the last blog post you will see on here for a while, i think. I am going to be “going solar” and buying a solar panel + battery + collapsible lantern and using that for the majority of my power consumption. Life is just that easy when you live alone in a 430 sq ft apartment and are a minimalist and can make do w/ very little entertainment. The panel will charge the battery, the built-in battery of the solar panel and a small Anker battery I already have (that is three batteries in total). I will use the solar panel to also power my phone (which basically sits in the corner as a mobile hotspot router now) and the Tab A. I currently could use the battery(s) to power the RPi, but that is excessive and unnecessary. I will be putting the RPi in the closet and just focusing on doing everything that i may or may not need to do on the Internet on the Tab A,and only worry about retrieving the RPi from the closet when i start at STLCC.
On this subject: I am also going to buy “canned heat” which is a buffet burner, or a mini-stove, if you will, that i will use to cook my food (in my v v v small cooking pot) atop by soon to be unused stove. This will reduce further electricity use, and encourage me to eat more raw meals, and possibly cut down on my coffee consumption.
This whole new venture sounds v exciting to me.