The re-emergence of racism

Posted in Stories
the re-emergence of racism. Photo courtesy of pixabay.com

May 2003

Foreign. Alien. Must adapt. Can’t adapt.

The most impossible adjustment ever. Within a week, I’d gone from ultimate freedom to this.

I was a missionary. I sat in my apartment, unclipping and re-clipping my name-tag. A constant mold stench permeated the building. The brown laminate of the kitchen looked like a bad remodeling job from the 1960s. The air was hot, cooled by nothing but a circular fan that coughed when you plugged it in.

“Let’s go,” my missionary companion said. I’d never met the guy before yesterday. Blond hair. Short. From Utah.

A stranger. Yet this stranger would become my only companion for the next three months. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week.

My only privacy was my trips to the bathroom. And even then, I could sometimes hear his breath through the paper-thin walls.

I hated it. This wasn’t home. Read more »

Nine ways I saved $5K in 2 Months

Posted in Stories
3040508093_a66a92cc59_o

So this post may be a bit different from what I normally do. Typically, I share a story and some “Lesson Learned,” or other moral on living the good life. Well, today’s a bit different because I’m sharing a bunch of stories.

Like, ten for the price of one. We are talking about saving money, after all.

Neat, eh?

I suppose this is a continuation, of sorts, of a previous blog post. In it, I said I’d had enough. I was sick of being decades from my dream of owning my own Walden. I was sick of watching my kids grow wondering whether they’d move out of the house just as I’d finally earned enough cash to invest in my cabin home.

And I made a promise.

I will spend no money except on the essentials. No going out to eat. No play money. No money for the movies. No trips to the fair or the museum.

Don’t think you can do it? Neither did I. Read more »