This is my blog. My thoughts, feelings, philosophies, a record of my day-to-day activies, streams of consciousness, etc.


2021-09 - 2021-11

2021-10-01

Where does my money go ?
I make $16\hr , $100\day , $500\week , $2000\month
I brag that I live so inexpensively that half of my paycheck goes into my savings account
but I still can't understand how I'm spending $1000 per month
so I looked at the history of withdrawls from my savings account for the past eighteen months and categorized my spending
misc or unknown groceries ATM Home Depot Comcast DTE mortgage Google streaming State Farm gas water blizzard phone
total -$5,998.90 -$4,977.26 -$1,120.00 -$1,665.99 -$999.64 -$2,256.48 -$8,417.11 -$382.20 -$327.64 -$1,616.91 -$850.01 -$1,026.58 -$316.75 -$800.00
total per month -$333.27 -$276.51 -$62.22 -$92.56 -$55.54 -$125.36 -$467.62 -$21.23 -$18.20 -$89.83 -$47.22 -$57.03 -$17.60 -$44.44
This data is going to be a bit atypical of my spending habits
because it goes from March 2020 to September 2021
which includes the time I spent moving into my new house
and the time I was spending at home during the covid lockdown
and I travelled out of state for work several times

Groceries
This is just any trip to Meijer
I'm only buying food and supplies for one person
plus occasionally splurging on something fun
so $64 per week is about right

ATM
I like to keep $20-$40 in pocket cash on me for 'just in case'
Most of it is spent on trips to the laundromat

Home Depot
Trips to Home Depot are not a constant and predictable expense
Usually just whenever I get an idea for a project in my head
I did spend a lot in the first few months of moving into the new house

Comcast
I will continue to call it Comcast instead of Xfinity
When I moved into the new house , I dropped the television package , and just kept the internet
I should look for a cheaper package
but jeremyjw comast.net has been my main email address for decades now
and if I drop Comcast , I lose that email , and any accounts I've connected to it

DTE
At the Southfield house , DTE was electricity , and Consumers was gas
In Melvindale , DTE handles both
I do my best to turn off lights and devices
and I keep it cold in the winter

Mortgage
My house payment is about $380 per month
which includes insurance and taxes
I've started paying an extra $1000 per month towards the principal
So I should pay off the house in just a few years
assuming this job doesn't disappear

Google
This is what it costs for me to keep my website xjoufs.net
I bought the webspace from HostGator for $90\3years , and they recently surprised me with a bill for $250 for I don't know how long
I'm paying Google $12\year for the hostname xjoufs.net
I'm also paying Google $6\month for a new email address
but something malfunctioned with the email routing , so I'm paying for nothing

Streaming
I try to play the game of starting Netflix , then immediately canceling , and then binging as much as I can in a month's time
I've been fully subscribed to Crunchyroll this whole time
Youtube , I signed up for the free trial of their premium service , and just kept it going when they started charging me for it
At $12\month , it's a lot more expensive than other streaming services
but I'm on Youtube a lot , so I think it's worth it

State Farm
This is the one that pisses me off
This is the insurance on my car
Over the decades , I've given that company more than $20,000
and not gotten one fucking thing in return

Gasoline
I've owned small cars , and drive conservatively
So this should be a minor expense
not counting road trips , and even then I've been getting 45MPG
and now that my daily commute is just a couple of miles , it's even less

Water
I was super annoyed when I discovered that Melvindale charges a flat rate for water
Now I'm paying more in a month that I did all year at the Southfield house
But one thing I've discovered in watering the grass seed I laid down
I can run the hose for 30 minutes every day , and not go over my water quota
Also , I don't feel guilty about letting the water run when washing my dishes

Blizzard
$14\month to play World of Warcraft
I can't really explain why I'm still playing , after what the came as turned into

Phone
I switched over to Verizon because that's what Ford supports
Also because I think Sprint was screwing me over
I could pay a little bit more for an unlimited plan , but I'm not the type that lives on my phone

Miscelaneous and unknown
In the list of charges
there are one time purchases , like new tires , or video games , or the concrete
and there are business codes I can't identify

So , I guess that's where my money goes on a monthly basis
It doesn't seem like a lot , but the pennies do add up


2021-10-02

Daily Food Intake
I am not a "foodie" , I don't need to eat exciting food
I am not a picky eater either
Although , I don't like oriental food , shellfish , nor overly spicy food
Since I make and pay for my own food , I keep it simple and cheap

Every work day , I eat almost the same thing
Breakfast is
a bowl of cereal
a mixture of Raisin Bran , Life , and Special K , plus a childish cereal , like Froot Loops or Lucky Charms
I create 24 bowls of cereal , so it's one less thing I have to worry about in the morning

Lunch is
a meat and cheese sandwich or tuna fish sandwich
chocolate milk
pop
candy
and fruit

I've created a rice and vegetable dish , that I make for dinners
I chop up broccoli , potatoes , corn , peas , green beans , peppers , onions , and carrots
separate them into plastic cups , and freeze them for future use
1/4 cup of rice + a 'cup' of vegetables + 2 cups of water
cooked in the microwave for 40 minutes at 50% power
add in a couple of boiled eggs for protien
and ceasar salad dressing for flavor
and you've got a bowl of nutritious and filling mush
For less than $30 I can create food for a month

On weekends , I eat whatever I find lying around
or sometimes I'll get a pizza or some Del Taco


2021-10-03

In the same way that my brain creates self-insert fan fiction
I'll come up with ideas for games
Usually inspired by other games I've seen
I'll have to win the lottery and hire a project manager before I'll ever see them created


2021-10-04

Dungeon and Dragons Maze
The popular D&D games are the ones with interesting story lines
This is just a maze that gets revealed one square room at a time
Then you meet randomly selected monsters and treasures
I think this idea is for people that like to roll dice more than role play


2021-10-05

Dungeons and Dragons Chess
This is just a game of chess
but when one piece attacks another , it starts a D&D battle , with the attacking piece having advantage
Chess players won't like it because it adds a degree of randomness to their strategies
In the battle phase , I think I'll leave each piece having identical powers
because in a normal game , a pawn can take a knight , for example


2021-10-06

Mob Chess
This is an online game of chess
but it's just one move per day
The people on the internet will vote for what they think is the best of the available moves
and then that move will be made
The 'wisdom of the crowd' should insure that each move is the best move
I imagine many games will end in a stalemate


2021-10-07


2021-10-08


2021-10-09


2021-10-10

I hate when people say "the government did this" or "that corporation did that"
The internet , corporations , Wall Street , the government , the army , a country
these are non-sentient entities
They are incapable of making decisions or performing actions
It is the individual people that should be punished when things go wrong


2021-10-11


2021-10-12


2021-10-13

I was on a train trip to California when I came up with this axiom
darkness + quiet + comfort + tiredness = a good night's sleep
(four things I didn't have on the train)



I've discoverd that if I can achieve all four of these things
I won't need to sleep for so many hours
I can feel completely rested after just four hours

darkness , turn off the lights and computer screens
quiet , turn off the computers and fans
comfort , soft warm bed
tiredness , stay awake until I'm exhausted and can fall asleep in just a couple of minutes


2021-10-14

A sex game of tag I came up with
Remote control vibrators
One in the pussy , one in the ass , two on the nipples
and she is blindfolded and deafened
(i guess you could play with men , but i prefer naked women)
Put four of these women in a playing field
One of them is "IT"
Each woman has a person in the audience controlling her vibrators
Pussy moves forward , nipples move left and right , ass moves backwards or stops
They use the controls to play a game of tag
If the vibrations cause her too much pleasure to be able to move , that's a bonus


2021-10-15

Today is Theta Tau's , my fraternity , Founder's Day
It would take too much effort to recount all of my experiences with my brothers


2021-10-16

My sleeping brain is playing pranks on my conscience brain
I had completely convinced myself that it was okay to pee in the shower
and then I woke up to discover I had drenched myself in piss again
So , I'm at the laundromat giving the bedding a much needed wash


2021-10-17

I installed a flag pole in my yard , with a cheap windsock on it , so I could see how the wind was blowing before going out sailing
Last year , during a particularly nasty wind storm , the flag blew away , and I couldn't find it
This year , I ordered a professional windsock with an attached rotator
but it seemed kinda heavy and didn't accurately show the wind
So , I bought another cheap windsock and attached it to the rotator
It won't fly away , but it does get tangled up when the wind blows up

Today , I discovered the flag missing again
I discovered it in the neighbor's driveway with the clip broken
I assumed some shitty kid jumped up and pulled it down
So , I went to Home Depot and bought another length of pole to keep it out of reach

I need to install some security cameras


2021-10-18

I finally took myself to the dentist to get my teeth looked at
It was one of those places in a rich-ish part of town that is more concerned with keeping your teeth pretty rather than healthy
I was impressed with their digital x-ray camera , and relaxing atmosphere
They were berating me for my diet choices , too much sugar
which I will agree with , but I'm too old to change my ways (am i?) I wasn't impressed when they couldn't tell that I hadn't had my wisdom teeth pulled out
When they started talking about root canals and extractions , and I 'noped' out of there

I don't care about my "smile line"
What I want is to coat my teeth with plastic and ceramics to strengthen them
and I'm not the sort to throw something away just because it's half damaged
I should care about my 'mouth bones' so I don't end up like mom


2021-10-19

There are a bunch of series I want to watch that are on HBOmax
I signed up for a month of it , and immediately cancelled the subscription
Funny that I got the "sorry we'll miss you" email before I got got the "welcome" email

I wanted to watch season five of Rick and Morty , but they only had four
They're slowly releasing season five on their website

They've got all of the DC animated shows and movies , and anything else Warner Brothers


2021-10-20

Ironically (?) I broke another chunk of tooth
It's next to the one that had food stuck in it , so I won't have to worry about that as much any more


2021-10-21

Today , I found out that Chris is leaving the warehouse
Dave is taking his job
I figured he'd be staying at the job forever
Maybe he got a better offer from his family
or he got scared off by the rumors that we're losing our building


2021-10-22

Infinity Train is a really good series
Pity it's getting cancelled after just four short seasons
It definitely strengthens my argument that animation is not just for kids


2021-10-23

Old games with expanded resolution
This idea was inspired by a YouTube channel , Atlas Videos
What they do is take the small screen resolution of old games 320X480-ish
and have it move over the entire game level on a much larger resolution of today's monitors

It would be a super idea for Nintendo to re-release all of their old games in this format
The game that I think would most benefit from it would be the original Sonic the Hedgehog
It always annoyed me that you couldn't see far enough in front of you when speeding along

The original game played at 320×224
1920x1080 and 3840x2160 are what we're using nowadays
You could fit one hundred Genesis screens on a new monitor
and probably fit the entire Green Hill Zone on one screen


2021-10-24

Inspired by a Game Grumps video
Multiplayer , co-operative Tetris
Four sets of tiles fall onto the same field
Everybody has to work together to win the game


2021-10-25

Girls und Panzer was one of the first anime I watched when I got my Crunchyroll subscription
I started wondering if you could re-create the tank battles in real life

Obviously you couldn't have real tank battles without killing people
I was thinking we could use golf carts with tennis ball turrets
If you really wanted to recreate the anime , we'd need an entire neighborhood with houses to play in


2021-10-26

I think this idea was inspired by stories of police brutality

In the DC comics universe
I get turned into a "monster" by some chaotic magic
I'm still me , but I'm now a tentacle monster
(or a fourty foot giant , or horned demon looking thing) I'm just trying to live my life in my new form

One day , I'm walking down the street of Metropolis , minding my own business
People are giving me worried looks , then somebody starts screaming
Superman swoops in and starts attacking
I start to back away , and try to explain through my non-human mouth

I think all I want is to be righteously angry and get an apology


2021-10-27

I've never been good at remembering people's names
I think it's because names are just arbitrary syllables
If I could just call people by their relation to me
or how I remember experiences I've had with them
I'd have less embarrassing experiences
or maybe more
"hey , neighbor with kids"
"hey , brother I like"
"hey , girl I met on the river that one time"


2021-10-28


2021-10-29


2021-10-30


2021-10-31