Long Game Tight Plays
Back, maybe a few years ago, I had some change in my PayPal account, and I decided to invest it in Crypto. There is a feature to buy crypto right in the PayPal app, so it was easy. I had read an article about long-term investing in various options. From real estate to stocks. The topic of crypto interested me because I knew someone who did very well with crypto when it was super-hot. The article said that over a long enough time frame, x-number of dollars will grow into a much bigger pot. It suggested that it is reasonable to assume that as crypto matures and becomes better integrated into our economy, it could grow thousands of times in value, say in 20 years from 2022. Worth a gamble, I thought at the time. Now, I am playing the longest hand of poker I can imagine. I parked my 4o bucks of PayPal change in a crypto investment. I will check back in 20 years and see if it is worth 40 or 100 thousand dollars. Also, I need to last that long, and will it be enough to pay rent in 2045? I imagine a box of Girl Scout cookies going for a grand in front of Albertsons
Tight Plays
There are a lot of long games that we can assume will pay off over the long haul. I am a fan of nurturing good habits. Good habits build equity while bad habits narrow your options. I try to read and write every day. I used to be a lackluster reader with a few books a year. When I got sick and stopped working, I started reading a book a week. Now I use an app on my phone to read two synopsizes while I walk the dog, along with a full-sized book every week. The synopses reader uses an AI voice, so the pronunciation is weak, but the Real novel options use real people, or the author, to voice the book. My latest good habit is to use an app to build vocabulary, and general brain skills in math, memory, and English usage skills. I have now spent hours working on my skill set as a good habit that I would have spent watching TV or doom-scrolling.
My big takeaway.
Don't give up on what you don't do well. Accept your failing and work to do better. Spelling and vocabulary have always been a struggle for me. However, that is not an excuse to develop them. At some point, I had given up on spelling and proofreading my work. I relied heavily on spell-check apps to correct my errors. Now, after a few months of app training, I am surprised I have comparable skills with my peer group. I let my skills' weaknesses stop me from progressing in other areas of my life.
Ostomy News
Fair warning, this section is not for the faint of heart. I discuss my Crohn's Treatment. I got clever and posted it separately; you can pull it up here.
The Short Version
My recent ileoscopy tour of my small intestines showed everything is looking pink and pretty. I continue Stelera as my main treatment, along with the novel introduction of opium.
What am I reading this Week?
We Do Not Part | Han Kang. It’s set in a snowstorm, there are spirits, a misadventure, memories of brutal war crimes, and what I assume is a case of IBD. A richly textured description of daily life. I wish they could have done more to differentiate who was speaking in the audiobook version. I have parted ways with Audible on Amazon. Now using Libro.fm, so far I am happy. It has a similar user interface and functionality.