Budgeting For Badassedry

Since acquiring a big boy job and beginning the proverbial "rat race," I have tried to make it as little like the rat race as possible. I have never really walked the path most follow and I like to do my own thing. Just like my parents made it out to do.

Whilst I eschew buying a house and everything considered normal for the time being. Let us talk about the one thing that is supposed to be taboo... Money. Let it be known that I value fun, excitement and interesting experiences more than anything else. Often, I consider living in a van and it would be awesome. But that is me in nutshell.

The trouble begins with figuring out how to pay for all of this badassedry while still being a responsible adult. Therein lies the question. One I have been putting a great deal of thought into and has had me reading extensively about money, finance, investment and everything else.

Sacrifices must be made and spending discipline must be maintained. Although I've always had somewhat of a knack for saving and cutting unnecessary spending. Time comes for kicking it into high gear.

The absolute hardest part about having a budget... is following it. 

I try to keep these things short, but onto our lesson. At a high level, the first thing we need to do is establish some percentages. What amount of your income should go to where? (for the sake of our analysis we're using a $50000 salary). Using paycheckcity for the aforementioned amount and the state of Texas (no state income tax) we get ~$3200 a month to work with.

Now, what do we do with it? 

BREAKDOWN:

25% Necessary expenses (Rent/health/phone)

25% Cost of Living (Groceries/Petrol/etc)

50% Discretionary

We'll get more and more into each of these as time goes by. But this is budgeting at its most basic level.

Skybernation Be Damned

I've met the requirements quite some time ago. But I never got around to knocking out the dumb test for my USPA C-License. I just never saw a reason to it. However, I finally buckled down and just knocked it out. Beaches and whatever here I come! I may even try my hand at a night jump or two, because... why not.

This jump also marked the end of my near six month skybernation due to shitty weather and working weekends. My recurrency jump was also my C-License check jump. So I knocked out the tests and went on my way. My rig was due for a reserve repack, my USPA membership had expired and to top it all off my Cypress needed maintenance. Ugh, seasonal skydiving weather makes my life more complicated. But alas, I guess the rest of the USA can't be like Florida.

While I was spending $400 just to get my rating/gear back into shape a thought occurred to me. I've been reading a lot about investing and budgeting lately. These are things which had always interested me and I've been hitting a wall of fees and unexpected costs lately that has really got my gears turning about maximizing budget potential. This was also inspired by some heavy reading of the Mr. Money Mustache blog.

I've decided to eschew the traditional route of buying a home and all that in favor of living cheaply to maximize economic gains and enjoyment of life.

I do have some expensive hobbies that bring me great joy. But other than that I am quite cheap and live pretty bare. In this blog, I am going to focus a lot on how to afford such expensive hobbies and where you can potentially make cuts.

I want to get a Masters Degree and various Skydiver's Ratings. Those things are important to me and I intend to get them, but it will require some sacrifice. But so does anything worth doing. Let's dance.

Fly!

I am, admittedly, a dabbler kind of blogger. From time to time I am possessed with the unquenchable desire to put ink to paper. So I write. Other times I get distracted with life and all that and forget about this. But it is one of those times yet again.

I suffer from terrible bouts of disinterest and my gaze turns towards to other things. Luckily the blog is something I do for my own enjoyment rather than my day job.

Some time ago... in like November. I took it upon myself to learn to fly a wingsuit. Luckily, some friends of mine back at the great Skydive City in Zephyrhills happen to be instructors of this discipline. So I flew over there for a long weekend.

The short of it is that it was god damn awesome. The long of it was that there is a bit to learn and my ability to pilot the thing is shit. I also have another major purchase to incur so that I may fly a wing of my own. This will lead to another lesson just a short ways down the road. How does one balance life/work... and budget for horrendously expensive adventure/adrenaline sports? Other sacrifices must always be made for those of us with but modest means. But that is a story for another post. 

Idaho BASE Adventure!

I hath returned both alive and well from my trip to the Mountain West and the far off land of Idaho. Twin Falls happens to be a rather beautiful place. 

Attending the Snake River BASE Academy was an incredible experience. I learned so much about the sport and how much knowledge it takes to safely jump most objects. Safe being a rather subjective concept in the world of BASE jumping. I was honestly surprised at how much of a different animal BASE is from the world of skydiving, with which I am much more familiar. The technical aspects of BASE make it really cool to someone like me. BASE jumps at most locations require extensive planning and and knowledge of gear, weather, the object, exit points, timing. Which I think is pretty neat.

The course and my vacation ended up being incredibly tiring. 20 hour days while on vacation was a lot more than I expected and certainly more than the casual nature of learning how to skydive. I had a lot of problems with packing the BASE rig. But I also had problems learning how to pack a skydiving rig. So that was pretty understandable. 

The pinnacle of the course was, of course, the jumping itself. Let me tell you that there is absolutely nothing in the world like standing at the exit point while BASE jumping. You just need to take that one leap into the unknown. Walking the razors edge between life and death. The rush and the high is like nothing else. I can see how someone can very easily get addicted to BASE jumping. But now I have compelling urge to gather more gear, practice fundamentals. Return to Twin Falls and go through the course again. Then head out into he wilderness and see what BASE is all about.

Snake River Base Academy is an amazing thing.

Final Equipment Check and Secondary Fermentation.

*This was a touch delayed due to time constraints before my journey. But I am posting it anyway!*

We are on the eve of my next adventure. Far into the distant land of Idaho. As I am a very meticulous person when it comes to such journeys. I will share with you the methodology of my final equipment check. Largely taken from my time in the Army. I just love seeing everything laid out before I pack it up and go on my way. I'm a bare essentials kind of guy. This is what I need and think I might need for the trip. 


Here we have a cool helmet(with awesome stickers. Very important), goggles, knee pads, BASE packing items, clothes, GoPro Camera(charged and ready), SD card reader, small camera, boots... Probably missing some stuff but whatever.


Additionally, because of the trip I have to move my IPA into secondary fermentation a few days ahead of schedule. But my apartment is quite warm most of the time and it looks like the yeast has done its work for now. But the process is simple and awesome. Seeing your own wort-made-beer is an amazing thing. All one must do is check the gravity to see if it is in the right ballpark and then let the beer sit in a clean carboy for a few more weeks before we can put it into bottles. And the gravity is good.

Now I must be on my way, off into the Mountain West!

Book Club: The Great Book of BASE.

I acquired this book after signing up for a BASE First Jump Course in Twin Falls, Idaho. Never having heard of it before. After reading this book, I am compelled to tell the world how motherfucking awesome it is. I read through this book in one sitting. All the while feeling a sense of awe and wonder at the subtle complexities of what is physically, a simple act. 

Even if you have absolutely no desire whatsoever to get on a plane and skydive, let alone BASE jump or anything like it. You'll find this book to be an incredible read. For someone who thinks strongly about attention to detail it is fascinating. From a purely technical standpoint, there is so much to think about when putting yourself on an exit point. I had always known that BASE is very complex for those who care to understand it. But being the sport that it is, and skydiving as well to some degree, it draws the Mavericks who are willing to throw caution to the wind.

Over my skydiving career I had put a good amount of time into understanding what makes the parachute system work and why it is designed the way it is. But that is only natural, as I am a professional software developer. An innate sense of curiosity if you will. BASE parachutes are a completely different animal from their skydiving counterparts. Bridal lengths, slider material, closing systems are all much more important details than they are for a skydiver.

There was a portion of this book that really struck me. I was thinking, "Hey! That is totally me!" This particular part discussed two jumping buddies of drastically different personas. One being the Maverick type who just wants to jump. The other being someone like myself who meticulously inspects both equipment, location, and weather. Both achieve the same result this is true. But I believe in doing it "correctly" as I perceive it. It is your life after all. Take the time to ensure that the gear is right, the situation is right and you are in the right state of mind. Do the deed, then drink yourself silly relishing in the experience with a bunch of other crazy ass jumpers like yourself.

Other interesting parts cover the Ethics of BASE jumping itself. In the sense that objects should be treated very carefully so that others can continue to enjoy using them. Which I imagine is pretty hard with the sort of rebellious attitudes that BASE attracts. In order to protect the usability of BASE objects it is imperative for jumpers to respect the locals and the general rules surrounding it.

Overall it is a lot to take in. A bit scary, but very much exciting. Once it got into advanced techniques I kind of lost interest. My goal right now is simple, stable, and predictable exits and openings. Always the cautious sort, I feel that I should act as my experience level dictates. Or below it. Either way, perhaps I will see you at the exit point someday.

*I feel I should mention, that like the authors of this book, reading this will in no way teach you how to properly BASE jump. It is a reference, not an instruction manual. Best textbook I've ever read however.

A Day at the Lake...

Sunday is a lazy day for most of us. Even myself, boundless energy that I seem to have. Ont his fine Sunday I headed out to Lake Travis. The lake is currently a shadow of its former self as the water levels are around 60 feet lower than their average. Texas has had a pretty bad drought for the past few years and Lake Travis is suffering terribly for it.

But there's a twist! I am the type who lives to be outside of the comfort zone. As most boundaries are just silly anyway. The rather arbitrary nature of social norms has always been a funny thing to me. In the same vein as the very Creator of the universe itself telling you to not masturbate. So we went to a place called Hippie Hollow. A portion of the Lake dating back to the 60's. It actually has some other name for it. But that name is unimportant as nobody refers to it by the name proper. Back in the age of the Culture Shock, those of like minds would congregate here and beat on drum circles or whatever in the nude along the Lake. This is interesting to me because Texas is quite conservative to say the least. The fact that this park has survived for so long is impressive. As there have been many attempts to shut down the lewdness, I am sure.

According to local history. The original owner of that part of Lake Travis leased the land to the county indefinitely under a number of conditions. One being that the clothing optional part of it remained. Hippie Hollow becoming the only "public" area that allows this in the entire state of Texas. Texas is a big place and this is quite unique. With all of the characters that live in Austin and the interesting things to do here. How does one just "go" to the lake? I say, let us make even a day at the lake something out of the ordinary!

And so I went to Hippie Hollow and enjoyed the quiet lake shore. As rocky and uncomfortable as it is. But I must say, it is rather liberating to walk around in the buff. I'll certainly be back! The people are exceptionally friendly and social. Comfortable in their own skin and I admire anyone with that trait. A little confidence can get you a very long ways and it is a lesson that a lot of us have a hard time learning. Fake it till you make it as it is said.