Jesus on a fucking unicycle, what is this?

Millions of retirees & other American citizens came here specifically to not have to deal with this nonsense. Now the entire South is catching this "polar storm" or whatever it is...

Anthropogenic climate change is a bitch. Anyone remember what happened in Texas a few years ago?...guess we're gonna hafta get used to this.

When I start planning my house build, I'll have to insulate the plumbing.

"To top things off, the Iraqis had sent some SCUDs over just before the war got started. Most had been taken care of by Patriot missiles, but one got through. Wouldn't you know it took out the Starbucks where we'd hung out during our prewar training?

That's low, hitting a coffee place. It could have been worse, I guess. It could have been a Dunkin' Donuts.

The joke was that President Bush only declared war when the Starbucks was hit. You can mess with the U.N. all you want, but when you start interfering with the right to get caffeinated, someone has to pay."

- Chris Kyle, American Sniper

The above is an exact quote.

Whoever jamiedorsey4167 is, his politics are close to my own in this instance.

...yep. Shit-a-brick.

I'll try not to bitch about it anymore until the end of March. Honest. I will pop OTC stuff every day, use generic cough syrup some nights, & hope I don't get a sinus infection....

Really don't need the latter right now because of what I'm doing & planning. Speaking of which:

From this past Sunday, an experiment with scavenged edger blades to see if a wood fire can successfully anneal them:

This was one of several things I've been meaning to do for a good while.

Also - this is an example of why I bought that land earlier this year (besides being sick & tired of renterdom). You can't do much of this stuff when you're renting a 1BR place in an urban area. The only reasons I get away with this shit are because 1] the leasing office is closed on Sundays, & 2] the place has such lax standards now that tenants don't obey half the rules anyway. Technically I'm not supposed to own or use a grill since I'm in a 2nd-floor unit. This makes sense as all the 2nd-floor units have wooden patios & some tenants are too dumb to be trusted with fire-making devices...but I am not a typical tenant.

And the leasing staff & maintenance do the bare minimum besides collecting the rent, so why should I be a stickler for the rules? Hey, if they're gonna slack on their end of the bargain... 🤷🏼‍♂️

If you're wondering what the point of all this is then stick around, folks!...There will either be photos of the finished product here or a link to them elsewhere.

As usual, I'm tired.

...once the clock hits O-dark-hundred tonight, happy New Year.

The NASDAQ did better than the other major exchanges overall...interesting. I wonder if it's being tech-heavy has anything to do with it...

Of course the post-election euphoria wore off. Knew that would be short-lived. As always, I'll wait & watch for opportunities.

Also: this is my 100th blog post. A minor milestone.

In the dreams, in the dreams,

you're younger; you move faster

No pain in joints, the hips, the back...

Your body is not your master

until you wake up & learn--again--

that "Father Time" is a cold bastard.

How was your Christmas? I had a nasty flareup* yesterday afternoon...I took a few photos of my paintings, imported them into my ancient laptop, & managed to edit two of 'em anyway. The finished pieces will go live this Friday & a few days after that. Stay tuned, folks!

*of my main chronic condition

- from TradingView

As always, these are projections not predictions. The near future is always hard to see, & markets are not an exact science.

Still, we know that Donald Trump is set to take the throne for his 2nd term...the 0.04% of the population who aren't inflamed by political tribalism will have the most accurate perspective. Love him or hate him, by now we can have an idea of what he's like. He is not one to go along with what the corp/mil/media-industrial complexes, & their lobbyists & congressional puppets, want him to do. He is not easily deterred once he has decided on a course of action. He's picking loyal people (or so he thinks--a few will inevitably turn on him) & those from his first administration. Trump has never been stupid but at this point, he's older than Biden was when Slow Joe won the throne...it will likely affect his decision-making. And of course there are is the geopolitical "great game" to consider.

So. Ye olde question: how to play it?

My plan is to be cautious but not overly so. I won't pick up many stocks or ETFs...I suspect those markets will be somewhat rocky for at least the next two years if not all four. Will probably buy some bond-backed ETFs (maybe even bonds directly) because if core inflation refuses to slow down & Trump's policies spur general inflation then the Fed may ratchet up the official interest rate again. That would make debt-dependent assets a good value. Apart from that, my focus is on alternative assets now. For me, the main one is my parcel of land. These days most of what I think about is how to improve it, develop it without removing all the trees, leaving some natural environment in it, & getting it ready for a house. All of this will increase equity (the value of the land itself). The only other assets I'm interested in are precious metals & perhaps some crypto, if I can afford it.

More art & crafts coming as always. Stay tuned, folks!