So, what have you been doing?

Having posted almost nothing over the last few months, I began wondering if perhaps my time as a blogger was ending. I've heard it's something of an occupational hazard for bloggers to write themselves dry, to the point where they no longer have anything new to say. Toward the end of last year, that's about how I felt. Everything I wanted to say had been said, and that was that. 

Upon reflection, I've decided that's not quite right. Rather, I believe now that my creative interests simply shifted away from topics easily rendered into blog posts, toward those which are perhaps best treated by experience and life. For example, starting last year I became very interested in Financial Independence and frugal living, thanks in part to reading other blogs like Mr. Money Mustache, Early Retirement Extreme, Raptitude, and Jlcollinsnh. All four bloggers gave me a lot to puzzle over, and pushed me to think more critically about how I live and what my goals for future might be; in more ways than one, these gentlemen picked up where my college education left off. Very convenient. 

Thus inspired, I endeavored to begin applying this new thinking to my daily life, trying on ideas as one might try on clothes to see how they fit (though perhaps that is not the best metaphor). This exercise yielded a great deal of satisfaction as well as stress, but little that I could easily render into words; what I was attempting the bloggers listed above had already done, and their writings on the subject seemed far more useful than anything I could as yet put together. So for several months I wrote almost nothing on the blog. 

While challenging, these last few months have seen me learn a great many things. Perhaps more importantly, the thinking which I described above led to action in ways that surprised even me, and it is this action that I would like to discuss below. 

So, what have I been doing?

Learning new languages:

As I work alongside Spanish-speakers most days, I've taken to learning their language. This learning has come in many forms, from listening to them speak, to struggling through random things they post on Facebook. I've also employed more formal methods, for example using an old textbook given to me by a friend, and a highly stimulating website/app called Duolingo. If you've never tried Duolingo, I would highly recommend it. It's free, user-friendly, and provides instant feedback. 

Interestingly I've also been picking up bits of spoken Japanese of late. Partly this comes from rereading James Clavell's excellent novel "Shogun" (1975), but also from watching bits of old anime in the original with English sub-titles. I never realized how beautiful spoken Japanese could sound; indeed, there is a lyrical quality to it that I can't entirely describe in words; the best I can do is to describe its effect, that I smile despite myself listening to it, strange as that may sound. At any rate, while I have no intention as yet of wading into the complexities of the Japanese language, I do enjoy picking up bits of the language here and there.

Writing fiction:

While I haven't been writing much on the blog, I have been writing quite a bit in other place. In addition to a journal I keep, I've also begun writing fiction. This is a type of writing I've long enjoyed, having made attempts at it as far back as middle school. I say "attempts" because I almost never finish stories I begin. This is frustrating, but not entirely surprising. Many writers would probably agree that ideas and composition are not the same. What seems good in our heads may turn out terribly on paper; the reverse may also be true. I don't know why it happens this way, but it has to me time and again. My theory is that our story-telling and compositional skill is unequal to the ideas we imagine. This may be because most of us have a great deal of experience imagining hypothetical scenarios--for instance, what would my mother or friend think of this gift I made for them--but relatively little in constructing coherent, consistent arguments or narratives. Both have their utility, of course, but I expect far more situations in daily life demand hypothetical thought than compositional skill. Such as it is, most of our daily experience is perhaps not well suited to honing this ability to translate story-ideas into pieces of polished, attractive prose. Rather, it requires deliberate, sustained practice. That's what I've ended up doing these past few months.

So one day an idea for a story came to mind, and I began to write. The first draft got to about 6000 words before I put it into a junk file and began anew. The next draft reached about 8000 words before meeting a similar fate. At this point I decided that I didn't know some of the secondary characters especially well, so perhaps it would help if we started with stories involving them; prequels, so to speak, to the main tale I'd hoped to tell.

This proved a useful exercise, and led to the composition of one 6800 word prequel (to be rewritten at some point), and a second that is now about 11,300. It's been exciting work, bringing a story to life, and one of the most stimulating things I've ever done. My hope is to finish a trilogy of stories before moving on to something else. As with everything, we'll see.

Investing:

Like story-telling, I've long had a fascination with the stock market. As a youngster, I used to watch CNBC on market days, observing the indexes as they went up or down, and making guesses as to what the price of certain stocks might do on a given day. I didn't understand much back then, and I admit I don't understand much even now. But after sitting on the side-lines for well-nigh a decade or more, a few months ago I decided to wade into the world of stocks and finance.

I credit my friend Bob's father for pushing me over the edge, so to speak--him, and Mr. Money Mustache of course. Both helped me realize that investing in the stock market needn't be excessively speculative, or even outrageously exciting. Like all things, investing carries with it risk. The same is true by not investing. If you invest, you might lose your money; if you don't invest, your money will likely lose value. The former is due to depreciation, while the latter is due to inflation. Both are possible.

But how to invest? I've learned that this can be made into a terribly complicated question. What to buy, when to buy it, when to sell, how much to hold of this asset or that asset...it's mind-boggling, at least to simple folk like me. I'm thankful to have had some experienced people point me toward resources that would help me think about the problem of how to invest. This process is still in its infancy, but I will share what I did here and explain it as best I can.

First, I decided I would not start by purchasing shares of individual stocks. I've heard this is what many beginners do, and that the vast majority of them lose big doing it. I'm not certain if this is true, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. The price of a stock is simple enough to tell--just check the ticker--but its relative value is more challenging to judge. Is it expensive? Is it cheap? Professionals have metrics and methods for thinking about these questions, but to my knowledge no one's conclusions always turn out profitable. I've also heard that our psychology can work against us where stocks are concerned--we fear loss more than we delight in gain, and as such we're likely to bail on a stock when its price goes down, even if the fundamental business and company are doing alright. It's a curious problem; one that can consume a mind if given the chance. Not my cup of tea.

Thankfully there are other ways to invest without buying individual companies. I ended up opening an account with Vanguard, and purchased shares of a fund called  Vanguard Balanced Index Fund Investor Shares, or VBINX for short. It's a balanced fund, which means it's composed of 60% stocks and 40% bonds. I liked this particular fund because it offers a wide exposure to both stocks and bonds, with good growth and relatively low volatility. A .24% expense ratio is also pretty good so far as balanced funds go, or so I've found. Now I've heard it's unwise to hold any significant position in bonds at my age since their growth potential is much lower than stocks, but for the moment I'm content to trade some growth for a less bumpy ride. I also like that VBINX automatically rebalances every year, which means that if say the stock position has appreciated to 63% of the fund, it will sell that 3% and use the money to buy more bonds, which will have depreciated to 37% . This rebalancing ensures one is buying low and selling high, which is one of the main ways to make money by investing. The other is through dividends, on which count VBINX currently yields about 1.73%. 

Investing has proven an interesting experience, and I find myself learning new things about it every day. It has forced me to think about trade-offs and risk in unique ways, and while I don't expect to make much money in the short term, I do think there's a reasonable chance of seeing gains in time. We shall see.

Conclusion:

So that is a sample of what I've been doing the past few months. They've been busy months, make no mistake, and stimulating ones too. Perhaps some of the experiences I've been having will generate new material for the blog, but that remains to be seen. Until then, I hope you're all doing well and learning new things.