I've been experimenting with trying to like only positive or feel-good content too.

It hasn't worked. It took around 2 weeks for it to really start working, but it only lasted a few days.

Then I went through and ruthlessly muted any and all words and phrases that I know posts with drama contain.

It relieved 90% of the problem, but I'm still be fed things I wish I didn't see. It's been 2-3 weeks since I did that.

It feels like an uphill battle to get the algorithms to work with you and it doesn't matter which platform I've tried over the years.

I'm starting to wonder if leading people to believe they can influence the algorithm somehow isn't actually true, like an illusion to keep people trying.

My contract ended yesterday. Many have asked if I plan on looking for a job.

No.

For the first time in my life, I get to work on my personal projects, skills, and financial goals without the typical requirements of a person on a standard W-2 work arrangement, even if it is a contract.

And I'm guarding this time carefully.

It hasn't been even 24 hours, and already, much of my stress has lifted. I feel three times more creative than I did yesterday, and there's a little more color in my cheeks.

I'm still busy, and there's still pressure, but it's different now that it's on my terms.

I've worked hard to gain this space.

Within one year, I plan on:

- Finishing my website(s) overhauls and recreating them on decentralized technology as a backup

- Have a minimum of one source of solid income stream (but in reality, there are two)

- Lost weight and become physically fit

- Finishing learning about Islamic marriage contracts

- Read Arabic smoothly

- Finishing writing both books

- Publishing regular bulletins to The Stealthy Scribbler Society

- Learning all about Bitcoin and Nostr technology

- Extracting all the knowledge I can from my current business mentors for my library

Toward the end of this period, I will reevaluate and decide whether I want to return to a typical W-2 arrangement.

If I fail at my efforts, I have backup plans in place.

Tomorrow is a hope and never a guarantee. Today is all we have to make as much of a positive impact in our lives as possible and in the lives of those around us.

Let's make the most of it. 🎉

My adult kids have never seen it.

I tried watching it last night, but my contract just ended and I need a break from all things "office" and "corporate" for a little bit before I jump back into that. I couldn't watch more than a few minutes.

I must have been triggered a little bit.

I didn't get to finish Jaws.

The shark movie made in 1975. 🦈 I think it was '75.

I have a nomad friend that does this.

There's nothing to watch on social media anymore.

I have the choice between Office Space and Jaws.

Jaws it is.

I used the Zero-brand water filters for a time. There's a metal counter that comes with it. You stick it in the water and it tells you the levels of metal. It also comes with a chart that shows the average amount for each state.

You'd be surprised what's in the tap.

I don't drink from the tap anymore unless I have to.

Someone might want to look into Clippy's whereabouts.

Between CrowdStrike and Microsoft Azure, I have my suspicions.

All the fruit I got started to get a little ripe. Chopped it all up and put it in the instant pot: apples, peaches, plums with cinnamon.

Now I'm going to try and make some flatbread.

Then I'll get back to website changes.

I don't want AI spontaneously generating and synthesizing content on the fly for me.

Bring back CBs and pirate radio. Combine them with the internet.

Oh, wait. #Nostr already did that.

Don't ever come to me and say you have nothing to do.

Ever.

I'm a #mom and grandma.

I have plenty of things for you to do.

5-6 shots fired SE of my location.

Chickens.

Do that where people can see you. Let us catch you one time on tape cowards.

The neighbors are sick of it.

More and more of us are getting cameras because we're done.

This is Texas, fool.

Your time is short.

Well said.

It's interesting that you bring this up.

I have a lot to say about the topic of traveling. I've spent almost two hours trying to reply, and it's almost 1,000 words long. I'm having trouble shortening it and still explaining.

Basically, this: I and other travelers have started having issues with employers and banks using a physical address from South Dakota which lets you use their mail-box traveling address on your driver's license.

It's all happening subtly and behind the scenes. It's not overt unless it's happening to you individually. I suppose they do not lose a bunch of customers all at once because of it. It's only been so much more so in the last 9 months or so that I've noticed an uptick in the problems, where there wasn't problems three-four years ago when I began traveling full-time.

There's folks on Reddit talking about it. I've lived in the apartment now for a year and I'll have to modify how I work with all of that in the future if I get to do more full-time traveling.

You're right about the capital gains tax. I put it out of mind because we still have to pay federal income tax regardless. If we could only pay one or the other, I see the benefit.

I miss picking these in Oregon. Endless blackberry cobblers.

If I had land I wanted to work for the rest of my life, I would plant miniature fruit trees, have strawberry patches, and blackberry and raspberry and blueberry bushes.

You guys are such a bad influence.

Surfing and exploring #Nostr is like taking me to an electronics store and telling me I can play with all this new tech I wish people had but never knew existed.

So many rabbit holes.

Do you have any idea how many new tabs I have open just because now I need to check out or read about such-and-such?

More coffee. ☕️

I guess I should have pointed out that they would have to accept this type of verification as a method of authentication to skip that part. You're right. They would still want to do it their way.

I know. LOL. I laugh at myself almost every time I click it. It's just so ingrained.

Someone, somewhere, probably feels some of my posts could be anti-semitic.

Thanks to Nostr:

* I can treat others like grown ups again and expect them to manage their feelings by themselves.

* I won't get canceled or have my livelihood threatened because I made an algorithm or group of people angry.

Bitcoin can't be stopped per se, but the governments that want to will do everything in their power to make it either illegal or extremely difficult to hold, spend, trade, or use.

Currently, financial institutions treat you like a criminal for withdrawing the cash you've already deposited.

The paper trails are already in place to clearly show where you're getting your funds. However, when you finance a house, boom—everything is scrutinized and examined several times before closing and sometimes even up to several years after, depending on how you financed the home.

It was a shock to learn back then that if I had stuffed the money in the mattress and came to deposit it when I was ready to buy a home, the bank would not accept that as valid funds because I wouldn't have been able to provide a paper trail for its source.

This morning, I realized that I'd have to maintain a fiat bank account to purchase groceries or pay a utility bill.

To have a fiat bank account, you must have a physical address.

To maintain a job, pass all electronic screenings without issue, and get money into that fiat bank account, your physical address on the application has to match what's on record at the DMV, government agencies, and credit bureaus, depending on which institution you're working trying to access.

The rent, mortgage, and property taxes must be paid to maintain the physical address.

To be genuinely free, at least in the United States right this second, you almost have to be a homeless vagabond, transacting in Bitcoin only (or other crypto), and be self-employed and unbanked.

Barter, Bitcoin, and gift economy. No permanent physical address. No bank account. No assets.

The extreme tradeoff to this is legal or government authorities threatening you with jail if you don't hand over your secret phrase or having the IRS do all your "missed taxes" for you (much like the Department of Child Support guesstimates how much money they think you should be making at your age with your educational background vs. how much you are) and then the IRS saying that you now owe back taxes into oblivion. They'll use this as justification to seize what they think is yours or, again, still have you imprisoned.

Hmmm. Choices. Choices.

When I solve or accept that problem, I will choose.

nostr:note1apyvfrwnceufq556a5dnum273cghfre5ucspzssqgwmy74qa5lvqkvh920

I spent rainy days lost in novels, thinking the world would stay the same forever. Now, I take deliberate daily action for a better future.