I think it's ridiculous. I've always thought it was ridiculous. You get paid for a year and take summer off?
The teachers' unions most have been powerful back in the day to set this up.
People will say employees must be retained and children need the summer off.
It still doesn't sit right with me somehow.
Public school teacher, librarian, admin.
It's been this way forever.
Here home schooled 5 years are finishing toilet training so it could be worse.
Interesting! Thanks!
That's because you're British.
It's worse. Now I am seeing a slit screen left and right.
They are exactly the same.
I have the space to read and write posts.
It could well be my phone, something I'm doing wrong, or something with the forum software.
wtf, please send a PM if you need clarification.
Honestly, my eyes are in.pain trying read all of this tiny text while moving the screen around constant because everything is so tiny I have to enlarge every sentence to read it.
,?
@andyd I meant to tell you. My sister-in-law is a librarian.
She has a PhD, and has worked at public HS where she is now) and university.
Today was her first day of work after summer break.
She said, "My library is a mess!".
She sent me pictures.
I guess the maintence crew did all that.
My grandparents had 3 actual vestings, 3 defined benefit pensions, 2 Social Security incomes, income from money they had saved since forever, securities, bond, etc.
This was after buying house, raising 3 kids, helping to raise me, and putting the 4 of us through college.
They patterned their lives the way you described. They took vacations, after they retired they toured Europe.
Etc.
The thing is the economy, economic opportunity, compensation (I don't mean "wages"), and the cost of living are radically different.
The retirement systems in the US are on the verge of collapse.
Most people can't find $400 if they experience an emergency (I'm not making this up).
Honestly, I think when people look at their own circumstances no matter who are they kind of forget to to look at the macro situation for all people in whatever polity.
This forum of courses taxes back to Piano World.
I know a lot of people work very hard and wait a long time before buying a good upright or a grand piano.
But I'll say it. People shopping for grand pianos aren't a representative sample of "people".
I'll take day trips, visit historical sites, visit museums...
Still.
Well, yes, Andy.
Unfortunately, many people don't have the health, energy, or stamina to travel and I'm one.
I traveled half way around the globe and from city to city countless times since I was 2 yrs old in '69 till when I moved back to FL in 2018.
I'll "draw" a map.
The times I flew from one city to another connecting on this map are countless.
Tampa to New York. New York to Tampa. I estimate maybe 3 or 4 times a year from 2 yrs to 29 yrs old.
Tampa, Charlotte, New York, to LA round trip 2x, to visit my aunt. Stopping to visit my aunt before moving to Hawaii and
once as a stopover for a few days returning to Honolulu/ Hawaii Island after visiting my grandmother
Also, FL to NO (city) to AZ. To Tampa. To LA. It goes on and on.
AZ to Hawaii Island.
Moved from Hawaii Island to Maui to Hawaii Island and to Maui again. This was moving not raveling so it was was stressful and ridiculously expensive. You have to move to where the employment is and if it goes away you have no choice but to move again. I'd be the last person to tell anyone not to move to Hawaii (truly) but it's a hard life if you don't have family there, if you don't have a profession paying a very high salary, or don't have a lot of personal or family money to start.
I didn't stop traveling (and moving) from place to another 40.
I'd love to visit England again, Italy, and Austria.
I can't see it happening.
Hawaiian society and its caste system had strict laws under penalty of death about who could travel (or not travel), when,be here, why, and how (ie the ruling class had its own paved roads but nobody else had infrastructure).
There were millions of Hawaiians pre-contact (they died of disease they had no immunity to).
It was common that a person never traveled within a few miles of their village in a lifetime.
I want to spend this part of my life being centered with myself because I was born here and I've come home.
Author T's main character went on his quest and came home he was content.
I feel a similar way.
Moon
@Daniel that’s a very different kind of blue hair!
I used to walk my baby around the living room, narrating things that we could “see” and I remember mentioning all the blue haired ladies. Women used to use bluing in their white hair to make it look whiter. That was a generation ago!
My baby is 38 now…
@adagiom Indeed!
Just like that. I've heard this before.
Fascinating. I love history.
Link to videoI would visit Spain if I were younger.
I've decided no two ways about it. I want a new mechanical Speed Queen.
$600 every 2 years for the electronic panel to flip out, then to buy a new one, then to hire them to remove the old one and install the new one (not my skill set) is ridiculous.
I'm enjoying doing laundry by hand in the kitchen sink, wringing it out, hanging on chairs on the enclosed glass patio for a day with the ceiling fan on, and then drying in the dryer.
I don't mind at all. I've been doing laundry by hand for 2 years.
I want to have my ceiling leak fixed first.
Also, the underside of the floor that I know could reach 7k.
$$$$ in my world.
The car I bought didn't cost 10k. (25k miles, small, pristine, live it, more later).
The tiles give some when you walk on them and I know why. It's disconcerting and needs the right contractor asap.
I've wanted an Asko for a long time but couldn't swing and can't today.
I am kind of two minds, but having the kind of washer my parents had in our house would be the best. How wonderful in this fast changing world would that be.
The nail in the Asko coffin for me is it has electronics.
Why take that risk when you can get a new old school mechanical washer?
I mean I can think of reasons but on balance I crossed it off my list.
July 1, 1961 - August 31, 1997
Funeral procession. Ok. I'm done. This one hit me hard.
Link to videoBtw, Love the picture. I might print it, enlarge it, and put it in a Wal-Mart type frame.
@andyd Does living in a country with all that history and its architecture, including interiors, gardens, and cultural artifacts ever "get" to you? I mean encountering it must be constant so does it ever feel like "a lot" or is it just normal to you?
I went on a standard 14 day student tour to London and its surrounding attractions.
I remember the Tower and Crown Jewels. I can see the crown jewels in my mind's eye any time I want by letting myself have memories that I can "re-play" at will.
But that's because I like jewels.
I like architecture too (clearly) but everything was ancient and at 14 it almost completely overwhelmed me.
They took us on a bus tour to Oxford University. All I could see were these beautiful, ancient buildings. It kind of phased me to the point that after it was over I had to remind myself we had just visited a school.
