"Jim Zeigler" (jimzeigler)
08/15/2015 at 10:15 • Filed to: None
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"Jim Zeigler" (jimzeigler)
08/15/2015 at 10:15 • Filed to: None | 6
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Three weeks ago, I sold my Miata. Just typing that sentence elicits pangs of heartbreak that I have not felt since high-school breakups. I wasn’t driving it, and it was wasting away under my carport like a Jack Russell Terrier locked in a studio apartment. The new owner is a kickass teenager that’s part of the Texas A&M Car Club, and whom I know will autocross and track it more than I’d ever have the time to. Dry your eyes mate, there’s plenty more fish in the sea.
But now I had money - $2500, to be exact. Cash in my pocket burns fiery holes that have rendered many of my garments unwearable. Whether it’s a lack of willpower or some deep-seated aversion to wealth, I have a compulsion to rearrange the strange symbols in my bank account into the pleasant symmetry of the zero. Financial
feng-shui
, if you will. It doesn’t help that it’s the “slow season” at my job, which gives me downtime to browse Slickdeals for stupid things I do not need. I’m a sucker for a good deal.
I bought a gun, or the makings of one. After some wheeling and dealing, or “horsetrading” as they call it down here, I swapped a Roomba battery for a fully-built billet AR-15 lower receiver. This was a grave mistake. AR-15s are known as the “Barbie for men” (take that, gender-neutral political correctness!) because of the Pandora’s Box of accessories and modifications that the platform accommodates. Two days later, I was neck-deep in optics reviews and my initial plan for a sub-$300 throwdown rifle was forgotten. I won’t admit my final investment in the project, but let’s just say it’s a
multiple
of $300.
I bought a bike, or the semblance of one. To be more specific, I bought a goddamn Independent Fabrication Club Racer that fits like it was tailored for me. For the uninitiated, Indy Fab is an American custom frame manufacturer that puts out some of the finest frames money can buy. They’re all hand-built, and frames start slightly north of $2000. This pristine example, fully built (albeit with old school 9 speed Ultegra), was snagged for $650 off Austin’s Craigslist. But the shifters I had planned to slap on it turned out to be thoroughly busted, and the new 11-speed stuff is really quite reasonable, and…
I also bought, on the most whimsical of whims, round trip tickets to Costa Rica for a relaxing long weekend after a particularly nasty workweek. They were only $250 round trip! I could stay at hostels and do the entire thing for less than $500! They will welcome us as liberators!
Yeah, no. Turns out that the Costa Rican experience can be simulated by playing “Far Cry 3” and looping YouTube videos of howler monkey calls at full volume. Also, it’s not cheap - the trip would fall under a “cost-plus” venture if I were to categorize it in a business setting. Hell of a place to drive, though. I’ll save that for another article.
One watch purchase (er, preorder, an
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
) and three overzealous credit card payments later, and I was done. When some people say they’re broke, what they actually mean is “I have exhausted my funds allocated towards frivolous spending, but retain a cushion to land on in the form of a saving’s account, a retirement fund, and a cache of Krugerrands under my mattress in case of a collapse of the financial system.” Nah, none of that shit. This was a
hard
broke, a
tomato-sauce-and-spaghetti-six-nights-a-week
broke.
I traded my 1994 Mazda Miata for a pile of bicycle parts, a rifle whose primary function is to piss off Dianne Feinstein, and a trip to a third-world country with sloths. And on this lovely Friday evening, when my friends are enjoying an evening of debauchery downtown, I am posting used bike parts on eBay in a feeble attempt to refill my barren coffers. The actions of the previous two weeks absolutely terrify me, as they are habits I thought I had broken in college. I feel pretty goddamn stupid, in short.
Pictured: Equity
Moral of the story: don’t sell your Miata .
whoarder is tellurium
> Jim Zeigler
08/15/2015 at 10:26 |
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Tactikrylon the AR! Do you have an upper planned out yet? Also, you might need some ammo funds in there somewhere.
Regardless, I approve of your actions. Because #yolo.
Luc - The Acadian Oppo
> Jim Zeigler
08/15/2015 at 10:46 |
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Money is made to be spent. Unless you had a shit load of debts that you could of been paid off with that money. If you had your finances mostly inline as in you are not deep in the negative, I see nothing wrong with going ape shit with your new found mini fortune.
If you had 10K in credit card debt tho then you would be a freaking idiot.
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Jim Zeigler
> whoarder is tellurium
08/15/2015 at 11:02 |
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Yep, got a .223 Wylde upper with some slick BCG en route. Also picked up a Vortex Spitfire 3X.
NO KRYLON. This thing’s staying icy.
Funktheduck
> Jim Zeigler
08/15/2015 at 11:05 |
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A roomba battery for a gun. Impressive.
I can hold on to cash forever. The credit cards are easy to over spend.
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Jim Zeigler
> Luc - The Acadian Oppo
08/15/2015 at 11:06 |
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No, not much debt. It’s a manageable amount. I really should’ve held back though. I have friends that are buying houses and going back to school while I browse Craigslist for Buells.
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whoarder is tellurium
> Jim Zeigler
08/15/2015 at 11:13 |
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Luc - The Acadian Oppo
> Jim Zeigler
08/15/2015 at 11:15 |
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Meh! You only live once. One thing you can’t put a price on is experiences. Maybe buying some of this stuff was a bad idea but the lesson you’ll get from it is worth way more than what you spent. Now going to Costa Rica that was money well spent regardless if you had a good time or not.
Like me for instance I bought a brand new 2010 Challenger SRT8 at 25 years old for $63,000 I damn near went bankrupt because of it but I got myself out of the slump and now I’m the most financially stable I’ve ever been in my life. I just bought a new house,we have two new “regular” cars.
To be honest buying that challenger and almost losing everything is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Now I have a whole new outlook on life and what I need to be happy.
Instead of a $63K Challenger, I now have a $2000 30 year old chevy truck and I’m happier now that I’ve ever been before.
spazburn
> Jim Zeigler
08/15/2015 at 18:07 |
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Thats okay you can compare Guns with Dianne Feinstein. She has a CCW and Packs.