Levels of FI

[gayl]

Has anyone on here found themselves wanting more after FIRE? Basically the numbers worked for an X K/yr RE but then you wanted more so those numbers no longer worked? I would like so much of a cushion that I could support a wide range or RE options.

I retired the first time in 2004 from a government job. I had a pension with a net income of $1,800 a month but I had paid off my house so it worked. But not for long. I went back to work in 2008 even though my net had gone up to $1900 a month. I'm on the verge of walking out yet again but this time it should be somewhere around $3200 a month? Once I reach Social Security Restricted Filing, it will jump to somewhere around $4000 a month, then it jumps again at RMD because of RMD + drawing on my own SSA. At that point I'm going to try everything to make it work

Or next month: 3 work scheduled days to go until next layoff

 

[rodi]

Speaking of the Sistene chapel ceiling... The same son who's in the Mona Lisa pic had an interesting reaction to the Sistene Chapel. He was 6 years old. He was staring at all the frescos and the ceiling and then stops, asks me very seriously, "Mom, can I paint my bedroom walls and ceiling?" I replied that he could if he could paint that well. He then announced he was going to do a Mario (super bros) themed fresco on his bedroom wall. LOL.

He's a good artist - but somehow never got around to the Mario walls.

 

[W2R]

Speaking of the Sistene chapel ceiling... The same son who's in the Mona Lisa pic had an interesting reaction to the Sistene Chapel. He was 6 years old. He was staring at all the frescos and the ceiling and then stops, asks me very seriously, "Mom, can I paint my bedroom walls and ceiling?" I replied that he could if he could paint that well. He then announced he was going to do a Mario (super bros) themed fresco on his bedroom wall. LOL.

He's a good artist - but somehow never got around to the Mario walls.

I think that Mario walls would be so cool, if he ever decided to paint them! Having somebody else do it would take all the fun out of it IMO. But wow, what a great use of a youngster's imagination and (hopefully) budding art skills.

 

[FUEGO]

The Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop and asks “Can you make me one with everything?”

"Uhmmmmmmmmmmmm"

Speaking of the Sistene chapel

The Sistine Chapel has become a big inside joke in our house. We were in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and decided to make a day trip out to the "Sistine Chapel of Mexico". In spite of it being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was just a very average church. Beautiful of course but not particularly noteworthy or large. The murals didn't seem to be of high quality (perhaps high school art class level?). Lots of them though. I imagine they might have had a hard time finding great painters out there in the middle of nowhere.

So now the joke is "Oh, I hear it's the Sistine Chapel of [Insert city/place name here]" whenever we want to suggest that something might not be as pretty as it's held out to be.

Now I guess I'll be strung up for making fun of the Sistine Chapel. Of Mexico.

 

[kcowan]

Now I guess I'll be strung up for making fun of the Sistine Chapel. Of Mexico.

Let me get that rope!

Seriously, Mexico has many good artists and they are only now just getting appreciated. We see organized graffiti even on the reservoirs, replacing previously white walls. It is not at the mural stage yet but I expect it will be.

 

[FUEGO]

Let me get that rope!

Seriously, Mexico has many good artists and they are only now just getting appreciated. We see organized graffiti even on the reservoirs, replacing previously white walls. It is not at the mural stage yet but I expect it will be.

Oh, I have great appreciation for Mexican artists and specifically muralists. Diego Rivera's works are amazing (and many are free to view around Mexico City in the Palacio Nacional and Palacio de Bellas Artes). Those murals are probably my favorite works of art. Even visited his childhood home/museum in Guanajuato and his adult residence in Mexico City.

Siqueiros is no slouch either.

But the murals in the Sistine Chapel of Mexico just weren't up to par.