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Today's thoughts

December 19th, 2019 at 01:33 pm

For an entire year, I've been using and enjoying the set of ceramic knives my cousin got me for Christmas last year. They're sharp as heck and I use them nearly every day. Each time I do, I hear my mother's voice inside my head: "I don't like the way you're holding that knife."

Well, the other morning I was deveining large kale leaves to make a salad. I was nearly done when I cut the middle finger of my right hand rather deeply.

Ouch.

Because I take fish oil pills (which thin the blood), it just wouldn't stop bleeding. Until finally, it did.

So I won't be shaking any hands tonight at our office Christmas dinner. Our boss takes us out to a very nice restaurant in SoNo. Since the dinner is on my day off, I decided to just drive down to the office and join the others on a shuttle van that will take them to and from the restaurant, which is probably about 20 minutes from the office. It will save me the trouble of navigating my way there in a sort of unfamiliar city in the dark, plus dealing with the parking.

By this month's end, I will have attended 5 different holiday parties! One of them my own. First was a Fillipino party my friend invited me to with her husband. She is Chinese but grew up in the Phillipines.

Last weekend I went to my neighbors' party, which was lots of fun. This is the neighbor-husband whose children's book I edited a year ago. Things are taking off and there is talk about creating a deck of cards for each character in his book (I would write the copy for the cards), along with toys. (My neighbor is a former toy designer so he knows the business.) He has an agent who was just in China, and an investor who is ready to roll. My neighbor wants me to work for him a few days a week and he told me to name my price and don't sell myself short.

I need to learn more. I'd consider quitting my current job and working for my neighbor, but I need to find out out long-term a thing this could be; if it only lasts a year, or doesn't pan out, then I would be out of work sooner than I'd like to be. I might consider doing it while keeping my current job, but I value my free time and don't really want to work 5 days a week.

I just finished writing the promo copy that will appear on Kindle/Amazon page for the book. Will be meeting him this morning so will talk more.

I'll be spending Christmas with another friend/neighbor. I've been tasked with bringing crudites and dip. Her sister is bringing someone from work along, so I feel better knowing I am not the only "stray" they've picked up. Smile

Then, 2 days after Xmas, I'm hosting my cousin who will be up for the weekend from PA. I've been meal-planning for his visit but it's hard to do since my dad, who will join us, doesn't drive, and my cousin, who is older, doesn't like to drive once he's up here. It's hard to plan a meal if you have to run out to pick people up, so I may ask cousin to do it just once so I can focus on the meal.

My holiday gift shopping is mostly done.

Work has been very light for the last month or so. This is good and bad. Bad, obviously, because it's less income, but good in that it may open up an opportunity to do another Roth IRA conversion without raising my income that much.

3 Responses to “Today's thoughts”

  1. Wink Says:
    1576802928

    Sounds like you will have a fun holiday season! Merry Christmas!

  2. Dido Says:
    1576807138

    If you're going to do the Roth conversion, act quickly. Custodians have a cut-off date. IF you get it in by the cut-off date, it will get processed, but if the order gets in after the cut-off date, there is a chance that it won't. The custodian that my firm works with, TDA, has a guaranteed service cut-off date of tomorrow, the 20th.

    But note that the SECURE Act, which has been stalled in the Senate since May, was attached to the year-end spending bill which will keep the government open, making it almost certain to pass. That will extend the age for RMDs to age 72 for anyone born after June 30th, 1949.

    I hope your hand heals quickly. Those types of cuts take a while to heal; I still have a scar on my left hand from a similar cut I incurred about 20 years ago. It's not particularly visible but there's a lot of scar tissue which itches sometimes.

    I hope you enjoy the holiday party. I have three more to go and, like you, am attending five: two were through work (a dinner at an upscale restaurant when the company president was in town and tomorrow a more casual lunch with gift exchange with the co-workers in our local office), one was with a CPA's group whose monthly professional education meetings I often attend, and two are Hanukkah parties, one at at the home of a friend and the other with my congregation. Hanukkah lasts eight days so one of those parties is this weekend and the other is next.

  3. rob62521 Says:
    1577042282

    Sorry about the injury! Hope you heal quickly!

    Wow, you are truly blessed with parties!

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