Archive for Prepper
A Storm is coming - seek shelter!
I’m going to try to keep this short today as we’re getting ready to head out to the BOL again tonight and I have a busy day. I haven’t spent a lot of time explaining where my philosophy and overall world view came from. I told all of you that I would try to maintain an open book status with this blog. So here goes… A peek into the mind of Prepper, for background on how a seemingly normal guy could get so off track from the normal “Herd Think”…
Hi, my name’s Prepper… and I’m a “doomer”, then you all say “Hi Prepper”… Sounds like we’re at a doomers anonymous meeting. I say this only in jest, although I believe that we, doomers, could probably all benefit from sharing this sense of urgency we feel with others. “NO, not that, share my doomer views with actual people I can see, not from the safety of the computer screen?” Believe me I know, “FOOLHARDY”!
I think I’ve mentioned on another occasion that I have been this way for as long as I can remember. My folks would regularly classify me as a pessimist, or a real “Glass half empty” kinda kid… Anybody else remember experiencing that? I recall on one occasion being in the toy aisle at the local grocery/department store. I don’t remember what I was expecting to find but I had this realization that this stuff is a bunch of JUNK! I couldn’t have been more than 9-10 years old. I guess that’s when it all started, I took the RED pill, or was it the BLUE pill? Either way I started to catch on to the BS that we’re all being fed. “Stay in the toy aisle” as that’s where kids belong… fine for now but the BS grows as we age – “Stay in debt and on the rat wheel”, cause thats where American adults belong? No more!
Before you start in on the “This guys tin foil’s on to tight”. Think about it, we go to school for the first 18 – 25 years of our life. Only then to start working? How many years are we suppose to stay on the wheel now? Traditionally, according to popular belief, we will all work until we’re 65? Wait, I can here it already, “I can get out early at 59 1/2!” Yeah, maybe you can, but is that a real victory?
As an American male that is edging up close to 40 years old, I pay attention to all the “Horror” stories about health. I bet not one of you hasn’t heard about the guy that died of a massive heart attack at 35, an anomaly, I know. Still an anomaly at 55? Not so much… How’s that “early out” retirement sound now, 4 1/2 years to late for the guy whos’ number got pulled at 55.
I was explaining that I started to catch on to the system at an early age but what do kids know? I was taught you work first, then play. We had what seemed to me at the time to be a lot of responsibilities and chores at our house. Although looking back on it, Dad was extremely generous with his children. Seriously, I thank him regularly for instilling in my brothers and I a work ethic. I have succeeded in passing this on to my daughter who works incredibly hard and will succeed at all she attempts!
Sorry, back on topic, as a young man I knew I had to work hard and was fine with the concept. I went out and got the “Good” county job where you’re paid real well for a job half done! Not done well, half done or done “half _ss”. The cheese is put in front of us fortunate enough to get a cushy job like that and we are expected to put in our time and look forward to the 2-3-8 or however many weeks of vacation they grant us each year.
Good, or higher than average paychecks and enough vacation, insurance benefits to keep us from getting out of line. I see this as a classic example of where we now find ourselves in America, don’t rock the boat and we’ll all get along just fine. A few goodies in every bag and we’ll choose to stay on that wheel for as long as it takes to earn that fantasy retirement 20-40 years or more later.
I saw through this life of ease fantasy at about the 10 year mark in my county career. I was going to be turning 30 and kind of had an early mid-life crisis. I realized that I’d have to work for this government bureaucracy for 40 years and that was if I took the early out at 59 1/2, of course that meant less retirement pay each month too! You can’t have your cake and eat it too, don’t ya know! Poppycock, work for these drones for another 30 years, not me son I’m outta here…
When I had initially went to work there I had delusions that this would be a stepping stone and I wouldn’t stay long. My first day on the job I explained this to my co-workers… I was laughed at, if you stay a year you’ll never leave! That couldn’t have been a more true statement, no one ever quit! In addition to that, no one was ever fired either. Not quite no one but it was extremely difficult to get yourself fired. If you really screwed up and made a costly mistake, there was a consequence… You were expected to purchase donuts the next day for the entire crew, oh no – not donuts… Might cost a guy $50 bucks to make up for costing the tax payers $1000′s…
I always felt the undercurrent and hesitation that this thin facade of civilization couldn’t last forever. Then came Y2k followed by the housing and stock market booms, also disconcerting to a doomer such as myself. None of it made sense and I started to ramp up preps.
I was fortunate to have a best friend that was involved in prepping with me. Big purchases could be divided, money pooled for land purchases and other large one time expenses… I moved from one level to the next as money could be allocated. It has taken a lifetime to develop my families personal plans and goals.
I am now at a point in my preps that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and want to help as many other folks as possible. This prepping thing is a journey and far to often we travel this road alone or interact only via the internet. We often don’t know if the other people are actually doing the things they post about or are only dreaming, I’m not knocking the dreamers at all, thats how it all begins! I want to bring encouragement to our community, like I’ve been encouraged by so many others on the forums but also visual proof that these projects can be completed. The destination we are all seeking is possible and we can help each other get there!
I would now consider myself an optimist, a pessimist wouldn’t even attempt to get this prepping for the future thing off the ground. I know that there are all types of people in our community, at all different levels or degrees of preparedness. I would like to encourage all the silent lurkers to speak up and ask for help or offer it if your further along than the next guy. The more of us that reach the destination we are personally seeking the better off we all are.
Just some thoughts and insights from a guy working on achieving a better life than what society is offering. More independent and self sufficient than our keepers would like to see… Stick with me and we’ll go further together than we could go alone! Have a great weekend, get out and DO something on your list, you’ll feel more empowered on Monday!
Prepper
Peephole into a Prepper!
Posted by: Prepper | Comments (0)A Storm is coming - seek shelter!
I’m going to try to keep this short today as we’re getting ready to head out to the BOL again tonight and I have a busy day. I haven’t spent a lot of time explaining where my philosophy and overall world view came from. I told all of you that I would try to maintain an open book status with this blog. So here goes… A peek into the mind of Prepper, for background on how a seemingly normal guy could get so off track from the normal “Herd Think”…
Hi, my name’s Prepper… and I’m a “doomer”, then you all say “Hi Prepper”… Sounds like we’re at a doomers anonymous meeting. I say this only in jest, although I believe that we, doomers, could probably all benefit from sharing this sense of urgency we feel with others. “NO, not that, share my doomer views with actual people I can see, not from the safety of the computer screen?” Believe me I know, “FOOLHARDY”!
I think I’ve mentioned on another occasion that I have been this way for as long as I can remember. My folks would regularly classify me as a pessimist, or a real “Glass half empty” kinda kid… Anybody else remember experiencing that? I recall on one occasion being in the toy aisle at the local grocery/department store. I don’t remember what I was expecting to find but I had this realization that this stuff is a bunch of JUNK! I couldn’t have been more than 9-10 years old. I guess that’s when it all started, I took the RED pill, or was it the BLUE pill? Either way I started to catch on to the BS that we’re all being fed. “Stay in the toy aisle” as that’s where kids belong… fine for now but the BS grows as we age – “Stay in debt and on the rat wheel”, cause thats where American adults belong? No more!
Before you start in on the “This guys tin foil’s on to tight”. Think about it, we go to school for the first 18 – 25 years of our life. Only then to start working? How many years are we suppose to stay on the wheel now? Traditionally, according to popular belief, we will all work until we’re 65? Wait, I can here it already, “I can get out early at 59 1/2!” Yeah, maybe you can, but is that a real victory?
As an American male that is edging up close to 40 years old, I pay attention to all the “Horror” stories about health. I bet not one of you hasn’t heard about the guy that died of a massive heart attack at 35, an anomaly, I know. Still an anomaly at 55? Not so much… How’s that “early out” retirement sound now, 4 1/2 years to late for the guy whos’ number got pulled at 55.
I was explaining that I started to catch on to the system at an early age but what do kids know? I was taught you work first, then play. We had what seemed to me at the time to be a lot of responsibilities and chores at our house. Although looking back on it, Dad was extremely generous with his children. Seriously, I thank him regularly for instilling in my brothers and I a work ethic. I have succeeded in passing this on to my daughter who works incredibly hard and will succeed at all she attempts!
Sorry, back on topic, as a young man I knew I had to work hard and was fine with the concept. I went out and got the “Good” county job where you’re paid real well for a job half done! Not done well, half done or done “half _ss”. The cheese is put in front of us fortunate enough to get a cushy job like that and we are expected to put in our time and look forward to the 2-3-8 or however many weeks of vacation they grant us each year.
Good, or higher than average paychecks and enough vacation, insurance benefits to keep us from getting out of line. I see this as a classic example of where we now find ourselves in America, don’t rock the boat and we’ll all get along just fine. A few goodies in every bag and we’ll choose to stay on that wheel for as long as it takes to earn that fantasy retirement 20-40 years or more later.
I saw through this life of ease fantasy at about the 10 year mark in my county career. I was going to be turning 30 and kind of had an early mid-life crisis. I realized that I’d have to work for this government bureaucracy for 40 years and that was if I took the early out at 59 1/2, of course that meant less retirement pay each month too! You can’t have your cake and eat it too, don’t ya know! Poppycock, work for these drones for another 30 years, not me son I’m outta here…
When I had initially went to work there I had delusions that this would be a stepping stone and I wouldn’t stay long. My first day on the job I explained this to my co-workers… I was laughed at, if you stay a year you’ll never leave! That couldn’t have been a more true statement, no one ever quit! In addition to that, no one was ever fired either. Not quite no one but it was extremely difficult to get yourself fired. If you really screwed up and made a costly mistake, there was a consequence… You were expected to purchase donuts the next day for the entire crew, oh no – not donuts… Might cost a guy $50 bucks to make up for costing the tax payers $1000′s…
I always felt the undercurrent and hesitation that this thin facade of civilization couldn’t last forever. Then came Y2k followed by the housing and stock market booms, also disconcerting to a doomer such as myself. None of it made sense and I started to ramp up preps.
I was fortunate to have a best friend that was involved in prepping with me. Big purchases could be divided, money pooled for land purchases and other large one time expenses… I moved from one level to the next as money could be allocated. It has taken a lifetime to develop my families personal plans and goals.
I am now at a point in my preps that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and want to help as many other folks as possible. This prepping thing is a journey and far to often we travel this road alone or interact only via the internet. We often don’t know if the other people are actually doing the things they post about or are only dreaming, I’m not knocking the dreamers at all, thats how it all begins! I want to bring encouragement to our community, like I’ve been encouraged by so many others on the forums but also visual proof that these projects can be completed. The destination we are all seeking is possible and we can help each other get there!
I would now consider myself an optimist, a pessimist wouldn’t even attempt to get this prepping for the future thing off the ground. I know that there are all types of people in our community, at all different levels or degrees of preparedness. I would like to encourage all the silent lurkers to speak up and ask for help or offer it if your further along than the next guy. The more of us that reach the destination we are personally seeking the better off we all are.
Just some thoughts and insights from a guy working on achieving a better life than what society is offering. More independent and self sufficient than our keepers would like to see… Stick with me and we’ll go further together than we could go alone! Have a great weekend, get out and DO something on your list, you’ll feel more empowered on Monday!
Prepper