NYC Journal

Tomorrow “Maggie” has a phone interview with The London Times. Seems like on March 2d they have some fashion feature.

The ground swell continues…

There will also be some book “conversation” in a bookstore in Hudson in April. Spillover after the book launch (March 12th) is starting to happen.

Our friend Christine arranged a book event in Washington D.C. This is also after the book launch.

Still waiting on the national news agency for a date where they will come to our house.

Lots of spinning plates…

Now you can understand why the house is taking so long to finish. I do what I can.

Cal
 
So for clarity, I’m living on one pension (hospital) and my savings. This will continue until age 70 to basically increase my Social Security Benefit.

I have a second pension (Grumman) that I will collect at either 70 or 72. At age 72 the dollar amount is more.

At age 70 pretty much my income will increase a lot and this will lead to having excess income I don’t need. This extra money will be saved and hoarded.

My debt load is small, and because I bought the good stuff, I pretty much have enough to last many decades out. No real need to spend mucho money anymore. Well maybe $30K to build out the 1966 C-10 into a new/old truck. One reason why we bought a small house was to have a modest mortgage. We also did not want to pay high taxes either.

Anyways I’m cool with waiting and undergoing austerity for a few years. In less than 4 years comes a time of affluence.

BTW this is a plan for someone who has a good probability to live past the age of 100. I am aware that it takes a lot of money to live that long.

I used a tax calculator at www.SmartAsset.com to figure out how to minimize my tax liability.

Know that Social Security used the age of 82 as the mean life expectancy. One pretty much has to evaluate if they expect to live longer or if they have the probability of just making it to 82 or dying younger. It is just an actuary table based on statistics.

Currently the average life expectancy is now only 79. Covid skewed the numbers.

If you defer Social Security like I’m doing I get about an 8% increase for every year beyond my full retirement age. The idea is that I collect less years of benefits, but I get more money. At age 82 is the break even point, so if I live past 82 (highly probable) I will receive more money overall.

Imagine that the longevity test I took is correct and I live to 114 based on family history, education, income, lifestyle, and medical history. I come out way ahead.

Pretty good reason to row, bike, eat healthy, and not let BS waste my time. Also a great reason to take my time and not getting stressed out. I still could be living almost 4 decades out.

How annoying is that? LOL.

Cal
 
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The Baby-Victorian appears to be in a snow globe with this snowstorm. About 6 inches so far, and before I finished shoveling my short walkway, stoop and tiny driveway about 3/4 inch of fresh snow covered my cleared areas.

They say it will snow until 6:00 PM. Already schools are closed and the doctor’s office called at 8:00 AM to cancel our 11:00 AM appointment.

I think I might have strained my right arm, maybe from pullups, or maybe from painting the ceiling. Not really an injury, but perhaps overuse.

“Maggie” is using the Concept 2 rowing machine for 15 to 20 minute workouts. She also is less emotional in dealing with the book launch stress. Pretty much getting hysterical or upset does to help matters. This makes me glad because there is less fallout for me.

Things take longer than expected, especially if you are trying to do a good job. For me little details matter a lot. The dining room will eventually get done, but it is not worth the stress of rushing.

I guess I have feelings about our conservative next door neighbors who are somewhat judgemental. Their curiosity about us I guess is feeling or getting a bit uncomfortable. Maggie suggests we are being observed. One comment made was that I might not have enough summer shirts because I go bare chested around the house and outside.

I hate rigid people, especially those that impose judgement. I don’t want to feel like I’m in China being sent to some reeducation concentration camp. My sister was rigid and also imposing.

No respect for freedom or individuality. My neighbors overall are nice, but my level of trust is limited. “Live and let live,” I say.

Cal
 
Finished painting the dinning room today and put the room back together. It will be a very pretty room when I strip the original 1912 moldings and gel stain them for a translucent effect.

I think the grandson might not like the changes. He inspects the house on every visit wanting to see that nothing has changed. He acts as if it is his house.

Good news is that “Maggie” got a confirmation that she will be part of the Brattleboro Literary Festival in October 2024. Don’t know if she will be on Saturday or Sunday. Still early yet, but know that Saturday is prime time. Either way we will be spending a weekend to cover the entire event.

Today’s interview with the Sunday London Times Magazine reporter went well. Pretty much Maggie explained to me that it is comparable to the magazine section in the Sunday New York Times.

Maggie was very busy today dealing with details, but no negative spin and pretty much a relaxing and productive day.

For me the painting was like a long meditation. Relaxed and methodical. I took my time to make it more like when I was in art school. Only difference was I was not smoking weed today. There is a sense of accomplishment, and with art there is no rush.

I had to shovel twice today. Perhaps 10 inches of snow.

Maggie did 20 minutes of rowing today. This pleases me. I think also it tempers her mood and relaxes her. Dinner was leftover homemade two bean Chile with cubes of leftover London broil that I had grilled. Had to add some rice to add some bulk.

It seems like both Maggie and I have learned to relax and enjoy retirement by not rushing and relaxing more. Pretty much no stress and now no BS.

So now we are talking book momentum and book events that will be ongoing throughout the year.

We will be going to Saugerties soon to visit a lamp shop for a light for the dinning room. Right now there is one of those construction bare bulbs dangling from the electrical box. The dining room was rewired after we demo’ed the plaster. We will be looking into antique light fixtures.

Tomorrow a dental appointment out on Lawn-Guy-Land.

The Audi now has 40K miles and it is a 2015. Got it with just 16K miles, and I owned it for 3 years and 3 months. On average about 8K miles a year. I only put on 24K miles in a little bit more than 3 years. Still is a very fresh car.

I can see why my next door neighbors find us interesting. Pretty much we are the creatives on the street, Maggie is famous, and we kinda have a rather interesting lifestyle. They are trying to figure us out. Not sure though if they appreciate what we do, because I feel judged.

Our next door neighbors I guess are trying to figure us out, and pretty much we are plenty busy and active. We have a big circle of friends and many are a generation or two younger.

As far as not wearing shirts in warm or hot weather, I guess I’m a bit of an exhibitionist. I have the boyish body to show off, and riding my bike I have girls beeping their horns to show their approval. Nothing wrong with flaunting beauty. BTW I sweat easily and a lot. If I wore a shirt it would be a wet T-shirt. Might as well go shirtless and be comfortable.

Anyways not many men my age are fit and muscular.

Cal
 
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Barbra Corcoran I once saw on 96th and Lex, not far from our luxury apartment. She lived on 5th Avenue downtown a bit. I recognized her and I was surprised on how small she was. I respected her privacy and did not engage with her.

I read an article that voiced her opinion about the housing market. In her hyperthetical she thought buy now if you want because if you are waiting for lower interest rates, expect prices to go up 10% or more because there is a housing shortage.

Her point is that buying now with high interest rates is not a problem. For instant if you wait for interest rates to drop into the five point something range that home prices might go up 10%. Either way you loose because there is a housing shortage.

The data indicates that there would have to be about a 15 year period of overbuilding to get rid of the shortage, so it might be two decades or longer to get rid of the housing shortage. In other words the housing shortage isn’t going away anytime soon.

Now I feel locked into my Baby-Victorian. Record low interest rates, and I already have a lot of equity due to appreciation. I also think we got a really great location, low taxes, and a lot of value added like being in one of New York’s top 100 school districts. Getting a second buildable building lot for basically free that came with the house is a major bonus. The rural setting in the back-backyard is another.

Cal
 
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Maggie has had an amazingly good run with her book, and the honeymoon period looks to be continuing. Well and good.

This said, she must be super careful with all the media interviews.

As an author who has been through this, I can say that we are basically grist for the mill for the media. They feed on us like sharks. Lure us into their web with sweet words - "the publicity will be good for you", do the production, put you online/on the air, and the next day, boom! you are yesterday's news. And they pay you nothing for your input.

She must be wary of sweetly spoken false promises from smiling production/publicity people, and pick and choose her interviews carefully. Experienced interviewers can fabricate mini-crises to tittilate their audiences, or easily hit her with loaded questions or otherwise she can be milked for her information, to what purpose? A day's attention.

I've been through all that in the past, I've had all that treatment, and I know. One month, two months later (if that long) someone new will have hit the scene, and she is yesterday's news. I hope this doesn't happen to her, but it can, and she could be carefully watching for it.

On the other hand book events if carefully planned by one's publisher can be fun. At the very least the publisher should offer to pay her basic expenses, as they are the ones who keep most of the book profits anyway. I hope they have at least offered to pay something to her costs.

Not being cynical tho' I may seem that way. Rather trying to input a little common-sense here. I hope Maggie will keep her eyes open and be wary of clever traps such as so many in the media specialist in.

All this said, I wish her the very best in the coming months. It's no small accomplishment to have written and successfully published a book in this day and age. Well done, Maggie! This from someone who has been through it all in the past (and is now well out of it), and understands what it can be like to feel the emotions at the two ends of the spectrum. May your success go on and on.
 
DownUnder,

Thanks for the support. What I try to share and express here is the untold stories of how fame and recognition is mucho fraught.

Eyes wide open, and “Maggie” pretty much just wants this to be over on one hand, but the other side is she pretty much is utilizing her past experience and connections from being a Digital Influencer with over 750K followers.

Pretty much her Instagram, blogging, and website was the ”platform” that got her a very high profile Literary Agent at CAA. There was a bidding war involving 5 publishers, and she picked the youngest editor from an imprint, rather than go with the big house or the most money.

Pretty much the publicity that is being garnered is of Maggie’s own doing.

This Brattleboro Literary Festival came about because we attend the festival last year in October of 2023. Elizabeth recognized us. “You are Calvin,” she said, and then she talked with Maggie about “presenting” in 2024. Elizabeth is on the Board or is the Director.

How crazy is that?

Maggie also has all these contacts with news agencies. Big time major networks.

Still no date for the National News Network yet.

Pretty much no budget or book tour by the publisher. They did get the New York Public Library for the book launch on March 12th, but other than that and a few small things that were aggravating and annoying, it has been Maggie doing what she could to promote her book.

The publisher and editor did nothing to get her the amazing blurbs by mucho big time writers. This was all Maggie. By the blurbs and The Who’s Who that wrote the blurbs this is a book that could be a best seller.

When and if this happens it would be because of Maggie’s dedication and hard work.

What I tried to express in these posts is that fame, being a celeb, and publishing a book is more a liability than anything. It not only took over Maggie’s life but also part of my life.

Until recently I had to deal with some of Maggie’s anger that should of been directed at the publicist, and also by this freelance journalist who was horrible. Where do they find these incompetent people?

Of course when Maggie gets upset it upsets me. Because formally she was a Social Worker, she can’t be a street thug like me and give people a lesson about respect.

At this point, she says no, and pressures people to do their job.

I want this book to do well, and I think it could have the possibility of making it big. I learned that publishing a book really is not worth it. Publishers don’t really do much to promote a book, and it is up to the author to do the marketing and almost all the legwork.

Very fraught. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

BTW www.AccidentalIcon.com

IconAccidental is the Instagram

and on either there should be a link to her sub stack.

“Maggie” is my Knick name for Lyn who resembles a Martha Stewart’s older sister who is OCD.

Cal
 
Just got back from Lawn-Guy-Land.

Our agent is still negotiating a free cruise. We had a chat with London and pretty much we just want to report our experiences and not do marketing and the hard sell.

One approach is just have “Maggie” do a book/literary event on the cruise as part of the itinerary to earn our passage.

Further negotiations and a time envelope needs to be given by the end of the week.

Cal
 
I took advantage of a 35% off total purchase at CVS to bulk up on dishwashing liquid, dishwashing pods, zip lock bags, and a lot of other consumer items.

The idea was to spend over $100.00 to save at least $35.00, and to create a stockpile of sorts. A big thing in retirement is to save money and not to waste money. Cheap-cheap-cheap.

Last year the Brattleboro and Saratoga book festivals were on the same weekend competing with each other. This year Brattleboro and Saratoga are not on the same weekends, but both are in October.

“Maggie” already is participating on a panel in Woodstock, and will be featured at Brattleboro. If she can get Saratoga it would be three big literary festivals.

See how things get moved out after the book launch.

Cal
 
Big news is Japan’s economy has shrunk and is no longer the third largest economy.

It now ranks fourth after the U.S., China, and now Germany.

Deflation and an aging population are the current reasons, but the trigger was a real estate boom that went bust in the mid-ninties.

Compare that to China which had a real estate boom that promoted sustained double-digit GNP growth for over 15 years that now has gone bust. Chins is experiencing serious deflation and banking related problems. Remember deflation equals overcapacity, and youth unemployment is said to be 20% in China.

Will the youth unemployment become a “lost generation” like in Japan? Did you know that Chinese foreign student population went boom and is now a bust in the U.S.?

The parallels are rather stark, and evident, but China’s population implosion is much more severe and drastic than Japan’s aging population. Also because of the failed one child policy infantcide was performed and now there are not enough women of child bearing age to even have level population growth.

Who will buy all those excess buildings and housing units? One thing that made a growing economy was the baby boom after WWII. Remember that a growing population is required to have a growing economy.

In the developed world the U.S., Europe, and Japan have an aging population. This presents liabilities and effects things like productivity, wages, and is a drain on resources. In other words an aging population inhibits growth.

Many of the offshoring is moving to places like India which has a low median age, and places like Vietnam. Ironically both are not only China’s rivals that share a border, but are historically enemies.

China’s population will experience a rapid rise in median age and its population will contract in a non-linear fashion. Bad policy compounded by bad policy. There is a reason why foreign capitol is leaving China. Lots of ill will, military aggression, and other bad policies. Self inflicted destruction, and death by a thousand cuts.

This geopolitical and economic situation makes me wonder how fraught is the relationship between Russia and China. Historically both friends and enemies. China is a net importer of oil, and oil is not traded in dollars as in the world commodities market. These are two economies that currently are struggling and are getting isolated from the rest of the world. I see this as somewhat of a one-way death spiral.

Certainly the new world order is devolving and evolving. Not a safe, stable or secure world…

Cal
 
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China had a population of 1.4 billion, and now it is projected to have a population of only 525 million by the end of the century. Pretty much what is outlined is a collapse.

The one child policy started in 1980, and by one report the population decline actually started in 2022, but others argue that it has happened even earlier.

Year over year there were 500K less births last year.

Certainly this will lead to turmoil. Currently the culture has changed. Young people don’t want to have big families anymore. Chinese women now don’t want to have kids. Certainly this is a deadend.

This is a long death spiral…

Cal
 
Social Media has significant mental health consequences. NYC Mayor Adams is pushing back and suing social media brands for the costs on youth mental health. Higher rates of depression, anxiety, bullying, and suicide are cited.

Much of the same persists and exists in adults. Pretty much the same problems. “Maggie” has suffered mood swings, depression and increased anxiety because she was formally a Digital Influencer. Much of this overhang persists.

I for one only do this forum as a kinda support group that deals with off topic topics like fitness, biking, retirement geopolitical, economics, and pretty much somehow maintaining a positive mental attitude despite the world we live in that is morally bankrupt and corrupt.

Basically I know I am a great salesman, I also know I could run pretty far if I ever dug into being active in Social Media, but what does that buy me. I do not think it is a path to happiness, having a truly meaningful life, or fulfillment. Actually vicariously through Maggie I found out the limitations and the illusions that are created.

Did you know that Maggie has over 750K followers, yet feels socially isolated?

Did you know I have none of those feelings. Difference is no social media except here at RFF.

Anyways another one of my rants. Hope it makes sense.

We went to Barnes and Noble for Maggie to get a new notebook for her to start another writing project. She inquired how to get her book displayed by the door because she is a local writer. Pretty much they said that they ordered the book and pretty much it should get the prime real estate treatment. Maggie just has to do the follow through.

Fact is that Maggie’s Social Media got her a high profile literary agent at CAA, which got her a book contract that involved a bidding war. Social Media was the “platform” that got her the gig.

Then about 95% of the promotion was done by Maggie. The publisher did almost nothing. Maggie was clever by selecting some huge high profile writers to do her blurbs. Really big time famous and established. She specified the chapter in her book that drew upon the inspiration derived from each writer’s own work to cut the chase and the requirement of having to read the entire book. Pretty much she made it EZ-PZ for big names to afford the time.

The list is impressive, and because the writers who were related and attached to the writing, shared ideas and thinking this recognition highly flatter the writer’s own work. Of course this led to profoundly wonderful blurbs. Of course each E-mail was personalized, and this authenticity paid dividends.

At this point, a social media presence is a requirement as a point of entry. This means putting up with BS.

Cal
 
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Did a 20 minute row, and I think I’ll do a second row.

I need to pump some blood more than strength training. I also need to burn calories to shed winter weight.

The goal is to have a small base of fitness by the time the weather breaks.

“Maggie” also rowed today, and she also had physical therapy.

Cal
 
You can depend on Devil Dan to post photo’s that display a large format tonality and detail.

He also does not overdo the contrast. I admire mucho shadow detail. Too much contrast diminished the shadow detail, a big mistake I see being performed by many-many photographers.

I encourage Devil Dan to post more images here. Always pleasing, and I need the inspiration.

Cal
 
Did my second 20 minute row, I increased the intensity a bit and on both rows I performed a one minute “sprint.”

My taxes are done, and somehow I overpaid New York State enough that it is being carried over and might be enough to cover the 2024 tax year. I won’t have to pay quarterly. A modest FED return that is better than having to pay.

Thinking of snow birding next year. Also planning a long trip to stay in Amsterdam maybe for a month. We figure take advantage of our mobility and the freedom while we can. Maggie wants to do research. Her great grandfather owned The American Hotel in Amsterdam. During WWII the Germans used this hotel as their headquarters, but today it houses The Hard Rock Cafe.

The cruise that might happen is not like the small 110 people on a river cruise. This one is one of those floating cities. “Maggie” is proposing doing a speaking engagement, and also together we could do a memoir workshop. Pretty much the passengers are older people like us. On the river cruise down the Rhine it had a decent mix of generations.

Our next door neighbor got their house appraised. We were surprised by the big number. Their house has about the same square footage as ours, but their yard is 4 building lots (40x100), but the way it is configured none of the other lots are buildable.

On our property we have a separate building lot that is buildable with road access. Know that since Peekskill is a city that we have sewers and natural gas. This is kind of a big deal if you want to have a mother/daughter or were looking for a great building lot.

Also our school district somehow is not Peekskill’s, and the Hedrick Hudson School district is one of the top 100 in New York State. The taxes are cheap, especially for Westchester. Hmmmm…

I think with the Baby-Victorian we were beyond lucky. The house has its charm and is mighty cute.

Cal
 
Digital V System 30mm to 120mm by Nokton48, on Flickr

Devil Cal,

Digital Hasselblad CFV16 Back 30mm Distagon, 40mm Distagon, 50mm Distagon, 80mm Planar, 100mm Planar, and 120mm S-Planar. A short to medium full set, all roughly the same vintages. More than I can carry around, but it's here to use. Also 2 of 4 Lithium Battery Packs, Type CF Adapter, and seven 32G Micro Cards. I now prefer this late model Magnifying Hood, and the special CFV16 Acute Focusing Screen, which makes a huge deal with critical focus with this thing. It is -very- critical and DOF seems to be less than usual with this system. But all is good here. I like the CFV16 Screen so much I bought a second one, for my motorized EL/M. The Rubber Eyecup is from a Ukranian Hartblei Kiev 1006M Magnifying Hood. Fits the Blad Mag Finder like it was made for it.

I am a Digital Dodo but I'm catching up! I am digging the convenience of digital.
 
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