We haven't talked about goals in a long time

[euphoriatheory]

Originally Posted by Radar

I am into home schooling. I don't have confidence in my wife to deliver the curriculum. She stopped going to school at age 9 when her parents divorced. She worked to help support her family. I'm too busy paying the bills to do it myself.

Oh, and Radar.... didn't see that.... Gotta say, having been to public school, private school, and having been homeschooled all between 1st-12th grade--Private school is the way to go. My sister and I only managed to make it through homeschooling because we were relatively intelligent to begin. Homeschooling did nothing for us, and since I've been through it, my humble opinion is that only parents who have an incredibly high regard for themselves should homeschool their children. If they're both teachers, then fine.... but otherwise, I know that I, at least, as a college graduate lack enough knowledge of science or mathetmatics to properly educate an 8th-grader.

I never thought much of my private schooling either until I got to college. There, I noticed that many of my publicly-schooled counterparts struggled with the workload. It wasn't that kids who had gone to private school were any smarter--we weren't--it's just that we were USED to having a 5-page paper due once a week.

Sorry to offend anyone... guess I'm just kind of in a no-nonsense mood tonight.

[monster]

Stuffing all private schools into one category is a bit.... sweeping

There are pushy, work-heavy, test-oriented private schools and there are laid back take-it-at-your-own-pace private schools and there is everything else in between.

State schools vary almost as much

As do home-schoolers.

And regarding stay-at-home parents, Euphoria, why do you assumes your friend isn't making a contribution to society because she "stays at home" with her kids? If she gets as much as you earn for your job, perhaps you should consider switching your job rather than bitching her up. I don't work. I don't claim benefits. I "stay at home" for no pay. It's not just about the money. Actually, i don't "stay at home" so much -I do a lot of stuff in the school and I have to say that it is my experience that the kids of parents who work a full-time job are either out-of-control and obnoxious or convinced that anything they do is an annoyance and hide quietly to the best of their ability. It's a little scary. I feel bad for families where both parents MUST work full time to make ends meet (and single-parent families in the same positon).

[Dingleschmutz]

Originally Posted by euphoriatheory

Dingle, that's what my husband and I have decided to do if Obama gets elected President. Free health care? Title XX and Section 8?! Why not just get free health care, housing, unemployment, and have 8 kids??! I'm even thinking of letting him run me over with his car so I can get disability.

Haha, I had no idea my Chris Farley quote would lead to all of this... I try not to get too deep, I HATE politics... I tend to lean conservative, and I agree with you on the bullshit handouts, but if I think about politics too much, I break out in hives. Obama, the racist socialist, Hillary the anti-christ, or McCain, the stand-for-nothing-wait-for-the-dems-to-kill-themselves old fart who is a Republican only in name? Fuck, pass me the cyanide.

[Radar]

You should fill out the applications now so you can turn them in because Obama has it locked up. Hillary will lose to him, and McCain doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of coming within 20 percentage points of Obama.

[Radar]

My only problem with private schools is that in SoCal, the cheapest ones are Catholic schools and those are $12k per year. Non-religious ones are $20k per year. As an atheist with a Buddhist wife, you can guess which I'd prefer.

[Dingleschmutz]

I'm honestly going to write in a vote of "no confidence" this year... This country is fucked if we honestly think those are the best three we have to offer...

/end political rant

[Radar]

Ron Paul is a better candidate than all the others. America just doesn't vote for the best candidate. They vote for who will give them the biggest cut of the stolen loot government has taken from their neighbors and who tells the prettiest lies.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by euphoriatheory

(Maybe I'm being a little too serious for a Friday night. I just ran into my best friend from high school, who slunk from valedictorian to unmarried mother of two, collecting social security and food stamps. Pisses me off that I get up and go to work every day, and she makes almost as much as me for being a leech on the system, despite the fact that she could have easily been a HUGE contributor to society.)

Heh. I wonder if your friend from high school knows what a di** you are being about it Euphoria. She obviously took a heavy hit being an unwed mother. Now she still has you out there still comparing yourself with her after all that time. What a riot.

Maybe I think it's helpful to society when people make it their first priority to raise their kids?

There's lots of ways to go about things....And if you are making as much as a welfare recipient and you are unhappy with that, maybe you need to change something about what you are doing instead of beating on a single mom for scraping by? lol! Whatever.

Oh jeez...Euphoria all I mean to say here is I think you ar being rather harsh about someone who obviously is still trying to do their best...Or maybe I have a soft spot for single moms that try to navigate in this world without any money but still try to raise their kids to the best of their ability.

[Griff]

[elSicomoro]

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!

[smoothmoniker]

Short term goal (next 3 months):
buy a house, with a yard and everything
rewrite my syllabi for 2 of my 3 classes
start another masters degree (apparently the administration gets antsy about calling you a professor of music when your only advanced degree is in philosophy)

long-term goals:
finish and publish my first book
finish (finally!) my own album (the cobbler's children have no shoes)
fully fund college accounts for my two children

[busterb]

Sober up!

[euphoriatheory]

Eh. I'm not trying to be harsh. I would absolutely LOVE to be able to stay home with my children one day, and I definitely don't discredit people who do--I honestly think that that IS the best thing for children, and I appreciate that some people have to make huge sacrifices to do so. I guess you'd have to KNOW my friend from school--who opted, rather than finishing the brilliant college career she had started, to spiral into drug abuse and now two unwanted pregnancies. My distaste for the situation is a result of the fact that she ISN'T happy, and I wish that she was. I'm not trying to judge her unnecessarily or be quite the b!tch that you guys seem to think I am. It just aggravates me that she hasn't been able to fulfill her potential, and she recognizes and regrets it... but she can still live just as comfortably as I can, when I struggled through school and gave up parties on Friday nights to do so. Be that as it may... I suppose we've both had to give up different things to get to where we are.

--edit--
You know what though, I just re-read what I wrote there, and you guys are actually right. I am being too harsh. I might feel jealous or underappreciated, but it really isn't an excuse to lash out and vindictively point out the mistakes that others have made.
--end edit--

Now.... Radar, you're right. That was too general a statement regarding private schools. Some are great and some suck. I just know that I didn't take too kindly to homeschooling, partially because my parents were ill-equipped to teach us, and partially because kids lose a lot of socialization that way, which is a necessary skill to get by professionally. It might not be a graded subject in public or private schools, but it's definitely something you learn there!

[lookout123]

Short term? Stash enough cash away to implement my plan by August. The plan as it stands is move my practice to a bigger office even closer to home and bring on 2 employees in August and set for another in January. My goal in doing so is for a bit of motivation and a challenge. If they do their jobs well, their production should cover all their costs plus my office space bring me back to 100% payout on my own production. If that goes smoothly I'd like to have 2 more people on board by August '09. Their production should increase my income by 30%. January '10 I want to bring on the final piece of the puzzle. One more highly specialized person that only works with one product for our client base. That person's production should bring me to 200% of my current income (and they all make their cheese too.)

By 2012 my plan is for the practice to be generating enough recurring and passive income that I can found a new soccer club without concern for my own income.

That's the plan anyway.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by euphoriatheory

...that's what my husband and I have decided to do if Obama gets elected President. Free health care? Title XX and Section 8?! Why not just get free health care, housing, unemployment, and have 8 kids??! I'm even thinking of letting him run me over with his car so I can get disability.

Originally Posted by euphoriatheory

You know what though, I just re-read what I wrote there, and you guys are actually right. I am being too harsh. I might feel jealous or underappreciated, but it really isn't an excuse to lash out and vindictively point out the mistakes that others have made.

Good, glad you noticed. I was on disability benefit for just over 6 months because I was depressed. I'm sure many people would simply categorise that as being lazy, especially as my issues with alcohol exacerbated the problem. Not only did I get paid for being off work, most of my rent was paid and I got free counselling. Would I have swapped the (barely liveable) benefits to be well and back at work? Hell yes. I'm now working thanks to the free anti-depressants and counselling I received at the time.

But then I'm a socialist European so feel free to ignore me

My goals. Same old same old:

In May I am determined to sort my life out.
- Put a proper timetable in so I can go to the gym, work at the pub and here (EEA).
- Make time for my boys.
- Back on a healthy diet - also saves money.
- Start saving a regular monthly amount to come to the States.
- Reach agreement with ALL my creditors or go bankrupt (I prefer the former, they may not accept how much I can afford to pay).
- Only drink Sundays & Mondays (pub days/ eves).
- Lose weight almost as a consequence of all the rest!
- Be marvellous