A new life.

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Lots of things have been racing through my head today. Church, or the lack of it, of course. But too, as I prepare to dig in and start storing food, looking at alternative energy, begin tending my home, and thinking things over, I realize there are hidden complications, as with Church, which I must address. My old life and the beginnings of my new life are coming into focus, and that which lies between them becomes better understood.

My old life consisted of buying and tossing. Throwing money at a problem until it went away. Oh, sure, some thought went into what I was doing. Not as much as what should have gone into it. Money was cheaper than effort. Knowledge was and remains in short supply. And, frankly, my work ethic sucks, whether from disability, an auxiliary to that, because I can be lazy, or some mix does not matter. Throwing money at things is easy. Why do you think the government is beyond going broke and why nothing works? Other peoples' money is even easier to toss... right on into the billions and trillions. Weeeee!

My new life is, if I will have to again throw some serious money at it as well at least initially, focused on getting away from money as the source of... pretty much everything. The cost is physical labor, physical discomfort, gaining functional knowledge, and rather exacting scheduling. Livestock will not feed itself, and to produce well, it needs to be feed on a regular schedule, every single day. While there is equipment which will do that, how much of that depends on what may not be available such as electricity? And, of course, the equipment if used would need to be tended as well. Both would require knowledge and work, and upfront money. Further, how far back can I practically go? I would guess, to some degree, there are limits. An outhouse, for example, is probably quite illegal where I live.

So many considerations. So many areas I could enter and attempt to make inroads. And yet money is limited. Time is limited. And my practical ability to function in these new ways is quite limited. So much to consider. How much time we have, unknown but probably in years at the high end. How bad can it get? I do not think we have any idea, yet. We, none of us, not even those of us who have been forced to live primitively for short spans, even have a clue. Look at everything you use which requires electricity, possibly gas (of any kind), needs oil(ed), or even requires paint. Look at your clothes, your shoes, your gear... how long would any of that last without replacement, assuming you even have repair kits? How many of you use glasses? How many of you need medicine? How many of you are on special diets? The world economy, even if it ground to a halt for only a year or two, would see devastation to the population. And, not just in Sub-Saharan Africa, but right here. No place would really be better.

Anyway, I have a lot to go through, a lot to consider, yes some more things to buy, and a few personal matters to resolve. Oh, do I think this is going to happen? Do I! Or, yes. How long it will last, how complete it might be, how quickly we might recover... that I do not know. But it is coming, in years or less, hard.

Update:

On an old matter, regarding technical problems with my blog. There was a point where I could not read some comments. I think the problem, oddly, was that I was erasing notifications from my Blackberry, where I received email notification, before technically opening the notification email or seeing the actual comments on my blog. For some reason, this seems to keep me from seeing comments on my blog for an extended period of time. There might have been other problems, but I think this was one of them.