Okay so this morning when I got out of bed, I didn't necessarily get out on the right side but I think I avoided the wrong side as well. I might have just slithered off the end of the bed instead. (If Mr X reads this he will probably give out a tentative sigh of relief and silently begin praying that my day at work goes well so that by the time I get home I will be the nice lady he married rather than the crazy mean lady he frequently has to endure.)
But anyway, on to my post for today:
I am obsessed with numbers. I count all day long. I count my calorie intake, my days off, my money, my gray hairs, the number of people on my bus every day, how many stairs I climb each day (thank you Mindy), even how many thumb tacks I have at my desk (31).
I believe it drives Mr X crazy because he can't even propose a simple question to me that I don't simplify to numbers. For example...
Mr X might say, "Charlotte, if you won a million dollars would you quit your job?"
Me: "Of course not! A million dollars isn't enough because first you have to consider that you're only going to get __ amount of that because we are in __ tax bracket and then if we paid __ off and put __ amount to this and put __ much in investments we'd really only be left with __ amount and that's makes it financially ridiculous to quit my job with that little money left."
Or Mr X might say, "So when we get our tax refund of __ back, that's extra money so we should do ____ or ____ (exciting fun things), don't you think?"
To which I might reply, "We can't do that because if you want to reach our goal of having ___ in savings/retirement and if you also want ___ and ___ (practical things) like we planned on then we really can't spend any of that on ___ or ___ (fun things)."
At night before bed I count our retirement savings in my head - I calculate, based on the rate at which we are saving now, how much money we will have saved 20 or 30 years from now as it accumulates with interest, in both a (predominantly) bear market scenario and a (predominantly)bull market scenario.
(The funny thing is that I hated all things mathematical during my formative years.)
Do you do this sort of thing?
6 comments:
No, but Bryan does, especially with money. His favorite topic of conversation right now is investing, and he's always crunching numbers in his head and spewing them out for me to enjoy (tolerate).
I don't think I should answer your question. I need to consult my fridge magnet from Dad. AND... I think you're nuts. I'll have to show Stu this post, maybe he'll respond in the form of an equation.
i am a total math nerd, and love numbers. i usually do my best math in the middle of the night when i wake up and see that it's 3:48 a.m., and i have one hour and thirty-nine minutes until kevin's alarm goes off.
My spousal unit does this all the time, but it sounds to me like you are a nerd (he is too). That's okay. I think almost everyone has some sort of nerdy tendency. I include myself in that comment.
ax^2+bx+c !
I must say that yes, I find myself thinking mathematical thoughts all the time Charlotte. That's how I (try) to make my living. Just don't let it take over your consciousness like that one movie with Russel Crowe and we'll be all right.
By the way, I'm bitter that Blogger doesn't accept my HTML tag for superscript... so much for showing off.
holy carp. yes, I meant that. You count that each night? What about bedtime prayers or something? That post made me crazy just reading it.
I'm a list maker myself. Lists are everywhere!
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