The Michael Swayne Story V: King of his Castle

I have decided to make this entry the start of a new chapter in my life. As you know from the title of the blog, this was the third volume of entries I've written. And to recap, the first volume was called Life on my Own: The Michael Swayne story; the second volume was The Re-Ascension of a Prince; and the third was The New King. Anyway, I think it's time for a title.

The Michael Swayne Story IV: Dethroned

Basically, I am not the ruler of my domain anymore. I was exiled from my kingdom nine months ago by a treacherous former ally, and now I am trying to find that one place in this world that I can call my own again. So, join me in journey. You know, if you want to.

Yesterday morning, I rode to Sinking Spring to deliver papers. On the way there, I talked to myself about my money saving goals for the year. I've decided to start the 52-Week Money Saving Challenge again, and also add on to it with a Daily Saving Challenge. Every week I will put an amount of money predetermined by what week it is, this first week being $1. Each following week, the amount will increase by one dollar. And by the end of the year, I should have $1,378 in the coffee can. To go along with will be the daily challenge. For it, I will put in the coffee can another amount that was predetermined; with the first day being $0.01. This amount will increase by one cent each day. And by the end of the year, there will be an additional $635.46 in the coffee can. That will give a total of $2,013.46 saved up. Golly, seeing the final amount is a bit daunting, because I don't earn that much money. With only counting my delivery money, I will only earn $3,640 this year. I will of course earn more with the mowing I do for the office, my work with Larry, and what I do as one of Amazon's mTurk workers. But that is my goal, for now.

I guess we can call it one of my resolutions for this year. So let's talk about what else I want to do for the year. I do want to talk about the rest of my day, but while I'm on the resolution topic...

This year, I want to first walk at least 1,000 steps each day with my 3DS in my pocket. For those that don't know, the 3DS counts the steps you take, and for every one hundred taken, you earn one PlayCoin which can be used in certain games. The amount earned per day in this way is capped at 10. I want to earn the coins needed to complete the puzzles I have and any other I get in the future, as well as find the King and his children in Find Mii II (which I unlocked yesterday by completing Find Mii for the second time). Anyway, I am going to walk outside to earn the coins. I could just keep it in my pocket and earn the steps that way, but walking outside kind of ties into another of my goals for the year.

Another goal of mine for the year is to get in better shape. I am in pretty good shape as it is, with my work being one big exercise session. But riding a bike can only do so much. My arms and legs are fine, but my torso needs work. I will do what I can to eat healthier, but since I don't do any of the grocery shopping, that won't be easy. I can probably add one or two things to the list each week, but I can't expect the others to change the way they eat. Let's take what was brought home today. Everything purchased today was geared more toward Joey's school lunches this time around, but there were other things bought as well. Like potato chips, chocolate snack cakes, cookies, caramel dipping sauce for apples, and sugary drinks. Carma knows I don't drink caffeinated beverages and that I like fruit juice, so there's also one half-gallon bottle of apple juice for me. She also bought a bag of apples, but that's to go with the caramel. And finally, there are five small palettes of bottled water in varying sizes. And all of that is supposed to last a week. There will most likely be another grocery trip this weekend, because these things are nowhere near the amount of things she usually buys. The only thing that was actually needed was the water, I guess. But the majority of that stuff is junk.

Outside of the normal resolutions of saving money and being healthier, I have my usual resolution to not buy so many games this year, and to actually finish the games I have. In particular, I want to finish Final Fantasy VII. Who knows, maybe I really do have a deal with Square Enix in that when I finish the PS1 version of the game, and they'll make an updated version of it. Right now, I have quite a few games here, and they will of course be my main priority. Then when those are completed, I will bring the ones I have in storage. These resolutions will be the hardest for me to keep, because there are just so many things that I want to play. So many worlds I want to visit, or save, or destroy. So many stories I want to experience, or use to escape this one. But I will do my best, and that's all I can do really.

I think I am forgetting a goal of mine I had. If I am, it must not have been a very important one. Oh well. I will think of it sometime. Anyway, back to daily doings.

On the way back from Sinking Spring, I looked at my pedals and discovered that the breakage had increased to a stage that it can't return from. I am glad I made that deposit into my bank account, because nearly every penny of it in purchasing a new bike. The worst part is that Wal-Mart doesn't offer the 2-year warranty on their bikes anymore. But since my current bike is from there, and I can only receive a gift card in the amount for that bike, I had to go ahead and buy another from Wal-Mart. At least I will be able get something for it. I will just have to be extra careful with the new one. I bought another piano black Huffy Nel Lusso. I know it can last nearly a year, so if I'm careful, it will last longer than that. I will simply walk up the big hills instead of power-pedaling up them.

Well, my plans for today are to make a spreadsheet for the coffee can I use to hold my money. I can't print it out at the moment because my printer is still in the basement. And since the exterminators are coming on Monday to redo the work they should have done properly a few weeks ago, there'd be no point in bring up things if I just have to pack them back down this weekend. And then Autumn and I are to take the fridge that broke down outside for Larry to come and get sometime after 11am. I want to get that done and out of the way, but Autumn is taking her time in doing anything. I have the feeling I will be doing that myself. Finally, I want to really push toward earning more trophies in South Park: The Stick of Truth. The Holiday Team Trophy Hunting competition ends this evening, and I want to not be a burden on my team.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I hope to see you around the forums, and until then...

Later!

Michael

Oh, I remembered what that other goal of mine is, and I can't believe I let it slip my mind. I mean, it's a major part of my being. I want to no longer be me3lingual in life. I want to really study and be more than me3. I still have a lot to learn to be fluent in Korean, and I the most time I spent working with the Japanese books was when I was making the bookmark for them. And while I am thinking of other lands, I also hope to travel this year to places I have never been on my bike. I want to go South to Kentucky, since the Bluegrass State is on the other side of county. And maybe I will go North to Ohio's capital, Columbus. If the Distant Worlds concert comes to Columbus again this year, I would really like to see it. I just want to see if I could really go somewhere on the bike that is more than just the next town or city to where I live.