T-minus 40ish years until I'm a millionaire.

Last night I had a conversation with a friend about financial matters. He explained things about mutual funds, options, puts and calls, etc. I just opened a Roth IRA (like a proper adult!), and I sought his knowledge because he's been trading for some time now. The conversation was quite informational, but also overwhelming. We barely scratched the surface of it all, and the vocab list rivaled that of the Episcopal Church's.

[Sidenote: I'm gaining in my Episcosavvyness. I know where the sacristy is.]

By the end I concluded that the stock market sounds like an ultra-calculated casino. I may come from a gambling family, but my retirement fund is too fresh and small to toss around at the moment.

All trading aside, a Roth IRA has been something I've been thinking/researching about for months. According to this guy on Quora, it's the best way to get rich:

I'm not super interested in actually becoming a millionaire, but if it's that easy to have some late-in-life assurance for myself and my family, why the heck not?

There isn't an age limit on opening this account, so you should basically do it as soon as you have income, even if it isn't much. Compound interest is where it's at. 

Who knows, maybe I'll get brave and start trading in a few years. For now, mahjong gambling at home on Christmas sounds much more appealing.

Seeking simplicity.

Post-undergrad and pre-established-life is an odd and wondrous time.

I'm living in Richmond, VA with incredible co-interns, working for a non-profit whose mission I fully support, and doing life without reference to academics for the first time since age 5.

Despite the marvel of now, the world seems far more fascinated by what's coming/the end goal/the five year plan. But hey there world — just one hot second. I'm alive now and doing things, things that definitely matter.

This stage of life is marked by some serious pressure to sift through the complexity of the future. This occasionally comes at the cost of the present. We young whippersnappers are expected to pro/con all our options and have thoughtful answers for every grandma, uncle, and passerby that demands the storyboard of our lives.

That's a bit complicated. It's complicated even though I can finally articulate a rough idea of my next five years! I say it, the same blurb time and time again, but I can't and won't guarantee that any of it will come to fruition. And that's super OK by me. 

As I turn the corner and face 2015, I want to focus more on this living thing. I'd like to strip away that which hinders and have a clear vision for what's here in this moment. Constant planning and nonsense can (and does) seriously convolute the now. I'm tired of missing out on the beauty before me while constantly jumping up to peek over the wall of tomorrow.

There is wonder in today. There is meaning in simplicity. There is purpose in the mundane. 

Our constantly stimulated lives cause us to forget these truths. I'm up there with the best of them — Instagramming, Facebooking, emailing, texting, blah blah blah. Yet when I pay attention, I can truly delight in stunning, simple moments. My Amélie moments.

The feeling of swishing my hand around while rinsing rice in warm water.

The sound of straightening a stack of addressed and stamped envelopes. 

The taste of brilliantly repurposed leftovers.

The sight of carefully made latte art. 

I shall seek a simpler, slower pace this year. I'll read for pleasure and write and snail mail and blog and craft and cook. I'll do those glorious things I miss and love, things my tortuous lifestyle has pushed out of view in the past many years. I'll work in random GRE vocabulary because I'm throwing down (standardized test style) in a few months. I shall seek joy and find it, because joy is good like that. 

I'm pumped about it all, and you should be too. Living is too marvelous to not be totally stoked most of the time.