Jevin
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hello everyone, hope you all are doing well.
The last two years have honestly been a whirlwind, but in a good way. Also figured it was time for an update as I drop in and out of the forums depending on how busy I am and my mental health.
Anyways, the last two years have been focused on recovery and improving my mental health. The last year I have started to make major headway in multiple areas of my life. Looking back, I realize now that I lost who I was as I let may families negativity wear me down and I changed who I was. I am close to who I use to be before things started to head south but wiser.
In the last year I finally purchased my first car and have spent time on improving it, and getting it closer to what it should be. This includes doing necessary repairs and rust prevention, much to the ire of my family. My first car is now very likely to last for a while and be a matter of just maintaining and preventing further deterioration to the best of my ability. I plan to keep it until I can get a second car which ideally will be brand new. At that point I will repair the little rust the car should have as I will be preventing the rust it does have from getting drastically worse. If I achieve this, my first car will be the vehicle my children will learn to drive in to show by example what a good first car is and how by not following societal norms, what is possible.
I also have made major changes to my care for my chameleon Chandler Bing even though he is an older chameleon as my setup should be able to be reused even after he passes. I still have to improve on supplementation, as it seems my gut loading and enclosure setup appears to be able to ensure almost proper nutrition for him. I also did a major overhaul in his enclosure to cut down on the amount of time I need to allocate to his care. I still check on him daily, but now I don't have to refill reservoirs and drain buckets on a daily basis. I have automated his care as much as possible. I have already seen benefits from it as he has only been in the enclosure for about a week and is already shedding again, despite his most recent shed being a month ago.
I have also made progress towards making my aspirations for a master's and a PhD closer to a reality. As well as started to initiate changes at my work and in my familial home. I am starting to forge my own path forward and it is vastly different than what my immediate family would recommend.
Most recently, things have started to go according to plan, which is unusual for me but not entirely unexpected as for the first time in my life, I have enough of a plan for my future to not be overwhelmed.
Financially, I am also improving, and while I do have a student loan, that is of minimal concern until I finish my schooling. And through utilizing my student loan funds and spending money only when necessary, I have managed to increase my net worth. I am managing to go forward despite the setbacks of my parents bankruptcy and in talking to my parents about financial stuff, I realize that I am likely to never be repaid the savings I am owed.
I am proud of who I am and where I am going, even if the majority of people I talk to don't agree or would recommend otherwise. I plan on being wealthy, not rich, which I've learned are very different things. I still have a lot of work to do, but I know I can do it. And honestly, my first car has been somewhat beneficial as it is an ongoing project of improving it while not spending money poorly on it, with the end goal of saving money in the long run. So far I've spent around $3000 on it and I paid $6000 to acquire it. Most would say this is foolish, however it is in good enough condition that if I treat it right and repair the few issues it does have, I will save money in the long run. My car is much like my choice to do a bioactive enclosure, the upfront cost is high, but the rewards are so worth it in the long run. And even my choice of car is very representative of myself, doesn't look like anything special and may not be the best, but it is definitely not something to pass off as a hunk of junk.
Onwards and upwards.
Regards,
Jevin Wutzke
The last two years have honestly been a whirlwind, but in a good way. Also figured it was time for an update as I drop in and out of the forums depending on how busy I am and my mental health.
Anyways, the last two years have been focused on recovery and improving my mental health. The last year I have started to make major headway in multiple areas of my life. Looking back, I realize now that I lost who I was as I let may families negativity wear me down and I changed who I was. I am close to who I use to be before things started to head south but wiser.
In the last year I finally purchased my first car and have spent time on improving it, and getting it closer to what it should be. This includes doing necessary repairs and rust prevention, much to the ire of my family. My first car is now very likely to last for a while and be a matter of just maintaining and preventing further deterioration to the best of my ability. I plan to keep it until I can get a second car which ideally will be brand new. At that point I will repair the little rust the car should have as I will be preventing the rust it does have from getting drastically worse. If I achieve this, my first car will be the vehicle my children will learn to drive in to show by example what a good first car is and how by not following societal norms, what is possible.
I also have made major changes to my care for my chameleon Chandler Bing even though he is an older chameleon as my setup should be able to be reused even after he passes. I still have to improve on supplementation, as it seems my gut loading and enclosure setup appears to be able to ensure almost proper nutrition for him. I also did a major overhaul in his enclosure to cut down on the amount of time I need to allocate to his care. I still check on him daily, but now I don't have to refill reservoirs and drain buckets on a daily basis. I have automated his care as much as possible. I have already seen benefits from it as he has only been in the enclosure for about a week and is already shedding again, despite his most recent shed being a month ago.
I have also made progress towards making my aspirations for a master's and a PhD closer to a reality. As well as started to initiate changes at my work and in my familial home. I am starting to forge my own path forward and it is vastly different than what my immediate family would recommend.
Most recently, things have started to go according to plan, which is unusual for me but not entirely unexpected as for the first time in my life, I have enough of a plan for my future to not be overwhelmed.
Financially, I am also improving, and while I do have a student loan, that is of minimal concern until I finish my schooling. And through utilizing my student loan funds and spending money only when necessary, I have managed to increase my net worth. I am managing to go forward despite the setbacks of my parents bankruptcy and in talking to my parents about financial stuff, I realize that I am likely to never be repaid the savings I am owed.
I am proud of who I am and where I am going, even if the majority of people I talk to don't agree or would recommend otherwise. I plan on being wealthy, not rich, which I've learned are very different things. I still have a lot of work to do, but I know I can do it. And honestly, my first car has been somewhat beneficial as it is an ongoing project of improving it while not spending money poorly on it, with the end goal of saving money in the long run. So far I've spent around $3000 on it and I paid $6000 to acquire it. Most would say this is foolish, however it is in good enough condition that if I treat it right and repair the few issues it does have, I will save money in the long run. My car is much like my choice to do a bioactive enclosure, the upfront cost is high, but the rewards are so worth it in the long run. And even my choice of car is very representative of myself, doesn't look like anything special and may not be the best, but it is definitely not something to pass off as a hunk of junk.
Onwards and upwards.
Regards,
Jevin Wutzke
