NZ

Oh man. I don't even know what to say. Or how to start.

The attacks on the mosques in Christchurch last Friday were ...

Yeah, I don't know how to write about it. But I'll try.


I first saw an FB post saying that someone hoped their friends in Christchurch were OK & I thought it was another big earthquake, and braced myself a little. Oh no, I thought. Not again. And then...it was not an earthquake, but a seismic shift.


My heart is breaking for those that lost loved ones so senselessly. It's a tragedy and I feel so deeply for those involved. I cannot imagine their pain. They need and deserve every bit of the love we can give them.

On a more superficial level, all Kiwis are feeling the aftermath of this event. NZ is small. Even if you don't personally know someone that was at the mosques, everyone knows someone that lives in Christchurch. And everyone in Christchurch has a direct connection to someone that was at one of the mosques. It's astounding, and the Kevin Bacon-Kiwi Effect is evident when scenarios like this arise. So to be so close in degrees of connection to something that...something just so hateful and ...yeah, I ran out of words again. I cannot comprehend the level of hate involved in that horrific act. Anyway, to be so close to something like that...you feel it. It is a visceral pain and sadness and shock.

I think a lot of people are feeling it. NZ is going through a reckoning.

And that is the only solace I can find right now, but it is huge. Our government and the Kiwi people have banned together like nothing I've ever experienced to support those that need us. $10M donated, outpourings of love, commitments to fighting against hate, people voluntarily surrendering their guns, folks reaching out to people that they don't normally reach out to. A ban on semi-automatic guns, a government unified in their stance...What's more, news outlets are not focusing on the terrorist or his life or his manifesto or the exact details of his actions--we here in NZ have barely seen his face or heard his name. I accidentally saw a few things last Friday when things started happening, so it's out there...but it isn't really in here, in NZ. We are focused on the victims. On their stories, their lives, their acts of bravery. On the group that was targeted. On how to help. On how to spread love. It is difficult to find anything to be grateful for when a disgusting act like that has occurred, but these are seeds of hope. Coming from the US, where things like this terrorist act happen all the time and...people don't really come together and our government starts fighting each other about what to do...I know how things could have gone. And, blessedly, they haven't gone that way. I am almost skeptical--it feels too good to be true. Like I'm living in dual realities. One an almost-ideal response, one a dystopia. The incongruousness is jarring and I can't reconcile that I am both a part of this culture and that culture.

I was in Christchurch this week for work, and so became that many more degrees of connection closer to the tragedy. A friend's neighbor lost a son. One of my colleague's MSc students was killed. Wherever I went, I was overhearing where people were when the lockdown occurred, people sobbing, who visited who in the hospital. Today, a week after the attacks, I participated in the call to prayer and nationwide 2 minutes of silence. And it became even more real. 

I had an hour before I had to leave for the airport this afternoon, so went to one of the mosque sites.

The road is blockaded, so you travel along, turn the corner, and then everything becomes absolutely still. Silent. Poignant. The energy is respectful and reverent. Emotions just take over. The whole street has become one large a place of worship, of prayer, a place to honor the lives and memories of the people that deserve to still be here. Instead of destroying or damaging the spirit of Islam, the terrorist has inadvertently expanded it, brought all of us closer to it, made us a part of it.

There are armed police with AR-15-looking massive guns held at the ready at the barrier, but still they talk with the crowd willingly, seriously, and quietly, like they are in a house of worship too. People have decorated the road barriers. Around trees in Hagley Park, the park across the street from the mosques, people have laid notes, photos, poems, cards, flowers, and candles. People gather spontaneously and sing waiata and perform the haka at the site directly across from the mosques. Numerous massive cameras and booms and news people stand at the ready along the barrier.

While I was there, one woman, in traditional dress, stood completely still, staring at the mosque, while a male companion comforted her. She stood there in the same spot the whole time I was there, about 25 minutes or so. Most other people wandered around, stopping for a minute at each memorial, or to talk to police, but she didn't move at all. She just stared across the street like it was the only thing that would make it real to her.

There were 26 funerals today. The airport was full of grieving people on the way back home, all across NZ.

I think we've all been a little kinder to one another this week. On Monday when I arrived in Christchurch, I saw a lot of pakeha (the Maori word for Europeans--really white people) talking with Muslims. This is relatively unusual. While the reason is absolutely horrific, I was happy to see people engaging with one another. I hope it continues.

Kiwis just give me so much G-D hope. There are a few outliers here and there, but I just came to love this country in a way I haven't yet in my time here. They are lovely. Most are saying and doing the right things to support our fellow Kiwis that need support right now, and we've mostly all banned together. As great as that is, it wasn't worth the cost.

Car Space Miracle

Oh my goodness, for once, things went my way :)

As head tenant, I rent out my apartment car space in my complex garage. It's gated, covered, and is located right in the middle of the city. I have been getting a whopping $70 per week for it, which adds another $280 to my income per month. It effectively makes my lovely apartment ridiculously affordable and the best deal in the entire CBD for me. My effective rent for my large room is $160 per week. Everything else at $160 pw or less in my area requires you to share a tiny room with at least 1 person. (Or you could be the third person sharing a living room for $120 pw...).

My problem car space tenant has been renting it for about 3 years now. He cancelled his lease with like 3 days notice. He is extra sensitive and weird, and I didn't have the energy to fight to make him pay out the required week. He is also the owner of the local convenience store (literally 2 doors down from me), so to keep things from being awkward, I just let it go.

To explain further, a year ago, the co-op board of my apartment complex and my landlord required the apartment tenants to list the make/model and license plate of every vehicle parked in the complex for safety and security reasons. The co-op board head, my landlord, and I had ALL noticed that there was a rotation of vehicles (at least 7 different ones) parked in my spot over time. I told my tenant what we'd noticed and asked for the vehicle information. It was time to renew our lease anyway, and I also explained that I had decided not to raise the rent because the average rent in my area had stayed around the $70 pw mark (I thought this would be good news...). At the end of that email, I gently reminded him that the lease did not allow sublets of the spot, as per my landlord and co-op's instructions. I was very professional, as I am with all financial transactions.

This tenant is a bit too familiar and acts like I'm doing him a favor by letting him park there, instead of making a smart financial decision. Whenever I go into the dairy, he calls me 'dear' or 'sweetie.' Personally, I hate this kind of talk unless it is coming from my close family. The way he says it is condescending and is sort of like, Aww, aren't you cute, being professional and saying professional words!

His response to my email requesting information was decidedly NOT professional. He went on a long rant about how he was insulted that I accused him of subletting and did I think he was so cheap that he stooped to that level. He had a 'serious objection' to my email. He owns lots of businesses and had no intention of starting another one, subletting. He doesn't need to sublet. He wouldn't mind if the rent had risen, because he could have afforded it, blah blah blah. He was offended that the rent had not risen. ??

And then he didn't even give me the information I needed, the vehicle make/model and license plates. (They were his employees' cars at the dairy, something he did not discuss with me.) I just wrote down the different ones when I noticed them and sent it to my landlord. Sigh.

So anyway, out with the problem tenant. With how long it took to find new flatmates, I was super worried. There are also several car parks for rent in my area so I worried that there just wasn't a market for them.

I prepared for a long slog and a month in which my income was not what it usually is. Luckily, someone contacted me 2 days after I posted my $50 ad on TradeMe (the fee is highway robbery!).

The people are a nearby couple and were overjoyed that the spot was available. They came the next day and signed the lease and it was all super easy. They seem wonderful and easy--so nice. If they renew their apartment lease in June, I have long-term tenants for the next year and a half or so. If not, I have a raised car park income of $75 pw until June.

Yay for me! So easy, it surprised me.

Quick-Take on the Alt FI Manifesto

Hmmm, what's this now? There is a lot of chatter about some sort of manifesto. What could cause such controversy in the PF world? THIS I have to check out!

(tries to read the Alt FI Manifesto*) Oh...kay...?

(finds no real intro, just a straight dive into nonsense words) WHAT EVEN IS THIS HORRIBLE WRITING

(scrolls to see if it gets better) OH GOD IT'S SO LONG AND THERE ARE NO REAL POINTS OR FACTS HERE

(it still doesn't make any sense) WAIT, EW, YEAH, THIS ISN'T NEW, IT'S JUST POLITICS

(reads something) GASP! A MIDDLE AGED WHITE HETEROSEXUAL MALE WROTE THIS? SUR-EFFING-PRISE

(starts skipping around the text for some semblance of meaning or personal finance content) I'M TOTALLY LOST, WHAT ARE YOUR EFFING POINTS, WHERE IS THE PF, I JUST SEE SELFISHNESS AND IGNORANCE AND HORRIBLE ARGUMENTS TO PERPETUATE CLASSISM, RACISM, AND SEXISM


(at so many points) OH. HELL. NO. *fury flare ups*

(gets to end) THIS IS NOT PF AND THERE WAS NEVER A POINT (except maybe to rile up people to drive traffic to sell tshirts and a book, as this post points out, s/o to Revanche for the link!



That was basically my thought progression from finding out that the Alt FI Manifesto was a thing (from Revanche's links) and then finding it and reading it. Well, I read as much as I could. It sounded mostly like utter nonsense to me. And there are so many awful bits that have clearly been repeated from the same bots that like to troll people on Twitter, right down to using SJW as a slur/insult.

I'm pretty disappointed that I gave it a click and that someone like that is out there in the personal finance community. I'm also surprised (I really shouldn't be) that so many agreed and offered support for what was written in the comments!



Sigh.
PF has always been a 'safe' community for me. I mean, surely there are PF gurus and bloggers who are racist and sexist while living their lives off line. Dave Ramsey has been slammed for being a terrible boss and bully, for example. The exalted Warren Buffett is casually sexist on the reg. As for the smaller potatoes in the mix, like other bloggers, I haven't always agreed with everyone's views (and vice versa), of course, but those discussions have been open minded and well mannered and not clearly manipulative. But I guess it was only a matter of time before PF was infiltrated by the nonsense pervading the political sphere as of late, and before the same base tactics used to get attention by '45' and his ilk were used by a blogger trying to do the same thing.

It makes me physically ill.

Money is, of course, political. I get that. But this feels and is different. Dangerous-different. These views? They kill and hurt people. They marginalize. They minimize suffering and life's inherent unfairnesses. And just like in the real world, they have NO PLACE in my community.








*the link above is an archived version of the original article and DOES NOT give the offending blog traffic.