Heh. Yeah, that was pre-internet. I might have gone crazy if that happened today. :)
Was that a more cost effective solution than selling the boat+house and moving into a small house or apartment? Or was the possible sailing trip around the world more of a motivating factor?
Well, my parents aren't with us anymore, so they can't refute me in saying this, but they didn't make the greatest financial decisions. They were only half-owners of the boat, so selling it would have been complicated. Also, from what little I understand (I was a sophomore in high school at the time and finances were not discussed at all... probably because my parents didn't focus on them much), the debt got out of control because of the use of credit cards to float payments. Selling the house may not have got them out of the trouble, though it's also possible they could have refinanced and made better choices. Considering we never did set off to travel the world, I have to imagine it wasn't that big of a motivator. Or, maybe, they stuck around because we were still in high school. I'll never know, I guess.
I do have a lot of great memories on that boat from before we lived on it. We used to go to Catalina island of the coast of California often to snorkel and scuba dive. Good times indeed. :)
Sorry about your parents being gone. And as for their financial choices...it sounds like a happy loving family more than made up for it.
That's pretty cool about Catalina. I live in Orange County and the choices are either a ferry or helicopter ride out there. Personal boat trip sounds great.
Random question regarding audio books: when you listen at 3x speed are you multitasking? Like even riding a bike at the gym? Or just laying in bed and listening+thinking?
It was an amazing, loving family. Priceless.
O.C.? Ah, cool! I grew up in Huntington Beach and used to surf the pier often. :)
As for audio books, it took me a while to get up to 3x. Even at normal speed, I needed to get through a couple books before I didn't have to keep hitting the 30s rewind button. Eventually I was able to bump up the speed over time. Now I can listen at 3x while driving or running without too much effort. If something is really good, and I feel I didn't absorbs it all, I'll sometimes just listen to it again. Some books have difficult narrators which require me to slow down. Others have so much data, text would probably be better (recently finished the Master Algorithm along with Superintelligence, two books which I will probably have to listen to again). I just finished The Origins of Virtue today and loved it.
Good call on the narrators. I'm currently listening to The Art of War narrated by Aidan Gillen, aka the actor who plays Littlefinger on Game of Thrones, cause I thought that would be amazing.
Unfortunately for me He is Irish, so occasionally my brain is busy working out what the fuck he said instead of listening to what he says next or thinking about the concepts. But it's my first audiobook, I just downloaded Audible, and I guess as with all things, there is a learning curve
@daut44: yes, there's a definitely learning curve. Like I said, it took me at least two books to not find myself wandering and then going, "whoa, what's going on?" and hitting the 30s rewind a few times. Eventually, my mind just clicked with it. It's funny, after I got used to 2x and 3x, listening at normal speed feels S...O... S...L...O...W...
It takes a while to get used to though, I and I realize it's not for everyone.