tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post2017448456233932633..comments2023-09-26T09:31:52.849-07:00Comments on The Flamboyant Introvert: Ninja WarriorBakari Kafelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06037720771479419105noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-69281783955390331352019-08-12T08:36:27.095-07:002019-08-12T08:36:27.095-07:00Haha, actually what's happening in 2020 is pre...Haha, actually what's happening in 2020 is pretty much the exact opposite of that!<br />A few years ago I bought a 4-unit property, moved into one, and rented out the others, and I've been rehabbing each unit as it becomes empty and re-renting at market rent. I also had my first kid a year ago. My wife still works (4 days a week), and I work a tiny bit (6 days a month), but while she is at work I watch the little goober, as with the rental income the family doesn't need much and I'm able to contribute half the family finances on just my 6 days a month of work.<br />So I can more or less say I am semi-retired now.<br />However, I haven't really been saving anything, and while we could live like this indefinitely, it'd be nice to have some surplus for vacations or a bigger house someday if we decide to have another kid <br />- (tried adopting, as I talk about in one post, but it turns out that is extremely difficult to do, as there are a lot more people looking for babies than there are babies that need homes) -<br /><br />So I decided to accept a one year deployment with my Coast Guard Reserve job (the only other option was to quit all together)<br />Because of the way military pay, benefits, and taxes work, I'll net the same take-home as I would making around $142k (I'm used to earning somewhere on the order of 20-30 a year, so to me that's a pretty massive amount!), plus around 60k in education benefits I can gift to children.<br />The catch is 9 months of that year are out of the country.<br /><br />Our work schedule is likely to be 12 hours shifts 2 days in a row, followed by being off for 48 hours.<br />I won't have a family to go home to, I'm not into drinking or the other stuff that guys like to do when hanging out after work, so I'm going to have a lot of free time.<br /><br />I have about a dozen topics waiting, with titles but no content, saved in draft mode...<br /><br />--------------<br /><br />I believe there were around 90 people who were chosen to try out. 43 of us fell on the 2nd obstacle. 30 went on to the next round (17 finished the course), and only 11 or so of them were on the episode. In order to show some more failures, 13 of people who made it to the end didn't even appear on the final TV cut.Bakarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04002145755975841287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-89078203306696605652019-08-06T08:30:23.107-07:002019-08-06T08:30:23.107-07:00It was via MMM but not sure whether it was via the...It was via MMM but not sure whether it was via the forums or just noticed you made a comment on a post (like 4-5 years ago hence can't really remember)? I had a brief read years ago of a few of your posts but randomly stumbled across it again recently somehow and have probably read about 30 or so posts, so still plenty more to get through :)<br /><br />It would be great to see some new posts again, you are a very interesting person! What's happening in 2020 then? You reached FI or quitting your job or something like that?<br /><br />I'm currently working part time (75% of full time hours) but am going to quit next April to try some other ways to make money outside of a 9-5 office job. I like doing manual things as well so one idea was to be a gardener (again part time) but we'll see when I get there I think.<br /><br />"If they happen to film reasonably close by you, it'd be worth trying, just to be able to say you did it." - Living in the UK pretty much wherever it's filmed will be close enough and not cost much either. In fact I just checked, it's in Manchester which is easily drivable from where I am in about 3-4 hours.<br /><br />I assumed they just showed everyone that gets on the show in some capacity. Maybe they have way more people doing it in the US version, or maybe I am just wrong (likely) :) - either way it's a shame you didn't get any air time.<br /><br />Cheers again for sharing your interesting perspectives with the world.theFIREstarter.co.ukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11161550795321520113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-82540778883661008542019-07-31T17:48:46.585-07:002019-07-31T17:48:46.585-07:00Haha, thanks! I'm guessing you found this blo...Haha, thanks! I'm guessing you found this blog via the MMM forums? What else did you read? I haven't updated this blog in over a year! I'm planning to start it up again in 2020 though, when I have so much free time I'll be searching for things to do with it. <br /><br />In case I was too subtle in this post, training for ANW was incredible fun, I met lots of cool people, and got really really fit. The experience of actually being on the show, however, sucked. Quite a bit really. There's a part of me that would really like to be able to say I at least made it past round 1, (not to mention having some proof I was really there, since my run never aired), but its just not worth the time and expense of the trip. If they happen to film reasonably close by you, it'd be worth trying, just to be able to say you did it.Bakarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04002145755975841287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-33944959099068471292019-07-30T13:56:45.563-07:002019-07-30T13:56:45.563-07:00Ninja Warrior as well now!?!?!? You are fast becom...Ninja Warrior as well now!?!?!? You are fast becoming my idol :)<br /><br />I so want to get onto Ninja Warrior UK! Will have to use your video as inspiration to see if I can make it through to at least the interviews (I applied a few years ago but never even heard back, my application was pretty uninspiring)<br /><br />CheerstheFIREstarter.co.ukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11161550795321520113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-15917904586569353452016-09-29T04:16:35.280-07:002016-09-29T04:16:35.280-07:00nice articlenice articleRick Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16511651687550435222noreply@blogger.com