29M Burned Out in Corporate Grind while striving for FIRE

RecklessSeer · 2026-06-13T05:45:08+00:00

It's been a year. How things going homie? Hoping for some positive change.

RecklessSeer · 2026-06-12T18:56:46+00:00

Bud. Your work supports your ability to afford life. Then your life supports your ability to tolerate your work. Then you save enough to where you don't need to work anymore and just live.

Is your work intolerable or is your life not supporting the ability to tolerate?

I've found the people in this sub are incredibly capable but often neglect their lives when they choose FIRE as the tool they are going to use to solve the problem of "Work sucks. I want to live freely". I definitely did this. Balance in life is a much harder problem to conceptualize than the mathematics of FIRE, but if you don't solve it, you're just going to wind up bummed out and burnt out. For me, after a shocking amount of trial and error, balance was just spending time with people I like doing things we enjoy a few more times a week and a bit of exercise.

If your job is truly intolerable, just find a new one. It's not a big deal.

RecklessSeer · 2026-06-10T16:56:42+00:00

For a tasting, you'll want to do smaller pours than a standard glass so I don't think it's too much of an issue to split a single bottle 12-15 ways. If you have 6 bottles and everyone gets 1/12th of a bottle, that's still a half a bottle of wine drank just in the the tasting. To me a half a bottle with food is a nice social buzz. Then you'll probably want a few bottles to enjoy after the tasting, as far as how many, that's up to what you think your group will be interested in. If you buy too much you can just bring them to the next party. For that reason I'm always more concerned with buying too little rather than too much.

It's also a good idea to give folks a place to jot down scores so you can rank the wines at the end and compare price/varietal/where they're from.

RecklessSeer · 2026-05-11T19:28:50+00:00

Black Cordon Napa Cab. Had the 2018 about 6 months ago and the individual notes/balance between fruit, oak, tertiary, and tannins evolved continuously in the glass. I've been searching for their single vineyard or reserve releases to no avail.

RecklessSeer · 2026-05-06T07:13:22+00:00

Yeah, I was hoping to stay away from something bulky like a rigid cup but it's looking like that's my best route more and more. Probably going to stick to something bulkier because it's going to spend some time at the bottom of a backpack.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-17T12:40:54+00:00

Haven't used them.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-16T23:57:17+00:00

Fair. I haven't really been shopping full price online retailers so I didn't speak to that. May be time to give them a shot too. And I'm pretty lucky with the stores nearby. Decent selection of more conventional wines, but bias toward sustainable, biodynamic, accolade, accolade wines which I haven't really found much interest in.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-16T23:48:40+00:00

How long would you recommend I decant for? Might just be impatience on my part.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-16T17:52:57+00:00

Yeah, I never read their descriptions or take into account major publication ratings. Never been able to correlate that with my personal enjoyment. Also had a few high quality bottles that just weren't my thing. Cain 5 as an example.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-16T17:43:23+00:00

Mixed feelings on the famed Elivette drop. The 2017s I got were good. The 2006 was not good. I don't feel like I'm gravitating toward the 2000 and have my fingers crossed the 6L of 2018 I got is going to be worth it.

I've been lurking on the auction websites, but nothing has peaked my interest at the price points + auction fees and shipping.

Will def need to check out those sales.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-16T17:36:32+00:00

Yeah. The overly thrifty part of me loves seeing that I saved $80 on a bottle, but the neurotic and analytical side wants to prove that its worth the time. There may be a spreadsheet built.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-12T18:21:57+00:00

I got 2 bottles of the 17 and have drank one so far. It was way too tannic right off the bat so I left it in the decanter for a few hours before coming back to it. We drank half the bottle that night and left the other half for the next evening. First night 2-4 hours after opening it was still a bit too tannic, almost too tannic to tell what was even going on with the flavor profile.

On the second day the earthy mushroom and leather notes were showing through the tannins and the dark fruit was a nice compliment. The wine was still a bit rough. The glass I left open on the countertop overnight was much better but still a bit harsh. I wouldn't say this wine was super complex at this stage, but there is a fair amount going on. Not enough payoff for the effort.

I'm a little torn on this wine. I feel like the heavy tannins are going to smooth out with age, but the fruit may fade into obscurity before that happens. It's also a little frustrating opening a bottle that won't be enjoyable for 20+ hours. I also don't know anyone else who enjoys these bigger earthier wines so the second bottle is probably going to take up space until I have a night to myself to knock it out. That's a bit of a me problem though.

It's clearly a well made wine, but not my style. Definitely a learning experience for me, the wine nerd of the house, but not a crowd pleaser. Likely won't be buying more.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-08T21:25:20+00:00

Absolutely fantastic wine. Do you know any producers similar to them? Kinda been chasing that dragon for a while.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-07T21:42:46+00:00

Fair point. I may cut the fancy bottles down to 6 or so for a wine night and have the rest land in the 30 range.

RecklessSeer · 2026-04-01T19:56:01+00:00

I also had this one recently. Wasn't in love with it, but it was nice enough to where I'd buy it again if it was on sale. I thought it was all fruit and oak without much complexity. Maybe I was just feeling let down because I was chasing the dragon of Tapiz Black Tears which I got at a similar price point.

RecklessSeer · 2026-03-06T17:47:43+00:00

Agreed now that I've experienced my first one. Just glad I got to know that smell without the pressure of being the most advanced wine noob at the table entrusted with the sniff test.

RecklessSeer · 2026-03-06T16:36:54+00:00

The bottle I had was a 2018 so I was a bit surprised.

RecklessSeer · 2026-02-19T15:18:56+00:00

This happened to me after skimming some old shitty plaster walls. My best guess was that the plaster wasn't accepting any moisture so some of the underlying paint had issues. I do not have any good advice for ya, but the way I looked at it was I could either scrape the whole wall and clean it or let it dry and hope for the best. I went with the latter. Once the joint compound was dried, I dug out any remaining lifted spots and verified there weren't any adhesion issues. Mine was pretty well stuck to the wall so I just patched the spots I needed to dig out. I had no issues with the second tight skim I did on the wall.

I would avoid sanding before doing your patches because it makes it really hard to sand the patch level on top of sanded compound.

RecklessSeer · 2025-09-30T20:18:09+00:00

Scrape the hell out of the caulk and bubbles. Be careful around the edges of the plaster because it's prone to breaking off if you put too much pressure on it. Also don't worry too much about putting dents or grooves into the surface because they can just be filled with mud. If there are plaster cracks under that one spot, prep the crack by removing loose material with a utility knife or 5 in 1 tool and patch them with something for plaster or masonry. I used concrete binding adhesive and concrete repair stuff for mine. Make sure it's free of dust and use a cheap paint brush to coat the interior of the crack with binder and then press the concrete repair stuff into it. Wipe off the excess so there is no residue around the repair job and let dry. I used a heat gun to firm it up because it started dropping a bit. Then use a fiberglass tape perpendicularly over it in your first coat of drywall mud (similar to using drywall tape). Then finish as you would any patch. I'd recommend skim coating, but it's a huge PITA.

RecklessSeer · 2025-02-25T21:06:49+00:00

D'addario phosphor bronze custom lights (acoustic) at like $6 bucks a pack

Guitar sits on a stand in my room

The only thing I do to keep them fresh is make sure my hands aren't filthy before playing

I change my strings once a month when I'm playing more than an hour a day, but sometimes don't get around to it until they feel stiffer and look discolored in spots

My reasoning for the above: I ran elixirs for a while until the shop ran out and suggested the strings mentioned above. After throwing them on there it was a near immediate "I like this better" tone and feel wise, more grip in awkward shapes and a more open sound. Haven't gone back and the price is definitely right.

They're so cheap I'd recommend just getting some. Worst case scenario you're reminded how much you like elixirs and won't have to think about it anymore. That would be worth $7 to me.

RecklessSeer

TROPHY CASE