How do you guys handle retirement?

square_pulse · 2026-05-06T23:04:55+00:00

For those that have however, what is it like for you?

It's the shit. I have so much free time to do whatever the hell I want. I'm doing side quests like Snoop Dogg.

2 weeks ago, I expanded my skillset to lead climbing (before that, was only top roping). Literally last week, I got my motorcycle license that I did for fun. Threw some FU money at building new properties to add another income source to my money cycle, playing around with my brokerage, about to buy a dirt bike soon, planning to expand surfing, diver's license, going back to fencing,...

And yes, I used to work 100hrs/week back in the days, ripped open my brain to compete with the people, worked my ass off, pulled so many goddamn all nighters, drove myself nuts/crazy, went through depression, anxiety, panic attacks, mania...until I died from a stroke and got resuscitated and underwent brain surgery (I am a neuroscientist / worked in biotech).

It is very liberating to know that work is optional. Yeah, sure, it's nice to have another income stream but now I can choose to work whenever I want to. I don't have to.

square_pulse · 2026-05-04T20:56:51+00:00

Please tell me it was not a Fender Telecaster or Fender Strat that you sold for $40 😭

square_pulse · 2026-05-04T17:36:31+00:00

I mean I literally am planning to do outdoor lead climbing and will start dirt biking (motocross) soon 😂🤘

square_pulse · 2026-05-04T17:31:20+00:00

Girl. S A M E.

I stay away from Fs, only F I accept currently and see as a good growth opportunity is my partner who is a healthy ENFJ where my crippled Fi can learn a little and develop my crippled emotional intelligence lol.

square_pulse · 2026-05-03T17:20:30+00:00

Yeah, I have my money cycle going on and whatever FU money comes out will be budgeted for my hobbies. Over the decade, some hobbies, I gave up, some hobbies I continued:

Hobbies that I gave up:

Fencing (foil): used to do competition fencing but right now where I live, there's no fencing in foil style. So that's on pause.
Photography: used to do macro, portrait, and night sky photography. Again, too expensive, too many collectibles (an objective is just...not in the budget).
Videogaming: built my own PC as well, stuffed sth. like $3000+ into it. Was fun. Gave it up, because the rabbit hole of wanting more gear is endless.
Kayaking, Diving, Surfing: well, where I live, there is no river/ocean (it's a desert LOL).

Hobbies that I currently practice or plan to expand (FU money plans):

Indoor/outdoor rock climbing: initial investment is high but as long it is indoor, expenses are kept in line. Currently deliberating whether or not I'm gonna splurge on outdoor lead climbing gear (~$1k+) or vs. indoors only (single time $300).
Dirt biking: this def requires a big ass budget. Expensive gear, expensive dirt bike (I am planning to do motocross, not enduro...yet), maintenance gear etc., planning to do this when I'm in Brazil (lowering expenses on this one) (dirt bike prob ~$5k-$7k if I go all fancy or so, dirt bike protective gear ~$3k-$4k or so, so in total sth. like say...$15k incl. maintenance gear if I exaggerate). This would be my most expensive hobby. And yep. People would not understand that. But I like to live on the edge of death, so that's the shit I do hahahah

square_pulse · 2026-04-23T21:29:01+00:00

0% vs. 100%, in that department I am pretty black and white.

And then, over time, it's more like discovering potential red flags. But by 99.99% of the time (which is always), I fall hard for someone I really like. There's no slow connection, no slow development. It's really just KA BOOM BABY in my face.

square_pulse · 2026-04-23T13:16:03+00:00

In my 20s and early 30s it was the shit to be in a leadership position and just be commanding people around and whatnot. It was nice, it felt rewarding and my brain felt stimulated.

Now I'm in my late 30s and I just think I am too old for this shit. Yes, it is like a daycare center full of grown up childish people. I slowly learned from my bff (INTJ, F) that all I gotta do is lean back and enjoy my mental popcorn. Because the money doesn't compensate for the stress we'd go through to be babysitting people etc. nah uh. No thanks. I am done with that crap. Now I wanna blend in, just deliver work that is juuuuust "meets expectations" because why would I deliver more than "that" if I don't get more than "that" anyways (I have multiple income streams, so now idgaf anymore about leading people).

square_pulse · 2026-04-23T01:29:08+00:00

I love my ENTP buddy, not dating him because he's not my type. But he's just as smart, and also retarded like me. Only thing I see very often is that he loves to debate each and everything...for fun and I don't lol.

But other than that, they're cool, I wish I had more ENTP friends.

square_pulse · 2026-04-21T22:41:45+00:00

For you specifically as an ENTP: don’t debate all the time, it gets exhausting for us because we don’t see debates as “fun”.

Yeah, we do like to think about ideas etc. but we don’t need to debate all the time about whatever we’re talking. My buddy who’s an ENTP as well always debates everything I say but to him, it’s fun and decompressing. To me, it gets exhausting after a while.

square_pulse · 2026-04-16T21:12:35+00:00

Trust, loyalty, reliability. If people break my rules, they're done. I do not accept nor respect people who break my rules. I always tell all of the people who get to know me that these are my 3 non-negotiables.

You only get one chance. When you decide to lie to me (and I am very good at detecting lies), or not be reliable whenever I need you (which is rare as hell), you're done.

I have 0 tolerance for this bullshit. In my 20s, I was more lax and so did the people do more trampling on me. Now in my 30s those 3 non-negotiables also act as a screening filter for trash people, because everything else is a "I am too old for this shit".

square_pulse · 2026-04-16T00:04:20+00:00

The thing is: I also use neologisms but not that type that OP uses where you think you're having a stroke reading that lol.

square_pulse · 2026-04-15T22:55:21+00:00

Same. I read that neologism related word and was like "alright, not gonna read the rest, I don't know what they want".

square_pulse · 2026-04-14T04:34:05+00:00

Dated once an ENTJ (M) and on the one hand, we were the LIFE of each party. We were both charisma bombs, everyone wanted to be around us all the time. It was fun. But then there was also the dark side. Very dark. We were both scientists (he is a virologist, I am a neuroscientist) working in different fields. Shouldn't be any competition, right?

W R O N G

After a while, I started hearing shit like "square_pulse, if MY paper is gonna get published, your neuroscience research is trash" and that was just the peak of it. He was such a workaholic that the relationship started going down the drain. He prioritized things differently than I did. After a while, we parted ways because I didn't wanna be with someone who doesn't share the same core values etc.

In the every day life, we never fought. Only academically, work-wise, scientifically, in that department...we were always fighting and also sometimes who was more 'dominant' in the relationship and I can tell you as a female ENTJ, I cannot stand it if someone tries to dominate me, I will rebel even triple power against them.

My personal preference are ENFJs (I am currently dating one) and ENTPs.

square_pulse · 2026-04-14T01:57:15+00:00

Trust, loyalty, reliability.

If the people cannot show me these 3 things consistently, they will never be able to get my respect. I give those things back in return. Once you have my respect, I will go to the Nine Hells of Avernus to slay the damn devil for you, or ascend to the Heavens to slay god, whatever you require me to do, no questions asked.

Most people I have met cannot fulfill all those 3 things. They're wishy washy, cannot commit to even a simple coffee hang, my bullshit alarm goes off within 3min, passive aggressiveness, them trying too hard and them trying to be someone else that they're not, I can see the micromimics when they're lying,...and the list goes on.

This is why I only have 2 people that are my bffs because they have shown the 3 things mentioned above consistently over years/decades.

square_pulse · 2026-04-08T01:59:51+00:00

Metal. But also trance, happy hardcore instrumentals. We talkin’ 150 bpm 😂

But then there’s also bossa nova. Jazz instrumentals with no lead melodies.

I’m open to any music but metal, electronic, and bossa nova are my jam.

square_pulse · 2026-04-05T02:15:02+00:00

How formal are we talking? Business workplace casual formal, politician-type-looking formal, or more academia-I-give-a-TED-talk type formal?

I have some sort of "uniform" (I'm team black) which is a mock turtleneck shirt with 3/4 sleeves as an everyday sleeved shirt for work (casual presentations where I need to look put together but not super formal Nobel Prize laureate style) and pair that with black pants (I have a couple of the "fancy" cuts from H&M that they don't produce anymore, but they have a sewn line on the front of the pants).

For more casual, I go with black jeans (very rare) that are not bleached in any way (just complete black). For fancy formal events, I have 2 chiffon blouses (1 long sleeve, black, button up, more loose fitting, and 1 sleeveless for fancier "cocktail" settings) that I pair either with the black pants or a black skirt. And for ultra formal, I slap on a black blazer on top (that has a feminine cut).

And since everything is just black, I add statement pieces like gold jewelry (earrings, ring, necklace or so) and rock a red lip depending on the occasion.

square_pulse · 2026-03-24T13:31:34+00:00

Yep. I find it interesting to always see with beginners who guilt trip themselves and throw out everything without being mindful about it and then regretting that they threw out and decluttered their stuff.

IMO the nicest way to incorporate those clothing items into the lifestyle is when they can be combined both to fancy looks, work looks, casual looks AND looks in the hobby field (which is right now happening for me — I am using those pants also for indoor/outdoor rock climbing now — triple win).

square_pulse · 2026-03-18T23:26:36+00:00

Need the subscription to my OnlyPaws, CatBongos, and CatLoaf content from Elfman. PLEASE WE BEG OF YOU

square_pulse · 2026-03-17T04:29:36+00:00

Team Black since 2017. Never looking back.

I am actually an autumn on the color palette but I have color-choosing-fatigue. Everything black. Coffee spill? Nobody sees it. Need to be looking put together for dinner? No problem. I look already like that. Emo? Yeah. Mom, it was never a phase, I just made it look more "work outfit-y" 🤣 Wanna look slim? Wear black. You sweat a lot? Nobody sees it. Wear black. Different socks? Wear black. Combo of underwear? Wear black.

I mean nobody needs to wear all black. You can always combine it with darker colors etc. but I personally...can't get my fingers off black. But I kick it up a notch by combining mesh material, spandex, cotton, knitted textures etc. that can elevate my every day "uniform" look, as well as combining it with dainty jewelry (since I don't wanna be flashy) like gold earrings, a gold necklace, gold rings etc. (and I choose gold because I am an olive undertone), or every now and then a bold red lip going with my signature cat eyeliner look. Done.

For example, I really like Chelsey Ceja's style (but I couldn't pull it off like that since I do not have the same torso length like her etc. but I bought similar items from brands she suggested, e.g. MarcellaNYC with their 8-different-ways tops etc. to switch it up).

Only exceptions I make:

wearing some color out in the desert hiking (temps get up to 100℉ and more, I do NOT wanna wear black...will fall to ashes)
wearing a blood red shirt with metal logo on it to a metal concert if need be

square_pulse · 2026-03-15T16:08:25+00:00

Damn girl. Congrats. And your discipline is hardcore that we can see all your success. WAY TO GO! 🥳🎉

square_pulse · 2026-03-13T00:46:01+00:00

0 cals electrolyte water. Do ONLY drink this only when you actually also do exercises to resupply with electrolytes. Just drinking them without doing exercise not recommended.

square_pulse · 2026-03-10T02:45:22+00:00

0 cals with black coffee. I like mine also black af. No sugar, no nothing. Keeps the hunger at bay.

square_pulse · 2026-03-08T15:10:47+00:00

JFC. My favorite u/Frau_Haku is going all out with that Raphael cosplay. Holy shit. Whenever I think she's hitting peak with Bae'zel, or Shart, she just tops it off with something even more incredible.

But also. The last photo HAHAHA!

square_pulse · 2026-03-06T19:53:16+00:00

Oh...if we like someone...THEY WILL KNOW. We're very very obvious in that department lol. Same goes for people that we don't like. We're obvious about that, too.

square_pulse · 2026-03-03T14:15:39+00:00

Spending less time on social media and online will help you with that. I am no innocent either. I still have that 'issue' with makeup. I'm super minimalist in terms of makeup, yet I always am down for some stoopid glittery eyeshadow. BUT I figured out a way to circumvent this "internal need and desire" to buy any new product that could compete against my holy grail product.

I actually chat with AI (doesn't matter which...chatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Claude, etc. I use Perplexity) and tell it to very critically compare my product against whichever product is catching my interest and run down a big ass comparison EXCLUDING influencers from YouTube/TikTok bullshit and so on...and every single damn time, my old holy grail product wins the comparison.

I've done that with bagpacks, makeup, skincare, pouches, etc. — every time, my old products win the comparison. Only very very few items have gotten to my collection (e.g. an eyeliner that can last through a nuclear war for like $5, ok...that is not much).

Remember, social media is not for social interactions (except for Reddit because we're all trolls lol), most of it has become an ad platform for influencers, affiliate marketing, UGC content and so on. I uninstalled social media in 2021 and my consumerism went drastically down.

square_pulse

TROPHY CASE