The Month Of Troy, NY: August 2023 Recap

Somehow we’re less than a month from the fall solstice and I’m not ready 🙂 . Luckily at that time, I’ll be flipping the seasons upside down by flying to the Southern Hemisphere 😉 . But for now, let’s see what I got up to during the month of August!

I Moved To Troy, NY!

After an amazing time in Montréal, I headed back to the US and settled in a new-to-me small city: Troy, NY! I’ve passed through Troy countless times on the way to Albany or NYC, but haven’t ever spent time there. My Partner and I picked it randomly as a part of our continued “pick a new city we’ve never been to” style exploration of our country and once again, I’m pleasantly shocked 🙂 .

Troy is only 10 minutes from the state capital of Albany, but it’s significantly less expensive (you’ll see what I mean when I post the giant and affordable Airbnb we stayed in on Insta in a few days 😉 ) while also having a surprising abundance of fantastic restaurants, cafes, breweries and even green spaces right in the city.

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Troy sits on the Hudson River, which is a few steps from our apartment. Behind our apartment you could see a tall hill that sits in the middle of Troy that has a large park on top of it. There were trees in every direction along with water, and I kept forgetting I was in a city.

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We had a fantastic month exploring this new place and despite its relatively small size, I didn’t get to all the places I wanted to eat and explore so I guess that means we’ll be back 🙂 . I’m loving finding new wonderful and affordable places in our own backyard.

I Played Video Games

I actually beat Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and I can hardly believe it! As I mentioned last month, this was my first time playing a story-based game so this was my first time experiencing ‘big boss’ battles and I beat the big bad! It did involve a lot of screaming, but I did it!…I’m still working on my “poise under pressure” as my Partner calls it 🙂 .

Anyway, since I officially finished that game, I moved on to the second, recently released Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and have been working through that at a furious pace. I’m trying to finish it in the next week or so before I head to Australia, but I’m not sure that’s possible 🙂 .

Even at my furious pace of gaming for several hours a day, it still took me a solid month to win the first game. We’ll see though! I’ll have fun trying and then worse case, I can pick it back up when I return to the US in December. In the meantime, I’m having an equally fun and frustrating time 🙂 .

I Got Money Back From 4 Years Ago

Something strange happened this month. I got a notification from Venmo that someone had sent me $300 – someone I didn’t know. And after listening to John Mulaney’s latest special, my first thought was that someone accidentally sent me someone else’s money…possibly for illegal activities.

Well it turns out to be less exciting than that. Apparently the utilities company I used in Seattle overcharged customers and were sued as a result. They lost and had to pay the customers back and it turns out I was one of those customers 🙂 .

Apparently I applied to get reimbursed, gave them my Venmo address and then totally forgot about it 6 months later. What a wild ride 🙂 . Maybe I should make a note about people that might owe me money so I’m not so confused in the future.

I Learned Spanish

I’ve now realized…going to Montréal and being around French fucked me up a bit 🙂 . My Spanish seems to have taken a step back and I don’t like that at all. So I doubled down on my learning this month.

I’ll tell you how I did that below, but overall I’m amused by how much practical experience has changed my original far-fetched retirement plan. Originally my Mom and I planned to learn a new language every year of retirement. First Spanish, then French, then who knows what 🙂 . Well, I’ve since discovered that becoming bilingual is not that simple 🙂 . Learning another language is a lifelong pursuit that you have to keep up or lose and that hasn’t been as obvious until this moment.

So I’m all in on Spanish until further notice and here’s what I did to get back into it:

• Texting my Mom in Spanish
• Weekly calls in Spanish with my Mom
• Watching FilmTube videos from Spanish speaking presenters
• Watching Community in Spanish

And I think that this renewed focus is working. I encountered Spanish sentences without translation in a film, multiple books and What We Do In The Shadows Season 5 and understood it. I love when my plans work 🙂 .

I Hung Out With People

This month involved some of my usual virtual meetups, such as that weekly Spanish call with my Mom and Weekly Movie Nights where we watched the below. If you’re curious about my ratings of movies, I have a Letterboxd account here.

1. Red, White & Royal Blue
2. Barbie
3. Searching
4. Missing
5. Elvis
6. One Night In Miami…
7. Top Gun: Maverick
8. NOPE
9. Tár

I Read 28 Books

This month I read:

1. Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey & Ben Miller
2. Shiver by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
3. Lucas by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
4. Shatter by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
5. Snow by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
6. Torch by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
7. Rowe by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
8. Devour by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
9. Ian by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
10. Psycho Romeo by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
11. Och, Ness! by Eryn Hawk
12. Kríe Captivity by Kora Knight
13. Zercy by Kora Knight
14. Rookie Move by Riley Hart & Neve Wilder
15. False Start by Riley Hart & Neve Wilder
16. Want Me by Neve Wilder
17. Try Me by Neve Wilder
18. Show Me by Neve Wilder
19. Unwrap Him by Nyla K
20. Queried Sick by Dallas Smith
21. Egotistical Puckboy by Eden Finley & Saxon James
22. Irresponsible Puckboy by Eden Finley & Saxon James
23. Foolish Puckboy by Eden Finley & Saxon James
24. King Of Thieves by Saxon James
25. Master Of Mayhem by Saxon James
26. Presidential Chaos by Saxon James
27. Barred Desires by Ashley James
28. Kismet by Ashley James

Another month, another new author I became obsessed with 🙂 . I devoured the Unbreakable Bonds Series by Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott and a few of its spin offs, which were interesting mixes of underground crime and romance. Then got tuckered out from plowing through those books so quickly and moved on to some other amazing authors I discovered. I’ve been so fortunate to find so many new authors this year that I enjoy.

Also, this happened this month and I can hardly believe it:

I guess my goal of focusing less on books and more on video games this year isn’t going to come to fruition 😉 – there’s always next year. If you’re curious about what I’m reading and my ratings of these books, I have a Goodreads account you can check out here.

I Wrote 5 Posts

In case you missed it, this month I published the below posts:

1. The Month Of Montréal: July 2023 Recap
2. Celebrating 2 Years Of Running: My Progress and Revelations
3. Slow Travel Review: Montréal, Canada – The Land Of Poutine, Bagels & Acrobatics
4. My Favorite Nomad Hack Of 2023: A Conditioner Bar
5. Amazon Lockers and Hub Locker+ Review: A Helpful Nomad Delivery Option?

In addition to that, I recorded a podcast episode, answered questions for a magazine and did an interview for a bank. I’ll let you know when all that stuff is live in case you’re interested. As for the interview with the bank – this is the first time I’ve done something like that and I’m curious to see the outcome…and if it’s similar to what I actually said 🙂 . I also did a live Q&A for the Women’s Personal Finance Insiders Group, which was a fun time.

And in this month’s episode of “what’s wild in my inbox” I discovered and declined:

• Partnering with a web service I’ve never used (which was a no since I don’t endorse anything I don’t use and love myself), a virtual money coach company (I guess AI is already infiltrating the personal finance space?) and a new money management app
• Working with the suspicious company that is Masterworks – again

• Working with a company that claims to be about donating to charity, but I read their website and couldn’t figure out how they do what they claim…
• Joining a media company that reps black creators, which is something possibly interesting that I haven’t heard of that before, but not something I’m looking for at this time
• Working with a company that wanted to turn my blog posts into YouTube videos for me with stock photos, which sounds sus
• Partnering with a company that helps people purchase lottery tickets online to which I say “fuck no!”:

Physical

Sleep

My sleep this month was a little weird and I can’t pinpoint why 🙂 . I was able to fall asleep easily, stay asleep and get at least 8 hours a night, but I often still awakened tired, which is not normal for me these days. I suspect that means I need to relax more 😉 .

Food

This month I ate keto and calorie counted for half the month and explored Troy through its food during the rest of it. I’ve also still been eating back my exercise calories, which has been working well so far. I think this balance of focusing on health for part of the month and eating anything I want for the rest of it is going well. It’s allowed me to enjoy delicious food such as this:

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Exercise

I’m still walking everywhere and running regularly. I’ve found great routes in Troy that help me avoid traffic lights and run along the water. It’s fun to find new routes in new cities. 

Mental

Learning

So it’s time for my favorite segment: Fun Facts Nobody Asked For! Here’s what I learned and explored this month:

Troy, NY

• Troy, NY has a population of 51,401 (in 2020) while there are over a million people in the metro area
• Troy is the home of “Uncle Sam” because according to legend, it’s based on a man named Samuel Wilson, a Troy native
• There are a lot of places near Troy with the word “kill” in the name, such as Catskill, New York. I didn’t know until this month that “kill” is derived from Middle Dutch and means “creek.” All this time I thought they named the town after threatening cats because there are statues of cats all over the town. I like this real explanation much better 🙂

Astronomy

This month I made a point of watching sunsets over the river almost every night and sunrises when I was awake that early (which wasn’t often 😉 ). They were all especially beautiful because there aren’t that many hills around Troy to obscure the view. I was also excited to see the Supermoon this month, but it was sadly too cloudy that night for me to see it. Damn you clouds 🙂 !

Flora

Here’s one problem with playing so much Zelda: I’ve started seeing plants and calling out their names in Zelda..which are not usually their real names. Oops! At least I’m learning even if it’s not accurate IRL 🙂 .

Other than that, I saw these local plants this month:

Eastern White Pine, Red Maple, American Beech, Eastern Hemlock, Sugar Maple, Purple Loosestrife, White Baneberry, Common Milkweed, Wild Carrot, Partridgeberry, New England Aster, and Yellow Birch

Fauna

The only animals I saw this month were the usual Eastern Gray Squirrel and White-Tailed Deer.

Birds

Birdwatching this month turned up the usual suspects:

Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Song Sparrow, Red-Tailed Hawk, Eastern Phoebe, American Robin, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird and Gray Catbird

Creativity

I’ve been reflecting on creation this month and I’ve realized that I only feel the physical urge to create specific types of art: nonfiction writing and photography. When I’m feeling creative, those two things feel like they’re trying to burst out of me.

I read a book recently about a poet that made me realize that this feeling might be how other people feel about their types of art: poetry, drawing etc and that made me feel less bad about not having the same compulsion with those media. Though I’m not sure why I would feel bad not being pulled to different media in the first place 🙂 .

Anyway, my creative urges actually feel different even between writing and photography, which I find interesting. With photography I feel like I’m going through the world normally and suddenly it’s like “getting tone” in Top Gun: Maverick and I feel like I have to take a picture of that thing with that specific composition or colors or light.

However, writing feels like words are bursting out of me and I can’t write them down fast enough. That’s why I often have errors on this very blog 🙂 . I skip obvious words when I originally write my sentences because my fingers can’t keep up and at times I miss adding words back in.

I’ve tried a speak to text solution instead and interestingly it didn’t work for me. Maybe my brain just doesn’t think in complete sentences 🙂 . Anyway, because of these bursts of inspiration, I often have to stop what I’m doing to write something down before it’s gone.

When my brain decides to spit out a clear or concise turn of phrase to describe an idea I was wrestling with or a better way to describe my thoughts, I have to jot it down because I will 100% forget 🙂 . So I’ve been reflecting on how my creativity works and how I can make the process easier on myself going forward.

Emotional

My emotions were pretty good this month. I tried to rest when I felt tired, explore when I got antsy and continue to meet my goals for the year, such as gaming as much as I wanted 🙂 . It was also lovely to see family and friends more often. It was a good month.

Money

2023 is 2/3 complete and so far my money situation is going very smoothly. I’m on track to hit my budget number of $22,700 and still have a healthy cash cushion. I’m planning to finally touch my investments next month for the first time 3 whole years after retiring  and will write about that experience step-by-step here in case it helps someone. In the meantime, my month net worth update says it all:

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Conclusion

And that’s what I got up to in August! It’s been a fantastic summer and I’m very excited to see what happens next. After a quick stop in NH, I’m finally jet setting Down Under to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef for the first time in my life. My Mom and I began planning this trip in 2018 and I can’t believe it’s finally happening! I’ll be sure to update y’all every step of the way. Until next time 🙂 .

If you’re interested in the other weekly and monthly retirement updates I’ve written, they’re all here:

Weekly (2020)

1. Early Retirement Week 1: The Freak Out
2. Early Retirement Week 2: The Vacation
3. Early Retirement Week 3: The Whiplash
4. Early Retirement Week 4: The Heartbeat
5. Early Retirement Week 5: The Election
6. Early Retirement Week 6: The Trophy
7. Early Retirement Week 7: The Train
8. Early Retirement Week 8: The Challenge
9. Early Retirement Week 9: The Question
10. Early Retirement Week 10: The Game
11. Early Retirement Week 11: The Recharge
12. Early Retirement Week 12: The Holiday

Monthly (2021)

1. The Month Of Rest: Early Retirement Month 4 (January 2021)
2. The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)
3. The Month of Change: Early Retirement Month 6 (March 2021)
4. The Month of Atlanta: Early Retirement Month 7 (April 2021)
5. The Month of Portland, Maine: Early Retirement Month 8 (May 2021)
6. The Month Of New Hampshire: Early Retirement Month 9 (June 2021)
7. The Month Of The Northeast: Early Retirement Month 10 (July 2021)
8. The Month Of New York State: Early Retirement Month 11 (August 2021)
9. The Month Of City Hopping: Early Retirement Month 12 (September 2021)
10. The Month Of The Southwest USA: October 2021 Recap
11. The Month Of Santa Fe: November 2021 Recap
12. The Month Of Family: December 2021 Recap

Monthly (2022)

1. The Month Of Freezing My Balls Off: January 2022 Recap
2. The Month Of Thailand: February 2022 Recap
3. The Month Of Spring(?): March 2022 Recap
4. The Month Of México: April 2022 Recap
5. The Month of Mérida: May 2022 Recap
6. The Month of Seattle: June 2022 Recap
7. The Month of Washington State: July 2022 Recap
8. The Month Of New Hampshire: August 2022 Recap
9. The Month Of Maine: September 2022 Recap
10. The Month Of Acadia: October 2022 Recap
11. The Month Of Argentina: November 2022 Recap
12. The Month Of Holiday Cheer: December 2022 Recap

Monthly (2023)

1. The Month Of Snow: January 2023 Recap
2. The Month Of New Hampshire: February 2023 Recap
3. The Month Of Sea: March 2023 Recap
4. The Month Of California: April 2023 Recap
5. The Month Of Seattle: May 2023 Recap
6. The Month Of Chicago: June 2023 Recap
7. The Month Of Montréal: July 2023 Recap

How was your month?