Passive Income and Life Decisions

The kids had homework...and well, they ended up having to do that, while River sat by the entrance on the floor and sketched for a bit. I would say that Allan had a bit of cognitive dissonance seeing his mother sitting on the floor in front of the door, oblivious to anyone, sketching. "Hey...Oh...isn't it a bit cold? Nope...ok...well, I'm gonna go do my homework...ya...that's what I'll do..." ~raises eyebrow~ "o...k..." ~wonders if Mom has finally lost what marbles she had.

Meanwhile for Molly, ever since she and Satoshi decided to leave the fold of the family, was having deep regrets. They were financially struggling, but did her frustration with having to leave Sunset Valley burn the bridges that she had had with the family and Satoshi was having second thoughts. It wasn't going well...so sitting on a park bench outside the grocery store seemed to be par for the course these days.

Haruo emerged from his place of employ now a partial owner of the Bistro, and making his way to the Spa...where he laid down another wad of cash to become part owner of that business as well. Certainly there was a lot to be said for ensuring that there was a steady stream of passive income coming in for the family.

That was his last investment stop and he decided to go over to the Apothecary to drop off a few gemstones for consignment. Evidently the consignment store had a new proprietor. After a lively negotiation, he dropped off the gemstones that he wanted to consign and left. There really wasn't a great selection of potions to purchase anyways; at least that time.

Caitlin realized that the computer got broken so she set about fixing it...to improve her handiness skill. Although computers are a royal pain-in-the-rear, she managed to fix the thing and get it to boot properly (although in real life, if you have sparks and smoke coming out of your computer, your motherboard as well as your power-source is fried and the 'puter is pretty much on a one-way trip...to the dump)

When Haruo got home, he had the bright idea of going out and "messing with bees"...probably not the brightest thing to do "in the dark". And well...the screams pretty much told the rest of the family that Haruo wasn't the brightest spark in the universe when it came to life-decisions. Kinda makes me wonder how he made it half-way through university. Evidently book-smart doesn't equal life-decisions-smart.

River went down to the park on the promenade and did some painting of the statue...and the result hung up in the gallery where one could see it clearly. Evidently it was classed as a Masterpiece.

It was becoming evident that this house wasn't big enough for the family which was growing older...and it would be soon that each growing child would require a room of their own and their own space to be able to expand out their desires to learn...and well, Haruo was finding that this house just wasn't big enough to contain their dreams. Which meant yet again that they would have to rebuild the house. Well...it also meant that they would have to temporarily move into a motel or something that they could live out of while the construction of the house took place...and so they did...

After a long serious discussion with the family...they found a designer and an architect to draw up plans for a larger house. with not only room enough to grow, but also enough bedrooms to realize that if they needed to consolidate their entire family together in one house, they would have the room to do so. Plus, River wanted a few aesthetics on the property...and thus we leave the Chikamoris for the period of time that it took to build their home. (Author: Really...it's not that interesting...to have to watch them go about their daily business while waiting for the house to build.)

A Helping Hand

Well, early mornings got the kids out the door in time for school. Haruo and River decided to do some dishes and clean up the kitchen. After all, a clean kitchen was a sign that the house was well-taken care of...

River got a call from Toshiyuki (her step-father - who was married to Fiona, her mother) who also wanted to buy a painting from his step-daughter. And River gave him a hug too to let him know how much she appreciated the family's pitching in to help out.

He also asked about how the kids were doing and if they were doing well in school.

They were a closely knit family and well...it was so nice to see her mother happy with someone again; a good man, this time. But of course there were other things that she had to do...

One of which was selling more paintings...one to an individual in town, the other to her mother and River let Fiona know just how much her daughte loved her.

Of course, Haruo got a chance to have some "alone" time with his wife and they had some fun in the company of two bars of woohooium.

Masayoshi spent time working on science experiments.

and Haruo and River spent time watching "the wall"...I presume it was interesting.

And when they got inside to thaw out...they spent a ton of time trying to inhale each other's lips off their faces.

Ah...love, what a wonderfully disgusting display...of slobbering affection.

Shoring Up the Foundations

Haruo did a lot of things around the house...including picking up gemstones and precious metals. It brought in a bit of a surplus when sold, but not at all like the tiberium. When he was done doing those tasks, he headed upstairs to fix Brianna's computer which was throwing off sparks and generally making it known that it was dying.

...then he indulged himself by going to Hogan's Diner (evidently it's a franchise - since there's one in Sunset Valley too.

Meanwhile his kids were at the police-station on a field trip. And they got to see everything that the dispatchers do and ponder if they, themselves, wanted a policing career.

It appeared that while he was out, their dishwasher (a top of the line Dualterium Dishwasher by Corebital Designs) decided to throw off sparks and give up the ghost. Darn, that thing was well over §700, closer to §800, well...instead of paying §500 to get it fixed which would pretty much be just as much as buying a brand-new dishwasher, Haruo decided to fix it himself. And considering that he'd maxed out his handiness skill, it proved to be no problem at all. No shocking experience.

River then decided to take a soak...spending her time dreaming about her husband...

...and that really kinda "wound her up"...to say the slightest. Something about some itch needing to be scratched.

Yeah...that's another way to put it...

Meanwhile, Haruo's evil mother, Mayumi, haunted the graveyard. Well at least she wasn't anywhere near them any more and that was a relief.

In the morning, River and Haruo's kids had breakfast with Auntie Caitlin then headed off to school.

Haruo fixed yet another broken computer...and then went out to play with stinging insects, while Caitlin went off to play in the garden.

After the kids came home from school, it was homework time, no matter what. Even if they didn't want to do homework, they still had to. Good grades were important.

It was at this point that Haruo headed out to the stadium to start his round of spending money to create a stream of investment income, or passive income stream to ensure that he and River had money coming in every week without having to worry about whether or not to sell assets to pay the bills. Tiberium was at best an uncertain income stream and whether it would run out or be a renewable resource was up for debate, so investing in local businesses and owning real estate would probably be one of the things that he would have to do in order to create a passive income.

River provided the "active" income stream as well as Haruo's writing skills in completing books. However, as they aged, their activities would be more strenuous to complete and they woulnd't be able to keep up the energy level required to maintain that income stream...so in that regards, they would have to be investors and build up an investment portfolio in order to be able to create the kind of income stream needed to maintain their lifestyle. Was it doable? Yes...

But it would certainly take time and effort to develop those passive streams of income.

...and Haruo certainly wasn't averse to spending money to improve their situation, including a stop at the bookstore to buy another skill-building (personal development) book. They say that the world's richest people increase their knowledge by reading personal development books and putting those skills into practice. In fact, they set time out of their day to read.

Of course, time with the family was important too...and that was a key factor in the strength of their relationship.

It was certainly easy to fall into the trap of "Oh, I'm busy, I don't have time to do everything" but if it came down to it...what was it that you were working so hard for, if it wasn't for your family...and if it wasn't important for you to take time to spend with your family to strengthen your bonds, what was all the meaning of all that "hard work"?

If you worked too hard that you neglected your family, your family fell apart, and all that hard work was for naught. That was one of the reasons why Haruo and River took time out of their day to spend together, even if it was just a brief moment of eating together...and woohooing together in the shower. It was a bond...and that was the glue that held the foundation of what they were shoring up.