Money, The Journey to Leveling UP

A good majority of people reading this have grown up with video games that taught us valuable lessons for the future. Namely, things will get harder and harder the further you go. The bounty you make on the level 20 Monster is huge, but it just covers the HP potions and weapons you need to continue the game, and if you messed up, you die. (In the game, let me be clear about that, your character dies, not you!)

I found it somehow baffling when I entered the real world, prepared to find the boss levels, beat them into submission, and maybe live to see tomorrow. Imagine my surprise when I went to acquire funds for this "life" adventure and discovered it's basically nothing like the game.


Bank
First off, there are these structures you are familiar with known as "banks". They hold your money for you. I grumbled a little as they discussed percentages and I realized those leaches take a sum of your money for each month you have it in the bank. Luckily I waited till they finished speaking and realized that in fact, a bank will PAY you to keep your money in the bank. In the video game world, there is just about any excuse to take your hard earned, blood stained gold coins, forcing you to carry around your loot in you pocket and loose a good sum of it whenever you're defeated in battle. Banks provide an actual fortress for you to hide your money and PAY you to keep it there.
If I ever felt like an entitled royal personage, it was the first time I put money in the bank and they thanked ME, as though grateful just to be allowed to touch my money and throw a few coins on top of the pile every month.


The Tiers
Being prepared for the worst, as video games had taught me, I lived modestly in whatever ways were possible. You know the dreaded feeling when you've spent all your level up points on something trivial only to discover a new overdrive attack was just made available. Or if you fritter away your accumulated gold on new gauntlets for your party only to then see a brand new broad sword that you can't afford.  I was determined not to make these mistakes, and I kept my money tightly budgeted, and the bank presented me with a surprise.
In the bank, there are tiers of rewards for people who were preparing themselves for the famines of future levels. They ask for the privilege of throwing more money on top of your money pile, being so delighted with how large it has grown over the years, they want to see it grow larger. They also  banish some of the expenses they generally inflict on others. Check books, free, in piles larger than you could imagine spending, sent to you for your convenience, to make sure they're making this banking thing easy enough for you.


The Dwelling
In the year or so that it has taken for this to happen, you'll notice the real world is more and more different from video games every day. Minimal desperado shoot outs, alien invasions restricted to Christmas Eve only, etc. Through all this you've sort of become accustom to paying your rent and utilities, it is a part of life that seems so natural, what else COULD there be?
Well, there are houses... but you've played enough video games to know that it is way out of your league. You take a look to laugh at how impossibly out of your funds owning a house is and you discover... you can afford it. You pay less each month living in a house than you do living in that crummy little apartment. I reeled for a moment in shock as I wondered why life was making such a luxury such an affordable price.
Upon further investigation you will realize that the money you pay monthly on a house actually goes somewhere. Your apartment rent disappears into the landlords pockets, and if some day when you're old and tired, you don't want to pay, you have to leave. In a house, you pay your monthly due until you have finished paying for the house, then you hand five yourself and enjoy living on property that you can call your own.
Be sure to set up a good patio so you can enjoy the breeze while you contemplate if the bank has some mysterious plans for you, they were a little bit too helpful during these steps...





I'm some strange sort of Optimist or Pessimist, perhaps a little of both, preparing for the worst and delighted with the best.
This journal is my update, letting my friends and followers know that I have won a bid on my first house and I'm currently going through the papers and events to close the deal. I plan to be moving in on the anniversary of when I moved to Arizona.