Where am I going? I have no idea
Ryan Graves
This is a general blog about me, Ryan Graves in Seattle Washington, one of numerous Ryan Graves’ in the Seattle Area. Originally from the midwest, I moved to the west coast in the peak of the financial crisis in 2009.
Currently I am working for a mega corporation in decline and trying to stick it out long enough, fly low enough below the radar so as I don’t rock the boat too much, and succeed in retirement abroad by the time I reach my mid 50’s.
This site will document my attempt at early retirement, hopefully coming up in my 50’s, the financial stuff I am doing to get there as well as what I am getting myself instead in
I will also document my various travels as that is a big reason I am looking to do this whole early retirement thing, so I can do a lot more of that. Brain Dumps are general thought that are going through my head, given my current somewhat scrambled state of mind, I have a lot of that, perhaps it would do some good for me to get those down in writing.
Also, I would like to get better with my website development as I am finding Wordpress to be infuriating at this point, particularly when trying to stick with the themes avaialble on the basic tier. Maybe I should upgrade. At some point, maybe I’ll get the hang of it.
Anyhow, here I go
As I write this in September/October 2026, our last significant trip was to Greece back in May 2025, about a year and a half ago. I was supposed to go to Israel back in March of this year, but that ended up being canceled due to war events and ended up in Illinois instead. We…
I grew up a Christian, attending Lutheran elementary and high schools, and didn’t really break out of that world until college. By my late teens, that classic teenage rebellion had me asking questions about my beliefs — questions that couldn’t be answered. Rather than prayer, I decided religion was something I no longer believed in.…
Something I realized on this last trip to Illinois was the joy of having nothing on the agenda, so I have time to lollygag around, wander around the city without a particular destination in mind. This trip was sort of a last minute replacement for a trip I had intended to do to Israel, but…
Here I am, I guess. At this point a week ago I thought I would be on a flight to Munich, moving on to Tel Aviv. Instead I am on a flight from Seattle to Chicago, to visit family. I guess plans change. Last Saturday I woke up to a series of notifications on my…
I had written a week ago about my plans to visit Israel, in spite of the current situation over there. Well, I guess there’s a line all I won’t cross. I still refuse to travel into active war zones. Plus, the airline canceled my itinerary on me, since I guess they don’t want to do…
I’ve booked my next trip, a pilgrimage, so to say, to Israel, as the next step of my ‘spiritual reckoning’. Since the time I booked it, it now looks like I may be flying straight into a region wide conflict with Israel and the United States vs Iran and their regional proxies. The airfare I…
