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A History of Blood – Vol. 1, Chapter 7

A house/apartment, a car, a wife, and at least 2 kids

About a year ago I was living alone in Baltimore, Maryland, working as an Accountant but prioritizing my recovery. I made it 440 days before a relapse set me back to zero.

I am currently at 328 days, and my recovery is still a priority, although the way I go about it is different. I don’t really go to meetings in person anymore, but instead I focus on religious service which fulfills the same need. Islam by default includes a prohibition on alcohol, condemns smoking, and offers a stronger support system than the Church, simply because it better aligns with my personal beliefs.

I am extremely grateful to the Church since they allowed me to connect with my birth family, without sacrificing the connection to my foster family. It’s just a shame my family and I can’t be on the same page from Honestly, my life hasn’t made this much sense since prior to 9/11

The things missing from my life at the moment are the gym, a proper diet, and video games; three things which remind me of life in the Marines.

It’s important that I also figure out how to record my experiences with the above three, in addition to recording what I do for work, making sure I work towards my personal income goals while also keeping my expenses manageable.

My goal for 2027 is $44,000 a year.

My best year so far was 2017 with $33,441.

Learning from my mistakes, this time I plan on having a 9 to 5 and a side hustle; one as a driver and another as an (armed) security guard.

The 9 to 5 can be any office/admin/accounting job that pays a salary of $15 or more. That gives me a base pay of $30,000 a year, with the option of taking up to two weeks off for vacations. The beauty of these jobs is that all they require is “showing up at the office” and offers extremely consistent income. In 2024 and 2025 I made $30,000 both years just by working an office job and having no other source of income.

As a driver I’ll make an extra $13-$14 an hour, and if I work at least 25 hours a week I’ll make an extra $16,000 a year, which already puts me above my goal of $44,000. The downside of driving is that it runs havoc on vehicles, so I may need to get more than one car if I’m being strategic about it.

Armed Security pays $18-$22 an hour and doesn’t require as much driving, although it does require having a driver’s license and two different security licenses. My career as an Armed Guard is an extension of my career in the military.

The most important thing is to always have 2-3 legitimate sources of income in case something happens to any specific one. If randomly fired from my office job, I can do more driving and pick up more shifts as a guard; if my car breaks down I can still get to the office and make money while I work on repairs, or if working as a guard I should be able to afford a rental. The big thing is keeping an office job for the sake of being able to say “I’m an Accountant” when anyone asks me what I do for work.

My master plan breaks down into 3 steps:

Step 1

Buy a car and set up driving, delivery, and personal shopping services. While driving at night, look for an office job I can work during the day, and work on guard certifications while looking for an office job.

Step 2

After starting an office job, start looking for an affordable apartment. The combined proof of income should be well over $800 (before taxes) meaning the only real question is how long it will take to save $2,000. If I can keep my expenses low, it shouldn’t take more than two months.

Step 3

After getting the apartment and still having the car, I can formally start planning for marriage. This simply means saving an additional $2,000 for whatever she wants the dowry to be.

Daily Schedule

If everything goes well, once I get back to work, my daily schedule will look like this:

7 am – Gym / Breakfast

9 am to 5 pm – Office / Accounting Work

6 pm to 10 pm – Driving / Security Work

11 pm to 6 am  – Sleep

If I’m able to find a good wife, she will be able to cook healthy (and halal) meals, clean the house, and do the laundry which will save me a lot of time and energy. I’m not the type of person who wants to sit around doing nothing, but it just makes the most sense for me to be the one making all the money and paying all the bills, while my wife spends her time at home doing what she thinks is best.

But I don’t want her to have to do everything, once a week I’ll try to help with the following:

1. Laundry (especially white dress shirts)
2. Grocery Shopping
3. Cooking
4. Deep Cleaning
5. Fitness and Mobility

In addition, I’d like to have a date night once a week, as well as help with the kids whenever and wherever I can.

Lastly there are two big goals that I have outside of starting a family.

The singular most important thing is to buy a house (or a condo) right away. I genuinely don’t care about any singular thing as much as I care about this. I am tired of feeling “homeless” and I am tired of not having a place of my own. Even if I ever get married and I ever have kids I still want this for me, but God willing I will have a family.

The fact that I grew up in foster care gives me mixed feelings about adoption. Having been through it myself, I get it, but personally I’d rather have children the natural way with a woman I can legally call my wife. I have been struggling with women lately, mostly because I have been struggling with my own mental health, and it feels like some women go out of their way to frustrate me. At the very least, the more annoying women in my life have helped me with character development.

I’d also like to get a nicer car. I usually don’t set goals for cars but lately I’ve been inspired. I’m not sure if it’s spending time with a boujee Arab that’s influenced me or if it’s just realizing the car is more affordable than I thought, but I’d like to purchase a black Mercedes at some point in the near future.

Surprisingly, my plan is to just drive Uber Black more so than anything else, but I plan on working my way up to that.