April 4, 2010
I was having a distinctly teenager moment on the way home from a fantastically fun screening of The Last Unicorn with Peter S. Beagle in attendance. Not just the goofy giddiness that comes of seeing an iconic figure, hearing him speak (he’s funny), sitting two rows behind him. Cravings are what I’m after — cravings for donuts.
A’course, in my advanced years, I only wanted one donut, not the dozen and odd that would have been inhaled ten years ago.
My companion remembered a donut chain that was open until midnight, we had plenty of time. Pulling up in front of the darkened shop, I started to resign myself to going without. My companion popped out of the car to check anyway, “what’s the worst that can happen? They can just say no.”
Well, no, the worst that can happen is the guy can respond to your “can I get two glazed donuts, please?” with a stuffed box (that won’t close) of a full dozen glazed and sugary heart attacks and a sack of mini glazed doughy chunks. All for free.
Why is that bad, you ask? How can you say no? But then, what are we going to do with all of these donuts??
If they don’t go stale by then, I’ll gladly take them in to work on Monday, but glazed donuts don’t store well when crowded so now we’ve got to separate them. Like an army of pastries.
March 26, 2010
That’s a little misleading. It’s just that my sense of reality lags behind .. y’know, reality. It hasn’t quite sunk in all the way that I’ve finally left home. Actually that’s not true. It’s there, but I’ve only let myself mourn a little bit at a time. Full scale emotional acceptance will just have to wait – it’s too hard to get everything done while fretting about leaving my family, my home, and my workcave.
I said good-bye (for now) to my dogs who have no inkling at all that this is a huge step. /heart breaks a little/
My hometown friends evidently didn’t take me seriously when I said I was starting a job on April 1st in the northerly part of the state as one of them was surprised I’d left already. “What, no good-bye sendoff??”
*tired, grouchy, overwhelmed me says: If you wanted to see me before I left, you should have said so. The people who cared did say something and we saw each other. And if you thought I was going to organize my own send-off amidst the gazillion things I had to do? Chyeah. No.* So far as most friends and family are concerned, I’ve quietly slipped out of their midst.
I made a decision on the car front. More to come …
I’ve been actively pursuing freelance leads to supplement my income. Examples of my work have earned me a quick pass to the front of the line for one job. I hope we can come to an agreement as it would make at least a couple thousand and make up the difference in my spending of late. Wish me luck!
March 20, 2010
Deep in the throes of moving and organizing preparations, I keep taking time out to do regular life things.
We had another impromptu sushi dinner last night post-finals. I desperately needed to get out and re-focus my eyeballs after 6 hours of exams. Robin to the rescue!
Speaking of Robin, his promotion came with strings attached; the kind that are designed to make you fail out of the gate because someone else has a pet project/agenda they’re determined to push at someone else’s expense. Unbeknownst to that higher-up, Robin has been heavily recruited by another company for years and their offer was still good. He traded that promo-with-strings for a vastly improved commute, better hours and decent money. Kick rocks, senior management!
The renters insurance paperwork came in today and I’m scanning in all 50 pages of it. While I do that with one hand, the other is making calls to find out why the policy coverage summary is incomplete. I’m pretty sure that splitting my attention like this will cause me to drop the ball on *something* but I can’t just do nothing else while I want for the Epson to scan one page at a time.
If I can navigate the shredder out from behind half a dozen packed boxes, I’m going to start shredding that junk mail; I’ve also just opted the entire family out of receiving prescreened credit card offers using OptOutPrescreen.cpm.
Oh, and I have to do something about those bees. I have no idea what, but there are a LOT of kids in this neighborhood and I would hate for one to go running through that pile of bees, squash some and get stung by all the rest. If anyone’s allergic, that would be a disaster. I don’t want to hurt them either, though, so kill options are not. Not an option, that is.
Oh! And I have to hunt through the house for my boots. I had an old pair of boots and a helmet somewhere around here and they should really come with me.
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And of course, keeping up with the blogging world! Reading and commenting, dashing off notes, etc.
Couple Money has a Netbook giveaway for their 6-month anniversary!
January 13, 2010
Daily Exercise Update: Speed-schlepped 500 yards carrying about 15 pounds of bulk in my turtle shell-like backpack.
Genetically anomalous tidbit: I have a male friend whose mother and aunts are all color blind. All the males descended from that matriarchal line are colorblind, except him. Oh, chi square, what happened?
Posts in other places: Read the post up at the Carnival of Personal Finance site about my fun times with having my identity exposed. (I had to reword that so as not to imply the CoPF site did the exposing.)
January 8, 2010
TGIF! Does everyone have exciting weekend plans? I might, a few of us might meet in the middle and visit with a friend back in town from one of the Dakotas.
It’s funny, back when I was working 60-, 70-, and 80-hour weeks, I had completely forgotten what leisure looked like. My hobbies were eating and sleeping until I worked again. Nowadays, I spread out my fun throughout the week since I’m living a somewhat freelance life. In no particular order ….
1. Hulu
Instead of watching real TV, I poke around on Hulu for a few shows to eat watch while I’m eating lunch or dinner at my desk. Sadly, the selection has been poor lately. It might just be because we’re between seasons or post-holiday or some such but I also wish they would have more past seasons available.
2. Library
I’ve been a regular at our local library these past months for the free wi-fi when my internet was down, and for the books. Our library is pretty populated during the days, more than I would have expected, but then again I was never in there when I still worked full time.
3. Fighting with the TreasuryDirect site
I always forget my password, I hate checking on my bond there. I should never have bothered to convert, cashing out the bond or checking on the current price online was so much easier when it was paper.
4. Job Hunting, related jobby activities
It’s only mildly entertaining but I do it every day. And it’s free. So there you go. (Actually it doesn’t belong on this list at all since I don’t do it for FUN.)
5. Blogging, twittering, reading online
Major time killer, and I’m even mildly productive. Some days, wildly so.
6. Coupon clipping
Yes, it’s a precursor to spending, but not always my spending. Sometimes I’m just collecting coupons for MoneyMateKate’s Robin Hooding. I only CVS/Walgreen’s Rewards if my deals are all-inclusive: the coupons cover what I need and the rewards generated are used for another upcoming deal for something I need. My attention span’s short these days so I don’t commit to big deals and rounds.
7. Walking
If I have to run errands within a 1.5 mile radius, I’ll walk to and from. As I work on my stamina, the amount of time spent in transit will improve.
8. Playing with my finances
Most everything’s automated really, so I take the pulse every few days and keep an eye out for possible improvements or possible revenue generators.
9. Grooming the dogs
Very gently and very carefully; that dog’s a walking fluff-ball and loves to be loved on.
10. Pro bono work
Friends and family often call on me for assistance in my areas of expertise: organizing moves, bargain hunting, setting up relatively new tech (not that I’m any expert, but I do have the time to figure it out), vetting college or med school applications, drafting official letters for Causes, spending time with lonely folk, etc.
As you can see, it’s not terribly exciting over here, but I keep pretty busy without spending much money. I am getting itchy feet again, though, I had a quick Chuck-style flash about spending some time overseas last night. If that could be managed while avoiding airports and flying entirely, I’d totally be in.
January 6, 2010
To be fair to the objects in question, they themselves actually do serve a purpose. They’re not tchochkes, per se, not dust-collectors like those small, poorly formed animal statues with questionable faces and even more questionable beady eyes. Folding stools and wee little plastic chairs, little packets of bamboo sticks and such, they each and all serve distinct and perfectly justifiable purposes. For other people. But I can’t actually name one instance in which I wished I’d picked up one oddment or another from 99 Ranch, that ubiquitous Asian market, so why am I always become possessed of this nearly atavistic need to purchase a dozen small plastic bowls, or spoons?
My first reaction is to blame the prices: “$8 for a folding stool? It’s a steal! You can always find a use for a stool – people need to sit! Never ye mind which people. Or where.” But that’s not it because it’s even worse with Tupperware. I yearn for the snapping lids, the squareish, roundish, stackable plastic containers with an almost palpable need – I’m not safe alone in a Target and their aisles of plastic containers. And those things are not cheap, so this whole problem of mine can’t be dismissed as simple bargain-basement fever.
I am convinced that this is a close cousin to the hoarder’s syndrome: a pathological grasping after items that serve fine purposes in anyone’s household but your own because you really don’t need the darn thing. It’s not that farfetched, I’ve definitely got the hoarding blood. Even as a five year old, I was more preoccupied with collecting practical items like finger-sized glasses that no one could ever drink out of than I was with using them to play with dolls. Incidentally, the dolls were always hidden in the bottom drawer as punishment for creeping me the heck out. Like clowns: good idea, poor execution.
My parents laughed at my refusal to get rid of any container, paper or plastic, or any wrapping paper because I might reuse it someday. “Just like Grandma,” they said.
Guys, my favorite pastime at age 17 was to drive to the local bargain shop and bring home table settings or sets of glasses! Besides being a waste of money, didn’t they have an analog version of Intervention or Hoarders back then? Didn’t they know this could become full blown madness?? It wasn’t until, years later, a friend’s mother had formed precarious towers of bargains that turned into pillars which solidified into walls that blocked them out of rooms, that it seemed like a good idea to cut back on the “steals.”
For lack of (much) outside reinforcement, I’m left to police myself. And wonder why on earth I know better, but still can’t stop walking up and down the aisles petting the household goods.
I’m weak.
December 5, 2009
If not a little bit of irony?
