About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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March 31, 2008
It seems that, in a stroke of irony akin to your pet goldfish dying the day after you clean his bowl, I killed our microwave when I cleaned it last weekend.
My first impulse was to go look at newer and better models that aren’t liable to self-destruct upon contact with soap and water, but that enthusiasm petered out as I contemplated the scads of bills coming up. I decided to wait a while to do some research and try to purchase a model from a store for which I can get gift cards (via Thank You points, more than likely). Possibly from MyPoints.com, but I’m only halfway to a $50 gift card there. My choices seem to be Linens’n’Things or Macys since I only want to redeem in increments of 10,000 points for a $100 GC.
Meanwhile, we’ve been a microwave-free household for the better part of a week, and while it’s not convenient, I’m not terribly put out, either. My dinners tend to be lukewarm since my schedule is either inconsistent or incompatible with Ma&PaDucky’s, but I can live with that, for a while longer.
March 27, 2008
BoyDucky and I discovered this weirdly cute toy a few years ago at his first foray into my Mecca (San Diego Comic Convention). He was smitten, and promptly bought hundreds of them as gifts for his family and friends. It was probably his most memorable discovery from that Con and validated my insistence that he should give Con a chance because it was not ALL about comic books, manga and anime.
We’ve been on their mailing list ever since, and still fondly read emails about new colors and characters being introduced to the UglyDoll pantheon as a doting aunt and uncle might read family newsletters.
The UglyDolls have quickly spread from Con to specialty stores, and then to mainstream stores. I felt such sentimental pride when I saw an UglyDoll in a SanRio store: awww … they’re making it in the real world! And a dash of, “I remember when they were just a booth at Con.” Today I read an article about UglyDolls extolling their appeal to boys, and was surprised to realize that it’s an article in the New York Times. How’s that for validation? Good on you, creators of UglyDolls!
I love them because they’re soft and squishy, and practically stuffed animals but they’re not the usual bear or bunny. And real dolls creep me out. Something about their eyes. There’s nothing creepy about the rakish, sewn on, XXs for eyes these dudes have.
Celebrations:
C1 has a birthday today, and she’s invited the ‘mates to a karaoke bar for the evening. She has Friday off, however, and we don’t, so that could be a touch dodgy for us toilers. Or painful. Transportation’s always iffy when it comes to weeknight partying as well. The car’s still in the shop, and I hate to drive the gas guzzlers more than 10 miles, given the hundreds I’m already shelling out for gas. Still and all. It’s her birthday. As she’s reminded us every day: she’s “getting old.” Maybe I’ll gift her some Centrum Silver and wish her well on the kar-a-o-k-e-ing. š Lord knows I just want to giggle at the drunken karaokiers, singing in public’s a no-go for me. I know it’s “just one night” but that’s one night after a few outings this month. The car shop said they’d call me if the car was ready earlier than Friday. Must … decide ….
Free Stuff:
Boy Coworker normally picks up my train pass for me as the transit lady knows us, and will send our ticket with whomever to save me a trip. Sweet, but it also gets me out of a walk, so I told him not to ask for it, but take it if she offered. No need to be rude, after all. He turned it down when she offered anyway, because they’re doing a giveaway for people who fill out their survey and buy a transit pass for the month of April, but that means you have to go over to her office. Whee! I grabbed pouting C1 (“but, what about me? I buy a yearly!”) immediately and we trotted on over to get our free $15 Starbucks gift cards. We both got our $15 gift cards with nary a problem, and now I have a Starbucks cushion for when coffee drinkers or friends want to meet for coffee. As I don’t love Starbucks and don’t love coffee, I always grimace at the idea of giving them my own, real money.
I didn’t bring lunch yesterday, but we had leftovers from ordering in last week, and I’d still a bit from the weekend. Today, we’ll be having birthday lunch so I didn’t have to pack anything last night, and Friday’ll be leftovers again. I love having free lunches that I don’t have to think about.
Frugal Eats:
Oh! And my grocery shopping last weekend saved dinner last night. I’d picked up a few packets of Indian food from Trader Joe’s, but left it in the cupboard since we still had fresh groceries. Since I walked home from the station, PaDucky didn’t come home to make dinner until after I’d already cooked a new pot of rice. He walked in, stumped about what to cook, whereupon I produced the two packets of yellowfin tuna curry and a potato and vegetable mixture, the name of which escapes me, and voila! Dinner! Dinner for about $5 and in about twenty minutes, all told. PaDucky usually doesn’t like what I pick for dinner, preferring to cook some sort of Chinese or Vietnamese food, but he actually seemed amenable to my selections this time.
The night might have been marred by the discussion with my brother but rescuing dinner, as I so rarely do, redeemed it. It’s really the little things in life, folks.
March 26, 2008
I think I should tell my brother that that’s what’s going to happen every time he puts his hand out and asks for something else.
The latest request: to let him use the truck, sans insurance, for a month if he brings me the equivalent of a car payment. Oh, and uh, he could help ferry MaDucky around whenever needed, if he could use a car. It’s just that his former manager’s promised him a job, and he needs a car, and and and and …..
*SMACK!*
Do I even need to count how many ways this is a bad idea? After paying two sets of deductibles for car repairs? And cancelling his insurance because I can’t afford it? And having paid thousands in car payments by now so as to spare my credit? Really, dangling the carrot of “I’ll actually help the family out” in front of me? That’s just playing dirty.
I’d just walked home from the train station so I was tired, grumpy and a little sweaty, and startled to find him sitting in my house when I got home as I’d been pesty-guest-free for about two or three weeks now. That makes me grumpier. Rather than biting his head off, I told him that I was tired and needed to think about it. But … in the words of Bill Engvall: Nooooooooooo…..!!
*sigh* If he actually was reliable, if he was actually trustworthy, if I had the energy to worry about one more stinkin’ thing, maybe. But bejeebers, already!
I will offer this: I will help him save his money for his own car by holding cash for him, if he wants. But I’ve already taken too many risks and taken too many falls for them, collectively, to stick my neck out one more time. Nu-uh.
March 25, 2008
Driving to the bank and to the mall after work yesterday, I actually listened to the commercials on the radio instead of tuning them out as usual. This might have been because the Hyundai commercial unexpectedly had a cameo by Larry Winget, and inadvertently, highlighted my ambivalence about the state of our economy.
The commercial went something like this:
Narrator kid: I could save all sorts of money buying a Hyundai! I could use that money and buy a trampoline! Or a [something else ridiculous that I’ve forgotten].
Larry Winget: That’d be stupid. You should use that money to pay down your debt, or save.
Narrator kid: Aw. That’s true, but it’s not nearly as fun as my ideas.
Voiceover: Voices in your head might sound something like Larry Winget, author of You’re Broke Because You Want To Be, and with the special Hyundai sales event, you can actually have a choice of what to do with the money you’ve saved!
That commercial was quickly followed up by an ad for cheaptickets.com: another spend to save shill. Of course all radio commercials are selling something, but it was ironic that they are also reflective of our nationwide dichotomous dialogue about the economy and how to cure what ails us:
Spend! We’re facing a recession, so we need to spend our way out of it
But Save! The cost of living has skyrocketed, and don’t have money for luxuries. People’ll really get in trouble if they lose their jobs!
But, spend! So we’ll give them a fat check, and they should spend it so people can keep their jobs, and the economy can grow again!
But no, save! Because we have a negative savings rate, and that’s very bad!
Ugh, no wonder our economic policy seems to be all over the map. Giving out money, spending $42 million to tell us all about it, watching the subprime market go nuts and then bailing them out, dropping the interest rates which feels like punishment for us savers. I know that I’ve got a fairly tenuous grasp of economics in general, and I’m reacting emotionally, but seriously, it seems like there is an awful lot of flailing about in trying to fix what’s broken, and I have to wonder how much of that is an inability to identify the problems, and a moderate, reasonable course of action.
March 24, 2008
I’m sure BoyDucky thought I was nuts, but we didn’t have any plans for Saturday evening, so I abruptly decided that I wanted to replace my hoop earrings that were accidentally left behind at the hair school several months ago, and I wanted to go to Macy’s to do it. Given the spending fiascos of the past month, you’d think I’d lost all taste for spending by now.
I dunno. I have a gift card, and an 11% off coupon that expired at the end of the month. Easter weekend sales. Terrific luck with the last holiday weekend sales at Macy’s, and really didn’t want to pay much money, real or gift card, on replacing a frivolous item. Made sense.
It was rather strange because when we got to the mall, I’d forgotten why I was there. BoyDucky had some work to do, so I left him at Starbucks to do it, and wandered through the Banana Republic on my way out to Macy’s. There were sale signs all over the dang place, so I got distracted thinking I could find a suit deal, but no go. The next 30 minutes of wandering through Macy’s junior department was just boring and frustrating.
When I decided that this recreational shopping business was for the birds and decided to leave, I caught sight of some dresses and thought hey! Maybe…….? Nope. Nothing.
After nearly an hour, I remembered that I was there for earrings and moseyed on over to the jewelry counters in search of the sales and clearance racks. Grown-up jewelry is expensive! They wanted anywhere from $10-$30 for a single pair of hoops. Are they crazy? Those hoops had better double as spy cameras or something if they’re charging $30 a pair! Finally found two pairs of silver hoops, small and medium, for $12, and stacked with my coupon, came out to $11 after tax.
I was satisfied with a good deal, until C2 offhandedly remarked today that her new hoop earrings were 3 for $2. !!! My brain ticked all day: That’s WAY better than my deal! I should see if I can do better. But, these required no cash. Her deal required money out of pocket. Hmm…..
Make no mistake: I’m totally obsessive. I went to the mall after work, on a Monday night no less, and quickly got over my guilt about returning jewelry that C2 had picked for me on behalf of the office last September. My logic was that if American Eagle had a good enough sale, and the gifts were still worth anything, I could avoid paying real money for the new earrings. So that I don’t come off a complete ogre: the birthday gifts of necklace and earrings from American Eagle were nothing I would have picked for myself, nor were they something I would want to wear. I’m usually open to trying new things, but an ostentatious silver ribbon & bow necklace just isn’t me. For the longest time, I kept seeing C2’s face, full of surprise and disappointment when I first opened the jewelry box and didn’t manage to hide my “uh ……” face. Of course I lied and said that I liked it, and had kept it ever since out of sheer guilt. Until now.
Not only did AE not have a sale of any kind on their jewelry, the two pieces that I returned netted a gift card for $15.01. No spending and coming home with more money than I left with. I’ll take it!
I realized that I’m not always going to get the best deal ever, but I can get the best deal for me, for now. I don’t own tons of jewelry, and wear pretty basic, classic stuff. And I’m getting too old to be buying the cheapie, shiny plastic, jewelry from Claire’s anymore.
March 22, 2008
so late into the night…”
At least not this month, anyway.
Going out to bars, or dancing, or staying up all night is, quite often, the perennial tale of foolish youth gone by, the “good old days” for many of my cohort. Perhaps not for my immediate friends, but for friends of friends, or coworkers, or even the slightly older friends in their 40s or 50s. Most everyone has fond anecdotes of their days in college or after high school when they’d stay out all night, drag in the early morning exhausted, only to shower and head out to face a day of work. Heck, that still describes the habits of many of my industry colleagues during our week-long conferences! I don’t know how they’re still up and about after all that, but I’ve never been able to hang with the cool crowd because I definitely need sleep. Blame it on the arthritis. Then, too, I never really wanted to because I was on the wrong side of the dichotomy: there were the hard-partiers who could be up past 4 am drinking, or my own, must be responsible, type. As a card-carrying member of the second group, I always felt awkward committing to drinks with the partiers, and having to duck out early every time.
Without the pressure to stay out all hours, though, going out sounded like a lot of fun. And with a 26th birthday looming this year, it’s time to shake things up before I completely fossilize. Since my friends who have embraced the social scene are in New York, and those who continue to avoid a social life are in Southern California, I floated the idea to the gals at work. We’ve all been working really hard, so they were game. We planned a night on the town after work last Friday. [This is a great group, not only do we get along well enough to work and play together, we wear about the same sizes and can exchange clothes. Win-win!]
We had it all figured out. Coworker’s friend, our DD, made up our fourth, and arranged for free passes to a Hollywood club. We figured out a relay driving system to share gas and parking costs. It was going to be some good, cheap, fun! Well, it was definitely fun, but the cheap part went awry.
Foolishly, I’d thought getting to work an hour earlier on Friday meant we could leave earlier, get some rest, food, and prettied up for our night out on the town. Stupid deadlines. We couldn’t leave until 7:30! By that time, we starvelings were also punch drunk from sleep deprivation, which boded well for the rest of the night. Also, we found out that our free club was hosting an all-Asian night Friday, and that was much less appealing. Yes, I realize that sounds mean and I’m also Asian, but that doesn’t mean I really want to be in a club full of them. It’s a different crowd and music and energy than what we had in mind. So, change of plans. We decided to start elsewhere, where we could get some proper ’80s music, and that cost us.
As it turns out, Hollywood is quite the expensive town for spur-of-the-moment plans. I’d budgeted $20 total, but only brought $14 in cash because I didn’t have time to run to the bank. Also, credit cards are normally my go-to form of payment anyway.
For dinner, we shared a fine repast of Vietnamese food: $7 each, tip included. Since we had a DD, we gals each had a cocktail while getting dressed at Coworker’s place, but our overall tardiness meant that we had less than ten minutes to get ready if we wanted to make it to the first club in time to use our coupons. We’d managed to scare up $5 off coupons, which would have been perfect had we arrived by 10:30. Alas, leaving work late meant we had dinner late, got ready late, and had to pay in full. Booo. Our DD had to pony up the extra money for us girls who didn’t bring enough cash. What’s with clubs charging $15 cover, and not taking credit cards? Preposterous!
Then it turned out that both clubs required a $20 minimum to use credit cards. I was to drive C2 back to her apartment at the end of the night, so I’d stopped drinking, but the others were, and that means I couldn’t pay back either DD or C1 for paying for dinner or cover by buying their drinks. Also, they paid for our water because they’d opened tabs or had cash. Gr, I hate owing people money!
Don’t worry, though, I didn’t spend the whole night fretting over money. The first club was well worth the cover because they played ’80s favorites nearly the whole time: Prince, Depeche Mode, Billy Joel, Toni Basil, Michael Jackson, and of course, Madonna. There was a blonde guy up front on stage the entire night and he was an absolute SCREAM. I have never seen a man, gay or straight, so seriously rocking out and playing air guitar in my LIFE. They had a huge multi-step stage on which anyone could dance, and of course, C2 insisted on going up there. While I really haven’t got rhythm, I didn’t feel the least bit self-conscious up there because the crowd was so fun! The energy of a crowd out to dance is palpable, and intoxicating.
We crossed the Walk of Fame and passed the historic El Capitan Theater on the way to our free club, nicknamed “Asia.” I’ve never done this before. Never enjoyed the sights in Los Angeles, never been out there just to have fun. The night was blustery and nearly frigid, our feet rudely reminded us that we’re not 19 anymore. It was, as C1 said, almost like we were in an actual city, where you could walk wherever you wanted to go. It faintly reminded me of New York. Asia wasn’t 100% Asian as we’d feared so it was a good time there too, but we were pretty wiped out by then and people were much too fond of using their elbows to get through the crowd. There was a flying cocktail glass, at some point, and ice on the dance floor. We finally called it a night at 2 am, and hobbled through the cold night to our car, exhausted and happy. Most of all, happy to be sitting down.
Now I’m both out of cash, and owe C1 ($6) and DD ($10). Total spent: $30. Oh. Hm, doing the math just now, I thought I’d gone over quite a bit more than that. Both my wallet and feet need a little R&R. š
