When I was really little, summer vacations were never a big deal in my family. I remember summers where all my friends would leave to go on road trips to Yosemite or the Beach, and always wondered why my family was stuck at home.
The truth is, my dad is not a big fan of crowds. It’s like pulling teeth to get him to play tourist - and to travel during the busiest time of the year is an absolute no go. Instead, we’d take our summer vacations in October - every October 31st to be exact. (Nevada Day for those who are unaware, when Nevada school children get the day off for Halloween to celebrate Nevada becoming a state). Most of the time this meant a trip to Disneyland, where my mother would dress all of the kids in horrific tye dye Micky Mouse sweatshirts and tote us around the park. (I’m pretty sure our family photo is still up for the world to see in the photo shop. yikes!) On the years that we didn’t go to Disneyland, we’d join in with a few other families and rent a houseboat for a week at Lake Mead, leaving me with many memories of a half a dozen kids sleeping under the stars on the roof of the houseboat.
My family eventually caught on to the nature of summer vacations once I was in high school. That’s when we discovered the Lake of the Ozarks. Lake of the Ozarks is a 23-hour drive from Las Vegas, and of course with MY dad that meant we’d be driving. My dad’s version of cross country road trips involves only stopping when the car says so. You have exactly the amount of time it takes to fill up the gas tank on my dad’s F250 to grab food, use the facilities, and do as many jumping jacks as possible before it’s time to hit the road for another 300 miles. As soon as I had my first job I began saving for plane tickets to the Ozarks, and I haven’t looked back since.
By the time we reached the Ozarks my family was ready for a week straight of vacation. It was the perfect vacation - our lake house tucked away at the shore - a 20 minute drive to the closest convenience store, an hours drive from the closest Walmart. It was the perfect vacation - a REAL vacation - with no plans, nothing to see, nothing to do. We went skiing, suntanned, grabbed lunch on the lake - and once we were old enough a couple of beers too. It is the idealistic vacation, and one that I relied on to refresh and replenish my soul.
As I type this, my family is currently enduring the endless road trip back to Nevada. The Baby is begging to watch another episode of Hannah Montana on the laptop, and The Teenager is complaining that she can’t get cell signal in no-wheres-ville. My mom is suggesting they stop at the cute little antique store on the side of the road, and my Dad is staring at the road sending mean thoughts to my brother for flying home early. My brother is already back early in Vegas - thinking up the best excuse to explain why he stole the Land Sharks that were being brought back for me.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting in my office, staring at a picture of the lake house on my computer screen, and pretending the sound of my air filter is really water lapping up on the lake shore.
No, my family didn’t disown me when I decided to move to LA. I was still welcome to come on our family vacation, and spent months studying the ticket prices on Allegiant hoping to grab a stellar sale. However, responsibility soon weaseled it’s way in. My vacation days were few, and as the trip came closer I was holding out for a very important phone call that I just couldn’t miss.
The time came for my family to leave, and I stayed in LA. Work was slow - I had nothing to do. and the phone call never came. Suddenly staying in LA sounded like the worst idea ever.
I wanted to call my Mom to pout and complain, thinking maybe I could trick her into suggesting that she’d pay for my plane ticket. I wanted to call my Dad and remind him that 22 is still REALLY young to be living completely independent in one of the biggest cities on earth, and doesn’t he want to see his little girl again? I wanted to throw a hissy fit, to have Mom and Dad rescue me from the boredom and frustration that is living an adult life - let me escape to the Ozarks where there is no such things as worries.
Instead a grew up, threw on my business flats, and went to work. Being an adult isn’t always so fun.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Staycation
When I first started at my current job, there was one thing that I was particularly excited about: VACATION DAYS. The idea that once I worked long enough the company would PAY me to take a day off and travel to exotic locations was the cherry on top.
Of course, I didn't consider the fact that being paid for vacation days didn't necessarily mean I could afford to travel to these exotic locales. So instead my vacation days have sat unused - or even worse, used for doctors appointments.
This past weekend I finally took the plunge and took an elaborate, exciting and thrilling 4-day vacation - to Los Angeles. That's right - I took a vacation at home. Before you roll your eyes at the term "staycation" however, let me explain. I turned my vacation response on. My cell phone off. My computer stayed at my desk. Heck - I didn't even get on Facebook!
The Best flew down from Nor Cal, The Fashionista drove up from Orange County and we had a full fledged girls weekend. This WAS the kind of weekend we had dreamed about in college. We drank Bitch Wine and ate Tarts until 2 am, laid out on the beach all day, and ate at this hole-in-the-wall Hollywood spot called Miceli's where our waiter was an actor who sang "Falling in Love with You" to us gals.
On Saturday we spent bucket loads of money as we shopped literally until we dropped, and then attempted to make fruity girly drinks from sorbet and rum picked up spontaneously from Trader Joes. Sunday was a hike through Griffith Park’s “Old Zoo” and a fireworks show in the park, before we all crashed on Monday morning.
It was the perfect weekend, something that I badly needed to rejuvenate my soul and brighten my outlook on life. I think my roommate, The Actress, said it best when she mentioned that she'd never heard me laugh like that in the year we've been living together!
There is nothing that can replace good, quality time with girlfriends who intimately love and know you. There's no embarrassment, no explaining needed - just girls who know you and accept you for all your quirky qualities.
It’s been a year since I’ve moved to LA, and slowly I’ve found my way around this city and made quite a few friends in the process. But no matter how exciting the city, after a while the hum drum of life gets you down and you need something special to pick you up.
That’s where I learned the benefit of having your best friends live miles apart. There is no room to take friendships for granted, there’s no assuming that they’ll always be around for drinks or a movie. They don’t become a part of the hum drum of life.
Instead, they’re the special, amazing, miraculous thing that picks you up and brightens your outlook on life again. That turns your old hum drum of a city into an exciting staycation worth more than any Caribbean cruise. Suddenly, the distance doesn’t seem half that bad.
Of course, I didn't consider the fact that being paid for vacation days didn't necessarily mean I could afford to travel to these exotic locales. So instead my vacation days have sat unused - or even worse, used for doctors appointments.
This past weekend I finally took the plunge and took an elaborate, exciting and thrilling 4-day vacation - to Los Angeles. That's right - I took a vacation at home. Before you roll your eyes at the term "staycation" however, let me explain. I turned my vacation response on. My cell phone off. My computer stayed at my desk. Heck - I didn't even get on Facebook!
The Best flew down from Nor Cal, The Fashionista drove up from Orange County and we had a full fledged girls weekend. This WAS the kind of weekend we had dreamed about in college. We drank Bitch Wine and ate Tarts until 2 am, laid out on the beach all day, and ate at this hole-in-the-wall Hollywood spot called Miceli's where our waiter was an actor who sang "Falling in Love with You" to us gals.
On Saturday we spent bucket loads of money as we shopped literally until we dropped, and then attempted to make fruity girly drinks from sorbet and rum picked up spontaneously from Trader Joes. Sunday was a hike through Griffith Park’s “Old Zoo” and a fireworks show in the park, before we all crashed on Monday morning.
It was the perfect weekend, something that I badly needed to rejuvenate my soul and brighten my outlook on life. I think my roommate, The Actress, said it best when she mentioned that she'd never heard me laugh like that in the year we've been living together!
There is nothing that can replace good, quality time with girlfriends who intimately love and know you. There's no embarrassment, no explaining needed - just girls who know you and accept you for all your quirky qualities.
It’s been a year since I’ve moved to LA, and slowly I’ve found my way around this city and made quite a few friends in the process. But no matter how exciting the city, after a while the hum drum of life gets you down and you need something special to pick you up.
That’s where I learned the benefit of having your best friends live miles apart. There is no room to take friendships for granted, there’s no assuming that they’ll always be around for drinks or a movie. They don’t become a part of the hum drum of life.
Instead, they’re the special, amazing, miraculous thing that picks you up and brightens your outlook on life again. That turns your old hum drum of a city into an exciting staycation worth more than any Caribbean cruise. Suddenly, the distance doesn’t seem half that bad.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Epitome of My Nerdiness: Vidcon 2010
Oh. *shuffles awkwardly* It's, uh, been a while. No, things have been fine. Been busy. *looks down* You? Oh that's nice.
So as per usual, I haven't been here in a while. Over a month in fact. Whoops. But here I am now and I have some fun happening this week and I'd like to blog about it.
First, on July 11 is my 1 year anniversary. How crazy is that? It feels like just yesterday I was writing things like this. It's been such a strange journey. I realized just yesterday that I've been in Las Vegas for 7 months. I honestly thought it had only been less than 6. I thought that film school was still not that long ago. It really was that long ago. Time is moving by so fast and I don't know what to do about it.
But for our Anniversary, Husband and I are going down to Southern California to go to Disneyland!!! I haven't been in a very long time and I can't wait to go watch World of Color and visit all my favorite rides. Bonus is we also get in free since we know someone who works there still and will sign us in. Thus making it even more awesome.
But here's the craziest news. There is the conference in Los Angeles called Vidcon. And I'm going. Now many of you are asking, "Well, Twixter Two, what is Vidcon?" I'm so glad you asked.
I'll let the Vidcon2010.com site tell you in its own words: Vid-Con is a three-day conference bringing together the brightest lights in the billion-views-a-day community known as the online video industry. Join us at the first ever gathering of the most influential and popular independent video makers online and the communities that have made them a force in the world.
So pretty much one of the nerdiest things I've ever done. But here's the crazy story of how I ended up with probably 2 of the last 25 tickets available.
Husband and I were going to the midnight premiere of Eclipse (which was awesome by the way. Other update to come for that) where we realized it would be a great place to promote BITE. So we printed out little papers and walked the line selling BITE to random people waiting. I cannot begin to describe how difficult it is to explain to people that YouTube is used for more that just the dramatic chipmunk and Charlie Bit Me videos. There are people making careers out of it and I want to be one of those people.
After walking the line and the getting into the theater, we had about an hour to just wait. So Husband brought up Vidcon. He had randomly researched it while he was at work and wanted to talk about maybe going to promote BITE. Now here's the weird part: That day, I had received a random commission check from the job I hated for the EXACT amount of 2 tickets to Vidcon. The same day Husband randomly looked at Vidcon was the day I got my check. So we decided to just go. We were already going to be in California, we'd just have to extend the trip 2 days. Seemed worth it to us. So we got home from Eclipse around 3:30 AM, bought tickets, and the next morning it was sold out. Crazy, right? I know!
So we're now headed to Vidcon to attempt to promote and network and have an awesome time. I can't describe how excited I am to be there. I've been wanting to attend Vidcon since its inception and now I really get to be there.
So more update posts to come this weekend! Vidcon is Friday and Saturday. Disneyland is Sunday. Fun with Friends and figuring out how I'm finishing school Monday and Tuesday. I'm going to be so tired when we get back.
Miss you all (Especially you, Twixter One.)
--Twixter Two
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The Bad Blog
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, and though there’s a reason, I’ve been holding back from blogging about it.
In fact, I’ve been undecided since we started this blog about whether or not I’d blog about the subject at all. For one, this is a blog about growing up and while this certainly defines my version of “growing up”, it deviates so far away from everyone else’s version of “growing up” that I can’t argue it into the margin of error. And for two, it’s something that I usually avoid talking about. In fact, it’s something that actually took me a year to be comfortable telling anyone about at all - let alone announcing it to the world wide web.
But unfortunately at this stage in my life its becoming so overwhelming that its keeping me from blogging - both physically keeping me from being able to sit down at my laptop, and mentally keeping me from having anything to blog about.
I have fibromyalgia. The name probably sounds familiar, meaning that you’ve seen the commercial on at 2 o’clock in the afternoon where a silver haired old lady talks about her aches and pains and then supposes that the upcoming drug (and all the surgeon’s general warnings with very fine print) help her to live a normal life.
Well, I’m 22 years old and I feel like I’m doing about as well as a 78 year old lady. at least for now my hair is still brown.
Fibromyalgia wreaks havoc on your body. It makes you joints hurt, your muscles hurt, all the way down to your knuckles and your fingertips. There is never a day where my pain level is below a 4 or 5 - and those are the days I consider “good days.” My body is in a constant nerve war, leaving me continually exhausted physically and often cloudy and unfocused mentally.
I say this and it all makes sense to me, however I know that most people who read this will simply pass it off as “yea, I have days like that too” or think of me as a whinny hypochondriac who can’t handle being a little under the weather.
Well, I’m going on 3-years of being “under the weather” - a turbulent up and down, where I never know how I’m going to wake up the next morning. I’m tired of waking up each day and doing a mental check - legs good, knees bad, lower back is fine but my throat muscles are so stiff I can barely breathe. The last couple of months have been even worse as the doctor is trying to adjust my medication, leaving me in near tears every morning when it’s time to crawl out of bed.
It’s hard to explain, and even harder to explain how others should deal with the info. I don’t want to be treated differently, to have others tip toe around me or think that every time I sniffle it’s because of the fibro. (It’s not.) and yet, I need people to know and understand that I’m not a lazy or an unreliable friend when I constantly have to shift or back out of things.
I wish I was a normal twenty something, and most of the time I try to pretend that it’s so. I think I do a pretty good job of it. I push myself to go to parties and say yes to movie invitations, even when I know that it will be a mental game of “I think I can” to get myself through. Most days, it’s an accomplishment to make it through a 9-hour day at work, and when the clock hits 5:30 a sense of relief overcomes me that I haven’t fallen apart yet.
I don’t want to be like this. I’m not the introvert who wants to stay her room all day and follow friends on facebook who are out having marvelous adventures. I want to be out there, doing fun, crazy and insane things that you’re supposed to do in your twenties. But sometimes I feel like it’s going to take my entire twenties to fight through this miserable disease, and that by the time I come out on the other side I’ll find myself in adulthood having to “grow up” - when “growing up” is the only thing I’ve been doing the last year and a half that I’ve been on this regimen.
I wish this post wasn’t so disheartening or so sad, or that I had some cheery “so what do you think” to add to the end of it, but the fact is - life just kind of sucks right now. I feel like I’ve hit a rut - and this disease is only helping to turn the rut into a deep endless pit that I’ll never get out of. This week I’m making another trek over to the doctor to figure out what is going on, though that never seems to be the final answer. So, for now, excuse the spotty posting - if I ever get back to feeling close to normal again, I promise you more blogs will resume.
In fact, I’ve been undecided since we started this blog about whether or not I’d blog about the subject at all. For one, this is a blog about growing up and while this certainly defines my version of “growing up”, it deviates so far away from everyone else’s version of “growing up” that I can’t argue it into the margin of error. And for two, it’s something that I usually avoid talking about. In fact, it’s something that actually took me a year to be comfortable telling anyone about at all - let alone announcing it to the world wide web.
But unfortunately at this stage in my life its becoming so overwhelming that its keeping me from blogging - both physically keeping me from being able to sit down at my laptop, and mentally keeping me from having anything to blog about.
I have fibromyalgia. The name probably sounds familiar, meaning that you’ve seen the commercial on at 2 o’clock in the afternoon where a silver haired old lady talks about her aches and pains and then supposes that the upcoming drug (and all the surgeon’s general warnings with very fine print) help her to live a normal life.
Well, I’m 22 years old and I feel like I’m doing about as well as a 78 year old lady. at least for now my hair is still brown.
Fibromyalgia wreaks havoc on your body. It makes you joints hurt, your muscles hurt, all the way down to your knuckles and your fingertips. There is never a day where my pain level is below a 4 or 5 - and those are the days I consider “good days.” My body is in a constant nerve war, leaving me continually exhausted physically and often cloudy and unfocused mentally.
I say this and it all makes sense to me, however I know that most people who read this will simply pass it off as “yea, I have days like that too” or think of me as a whinny hypochondriac who can’t handle being a little under the weather.
Well, I’m going on 3-years of being “under the weather” - a turbulent up and down, where I never know how I’m going to wake up the next morning. I’m tired of waking up each day and doing a mental check - legs good, knees bad, lower back is fine but my throat muscles are so stiff I can barely breathe. The last couple of months have been even worse as the doctor is trying to adjust my medication, leaving me in near tears every morning when it’s time to crawl out of bed.
It’s hard to explain, and even harder to explain how others should deal with the info. I don’t want to be treated differently, to have others tip toe around me or think that every time I sniffle it’s because of the fibro. (It’s not.) and yet, I need people to know and understand that I’m not a lazy or an unreliable friend when I constantly have to shift or back out of things.
I wish I was a normal twenty something, and most of the time I try to pretend that it’s so. I think I do a pretty good job of it. I push myself to go to parties and say yes to movie invitations, even when I know that it will be a mental game of “I think I can” to get myself through. Most days, it’s an accomplishment to make it through a 9-hour day at work, and when the clock hits 5:30 a sense of relief overcomes me that I haven’t fallen apart yet.
I don’t want to be like this. I’m not the introvert who wants to stay her room all day and follow friends on facebook who are out having marvelous adventures. I want to be out there, doing fun, crazy and insane things that you’re supposed to do in your twenties. But sometimes I feel like it’s going to take my entire twenties to fight through this miserable disease, and that by the time I come out on the other side I’ll find myself in adulthood having to “grow up” - when “growing up” is the only thing I’ve been doing the last year and a half that I’ve been on this regimen.
I wish this post wasn’t so disheartening or so sad, or that I had some cheery “so what do you think” to add to the end of it, but the fact is - life just kind of sucks right now. I feel like I’ve hit a rut - and this disease is only helping to turn the rut into a deep endless pit that I’ll never get out of. This week I’m making another trek over to the doctor to figure out what is going on, though that never seems to be the final answer. So, for now, excuse the spotty posting - if I ever get back to feeling close to normal again, I promise you more blogs will resume.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Lost without LOST
Wow.
That is all I can say. One of my favorite shows of time, the show I have been watching live since the 2nd season, is over.
I just finished the series finale of LOST not 30 minutes ago. I have to tell you I couldn't feel more satisfied.
This won't be a spoiler blog, just my feelings of the final episode overall.
After the finale, I feel completely happy. I know there are still questions left unanswered but honestly, I don't give a shit. I LOVED the finale. I watch this show not only for the mysteries but for the love of the characters and their journey through the hell that is the island and their realities. It has been the people that have kept me enthralled even 6 seasons later.
Jack has been my favorite character from the pilot episode. Even when he was a douche bag all throughout season 3-4, I was loyal. I knew that he would redeem himself. And my God, he did.
As stated before, I'm not a very emotional person, at least vocally. I definitely found myself gasping and jumping in my seat as the story came to a close.
And yes, I will admit it, I cried.
As the final shots and conversation were happening, tears of joy and saddness ran down my face. I've been watching Lost for the last 5 years. It's been such a huge part of my life. When we first got to college, Husband and I bought season 1 on sale and started it. We ended up staying up all night for 2 nights in my car due to the dorm rules watching it on my mini DVD player. After that we were hooked.
I went to Comic Con and watched the LOST panel 2 years running. I'll never forget nearly each commercial break turning to Husband and whatever friends were watching mouth agape yelling, "WHAT?!?! What does that even mean?!" I've theorized, dreamed, screamed, jumped, laughed, cried and fought about LOST. It's been apart of me for nearly 1/4 of my life. It will always be something very special to me.
While I'm happy it's over and I feel satisfied, I'm truly mourning that my longest TV relationship has come to an end.
Oh LOST. What in the world am I going to do without you?
Do you watch LOST? How did you feel about the ending?
That is all I can say. One of my favorite shows of time, the show I have been watching live since the 2nd season, is over.
I just finished the series finale of LOST not 30 minutes ago. I have to tell you I couldn't feel more satisfied.
This won't be a spoiler blog, just my feelings of the final episode overall.
After the finale, I feel completely happy. I know there are still questions left unanswered but honestly, I don't give a shit. I LOVED the finale. I watch this show not only for the mysteries but for the love of the characters and their journey through the hell that is the island and their realities. It has been the people that have kept me enthralled even 6 seasons later.
Jack has been my favorite character from the pilot episode. Even when he was a douche bag all throughout season 3-4, I was loyal. I knew that he would redeem himself. And my God, he did.
As stated before, I'm not a very emotional person, at least vocally. I definitely found myself gasping and jumping in my seat as the story came to a close.
And yes, I will admit it, I cried.
As the final shots and conversation were happening, tears of joy and saddness ran down my face. I've been watching Lost for the last 5 years. It's been such a huge part of my life. When we first got to college, Husband and I bought season 1 on sale and started it. We ended up staying up all night for 2 nights in my car due to the dorm rules watching it on my mini DVD player. After that we were hooked.
I went to Comic Con and watched the LOST panel 2 years running. I'll never forget nearly each commercial break turning to Husband and whatever friends were watching mouth agape yelling, "WHAT?!?! What does that even mean?!" I've theorized, dreamed, screamed, jumped, laughed, cried and fought about LOST. It's been apart of me for nearly 1/4 of my life. It will always be something very special to me.
While I'm happy it's over and I feel satisfied, I'm truly mourning that my longest TV relationship has come to an end.
Oh LOST. What in the world am I going to do without you?
Do you watch LOST? How did you feel about the ending?
Friday, May 21, 2010
I'm FREE!!!!
This morning is the morning I’ve been waiting for, working for, dreaming of for the last year and a half.
No - there’s no new job, ring, house, niece, nephew or cat.
But I WAS greeted with this lovely sight after making my internet rounds this morning:
That’s right! After 6-months of unemployment and over a year and a half of carrying a nasty balance on my two very high interest rate credit cards - I’M OFFICIALLY DEBT FREE!!! (Or at least bad debt free as I’ll be working to pay off “the big one” for years to come.)
I’m the kind of person who likes to work on a project, and see immediate results. I have a check list on my stickies that controls my life - I live to be able to check things off that list - to see immediate action and immediate results.
Of course, attempting to pay off thousands of dollars in credit card debt is not an instant gratification deal. At first I got frustrated - almost gave up - because even though I was brown bagging it to lunch and learning to enjoy window shopping, my credit card bill ate up my $100 payments like a little kid clearing broccoli from his dinner plate - there was SOMETHING gone, but no one could tell quite what.
But almost exactly a year later I have paid off every last penny. I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders - and it’s not just from the monetary freedom. I almost feel as if by paying off the last of my debts, I have finally put the stressful time of unemployment, my car accident, and the huge transition of moving solo to a brand new city behind me. I have paid my debt in full, and there is nothing left to haunt me from that stressful and trying time. I can start anew.
Now I have tons of plans for the future. Like HAVING A SAVINGS and finally tithing the full 10%. But none of my plans involve spending any extra money, or picking up those nasty credit cards again. In fact - I pretty much plan to stick to the same plan I’ve been on for this past year - just with a little extra cash to put towards much worthier investments. Here’s just a a few of my suggestions:
Budget for your expenses - and enjoyment - then sick to it!
I’ve heard time and time again from friends who will only budget for what they NEED (rent, food, utilities, gas) but feel guilty building in room in their budget for enjoyment. But just because you’re broke, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy life! In fact, you’re more likely to spend MORE money on “fun things” if you don’t budget for it. I have a budget for all the necessities, but I also built in a budget for entertainment, eating out, and my Disneyland pass. This way, I knew when it was okay to relax and enjoy myself - and when the budget ran tight, I stopped.
Pay Cash for EVERYTHING -or-
Use your credit card like a debit card - but be careful!
This is something that I’m split on, because I’ve done it both ways. For a while, I was using my credit card like a debit card - spending only the cash that I had in my checking account, and nothing more. It helped me earn up useful points (see more on that below) but it also got me into trouble. When I wasn’t scared about emptying my account, I didn’t analyze my purchases, and sometimes ran WAY over what I should have spent. It was also hard to track how much money I was putting towards my credit card debt - because I was transferring “regular expenses” to the credit card every pay check as well.
I eventually went back over to the old fashioned debit card / cash option, and now I pay for EVERYTHING out of my checking account. I switched over my automated payments to my debit card (with google reminders set to tell me when it’ll be taken out) and watch my mint.com account like a hawk to ensure I don’t stumble into overdraft. In fact, it’s worked pretty handy because I’m SO scared of going over, that I never even come close - helping me reign in my spending even more.
Put a little into savings, and the rest on to debt management
My savings is minuscule, but every month without fail I made sure something got deposited into my savings account to keep me afloat. However, once I fed my savings account, and made sure that the rest of my expenses would be covered - I dumped the rest onto my credit card. I realize this was a risky play, but as long as I knew that there was some money in savings to cover an emergency, and enough cash to cover me my money was doing little good just sitting in a checking account. Yes, it was nerve racking to see my checking balance low more often than not - but the comfort of seeing my credit card dip lower was better. In fact, if it wasn’t for a couple of major cash payments I made on my card in the last couple of months, I’d probably still be fighting the debt monster.
Use your points to pay finance fees
Obviously, one of the worst parts of credit card debt is the finance fees, they can eat you alive. However, even with the thousands of dollars of credit card debt, my total finance fees came under $100. How did I do this? Points, my friend. Since I was lucky enough to have a credit card with an amazing points system, I was able to cash in the thousands of points (from thousands of dollars) into cash - or rather statement credits that almost completely wiped out my finance fees.
Knowing I’ve finally conquered my credit card debt, and only for $100 worse, I feel like I can do anything! Well - anything that is, except for shopping. I think I’ll hold off on that for just a bit more.
No - there’s no new job, ring, house, niece, nephew or cat.
But I WAS greeted with this lovely sight after making my internet rounds this morning:
That’s right! After 6-months of unemployment and over a year and a half of carrying a nasty balance on my two very high interest rate credit cards - I’M OFFICIALLY DEBT FREE!!! (Or at least bad debt free as I’ll be working to pay off “the big one” for years to come.)
I’m the kind of person who likes to work on a project, and see immediate results. I have a check list on my stickies that controls my life - I live to be able to check things off that list - to see immediate action and immediate results.
Of course, attempting to pay off thousands of dollars in credit card debt is not an instant gratification deal. At first I got frustrated - almost gave up - because even though I was brown bagging it to lunch and learning to enjoy window shopping, my credit card bill ate up my $100 payments like a little kid clearing broccoli from his dinner plate - there was SOMETHING gone, but no one could tell quite what.
But almost exactly a year later I have paid off every last penny. I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders - and it’s not just from the monetary freedom. I almost feel as if by paying off the last of my debts, I have finally put the stressful time of unemployment, my car accident, and the huge transition of moving solo to a brand new city behind me. I have paid my debt in full, and there is nothing left to haunt me from that stressful and trying time. I can start anew.
Now I have tons of plans for the future. Like HAVING A SAVINGS and finally tithing the full 10%. But none of my plans involve spending any extra money, or picking up those nasty credit cards again. In fact - I pretty much plan to stick to the same plan I’ve been on for this past year - just with a little extra cash to put towards much worthier investments. Here’s just a a few of my suggestions:
Budget for your expenses - and enjoyment - then sick to it!
I’ve heard time and time again from friends who will only budget for what they NEED (rent, food, utilities, gas) but feel guilty building in room in their budget for enjoyment. But just because you’re broke, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy life! In fact, you’re more likely to spend MORE money on “fun things” if you don’t budget for it. I have a budget for all the necessities, but I also built in a budget for entertainment, eating out, and my Disneyland pass. This way, I knew when it was okay to relax and enjoy myself - and when the budget ran tight, I stopped.
Pay Cash for EVERYTHING -or-
Use your credit card like a debit card - but be careful!
This is something that I’m split on, because I’ve done it both ways. For a while, I was using my credit card like a debit card - spending only the cash that I had in my checking account, and nothing more. It helped me earn up useful points (see more on that below) but it also got me into trouble. When I wasn’t scared about emptying my account, I didn’t analyze my purchases, and sometimes ran WAY over what I should have spent. It was also hard to track how much money I was putting towards my credit card debt - because I was transferring “regular expenses” to the credit card every pay check as well.
I eventually went back over to the old fashioned debit card / cash option, and now I pay for EVERYTHING out of my checking account. I switched over my automated payments to my debit card (with google reminders set to tell me when it’ll be taken out) and watch my mint.com account like a hawk to ensure I don’t stumble into overdraft. In fact, it’s worked pretty handy because I’m SO scared of going over, that I never even come close - helping me reign in my spending even more.
Put a little into savings, and the rest on to debt management
My savings is minuscule, but every month without fail I made sure something got deposited into my savings account to keep me afloat. However, once I fed my savings account, and made sure that the rest of my expenses would be covered - I dumped the rest onto my credit card. I realize this was a risky play, but as long as I knew that there was some money in savings to cover an emergency, and enough cash to cover me my money was doing little good just sitting in a checking account. Yes, it was nerve racking to see my checking balance low more often than not - but the comfort of seeing my credit card dip lower was better. In fact, if it wasn’t for a couple of major cash payments I made on my card in the last couple of months, I’d probably still be fighting the debt monster.
Use your points to pay finance fees
Obviously, one of the worst parts of credit card debt is the finance fees, they can eat you alive. However, even with the thousands of dollars of credit card debt, my total finance fees came under $100. How did I do this? Points, my friend. Since I was lucky enough to have a credit card with an amazing points system, I was able to cash in the thousands of points (from thousands of dollars) into cash - or rather statement credits that almost completely wiped out my finance fees.
Knowing I’ve finally conquered my credit card debt, and only for $100 worse, I feel like I can do anything! Well - anything that is, except for shopping. I think I’ll hold off on that for just a bit more.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sacrifices for Happiness
Since I can't very well allow Twixter One to post a blog and not have one to follow, here I am. Many, many things have changed since my last entry.
Here's the mini run down:
-Husband and I may or may not be moving to Florida. We may be looking into California. (Do not die of a heart attack Twixter One. You need to be on gchat nao so I can update you.)
-I quit the very well paying job I hate to take 2 lesser paid jobs that make me much happier
- I started filling out all the paperwork to go back to school this next year and graduate. I seriously cannot wait.
-Husband finished his second novel of his life and I couldn't be prouder.
Now, some explanation. I'll start with just explaining this last weekend since it pretty much changed our lives.
This last weekend, one of our best friend's from college (whom we shall call Gavin) graduated. When he invited us to his graduation party, we knew that no matter what happened, we would be there.
But first, I have been applying like a mad women (even while at work) to other places so I could quit my call center job. I knew I needed to have 2 jobs to cover what I was making there but needed to get out of that place so bad it was making me depressed. So I applied like crazy and Thursday night I got a call. I had interviewed at Old Navy and they wanted to hire me. I had the potential of 40 hours as long as I was available. And boy was I available. During the last week I had also been in talks with a manager from Starbucks (thanks to the Husband's rocking connections, I got to skip the whole interview process and just talk straight to a manager who needed a barista). She had sounded pretty sure she was going to hire me. So as soon as Old Navy offered me the job, I got in my car, drove to my call center and quit on the spot.
This was a very rash move for me. I've never just up and quit a job in my life. Ironically they wouldn't have let me put in notice anyway. They really didn't care. Proving even more how much I hated that job. So I snuck out like a thief in the night with all the items from my desk and got ready to go to California. My shoulders felt like a giant weight was lifted off them and I was practically dancing as I shopped for random stuff we'd need for the trip.
On the way down, I was confessing to husband that I was kind of depressed to be going to our old school and town because to me, the drive felt like I was going home, not going to visit. To be honest, I've felt ever since we moved that California was my home. As excited as I was for adventure and moving to Florida, I was scared it would be just like Las Vegas without family. Just Husband and I in an apartment with only 1 friend an hour away. I had suppressed that thought for a long time.
But California. Husband and I arrived looking snazzy and dressed up for graduation. It was really fun to see all the people we had missed. All the while I was slightly shriveling inside.
This was supposed to be me. I was supposed to be graduating right now.
I only have 6 classes left. But due to the move and Husband and I's financial situation and the lack of married housing on campus, we were forced to move straight to Nevada without a glance back. I sat there at graduation, proud of all my friends who were wearing their gowns and walking up the stage but still reminded I should be done. And wanted to be done. Now.
After graduation we had an amazing day. Gavin's graduation party was exactly what I want mine to be. A small group of family and closest friends celebrating a great milestone with beer and pizza. It was perfect. Afterwards, we went to the beach and just played in the sand. Gavin and his cousin and his brother from Maine actually went swimming like crazy people. But I guess if we swim in the ocean in Maine, Newport Beach isn't so bad. Afterward we ate dinner, hung out at the bathwater warm pool.
Husband and I had a dawning realization.
We miss people.
We're extremely social and as of right now, we sit in our apartment and watch TV. Every once in a while we have people to hang out with. But not like in California. We hung out with Gavin nearly every single day for 2 years. Not to mention one of my best friends in the world and maid of honor (whom we shall call Riley) was there everyday too. I just need that back again.
So needless to say, Husband and I are looking into all our options, which include moving back to California this upcoming fall or spring. We've got a lot to figure out, but I can't wait to decide.
Miss you all.
Twixter Two
Here's the mini run down:
-Husband and I may or may not be moving to Florida. We may be looking into California. (Do not die of a heart attack Twixter One. You need to be on gchat nao so I can update you.)
-I quit the very well paying job I hate to take 2 lesser paid jobs that make me much happier
- I started filling out all the paperwork to go back to school this next year and graduate. I seriously cannot wait.
-Husband finished his second novel of his life and I couldn't be prouder.
Now, some explanation. I'll start with just explaining this last weekend since it pretty much changed our lives.
This last weekend, one of our best friend's from college (whom we shall call Gavin) graduated. When he invited us to his graduation party, we knew that no matter what happened, we would be there.
But first, I have been applying like a mad women (even while at work) to other places so I could quit my call center job. I knew I needed to have 2 jobs to cover what I was making there but needed to get out of that place so bad it was making me depressed. So I applied like crazy and Thursday night I got a call. I had interviewed at Old Navy and they wanted to hire me. I had the potential of 40 hours as long as I was available. And boy was I available. During the last week I had also been in talks with a manager from Starbucks (thanks to the Husband's rocking connections, I got to skip the whole interview process and just talk straight to a manager who needed a barista). She had sounded pretty sure she was going to hire me. So as soon as Old Navy offered me the job, I got in my car, drove to my call center and quit on the spot.
This was a very rash move for me. I've never just up and quit a job in my life. Ironically they wouldn't have let me put in notice anyway. They really didn't care. Proving even more how much I hated that job. So I snuck out like a thief in the night with all the items from my desk and got ready to go to California. My shoulders felt like a giant weight was lifted off them and I was practically dancing as I shopped for random stuff we'd need for the trip.
On the way down, I was confessing to husband that I was kind of depressed to be going to our old school and town because to me, the drive felt like I was going home, not going to visit. To be honest, I've felt ever since we moved that California was my home. As excited as I was for adventure and moving to Florida, I was scared it would be just like Las Vegas without family. Just Husband and I in an apartment with only 1 friend an hour away. I had suppressed that thought for a long time.
But California. Husband and I arrived looking snazzy and dressed up for graduation. It was really fun to see all the people we had missed. All the while I was slightly shriveling inside.
This was supposed to be me. I was supposed to be graduating right now.
I only have 6 classes left. But due to the move and Husband and I's financial situation and the lack of married housing on campus, we were forced to move straight to Nevada without a glance back. I sat there at graduation, proud of all my friends who were wearing their gowns and walking up the stage but still reminded I should be done. And wanted to be done. Now.
After graduation we had an amazing day. Gavin's graduation party was exactly what I want mine to be. A small group of family and closest friends celebrating a great milestone with beer and pizza. It was perfect. Afterwards, we went to the beach and just played in the sand. Gavin and his cousin and his brother from Maine actually went swimming like crazy people. But I guess if we swim in the ocean in Maine, Newport Beach isn't so bad. Afterward we ate dinner, hung out at the bathwater warm pool.
Husband and I had a dawning realization.
We miss people.
We're extremely social and as of right now, we sit in our apartment and watch TV. Every once in a while we have people to hang out with. But not like in California. We hung out with Gavin nearly every single day for 2 years. Not to mention one of my best friends in the world and maid of honor (whom we shall call Riley) was there everyday too. I just need that back again.
So needless to say, Husband and I are looking into all our options, which include moving back to California this upcoming fall or spring. We've got a lot to figure out, but I can't wait to decide.
Miss you all.
Twixter Two
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Lover of Books
In High School I was a lover of books. My suitcase would constantly outweigh that of all 5 of my family members’ after 4 or 5 different novels were snuck into the side creases. I brought books to my brother’s soccer games, on long car rides to our favorite Mexican restaurant across town, and even on summer vacation. Our family vacation albums are filled with pictures of me curled up on the dock with a book and a sunburn while the rest of the kids splashed from the lake.
My love of books was probably what lead me to enroll in an Great Books honors program when I was in college. (And most likely my love of story that lead me to becoming a film major). Unfortunately, while my film degree lead me to consume more and more movies and TV by the day, my classical honors education almost dried up my desire to pick up a good book.
The 4-year program demanded thousands of pages of reading from me each week during every semester of my college career. (Don’t believe me? Go and pick up “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” and prepare yourself for my first week of freshman year.) My semesters were enlightening and intense, and at the end of the four years I can honestly say I earned my class ring. But after shoving thousands of years of literary genius into 4-years of mental insanity, I have no desire to read anything other than the headlines of Deadline.com .
I’m inching on a full year since graduation (and a year and a half after finishing my coursework) and I have successfully read 3 books. The first “The Sex Lives of Cannibals” took me a record 6-months to complete a measly 272 pages. On a slightly better record it took me 1 month to re-read “The Devil Wears Prada” and 4 days to read “The Hollywood Assistants Handbook” - not anywhere near the high literary caliber I’ve accustomed myself to but strangely applicable to my current situation in life.
It’s not that I don’t WANT to pick up the dusty paper backs that are still sitting in plastic crates in the side of my room. The epic tales of the centuries, combined with my own fond memories of microwaveable rice and cherry coke at 3 in the morning, still taunt me as I refuse to both unpack or sell my college treasures.
But, by the time the day is done, and I’ve read through all 118 of my Google Reader feeds, scoured hundreds of emails, and checked every facebook message while praying dinner is slightly edible - I’m exhausted. My brain is too tired to imagine delving into another world page by page - it is much much easier to press play on another Gilmore Girl rerun and know that even if I fall asleep, I can still predict the outcome in the end.
I’d always taken myself as a “lifelong learner” and somewhat glazed over the part of graduation where professors urged us to “continue our love of learning and our love of books” - believing that my newfound freedom would leave me plenty of room to read the books I now wanted to read. But a year out, I’m finding myself on the other side of the table.
What about you? Did years of academic rigor exhaust any love of books right out of you? or are your college paper backs now threadbare from many post-college book-a-thons?
Or better yet, any book recommendations for a post-collegiate who’s ready to slowly inch back into the world of the reading?
My love of books was probably what lead me to enroll in an Great Books honors program when I was in college. (And most likely my love of story that lead me to becoming a film major). Unfortunately, while my film degree lead me to consume more and more movies and TV by the day, my classical honors education almost dried up my desire to pick up a good book.
The 4-year program demanded thousands of pages of reading from me each week during every semester of my college career. (Don’t believe me? Go and pick up “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” and prepare yourself for my first week of freshman year.) My semesters were enlightening and intense, and at the end of the four years I can honestly say I earned my class ring. But after shoving thousands of years of literary genius into 4-years of mental insanity, I have no desire to read anything other than the headlines of Deadline.com .
I’m inching on a full year since graduation (and a year and a half after finishing my coursework) and I have successfully read 3 books. The first “The Sex Lives of Cannibals” took me a record 6-months to complete a measly 272 pages. On a slightly better record it took me 1 month to re-read “The Devil Wears Prada” and 4 days to read “The Hollywood Assistants Handbook” - not anywhere near the high literary caliber I’ve accustomed myself to but strangely applicable to my current situation in life.
It’s not that I don’t WANT to pick up the dusty paper backs that are still sitting in plastic crates in the side of my room. The epic tales of the centuries, combined with my own fond memories of microwaveable rice and cherry coke at 3 in the morning, still taunt me as I refuse to both unpack or sell my college treasures.
But, by the time the day is done, and I’ve read through all 118 of my Google Reader feeds, scoured hundreds of emails, and checked every facebook message while praying dinner is slightly edible - I’m exhausted. My brain is too tired to imagine delving into another world page by page - it is much much easier to press play on another Gilmore Girl rerun and know that even if I fall asleep, I can still predict the outcome in the end.
I’d always taken myself as a “lifelong learner” and somewhat glazed over the part of graduation where professors urged us to “continue our love of learning and our love of books” - believing that my newfound freedom would leave me plenty of room to read the books I now wanted to read. But a year out, I’m finding myself on the other side of the table.
What about you? Did years of academic rigor exhaust any love of books right out of you? or are your college paper backs now threadbare from many post-college book-a-thons?
Or better yet, any book recommendations for a post-collegiate who’s ready to slowly inch back into the world of the reading?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sorry for the Silence
I've been silent, I know. Right after I write a post about how I'd be posting more. But this monster has been taking up ALL of my waking (and some sleeping) hours:
Since I don't have any time to write now, I'll simple say -
Biola Media Conference 2010: Worlds Collide. Check it out at: www.biolamedia.com
And excuse the silence while I go back to obsessing about tables, and chairs, and drapes. Oh my!
Since I don't have any time to write now, I'll simple say -
Biola Media Conference 2010: Worlds Collide. Check it out at: www.biolamedia.com
And excuse the silence while I go back to obsessing about tables, and chairs, and drapes. Oh my!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
On a Nerdy, Happy Note: Eclipse and Last Airbender!!!
Well, after my last post, I figured the Twixters out there could use a little happiness. I was awoken by an awesomely sad dream at 7 am this morning which I proceeded to write down. This dream could possibly be fleshed out into a story. I just may try!But in nerdy news, this last Friday was the release of the final Last Airbender Trailer and the Eclipse Trailer. Needless to say I was in nerd heaven. I go home from work (after a lovely alcoholic Pear Cider from BJ's with the Mom) and sat down to watch the trailers.
Let's being with the Last Airbender. I will admit, I was jaw dropped open, smiling at the screen the whole trailer. Starting with the moment we see Appa. The large air bison that Aang and the crew ride for the entire saga. It's amazing and we get to see him fly. Just a quick second, but that was all I needed. We next get to see a larger glimpse into the Fire Nation. And sweet Jesus does it look good. We also get a small glimpse of Aang fighting with the masked crusader, the "Blue Spirit". For those of you who watched the cartoon, you know who this awesome character is. For those that don't, I won't ruin it. But their fighting together looks AMAZING. It jumps around to some more wonderful CG that is epic. Aang flying, more water and fire bending, and a final small fight scene between Zuko and Aang. I died and went straight to nerd heaven.
Now, Eclipse. I was very excited about this trailer, but my reaction wasn't nearly as excited. Maybe it's because I've read the books so much and now already associate the actors with the book characters in my mind, it's not that hard for me to imagine transference of book to film. Needless to say, I watched anyhow and filmed my reaction. My first thought was I love Jacob. Seriously. I'm so happy Taylor Lautner got to stick it out because I think he's perfect. I love the larger part he plays in Eclipse. And the wolves look SO much better. It hasn't even been that long since New Moon but the CG is much improved. My favorite like in the trailer would have to by Jacob's, "As long as we get to kill some vampires.". Awesome. The newborn army is so much bigger looking on screen than I ever imagined in my head, which is definitely a good thing. I am so excited about the fighting it's ridiculous. I will say that one of Stephanie Meyer's weakness is her inability to really write fight scenes. Our main character Bella is usually so wrapped up in herself or unconscious during any sort of fight that we never see them in the books. David Slade's vision of the fight scenes look epic and amazing.So there you go. My reactions to the new nerdy trailers this week. What did you guys think? Which one did you like better or did you only watch 1 or the other? Let us know!
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Blog That Stopped All The Others
Well, to be honest, I can make a bunch of excuses why I haven't blogged in over 2 weeks I think now. I've had so much to do, I've been so busy with work, haven't had much to write about.
The problem is all aforementioned excuses and the plethora more I can create are not the truth. The reason I haven't written is because I was avoiding writing this blog in particular. Now you may say, "Why Twixter Two didn't you just skip this one and move on?" Ah. There in-lies the problem.
My grandfather, whom I call Opa died April 17 a few years ago. He had been sick for a few years, fighting cancer and going in and out of the hospital. Even though through all that, he'd always been there.
Ironically now that I'm trying to write this blog, I don't know what to say.
How do you blog about things like this? Even when it's "anonymous" I still can't seem to express how hard it is to randomly think about calling him and remembering I can't. I can still remember the smell of his house and his cologne. I remember stealing his brush as a little kid so I could brush my hair with it so it'd smell like him. My Opa helped raise me from a baby. I was the first kid's diaper he changed even after having 5 kids himself and other grandchildren before me.
For whatever reason I was his special girl and he was always my favorite. He was so proud of me graduating high school and going to college. I still get sad knowing that he wasn't there at my wedding.
Even though I didn't cry at his funeral, I feel like a piece of me is missing with him gone. I can't even begin to understand how it feels like to lose someone you love when it's a complete surprise. It's been a few years and I still can't help buy nearly cry when I see things that reminds me of him. It makes it even harder being back in Las Vegas where he's been most of my life. When I was in California, I could pretend like he was still there but I just kept forgetting to call. Here, it's real. His house has someone else in it. His favorite places to eat won't have him as a customer, and haven't for quite some time.
I'll forever pay full price for a pint of hagan daas coffee ice cream since that was always his favorite. He would eat it so smoothly straight out of the pint. As a kid, I'd sit on his kitchen counter eating his ice cream with my clumsy un-even scoops but he never seemed to care.
I still can't really talk to anyone about this. I feel embarassed for whatever reason. Like I shouldn't be this sad still when there are people like Husband who lost his dad. I can't even think about that idea.
I feel like i'm just emotional vomit blogging now. I think this is at least a start. Maybe now I can blog about more silly/fun things like the new Eclipse trailer or the book series I finished a few weeks ago. We'll see.
The problem is all aforementioned excuses and the plethora more I can create are not the truth. The reason I haven't written is because I was avoiding writing this blog in particular. Now you may say, "Why Twixter Two didn't you just skip this one and move on?" Ah. There in-lies the problem.
My grandfather, whom I call Opa died April 17 a few years ago. He had been sick for a few years, fighting cancer and going in and out of the hospital. Even though through all that, he'd always been there.Ironically now that I'm trying to write this blog, I don't know what to say.
How do you blog about things like this? Even when it's "anonymous" I still can't seem to express how hard it is to randomly think about calling him and remembering I can't. I can still remember the smell of his house and his cologne. I remember stealing his brush as a little kid so I could brush my hair with it so it'd smell like him. My Opa helped raise me from a baby. I was the first kid's diaper he changed even after having 5 kids himself and other grandchildren before me.
For whatever reason I was his special girl and he was always my favorite. He was so proud of me graduating high school and going to college. I still get sad knowing that he wasn't there at my wedding.
Even though I didn't cry at his funeral, I feel like a piece of me is missing with him gone. I can't even begin to understand how it feels like to lose someone you love when it's a complete surprise. It's been a few years and I still can't help buy nearly cry when I see things that reminds me of him. It makes it even harder being back in Las Vegas where he's been most of my life. When I was in California, I could pretend like he was still there but I just kept forgetting to call. Here, it's real. His house has someone else in it. His favorite places to eat won't have him as a customer, and haven't for quite some time.
I'll forever pay full price for a pint of hagan daas coffee ice cream since that was always his favorite. He would eat it so smoothly straight out of the pint. As a kid, I'd sit on his kitchen counter eating his ice cream with my clumsy un-even scoops but he never seemed to care.
I still can't really talk to anyone about this. I feel embarassed for whatever reason. Like I shouldn't be this sad still when there are people like Husband who lost his dad. I can't even think about that idea.
I feel like i'm just emotional vomit blogging now. I think this is at least a start. Maybe now I can blog about more silly/fun things like the new Eclipse trailer or the book series I finished a few weeks ago. We'll see.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
You Tell Us ...
So Twixter Two and I have started to let blog posts slide again. We were doing so well for quite a while - churning out posts every other day. I can’t tell you what made things slow down, except that maybe we let life get in the way of our blogging. I know shame on us.
Did you miss us?
No, really - Did you miss us? We’re trying to decide if our blogging 4+ days a week is actually paying off and if more than just Mom & Dad are sticking around to read our posts each week. Too much? Too little?
And for those of you not Mom & Dad - what do you want to read? More posts about our day to day lives? or tips, advice and frustration on being a Twixter in general?
Let us know you're reading, and share your thoughts in the comments!
Did you miss us?
No, really - Did you miss us? We’re trying to decide if our blogging 4+ days a week is actually paying off and if more than just Mom & Dad are sticking around to read our posts each week. Too much? Too little?
And for those of you not Mom & Dad - what do you want to read? More posts about our day to day lives? or tips, advice and frustration on being a Twixter in general?
Let us know you're reading, and share your thoughts in the comments!
Back to Normal
The past couple of weeks I’ve been in a huge funk - to use the most simplistic term possible. Achy, tired, unmotivated I was jumping back into hermit mode where I thought a marathon of Gilmore Girls for the 3rd night in a row was the definition of a good time. Finally things have gotten sorted out, and for the first week in a while I feel like life is back to what normal should be.
This weekend I managed to skip out of the office a little early to make the drive down to San Marcos to see a couple of dear friends. Mr. A and I were in honors classes together in college and when he introduced me to Mrs. A (then Ms. C of course) we were insta-friends. Now they’re married and live a total of 2 and a half hours away from me, which I deem completely unfair. They’re expecting their first baby in just a couple months and I can’t wait to have a little niece or nephew to play with!! (I was very tempted to nickname them “Mama Bear” and “Papa Bear” in this entry as they’re the first of my friends to be married. But looks like practicality won out.)
Anyways, I spent Friday evening with them in their brand new house and Mama Bear (okay okay - I like it better) and I went shopping at Target for over two hours. You know that you’re the best of friends when shopping at Target is an adventure. The rest of the weekend flowed with coffee and conversation, and I remembered what it was like to have my close friends nearby. When everyone scattered after graduation it was hard to think of how our friendships would survive being such long distances apart, so I love having friends who pick up after months away like nothing ever happened.
Sunday was a rough day for me on the “getting back to normal” track, but Monday brought with it another long lost friend moment. Mrs. H (there I go again with the uncreativeness) drove up the 405 for some quality chinese take out and movie date. We gabbed too much to remember anything of the first half of Whip It but the second half has us totally pumped to find a roller derby in LA. We’re already brainstorming our derby names, and plotting ways to trick The Boy and her husband on a double date to the derby.
The rest of this week has seemed to speed by - fully bringing me up to speed and back to normal. I went down to my Alma Mater for the day to work on the Conference that I volunteer for every year, and got myself some yummy Chick Fil A while I was at it. Now The Boy is up North for a few nights before we head out on our vacation tomorrow - so EXCITED for my long weekend! See you next week!
This weekend I managed to skip out of the office a little early to make the drive down to San Marcos to see a couple of dear friends. Mr. A and I were in honors classes together in college and when he introduced me to Mrs. A (then Ms. C of course) we were insta-friends. Now they’re married and live a total of 2 and a half hours away from me, which I deem completely unfair. They’re expecting their first baby in just a couple months and I can’t wait to have a little niece or nephew to play with!! (I was very tempted to nickname them “Mama Bear” and “Papa Bear” in this entry as they’re the first of my friends to be married. But looks like practicality won out.)
Anyways, I spent Friday evening with them in their brand new house and Mama Bear (okay okay - I like it better) and I went shopping at Target for over two hours. You know that you’re the best of friends when shopping at Target is an adventure. The rest of the weekend flowed with coffee and conversation, and I remembered what it was like to have my close friends nearby. When everyone scattered after graduation it was hard to think of how our friendships would survive being such long distances apart, so I love having friends who pick up after months away like nothing ever happened.
Sunday was a rough day for me on the “getting back to normal” track, but Monday brought with it another long lost friend moment. Mrs. H (there I go again with the uncreativeness) drove up the 405 for some quality chinese take out and movie date. We gabbed too much to remember anything of the first half of Whip It but the second half has us totally pumped to find a roller derby in LA. We’re already brainstorming our derby names, and plotting ways to trick The Boy and her husband on a double date to the derby.
The rest of this week has seemed to speed by - fully bringing me up to speed and back to normal. I went down to my Alma Mater for the day to work on the Conference that I volunteer for every year, and got myself some yummy Chick Fil A while I was at it. Now The Boy is up North for a few nights before we head out on our vacation tomorrow - so EXCITED for my long weekend! See you next week!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Grown Up at 22
It was late on Friday afternoon and I’m maneuvering my tiny blue Nissan Sentra down the 5. The sun is streaming in from my window, the rays bouncing off of the waves that are peacefully lapping on the shore just off the side of the freeway. I kick off my Steve Maddens and grip the rubber pedals with my bare toes. My iPhone is streaming music both too old but too young to be cool, since I haven’t updated my music library since college. As I continue to drive up the coast I get a wave of memories - I pass the beach we went skinny dipping at after finals my sophomore year, and the place we made Twixter Two dance with her boa during her bachelorette party.
It’s a beautiful spring day in Southern California, and as I push my sunglasses back into my hair and take a sip of lemonade it hits me - This is my twenties. I am living in a city than many people can only dream of visiting and I have the freedom to appreciate it’s finer points. In that moment, all the stress of growing up melted away and I realized that I’ve grown up. It may not be the life that my parents, my friends, my co-workers or my roommates dream of when they think of living in LA at 22. But for the past 22 years I’ve dreamed of what my life would be like when I was a “grown up” and on days like today, I feel like I’m living that dream.
It’s a beautiful spring day in Southern California, and as I push my sunglasses back into my hair and take a sip of lemonade it hits me - This is my twenties. I am living in a city than many people can only dream of visiting and I have the freedom to appreciate it’s finer points. In that moment, all the stress of growing up melted away and I realized that I’ve grown up. It may not be the life that my parents, my friends, my co-workers or my roommates dream of when they think of living in LA at 22. But for the past 22 years I’ve dreamed of what my life would be like when I was a “grown up” and on days like today, I feel like I’m living that dream.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Independence
This year I have reached a HUGE milestone in my life:I am independent.
or at least according to the federal government I am. That’s right, it’s tax time. When it came time to settle in and finally figure out my taxes, I reached a HUGE question, right on page one:
“Can someone else claim you as a dependent?”
For the first 21 years of my life, this question was a given. But suddenly I’m staring at my taxes faced with the defining question of my twenties:
“Am I REALLY independent?”
In an irony of sorts I picked up the phone and proceeded to have an hour-long conversation with my Dad to try to navigate my way between dependence and independence. (at least according to the US government)
About halfway through, we decided that yes, for one more year, I was a dependent. I calculated my W-2’s and typed them neatly into Turbo Tax, only to be met with a very nasty red number. My thought?
Hey Dad – if I’m a dependent, I’m depending on you to help me pay this bill. Yikes!
And that’s when Dad and I started to play the tax game. Uncheck a box here, calculate the distance moved here, and suddenly my number went up and up and up until WOW! I got the biggest tax refund I have ever seen. (Thinking back to the days when I was SUPER PSYCHED to get my $90 refund. WooHoo!)
At the end of the hour I had a very nice little green number at the top of my screen, and I told my Dad goodbye.
Thanks for the great life Dad, but I think I’ll take it from here. ;)
Of course, there is the downside to being independent. And well, it’s that I’m dependent. No longer to my parents, but to my credit card. It steals my independence, literally down to my very last cent.
So, my hefty check from the US government didn’t stay in my account more than a couple of hours before the entire amount (plus a little extra) was immediately transferred on to my credit card bill. As my credit card balance dropped, so did my excitement as I remembered the days where tax refunds meant a full-fledged girl’s day – complete with shopping trip.
But today, I woke up to another direct deposit into my account – this time from the State of California. I had completely forgotten! I spent all of my “dependent” life as a Nevada resident, basking in the glory that is no state income tax. But California is in debt, and we don’t have that luxury. I cringe every two weeks as I see the extra little line on my paycheck as my precious dollars are taken away by the state.
Except for the fact that now, I got a few of them back.
Of course on the flip side, now I’m also VERY tempted.
Over the last couple of months I’ve been VERY dedicated to sticking to a budget. I’ve bought no extras, no splurges, just strictly what I need and nothing else. It’s been very exhausting. So part of me wants to take my state tax refund as just a little reward to myself. That is, until the responsible side kicks in.
As always, I’m torn between the responsible thing to do, and the thing that will make me feel just a little bit happier. It’s time to make a responsible adult choice.
So what did you do with your tax refund? Did it all go towards paying off debt? Or do you get to have a little fun?
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
More Blue Collar Than I Ever Thought
So I realized something yesterday.
I think I'd rather be a blue collar worker. Not necessarily the stereotypes of construction or things like that, but I really don't mind wearing a uniform.
Right now I work in an office type environment, tethered to a desk for 8 hours and it drives me crazy. Only reading blogs online can keep me occupied in my down times for so long. My limbs long for walking and standing.
It's ironic because I always saw myself as a sort of up and coming business woman wearing epic heels and pencil skirts, giving presentations and holding meetings. I walk by the meeting rooms at work now and cringe. No one looks glamorous, or like they're even enjoying a minute of their work. They all sit, staring at their laptops while watching Power Points full of graphs and data.
*Excuse me while I vomit*
Now I know that I don't just want to be a "worker" my whole life. I want to move up, get promoted, manage. Just maybe not in an white collar type office.
The more and more I think about it, the more I realize the only thing I've truly been passionate about my entire life is people. Now I do wish it was something a little more sell-able, like photography or being an expert harp player or something, but it's just not. I love people. I also love helping them by being as knowledgeable as I can be on my subject of work. Just ask Husband or Twixter Two. I know far too much random crap than any person ever should.
So yeah. Now I just have to wait 5 months to see if Disney is going to be it for me. Maybe I could handle working in an office if I love what I'm working for. Or who I'm working for.
What do you think? Are you more Blue Collar or White Collar? Or something in between like me?
I think I'd rather be a blue collar worker. Not necessarily the stereotypes of construction or things like that, but I really don't mind wearing a uniform.
Right now I work in an office type environment, tethered to a desk for 8 hours and it drives me crazy. Only reading blogs online can keep me occupied in my down times for so long. My limbs long for walking and standing.
It's ironic because I always saw myself as a sort of up and coming business woman wearing epic heels and pencil skirts, giving presentations and holding meetings. I walk by the meeting rooms at work now and cringe. No one looks glamorous, or like they're even enjoying a minute of their work. They all sit, staring at their laptops while watching Power Points full of graphs and data.
*Excuse me while I vomit*
Now I know that I don't just want to be a "worker" my whole life. I want to move up, get promoted, manage. Just maybe not in an white collar type office.
The more and more I think about it, the more I realize the only thing I've truly been passionate about my entire life is people. Now I do wish it was something a little more sell-able, like photography or being an expert harp player or something, but it's just not. I love people. I also love helping them by being as knowledgeable as I can be on my subject of work. Just ask Husband or Twixter Two. I know far too much random crap than any person ever should.
So yeah. Now I just have to wait 5 months to see if Disney is going to be it for me. Maybe I could handle working in an office if I love what I'm working for. Or who I'm working for.
What do you think? Are you more Blue Collar or White Collar? Or something in between like me?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Moved in!
I know it's not my blog day, but I'm super duper behind so we'll double post! :)
Well Twixters, I have crossed a threshold in the steps to my adulthood.
I have an apartment. My own apartment. That I pay rent and utilities for. And with that has come several revelations.
Now it may seem strange that at 22 I’ve still never lived in my own apartment. That can be easily explained: I lived 4 years in the dorms on campus the entire year, including summers and winter breaks, then while studying abroad, Husband and I lived in a “prepaid by tuition” apartment. Yeah, sure. It was an apartment, but I could take a 2 hour shower with all the lights on while baking cookies and the TV on in the background without blinking at the costs.
It’s a strange feeling to worry about my electricity. While growing up, I was raised to always shut the lights off, take short showers, etc. But I really didn’t care. If I forgot to turn the lights off in my room, no one really noticed.
Oh, I notice now. I practically live in the dark. I know the savings are minimal but they’re savings nonetheless.
Even further proof that I’m growing up.
The next revelation is that Husband and I own way too much shit. I mean seriously. I nearly threw out my back moving into our 2nd floor apartment. As we unpacked, we started a Goodwill Box. That box turned into 2, then 3 and we’re now at 7 and counting, on top of smaller items that have their own boxes. Thank goodness my parents are having a garage sale this weekend. Hopefully we can make some profit on all the stuff we’ve kept from college. I get so mad at myself as I look through the boxes, wondering the hell I was thinking keeping old scantrons, without the test. Or the free Victoria’s Secret dog stuff animals they gave away at Christmas probably 3 years ago.
It’s amazing the difference I feel about the sentimental value of stuff. I’m learning that the memories I have are far more important. Yes, I am still keeping some useless things, but you know what, in 5 years I can throw that away wondering why I kept that.
The apartment is so so close to being all put away. Maybe I’ll post some pictures…
Oh and Giles adores the apartment.
Well Twixters, I have crossed a threshold in the steps to my adulthood.
I have an apartment. My own apartment. That I pay rent and utilities for. And with that has come several revelations.
Now it may seem strange that at 22 I’ve still never lived in my own apartment. That can be easily explained: I lived 4 years in the dorms on campus the entire year, including summers and winter breaks, then while studying abroad, Husband and I lived in a “prepaid by tuition” apartment. Yeah, sure. It was an apartment, but I could take a 2 hour shower with all the lights on while baking cookies and the TV on in the background without blinking at the costs.
It’s a strange feeling to worry about my electricity. While growing up, I was raised to always shut the lights off, take short showers, etc. But I really didn’t care. If I forgot to turn the lights off in my room, no one really noticed.
Oh, I notice now. I practically live in the dark. I know the savings are minimal but they’re savings nonetheless.
Even further proof that I’m growing up.
The next revelation is that Husband and I own way too much shit. I mean seriously. I nearly threw out my back moving into our 2nd floor apartment. As we unpacked, we started a Goodwill Box. That box turned into 2, then 3 and we’re now at 7 and counting, on top of smaller items that have their own boxes. Thank goodness my parents are having a garage sale this weekend. Hopefully we can make some profit on all the stuff we’ve kept from college. I get so mad at myself as I look through the boxes, wondering the hell I was thinking keeping old scantrons, without the test. Or the free Victoria’s Secret dog stuff animals they gave away at Christmas probably 3 years ago.
It’s amazing the difference I feel about the sentimental value of stuff. I’m learning that the memories I have are far more important. Yes, I am still keeping some useless things, but you know what, in 5 years I can throw that away wondering why I kept that.
The apartment is so so close to being all put away. Maybe I’ll post some pictures…
Oh and Giles adores the apartment.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
April Fools!
April Fools was always a fun holiday in our house and my Dad has endured year after year of the sugar-to-salt switcher-roo in his morning coffee. Some of the pranks have been funny, others predictable, and one or two outright mean. But it being April Fool’s Day always managed to soften the blow.
Yesterday was March 31, and around 3:00p and my coworker and I were hit with the normal mid-afternoon boredom. Our minds don’t sit idle for long and we decided that it was prime time to play an April Fools day joke on The Boss.
We had already coordinated for everyone in our small office to call in sick (which the boss picked up after the first text) but then I stumbled upon this great little gem on Instructables.
My boss LIVES off of his computer and while you would think that would make him a computer-expert, I get an exasperated call into my office 4 or 5 times a day to come and fix this computer bug or to show him where the short cut is for that. Of course the perfect April Fool’s Day joke would be to help the computer along in it’s little “mix ups.” So while The Boss was away I slipped onto his computer to install “The Total Confusion Combo Pack” - sure to spark his computer into dozens of little mix ups the moment the clock struck midnight on April 1st.
My co-worker and I were barely holding our laughter when we started to hear the “HMPHs” and “HAWs” around 9 am this morning. I don’t know how I kept a straight face when he called me into his office moments later with a “Why is my firefox switching around all the letters?” and “What is this Rick Roll’d thing?” I had him opening and shutting windows, restarting and clearing his cache numerous times before we could hold it in no longer.
“How long has it been doing this?” I asked from across the wall, sitting in my office where I could hide my grin.
“Since I woke up at 3 am this morning - I’ve restarted the thing over 100 times! Could I have a virus?”
At the 6-hour mark, I don’t think the joke could have been anymore perfect.
I bargained with The Boss that if I could fix his computer he would have to take the entire company out to lunch. After he agreed it took two clicks on the tool bar and his computer was back to it’s pristine condition.
My chicken-wrap at lunch never tasted more sweet.
Did you play an April Fools Day joke today? Or maybe one was played on you? Let us know in the comments below.
Either way, I hope everyone had a good laugh this April Fools!
Yesterday was March 31, and around 3:00p and my coworker and I were hit with the normal mid-afternoon boredom. Our minds don’t sit idle for long and we decided that it was prime time to play an April Fools day joke on The Boss.
We had already coordinated for everyone in our small office to call in sick (which the boss picked up after the first text) but then I stumbled upon this great little gem on Instructables.
My boss LIVES off of his computer and while you would think that would make him a computer-expert, I get an exasperated call into my office 4 or 5 times a day to come and fix this computer bug or to show him where the short cut is for that. Of course the perfect April Fool’s Day joke would be to help the computer along in it’s little “mix ups.” So while The Boss was away I slipped onto his computer to install “The Total Confusion Combo Pack” - sure to spark his computer into dozens of little mix ups the moment the clock struck midnight on April 1st.
My co-worker and I were barely holding our laughter when we started to hear the “HMPHs” and “HAWs” around 9 am this morning. I don’t know how I kept a straight face when he called me into his office moments later with a “Why is my firefox switching around all the letters?” and “What is this Rick Roll’d thing?” I had him opening and shutting windows, restarting and clearing his cache numerous times before we could hold it in no longer.
“How long has it been doing this?” I asked from across the wall, sitting in my office where I could hide my grin.
“Since I woke up at 3 am this morning - I’ve restarted the thing over 100 times! Could I have a virus?”
At the 6-hour mark, I don’t think the joke could have been anymore perfect.
I bargained with The Boss that if I could fix his computer he would have to take the entire company out to lunch. After he agreed it took two clicks on the tool bar and his computer was back to it’s pristine condition.
My chicken-wrap at lunch never tasted more sweet.
Did you play an April Fools Day joke today? Or maybe one was played on you? Let us know in the comments below.
Either way, I hope everyone had a good laugh this April Fools!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I Understand Your Frustration, Ma'am.
Working in Account Services (retention) makes me apologize. A lot. Now, I'm told that I'm a great communicator. In my month or so on the phones, I've never had a customer request a manager or supervisor. As my supervisor would say, "It's because I don't have any stink on my voice". I'm assuming that means attitude. I really don't have any of that. In fact, I'm told that I'm too nice.
To maintain my job without getting in trouble, I'm supposed to "save" 45% of my customers. Right now my rate is at 40%. The problem is I care too much. I feel that the customer is telling me the truth. Why would they be lying about what happened in their life? Your life is terrible. You called the right person. I'll track my manager down and get your Early Termination Fee waived.
Now that is the wrong first thought. I'm supposed to look at what I see on the computer and feel no mercy. Customers lie. Often. I was cussed out for 30 minutes by a woman yesterday who sounded like satan. As she yelled, her voice became all guttural and creepy. I did not enjoy it. All over internet service.
While I'm not keeping the most customers for my company, most of them leave with a much better taste in their mouth about this company and may come back. I could say that all day, but I'm still 5% down from acceptable, let alone 7% from getting bonuses.
So for the first time in my life, I'm learning how to be mean. It seems so backward in customer service, but I have to begin to process that I work for a business, not the customer and do what's best for the company.
This continues to solidify the fact that I need to not work in this kind of customer service. I need to be somewhere that really is about your actual experience.
A place like, oh, Disney World. :)
To maintain my job without getting in trouble, I'm supposed to "save" 45% of my customers. Right now my rate is at 40%. The problem is I care too much. I feel that the customer is telling me the truth. Why would they be lying about what happened in their life? Your life is terrible. You called the right person. I'll track my manager down and get your Early Termination Fee waived.
Now that is the wrong first thought. I'm supposed to look at what I see on the computer and feel no mercy. Customers lie. Often. I was cussed out for 30 minutes by a woman yesterday who sounded like satan. As she yelled, her voice became all guttural and creepy. I did not enjoy it. All over internet service.
While I'm not keeping the most customers for my company, most of them leave with a much better taste in their mouth about this company and may come back. I could say that all day, but I'm still 5% down from acceptable, let alone 7% from getting bonuses.
So for the first time in my life, I'm learning how to be mean. It seems so backward in customer service, but I have to begin to process that I work for a business, not the customer and do what's best for the company.
This continues to solidify the fact that I need to not work in this kind of customer service. I need to be somewhere that really is about your actual experience.
A place like, oh, Disney World. :)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Lunch Time
Twixter Two and I have a clever little work time ritual that involves treating our business emails like instant messenger - desperate to talk to someone from outside our tiny cubicles during the 9-5 work day. But right around noon every day the subject inevitably swings to the same subject: soup.
Okay, not soup - but lunch time. Unfortunately for us, lately lunch time = soup. Yesterday she had potato. I had chicken noodle. Last week it was split pea. and tomato. We’re both so sick of soup.
Today I branched out a bit and rummaged through the cupboard to find some Uncle Ben’s microwaveable Rice Pilaf. hmmm. Well, at least it’s not soup. it’s rice.
Soup and Rice are the foundations of my lunch time diet. Our office keeps a fridge and pantry stocked with easy lunch time necessities - but that largely comes down to soup, rice, or sandwiches. I’ve had a dislike for sandwiches every since Jr. High days - after eating sandwiches for lunch for 12-years of my life, I just can’t stomach turkey on wheat anymore. So again, that leaves me soup. and rice. soup and rice.
It starts to get old after a while, but I just can’t bring myself to bring valuable groceries from home, when there is free food sitting right in the office fridge. But I hate the food we have in the fridge. Too often the meager offerings of the company fridge send me out to get fast food. But this month The Boss has been in town - which means no lunch break for me. (But consequentially no wasteful spending on fast food. There’s an upside to everything.) So instead, I get to eat soup. and rice. soup and rice.
I’m really starting to dislike soup and rice.
Okay, not soup - but lunch time. Unfortunately for us, lately lunch time = soup. Yesterday she had potato. I had chicken noodle. Last week it was split pea. and tomato. We’re both so sick of soup.
Today I branched out a bit and rummaged through the cupboard to find some Uncle Ben’s microwaveable Rice Pilaf. hmmm. Well, at least it’s not soup. it’s rice.
Soup and Rice are the foundations of my lunch time diet. Our office keeps a fridge and pantry stocked with easy lunch time necessities - but that largely comes down to soup, rice, or sandwiches. I’ve had a dislike for sandwiches every since Jr. High days - after eating sandwiches for lunch for 12-years of my life, I just can’t stomach turkey on wheat anymore. So again, that leaves me soup. and rice. soup and rice.
It starts to get old after a while, but I just can’t bring myself to bring valuable groceries from home, when there is free food sitting right in the office fridge. But I hate the food we have in the fridge. Too often the meager offerings of the company fridge send me out to get fast food. But this month The Boss has been in town - which means no lunch break for me. (But consequentially no wasteful spending on fast food. There’s an upside to everything.) So instead, I get to eat soup. and rice. soup and rice.
I’m really starting to dislike soup and rice.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Of Generation HP
Recently, one of my unattainalbe life dreams actually became an attainable dream.
They announced the opening date of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Universal Studios Florida.
I consider myself of the Generation Harry Potter (HP). When the first HP book released, I was 11 years old, just like Harry Potter. For the books 1-3, I aged and experienced the same (general) life confusions as my fictional counterparts. And as the books spanned farther apart in release, the age and maturity of Harry Potter and friends matched mine.
I actually grew up with Harry Potter.
I felt like the world that he lived in could be my own. I could be a witch. I could study with Hermione for endless hours in the library. I could meander the ground and visit Hagrid's cabin during free periods. I also, could see myself absolutly loving Dumbledore and all his wisdom. My mother embraced the series whole heartedly, even against the fear of her children reading about wizards and witchcraft. It was the first book that Brother read on his own. He was the kid that hated reading and had attention issues. But he could sit on the floor of my room (with the only CD player upstairs) reading along with the books on tape for hours on end. It made him understand the power of reading and the world it creates.
When they started filming the movies, Harry Potter became real. The sets existed, somewhere in the world. Things I had only imagined in my mind were there, looking EXACTLY like they did in the books. I wanted to see the sets so bad. I didn't. Of course. As a young, normal person in the world, there was no way.
But now, oh now. They built the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I can actually go there. I can see the Hogwarts Express, billowing smoke ready to take new students to be sorted.
So, as nerdy as this post is, I will probably cry the first time I set foot on the park. It will be the world I dreamed about for 10 years literally alive before my eyes.
Wow. I am a nerd. But at least I'm not alone.
They announced the opening date of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Universal Studios Florida.
I consider myself of the Generation Harry Potter (HP). When the first HP book released, I was 11 years old, just like Harry Potter. For the books 1-3, I aged and experienced the same (general) life confusions as my fictional counterparts. And as the books spanned farther apart in release, the age and maturity of Harry Potter and friends matched mine.I actually grew up with Harry Potter.
I felt like the world that he lived in could be my own. I could be a witch. I could study with Hermione for endless hours in the library. I could meander the ground and visit Hagrid's cabin during free periods. I also, could see myself absolutly loving Dumbledore and all his wisdom. My mother embraced the series whole heartedly, even against the fear of her children reading about wizards and witchcraft. It was the first book that Brother read on his own. He was the kid that hated reading and had attention issues. But he could sit on the floor of my room (with the only CD player upstairs) reading along with the books on tape for hours on end. It made him understand the power of reading and the world it creates.
When they started filming the movies, Harry Potter became real. The sets existed, somewhere in the world. Things I had only imagined in my mind were there, looking EXACTLY like they did in the books. I wanted to see the sets so bad. I didn't. Of course. As a young, normal person in the world, there was no way.
But now, oh now. They built the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I can actually go there. I can see the Hogwarts Express, billowing smoke ready to take new students to be sorted.
So, as nerdy as this post is, I will probably cry the first time I set foot on the park. It will be the world I dreamed about for 10 years literally alive before my eyes.
Wow. I am a nerd. But at least I'm not alone.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Poor and Post-Grad
Throughout college I would often refer to myself as “the poor college student,” bemoaning my measly 20-hour a week student salary. While I certainly wasn’t out buying designer jeans and cosmos every night, I had a very limited idea of what it meant to be poor. My apartment was covered by student loans and Mum & Dad were always there if the grocery fund ran low.
But still, I was a college student living in my own naiveté world and incredibly eager to receive that FIRST full time paycheck. I’d spent 2-3 months every summer working 40-hours a week in Vegas, and just imagined what possibilities would arise when that paycheck would raise and be deposited year-round.
But then I moved to LA. and LA is EXPENSIVE. My rent eats up almost half of my paycheck. I’d never written that big of a check until the day we signed our lease - heck, I’d never even had that much in my checking account!
But, with my biggest expense out of the way, I was sure the rest of the money would cushion the bottom of my bank account - I was working full-time now, nothing to worry about at all. But slowly that money slipped further and further away until I was left with an empty bank account and a credit card bill at the end of every month.
At first I just thought that I was horrible at managing my money. It was time for a budget. So I signed up for mint.com and became an instant fan. It made it so easy to set out a budget, and even easier to see if I was keeping to that budget. I may have gone a little overboard, logging every last purchase down to the $2 cash I spent on slurpees at 7-11. But after just a couple of months, I was keeping religiously to my budget.
Months and months of budgeting, and I only saved around $100 a month. That was barely enough to cover my finance fees.
So I took it to the finance blogs. In case you haven’t heard we’re in a recession and everyone has advice on how to save money. “Cut your luxuries!” they say. “Understand the definition of necessity!” they cry. Here’s the top 5 pieces of brilliant advice I’ve found over and over again:
I am one of those poor unfortunate assistants.
In fact, according to Hollywood University I am on the lowest of the low paid assistants. So low in fact, that I’m not sure if my salary is listed on this site.
In Hollywood, you have a choice to make. Live boring or Live poor. So many of my friends eat Top Ramen every night and live in a 2-bedroom with 4 other girls. Their credit card is always at the limit, but they live well. Drinks every night with the co-workers, and they look ever so “Hollywood glam” every morning at the office.
I’m on the other end of the spectrum. I have fresh veggies in my fridge, and am currently curled up in my single bedroom. I am chipping away at my credit card bill bit by bit - every drink I turn down is another $10 towards financial freedom. I haven’t been shopping in almost 6-months, and am anxiously awaiting for the must see movies to hit Red Box.
So what about you? Are you living boring, or living poor? or If you’re in LA - any ideas for living “the LA life” for free?
But still, I was a college student living in my own naiveté world and incredibly eager to receive that FIRST full time paycheck. I’d spent 2-3 months every summer working 40-hours a week in Vegas, and just imagined what possibilities would arise when that paycheck would raise and be deposited year-round.
But then I moved to LA. and LA is EXPENSIVE. My rent eats up almost half of my paycheck. I’d never written that big of a check until the day we signed our lease - heck, I’d never even had that much in my checking account!
But, with my biggest expense out of the way, I was sure the rest of the money would cushion the bottom of my bank account - I was working full-time now, nothing to worry about at all. But slowly that money slipped further and further away until I was left with an empty bank account and a credit card bill at the end of every month.
At first I just thought that I was horrible at managing my money. It was time for a budget. So I signed up for mint.com and became an instant fan. It made it so easy to set out a budget, and even easier to see if I was keeping to that budget. I may have gone a little overboard, logging every last purchase down to the $2 cash I spent on slurpees at 7-11. But after just a couple of months, I was keeping religiously to my budget.
Months and months of budgeting, and I only saved around $100 a month. That was barely enough to cover my finance fees.
So I took it to the finance blogs. In case you haven’t heard we’re in a recession and everyone has advice on how to save money. “Cut your luxuries!” they say. “Understand the definition of necessity!” they cry. Here’s the top 5 pieces of brilliant advice I’ve found over and over again:
- A gym membership is not a necessity, and should be cut.
(Well there’s a total $0 I found from my free runs out at the Rosebowl.)
- Stop eating out - it could save you thousands!
(I read as I stare at my 4th bowl of plain pasta this week.) - Use coupons (check!)
- Buy generic (check!)
- Only buy what you need (check! check! check!)
I am one of those poor unfortunate assistants.
In fact, according to Hollywood University I am on the lowest of the low paid assistants. So low in fact, that I’m not sure if my salary is listed on this site.
In Hollywood, you have a choice to make. Live boring or Live poor. So many of my friends eat Top Ramen every night and live in a 2-bedroom with 4 other girls. Their credit card is always at the limit, but they live well. Drinks every night with the co-workers, and they look ever so “Hollywood glam” every morning at the office.
I’m on the other end of the spectrum. I have fresh veggies in my fridge, and am currently curled up in my single bedroom. I am chipping away at my credit card bill bit by bit - every drink I turn down is another $10 towards financial freedom. I haven’t been shopping in almost 6-months, and am anxiously awaiting for the must see movies to hit Red Box.
So what about you? Are you living boring, or living poor? or If you’re in LA - any ideas for living “the LA life” for free?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
As If The World Couldn't Get Sadder...
Seriously? What is the world coming to?
One of the blogs I follow(mashable.com)updated this morning about a new dating site called Gamecrush.com. (Check out the original story here )
Here's the rundown on GameCrush: Gaming boys (or girls) sign up online and set up dates where they play games on their XBOX 360 or online computer games with the opposite sex. These dates last 10 minutes and the Gamer looking for love pays with points that are purchased with REAL MONEY. These points are paid as well as they are supposed to tip their "date" with whatever other points they have. Here's the kicker: the "date" can then redeem those points for cash.
This is a glamorized nerdy version of a phone sex line for nerds. W. T. F.
I mean, I get it. Nerdy guys sometimes have problems finding girls
who understand them, let alone want to play video games with them. But
resorting to paying for an online gaming date? I just can't even begin to
express how sad this is.
As a nerdy girl myself, I understand it can be difficult to find
someone who shares those traits with you. But there are people out
there!
Go on dates within your Guild members before paying for a date with some
random girl online.
I'll never understand this.
One of the blogs I follow(mashable.com)updated this morning about a new dating site called Gamecrush.com. (Check out the original story here )
Here's the rundown on GameCrush: Gaming boys (or girls) sign up online and set up dates where they play games on their XBOX 360 or online computer games with the opposite sex. These dates last 10 minutes and the Gamer looking for love pays with points that are purchased with REAL MONEY. These points are paid as well as they are supposed to tip their "date" with whatever other points they have. Here's the kicker: the "date" can then redeem those points for cash.This is a glamorized nerdy version of a phone sex line for nerds. W. T. F.
I mean, I get it. Nerdy guys sometimes have problems finding girls
who understand them, let alone want to play video games with them. But
resorting to paying for an online gaming date? I just can't even begin to
express how sad this is.
As a nerdy girl myself, I understand it can be difficult to find
someone who shares those traits with you. But there are people out
there!
Go on dates within your Guild members before paying for a date with some
random girl online.
I'll never understand this.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Rebel
The most rebellious thing I’ve ever done is pierce my nose.
My father swore that if I were to ever A) dye my hair black and/or B) pierce my nose, that was the end of me. The phrase “Not under my roof” was uttered more than once.
Almost exactly to one month after I was no longer under his roof I made a spontaneous decision while shopping in Pasadena with a girlfriend to pierce my nose.
Of course, spontaneous is somewhat a relative term. I’ve wanted to get my nose pierced since I was a sophomore in college, and came pretty close once or twice when I lived abroad in London (but somehow the sketch of Camden market always scared me away.)
However, that day in September my girlfriend and I were supposed to be shopping for work appropriate clothes, and I walked out with a nose stud. Luckily, I work in the entertainment industry and no one gives a second glance to things like piercings and tattoos. (I actually had to point the change out to both The Boss and Mrs Boss, who thought I had gotten my hair cut instead.)
Nevertheless, my parents don’t work, live or think about the entertainment industry, and I was frightened beyond all belief of revealing the big secret to them. I was your uber suck-up good kid in High School. The most rebellious thing I did was stay at church until after 10:00 pm on a school night. (Yes, I was that kid who got grounded from church, on more than one occasion.)
I’ve never seen the point in disrespecting your parents. It made sense to me why I shouldn’t drink, do drugs or sleep around. and while my mother and I got into some pretty Olympic screaming matches in High School, it usually had to do with me wanting to grow up. (Ha - memo to High School Twixter One: DONT RUSH.)
But everyone reaches a point when they need a little rebellion in their lives. So mine was a nose piercing, which I was certain my parentals would hate. I dreaded with excitement the moment that they would finally realize my deed. Planned out how I would reveal it, and perfected my arguement of why I shouldn’t be shunned.
But when I finally made the big reveal, it was no big deal. My mom said it looked cute. My dad just rolled his eyes. Pretty anti-climactic for the most rebellious thing I’ve ever done in my life. Maybe it's time I experiment with a little black dye.
My father swore that if I were to ever A) dye my hair black and/or B) pierce my nose, that was the end of me. The phrase “Not under my roof” was uttered more than once.
Almost exactly to one month after I was no longer under his roof I made a spontaneous decision while shopping in Pasadena with a girlfriend to pierce my nose.
Of course, spontaneous is somewhat a relative term. I’ve wanted to get my nose pierced since I was a sophomore in college, and came pretty close once or twice when I lived abroad in London (but somehow the sketch of Camden market always scared me away.)
However, that day in September my girlfriend and I were supposed to be shopping for work appropriate clothes, and I walked out with a nose stud. Luckily, I work in the entertainment industry and no one gives a second glance to things like piercings and tattoos. (I actually had to point the change out to both The Boss and Mrs Boss, who thought I had gotten my hair cut instead.)
Nevertheless, my parents don’t work, live or think about the entertainment industry, and I was frightened beyond all belief of revealing the big secret to them. I was your uber suck-up good kid in High School. The most rebellious thing I did was stay at church until after 10:00 pm on a school night. (Yes, I was that kid who got grounded from church, on more than one occasion.)
I’ve never seen the point in disrespecting your parents. It made sense to me why I shouldn’t drink, do drugs or sleep around. and while my mother and I got into some pretty Olympic screaming matches in High School, it usually had to do with me wanting to grow up. (Ha - memo to High School Twixter One: DONT RUSH.)
But everyone reaches a point when they need a little rebellion in their lives. So mine was a nose piercing, which I was certain my parentals would hate. I dreaded with excitement the moment that they would finally realize my deed. Planned out how I would reveal it, and perfected my arguement of why I shouldn’t be shunned.
But when I finally made the big reveal, it was no big deal. My mom said it looked cute. My dad just rolled his eyes. Pretty anti-climactic for the most rebellious thing I’ve ever done in my life. Maybe it's time I experiment with a little black dye.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thanks, But No Thanks.
So, I had an interesting week at my job here at the call center.
First, I was offered to produce (with zero budget mind you) a training video encompassing all the different departments of the company. It’s going to be cheesy, very corporate and I’m in love with the project. There’s a new kid in the training class (who is a d-bag who thinks he's God's gift to broadcasting,but working in a call center) who has all the equipment I’d need. He’s a broadcast major who’s very excited to help/take over the entire project. Ehem.
THEN after that, my trainer, whom we shall call Trainer (I’m creative, I know), approached me and asked me if I was good at Excel. Let me give a little back story on young Twixter Two. I was the child, where at age 9, created an Excel document of my Christmas wish list. I included graphs breaking up my gifts by cost brackets, what stores they were from and level of desire.
I’m completely serious.
But after that, all I’ve know is above the average person about excel. I can fix basic problems and create general formulas.
So I told Trainer that I was good at Excel. I am, above the average Joe. So I had a meeting with the big boss on campus, whom we shall call Bundles. Well, Bundles offered me Friday, “a loan”. What this loan means is while my pay and title remain the same, I am on loan to Bundles to help with the corporate Excel documents. Highly classified information about the company, including performance reports, etc. Well, Bundles wanted me to repackage the information into different graphs and formulas. And learn a technique called VLOOKUP.
Now I accepted the position. I was dazzled. I’m brand new to this company, only starting out on February 1st. To be offered something like this is unreal. It was implied that if I stayed and showed the stuff I was doing had some value, it would become an actual management position.
Then I went home. Husband helped un-dazzle me of the excitement of getting offer a kind-of-promotion. And I spent 2 hours trying to learn VLOOKUP. I had no idea what it was talking about. I’m a fast learner, but I researched VLOOKUP on 5 different Excel sites and still could not figure it out. This was a problem, since that was going to be my main formula. Then I had some questions. I’m not getting a raise, but I have more responsibility: would my title change? What can I write down on my résumé? If I change my hours, will that affect this?
After all the questions rolled around in my head, and the lack of Excel knowledge, on top of the fact that Husband and I are moving in less than 6 months, why would I take this position? For 1, it’s way over my head. For 2, it’s not very beneficial to a company to train someone for a promotional job when they’re going to be leaving. For 3, I was scared out of my mind I would suck completely at it.
So I talked to Bundles this morning and was very honest. It had nothing to do with her, just the fact that if it were my company, I wouldn’t want me to take the position. Bundles was very surprised by my honesty. Not many people would sacrifice getting off the phones in a call center life.
Little does she know I just didn’t want to give up my bonuses. (Bwahahahaha).
First, I was offered to produce (with zero budget mind you) a training video encompassing all the different departments of the company. It’s going to be cheesy, very corporate and I’m in love with the project. There’s a new kid in the training class (who is a d-bag who thinks he's God's gift to broadcasting,but working in a call center) who has all the equipment I’d need. He’s a broadcast major who’s very excited to help/take over the entire project. Ehem.
THEN after that, my trainer, whom we shall call Trainer (I’m creative, I know), approached me and asked me if I was good at Excel. Let me give a little back story on young Twixter Two. I was the child, where at age 9, created an Excel document of my Christmas wish list. I included graphs breaking up my gifts by cost brackets, what stores they were from and level of desire.
I’m completely serious.
But after that, all I’ve know is above the average person about excel. I can fix basic problems and create general formulas.
So I told Trainer that I was good at Excel. I am, above the average Joe. So I had a meeting with the big boss on campus, whom we shall call Bundles. Well, Bundles offered me Friday, “a loan”. What this loan means is while my pay and title remain the same, I am on loan to Bundles to help with the corporate Excel documents. Highly classified information about the company, including performance reports, etc. Well, Bundles wanted me to repackage the information into different graphs and formulas. And learn a technique called VLOOKUP.
Now I accepted the position. I was dazzled. I’m brand new to this company, only starting out on February 1st. To be offered something like this is unreal. It was implied that if I stayed and showed the stuff I was doing had some value, it would become an actual management position.
Then I went home. Husband helped un-dazzle me of the excitement of getting offer a kind-of-promotion. And I spent 2 hours trying to learn VLOOKUP. I had no idea what it was talking about. I’m a fast learner, but I researched VLOOKUP on 5 different Excel sites and still could not figure it out. This was a problem, since that was going to be my main formula. Then I had some questions. I’m not getting a raise, but I have more responsibility: would my title change? What can I write down on my résumé? If I change my hours, will that affect this?
After all the questions rolled around in my head, and the lack of Excel knowledge, on top of the fact that Husband and I are moving in less than 6 months, why would I take this position? For 1, it’s way over my head. For 2, it’s not very beneficial to a company to train someone for a promotional job when they’re going to be leaving. For 3, I was scared out of my mind I would suck completely at it.
So I talked to Bundles this morning and was very honest. It had nothing to do with her, just the fact that if it were my company, I wouldn’t want me to take the position. Bundles was very surprised by my honesty. Not many people would sacrifice getting off the phones in a call center life.
Little does she know I just didn’t want to give up my bonuses. (Bwahahahaha).
Friday, March 19, 2010
Reunited and It Feels Soo Good!
I had a scary revelation yesterday:
I am slowly inching up on the one-year anniversary of my undergraduate graduation.
That’s scary.
Last weekend I had a chance to escape real life, if only just for a couple days. The Best came down for a spontaneous visit from Nor Cal and for the first time since graduation, the old crew was together again.
The weekend kicked off with grabbing pizza and beer on Friday night and everything fell comfortably into place. (and even though I hate beer, The Director as usual managed to trick me into finishing at least half a glass. - like I said, back to normal.) After a late night finished off at the boys apartment (the latest I’ve had since graduation) we spent a beautiful Saturday with wine and baguettes in the park and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
It’s weekends like these that make me miss college, and at times seriously consider returning. True, I could do without the tests, the homework and the endless all nighters. But the stress and the frustration of being a full time college student are easily looked over after graduation when you have those kind of memories to look back on.
A lot of people can survive this college to real life transition because they never leave their college town. They find an apartment driving distance from campus and still gather together for LOST marathons with the group every week.
Sadly, my friends were all too adventurous - while one or two stayed near campus, most of us scattered just far enough away to make spontaneous drop-bys impossible. I’m excited for and proud of each member of our group - everyone is going for their goals straight out of college. But it does make my nights and weekends pretty lonely. What I would do to have everyone living in the same complex again - to have someone to borrow a cup of flour from (and consequentially have a flour flight with) or to be free enough to have a spontaneous sing-along in the courtyard.
Adult life and a 40-hour work week can get pretty lonely. It’s even more lonely when you’ve moved to a new town. The free time I was so anxious for in college isn’t always worth it when there is no one close to spend that free time with. While yes, I have made new friends and have had some wonderful post-college experiences, there is nothing that can replace my college friends. They’re family.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Family Matters
I am the first child of four. Besides me there is my almost 20-year-old brother, my almost (ohdeargodohno) 16-year-old sister, and the baby of the bunch (at 6) living at home with my parents in Las Vegas.
Of those four, I am clearly the first to move away from home - but at the moment I am also the only one to be out of state as well. My brother was oh-so-lucky that the state university had a kick-ass program for his major and used his Nevada funded scholarship money with pride - and remained in town.
At the moment, that makes me the odd one of the bunch, living 4-hours away from my entire family. (and I mean ENTIRE as all my grandparents, aunts, and uncles live a driving distance away from each other in LV).
To some degree, I quite like it - it gave me the chance to be truly independent in a sink or swim kind of mentality. I get to keep my own schedule, and maintain my own apartment without the fear of an unexpected parental drop by.
But there are some weeks, like this week, where 4-hours might as well be 20.
My brother and sister and I haven’t always gotten along. We all went through that period as we made our way through Jr. High and High School where each of us thought the others were miserable human beings. But somehow over the last year things have changed.
Suddenly I’m getting phone calls from both The Golfer (brother) and The Teenager (sister) begging me “Sissy help me!” from across the state lines.
Sometimes it’s the “Mum is driving me nutts - and you’re the only one that understands!!!” call - to which I patiently listen and remember to later apologize to my mother for when I went through those years.
At other times it’s heartbreak, a desperate plea of “I think I’m going to lose them...” where my heart just breaks and all I want to do is hold them, however so awkwardly. (as both The Golfer and The Teenager tower over my 5’ 2“ frame.)
After so many years of screaming “I HATE YOU” at the top of my lungs to a slammed door, why now when I’m 300 miles away do I actually like my family?
There are some days I want nothing more than to grab coffee with The Golfer on a break between work, or take The Teenager out shopping. My Dad has promised me first ride on the lake tube this summer, and yet I don’t even know when that will be. And all of that’s not even touching on how often I desperately need a Mum date - just her and I and hours of conversation.
I think for me, this is the hardest strand of Twixterdom to break. I am ready to pay my own bills, to work a full time job, to clean my own apartment and manage my own schedule. But I was never the kid who wanted to pick up and move away from Mom & Dad, only to call on Christmas and birthdays. My family is THE most important thing in my life , and yet I have to watch them from afar as my job and life demand that I live in LA.
So what do you think? Does anyone have any advice on how to be a big sister from 300 miles away? Or should I just keep praying that the Maglev will one day become a reality?
Of those four, I am clearly the first to move away from home - but at the moment I am also the only one to be out of state as well. My brother was oh-so-lucky that the state university had a kick-ass program for his major and used his Nevada funded scholarship money with pride - and remained in town.
At the moment, that makes me the odd one of the bunch, living 4-hours away from my entire family. (and I mean ENTIRE as all my grandparents, aunts, and uncles live a driving distance away from each other in LV).
To some degree, I quite like it - it gave me the chance to be truly independent in a sink or swim kind of mentality. I get to keep my own schedule, and maintain my own apartment without the fear of an unexpected parental drop by.
But there are some weeks, like this week, where 4-hours might as well be 20.
My brother and sister and I haven’t always gotten along. We all went through that period as we made our way through Jr. High and High School where each of us thought the others were miserable human beings. But somehow over the last year things have changed.
Suddenly I’m getting phone calls from both The Golfer (brother) and The Teenager (sister) begging me “Sissy help me!” from across the state lines.
Sometimes it’s the “Mum is driving me nutts - and you’re the only one that understands!!!” call - to which I patiently listen and remember to later apologize to my mother for when I went through those years.
At other times it’s heartbreak, a desperate plea of “I think I’m going to lose them...” where my heart just breaks and all I want to do is hold them, however so awkwardly. (as both The Golfer and The Teenager tower over my 5’ 2“ frame.)
After so many years of screaming “I HATE YOU” at the top of my lungs to a slammed door, why now when I’m 300 miles away do I actually like my family?
There are some days I want nothing more than to grab coffee with The Golfer on a break between work, or take The Teenager out shopping. My Dad has promised me first ride on the lake tube this summer, and yet I don’t even know when that will be. And all of that’s not even touching on how often I desperately need a Mum date - just her and I and hours of conversation.
I think for me, this is the hardest strand of Twixterdom to break. I am ready to pay my own bills, to work a full time job, to clean my own apartment and manage my own schedule. But I was never the kid who wanted to pick up and move away from Mom & Dad, only to call on Christmas and birthdays. My family is THE most important thing in my life , and yet I have to watch them from afar as my job and life demand that I live in LA.
So what do you think? Does anyone have any advice on how to be a big sister from 300 miles away? Or should I just keep praying that the Maglev will one day become a reality?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Not Exactly My Kind of Holiday
Exactly 5 years ago today, I ended a 6 month boy fast my senior year of high school. I write that again for those who don’t know me. My senior year of high school, I went on a no boy/flirting fast for 6 months to learn exactly who I am. It was seriously one of the best times in my life. So every year since then, I’ve tried to make every St. Patrick’s Day special.
This year started with an emotional breakdown.
Now, I’m not one to be very emotional. Like I’ve said in earlier blogs, even typing this now, I’m mildly regretting writing it. But alas, I will persevere.
I woke up this morning and just felt overwhelmed. Like everything in the entire world I was worried about was on the forefront of my mind. Then I got a text message from my favorite teacher of time (who happens to be my academic advisor, the officiant at my wedding, and stand-in grandpa since mine passed away). All he said was that he missed me and wished I could be TA-ing his class this year.
I just started bawling. I seriously couldn’t stop. I couldn’t get ready for work; nothing could make me feel better. I feel so bad for Husband. There was nothing he could do but just lay with me.
All my thoughts just kept spiraling. What if I don’t want to move to Florida? What if I want to move back to California? When am I going to finish school? What if I don’t get hired at Disney? What if this apartment doesn’t help make me happier in this stupid city? Can I really make it 5 more months here before I go nuts?
I’m apologizing now. I hate writing blogs like this. I always feel so “whoa-is-me! I-have-a-full-time-job-a-place-to-live-and-an-amazing-family but wah wah wah”.
But this is my blog entry. So whatevs.
I ended up being 3 hours late to work. Not a normal occurrence for me as I am a very on time person.
So even now at work, I feel on edge. Like someone is going to say something to me and I’m just going to start crying. There are very few things I hate more than crying in public. One would be wetting my pants. That’s seriously how much I hate crying in front of people.
So now I’m avoiding everyone like the plague and just counting down the hours until 2:30 when I can escape to the safety and solitude of my car.
Hopefully I can make it 2 more hours.
Not exactly the type of memory I like to have for St. Patrick’s Day. But I guess they can’t always be fun.
This year started with an emotional breakdown.
Now, I’m not one to be very emotional. Like I’ve said in earlier blogs, even typing this now, I’m mildly regretting writing it. But alas, I will persevere.
I woke up this morning and just felt overwhelmed. Like everything in the entire world I was worried about was on the forefront of my mind. Then I got a text message from my favorite teacher of time (who happens to be my academic advisor, the officiant at my wedding, and stand-in grandpa since mine passed away). All he said was that he missed me and wished I could be TA-ing his class this year.
I just started bawling. I seriously couldn’t stop. I couldn’t get ready for work; nothing could make me feel better. I feel so bad for Husband. There was nothing he could do but just lay with me.
All my thoughts just kept spiraling. What if I don’t want to move to Florida? What if I want to move back to California? When am I going to finish school? What if I don’t get hired at Disney? What if this apartment doesn’t help make me happier in this stupid city? Can I really make it 5 more months here before I go nuts?
I’m apologizing now. I hate writing blogs like this. I always feel so “whoa-is-me! I-have-a-full-time-job-a-place-to-live-and-an-amazing-family but wah wah wah”.
But this is my blog entry. So whatevs.
I ended up being 3 hours late to work. Not a normal occurrence for me as I am a very on time person.
So even now at work, I feel on edge. Like someone is going to say something to me and I’m just going to start crying. There are very few things I hate more than crying in public. One would be wetting my pants. That’s seriously how much I hate crying in front of people.
So now I’m avoiding everyone like the plague and just counting down the hours until 2:30 when I can escape to the safety and solitude of my car.
Hopefully I can make it 2 more hours.
Not exactly the type of memory I like to have for St. Patrick’s Day. But I guess they can’t always be fun.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Need to Move
[Editors Note: This blog was written and slated to run today, long before Twixter Two made her exciting announcement below. Slightly ironic, don’t you think?]
6-months ago, all my blog posts were raving about my new apartment that was prepped and ready for me to move into. I was so excited.
Now that we’re six months in to a year-long lease, the excitement has worn off. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fabulous apartment. We got a stellar deal (paying nearly $800 less than our neighbors in fact) but I’m beginning to realize it’s a stellar deal on an apartment that may be too much for me to handle. This apartment would have been MY DREAM when I was in college – as a two story town house each person has their own little hole to curl up into when they need to study, with the downstairs completely open for hanging out and partying. But I’ve soon come to realize that my post college life doesn’t entail as many midnight marathons of Bones as college did. Furthermore, my roommate is rarely ever home – leaving a huge kitchen, dining room and living room downstairs open as I wander from room to room wondering why its so quiet. Even when she is there, she’s usually holed up in her own room making barely any noise. (Unless of course it’s 4 am and she bursts into my room to tell me about the earthquake that just happened - the earthquake that consequently didn’t wake me up. *yawn*)
So I made the mistake of surfing through Craigslist postings, only to find apartment after apartment that I’m falling in love with – for almost $200 cheaper a month than what I’m paying now. It’s unhealthy for me to continue to look when I’m so far off from my lease ending, but I can’t help it. I want a new place, new roommate, new outlook – already.
I’m used to college living. The longest I’ve ever stayed in one place was 9-months, and most of the time roommates lasted a maximum of 4-months before we annoyed the heck out of each other and someone moved out. It’s normal for the itch to start hitting me now, at the 6-month mark it was already time to buddy up for next years roommate assignments.
But why am I looking if I’m not necessarily “unhappy?” The only real fault to my apartment is the fact that I’m 6-months older and decades wiser and know that I could seriously cut my costs and find something much more manageable. Otherwise my apartment is cute, it’s clean and comfy, and my roommate pays her rent each month. Of course, I’d love to find a roommate whose schedule lines up more with mine (I’m dying for need of some serious college style Gilmore Girls marathons stat) and I’m realizing the value and savings of living in a tight but comfy place.
When I first started this blog, I prided myself on shaking at least one tenet of Twixerdom and settling into my own apartment, lease and all - and had plans to stay.
Hmm, well - Okay, maybe I’m not so rid of the Twixter after all
6-months ago, all my blog posts were raving about my new apartment that was prepped and ready for me to move into. I was so excited.
Now that we’re six months in to a year-long lease, the excitement has worn off. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fabulous apartment. We got a stellar deal (paying nearly $800 less than our neighbors in fact) but I’m beginning to realize it’s a stellar deal on an apartment that may be too much for me to handle. This apartment would have been MY DREAM when I was in college – as a two story town house each person has their own little hole to curl up into when they need to study, with the downstairs completely open for hanging out and partying. But I’ve soon come to realize that my post college life doesn’t entail as many midnight marathons of Bones as college did. Furthermore, my roommate is rarely ever home – leaving a huge kitchen, dining room and living room downstairs open as I wander from room to room wondering why its so quiet. Even when she is there, she’s usually holed up in her own room making barely any noise. (Unless of course it’s 4 am and she bursts into my room to tell me about the earthquake that just happened - the earthquake that consequently didn’t wake me up. *yawn*)
So I made the mistake of surfing through Craigslist postings, only to find apartment after apartment that I’m falling in love with – for almost $200 cheaper a month than what I’m paying now. It’s unhealthy for me to continue to look when I’m so far off from my lease ending, but I can’t help it. I want a new place, new roommate, new outlook – already.
I’m used to college living. The longest I’ve ever stayed in one place was 9-months, and most of the time roommates lasted a maximum of 4-months before we annoyed the heck out of each other and someone moved out. It’s normal for the itch to start hitting me now, at the 6-month mark it was already time to buddy up for next years roommate assignments.
But why am I looking if I’m not necessarily “unhappy?” The only real fault to my apartment is the fact that I’m 6-months older and decades wiser and know that I could seriously cut my costs and find something much more manageable. Otherwise my apartment is cute, it’s clean and comfy, and my roommate pays her rent each month. Of course, I’d love to find a roommate whose schedule lines up more with mine (I’m dying for need of some serious college style Gilmore Girls marathons stat) and I’m realizing the value and savings of living in a tight but comfy place.
When I first started this blog, I prided myself on shaking at least one tenet of Twixerdom and settling into my own apartment, lease and all - and had plans to stay.
Hmm, well - Okay, maybe I’m not so rid of the Twixter after all
Monday, March 15, 2010
A Place To Call My Own
Life changing event!
Well my Twixter friends, Husband and I are so so close to getting OUR
first apartment!!!
You have no idea how exciting it will be for us to have an apartment.
It's just a cute 1 bedroom near where Husband graduated from high
school. And the other huge bonus, is we're subleasing for exactly the
amount of time until we wanted to move to Florida.
And on top of that, it's only $550 a month. (Sorry Twixter One. I
know that's hurtful).
Husband and I have been living with Sister-In-Law for several months
now. We've been staying in the spare bedroom with a futon on the
floor. Not exactly ideal, but it's free and we're poor. So when we
started looking for apartments in our budget range, they were pretty
much all in not the greatest places in the Las Vegas Valley. But it
was a sacrifice we were willing to make.
But then, out of the glorious Craig's List, we found a subleased
apartment for the same price as the ghetto for a really nice
neighborhood. It's so close to my work and a lot closer to any
friends we have in town.
I feel like an adult. This apartment will be the first place that
Husband and I have that's ours. We lived in a rental room at our
university and then when we studied abroad, we lived with rented
furniture and rented dishes. It wasn't OURS. Now this place will
have all our furniture and Giles as well! (After we pay the
exorbitant $500 pet deposit).
As much as I don't want to grow up, I can't wait to have a place to
call my own. Even if it's just for 5 months.
So now all we're waiting for is the weird guy we're subleasing from to
pay the apartment what he owes and fill out some paperwork, and then
it's ours! We move in April 1st.
This is going to be the longest 2.5 weeks of my life.
Well my Twixter friends, Husband and I are so so close to getting OUR
first apartment!!!
You have no idea how exciting it will be for us to have an apartment.
It's just a cute 1 bedroom near where Husband graduated from high
school. And the other huge bonus, is we're subleasing for exactly the
amount of time until we wanted to move to Florida.
And on top of that, it's only $550 a month. (Sorry Twixter One. I
know that's hurtful).
Husband and I have been living with Sister-In-Law for several months
now. We've been staying in the spare bedroom with a futon on the
floor. Not exactly ideal, but it's free and we're poor. So when we
started looking for apartments in our budget range, they were pretty
much all in not the greatest places in the Las Vegas Valley. But it
was a sacrifice we were willing to make.
But then, out of the glorious Craig's List, we found a subleased
apartment for the same price as the ghetto for a really nice
neighborhood. It's so close to my work and a lot closer to any
friends we have in town.
I feel like an adult. This apartment will be the first place that
Husband and I have that's ours. We lived in a rental room at our
university and then when we studied abroad, we lived with rented
furniture and rented dishes. It wasn't OURS. Now this place will
have all our furniture and Giles as well! (After we pay the
exorbitant $500 pet deposit).
As much as I don't want to grow up, I can't wait to have a place to
call my own. Even if it's just for 5 months.
So now all we're waiting for is the weird guy we're subleasing from to
pay the apartment what he owes and fill out some paperwork, and then
it's ours! We move in April 1st.
This is going to be the longest 2.5 weeks of my life.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Giles the Pee-Meister
So fun fact of the day: Giles is on a peeing spree.
Giles is my cat. Let me tell you about him. Prior to getting
married, I lived for a couple of months with my besties crashing on
their bedroom floor to save money. During that time, while moving my
stuff from the dorms into the garage, I heard a small meow. A kitten
meow. So I searched around. The detached garage faces a cinder block
wall with dumpsters against it. When the dumpsters get moved, they
slam into the brick wall and make holes.
So we found Giles hidden in a hole in the cinder block wall. Meowing
his little head off for someone to help him. Mind you, this all
happened around 11 pm. So after calling in the boys to help get him
out, we ended up spending 2 1/2 hours making the fist size hole an
arm's length hole with a hammer. After that battle, we got him out.
And he was the cutest cat I've ever seen.
Mind you I just remembered now that he peed on my lap on the car ride
over to walmart to get him a litter box and food. It was a sign....
So we hid Giles in Husband's dorm room for a few months, hid him in
our college apartment, got caught. Then had a lovely lady we found on
Craig's list watch him while we studied abroad. She even got his
shots and neutering free. She was seriously a miracle. After we
moved to Vegas, we had to give him to someone else to watch until
Nephew was healthy enough to have a cat around. All of that time
totaling about 5 months without him. We have been fighting to keep
him from the get go.
Now don't get me wrong, Giles is a love. He will snuggle likie it's
no one's business and even sit on the book you're reading if he wants
some love. But then 10 mins later he will be running in circles
around the room, getting scared by his own tail. He has more
personality than even some people I know. He's such a character.
Well, I almost murdered him last night.
He started to pee on the blanket i was laying under. Literally at my
feet he tried to pee. (Granted his litter box was a little dirty. I
rectified that immediately).
And the jeans I wanted to wear this morning? Peed on. On top of my
leather Rainbow brand flip flop. I didn't have time to clean the this
morning as I was running late, but if that flip flop forever smells
like cat piss....
So now we don't know what to do. Do we keep this cat that obviously
needs some more attention and just get him anohter cat to keep him
company? What if the other cat learns the same bad habits and they
both pee around the apartment? I don't want to loose my $300 pet
deposit because my cat won't use his litter box.
Or do we find him a home? I mean, Giles is a shit, but I love him so
much. He sleeps next to me every night and makes me so happy whenever
I see him. He's our baby.
Except when he pisses on my stuff.
ALAS, what do I do?
Giles is my cat. Let me tell you about him. Prior to getting
married, I lived for a couple of months with my besties crashing on
their bedroom floor to save money. During that time, while moving my
stuff from the dorms into the garage, I heard a small meow. A kitten
meow. So I searched around. The detached garage faces a cinder block
wall with dumpsters against it. When the dumpsters get moved, they
slam into the brick wall and make holes.
So we found Giles hidden in a hole in the cinder block wall. Meowing
his little head off for someone to help him. Mind you, this all
happened around 11 pm. So after calling in the boys to help get him
out, we ended up spending 2 1/2 hours making the fist size hole an
arm's length hole with a hammer. After that battle, we got him out.
And he was the cutest cat I've ever seen.
Look at that face....
Mind you I just remembered now that he peed on my lap on the car ride
over to walmart to get him a litter box and food. It was a sign....
So we hid Giles in Husband's dorm room for a few months, hid him in
our college apartment, got caught. Then had a lovely lady we found on
Craig's list watch him while we studied abroad. She even got his
shots and neutering free. She was seriously a miracle. After we
moved to Vegas, we had to give him to someone else to watch until
Nephew was healthy enough to have a cat around. All of that time
totaling about 5 months without him. We have been fighting to keep
him from the get go.
Now don't get me wrong, Giles is a love. He will snuggle likie it's
no one's business and even sit on the book you're reading if he wants
some love. But then 10 mins later he will be running in circles
around the room, getting scared by his own tail. He has more
personality than even some people I know. He's such a character.
Well, I almost murdered him last night.
He started to pee on the blanket i was laying under. Literally at my
feet he tried to pee. (Granted his litter box was a little dirty. I
rectified that immediately).
And the jeans I wanted to wear this morning? Peed on. On top of my
leather Rainbow brand flip flop. I didn't have time to clean the this
morning as I was running late, but if that flip flop forever smells
like cat piss....
So now we don't know what to do. Do we keep this cat that obviously
needs some more attention and just get him anohter cat to keep him
company? What if the other cat learns the same bad habits and they
both pee around the apartment? I don't want to loose my $300 pet
deposit because my cat won't use his litter box.
Or do we find him a home? I mean, Giles is a shit, but I love him so
much. He sleeps next to me every night and makes me so happy whenever
I see him. He's our baby.
Except when he pisses on my stuff.
ALAS, what do I do?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Memories
The other day I stopped by CVS to pick up a couple of photos from one-hour photo. My photo printer stopped working about 4-months ago, and now simply exists as an at-home flight check-in kiosk. and then only when it likes me.
However, I was struck with a very old memory. I remember the days when as a kid, I would go with Mum to Costco. The first thing to the right of the massive garage doors was the photo center. We would rush to the photo stacks and eagerly wait for Mum to turn the gigantic cart down an empty isle and rip open the packaging.
We’d stand on our tip toes as we waited to see which pictures were there. Half of the pictures were blurry, and occasionally Mum would lecture me on why I thought taking a picture of a brick was a good idea. (What can I say, I had a weird photographic eye even at that age.) But we’d ooh and aah over the photos of us as a family, right there in the isle of Costco.
Fast Forward 15-odd years to today. Where my baby sister doesn’t even pause after the shutter goes off, immediately begging “let me see! let me see!” (by the way, The Baby just turned 6!!! Happy Birthday munchkins!) Bad pictures are instantaneously deleted, and there’s plenty of room for pictures of bricks and leaves and my baby sisters dolls.
But the other day at CVS I tossed my photo order into the cart, and walked out of the store without even glancing at them until they went in the mail to my grandmother. She’s 103 and doesn’t own a computer, so we still hand write letters and mail her pictures. (Although, I’m sure if we gave her a chance she’d master the computer and be on facebook in no time. She is super woman after all.)
I’m all about the technological advances we’ve had and love the fact that as I’ve travelled the world my family can travel with me via the world wide web. But there are moments when I miss those days, crowded around a shopping cart - waiting as a family to see what memories were made and captured forever on one incredibly special photograph.
However, I was struck with a very old memory. I remember the days when as a kid, I would go with Mum to Costco. The first thing to the right of the massive garage doors was the photo center. We would rush to the photo stacks and eagerly wait for Mum to turn the gigantic cart down an empty isle and rip open the packaging.
We’d stand on our tip toes as we waited to see which pictures were there. Half of the pictures were blurry, and occasionally Mum would lecture me on why I thought taking a picture of a brick was a good idea. (What can I say, I had a weird photographic eye even at that age.) But we’d ooh and aah over the photos of us as a family, right there in the isle of Costco.
Fast Forward 15-odd years to today. Where my baby sister doesn’t even pause after the shutter goes off, immediately begging “let me see! let me see!” (by the way, The Baby just turned 6!!! Happy Birthday munchkins!) Bad pictures are instantaneously deleted, and there’s plenty of room for pictures of bricks and leaves and my baby sisters dolls.
But the other day at CVS I tossed my photo order into the cart, and walked out of the store without even glancing at them until they went in the mail to my grandmother. She’s 103 and doesn’t own a computer, so we still hand write letters and mail her pictures. (Although, I’m sure if we gave her a chance she’d master the computer and be on facebook in no time. She is super woman after all.)
I’m all about the technological advances we’ve had and love the fact that as I’ve travelled the world my family can travel with me via the world wide web. But there are moments when I miss those days, crowded around a shopping cart - waiting as a family to see what memories were made and captured forever on one incredibly special photograph.
Friday, March 12, 2010
The Coveted Eclipse Trailer
Now, as aforementioned, I'm a fan girl. I love the Twilight Saga. Thusly, I have been (im)patiently awaiting any sort of footage from the newest film in the series, Eclipse.
It arrived yesterday at 6 am. I tried, like a good employee, to watch it on my phone so I wouldn't get in trouble. I tried 3 times. Thank you MyTouch for claiming the video "could not be played". Bullshivic!
Now, as youtube.com is blocked at my work, I studiously opened hulu.com, which is not blocked and prayed it would be there. Obviously it was. And I watched.
My initial thought was.... "That's it?"
Eclipse is my favorite book in the series. I have very high expectations for this film, especially with David Slade manning the director wheel and the high standards set by New Moon. While I didn't see 30 Days of Night, I trust his vision for horror, fighting, and drama due to his previous experience.
But the trailer was angsty flashes of each character looking tormented. Seriously. Watch it again and you'll see. It jumps from Edward telling Bella about the consequences of her choices, Jacob (who has the best line EVER by the way) of saying he'll fight for Bella until her heart stops beating, the Volturi looking mean, to Bella saying she's found us.....
Angsty.....
Now don't get me wrong. It looks beautiful. From the flashes of the meadow to the emotions on their faces, it's stunning. But this trailer was for the fangirls. It was the love triangle trailer.
Where was the fighting? Where's the fear? I just didn't feel it yet. Or see it for that matter.
I'll wait though. I know the next trailer will be more fleshed out. Some of the fight scenes are probably still being worked on digitally anyway. Notice how little CG was in the trailer. Yup. They're waiting.
Which is fine. I guess...
Sigh.
It arrived yesterday at 6 am. I tried, like a good employee, to watch it on my phone so I wouldn't get in trouble. I tried 3 times. Thank you MyTouch for claiming the video "could not be played". Bullshivic!
Now, as youtube.com is blocked at my work, I studiously opened hulu.com, which is not blocked and prayed it would be there. Obviously it was. And I watched.
My initial thought was.... "That's it?"
Eclipse is my favorite book in the series. I have very high expectations for this film, especially with David Slade manning the director wheel and the high standards set by New Moon. While I didn't see 30 Days of Night, I trust his vision for horror, fighting, and drama due to his previous experience.
But the trailer was angsty flashes of each character looking tormented. Seriously. Watch it again and you'll see. It jumps from Edward telling Bella about the consequences of her choices, Jacob (who has the best line EVER by the way) of saying he'll fight for Bella until her heart stops beating, the Volturi looking mean, to Bella saying she's found us.....
Angsty.....Now don't get me wrong. It looks beautiful. From the flashes of the meadow to the emotions on their faces, it's stunning. But this trailer was for the fangirls. It was the love triangle trailer.
Where was the fighting? Where's the fear? I just didn't feel it yet. Or see it for that matter.
I'll wait though. I know the next trailer will be more fleshed out. Some of the fight scenes are probably still being worked on digitally anyway. Notice how little CG was in the trailer. Yup. They're waiting.
Which is fine. I guess...
Sigh.