Happy New Year
Well it's a new year now so I figured I really should put something here if I'm going to pretend I still use this. :) A lot has changed since the last time I wrote. Let's stick with the big ones.
First: I moved December 15th to a new apartment because my old roommate's boyfriend moved in and they didn't bother to mention it to me. I discovered that he was definitely living there and not just being an amazingly annoying presence back in November and spent a few weeks trying to find a place. I like it well enough, though I haven't met all of my three new roommates. I figure I'll be okay no matter what because the room has it's own bathroom, cable, and internet, plus it's closest to the door outside so I can come and go without much interaction. The two I met seem nice enough, very young and enthusiastic. One is even from Pittsburgh, maybe we'll ride together in the future if she wants to go home when I do. If I knew her name or number I'd offer to drive her back now, but I don't know where she lives or her last name or when she needs to go back to school. Oh well. The apartment complex has a pool and gym, and all utilities are included in the too expensive rent. I had to pay all my rent (through July) upfront because I didn't feel like having my parents cosign or whatever. I'm 28, I shouldn't be expected to get my parents' signature for things. XP Anyway, at least I don't have to pay anything for the next 7 months of living. The place costs $715 a month (that's almost $3000 a month for the whole apartment!) but the girl was so desperate for someone to take it from her since she was graduating, she let me have it for $450. I wish I'd offered less, I didn't think there was any chance she'd take it. I could've had a tiny room in a house for $300 plus utilities, but I figured I'd ask the girl in the nicer apartment one last time... Sigh. Well what's done is done so no point in regrets.
Second: I just bought a new car: a cosmic silver, charcoal interior, 2008 Chevy Aveo. It's pathetic and wrong for me to admit I did it now mostly because some people in Delaware were jerks and I didn't want to be beholden to them anymore after I confronted them about it. Instead I'll say it's because I had to bring things like a TV and guitar back to school from Pittsburgh so I needed a car to haul it. Sadly, having a car means I don't have any reason for others to come help me pack up and leave when it comes time. :( But I can spend my time in the summer going to beaches or something because I can drive myself places. :) But being able to drive also means I have more bills to pay, more debt (should I have just found a junker for under $3000 (what I had for a down payment) and worried about a better car later? Probably...), and perhaps an obligation to be more social and more service oriented, I don't know. My new place is close enough to all the stores I ever needed in the past, I imagine my car isn't going to see much use beyond Sunday going to church. Except before that confrontation that led to me buying a car, I told a girl that if I ever got a car I'd take her to the Winns and not make her stay until midnight like the person I confronted. Sigh.
I wish I could get a second job to make some more money. I don't spend much time on school work and I did a better job of managing my time when I had my night job last year which forced me to do something every day. I could definitely make enough for car payments and insurance at my old telephone job. In fact, I might even be able to handle rent at a cheap place as well if I was a manager as I was offered over the summer. If I don't have a job by the end of May when I graduate, I'll just go back to work on telephone research. I wouldn't want that to be my life though, and it would likely be better for me to have an internship to get my food in the door at some place that would hopefully hire me. I'd really love a federal job with student loan forgiveness. That'd be wonderful. :) Especially if I use a loan to pay off my car loan. I'm a little worried that I won't get both my loans this spring semester because I said I didn't want one of them last fall. It was good I had the other and hadn't used it to pay off my unsubsidized loan as I originally planned because I wouldn't have been able to pay all my rent up front. Of course I could've just gotten my parents to sign the form for me... Anyway, what's done is done. Even if can't pay off the loan as quickly as I thought, I should still be able to pay it off by the end of the semester if I stop wasting money.
It's New Year's, a time for resolutions. I've never kept one in the past, but I might as well try again this year.
1) Get out of debt. That's not too likely this year since I've just gotten myself into $12,000, but it's possible I'll quickly get an amazing job and be able to pay off all my student loans, etc. I've never been in debt before coming to Delaware. Perhaps all of this has been a terrible mistake. :p
2) Keep a budget. I'm a bit of a miser when it comes to spending money, but once I start, I don't stop very well. I think making a budget will help me avoid that trap of thinking that as long as I have money in my account, I'm fine to do what I want. Come November when my student loans start coming due I'll be singing a different tune I'm sure. I'm hoping that by starting now, I'll be prepared for when I have to pay things. Right now I have no expenses but the car, but when I have rent and utilities to worry about again, I'll need to have something saved and all that. It's 3:30am, I can't think in sentences anymore.
3) Sit up straight. I have terrible posture, I must work on this or face an elderly life staring at the ground from under my hump back.
4) Lose weight. That's always a goal, right? I did see a nutritionist, maybe it'll work.
5) Graduate. I can't imagine letting myself be such a failure as to give up when the end is so near, but I didn't write a paper for my independent study last semester, it's conceivable that I'll suddenly decide not to write my analytical paper and never graduate. Aaaa!
6) Read the Book of Mormon. That's what's in Sunday School this year so I'll try to do a better job staying on track with that than I did for New Testament (I was good until summer when Oakland ward was so far behind on lessons and I just stopped reading. I had the same problem with the RS manual, they were like four lessons behind so I didn't read ahead and then I went back to Delaware and they were still on track so there are some lessons unmarked in my Kimball manual. Maybe I'll do them when I get back to Delaware.). It's also a Newark 2nd Branch Goal for the year.
7) Invite people to church activities. This is another branch goal, bring someone to an activity every month. Gack, I can't imagine, but I'll try to invite someone each month, and maybe someone will accept and I'll keep inviting them. :) Now that I have a car I can at least offer them a ride. Maybe my new roommates will be looking for some wholesome fun (seems a bit unlikely, but we'll see).
8) Do more service. I need to get a little less self-centered.
9) Do assignments as soon as they are given. I don't care if it's the first day of class and I'm told there will be a final paper, START DOING IT! Also, I must do assignments rather than goof off. I often think, I don't want to do that work, I will goof off instead. This year, I can say I don't want to do the work, that's fine, but I have to find another project to work on instead. There'll be my analytical paper looming all semester so no need to worry about not having anything else to do. XP
10) Hm, there needs to be a 10th one, a list of 9 isn't very even. Maybe something about drawing... Okay, for number 10 I'll say I'll do something creative at least once a week. Once a day would be nice, but it might overwhelm me. I would like to try daily journal entries again. I am rather consistent with my weekly Sunday ones, but probably church isn't the best time for writing journal entries to describe what happened the past week. If they were about the speakers more often then it wouldn't be so bad, but lately it seems like mostly I make them a week in review and the only comment on talks is if someone is going too long. :p
So there you have it, a lose set of goals. At least one of them I'm sure I'll accomplish, there's just no way I'm going to let myself not graduate. OH! I remember what I'd been thinking for #10, figure out what I'll do with my life. That's sort of a hard one to define as accomplished or not. I mean it as finding a job and deciding to go on a mission or whatever else. I certainly wouldn't define it like get married or have my first baby. :) Shucks, if I could just find a job and figure out where to live, that'd be something. Sigh, I'm very conflicted between a summer of being a beach bum or the life since I have my rent paid. I could maybe get hired for a job that doesn't start June 1st or whatever right after school is done (so late in May! Why?!?!?!!) so I could have a little travel and being a bum time. Of course I have lots of debt now so I don't want to wait around too much and I certainly can't wait until after my lease is up to find a career.
Okay, it's almost 4am and I need to get up and clean and cook for New Year's Day Lunch guests. I'll have to tell you about my daring break up of a street fight some other time. :D
First: I moved December 15th to a new apartment because my old roommate's boyfriend moved in and they didn't bother to mention it to me. I discovered that he was definitely living there and not just being an amazingly annoying presence back in November and spent a few weeks trying to find a place. I like it well enough, though I haven't met all of my three new roommates. I figure I'll be okay no matter what because the room has it's own bathroom, cable, and internet, plus it's closest to the door outside so I can come and go without much interaction. The two I met seem nice enough, very young and enthusiastic. One is even from Pittsburgh, maybe we'll ride together in the future if she wants to go home when I do. If I knew her name or number I'd offer to drive her back now, but I don't know where she lives or her last name or when she needs to go back to school. Oh well. The apartment complex has a pool and gym, and all utilities are included in the too expensive rent. I had to pay all my rent (through July) upfront because I didn't feel like having my parents cosign or whatever. I'm 28, I shouldn't be expected to get my parents' signature for things. XP Anyway, at least I don't have to pay anything for the next 7 months of living. The place costs $715 a month (that's almost $3000 a month for the whole apartment!) but the girl was so desperate for someone to take it from her since she was graduating, she let me have it for $450. I wish I'd offered less, I didn't think there was any chance she'd take it. I could've had a tiny room in a house for $300 plus utilities, but I figured I'd ask the girl in the nicer apartment one last time... Sigh. Well what's done is done so no point in regrets.
Second: I just bought a new car: a cosmic silver, charcoal interior, 2008 Chevy Aveo. It's pathetic and wrong for me to admit I did it now mostly because some people in Delaware were jerks and I didn't want to be beholden to them anymore after I confronted them about it. Instead I'll say it's because I had to bring things like a TV and guitar back to school from Pittsburgh so I needed a car to haul it. Sadly, having a car means I don't have any reason for others to come help me pack up and leave when it comes time. :( But I can spend my time in the summer going to beaches or something because I can drive myself places. :) But being able to drive also means I have more bills to pay, more debt (should I have just found a junker for under $3000 (what I had for a down payment) and worried about a better car later? Probably...), and perhaps an obligation to be more social and more service oriented, I don't know. My new place is close enough to all the stores I ever needed in the past, I imagine my car isn't going to see much use beyond Sunday going to church. Except before that confrontation that led to me buying a car, I told a girl that if I ever got a car I'd take her to the Winns and not make her stay until midnight like the person I confronted. Sigh.
I wish I could get a second job to make some more money. I don't spend much time on school work and I did a better job of managing my time when I had my night job last year which forced me to do something every day. I could definitely make enough for car payments and insurance at my old telephone job. In fact, I might even be able to handle rent at a cheap place as well if I was a manager as I was offered over the summer. If I don't have a job by the end of May when I graduate, I'll just go back to work on telephone research. I wouldn't want that to be my life though, and it would likely be better for me to have an internship to get my food in the door at some place that would hopefully hire me. I'd really love a federal job with student loan forgiveness. That'd be wonderful. :) Especially if I use a loan to pay off my car loan. I'm a little worried that I won't get both my loans this spring semester because I said I didn't want one of them last fall. It was good I had the other and hadn't used it to pay off my unsubsidized loan as I originally planned because I wouldn't have been able to pay all my rent up front. Of course I could've just gotten my parents to sign the form for me... Anyway, what's done is done. Even if can't pay off the loan as quickly as I thought, I should still be able to pay it off by the end of the semester if I stop wasting money.
It's New Year's, a time for resolutions. I've never kept one in the past, but I might as well try again this year.
1) Get out of debt. That's not too likely this year since I've just gotten myself into $12,000, but it's possible I'll quickly get an amazing job and be able to pay off all my student loans, etc. I've never been in debt before coming to Delaware. Perhaps all of this has been a terrible mistake. :p
2) Keep a budget. I'm a bit of a miser when it comes to spending money, but once I start, I don't stop very well. I think making a budget will help me avoid that trap of thinking that as long as I have money in my account, I'm fine to do what I want. Come November when my student loans start coming due I'll be singing a different tune I'm sure. I'm hoping that by starting now, I'll be prepared for when I have to pay things. Right now I have no expenses but the car, but when I have rent and utilities to worry about again, I'll need to have something saved and all that. It's 3:30am, I can't think in sentences anymore.
3) Sit up straight. I have terrible posture, I must work on this or face an elderly life staring at the ground from under my hump back.
4) Lose weight. That's always a goal, right? I did see a nutritionist, maybe it'll work.
5) Graduate. I can't imagine letting myself be such a failure as to give up when the end is so near, but I didn't write a paper for my independent study last semester, it's conceivable that I'll suddenly decide not to write my analytical paper and never graduate. Aaaa!
6) Read the Book of Mormon. That's what's in Sunday School this year so I'll try to do a better job staying on track with that than I did for New Testament (I was good until summer when Oakland ward was so far behind on lessons and I just stopped reading. I had the same problem with the RS manual, they were like four lessons behind so I didn't read ahead and then I went back to Delaware and they were still on track so there are some lessons unmarked in my Kimball manual. Maybe I'll do them when I get back to Delaware.). It's also a Newark 2nd Branch Goal for the year.
7) Invite people to church activities. This is another branch goal, bring someone to an activity every month. Gack, I can't imagine, but I'll try to invite someone each month, and maybe someone will accept and I'll keep inviting them. :) Now that I have a car I can at least offer them a ride. Maybe my new roommates will be looking for some wholesome fun (seems a bit unlikely, but we'll see).
8) Do more service. I need to get a little less self-centered.
9) Do assignments as soon as they are given. I don't care if it's the first day of class and I'm told there will be a final paper, START DOING IT! Also, I must do assignments rather than goof off. I often think, I don't want to do that work, I will goof off instead. This year, I can say I don't want to do the work, that's fine, but I have to find another project to work on instead. There'll be my analytical paper looming all semester so no need to worry about not having anything else to do. XP
10) Hm, there needs to be a 10th one, a list of 9 isn't very even. Maybe something about drawing... Okay, for number 10 I'll say I'll do something creative at least once a week. Once a day would be nice, but it might overwhelm me. I would like to try daily journal entries again. I am rather consistent with my weekly Sunday ones, but probably church isn't the best time for writing journal entries to describe what happened the past week. If they were about the speakers more often then it wouldn't be so bad, but lately it seems like mostly I make them a week in review and the only comment on talks is if someone is going too long. :p
So there you have it, a lose set of goals. At least one of them I'm sure I'll accomplish, there's just no way I'm going to let myself not graduate. OH! I remember what I'd been thinking for #10, figure out what I'll do with my life. That's sort of a hard one to define as accomplished or not. I mean it as finding a job and deciding to go on a mission or whatever else. I certainly wouldn't define it like get married or have my first baby. :) Shucks, if I could just find a job and figure out where to live, that'd be something. Sigh, I'm very conflicted between a summer of being a beach bum or the life since I have my rent paid. I could maybe get hired for a job that doesn't start June 1st or whatever right after school is done (so late in May! Why?!?!?!!) so I could have a little travel and being a bum time. Of course I have lots of debt now so I don't want to wait around too much and I certainly can't wait until after my lease is up to find a career.
Okay, it's almost 4am and I need to get up and clean and cook for New Year's Day Lunch guests. I'll have to tell you about my daring break up of a street fight some other time. :D