I Am Poor
Since my parents became Mr. & Mrs. Divorcee (Other considered monikers: Advocates for Racial Purity, Victims of the Thirty-Year Itch, The Effect of Moving Upstate) they've slowly been tearing down the pillars of finance with which I supported my deviant college life. This began probably in Aug '07, when my father's AmEx mysteriously stopped working. After some hemming and hawing, my father eventually discovers that the card has been cancelled. He blames this on my Mother and Me, so I ask, "Why didn't you tell me to stop spending so much money on calzones?" and he responds, "Robert, I don't read the bill. I just pay it off." My parents' financial insolvency would be tragic if it wasn't so fuckin' hilarious. Actually, it affects me, so, I'll stick with tragic.
Thus began the semester I lived on my AmEx Blue. For the record, I have no idea how I landed a job and yet continued to grow my debt. I wasn't paying for my board. I can only conclude that I spent X dollars a month wholly on food, booze & clothes. This is incredible to me, looking back. My parents brought me up to follow in their footsteps all too well.
Forward to March '08, when I realize, "Oh shit, I gotta move, Dorm rooms are expensive." Thus began the serious re-evaluation of my finances, and the aching, splitting migraines of realizing how much unnecessary debt I had racked up with my boozin'. The summer recess allowed me to work full time, and combined with a solemn oath to cut back on food expenses, I was able to dredge up enough cash to put in a first month's + security + broker fee on an apartment I actually liked with a friend. O Miracle of Miracles!
The rest of the summer months went well. But now I'm back in school, and working part time. To say my finances are fragile is an understatement. This is a new experience for me. It's always been my friends who had to be concerned about how much money they had to eat with that day, and I would just laugh, buy whatever the hell I wanted, and eat it inches away from their face.
Overall, I'm adjusting well. Cooking more, $40 dollar a week drinkin' budget, put in an extra hour where I can, beg for money from Mother and Father and sublty hint they should outbid each other for my love, etcetera, etcetera. But at the same time, I'm aware that I need to do something about my financial situation, because this does not work in the long term. The Gables (or what's left of our tattered heritage) do not skip a cheeseburger because they are in the red, dammit. We ARE the credit crisis.
Aside: I wrote this because I had a half hour before Trivia Night, and I want to get back into writing. The bacon cheeseburger is the real draw of Trivia night, not the thrill of testing my knowledge. Fuck my knowledge, man.
Thus began the semester I lived on my AmEx Blue. For the record, I have no idea how I landed a job and yet continued to grow my debt. I wasn't paying for my board. I can only conclude that I spent X dollars a month wholly on food, booze & clothes. This is incredible to me, looking back. My parents brought me up to follow in their footsteps all too well.
Forward to March '08, when I realize, "Oh shit, I gotta move, Dorm rooms are expensive." Thus began the serious re-evaluation of my finances, and the aching, splitting migraines of realizing how much unnecessary debt I had racked up with my boozin'. The summer recess allowed me to work full time, and combined with a solemn oath to cut back on food expenses, I was able to dredge up enough cash to put in a first month's + security + broker fee on an apartment I actually liked with a friend. O Miracle of Miracles!
The rest of the summer months went well. But now I'm back in school, and working part time. To say my finances are fragile is an understatement. This is a new experience for me. It's always been my friends who had to be concerned about how much money they had to eat with that day, and I would just laugh, buy whatever the hell I wanted, and eat it inches away from their face.
Overall, I'm adjusting well. Cooking more, $40 dollar a week drinkin' budget, put in an extra hour where I can, beg for money from Mother and Father and sublty hint they should outbid each other for my love, etcetera, etcetera. But at the same time, I'm aware that I need to do something about my financial situation, because this does not work in the long term. The Gables (or what's left of our tattered heritage) do not skip a cheeseburger because they are in the red, dammit. We ARE the credit crisis.
Aside: I wrote this because I had a half hour before Trivia Night, and I want to get back into writing. The bacon cheeseburger is the real draw of Trivia night, not the thrill of testing my knowledge. Fuck my knowledge, man.