Probably the deepest subway station in New York City. I take the F train sometimes but have never gotten on or off at this station. Thankfully. The F/M/R station at 4th and 9th in Brooklyn is pretty sucky, too, though, especially if you’re going from the F to the M/R or visa versa. And I do use that stop a lot. via
I wanna go to church on Sunday. I miss the praise songs and sense of community. And hanging out with decent people who think that “having fun” is more than just getting drunk or high. -_-
I’m thinking here or here. Whadaya think? Wanna come with me?
So… I don’t have a lot of money. That’s not news to most people. In fact, I have so little money, I actually have negative money—I owe people. Student loans and credit cards pretty much kill me. I’m paying off credit cards for things I don’t even remember buying anymore. So, I’ve taken steps to not use my cards, and since I’m still in school, I don’t have to worry about student loans until I leave school. I don’t want to think that far ahead right now.
I have a job and I pay the bills online or by check (usually the latter). I was apartment-hunting up until last week, so I had a big payment due upon moving in and another coming up for the month of October, too. I can cover the expenses, but just barely, and that’s only if I don’t do anything else.
I bring the money thing up after two unrelated things happened with the couple with whom I was staying (while looking for a place to live). First, Daniel saw me inputting some of my expenses into my Quicken register. He scoffed and asked, “You do your own finances?”—as if it was something beneath a normal person to keep up with his/her own bills and whatnot. I nodded, saying, “Yes, of course. What do you do?” He said, “Well, I have an accountant do all that stuff for me. Well, he’s my parents’ accountant and he does my stuff, too. And, if I’m worried about not having enough [money], I just put it on my credit card.” I said, “Yes, I have a credit card, too.” He seemed surprised. I continued, “Actually, I have multiple cards. That’s why I even bother keeping track. If I didn’t, I’d be seriously in trouble.” It was interesting that he was surprised that I keep track of my own finances and do my own taxes and have a credit card (or two… or more). I figured the less I had to keep track of, the less I would need to track it, not the other way around.
Second, I had dinner with Beth in mid-September at Applebee’s. I covered the tab, and it was (including a paltry tip) more than $40… each. (edit: And I just learned that the dinner overdrafted my checking account and dipped into my savings! T_T) We had an appetizer, an entree for each of us, and a dessert for each of us.
When I was growing up, my family would go out sometimes, but we’d never get an appetizer or dessert—it was a main course or nothing. The appetizers were never even considered, and it was once in a Blue Moon when the kids (my brother, sister, and I) were able to convince our parents to get a dessert for all five of us to share… and that’s only if we could decide on one dessert at all.
When I first started living with Beth and Daniel, I was surprised by how often they went out to eat. Daniel always paid, though, so I wasn’t complaining. (I offered to pay a couple of times, but he always turned me down until the last time, right after I’d moved out into my own place.) It seems, though, that they’re used to getting an appetizer and a main dish and dessert… Which is fine; to each his/her own, right? Maybe I wouldn’t be so irritated if they actually ate everything set in front of them. No, actually, that’s not the problem.
They don’t mind asking for their leftovers to be wrapped and bagged to be taken home. I applaud that… seriously, that’s awesome. What annoys me is that they never eat the leftovers. In the month that I stayed with them, they ate their leftovers all of one time (the day before I moved into my new place), but then they went and had a “real” dinner anyway. I, personally, threw out a crapton* of old, moldy Chinese food not to mention other stuff that I couldn’t identify because they’d brought it home and never opened it since.
At first I thought I was being annoying about money because people keep telling me (when they talk to me about money at all) that I’m “too young” to really be in trouble or have to worry about that sort of thing, and I hated when my dad made me learn to use Quicken, but now I’m really grateful. I know people under 30 years who’ve already declared bankruptcy, and it’s not pretty. I can’t have that problem. I don’t want to, in any case. And I’m no where near it, I hope. That is, everything’s okay for now. But I’m flabbergasted by the way some people seem to spend money without thinking about it. I just don’t have that luxury, unfortunately.
It is interesting to observe other people’s habits and (try to) refrain from saying anything. A lot of the time, I’d like to say, “Ur doin’ it wrong!”
————
* “crapton” is not a real word.
.. that I’ve been meaning to mention. The minute I get a couple things off my desk/desktop, five more sprout up. One of my facebook friends recently had this as her status: “Firstname Lastname is put thy coins in thy mind” and I just really like the last part of that a lot. I’m not really sure what it means, but it sounds really nice.
First, annoyances. I am a TRUE BELIEVER in proper spelling, punctuation, pronunciation, and grammar. And that goes for speaking a language, too, not just writing it. DO NOT END A SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION! For sheesh, people. Where you at? is INCORRECT. That question in and of itself is the mother of all my pet peeves. JUST DON’T DO IT. (Where are you? works just as well and isn’t incorrect or irritating. It’s win-win!) In that vein, these are NOT words!!!
1. dat — as in “True dat.” A bastardization of “that.”
2. aight — as in “It’s aight.” A poor combination of “all right.”
3. ain’t — as in “That ain’t right.” A pathetic excuse for “are not” or “is not,” depending on the usage.
4. aks — as in “I aks you a question.” It’s not “aks”… it’s asked (for sheesh).
GAH! [dies of terrible language]
Second, you can tell a lot of things from your officemates’ desks, but guess what you can’t tell? Whether or not they are good-natured or emotionally stable.
Third, this is what I want to do! I think I should contact this professor and get some advice on how to proceed with my education. Time is running out to apply for schools this year and I don’t want to be out of school for too long or I might get too comfortable. Perhaps I should read the book first, though, right? I loathe having to buy another book, especially because I’m afraid I won’t even read it, but we’ll see. I still have to call F&M career services anyway.
Fourth, I’m reading a book (almost done! I’ll post a review when I finish it) and learned a new word in the process! The word is “laconic” and means “using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious” What do you think? Cool, huh? It was used at least twice to describe Heath Ledger’s performance in Brokeback Mountain.
Fifth, this is the coolest little sign ever (the one on the left):
“ONE WAY” (of many)
—a found poem*
well i’m knee deep
in computer/ipod stuff
wires hanging
everywhere,
mass confusion,
but am determined
to get things working!!!!
(so far nothing is)
————
*in my boss’ email inbox this morning
.. that I’ve been meaning to mention that have been sitting in my “to write about” pile since… whenever. First, The Barack Obama Test. I haven’t read The Audacity of Deceit (the book by the person who created the website and test), and I’m pretty sure I would dislike it, but the test itself is pretty fair. Not completely fair, of course, (that would be asking too much), but decently fair. I scored roughly 51% with Obama, which is a far cry from what I suspect I would score with McCain. I encourage you to take the test and see where you stand.
Second: wake up, freak out.
I’m quite taken with the film The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart. I haven’t written a review, but I do have a t-shirt, a hat, a poster, an original painting, the soundtrack, a book, and another (semi-related) book—so you can imagine what my review would be like.
<_<
Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. I understand that TDK isn’t for everyone (just look at the one-star reviews on Amazon, for example). That’s fine. As I was reading reviews, however, I came across this sentence.
Joker is portrayed as a scary insaine [sic] killer with some light humor, not at all a mix of a crazed humorous clown with the willingness to brutally take a life.
And I was wondering… what’s the difference? In TDK, the Joker is portrayed as a “scary insaine killer with some light humor” (misspelling in the original)… sorta. I mean, he has a dry wit and a perverse sense of humor, but it is a sense of humor, and I (for one) enjoyed it. And he’s definitely a killer (a sociopath, by most standards). What the reviewer wants, however, is a “mix of a crazed humorous clown with the willingness to brutally take a life.”
… Ooookay. I’m pretty sure those are interchangeable. Or, at least, interchangeable enough that they’re essentially the same thing. Right? Am I just confused? Maybe it’s that the reviewer wants more of the clown aspect and less of the killer aspect? I’m just not seeing the difference.
Will someone go read the review and tell me I’m not crazy? Maybe I’m just taking the sentence out of context?
