Today is my brother Abram's birthday. Too bad he is away on vacation or else we would get to celebrate it here in town. I hope he has a good one and I'm sure we will celebrate once he is back.
Wednesday night I set up a salsa outing. I invited Oscar, our seasoned pro and Laura, a quick learning amateur to be my dance partner. Usually I enjoy just going out, listening to the Spanish music and chatting people up while my friends work the dance floor. But this day I decided I'd do the free lessons since Laura came. I think we did pretty good and it was actually somewhat fun. Oscar showed Laura how to do it the right way and the night was very fun. They danced very well together. There was this group that I have seen there every time I go, so I went over to talk to them for a while finding out if they were studio taught or self taught. Oscar's call was dead on, with there being studio lessons 4 years ago and the rest self taught. They were pretty amazing, but it did make sense when she told me that for a while that was all she was doing. The next morning I did pay for it I have to admit since I had my usual Maker's Marks. The two bar tenders I know were pretty busy, but the one who is friends with my brother wasn't too helpful when I asked her about the salsa night.
Well the Spurs are out of the playoffs. A last minute decision to root for the Celtics made the loss easier for me to handle, but it still sucks. I had planned to watch the game, but to be honest, I fell asleep right before it started, my dvr recorded it and it was on and when I woke up it was to the commentators discussing the loss. It was still a good playoffs and at least now I'll pay attention to who wins.
You have to watch this Daily Show clip: Matt Taibbi discusses his favorite moments as a member of John Hagee's church and a 9/11 conspiracy group. I want to learn how to throw up demons too.
Cynthia sent me an email forward (but with the forward part deleted, go Cynthia) with this picture and caption among many.
I need to do some finance complaining since today is payday and I can't enjoy it that way I want to. So each month I have $500 I owe to pay a personal debt, $320 for a settlement debt, $450 for rent (true a deal) and $350 for my truck. So before even starting to pay all my bills and expenses I have a for sure $1620 off the top cut. I don't make much money and clear about $1500 each two weeks. This is pretty much the fixed expense outlook for the rest of the year and I'm not including regular bills, student loans (whole other story), insurance, food, gas and those mounting credit cards. I guess everything is pretty normal except the $500 plus $320 extra bills that hurt each month, but that I'm going to pay. So I'm here trying to figure out a plan to be responsible and save. I try to figure out the plan pretending I don't have a spending problem, but even if that all stopped, I'm still playing catch up. I think an extra 20 grand infusion would help me get close to about even on a lot, but I'd still be a good 100 grand away from being debt free. Here is to figuring out a plan to make 20 grand and not want to keep it to but other things. Don't see myself wanting to marry a chick when I don't have a house and can't put the 10 grand or so it would cost for a ring that a commitment to me would be symbolized by.
Now, I'm not poor by any standard, I live such the good life with way too much excess and don't deny myself any of the materialistic pleasures I covet. There is always money for food and well I'm pretty damn blessed, but this is a good example of how if you are not responsible with making $10,000 a year, with a million dollars a year your debts will be just that much bigger and you'll be in the same boat no matter how much you make. That is clearly me. But this is like a fat person saying, ok I'm fat and I know why, but fixing it will take so long and damn that ice cream is good. Maybe the key if finding a financial diet I can stick to, or moving the responsiblity from the external lack of a diet to my internal decision making process that makes these impluse decisions. So don't feel sorry for me, learn from me, cause I'm trying to learn from me, but I don't think I have figured out the lesson yet.
Now will this keep me from the new iphone when it comes out, of course not. Will this keep me from wanting a nice car that is better on gas or from wanting to take trips to Cali, DC or Vegas? I'm so past the shame part, not the stress part though.
That all said, here are the things I want that I'm going to put off. A bistro table set for my balcony. I want to be able to go out there and read and relax. A bench for the front porch. A wooden table for the backyard. A lawnmower. The big things like the backyard jacuzzi I'll try to keep at bay too.
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