Okay...now I know I promised myself I would write more on here, but I was out of town (in Madison) doing the Race for the Cure (breast cancer). You can see our "official photo" here. I'm the person holding the banner on the right (no talking shit, the sun was in my eyes). My mom is just to the left of Earth Mother (the giant puppet who walked the whole 5K without switching puppet bearers once). And the rest of the peeps are other members of the Madtown Liberty Players Race for the Cure team. I feel pretty rad, having raised $201 of the $946 total (by our race team) given to breast cancer research. Yep.
I went to Carrie's sister's baby shower over the weekend as well. It was kind of sad - just a few family members & their kids and not one "friend" of Tara's. The girl is like 19 and having her second child, with a different dad. Now, I understand accidental pregnancy if you're taking precautions and they don't work. But this girl just doesn't think. Condoms, anyone? The pill, depo, the patch...
Ponge's dad is having another baby soon as well. The man works 12 hour days, 7 days a week and I used to live in their home so I know that his money provides shelter and food and not much else. His oldest child I think is Ponge, who is 27. And now he's having another baby (they already have 3 kids together) with Ndeye Mour, his second wife. And they're implying that Ponge will be needing to send more money than he already does every month.
Well, considering our income is about to drop by a third or so I don't think it was inappropriate for me to say, god have they ever heard of birth control? Yet Ponge was like - hey, why don't you call my dad and tell him about it. I just don't think that if you're poor and struggling and sick of being poor and struggling that you should have 8 kids or whatever the count is, and then keep having more. What the fuck? They don't live on a farm where more hands are more help. In fact, they have bloody maids (everyone in Senegal has maids unless you are basically homeless; they get paid in food and shelter and/or a meagre stipend) so the people of the house do hardly anything. Some of them work. Most of them just hang about. That's certainly what Ponge did. He half-assed went to the University and spent the rest of his time eating, watching TV, playing soccer, bullshitting with friends, and drinking tea. He didn't even try to get a job. Supposedly a lot of the jobs were "beneath" someone from his ethnic group/someone of his education. I think that's a lot of horseshit. That's like my dad refusing to get a job at McDonald's not because he had moral issues with the corporation, but because it was "beneath" him. I don't think McD's is beneath a high school drop out drunk who has a shitty employment history. And I don't think selling crap on the street or being a taylor is beneath a 25 year old man living at home and not contributing anything, even housework. Kind of like stripping is not beneath a college graduate when the other options seem worse.
Well, I only have a little over a month left of that because, (drum roll please), I got a JOB!!! (fireworks, applause, etc.)
It is through AmeriCorps and doesn't pay for shit. From what the previous VISTA in my position said it's about $850 a month (ouch). However, there is also a $100 living allowance for me to apply towards rent, and at the end of the year I get $4200 to apply towards my college loans. Then I'll only have $20,000 to go. Hah.
The job is with a group that provides free legal, organizing, education and advocacy services to tenants(renters) in Minnesota. Apparently quite a few of their grants were to do that kind of work in rural areas and they just got a grant for expanding into St. Paul. My job (among other things, like answering tenant's legal questions, etc.) will be to implement the system into St. Paul.
Fuckin-A right.
Also, I bit the bullet and bought my tickets to New York City. Yay! I'm excited, I've never travelled by myself to a place where I had no agenda. The only exception would maybe be when I stopped in France for a week between flying home from Senegal to the USA, but I was so wierded out that I don't think it counts. Too much culture shock and too much major life decisions in too short a time span.
So...I hope the credit card I applied for will be approved or I'll have to continue my research and apply for another. 0% APR for 12 months and whatever else. I think what I'll do is open a third bank account, just for paying off my credit card. I can put cash in there and then when I use my credit card I'll deduct the $$ spent from that account. If I have no money in there, then I don't use the card.
I got a comment advising against youth, drinking, and a credit card. I appreciate the concern and I will definitly keep that in mind, but the main reason I want a card is not to buy a bunch of crap I can't afford now - it is to build up my credit. As in, thinking ahead to the future when I will want a car loan or a home loan or whatever. I have done a bunch of research on how to avoid fucking up your credit and how to use a card responsibly and whatnot. I think I am mature enough to deal with it.
And although I have been drinking too much, it has never been to the point where I am placing alcohol over paying my bills or any thing even close to that. Last night I went out with crazy Jess and Dave to have pizza and just had two Miller Lites (it was 2 for 1s) because I didn't want to be hungover today and because I didn't want to spend the money when I'm going on an expensive trip soon. I do have self-control when I need it. The problem, I think, is that I haven't really needed it for so long.
Ah, and this brings us to the Grand Total for May.
Total drinks: 114
Total $$ spent on alcohol and alcohol related expenses (like cab rides): $418
Good fucking god. Lessee, that's still 3.7 drinks/day and $13.48/day.
Now, where can I cut shit out of the equation? One biggie that I think I can cut is going to the bar that all my coworkers and I go to. I go there after work on day shifts and stay out all bloody night. Not necessary. Or I go in before my night shift and throw down a few. Occasionally, that's fine, but I have been making a habit rather than a treat out of it.
The other thing I can do is make plans with people in a different part of the city on my day shifts. I mean, if I have no place better to go then my attitude is fuckit - might as well stay here and socialize rather than go home and watch TV. I mean, TV mayhap kills quite a few brain cells as well. So I can make plans with people in an area that is not downtown & this will cut off my desire/ability to stay at the bar all bloody night.
What else. Lately I've been trying this thing where I drink all the same kind of liquor in one night, and just in general slow down and drink more water, etc. It's the nights that I have 3 kinds of beer, shots of Jag and shots of Jos�, bloody mary's and long islands all in the same night that I get the most drunk, spend the most money, smoke the most cigarettes, and get the most hungover.
So if I start with one thing, I have to stick to that as much as possible. If I switch bars and the new bar doesn't have the same beer I was drinking, I have to find one that is similar rather than switching to mixed drinks or whatever. I'm sure I won't stick to this 100%, but I think it will help.
Monetarily, I need to start buying liquor/beer from the store and drinking at home/other people's houses instead of going to the bar. Buying a $4 beer and tipping out $1 is much more expensive than buying a $5 - $9 six pack.
The other thing to do is to only bring a certain amount of money with me. Instead of going to the bar directly from work when I have some one to three hundred dollars on me, I can stop by my house and drop most of that off. Or leave it locked up in my locker at work if I don't have the time or energy to go to my house first.
The smoking, I'm not really willing to deal with right now. The only thing I am willing to do is try to smoke less, but I don't have any real motivation to quit. And quitting takes a hell of a lot of motivation to survive.