the teeny tiny readership of this blog all know that i've been working my balls off for the past 9+ months so i could quit mortgage forever and go to la for school. i've been going to school full-time and working 50+ hour weeks at work all while living on 1 paycheck a month and putting the other paycheck away in the bank. it was going to work out beautifully: i put in notice at my job on 3/1, last day is 3/15 (the same day the quarter ends), i leave for la on 3/21, registration is on 3/23 and classes start - synchronously - on my birthday. talk about a way to kick off a year, right? 32 was going to be the best, most kick-ass year ever for me. for once, it was a birthday i was REALLY looking forward to.
turns out, that's not meant to be. due to a lot of boring details i'm ending up short on money to go. i have enough saved for living expenses but not tuition on top of it (funny how those 2 amounts are so similar), so i COULD still go, but i would have to live on the street. while i would probably be queen whitey (or ice cream queen, whatever) in the homeless village downtown on 6th, i don't know that i'd be in the right frame of mind to get the learning done that i need to get done. i did a lot of running around this past weekend to make sure there weren't any other viable options.
that said, i was, understandably, frustrated, disappointed and very, very sad when i got back. i was so numb to it that it took a good day and a half to sink in. i talked with a few people about it and started getting really sad and then very pissed off about it. so pissed off that i've been mentally blowing the wad of cash i saved up for this trek. it started last night when i said to myself, "fuck it! if i can't do the big thing i want to do, i'm gonna buy myself that $20 bottle of shampoo because i like how it smells and it makes my hair awesome." and i did. that mentality stayed put through the train and bus ride to work this morning and it looked kind of like this:
what i CAN'T do:
- put a down payment on a sexy tesla electric car
- go to la for school during the spring and summer quarters
what i CAN do:
- shell out for a fairly fancy trip to this year's sxsw and even get a BADGE if i wanted. and still have enough left over for an ipad.
- buy outright a new-to-me car
- buy 1000 shots of whiskey at my corner bar. and still have enough left over for an ipad. that i wouldn't be able to use because i'd be dead due to alcohol poisoning.
- buy outright a house in memphis
- buy outright two homes in memphis (i didn't say they were nice houses)
- give myself a "what not to wear"-esque shopping spree
- find some boy hookers and lots of blow
- stalk david wenham
then my CAN list started to get less fanciful. when that happened, i had to re-ask myself why it was i thought i had to wait a whole year to go back to la to try this again because I FORGOT. i couldn't come up with a good answer, so i'm thinking it was just self-punishment for not being ready when i thought i should be ready. then i thought to myself, "self, if you take the next 2 quarters off of school, you could TOTALLY go to la in the fall and you might even be better off." i could get myself an ipad. i could get a fancy phone when my contract is up in july. i could slowly build my wardrobe up to where i want it to be. i could start taking care of myself. i could do all these things i'd been denying myself for a long time. a very long time.
if i wait until fall, i will probably have more of my tuition covered by student loans too because i was AWESOME and completed my fafsa on the first day it was available this year.
so, this weekend i'm going to set a goal of what i want and where i want to be financially by the time i leave for la. and then i'm going to work backwards from then to now to figure out what i need to save up per month. i don't think it's going to be a whole paycheck which will leave me money to do things for myself like, starting to go to hot yoga again (to shoot for 5 days a week), buying a few pieces of clothing every month rather than a spree, getting myself an ipad, read for fun instead of school, get myself pedicures, go to shows again, etc.
when i came to this realization, it was like a weight lifted. i was a totally different person at work (i don't expect that to last too long). i felt light and awesome all day.
and to celebrate, i took my first steps today: notifying la school that i was going to attend in the fall, modifying the financial aid a little bit, and moving $500 from the school fund to the "let's spend some money!" account and promptly bought myself 5 rollers of my good smellin' smell stuff from nordstroms since it's discontinued and they're the only ones that still have any left. it felt good not to freak out about spending $130 on knowing that i'll smell how i want to smell for the next 12 years.
turns out, that's not meant to be. due to a lot of boring details i'm ending up short on money to go. i have enough saved for living expenses but not tuition on top of it (funny how those 2 amounts are so similar), so i COULD still go, but i would have to live on the street. while i would probably be queen whitey (or ice cream queen, whatever) in the homeless village downtown on 6th, i don't know that i'd be in the right frame of mind to get the learning done that i need to get done. i did a lot of running around this past weekend to make sure there weren't any other viable options.
that said, i was, understandably, frustrated, disappointed and very, very sad when i got back. i was so numb to it that it took a good day and a half to sink in. i talked with a few people about it and started getting really sad and then very pissed off about it. so pissed off that i've been mentally blowing the wad of cash i saved up for this trek. it started last night when i said to myself, "fuck it! if i can't do the big thing i want to do, i'm gonna buy myself that $20 bottle of shampoo because i like how it smells and it makes my hair awesome." and i did. that mentality stayed put through the train and bus ride to work this morning and it looked kind of like this:
what i CAN'T do:
- put a down payment on a sexy tesla electric car
- go to la for school during the spring and summer quarters
what i CAN do:
- shell out for a fairly fancy trip to this year's sxsw and even get a BADGE if i wanted. and still have enough left over for an ipad.
- buy outright a new-to-me car
- buy 1000 shots of whiskey at my corner bar. and still have enough left over for an ipad. that i wouldn't be able to use because i'd be dead due to alcohol poisoning.
- buy outright a house in memphis
- buy outright two homes in memphis (i didn't say they were nice houses)
- give myself a "what not to wear"-esque shopping spree
- find some boy hookers and lots of blow
- stalk david wenham
then my CAN list started to get less fanciful. when that happened, i had to re-ask myself why it was i thought i had to wait a whole year to go back to la to try this again because I FORGOT. i couldn't come up with a good answer, so i'm thinking it was just self-punishment for not being ready when i thought i should be ready. then i thought to myself, "self, if you take the next 2 quarters off of school, you could TOTALLY go to la in the fall and you might even be better off." i could get myself an ipad. i could get a fancy phone when my contract is up in july. i could slowly build my wardrobe up to where i want it to be. i could start taking care of myself. i could do all these things i'd been denying myself for a long time. a very long time.
if i wait until fall, i will probably have more of my tuition covered by student loans too because i was AWESOME and completed my fafsa on the first day it was available this year.
so, this weekend i'm going to set a goal of what i want and where i want to be financially by the time i leave for la. and then i'm going to work backwards from then to now to figure out what i need to save up per month. i don't think it's going to be a whole paycheck which will leave me money to do things for myself like, starting to go to hot yoga again (to shoot for 5 days a week), buying a few pieces of clothing every month rather than a spree, getting myself an ipad, read for fun instead of school, get myself pedicures, go to shows again, etc.
when i came to this realization, it was like a weight lifted. i was a totally different person at work (i don't expect that to last too long). i felt light and awesome all day.
and to celebrate, i took my first steps today: notifying la school that i was going to attend in the fall, modifying the financial aid a little bit, and moving $500 from the school fund to the "let's spend some money!" account and promptly bought myself 5 rollers of my good smellin' smell stuff from nordstroms since it's discontinued and they're the only ones that still have any left. it felt good not to freak out about spending $130 on knowing that i'll smell how i want to smell for the next 12 years.
