My Calendar Has No Blanks
The weekend is over! I can look at it one of two ways; either I’m happy that it’s over (so I can relax) or I’m sad that it wasn’t much longer (so I could’ve had time to relax).
I’m a fairly lazy, noncommital kind of gal. I’m committed to my boyfriend, but what I mean is that I hate committing to plans far in advance. This drives people nuts when they ask me to do something and I give a ‘maybe’. It’s not that I’m necessarily looking for something better to do than what they’ve asked, it’s that I hate saying ‘yes’ and then having to say ‘actually, no’ because something else came up that I couldn’t get out of.
So imagine my surprise (and chagrin?) when my calendar started filling up to bursting. Part of it’s being in a relationship; the weekends that aren’t taken up by my friends and family are taken up by B’s friends and family. Two weekends this summer are devoted to his family (not a lot, nor too much), we have two weddings (my cousin and my college friend), and several weekends are taken up by me going to the beach. We also might have a third wedding, but I’m supposed to be at the beach, he’s supposed to be in New England for a family reunion, and I was really hoping that I wasn’t invited to this wedding until I received an invitation to a bridal shower. Frick.
I’m no longer being invited to things that I can easily blow off, or things that don’t have a set day (“Let’s get a drink sometime”). I’m being invited to weddings, bachelorette parties, graduation parties, 4th of July cookouts, birthday parties, bridal showers, music video premieres, and reunions. This does not count my two (separate) weeks at the beach with my family.
So my summer is practically over already. After that is football season. I already have a schedule made for that, and it looks like I’m busy every Sunday through the Super Bowl. Try me again sometime in February.
My Unnecessary Spending
I’ve been pretty good about not buying random extra things for myself for several months. My mom bought me a bunch of clothes (with Dad’s money) back at the beginning of May, so I haven’t felt the need to spend.
Until the last couple of weeks. I finally got my free new phone from Verizon, an LG Black Cherry, but they know what they’re doing with the extras. I bought three new ringtones (my last phone had one that I purchased), signed up for the monthly insurance (even though I’ve had a cell phone in one form or another for over five years and never needed a replacement, something niggled at me that I should be safer than sorrier), and…alas…signed up for the VZ Navigator for $9.99/mo.
I love it. Love, love, love it. I’ve been wanting a gps for a long time because I am AWFUL when it comes to following directions. I get lost constantly; I have zero sense of direction. I don’t have the money to spend on a normal gps system at all, even though I wouldn’t have the monthly payments, and I decided that I NEEDED this service immediately over the weekend when B and I were stuck in traffic in Connecticut on our way back from spending time with his family. It was fine except that B hated the gps voice and made me turn it off after yelling at me (which he NEVER does) when I didn’t want to. We took the route he wanted and he groaned when we saw more traffic. I decided not to say, “Oh, if only we had a device that would have warned us about the traffic and taken us another way,” but I wanted to. Shortly after B apologized nicely for yelling and I told him what I’d wanted to say–he said that it was a good thing that I didn’t then, but it was funny now.
Anyway. I’m spending a lot on those unnecessary things and now I have a new expense. The girls are dressing up for the bachelorette party on Saturday night and I had no idea what to wear! I gchatted my pal, L, a party gal and asked her what I should wear. She instructed me to go to Forever 21 and get a summer dress for $20, or to go to her closet because she has 80 of them (probably not a huge exaggeration). She and I are not the same size, or even close enough to it for me to borrow her stuff, so I’m going to go to Forever 21 after work and see if I can find anything that works with what dressy shoes I have currently.
So, another expense. I saw some dresses that I liked on the website, and I hope that they’re in the store in my size when I go there…the most expensive was less than $25, so I don’t mind too much the spending. I have two weddings to go to in August and I bet I can wear the dress to the one not associated with this bachelorette party, as well as to Mass throughout the summer, and to the beach in July/August.
*Crossing fingers that I find something I like!*
My Visit to the Doctor, Part II
I tested negative for everything, so no strep and no mono! The antibiotics are slowly bringing down the swelling of my throat glands, so I feel just fine. Although it might not be from the antibiotics, it could just be time in general.
I’m just wondering what got me sick in the first place! Was it something I could have planned against? Did I need to go to the doctor or receive antibiotics? Did I need to shell out $45 for no reason?
The world may never know.
My Big City Stripper
Ten points to anyone who catches the title reference.
My cousin is getting married on July 5th which is great. She’s three years older than me and we get along very well when we see each other, which isn’t often since we have our own lives and she lives about an hour from me. Her bachelorette party will be this Saturday night in DC and I’m sort of ambivalent about going.
I WANT to hang out with her for sure. Her younger sister, three years younger than me, is her maid of honor and planning this thing. She and I are less close. And since she wasn’t at the bride’s Christmas party in December, I haven’t seen her since…gosh, for 2-3 years.
Anyway, this bachelorette party. The plan is to meet at a hotel at 6pm and get on a Girls’ Night Out bus at 8:30. Then we’ll go out to clubs and things and get back to the hotel at 3am. The snag in these plans for me (besides that I can barely keep my eyes open at 12, nevertheless 3am!) is at 7pm there will be a “male dancer”. Seriously? Do women really still do this? Why? What is hot or sexy about a man who is willing to share his wares with a bunch of strangers? Does he enjoy doing this? Does he respect himself? Does he brag about his awesome job to his parents, grandparents, etc.?
Anyway, I would be furious with B if he attended something where there’d be a female dancer because I do consider it to be a form of cheating, so I’m not going to attend that part of the “entertainment”. Even if I didn’t mind a g-stringed guy shaking his thing in my face, it is absoluting revolting to me to stick my hard-earned dollars down his underwear. I’m already going to be shelling out my share for the night AND probably having drinks in DC (expensive!!!) and I don’t have any to spare for…that.
To end, I’ll say that I have no problem with strippers in general. If people make a choice to do it, that’s their business and up to them. I do think it’s sad when men and women in committed relationships think it’s fun to stick their hands in another person’s underwear (best case scenario), but if the significant other is fine with it, so am I. B and I talked long ago about how much it would upset me if he went to a strip club or a bachelor party with something like that and he confirmed that he wouldn’t really like it if I was the one seeing the entertainment, so I think that we’re good there.
He’s also insisted that he will meet me in DC when I’m ready to go home so that I won’t have to ride the Metro alone. Part of me wants to insist right back that I’ll be fine, but the bigger part of me recognizes that this is much safer, if inconvenient to him, and I love him for looking out for me.
My Visit to the Doctor
So I’ve had a sore throat for the past few days, but nothing major. Hurts when I swallow and my throat glands are swollen. Yesterday I hit a CVS by my apartment and called my parents to ask what OTC medicine I should get for my throat since I didn’t (and still don’t) have any other cold/flu/plague symptoms. Both insisted that I should see a doctor in case it was strep.
“Is strep throat something that I can just wait out?” I asked my mom. “I mean, won’t it go away eventually?”
She disabused me of this notion, so I went home and called my HMO to see what they had to say. What they had to say was that I should come in and get a strep test. Of course the closest after hours center was in Falls Church, about 25 miles away and much closer to where I work than where I live. I briefly considered scheduling an appointment for this afternoon, but remembered in time that I’m having dinner with a friend and can’t be in two places at once. So I hied myself over to Kaiser Permanente and got my throat culture done at about 7pm. My appointment time was 7:50, but I was just hoping to get into a room by 8:20…I figured that was reasonable.
It was. I got into a room at about 8:15, thankful that maybe I’d get home at a reasonable time. Except the doctor didn’t come in until nearly 8:45. I always thought that ten minutes was long, but this was ridiculous. I found out that my strep test was negative (yay!), but that I could have mono (boo!). I told her that I had it two years ago, but she told me that people can get it more than once (boo! hiss!).
So off I went back to the lab where they took out my blood and tested it for I don’t know what and mono. Then I went back to wait for another hour until those came though, only to find that there’s nothing wrong with me. They think. The mono test won’t be ready until tomorrow, but as of last night the mononucleides (sp?) were not elevated at all. I also don’t FEEL like I have mono. When I had it before, I was SICK and had to take five weeks off from student teaching and went to the ER three times. I couldn’t have alcohol for nearly three months (due to my enlarged liver), but that actually didn’t bother me because I didn’t feel like drinking or eating anything.
So if I have to have it this time, I wouldn’t mind the no appetite thing if I can do without the exhaustion. *Crosses fingers*
I paid $30 for my copay and $15 for an antibiotic to relieve the swelling of my glands. So $45+gas. And I didn’t get home until after 11:30, making last night the third in a row that I’ve gotten less than five hours sleep. Crap.
My Favorite Article of the Week
Please read “Tear Down That Wall” by Michael Reagan. Mr. Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan, discusses what should be done about our gas crisis, namely allowing drilling in United States territory where it isn’t presently allowed.
I know that many who might read this completely accept the global warming myth, despite the earth’s temperature actually getting colder each year for the past ten years or so. Unfortunately, the scientists that speak out against global warming alarmists are largely ignored by the media which dictates what average Americans know about the world. As a bonus, please read “Global Warming and the Price of a Gallon of Gas”, John Coleman’s Comments Before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. The creator of the Weather Channel is outspoken and makes much sense.
If we are allowed to drill in Alaska and other places in our own country, we won’t receive gas for another, what, 10-15 years? That’s absolutely true. Our economy is heading for a recession; unemployment rates are going up. One way to combat this is to open more refineries, allow more drilling, and create more jobs. Maybe it won’t help much and maybe it won’t help for a dozen years or more, but we have to do something now so that our economy isn’t completely crippled by proposed cap and trade laws and astronomical gas prices.
If you feel like I do, please visit AmericanSolutions.com and sign the “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” petition. If you completely disagree with me, I don’t really care. Simply disregard the post. I’m not here to argue, but to give my opinion.
My Weak Attempt at Hypermiling
One of the new big gas-savers I’ve been reading about is hypermiling. For those of you not in the know, hypermiling entails driving in certain ways to save gas. For example, trying not to use your break, accelerating slowly, driving the speed limit, coasting, etc. I decided that it wouldn’t hurt much to try it out a little.
Except I couldn’t do it. At least not significantly enough to save much gas. Most of the driving that I do is during high traffic times, so unless I want to leave a space long enough for a semi to cut in front of me, I have to use my breaks constantly. I can coast a little bit, and I do try to accelerate slowly. My dad recently inflated my tires to the appropriate pressure which will also save a little on gas.
Aggressive driving is a no-no for hypermiling and I am an aggressive driver. In the DC Metro area, I have to be. A person can’t be afraid to change lanes quickly to get out from behind some douchebag driving too slow in the LEFT LANE. God save me from idiot drivers! I have no problem with people who want to drive right at the speed limit, whether it’s for law-abiding reasons or gas-saving ones, but for the love of God, get out of the fast lane! Slow drivers balk and complain about aggressive drivers tailgating them when they’re just going the speed limit, but do they ever add that they were in the right lane and the guy should have gone around them? Not often. What I see are people that want to control how fast the people behind them are driving, so they match speeds with those in the right lanes making it impossible for the faster drivers to get around them. This is what leads to tailgating and road rage.
I’ve found that hypermiling just pisses me off. When I do it, cars get in front of me because I’m not going fast enough and then they slow me down. When other cars do it in my lane, they annoy the heck out of me. So aside from the little things I’ve started, I’m not going to bother with it. The money I don’t save is what I’ll pay for less stress.
And all you hypermilers out there, good luck, I hope you save money, and stay out of the left lane (especially the left non-HOV lane) if you live in the DC area…that’s where I’ll be.
My Bossiness
I’m still thinking about whether my friend J and I should live together in the fall. It would save a bunch of money that will end up going to gas, groceries, and everything else with rising costs, so I’d probably come out close to even.
On the other hand, I should be getting a raise in the fall. I’ll slowly be taking on more responsibilities this summer, including a job that one of my managers has been doing single-handedly for twenty years. Another manager spoke to me about asking for a raise around October after I’ve successfully done the job on my own in September. Added responsibilities = added money. I’m looking forward to taking on these tasks; I’m glad that my bosses could see that I’m able to do something more challenging than what I’m already doing.
So things may be a little tight until I get the raise, but I don’t mind tight. Also, J sort of annoys me. This will sound absolutely horrible, but have you ever had a friend that admired you TOO much? Thinks you’re the best thing since sliced bread and lets you know that you’re cooler than her/him? I feel like I’m up on a pedestal and this is bad for a few reasons:
1.) The annoyance. I like to be on equal footing with my friends. I may be better at some things, they might be better at others, but it all kind of meshes together. With my real friends, I don’t spend my time telling them how great they are unless they’ve just done something great. With J I’m told I’m great constantly for things that I don’t think deserve credit. I’m great for my apartment, my car, my boyfriend; once she met B she started complimenting us as a couple a lot.
2.) It is part of my nature to find the weak and tread upon them. Wow, that sounds horrible, too. What I mean, is that if someone will let me walk all over them, then I will do it. If she and I lived together, I would be The Boss. The Bitch is probably more accurate. I’d be that evil roommate everyone hears about, controlling the TV, ordering others to use coasters, getting ticked off if the roommate asked ME to clean my dishes. I would do it (unintentionally, despite how this sounds; it would be a gradual process) because I don’t think that she would stand up to me and stop me. This leads me to
3.) Resentment. She would resent me (rightly) for being a bitch, and I would resent her (unjustly) for standing up for herself against me. Actually, if she stood up to me, I’d probably do my best to manipulate her back into my power (gosh, I’m really sounding evil!) before I’d start resenting her.
This would happen because she would let me make it happen. When my best friend R and I lived together, we had none of this craziness because we’re on equal footing. If anything, she was more of the boss than me, but we were both too lazy to do much about it:
R: Let’s clean.
Me: Let’s drink.
R: Let’s do both.
Me: Okay.
Win-Win. I’ve also been on the receiving end of a psycho roommate who was the controller. In that case, I let her be the controller because a., her parents owned the house and I paid them cheap rent, and b., she was crazy as hell and I didn’t want to mess with her (true story: my boyfriend was part of a fraternal order whose council banned her from their house because she was so nuts).
As long as I’m not The Boss (or The Bitch) in the apartment, I’m a delightful roommate who doesn’t get many complaints. B stayed with me for a few weeks before moving in to his apartment and we got along just fine (except for the one day we tried commuting together–it was the first time we’d raised our voices to each other in probably three years).
I think this post has sort of answered the question of whether I should get a roommate or not.
My Gift-Giving
When shopping for gifts, I go overboard. I always start out with a budget in mind, like, say, $25.00. Then I’ll find something for less than that and I’m thrilled…yet, I continue looking for add-ons to the gift since I don’t want to appear cheap or like I don’t value the person who will receive it.
My father’s birthday was at the end of February; I went to Target and browsed through the available CDs, finding a perfect one for (guessing here) maybe $12 or $13. Then I looked through the DVDs and found an old western that I knew he’d also like. I could have stopped right there; I mean, $22, $23 was right within my budget. I saw another DVD, though, and thought that my gift NOW seemed complete. A CD and a couple DVDs? Nothing to complain about there.
Then I went to the card section and picked one out and then to the gift wrap section. Since B and I were together and driving straight to my parents’ house, I bought a bag and tissue paper to wrap everything up quickly in the car. The final price was probably around $40 instead of $25. B paid for half so the gift was from us both, but it was unnecessary to spend so much!
So I was happy this time around, for Father’s Day. I called Dad and asked if there was anything he wanted in particular. He wanted time to think and said he’d call back in a couple days. Instead I received a call a few hours later; he knew just the thing. He grills a LOT during the summer (and spring and fall…heck, he’s been known to fire up the grill with snow on the ground all around him) and a year and a half ago he broke the dual thermometer (measures meat temp and heat temp) that came with the gas grill, so he wanted a new one. While we spoke, I went to weber.com, got information I needed from him and proceeded to order a new thermometer. My final cost for it, the tax, and the shipping, was $19.99. Sweet.
If I decide to give dad a card, I have tons of little blank ones that I can use, and I have a crate full of wrapping paper, tissue paper, bags, boxes, and bows that I save throughout the year, from Christmas and my birthday, so I don’t have to spend more on those extras. By planning ahead, I would rarely have to buy those things. For Dad’s birthday, I already had a bag and tissue paper, but I didn’t know what I was getting him and didn’t want to lug my gift wrap crate, so I bought new stuff. Ridiculous.
My Weekend
I already went over my $30 June Dining Out Challenge limit–ALREADY! I dropped $40.77 at Pub Dog in Severn, MD this weekend for a pal’s birthday shindig. That covered tip, a pizza split between B and I, and 14 8 oz. mugs of beer, also split between us. Even though I went over, B is going to pay for my oil change this weekend which will make up for his share of that plus the gas we used by driving my car to freaking Severn, MD and around for the rest of the weekend. On Sunday morning, he drove ten miles to meet up with a few people, and went in their car to a restaurant only to find that it was less than a mile from my apartment…he could have even walked there, but the idiot “friends” who KNOW where I live didn’t suggest that…nor did they invite me to brunch, implying to B that it was a guys’ thing. It wasn’t. To be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted to go, anyway (for financial reasons), and B only went to see a friend that he hadn’t seen in over a year.
I digress. Anyway, Pub Dog has this weird “deal,” I guess, on beer. If I order one drink, they’ll give two small mugs for $4 total. If B or I order TWO drinks (but they have to be the same beer) they’ll give four small mugs for $4 total. It seems rather silly…but financially pretty good. We drank Blond Ales all evening before we went back to our buddy’s house where we played beer pong and drank Bud Lights. I met a guy I’ve heard about for years from the birthday boy and another good friend of mine, so we bonded over our mutual friends, libertarianism, and beer pong where we won four in a row (beating birthday boy and B who doesn’t like being my partner because I always lose—hahaha!!) until I had to go home. Sigh! I love winning!
