Where the hell does it go?	June 27, 2006

I balanced my checkbook this morning, and was astounded at what I found. I sat there wondering where the hell all my money is going. So tonight, I took some time to closely examine my spending for the month of June, (which wasn’t that hard to do, because I never pay for anything with cash). Here is where it all went:

OK, so what have I learned? Obviously, I need to cut back on the “naughty shopping” (but that Crate & Barrel end-of-summer sale comes only once a year!), and I’m not too happy that coffee + lunches + dinners add up to more than 12% of my spending!

So here and now I shall make a pledge, that I’ll do this again at the end of July and see if I have made an improvement – a simple combo of more debt payments and less stupid-spending! I welcome any frugalizing suggestions!

To drive or not to drive	June 26, 2006

It’s Monday morning, and it’s raining again. It rained all freaking weekend, and it’s not even done yet. I had the most annoying commute in from Steve’s place this morning. Down the line, tracks were flooded, and although none of the stations along my path were closed, it didn’t stop the trains from being terribly behind, terribly crowded, and prone to stopping and waiting for ten minutes here and fifteen minutes there.

Lately, I have been becoming more desirous of a suburban lifestyle – I’ve been pondering moving to Virginia and buying a car (more precisely, this car or maybe this car), because I really miss driving, and I get really tired of how going grocery shopping is such a huge ordeal for me, and my rent’s pretty pricey, and so on.

But then I saw An Inconvenient Truth, and started to think a bit. Right now, I contribute very little to our planet’s carbon-related demise, since I use my feet or public transportation to get where I am going. The suburban lifestyle that I’ve been daydreaming about is really more in-line with the good ole American Dream, but I’m not so sure that it’s what I want, especially given that the American Dream is killing our planet.

And then mornings like this morning make me think about how isolating it can be to live so far out. When the metro is your only way to get into the city, and the metro goes all wonky (as it did to us on Saturday, too), you’re just kinda screwed. That’s a yucky feeling. I can get to and from my house by bus, cab, or on foot, and I like that. Plus, Zipcar is always there for me in a pinch.

I dunno. This is kind of a tough one. I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately, and I just can’t seem to figure out what I want. Well… what I want is for my splendid place of work to relocate itself to, say, Iowa City, IA, where I could get a $400 apartment that’s close enough to work that I could walk AND I’d get to see my beloved friends and family whenever I want AND remain on the career path that I’m on… oh, then I guess the Corcoran would have to move, too… see? No easy solution.

Sigh.	June 15, 2006

Once again, I realize that an entire week has gone by since I last blogged. I need to work on that. The simple fact of the matter is I find myself unable to think of anything to blog about! The stuff that goes on at work is dreadfully boring to the rest of the world (who wants to hear about the 2 ½ hours worth of work that I lost yesterday when Adobe Acrobat skanked out on me for no apparent reason?), and school hasn’t started yet, and I haven’t gone anywhere interesting lately (is McLean interesting? I didn’t think so).

This is why I am getting increasingly excited about my upcoming trip to King’s Dominion! For those of who are local and haven’t heard yet, I am organizing a big ‘ole group trip on July 8 (which is 4 days before my birthday) to King’s Dominion, “the park brings the best of Hollywood entertainment to the Mid-Atlantic with one of the largest coaster collections on the East Coast.” Interested in joining us? Do feel free to contact me.

After that, I have a few other adventures on the horizon. Steve and I got tickets to see the Colbert Report being taped in NYC, so we’ll be there for a few days in late July. And we’ll be heading to Columbus, OH for a weekend in August for a wedding. And my 10-year High school reunion is over Labor Day weekend.

Regardless, there are no adventures coming up in the next few weeks. I need to create one. Perhaps there is a haunted mansion somewhere with a mystery that needs solving by me and my group of hippie friends?

Tidbits	June 8, 2006

I realize it’s been over a week since I’ve last blogged. Over the past week, there have been a few times where such has occurred to me and I’ve sat down to start writing, and got distracted by something or other before I got anywhere. I’ll start this now, and see how far I get.

Tidbit one: Pride! I love Capital Pride. I love walking to work each morning surrounded by cheery rainbow colors, and I love the parade. I’m a Zipcar user, and we Zipsters have all been invited to march and/or drive Zipcars in the parade. Saturday is a busy day for me, and I probably won’t be able to participate, but I want to see if I can make it work somehow. I’d get a free T-shirt and I’d get to hold a banner that says, “Some of our best cars are gay!” How cool is that?

And to top it off I am going to drag queen brunch at Perry’s on Sunday.

Tidbit two: There’s this fellow who starred in a very very brief chapter of my romantic past, and I tend to run into him around town, far more frequently than I would like. I bear him no ill will whatsoever, but it’s kinda embarrassing. We look at each other awkwardly and have awkward conversations (we were both piss-drunk for the majority of our “relationship”). This morning, I walked out my front door and he was standing right there, waiting to cross the street. I chatted with him (awkwardly) for a few minutes and learned that the man has purchased a house on my block. So I guess I need to brush up on my awkward small talk skills, ‘cause I’ll be having a lot more of it…

Me: Hey there. How’s it going?
Him: Good. <pause> You?
Me: Good.
<silence>
Me: So… how’s work?
Him: Not bad. Still hunting for something better.
Me: Oh, what happened with that one really awesome job you wanted?
Him: I didn’t get it.
Me: Oh. Sorry.
<silence>
Me: Well, I have to unnecessarily cross the street now. You have a good one!

Tidbit three: Steve’s cat pooped on me. While we were sitting in the dark watching the Sopranos finale (which was rather ho-hum, I must say). He came up and sat on my lap, and I was happy ‘cause he doesn’t do that a lot. After he left, it was actually Steve who noticed the poo first (I was laying down with my legs in his lap, so he had a better vantage point from which to see or smell it). Fortunately, there was a blanket between the poo and me, which was promptly thrown in the washer, while Steve and I stared at each other in disbelief. That cat hates me. I have done nothing to him, but he has decided that I am the devil. And he has a lovely way of showing it.

Alcohol + Gravity = Danger	June 1, 2006

Tonight I went to happy hour with my beloved friend and former coworker Aimee. We had a lovely time, catching up and stuff (it had been far too long since we got together). We met at Rosa Mexicana, which was totally our old haunt when we worked together, since it was right down the street from our office.

Though their signature drink is the pomegranate margarita, I opted for the little pitchers of sangria. I had one, then ordered a second, and when I was very close to finished with that one, the bartender knocked it over while wiping off the bar. He was very apologetic, and said he’d get me another pitcher. He got kinda busy then, and my third pitcher didn’t show up for a while, and eventually we got his attention and asked what was up. He was then even more apologetic, and promptly got me my pitcher. And then he came back with two free shots for us! I forget exactly what they were, but they contained coconut rum and were TASTY.

And as if that wasn’t enough, a little while later he knocked over Aimee’s nearly-empty pomegranate margarita. We laughed so hard, and told him that he was under no obligation to replace it, but he came back with another one for her (a little one). By this time, we were both pretty tipsy, and we both nearly hit the floor when Aimee knocked over her little margarita glass a few minutes later. That was all on her, so it was not replaced, but my, between the three of us, we soaked the hell out of that bar that night.

Now my tipsy ass is at home, drinking water and enjoying my new favorite pastime, watching the Sumatran tiger cubs cam on the National Zoo’s website. It’s small and blurry, but I can see them wiggling around in adorable kitty-like ways, and it’s so cute!

Needed: larger supply of black turtlenecks	June 1, 2006

A while back, I blogged about how I wanna be an art student again, and how I was applying to art school. Well, I had my portfolio review and interview yesterday (which was preceded by a very late night at work, trying to track down every last font, making mad abuse of the color printer, and attempting to assemble a respectable-looking portfolio).

The interview went well. I learned a lot more about the program, the curriculum, and other fascinating stuff like financial aid. More importantly, I got some critical feedback on my portfolio, not only in the work that it contained, but also in the presentation. If you’re making a case that you should get into graphic design school, then you better have a well-presented portfolio! The feedback I got was that I’d done well with that (whew!).

The thing that made me the happiest was when she showed me my transfer evaluation. Not surprisingly, all those other degrees that I got can be applied as transfer credit – enough that I’m already one-third of the way done with the program! Yay! That’ll greatly increase the possibility of finishing this degree in less than six years (plus save me a considerable amount on tuition).

Anyhoo, at the end of the interview, she told me I was in. Just like that. I’ll get a letter in the mail soon that makes it official, and then I have to accept and all that, but basically, I’m through! That was a nice surprise. I totally thought I’d have to jump through a few more hoops. So I start in the fall. I think that the first two classes I’ll take will be drawing (woo hoo! naked people!) and color theory. I can’t wait!