A Mighty Fine Life

So it turns out I'm getting a bonus at work. I don't entirely get why (except for the obvious, "I'm awesome," explanation, but apparently something corporate policy and my employment agreement which I TOTALLY READ, and anyway, I am) and while it's not enormous it is, actually, pretty sizable.

Smart thing to do would probably be put it in savings. I'm trying to build that bank account up, 'cause it's pretty sad, and... You know, recessions are scary.

On the other hand, I've been saving up for a new bed, because I kind of badly need one. And a real dresser. And some bookshelves. And I have this beautiful dream of buying a desk, not that I'd ever use it except as a place to pile papers. So I just cruised the IKEA website for all of these things and worked it out, and, well...

If I blow the entire bonus, I can buy 'em all. I wouldn't just do it all at once, but there's no way to get things here except by shipping, and shipping is pretty outrageous, and cheaper to do all at once. So after that check clears, I'm buying basically an entire bedroom set. HOORAY!

So I ordered new checks; I'm sure my old ones will now turn up. But I think it was worthwhile regardless, considering I hadn't used, well, basically any through college, so my old ones still says 35 Shaffer. (For those who have no idea what that means, my folks moved between my junior and senior year, making those out of date; now I've moved again and am in New York, making them even more out of date.) I didn't get anything fancy except quick shipping, since I do have rather a large pile of bills to pay. Sigh.

Today, of course, I can't find the iron. I have both of my interviews tomorrow, and would like to wear, you know, not wrinkled clothes. Alas.

I'm half heartedly blogging the Sox @ Yankees game over at baseball_chicks, at least for now. If anyone's interested.

(ETA, quote from Josh on the phone: "So my roommate and my best friend are both here, and they're both former football player, jock, manly-guys. And they're out on the balcony discussing cooking, so I had to call my girlfriend to discuss the game.")

Lovely dinner with Margot tonight. Out with the boy tomorrow; two job interviews on Wednesday. (Eek?) I also have a pile of bills (Old Navy card, student loans, cable, etc) sitting in front of me, and can't find my checkbook. Every time I start to seriously feel like an adult, something like that happens. Arrrrg.

Andy Philips, baby!

The last two days have been almost entirely good, except that my computer might be remaining dead for a little while.

Yesterday, I had brunch with Rachel and her friend Christine, then went from there directly to lunch with Jess, Caroline, Maddy, and Margot. That was, as one would have to assume, awesome. Jess and Caroline had to rush off after, however; but Maddy, Margot, and I got drinks at Starbucks, sat around, and discussed gay porn fandom for a few hours same thing, anyway. Then we got dinner in a diner across the street. It was a very food-centric day.

Today, Margot came to visit and we took Tulio down to the Apple Store in Soho. That store makes me wish I were a millionaire in a way few others do. I want everything. Mostly, however, I wanted the genius bar to fix Tulio. This did not happen. However, they're pretty sure they figured out the problem, but there's a good chance that Apple will consider it something that falls outside of the warranty. And they can't tell how screwed up Tulio is, so it'll either be very, very easy to fix (and cost less than $200) or very, very hard to explain (and cost upwards of $700). At the genius's recommendation, I'm trekking to another Apple-licensed repair shop tomorrow to get a second opinion. If they think it'll be the inexpensive one, I'll go for it; if they think it'll be the expensive one, I'll... cry. Because I can't really afford $700 to fix my computer right now.

Speaking of money, I'm in the process of a job application (awaiting email from someone to complete it), and have begun scouting slightly better, not-crap-jobs. I've found a couple I'm interested in and I think qualified for; I begin writing cover letters tomorrow. Goody!

So overall, I'm feeling pretty good, and pretty poor. Things would be worse on the computer front, but I have everything backed up and am using YT, Rachel's old (oooold)) iBook. It's not the same as having my own computer here for use, but there is high speed wireless, and it's still a Mac, so I'm not going to complain too much. Well. I'll try not to.

It's so nice to have friends.

Today, I spent about five hundred dollars. Four hundred of this was on student loans. As you can guess by the amount, I had some loans past due. This was not, however, my fault. I had them scheduled to go online, and the DL website said they were paid, and today I got an email informing me that I'm 43 days past due. This was no fun at all.

I'd be more pissed off (okay, I was more pissed off) but the guy I talked to on the phone was really, really nice.

The other hundred was on bras and underwear. Yeah, my life is exciting. However, I did deposit my last few paychecks from Ithaca today, and actually deposited more than I spent, so that's nice for my bank account.

The move is set for Saturday, by bus. I am starting to panic about finishing packing in time. Which is, of course, why I'm still up at five AM... reading bad fanfiction and watching Project Runway again. I need some sort of Project Runway specific therapy.

So, um, yeah. Baseball = teh good. Student loans = teh bad. I just did my online exit counseling session and basically, I'm going to be repaying my loans for TEN TO THIRTY YEARS. Which I already knew, but seeing it in black and white? Yeah, scared the shit out of me. Jesus Christ.

Okay, I'm fine. Fiiiiine. Absolutely fine.

Meanwhle, work update: 1 out of 3 books read (due friday); paper not yest starte (due wednesday).

Okay. Bed now. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh.