No Longer in the Dark; Plus, The Almighty Dollar & Me!

I woke up this morning and my power was out. Oh boy. I immediately thought about when Columbus experienced that massive power outage in 2008 where they went for many days without power. I got a hold of X and he said only about 3,000+ people were out of power. I was one of the lucky ones. Being annoyed (and Amish) the first thing in the morning is not how I like to spend my day, especially since I have to be at work in 3 hours!

Heated water, artificial light, cable, the Internet—seriously, I can’t live without those. I’m spoiled rotten compared to so many people (third world countries in particular).

So this brings me to my next point: people really need to stop bitching about our current political state. Yes, Bush has put us in a total economic shitstorm. Yes, perhaps Obama may not have been whom you voted for—but us Americans have it so easy compared to nations in Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa. I think about this every time I waste countless hours on the Internet or take a hot shower. Other people are working in rice fields and live in a tin-roof shack, all the while still exposed to old school diseases such as polio, cholera, and malaria.

I’m stepping off my soap box now.

In other news...

1. I’m almost finished reading Save Karyn, a memoir by Karyn Bosnak. I highly urge you to pick up this book. She is hilarious as she talks about her journey from ringing up a $25,000 credit card bill and how she paid it all off.

2. I also ordered Karyn’s first fiction book, 20 Times a Lady, along with John Grogan’s memoir, Marley & Me. But WHY is it not going to arrive until the 29th? Seriously, that is too long of a wait. Damn you, UPS.

3. Just two more days of work. I need a weekend. Badly.

4. I’m in love with Sarah Bareilles’ CD. It’s the hottest thing on my iPhone/iPod right now. Holler.

5. I’m still trying to save up for my new digital SLR camera. But holy shit—where has all my money gone? I haven’t even been clothes shopping since I got paid last week! Nor did I pay rent yet. Um, let’s see. My online statement lists these:
• Bangkok Grocery store: Ok, spent nearly $100 there but that was all for my mom and I told her she didn’t have to pay me back.
• $400 for cable bill plus credit card bill (that I pay off in full every month, thank you very much)
• $105 for groceries
• Small purchases such as Starbucks, Subway, car wash, gas station.
• $45 at Target for some picture frames to decorate my home.
• $20 from iTunes for purchasing two music albums.
• $24 for a one-year Flickr pro account.
• $16 for bunny food.

Ok seriously, that isn’t even spending a lot of money... and I’m almost already broke! I think it’s ironic how I’m reading a book about being in debt and I am still spending money like it’s my job. I purposely do not go to malls when I know I need to save money, yet I still manage to spend it. I find this all kind of funny.

Well, good thing pay day is next week. I guess it could be a lot worse. I could be penniless and living in a shoe box, selling crack.

So, to lighten the mood, here are some things I am grateful for this week:
• Still being able to afford to live alone, even if I have bad spending habits ;)
• Music (get Sarah’s Bareilles’ CD!)
• Being crafty and putting things together (it relaxes me!)
• My power coming back on before noon!