Tom and I are formally engaged! We are planning a very low-key outdoor potluck wedding here in Montpelier in early September (theme=barefoot?).
So...mark your calendars! Invitations will be sent out...er...sometime. :)
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tom and I are Engaged!
Tom and I are formally engaged! We are planning a very low-key outdoor potluck wedding here in Montpelier in early September (theme=barefoot?).
So...mark your calendars! Invitations will be sent out...er...sometime. :)
Cloverfield
Warning: this blog contains spoilers! If you haven’t seen the movie, you should stop reading now, or be disappointed.
I was lucky enough to see Cloverfield with Steph, Mike, Tom and assorted others on Friday. I have to say that I went in pretty cynical—I wasn’t sure that a movie that could have had the tag-line of “Blair Witch meets Godzilla” could have been good or even worth movie theater ticket prices. However, I am pleased to report that I was wrong. Wrong, I say! I was wrong! I highly recommend this movie.
At the beginning of the movie, we are greeted with a (somewhat cheesy) graphic announcing that what we are about to view is film that was retrieved from the area once known as Central Park after a horrible disaster. The film is now, of course, U.S. Government Property. It sets the basic premise – during a horrible disaster of epic proportions, someone had a movie camera, and filed the horror. Somehow, the tape survived.
The taping is authentically amateurish enough that I was kind of sick in the beginning of the film. It was difficult to capture all of the detail that I wanted to, but that’s also where some of the horror came from. In other horror movies, you’re looking away because you’ve seen too much—but in this one, your gaze is taken away, which has an entirely different effect.
The disaster is actually filmed over another day in the life of the main character. It serves as both counterpoint to the horror and to give you a glimpse of where the horror came from (in the final scenes of the movie, watch closely). The little glimpses into the days before the party also give you an idea why the main character was so invested in returning to Manhattan, even though all signs point towards running, as fast as you fucking can, in the other direction.
So, basically, we’re at a party for the male lead who has gotten a big job in Japan. The party is not without drama—the girl that the lead’s been sleeping with, and falling in love with, comes to the party with another guy. The party is being filmed by the lead’s best friend, and the lead’s brother and the brother’s girlfriend are there as well, along with about a bazillion other people. Goddamn, that was a big apartment.
You’re just getting into the story of the drama when **FUCKING BAM!!** a huge eruption comes from outside. You could see the explosion over the shoulder of one of the people. Everyone rushes inside, where there is news coverage of it on the television. Everyone rushes to the roof to see if they could see the explosion, when another hits. Everyone runs to street level in time to see the Statue of Liberty’s head come bouncing down the street. Of course, it’s only a matter of seconds before people are taking pictures of it with their cell phones.
The crowd is heading out of Manhattan, and our characters are going along with the crowd. Until the guy with the sweet job waiting for him gets a call from the chick who he was sleeping with…and she’s hurt. She can’t get out of her apartment. He, of course, being the manly man that he is, goes back for her. And that’s where the real shit starts.
I’m not really interested in re-telling the whole movie, but you should know that this movie feels authentic, and doesn’t let up. It’s supposed to be an amateur movie shot by a guy running around for his life, and it looks and feels like it. If you’re looking for a good doomsday flick, this is your movie.
And no, there’s not a happy ending.
I was lucky enough to see Cloverfield with Steph, Mike, Tom and assorted others on Friday. I have to say that I went in pretty cynical—I wasn’t sure that a movie that could have had the tag-line of “Blair Witch meets Godzilla” could have been good or even worth movie theater ticket prices. However, I am pleased to report that I was wrong. Wrong, I say! I was wrong! I highly recommend this movie.
At the beginning of the movie, we are greeted with a (somewhat cheesy) graphic announcing that what we are about to view is film that was retrieved from the area once known as Central Park after a horrible disaster. The film is now, of course, U.S. Government Property. It sets the basic premise – during a horrible disaster of epic proportions, someone had a movie camera, and filed the horror. Somehow, the tape survived.
The taping is authentically amateurish enough that I was kind of sick in the beginning of the film. It was difficult to capture all of the detail that I wanted to, but that’s also where some of the horror came from. In other horror movies, you’re looking away because you’ve seen too much—but in this one, your gaze is taken away, which has an entirely different effect.
The disaster is actually filmed over another day in the life of the main character. It serves as both counterpoint to the horror and to give you a glimpse of where the horror came from (in the final scenes of the movie, watch closely). The little glimpses into the days before the party also give you an idea why the main character was so invested in returning to Manhattan, even though all signs point towards running, as fast as you fucking can, in the other direction.
So, basically, we’re at a party for the male lead who has gotten a big job in Japan. The party is not without drama—the girl that the lead’s been sleeping with, and falling in love with, comes to the party with another guy. The party is being filmed by the lead’s best friend, and the lead’s brother and the brother’s girlfriend are there as well, along with about a bazillion other people. Goddamn, that was a big apartment.
You’re just getting into the story of the drama when **FUCKING BAM!!** a huge eruption comes from outside. You could see the explosion over the shoulder of one of the people. Everyone rushes inside, where there is news coverage of it on the television. Everyone rushes to the roof to see if they could see the explosion, when another hits. Everyone runs to street level in time to see the Statue of Liberty’s head come bouncing down the street. Of course, it’s only a matter of seconds before people are taking pictures of it with their cell phones.
The crowd is heading out of Manhattan, and our characters are going along with the crowd. Until the guy with the sweet job waiting for him gets a call from the chick who he was sleeping with…and she’s hurt. She can’t get out of her apartment. He, of course, being the manly man that he is, goes back for her. And that’s where the real shit starts.
I’m not really interested in re-telling the whole movie, but you should know that this movie feels authentic, and doesn’t let up. It’s supposed to be an amateur movie shot by a guy running around for his life, and it looks and feels like it. If you’re looking for a good doomsday flick, this is your movie.
And no, there’s not a happy ending.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Green, or Pretending?
So, I’ve been working at Hunger Mountain Co-Op for awhile now. I’m a core member worker, which means that I’m a Member-Owner who works two hours every week to earn a pittance and a 6% discount on groceries.
When I first started working there, I expected everyone to be granola-crunchy types who might talk about the energy fields of the food or some bullshit. To my surprise, everyone was pretty much like me: liberal types who just happened to wanted to incorporate green buying practices (and eliminate the hand of corporations) as much as possible into their food. As I came to find out, though, that means different things to different people.
For instance, I always felt kind of guilty if I didn’t bring a cloth bag to use at the co-op. But now that I’ve been bagging for awhile, I can say with authority that while the percentage of bag-bringers is higher at the co-op than at other grocery stores, it is by no means 100%. Perhaps one in five people bring a bag to reuse. Considering the amount of cheap canvas bags that are now readily available (Shaw’s, Hannaford’s and Wal-Mart all have cloth bags for $1.00, and an organic canvas bag is available at the co-op for their cost, which is about $7.00), I find this annoying and, frankly, typically American. Other countries actually do the reverse that we do: they expect people to bring their own bags, and when they don’t, they charge their customers for the paper or plastic bags that the store provides. This makes an incredible amount of sense to me. What better way to make sure that people bring bags than to charge them when they don’t? Most people say they’ve forgotten: how much thought does it really take?
The amount of waste that goes over that conveyor belt towards me just astonishes me. Wrappers, bags, boxes, bottles…all these things that probably won’t be recycled because it’s too damn hard to find the facilities to do that here in Vermont. Or the things can’t be recycled, period. Take soy, rice, or almond milk, for instance. You can buy the refrigerated versions, but there are handy boxes of the stuff that don’t need to be refrigerated. That’s handy as hell. But, the boxes are made of the same stuff that juice boxes are made of—which you cannot recycle.
I appreciate that much of the merchandise at the Co-op is made with greener practices than their counterparts at Hannaford’s or wherever, but I would argue that it makes just as much difference for the shopper to be intelligent about their shopping habits—and that starts before they even get into the car. By taking a cloth or canvas bag along, you’re reducing waste. By making a meal plan ahead of time and sticking to the list, you’re reducing the amount of food that you’ll waste with poor planning. By thinking ahead, you can buy in bulk, which reduces packaging. Buying whole foods and actually cooking reduces waste by a ton. Sure, buying local is great, but if you’re buying wastefully, you’re not helping anyone.
I would challenge anyone (and myself) to look critically at their shopping habits. Are we buying true eco-friendly products, or ones that are just packaged to look like it? Are we truly doing all that we can to reverse the trends that are currently destroying our world? Are we making excuses that will seem all the more implausible when we don’t have any choices? From my observations at the greenest store in Montpelier, it’s clear that we still just don’t care.
When I first started working there, I expected everyone to be granola-crunchy types who might talk about the energy fields of the food or some bullshit. To my surprise, everyone was pretty much like me: liberal types who just happened to wanted to incorporate green buying practices (and eliminate the hand of corporations) as much as possible into their food. As I came to find out, though, that means different things to different people.
For instance, I always felt kind of guilty if I didn’t bring a cloth bag to use at the co-op. But now that I’ve been bagging for awhile, I can say with authority that while the percentage of bag-bringers is higher at the co-op than at other grocery stores, it is by no means 100%. Perhaps one in five people bring a bag to reuse. Considering the amount of cheap canvas bags that are now readily available (Shaw’s, Hannaford’s and Wal-Mart all have cloth bags for $1.00, and an organic canvas bag is available at the co-op for their cost, which is about $7.00), I find this annoying and, frankly, typically American. Other countries actually do the reverse that we do: they expect people to bring their own bags, and when they don’t, they charge their customers for the paper or plastic bags that the store provides. This makes an incredible amount of sense to me. What better way to make sure that people bring bags than to charge them when they don’t? Most people say they’ve forgotten: how much thought does it really take?
The amount of waste that goes over that conveyor belt towards me just astonishes me. Wrappers, bags, boxes, bottles…all these things that probably won’t be recycled because it’s too damn hard to find the facilities to do that here in Vermont. Or the things can’t be recycled, period. Take soy, rice, or almond milk, for instance. You can buy the refrigerated versions, but there are handy boxes of the stuff that don’t need to be refrigerated. That’s handy as hell. But, the boxes are made of the same stuff that juice boxes are made of—which you cannot recycle.
I appreciate that much of the merchandise at the Co-op is made with greener practices than their counterparts at Hannaford’s or wherever, but I would argue that it makes just as much difference for the shopper to be intelligent about their shopping habits—and that starts before they even get into the car. By taking a cloth or canvas bag along, you’re reducing waste. By making a meal plan ahead of time and sticking to the list, you’re reducing the amount of food that you’ll waste with poor planning. By thinking ahead, you can buy in bulk, which reduces packaging. Buying whole foods and actually cooking reduces waste by a ton. Sure, buying local is great, but if you’re buying wastefully, you’re not helping anyone.
I would challenge anyone (and myself) to look critically at their shopping habits. Are we buying true eco-friendly products, or ones that are just packaged to look like it? Are we truly doing all that we can to reverse the trends that are currently destroying our world? Are we making excuses that will seem all the more implausible when we don’t have any choices? From my observations at the greenest store in Montpelier, it’s clear that we still just don’t care.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A Day in the Life of Vermont January
This morning, as I was driving to work, it was warm and foggy. The rivers were high, and the ice broken along the sides of the banks.
Right after I got to work, it poured.
Then the sun came out for awhile.
Then it poured again.
Then the sun came out.
Then it went away.
Now it’s out again, and there’s a bit of a breeze.
...How typical.
Right after I got to work, it poured.
Then the sun came out for awhile.
Then it poured again.
Then the sun came out.
Then it went away.
Now it’s out again, and there’s a bit of a breeze.
...How typical.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Here's My Fuckin' Day For Ya
It’s been one of those days.
For those of you lucky enough to not be in Central or Northern Vermont, I’ll let you know what the weather has been like in two words: fucking cold. I mean in-my-bones-my-eylashes-are-freezing-oh-god-why-did-I-wear-a-scoop-neck-today kinda cold. While I’m writing this, it’s -15 degrees outside. Crippled Wheelchair Jesus.
Tom and I had to leave the house at 7:45 am today, and we were running late (when aren’t we?)…so of course the car wouldn’t start. I mean, it’s freezing outside, and my car is so tiny…I kinda felt bad for the little import. But never you mind! My feelings of pity had no bearing on the fact that while Tom was inside calling work to tell them that he would be late, I was outside whaling on the Ford’s shell of ice and snow with my ice scraper for all I was worth. Which turned out to be not much, ‘cause after four or five good whacks, the sonofabitch broke.
Despite the fact that Tom thought that we should wait for the magical fairies of Springtime to allow my car to start, I convinced him that a better process would be to jump-start the Hampster Mobile (henceforth referred to as the H.M.) with the Ford. Tom used his manly muscles to free the hood of the Ford from the snow, while I stood by demurely. (Ha!) Miracle of miracles, we were successful in jumping the H.M., and off we were. Tom was only about 15 minutes late, which was not bad, considering.
Since I had to drop Tom off at the co-op, and I hadn’t had time to make coffee, I decided to traipse inside for a cup of some Artisan coffee with raw sugar and soy milk. Yum. I made my way back to the coffee counter, and I put my newly-purchased-pretty-blue- travel-mug under the pumpy coffee thingie and…no coffee. Bastards. I move to the next (not quite so awesome) coffee, and got most of a cup. Okay, so a couple of lost sips wasn’t going to kill me. However, when I moved over to the sugar and the milk and there was no soy milk, I decided that I was not going to give myself a stomachache in order to not inconvenience the dude behind the counter. Here’s the conversation:
“Excuse me, do you have any more soy milk back there?” Says me.
“I’m pretty sure that one’s full.” Says the dude behind the counter, hardly turning around.
“Nope, empty. I just tried.” Says me, with a slightly testy tone of voice. “By the way, you’re out of regular coffee, too.” I feel better when I think about how he has to do some work now.
So the dude sighs, grabs the soy milk container, and bends down to rummage around in the fridge, granting me a nice sight of his generous ass. A few minutes later, he manages to find the soy milk. He pours in a generous dollop, and hands the container back to me. I fix my coffee, and go around to pay the asshole. Despite the fact that I was the first in line, he allows some other guy (who just had to get cash back, the fucker) to go before me. And then when he sees me standing there, waiting to pay, he says, “What?” I should have just grabbed my coffee and left. But no, I’m nice, so I paid my $1.15. The asshole.
Anyway, so I finally get to work, and my day goes pretty smoothly until I get to what I thought was my 12:30 meeting. I notice that there are no familiar cars in the parking lot at the New School, but I figure that’s because I was early. And yeah, I was: a week early. I wrote the wrong date wrong in the book. I drove a freakin’ half hour to find that out. Awesome.
So, currently, it’s 1:21. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring…
For those of you lucky enough to not be in Central or Northern Vermont, I’ll let you know what the weather has been like in two words: fucking cold. I mean in-my-bones-my-eylashes-are-freezing-oh-god-why-did-I-wear-a-scoop-neck-today kinda cold. While I’m writing this, it’s -15 degrees outside. Crippled Wheelchair Jesus.
Tom and I had to leave the house at 7:45 am today, and we were running late (when aren’t we?)…so of course the car wouldn’t start. I mean, it’s freezing outside, and my car is so tiny…I kinda felt bad for the little import. But never you mind! My feelings of pity had no bearing on the fact that while Tom was inside calling work to tell them that he would be late, I was outside whaling on the Ford’s shell of ice and snow with my ice scraper for all I was worth. Which turned out to be not much, ‘cause after four or five good whacks, the sonofabitch broke.
Despite the fact that Tom thought that we should wait for the magical fairies of Springtime to allow my car to start, I convinced him that a better process would be to jump-start the Hampster Mobile (henceforth referred to as the H.M.) with the Ford. Tom used his manly muscles to free the hood of the Ford from the snow, while I stood by demurely. (Ha!) Miracle of miracles, we were successful in jumping the H.M., and off we were. Tom was only about 15 minutes late, which was not bad, considering.
Since I had to drop Tom off at the co-op, and I hadn’t had time to make coffee, I decided to traipse inside for a cup of some Artisan coffee with raw sugar and soy milk. Yum. I made my way back to the coffee counter, and I put my newly-purchased-pretty-blue- travel-mug under the pumpy coffee thingie and…no coffee. Bastards. I move to the next (not quite so awesome) coffee, and got most of a cup. Okay, so a couple of lost sips wasn’t going to kill me. However, when I moved over to the sugar and the milk and there was no soy milk, I decided that I was not going to give myself a stomachache in order to not inconvenience the dude behind the counter. Here’s the conversation:
“Excuse me, do you have any more soy milk back there?” Says me.
“I’m pretty sure that one’s full.” Says the dude behind the counter, hardly turning around.
“Nope, empty. I just tried.” Says me, with a slightly testy tone of voice. “By the way, you’re out of regular coffee, too.” I feel better when I think about how he has to do some work now.
So the dude sighs, grabs the soy milk container, and bends down to rummage around in the fridge, granting me a nice sight of his generous ass. A few minutes later, he manages to find the soy milk. He pours in a generous dollop, and hands the container back to me. I fix my coffee, and go around to pay the asshole. Despite the fact that I was the first in line, he allows some other guy (who just had to get cash back, the fucker) to go before me. And then when he sees me standing there, waiting to pay, he says, “What?” I should have just grabbed my coffee and left. But no, I’m nice, so I paid my $1.15. The asshole.
Anyway, so I finally get to work, and my day goes pretty smoothly until I get to what I thought was my 12:30 meeting. I notice that there are no familiar cars in the parking lot at the New School, but I figure that’s because I was early. And yeah, I was: a week early. I wrote the wrong date wrong in the book. I drove a freakin’ half hour to find that out. Awesome.
So, currently, it’s 1:21. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring…
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Hasta, 2007: Bring it On, 2008!
2007 was a year of change, a year of turmoil and love, a year of loneliness and celebration. Despite the sometimes strange circumstances, I've managed to overcome-- and here I'll celebrate my successes. Yes, I'm bragging. I don't give a shit!
Moving in with Tom
I bid adieu to my bachelorette pad in June, and Johnson along with it. Montpelier is a great little city to hang out in, and our apartment (and our kitties) are great. I'm very, very happy about where (and with whom) I live.
Getting a New, High(er) Paying Job
In June, I started my job at Upper Valley Services, in Moretown, Vt. I practically doubled my income, and my self-esteem with it. I started out reviewing the medical and program records of one organization that Upper Valley oversees, and progressed from there to auditing the medical and program records of Upper Valley, and just recently I've been asked to review the documents, policies and procedures for all three of the Upper Valley offices. I've received more financial reward at this job than I ever have, and the organizational challenges are custom-fit for my anal-retentive nature.
Exercising
In late summer and early fall, I noticed a sad and strange thing...I could no longer fit into my jeans. After a long summer of eating out with Tom and mostly not smoking, I had gained a lot of weight. A startling revelation came when the doctor proclaimed my weight at 190 pounds and told me to start exercising. I started running, which didn't suit my knees too well, and continued to walk every morning until I proclaimed it to be too cold. I've since moved indoors, doing several different intense yoga routines 5 days a week. I've also started to become more intelligent and rational about my food choices. The results are starting to slowly reveal themselves! (Slooooooowly).
Taking Care of the Mental Shit
I've always been considered moody by my friends, but I don't think many people realized how drastic those changes were or how deeply they affected me and the people to whom I was most close. I've dealt with unhealthy thinking patterns and ways of dealing with my emotions for a long time…mid-fall was my breaking point. I finally decided to put a stop to it and called a psychiatrist, who wrote me a nice little 'scrip and recommended talk-therapy. I've been attending regularly, and am just starting to figure things out. I hope to grow continually more healthy, both mentally and physically. I can't really hold on to the bad shit anymore, sorry to say. It's time to make my life my own, and make it the way that I need it to be.
The Money Pit: Climbing Out, and Making a Plan to Stay Out
I've done a lot of blaming when it comes to how much money I've got, but the real and brutal truth is that I've never done much in the way of managing my money. I receive a paycheck, and I spend it. That's all. I've never really stuck to a budget, or saved any of my paychecks (except for a very few times). The amount of money that I've spent since my income has grown is embarrassing. I always said that I would spend wisely if I "could just afford it." Well, seems like that wasn't the case—I just spent more. More on groceries, more on going out, more on clothes, more on bullshit. I really don't know where the last few months of money has gone. So. Enough is enough. If I ever want to become debt-free, if I ever want to have a house and children and a retirement, I've got to smarten up. So. My first bit of business in that department is to start to balance and reconcile my checkbook (balance at least weekly, and reconcile as soon as the statement comes out). I will also create a budget—and do my very best to stick to it. The most painful bit of business will be to call the first of the credit cards that I've defaulted on—and start to pay them back. It'll hurt, but it's got to be done. Once I pay the first one off, I'll start on the second, and then with the other bills. I'm looking ahead and forward to the day when I can open my mail without anxiety!
Keep On Truckin'…
In 2008, my goal is to continue to climb out of the money pit. I will continue to be frugal in my spending; I will continue to put aside at least a small amount of my paycheck into my savings account; I will continue to pay off my old credit cards and various bills. I would like to be debt free (except for my student loans) by the end of 2008. After the bills are paid off, I'll move on to some serious saving—for an as yet undefined goal. It could be a house, or a trip…I'm not sure yet. The main goal right now is credit repair. It wouldn't be a bad thing to just have a nest egg for awhile, and see where my life takes me.
I'm a much different person than I was at the beginning of 2007. I'm a more goal-oriented, secure, and much happier than I was. I have a smaller circle of close friends, and a wider circle of colleagues. I'm more honest. I'm no longer afraid of making changes, or of making mistakes. I no longer need as much approval from others before feeling okay. I'm older, and that's okay, too.
I hope you all had a great holiday season, and have an awesome (in whatever way you define that to be) New Year!
Moving in with Tom
I bid adieu to my bachelorette pad in June, and Johnson along with it. Montpelier is a great little city to hang out in, and our apartment (and our kitties) are great. I'm very, very happy about where (and with whom) I live.
Getting a New, High(er) Paying Job
In June, I started my job at Upper Valley Services, in Moretown, Vt. I practically doubled my income, and my self-esteem with it. I started out reviewing the medical and program records of one organization that Upper Valley oversees, and progressed from there to auditing the medical and program records of Upper Valley, and just recently I've been asked to review the documents, policies and procedures for all three of the Upper Valley offices. I've received more financial reward at this job than I ever have, and the organizational challenges are custom-fit for my anal-retentive nature.
Exercising
In late summer and early fall, I noticed a sad and strange thing...I could no longer fit into my jeans. After a long summer of eating out with Tom and mostly not smoking, I had gained a lot of weight. A startling revelation came when the doctor proclaimed my weight at 190 pounds and told me to start exercising. I started running, which didn't suit my knees too well, and continued to walk every morning until I proclaimed it to be too cold. I've since moved indoors, doing several different intense yoga routines 5 days a week. I've also started to become more intelligent and rational about my food choices. The results are starting to slowly reveal themselves! (Slooooooowly).
Taking Care of the Mental Shit
I've always been considered moody by my friends, but I don't think many people realized how drastic those changes were or how deeply they affected me and the people to whom I was most close. I've dealt with unhealthy thinking patterns and ways of dealing with my emotions for a long time…mid-fall was my breaking point. I finally decided to put a stop to it and called a psychiatrist, who wrote me a nice little 'scrip and recommended talk-therapy. I've been attending regularly, and am just starting to figure things out. I hope to grow continually more healthy, both mentally and physically. I can't really hold on to the bad shit anymore, sorry to say. It's time to make my life my own, and make it the way that I need it to be.
The Money Pit: Climbing Out, and Making a Plan to Stay Out
I've done a lot of blaming when it comes to how much money I've got, but the real and brutal truth is that I've never done much in the way of managing my money. I receive a paycheck, and I spend it. That's all. I've never really stuck to a budget, or saved any of my paychecks (except for a very few times). The amount of money that I've spent since my income has grown is embarrassing. I always said that I would spend wisely if I "could just afford it." Well, seems like that wasn't the case—I just spent more. More on groceries, more on going out, more on clothes, more on bullshit. I really don't know where the last few months of money has gone. So. Enough is enough. If I ever want to become debt-free, if I ever want to have a house and children and a retirement, I've got to smarten up. So. My first bit of business in that department is to start to balance and reconcile my checkbook (balance at least weekly, and reconcile as soon as the statement comes out). I will also create a budget—and do my very best to stick to it. The most painful bit of business will be to call the first of the credit cards that I've defaulted on—and start to pay them back. It'll hurt, but it's got to be done. Once I pay the first one off, I'll start on the second, and then with the other bills. I'm looking ahead and forward to the day when I can open my mail without anxiety!
Keep On Truckin'…
In 2008, my goal is to continue to climb out of the money pit. I will continue to be frugal in my spending; I will continue to put aside at least a small amount of my paycheck into my savings account; I will continue to pay off my old credit cards and various bills. I would like to be debt free (except for my student loans) by the end of 2008. After the bills are paid off, I'll move on to some serious saving—for an as yet undefined goal. It could be a house, or a trip…I'm not sure yet. The main goal right now is credit repair. It wouldn't be a bad thing to just have a nest egg for awhile, and see where my life takes me.
I'm a much different person than I was at the beginning of 2007. I'm a more goal-oriented, secure, and much happier than I was. I have a smaller circle of close friends, and a wider circle of colleagues. I'm more honest. I'm no longer afraid of making changes, or of making mistakes. I no longer need as much approval from others before feeling okay. I'm older, and that's okay, too.
I hope you all had a great holiday season, and have an awesome (in whatever way you define that to be) New Year!
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