So, Spring Break ends today; have to say, I'm just fine with that. I haven't been able to do much to enjoy it, with the tight monetary situation I'm in. Pretty much just hung around the house and fussed with my toys. I did get a fair bit of writing done, but actually I'm looking forward to getting back to work. I'm the sort who thrives on structure; I like going to work, and I like when the work-week ends. It will be cool if/when I get that better position, and have enough money to actually make plans for free time. I mean, it was tight enough this last week that I basically had to spend every day mindfully NOT spending money or using resources I would need the following week, like GAS. And I pretty much succeeded; I used MAYBE a gallon of gas over ten days. I did spend about $30 on food and such, and today plunked down $20 to get my hair cut. Other than that, el-zilcho.
And it looks like we've gotten the last gasp of Winter; at least, a couple of inches of snow to remind us that it isn't Spring yet! This is the very best kind of snow; piled up on the bushes and trees and grassy areas, but the roads are clear.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
I HATE POETRY
It’s true that I hate poetry.
From the very beginning, to me it seems
Contrived
To try to express oneself through such
Arbitrary means, playing with meter, and rhyme
All for what point, really?
Can’t you just say what it is that you mean?
All this agonizing over meaning and symbol
All this subterfuge, suggesting there’s more to your thought
Than just simple image and it’s expression
Sad, really, the attempt to make eloquent and profound
Things which are eloquent and profound
In simple relation.
It’s true that I hate poetry.
From the very beginning, to me it seems
Contrived
To try to express oneself through such
Arbitrary means, playing with meter, and rhyme
All for what point, really?
Can’t you just say what it is that you mean?
All this agonizing over meaning and symbol
All this subterfuge, suggesting there’s more to your thought
Than just simple image and it’s expression
Sad, really, the attempt to make eloquent and profound
Things which are eloquent and profound
In simple relation.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
No good deed goes unpunished....
Well, I'm about to be off to run sound for a charity event. It's in a little Illinois town about 2 hrs from St. Louis, and since I'm riding with one of the organizers, I'll be stuck there from about 1 p.m. to god-knows-when. Think I'll bring along one of the laptops just in case I can find an open wi-fi, or at the very least write and read some of my e-books. I spent some time talking to the headline band; they seem like nice guys, hope I like their music.
It's been a weird and depressing week. Cigarette taxes are going thru the roof, seems like I'm going to be denied my stupid simple pleasure-vice for the sake of underwriting health-care for everybody else. It's pretty pathetic; they'll tax cigarettes in the name of recouping health care costs due to smoking, but nobody thinks to tax the fattening, unhealthy fast-food that makes so many people obese and undoubtedly contributes more to ill-health in our society than cigarettes do.
Oh well, that's it for now.
It's been a weird and depressing week. Cigarette taxes are going thru the roof, seems like I'm going to be denied my stupid simple pleasure-vice for the sake of underwriting health-care for everybody else. It's pretty pathetic; they'll tax cigarettes in the name of recouping health care costs due to smoking, but nobody thinks to tax the fattening, unhealthy fast-food that makes so many people obese and undoubtedly contributes more to ill-health in our society than cigarettes do.
Oh well, that's it for now.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Oh, the times they aren’t a-changing! So much rumination rolling around in the back of my mind. I really need to get my mind off the parlous times and my precarious position and think about other things for awhile.
Well, let’s see; I’m going to spend Monday morning fetching some satellite t.v. dishes a fellow is donating to me for a project-I want to see if I can build a cellphone/wi-fi reception enhancer, based on some designs I found at the Instructables DIY site. That’ll take about two hours, as the fellow lives almost an hour away from me. Unfortunately, my cellphone doesn’t sport an external antenna jack, and my laptop uses an internal wi-fi card, so I can’t really move forward on the project until I can afford to get another cellphone and a USB wi-fi adaptor. At least I can start calculating the FP of the parabolic dish, and work on the mounting armatures; eventually I plan on being able to mount and orient the dish on my van, so when I go traveling I can pull in signal in remote locations (hopefully!).
And I’ll spend some time taking pictures of the gear I’m going to try to sell. For ease of operation, I’m going to offer the stuff first on local Craigslist, and if I don’t get a sale there, I’ll have to resort to eBay. We’ll see.
I suppose I’ll spend today as I have most of the recent Sundays, making a nice meal, and some meals for the week to come, and watch some old movies and surf the interwebs and read and write. At least I can do all of that without spending money.
Cheers to a happy day for all!
Well, let’s see; I’m going to spend Monday morning fetching some satellite t.v. dishes a fellow is donating to me for a project-I want to see if I can build a cellphone/wi-fi reception enhancer, based on some designs I found at the Instructables DIY site. That’ll take about two hours, as the fellow lives almost an hour away from me. Unfortunately, my cellphone doesn’t sport an external antenna jack, and my laptop uses an internal wi-fi card, so I can’t really move forward on the project until I can afford to get another cellphone and a USB wi-fi adaptor. At least I can start calculating the FP of the parabolic dish, and work on the mounting armatures; eventually I plan on being able to mount and orient the dish on my van, so when I go traveling I can pull in signal in remote locations (hopefully!).
And I’ll spend some time taking pictures of the gear I’m going to try to sell. For ease of operation, I’m going to offer the stuff first on local Craigslist, and if I don’t get a sale there, I’ll have to resort to eBay. We’ll see.
I suppose I’ll spend today as I have most of the recent Sundays, making a nice meal, and some meals for the week to come, and watch some old movies and surf the interwebs and read and write. At least I can do all of that without spending money.
Cheers to a happy day for all!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
A World of Free Entertainment!
It's all available on the interwebs! Free movies, books, music, etc etc. I've found lots of public domain stuff that costs nothing to download-Golden Age comics, Project Gutenberg (especially the Australian site!), alt.binaries, this list goes on! There's great websites to browse (I love lileks.com-check it out! James Lileks provides days of entertaining scans and blather!) and lots of forums to find friends to chat with, hobby sites like Instructables and a raft of diy sites, and of course our gracious and beloved host Blogger.
These may be parlous times, but at least there's plenty to do!
These may be parlous times, but at least there's plenty to do!
Oh, the perils of poverty! I'm fortunate to have lived through very tight times before, so this go-round I'm well equipped with survival strategies. Since August I have:
-stopped eating out, stopped ordering delivery
-cut-down and limited enjoying my "guilty pleasures" like beer and cigarettes
-basically eliminated discretionary spending; no books, cds, dvds
-focused my cooking on economical meals that stretch out
and these things have helped a lot, to keep my budget as balanced as possible with such reduced income.
I appreciate how fortunate I am, in that I have a wealth of opportunity for little or no cost entertainment; considering that telephone and internet connectivity is nearly a requirement for life these days (especially if you're actively pursuing employment opportunities!) and ISPs like Charter offer a pretty good deal for the "bundle" that even scores you television, it's a reasonable expense, if you can afford it. I imagine I could save that $70 a month (I split the bill with the roomie) and just rely on cell phone and free wi-fi, but my cell plan is the cheapest, most limited I could get, and I'd have to drive to get wi-fi (using service provided by restaurants, coffee houses or libraries, for example). All of which introduces the likelihood of losing the savings achieved in gas, impulse buys, and lost opportunities.
Now, however comes the toughest part-trying to sell off possessions to gain that so-needed infusion of cash to pad the budget as much as possible. I'm so loathe to sell any of my guitars or vintage amps, but I think it must be done. Even if I just get what I paid for them back, a couple of key sales could make all the difference. And I'm going to sell off my jewelry-not that it will bring all that much, but I really never wear any of it, and only 1 ring really has any sentimental value at all, and that not very much. Again, if it brings in scrap-gold value, it's another $100 and change into the bank.
I'm despairing of finding supplemental employment, and I'm getting fearful about how I'm going to be able to hold on over the summer, when school's out.
I guess it's time to dig in the fingernails, grit the teeth, and hold on tight.
-stopped eating out, stopped ordering delivery
-cut-down and limited enjoying my "guilty pleasures" like beer and cigarettes
-basically eliminated discretionary spending; no books, cds, dvds
-focused my cooking on economical meals that stretch out
and these things have helped a lot, to keep my budget as balanced as possible with such reduced income.
I appreciate how fortunate I am, in that I have a wealth of opportunity for little or no cost entertainment; considering that telephone and internet connectivity is nearly a requirement for life these days (especially if you're actively pursuing employment opportunities!) and ISPs like Charter offer a pretty good deal for the "bundle" that even scores you television, it's a reasonable expense, if you can afford it. I imagine I could save that $70 a month (I split the bill with the roomie) and just rely on cell phone and free wi-fi, but my cell plan is the cheapest, most limited I could get, and I'd have to drive to get wi-fi (using service provided by restaurants, coffee houses or libraries, for example). All of which introduces the likelihood of losing the savings achieved in gas, impulse buys, and lost opportunities.
Now, however comes the toughest part-trying to sell off possessions to gain that so-needed infusion of cash to pad the budget as much as possible. I'm so loathe to sell any of my guitars or vintage amps, but I think it must be done. Even if I just get what I paid for them back, a couple of key sales could make all the difference. And I'm going to sell off my jewelry-not that it will bring all that much, but I really never wear any of it, and only 1 ring really has any sentimental value at all, and that not very much. Again, if it brings in scrap-gold value, it's another $100 and change into the bank.
I'm despairing of finding supplemental employment, and I'm getting fearful about how I'm going to be able to hold on over the summer, when school's out.
I guess it's time to dig in the fingernails, grit the teeth, and hold on tight.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Well, I guess I think this is a little messed up. It's March 4th, it's 50 degrees outside, and there's an ice cream truck toodling it's way through the neighborhood. I started thinking, "what's up with that?" when I realized what was up with that. In tough times, I suppose if I had an ice-cream truck franchise, I'd be hittin' the streets as soon as I thought I might at least make gas money back.
Little bit scary, that.
Little bit scary, that.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
