Moving (!)

My house is in shambles. My belongings are in boxes. My cats are going nuts. That can only mean one thing: I'm moving!

I love my little craftsman house, and I heart my roommate Red to death. But oh am I ever glad to leave that place and move into a gated complex. No more sleeping under a window that faces the alley. No more d-bag neighbor. No more chopping vegetables on the stove because there's no counter space. ::Contented sigh::

Other things I'm looking forward to in the new place:

1. Cheaper rent.
2. Assigned parking.
3. On-site laundry. 
4. Roommates who love to cook as much as I do.
5. KITCHEN SPACE TO COOK!
6. Keeping my bathroom stuff in the bathroom. 
7. Having the bathroom right outside my door. 
8. Second floor living and stucco walls to keep out the street noise.
9. Locked gates to keep out the crazies. 
10. Living within walking distance of Rad Boyfriend, new roommate's Rad Boyfriend, our friends Jenaynay and Jayrayray, and a bunch of awesome bars and restaurants.

Tonight will be my first night in the new apartment and I am super duper excited =) 

Coming to terms with my unwealth

I went to law school and spent a ton of money on tuition and living expenses. I didn't think about the cost of all that stuff because HEY! I'm gonna be a LAWYER! I'm gonna make a BUTTLOAD of money after all is said and done!

Yeah, not so much.

Fast-forward to almost 2 years after graduation and I think I've finally decided (for sure) that I don't want to practice law. I'd been toying with the idea of taking the California bar exam, but ultimately decided against it. It's expensive, time-consuming, and I don't have any guarantee of passing it, or more importantly, finding a position as an attorney afterward. And California has this funny thing about licensed attorneys working as paralegals--they don't like it. So not only do I not have any prospects of finding a job as a lawyer, but I could never go back to being a paralegal. I think I'll stick with my current job, thank you very much.

But here's the problem with spending all that money on an education that doesn't doesn't lead to a fancy, 6-figure salary: it sucks your wallet dry. Do you have any idea how much my student loan payments are each month? A LOT. Add to that the cost of moving across the country with no savings and into an expensive house because I just HAD to live in a Craftsman, and BAM. Instant wallet-drainer. Not good times.

So what have I done to fix this money problem? Well, several things. First I stopped eating out so much. When Rad Boyfriend and I first started dating, we went out ALL THE TIME. That promptly ended when my car got towed and my car insurance was due and I was in a bad state. After that, I started bargain hunting when it came to groceries and shopping. (Three words: Trader Joe's and Target. That's all I'm saying.) Then I started looking for a second job. I dreaded the idea of having to work retail, but I sucked it up and applied to a bunch of different jobs, both retail and non-retail. I don't want to jinx anything, but let's just say I've had some luck in the non-retail department. (More on that later.)

And finally, the thing that will save me the most amount of money every month, I decided to move out of my very awesome, very expensive house, and into a 3-bedroom apartment with 2 friends. It's going to be quite a change living with 2 people and sharing a bathroom with a boy. But you know what? It's worth it. Not only do I love these 2 friends dearly, but we're adults now. We know how to respect each other's space and keep things clean. We all have jobs, we all have schedules, and most importantly, we all want to save some money.

So goodbye awesome Craftsman house. Goodbye kitties whom I've grown to love like my own. Goodbye Red, one of the best roommates I have EVER had. Goodbye font porch and walk-in closet and hardwood floors.

AND HELLO SAVINGS ACCOUNT!!

It feels good to be an adult and have my priorities straight =)

How to annoy me, alley edition

The alleyway is a new concept for me. Aside from college, I've never lived on a block that had an alley in (on?) it. And even in college, the alley was 10 floors down and on the other side of the building. So moving into a house that is not only directly on the alley, but having my bed mere feet from it, is a bit disconcerting. I'm not used to hearing the whispered conversations of couples that walk past my window at all hours of the night, or the loud cell phone conversations, or the barking dogs, or loud diesel truck engines at 4am, or the bums with shopping carts that troll the garbage cans on trash day. No, I'm not used to all that noise. And I don't like it. Some might even say it annoys me.

That front corner of the house right there, that's where my bed is. See how long that alleyway is? Do you know how many cars drive up and down that alley every day? Many.

String of bad luck

So I mentioned yesterday that my car got towed a little while back. While I'd like to say that it was a freak, one-time incident, and that my bad luck ended right there, I can't say that. Because it's not true. Oh so ever not true.

Let's backtrack to around the end of September. I knew I was flying home on September 30th for my best friend's wedding, the wedding in which I was the maid of honor, the wedding for which the entire bridal party was getting ready at my family's newly-renovated house. (By the way, a contractor who stays until 11 o'clock at night the day before the wedding to finish the job is an awesome contractor.) I knew I would be crazy-busy before and after the big weekend, so I set up some automated online bill payments so that I wouldn't have to worry about them. But instead of withdrawing the money from my account 2 days after payday like it was supposed to, the bill processing website withdrew the funds my account that day--leaving me with a negative balance for over a week. Awesome.

The wedding weekend was a lot of fun, but that's a story in itself. It involves rain, getting locked out of my house, tripping on marble floors in the limo, reading a speech in church off an iPhone, the bride downing Johnny Walker Blue mere minutes before walking down the aisle, and 10 police officers showing up to the reception. Again, awesome. But let's move in to the next bit of bad luck....

The day I was supposed to leave for the wedding weekend, Rad Boyfriend and I step out of my house and stop short, both wondering the same thing: where is my car? "I parked right in front of you last night," Rad Boyfriend says. "I thought so, too," I reply. In short, my car-- with New York license plates, registered to my father, and with a registration that expired THAT DAY--was towed to a lot that wouldn't release it to me without a) a notarized letter from my dad releasing it to me, b) a current registration, and c) $470. Yeah. More awesomeness. Luckily, Rad Boyfriend stepped in and helped with that situation BIG TIME. But still... not a great experience.

I won't regal you the tales of my stand-by travel nightmares, as you can read about them here and here. I'll just tell you that I didn't make it on a total of 7 flights that weekend.

So I finally get back to The Diego on Sunday night after the wedding. I go to work the next day, and all is well. And then Tuesday morning I'm driving to work when all of a sudden, my car just turns off in the middle of the freeway. The RPM's go all the way to zero, and just as I start to pull over, all the lights on the dashboard come on, the steering wheel locks, and the car just shuts off. In the middle of 6 lanes of traffic going 80 miles per hour. Talk about scary. I manage to pull over to the shoulder, then get the car started while on the phone with AAA. I bring it to the shop the next morning, and luckily it's nothing major--but it's still gonna cost me $200. Awesome, right?

So amidst all the drama, I'm on the phone with my mom, crying about all this money I've had to spend, sobbing that I can't afford all these unexpected expenses, when I suddenly remember: my car insurance (paid biannually, not monthly) is due next month. ANOTHER $370 down the toilet. Fuck me.

Luckily nothing terrible has happened since realizing that over $1,000 will be debited from my bank account in the first two days of November (ah, how I love paying rent).... but I'm keeping my guard up. With my luck lately, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I broke a mirror while walking under a ladder and watching a black cat cross my path.

I'm back

So I know it's been a while, and that I promised to be back sooner than now. But dammit, life got in the way!!

For those of you who still follow what I'm up to, I moved to the City of Awesome (aka San Diego) about 3 and a half months ago. And life has been been pretty fantastic ever since. I moved into a cute little craftsman bungalow with the famous Red, but not after living with the famous Liz for about a month. (A million public thanks to Lizard and her man Nick. Without them, I would've had to share space with strangers. And who wants that?) In summary, here's what I've been doing for the past few months:

• I went and found myself a man of the Rad variety (rather, he found me);
• I kicked some ass at Monday Night Trivia;
• My car got towed and I had to pay a buttload of money to get it out;
• I've flown to New York and/or the British Virgin Islands for various wedding commitments once a month since I moved;
• I've spent many hours at various establishments that serve alcohol all over San Diego, including Petco Park and the homes of many friends;
• I've generally enjoyed the good life.

In closing, I'd just like to say that happiness is definitely not overrated. You just can't stop believin'.

More to follow....