Money Misgivings and Feelin Fine

Well, I finally got my taxes sent in after a month and a half of tarrying. Haha! It wasn't up to me, folks! I tried to get W2 since a week before April 17th, and it was postmarked to my house June 1st! I have a big sigh to sigh knowing that's off my to-do.

I also RSVP-ed to a friend's wedding today! I've been looking forward to that all summer, and I can't wait to truck it up to Charlotte this coming July 22nd! I've never been to a wedding I wasn't forced to go to before! Since I'll be out so late that day, it's likely that I'll have to get a hotel room. I don't particularly relish that idea, since I can think of a hundred different ways I'd rather spend $60, but I'll try to room with a few friends, and that will bring cost down and fun up!

It occurred to me today how much I miss my friends at Campbell. A month more seems too long to be away from the good ol' Orange and Black, and I have a lot to look forward to in this next year. Living here with my family is good, but I'd rather it only be a visit. I yearn for a chance to go out into the world and live on my own, carving out my own nook and living by my own choices. Sometimes it seems like my choices are made for me, no matter where I go. Doing what's best means the same thing it's always meant, and adventures are too costly on my wallet.

In fact, I was just talking today to my brother of how boxed in money makes me feel. I'm by no means poor, but it just seems like life has to be centered around acquiring and budgeting money, and what I can do for a living and what my goals can be are limited by that idea. Clearly life is not about money--no more than it is about finding a mate or making other people think I'm great--but sometimes I feel like my life prospects are limited because I have to eventually pay for a house, car, insurance policy, water bill, electricity bill, phone bill... I know there are people who have done it before me. They've gone through life and finished out with smiles, doing what they love. So there's got to be a way! Haha! I just wonder sometimes how I can go for what I want, and compromise for cash? Does anyone know how big a deal money will be in the long run?

Blah... If I had my way, I'd just get everything I wanted just because I'm that cool a guy. Can I get a Hoorah? Hoo-ha! A tad awkward? A smidgen foolish? A skoosh uncoordinated? These things never stopped George W Bush, and they won't stop me! I'll fly, I tell you. Fly!

Here's to equal opportunity!

I have to write it. I've been holding back as long as possible, but I've hit the breaking point and you're all coming with me. I want a Nintendo DS Lite so bad I might just have a hernia... or buy a DS. I don't know exactly what it is about Nintendo that I like so much, but I'll attempt to put a finger on it. Their philosophy is one of innovation. They are now looking hard for ways to recreate genres of video game entertainment. I've had my eye on the Wii, Nintendo next home console coming out the fourth quarter of this year, but I could die just walking out the door. You never know! That's why NOW is the time for action! The DS lite is smaller, thinner, sleeker, glossier, brighter, and, let us not kid ourselves: just plane sexier than the original DS, and, oh yes: I want the hell out of it! But, alas, reality--as it favors to upon occasion--slaps me in the face and yells "Silly Chase! DS lites are for people richer and better looking than you!" Well, reality, you may be right, but even the Trix Rabbit had his day! We all remember that time he won a trophy full of colorful, fruity Trix cereal, and mine is just around the corner! Anything is possible! I happily plan to run across an envelope tommorow stuffed with hundred dollar bills and gold-plated diomonds, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!

Hahaha! Okay, a DS lite might not be a nessesity. Like most things, though, I've gotten about as much fun as I could ever have wished for just from wanting the thing! Sometimes, I guess, a big fun idea is worth having.

Best wishes and good night!

Wonderful Storm

Tonight there was a spectacular storm. My brothers woke me up from a nap and told me to come downstairs because of some kind of severe weather warning for our area. I was a little grumpy since I was listening to the relaxing sounds of the Pacific Ocean on my iPod, not to mention the rain and wind against my window, so I was drowsy and didn't want to move an inch, but the sound of the thunder was incredible and frequent. There were long and spider-like flashes of lightning that stayed lit for up to two seconds! Outside, the rain was so hard it looked like a fog that was just making a lot of noise. Man, there is nothing like a storm. As powerful and dangerous as they can sometimes be, I think they are one of the most beautiful things in this world.

Three of us stood out on the front porch after the rain was mostly over to watch the last bolts of lightning streak, and some were very spectacular. We talked and laughed a lot, and it was a wonderful scene. Storms like the kind we saw tonight don't happen very often around here, so it was a real treasure. I hope a lot of people got so sit on their porch and watch that beautiful monster storm.

Am I Better than I was Yesterday?

This has so far been an okay summer, but I don't think I'm putting as much time into things I think are important as I should be. Many times I find that my time is absolutely wasted and that instead of getting better and becoming more, I have somehow atrophied. My TV is on way too often and I spend hours playing old SNES games on my emulator instead of working on my reading list. I've gone so far as to map out a running route that is almost exactly one mile but have never used it even once. I have NOT written down or analyzed what I think is important, and I have NOT written down short-term goals for my summer.

This past school year, I wrote down about eight philosophies of living that I thought were worth forming my life around, and I have lost the sticky notes I wrote them down on. Hopefully in future entries I can reconstruct them and submit them on this blog for others and myself to read and evaluate. I have had a very relaxing summer, but relaxation is miserable when there's no meaningful work to relax from. My job at Foodlion hardly qualifies as meaningful since I feel like I'm doing a lot of cyclic work that just has to be done again in a few days. Ha! But that's what I signed up for when I decided I want the money it brings. That money, though it seems pointless now, will help me take care of small expenses in the future and keep a healthy reserve of emergency funds the bank.

But, then, I have many days when I'm NOT at work, and many free hours on work days, besides. At the pistol-start of summer, I begged my mother to help me put together a work station for the summer where I could do my goal setting and writing and studying and communication. It took rearrangement of my room, the addition of a ghetto white plastic table, and tucked away metal chair (looks nice but could use a cushion) to pull it off, but all the effort came through in flying colors! SO WHY AM I NOT USING IT! I play games and waste time, but that's not exactly what I had in mind when I asked for it.

So, you see, though I'm having a fine summer, I still think it could be a lot better with a few tweaks and adjustments. I think a good thing to do would be to really start scheduling on Google Calendar again; making to-do lists and blocking out my time so that I can see what I can actually get done. It worked great before, and summer is as good of a time to as any to get rolling again!

I want to always be able to answer YES when I ask myself the question: "Am I better than I was yesterday?"