"Martha Stewart finally gets her electronic monitoring ankle bracelet removed in two weeks... thank God... that damn thing always left a red mark on the back of my neck..."

0 Comments

Earlier in the day, I would have thought my highlight of the day was seeing those gaggle of super hot ladies on W. 4th Ave. when I was out for lunch. I was wrong. Then I thought the highlight would have been watching the fireworks at Spanish Banks. I was wrong again.

No, the highlight of my day happened around midnight when I found myself standing on top of a parkade on-campus somewhere with Tomo, Adam, Joel, Tyson, and Tom. It appears that Tom and Tyson have started this two person fight club where they duel each other with homemade swords.

This is how serious they are about it. They go to Home Depot to buy plastic piping material which they fashion into swords complete with custom made hilts. Tyson has a wooden staff that he duels with, a la Darth Maul style.

On the way up to the parkade roof, I was a bit skeptical as to how impressive this whole thing would be but I would soon see the intensity involved. Both Tom and T-Bone started off with a single sword each. They warmed up a bit first but before Adam, Tomo, and I could even notice, the two duelists engaged each other in furious combat. It was a lot faster and dangerous mind you, than I had anticipated. There was considerable weight behind each strike and blow. Was it Anakin vs. Obi-Wan? No, not exactly, but no one would have mistaken this as simple play fighting. Speed and danger were definite elements in this.

Before long Tyson brought out the staff and that seemed even more dangerous than the swords. After battling for a short while, both Tom and Tyson decided to grab a sword in each hand. Four PVC swords were in play at the same time.

I'd seen enough after this, so I decided to go home. On the way down the stairs, I saw a police cruiser heading up to the top floor of the parkade. I had no doubt in my mind the cops were on their way to see what the hell was going on up there. I kept on walking.

I've received reports that the cop questioned the boys as to their activities, but left them be, albeit a little perplexed as to why good friends would want to bash each other with swords.

Alright, it's getting late, I'm out.

0 Comments

0 Comments

I did indeed go see that place I mentioned earlier. I will have more to say about that trip later. Woba, Conklin, and I went out for beers afterwards which is why I don't have time to write now. Enjoy the sunny day!

0 Comments

Before I graduated, the only thing that really caused me stress in life was school work. Otherwise, I was pretty happy with my life. Now that I've graduated and have a full-time job, the only thing that causes me stress is figuring out where I'm going to live in September.

Actually, that's not the only thing that's causing me stress. Now I'm also wondering if I can actually afford to live elsewhere in September since I have to start paying off my student loans. I'm going to see this apartment tomorrow night. It's in a nice location and the building has just gone through renovations and upgrades. It seems very impressive and the people who are running the place have been courteous and professional the entire time I've talked with them. As far as the building itself goes, I'm getting a really good vibe from it.

However, I took the weekend to do some really grown-up things like taking a hard look at my finances. I went online and downloaded all my bank transactions for my primary account from January on. I put all the data into a spreadsheet, separating it into months. Man, I was spending money like crazy some months. It was all very irresponsible from a financial point of view.

The point of this was to see what my spending patterns were like to keep me in a relatively happy lifestyle. I then made a budget of what I'd be spending each month if I did move into this new place. I discovered that it's my loans payments that causing some trouble. If I didn't have to shell out $450 a month to pay off my debts I'd be fine. That's not my minimum required payment but that's the amount I think I should be paying. I could pay less, but I wind up giving the bank more in the end because of the interest. Isn't it a rule where you're supposed to pay off your loans as fast as reasonably possible?

Anyways, according to my best calculations if I stick to my own monthly repayment amount, each month I'd have about $1000 left over for food, entertainment, clothes, doctor/dentist, sundries, paper towels, and miscellaneous items. That works out to be around $250 a week. Can I live on $250 a week? I guess I could. I've look at some random seven days periods during the last two months. Some weeks I'm under that amount, but others I'm over.

Here's something to think about: I'm eating most of my dinners at SJC still which costs me about $5 a meal which is a great deal. If I move to this new place, I either spend more on dinner each night or try to eat for the same amount (which I think an idiot like me won't be able to do). Even if I keep my budget to $250 a week, that would mean every dollar I make a month would be accounted for. Nothing would get saved. Aren't you supposed to save even a little bit of money each month just in case of rainy day?

I'm getting tired, I report back when I see the place tomorrow.

0 Comments