Greetings Washington Marriott,

In a couple of weeks, ArcadiaTiger and I will be inside you. Be prepared.

Love,

OliverTwisted

For as long as I’ve had this blog, I’ve never talked about my financial situation. Mostly because for the entire duration of this blog’s existence, I’ve been broke or just above broke. Believe me when I say that it’s been a rough three years. Well, with this past Tuesday’s revelations, things are finally about to change for the better. As long as I keep an eye on things, I’ll be able to live life as normal, rebuild my 401(k), save up for major life purchases, and put something substantial into my savings. It’s a nice feeling to be on the cusp of good things again. Financially, I’m not where I was five years ago, but fortunately, I’m not where I was a year ago either.

However, that’s not what I want to talk about.

What I want to talk about is how we’re always like, “Man, I wish the weekend was longer.” No. Trust me, that’s not what you want. For whatever reason I decided to take every Friday off in May, effectively creating a month full of 3-day weekends (and one 4 day weekend). While that move was great in theory, execution, and mentally, the one place where it wasn’t great was my bank account.

With around 5 days left before I receive another paycheck, my budget for the month of May is already $16 in the hole. Whoops. While I did account for the money I would save in gas from not driving to and from work for 5 days, I didn’t factor in that I’d spend that money and then some by taking away Thursday’s “School night” status. Having all day to plunder about on Friday wasn’t overly helpful either. The one saving grace - ie, the thing that will keep me above water for the month? My birthday was a few days ago and I’ve got some checks and gift cards to cash in.

Lesson learned? Next time I do this, ask for Mondays off. Not only does no one go out on Sunday night, but Monday is a much better day to skip out on anyways.

Leave it to my friends to keep me in check.

Snapped this one yesterday during commencement as I was making my way to my office. On the way in, I heard the commencement speaker say something along the lines of, “This isn’t going to be one of those ‘follow your passions and chase your dreams’ speeches. The economy is too rough for that. No, this is going to be one of those ‘find something you’re good at and do it’ speeches.” Sound advice. There’s nothing wrong with chasing your dreams, but doing so isn’t always going to pay the light bill.

= what I’m going to be once May is over. I don’t know which is better, having 4 day work weeks or having every Friday off. Add to the fact that ArcadiaTiger only works 1/2 days on Friday and you’ve got a recipe for disaster come June. OK, maybe not disaster, but I sure as hell am going to be really miserable.

Note to self: Try and do this again once football season rolls around.

• So NBC effectively cancelled “30 Rock,” “Community,” and “Parks and Recreation,” ordering just enough episodes for each show to say its goodbyes? Fine by me. Of the 3, the only one that was remotely funny was “30 Rock.” Sure, “Community” and “Parks” had their moments, but to me, neither was “Must See TV.”
• I’m not surprised about the recent news of Mitt Romney beating up gays and other people who didn’t share his beliefs in high school. The more I learn about Romney, the more I dislike him. Not only is he out of touch, but more and more he’s coming across as a bigger phony than most politicians really are. If he just embraced the dick that we all know he is, I could probably tolerate him a bit more.
• You people who are screencapping/gif-ing moments from The Avengers can kindly throw yourselves off a bridge. No one likes spoilers. Just because you and a shit ton of other people saw the movie doesn’t mean that the rest of us have. Lord help you if this happen with The Dark Knight Rises.
• Obama recently announced that he supports the idea of homosexuals being allowed to marry? *thumbs up*
• I find it interesting almost no one has mentioned the ruling in NY that makes viewing child pornography not a crime. While I realize that tumblr and the blogosphere as a whole can be fairly liberal, I didn’t think we were that liberal. So, apparently, this isn’t a thing to be concerned about? Well, OK? Moving along…
• The May 21st TIME Magazine cover doesn’t bother me because it puts breastfeeding front and center. It doesn’t even bother me because that woman is breast feeding a child who is old enough to make a basic sandwich. No no, it bothers me because the Internet never forgets. Do not underestimate the cruelty of children. At some time in the future, someone the child in the picture interacts with will Google his name - or his mother’s name - and come across this picture. From there, the teasing will begin and never, ever end. Glad to see that in her hustle to be part of a sensationalist picture, this mommy-blogger took the time to put her child first. I hope the money from that shoot will be enough to cover his therapist bills.

Speaking of May 21st, that’s my birthday. Buy me presents. Or heart my posts. Whatever floats your boat.

Even though no part of her wanted to, ArcadiaTiger made a very mature decision yesterday. While it crushed her, I think it may have been the best thing she could have done. This living arrangement was tough for both of them. This current situation is even tougher. But moving forward, they will both be better off for it - even if it doesn’t seem like it now.

As of now, Robert’s been granted a stay. Sorry for the bad dog pun. ArcadiaTiger took him to the vet yesterday and the vet prescribed him some meds to help with his anxiety. Between that and the vinegar mixture we’ve been spraying on things that he tends to improperly gnaw on, there may be some hope for him to stay in our home. Mind you, I don’t have a dog in the fight (more dog puns…) as animals aren’t my thing, but knowing how much she loves this dog, I’d like to see things work out for both of them.

Time will tell. In the meantime, we’ll cross our fingers that he has a good day today.

Payday is always [officially] the last day of the month, however the money is usually deposited by midnight of the previous business day. So if payday falls on a Friday, it’s usually in the bank by midnight on Thursday. It’s a pretty constant setup unless the last day of the month happens to fall on a Monday.

As most banks are closed on the weekend (or at least don’t count them in their “business day” cycles), a Monday payday would result in a midnight Friday dispersion. Not my bank credit union. They’re open on Saturday AND they count it as a business day. Usually that works out pretty well when I need to take care of important business, but when it comes to getting my check it’s pretty much a crapshoot. My check may be in my account by midnight Friday, midnight Saturday, noon on Saturday (when they close), or 2pm on Saturday (when they finalize deposits). Who knows?

What I do know is that I don’t plan on leaving the house until some new money is in my account. Funds are running low and if I can get out of the weekend without delving into savings, fantastic. ArcadiaTiger has already got her money. Me? Well, currently I’m the one playing the role of the “Miz Girl” this month…

Only thing left to do is a conference in Charlotte, but I’d almost rather not go. My complete box set of The Real Ghostbusters FINALLY showed up and I’d much rather just sit here all weekend watching it in full. Ah well… Outside of having to drive to Charlotte (which is only around 2 hrs), it won’t be much trouble. Hell, my day tomorrow night consists of an opening session and a welcome reception, which if it’s like last year means a cool speech followed by an open bar. No complaints from me.

In other “my job is awesome” news, I asked my boss if I could have every Friday off in May as I need to burn some of my PTO hours. She said “no problem” and then asked if I wanted to take some more time. Y’all. This ish is nice.

and all is quiet on this front. No emails making their way to my inbox. No phones ringing off the hook. No students randomly dropping in to see me, screwing up my nicely laid out plans. Life is good.

At this pace, I should be able to finish everything on my plate by Wednesday. Which is fantastic as the NCAA Tournament kicks into full swing on Thursday.

OK. Back to work and this boss “Dream of the 90s” playlist I found on Spotify…