Love On A Budget

This is something that will sound like complaining, but it's not. I'm genuinely amused and touched at the thoughtfulness of my girlfriend's Valentine's present, even if the postage had to have cost way more than the actual gift. The gift was a box with two cans of Piroulines, which are creme-filled wafers that she knows I love, and a card. My gift to her was a dozen roses, chocolates, and a stuffed teddy bear. Slightly more expensive. But like I said, I'm not complaining, I know she's struggling with her three jobs and many bills and car and house payments. Plus, she is taking me to a spring training game in Memphis between the White Sox and Mets at the end of March, and those tickets were $50 each, so that certainly evens things out. If you ask her, maybe that even balances on her side, since she paid for the tickets and has to sit through a whole baseball game as well. She may punish me after the game for putting her through such torture. But hey, sometimes I like being punished.

Things are calm right now on Planetdre. "Jacob" decided that he had more things to clean up at his Montana residence, so he's staying there an extra week at least. He's on schedule to be back rooming with me and looking for work next week. I've readjusted to having my own space, but I miss him too, so I'm actually looking forward to him coming back. Our paths had led us to making less and less time to chat since we left high school, so we've certainly talked more this year already than we had most other years. Living together for a few weeks would ruin a lot of friendships because they were built on drunken socializing and not real companionship. But we've known each other so long that the bond only strengthened. As for class, everything's moving along smoothly. I did very well on the first tests of all three of my classes. I'm especially enjoying the media class, because every theme and lecture is so familiar to me. The material is basically a primer on the messages we receive every day from the TV, radio, newspapers, internet, etc. And I've always railed against some of those messages and how ignorant they are. I'm more confident than ever that my next step after getting my associates degree is to go on to pursue a broadcasting degree, because media seems to be a natural fit for me. Endless yapping and rambling--that's the ticket! As for my job, people are getting canned around me at an alarming rate, making me think that I need to refresh my resume and find a way out before I'm escorted out the door. And as for my family, my aunt is recovering from a hysterectomy, so keep her in your thoughts and prayers, if you're so inclined.