I think Kristen and I need to talk.

So there's this article making the rounds of the internet. It comes from the obviously forward thinking website Christwire.org. It's called "Is my Husband GAY?". Below are 15 signs that you're man is gay.

1. Secretive late night use of cellphones and computers

Guys, it's 10:15 right now. Kristen is fast asleep. I'm reading my twitter feed on my phone and I'm using a computer. CHECK!

2. Looks at other men in a flirtatious way

I mean, I'll hug and even kiss some of my dude friends. Let's not check this one off yet though.

3. Feigning attention in church and prayer groups

Who actually pays attention in church? CHECK!

4. Overly fastidious about his appearance and the home

I can't cop to this one. I try to look neat if I'm going out, but all told, I'm a bit of a slob.

5. Gym membership but no interest in sports

I definitely have a gym membership. I enjoy baseball, but not to a fanatical level. Beyond that, I'm not really a sports guy. CHECK!

6. Clothes that are too tight and too “trendy”

I try to keep up with fashion, but tight and trendy are not the obese man's game.

7. Strange sexual demands

No comment. My family reads this.

8. More interested in the men than the women in pornographic films

I don't even know women who are more interested in the dudes. Nope.

9. Travels frequently to big cities or Asia

I LIVE IN A BIG CITY!!!! I LOVE CITIES!!! CHECK!

10. Too many friendly young male friends

Most of my friends are friendly males, and most are under 30. CHECK!

11. Sassy, sarcastic and ironic around his friends

Are you kidding me?!?! CHECK!

12. Love of pop culture

Have you ever seen me improvise? CHECK!!

13.Extroverted about his bare chest in public

No no no no no no no.

14. Sudden heavy drinking

I'm not sure how to answer this. I don't have more than one drink very often. There are some rare occasions where I tend to go for broke on the booze, when I find myself flush with disposable income and with no obligations for the day after. Does this count? Sure. CHECK!

15. Ladies, have you dated men in the past who turned out to be gay?

I'm Kristen's first boyfriend, so we'll go no on this one.

Final tally: 8-10 depending on your interpretation. I guess I'm gay. Good thing I have those Erasure albums on my iPod.

Motivation

What motivates us to better ourselves? For me, it's usually necessity. It was necessary for me to make this budget because my job did not pay me enough. The 10 dollar a day budget has not been difficult. I have had to be creative to make things work on occasion, but it hasn't been too bad.

I don't have to do it anymore. I got a new job on Friday. It's not going to make me rich and it's not even a massive pay increase, but it's a start. It's a step down the right path.

But I think I'm going to try to stick with the budget. It's given me a reason to blog on a regular basis. It makes me write. It makes me think about how little things like coupons relate to my life. So for the time being, I'm going to stick to the budget, with less fear because I have a cushion. By my projections, I might even be able to build my savings back up. It won't be long before the student loans start knocking at my door.

This is for the whole weekend.

Money spent: $0
On?: Nothing
Money left: $49.00

Loyalty.

I like companies that reward loyal companies. I've been playing Foursquare (the social media game) for a while now and I'm sad to see that more business haven't embraced offering a Foursquare incentive.

There's also the punch card. I don't carry many. In fact, I only carry one. It's my Ian's Pizza punch card. Oh you haven't been to Ian's? Well, if you live in Chicago, you have serious mental problems. If you're from out of town, book yourself a flight very soon and order up some Mac and Cheese pizza. If you don't believe in God, you'll see him. If you do, the slice will present you with irrefutable proof that he doesn't exist. It's life changing.

I'm not much of a creature of ritual. Habit yes, but not ritual. The only ritual I really have in life is that I have to have Ian's pizza before performing at iO (which is right down the street). Just like all superstitions, it has no basis in reality. During my 5b shows, I went to Ian's before most shows. There was a show where I wasn't able to go beforehand, and that turned out to be a terrible show. Naturally, rather than blame my performance skills, I cursed the skies that I had skipped my mac and cheese slices. I think I've only skipped once or twice since (both shows proved to be mediocre on my part).

Anyhow, I didn't want to spend the extra money before the show last night (especially because the show was at 10:30 so I had already eaten dinner). But I looked in my wallet and noticed that my most current punch card (my 5th) had ten holes in it. FREE SLICE! THE SHOW WAS SAVED!

Money Spent: $4.21
On: $3.21 (Burger King breakfast cause our milk went bad) $1.00 (chips to go with lunch)
Money left: $49.00

Clipping coupons with grandma

There's something I don't do very often, which is surprising. That thing is use coupons. I used to sit with my gran while she clipped coupons and put them in a little folder. I'd usually wear my mom's big Grasshopper glasses while I clipped. Even in her later years, she clipped coupons to give to my mom all the time. But I can't recall a time when I've ever used a coupon. I think that's mostly because I buy off brand products, which rarely have a coupon offer.

Yesterday, I had to get some dinner before rehearsal. I was browsing my options online and in between all of the burger joints and mexican places, I spotted a Quizno's. I was perusing their menu and noticed a coupon offer for 2.99 for a small sub, chips, and a drink. How do you pass something like that up?! A secondary lesson was learned as well. A small sub is a perfectly adequate meal. Before, I would eat a large sub, chips, a cookie, and a drink for like $1,000.00. NO MORE!

Money spent: $16.79
ON?: $3.29 (Quizno's) $10 (Rehearsal fees), $3.50 (post-rehearsal beer)
Money left: $53.21

So I came across a blog today with the same focus (living on ten dollars a day in Chicago). This girl's blog is way better than mine (probably because she is taking the challenge to a much higher level and also because I didn't set out to make this the total focus of my blog). Anyhow, I can't wait to read this girls tips and see how I can make them work to my advantage.

Money Spent Sunday+Monday: $0
On? Nothing.
Money left: $70.00

I missed a couple of days but let's see how I did with the first week. (I think I went a little over). This is the total from last nights evening out on the town

Money spent: 61 dollars
On? Dinner out ($25), Drinks($22), show ($8), and unexpected cab ($6).
Money left: -$19.50

All in all, it's not too too bad. I'll be saving a little bit of money on transit this week because I'm buying Kristen's brothers CTA pass from him for 6 dollars and that gives me an extra 2 days before I have to buy one. So instead of spending 96 dollars on transit, I'm spending $75. So things are ok, just have to reign it in.

Kristen's brother has arrived. We didn't do much of anything last night. Ate some turkey burgers and watched The Critic and then Kristen and I retired early to watch tv in our bedroom and give her bro some space to lay down. I was tired from playing racquetball anyway.

We were discussing the overturning of Prop 8 and I've realized some of my legal education is failing me. Answer me this question though, if you can. If this case gets appealed and moves all the way to the SCOTUS, and they make a ruling that banning gay marriage is unconstitutional, does that not then become true for the entire country? Would every state have to allow gays to get a marriage certificate. I'm hoping that is true.

I'm in awe of people who can blog every day. I'm finding it difficult (as you're reading) to have something interesting to say every single day.

Money Spent: $0
On?: Nothing at all.
Money Left: $41.50

Things have been really going OK. I can't say they are great because I'm not at a job where my pay is close to correlated to my contributions to the company (does this job truly exist?). But, I've had some really good times and smiled and laughed a lot.

Tonight I hung out with You People. The rule on our team is that you don't schedule things for Tuesday nights because that's our rehearsal night. Even if rehearsal has to get cancelled for whatever reason, you're supposed to be available and we spend the evening doing something as a team. Sometimes, things come up (understandably) and people have to miss leaving us without enough people to have a rehearsal. Tonight was one of those nights. The folks who were available headed up to Hamburger Mary's and participated in Pub Trivia (one of my favorite pastimes and one I don't indulge in enough). The questions, for the most part, were super easy. So easy in fact that we took first place! It was a great bonding activity and one I hope to repeat soon.

I think this weekend is going to be fun. Kristen's brother arrives tomorrow for a little visit. I've been trying to save up most of my weekly budget to have money to do stuff with them. I know we're going to see a show at Donny's Skybox and having drinks/dinner. I think I'll probably wind up doing nothing the next two days so I have the extra money for that. It's difficult to make those sacrifices, but I keep reminding myself that I want to be able to go home for Christmas and every penny I save keeps me from having to get a retail job to supplement my income.

Money spent: $10
On?: A snack and a PBR at pub trivia.
Money remaining: 41.50

It's hard to decide what to count as something that should come out of the 10 dollars a day. I've decided that when in doubt, it should come out (hey, that rhymes). There's no harm in spending less money and of course, there's always more there if I absolutely need it.

In other news, I talked to my boss today about working more hours and he was more than amenable. Since I started at this job, I've worked 4 days a week, totaling 32 hours. Somehow, adding the 5th day to my schedule, I extending my savings by a great margin. Assuming I stick to this current budget (which is more than likely not going to happen, no one's perfect right?), I'll last until next September. By that time, I better have a new and better paying job or there is going to be problems.


Spent: 18.50
On?: Megabus tickets for the girl's half marathon in Indianapolis and for my visit home at Thanksgiving. That's right, $18.50 total for 2 round trip bus tickets. Megabus maybe be late sometimes and it may not be the most luxurious way to travel, but man, you can't beat those prices.
Money left: $51.50

A new reason to blog.

I'm trying an experiment to see if I can get by on 10 dollars a day. It's all a part of my plan to stretch my savings while looking for a new job.

It all started last week. The girl was having a flustered day at work and with virtual dollar signs in her eyes (which come under false pretenses, may I add) she IMed me and said "Are you a paralegal yet?" Of course, she was joking, but it was something that really startled me. Things are not going quite as I planned. I haven't graduated yet (I've one class left) and I'm still earning minimum wage. I'm 27 and barely scraping by.

The rules: This ten dollars is only spending money. It does not include any of my fixed expenses (food, rent, gym, netflix, transit passes, etc). Basically I'm just going to take 70 bucks cash out at the beginning of the week and try to make it last. I feel like that shouldn't be too hard. Just a matter of packing a sandwich on nights when I have rehearsal or eating something cheaper than my usual bar burger. I think little sacrifices will make a big difference. We shall see.

I'll be reporting like this.

Money Spent: $0
On?: Nothin' fool.
Money left: $70