Life Lessons I've Recently Learned From Monopoly

- Early in your life, you should buy property.

- If you wind up in jail early in life, pay your bail and get out fast. Later in life, you might as well chill out and try to get out for free.

- Build on your land as soon as you can. You can always fall back on that property later.

- Going into debt early in your life may pay off in the long run, if you make the right investments.

- The rich will always get richer.

- Despite playing the game right, wrong, or however you play, the roll of the dice is always going to be the ultimate factor.

- Finally, you'll always be able to roll doubles 3 times in a row, but never a 4th time once you're in jail.

I suck at this.

Man I was slacking on the posts this week. I set a calendar reminder for myself so that I get a text message every night that says "Have you blogged today?" These last few days I've been so busy that I've looked at that text message and I've basically said "No, no I haven't" and then continued doing whatever I'm doing. I need to into more habits.

I need to set up a workout schedule, because I haven't worked out in like 11 days. I've done some activities that involved alot of walking, but I haven't actually worked out. Now that I should have a "somewhat" normal schedule for at least the next 8 weeks though, I should be able to map out a plan. Rest assured it will get posted here.

I've been missing out on song of the week. Mainly, I haven't been listen to as much music lately. I've been tearing through all the back episodes of Smodcast while I'm at work. There's 114 of them, which last between 55 minutes to 2 hours, so that should give you an idea of what's up with that.

It's my sincere hope that when I return home from my Easter visit to Detroit, I can get back to a semi-normal type of life and make another go at doing a blog every day. Wish me luck!

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Goals Check In Week #11

2. Read 40 books. That's less than 1 book a week but more than I currently read.

- I'm on book number 6, which is another Harry Potter book. I can't believe I'm enjoying them so much. I got real excited about the possibility of visiting Florida sometime in the next year. Yeah, I'm kind of excited about Disney World, but Universal Studios is opening a Harry Potter world, and I think I'm really excited for that too. I hope I get to eat some chocolate frogs.

3. Continue to pay down my debt.

- Credit cards are payed on time again this month. Unfortunately, I can still only pay the minimum balance (I actually usually pay 1 dollar more). I can't wait until I'm making more money and can increase my payments

4. Continue to stick to my budget.

- I've been pretty good about this. I'm still ahead of the game according to my projected budget, but not by as much as I should be.

5. Live more life.

- I went to concerts in 2 days! So great to see 3 of my favorite bands in one weekend. I took Kristen to Flogging Molly. She said she enjoyed the band, but half way through she got a major headache so she didn't have very much fun.

6. Let Kristen know how much I love her everyday.

- The talk of engagement is more and more prevalant everyday. I think it's no longer a question of if, but when.

7. Learn a new skill.

- At the Flogging Molly show, I decided I may want to learn the mandolin, banjo, or harmonica. In the research phase.

12. Try some other new food every month (this one is negotiable, new foods aren't super easy to come by on a low income. For example, I've always wanted to try lobster, but it's too expensive to take the chance and I'm never in the position to try someone elses.)


See that! That's Indian Food. Which I've never had before. But it was so god damn delicious. Eat Indian Food!

13. Find a new job.

- I have another internship interview tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

14. Overcome my awkwardness in social situations.

- I've been working on the committee for the Del Awards (an informal little awards ceremony done once a year at iO). It's forced me to interact with people I'm normally very shy around. I'm proud to say I've actually done an ok job with not being weird too.

They Think Of Everything

Kristen and I had a little anniversary weekend trip to the W Hotel downtown. It was a really nice relaxing weekend. It was also my first time in a hotel that had a minibar. That minibar thought of a way to charge you for anything you could need. Anything.

Goals Check In Week #8

1. Lose 70 lbs. That's less than 2 lbs a week, but more than 1.
1a. Work out a minimum of 4 days a week, but shooting for 5.

- This was not a good week for weight loss. I didn't track at all this weekend (it was hard to do. Who can say what a key lime creme brulee or a 14 oz prime rib has in it. Plus, the W, in it's price gouging ways, wanted 15 bucks a day for internet access, so I was without a computer).
2. Read 40 books. That's less than 1 book a week but more than I currently read.

- Finished my first Harry Potter book...and really liked it. I'm reading the play Talk Radio by Eric Bagosian now. It's only 80 pages, so I should be done tomorrow or wednesday. By the middle of this week, I'll be reading another Harry Potter book.
5. Live more life.

- I was overserved for the first time in a long time. I liked getting a little tipsy and I think I may allow myself to do it slightly more often.

6. Let Kristen know how much I love her everyday.

- We celebrated our 4 year anniversary this weekend. Kristen got us a room at the W Hotel and in nerdy fashion, we spent most of the weekend up in the room, lounging in a giant bed, and watching Veronica Mars. But, we did go out for a nice dinner at Tavern at the Park, went up to the rooftop bar at the hotel to look at the city, and drank wine in our room. All in all, it was a great weekend.

12. Try some other new food every month

- I tried grilled polenta at our anniversary dinner this weekend. Texturally, I was not a fan, but I could see where it would be good.

13. Find a new job.

- I did not get the internship that I interviewed for, but all is not lost. I know they'll find something for me.

Goals Check In Week #8

1. Lose 70 lbs. That's less than 2 lbs a week, but more than 1.
1a. Work out a minimum of 4 days a week, but shooting for 5.

- Still trying to get into a regular routine. Kristen, Alicia, and I are all working with a site called myfitnesspal.com which has all the calorie tracking and goal building capabilities of sparkpeople (the site I used to use) with a facebook-esque friend following feature. I think it's been really helpful.

2. Read 40 books. That's less than 1 book a week but more than I currently read.

- I'm on to book 4. I'm not happy to say this, because it means I was wrong, but so far, I'm loving Harry Potter. I think I can attribute this to Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier's Smodcast because they've had 2-3 podcasts specifically about HP that have absolutely slayed me. Reading the books, I can think back and laugh at all their bits.

3. Continue to pay down my debt.

- My credit card company called me the other day to let me know that thanks to Obama's legislation on Credit Cards, I won't be allowed to go over my credit limit. That is, unless I give them my permission to allow that, and then, if I need to go over my limit I can, for a 37 dollar fee. If you ask me, only an idiot would ok that. I'd rather have my card declined if I'm going to go over my limit.


6. Let Kristen know how much I love her everyday.

- We've been together 4 years today. Can you believe that?

8. Become a better improviser.

- We had such a great rehearsal last night. I want to see my team grow to have more fun with each other on stage. I know there's a lot I can do to contribute to that goal. In other news, we were nominated for Best New Team at iO. This is nothing super special, but I think it's great, because there's only 10 of us and I think it takes more than our 10 votes to get nominated. So someone outside of our group thinks we belong there.

12. Try some other new food every month

- I'm having Fondue for the first time tonight.

13. Find a new job.

- A few minutes ago I got my student membership to the Illinois Paralegal Association. In one hour, I'll be interviewing for my internship with a local law firm.