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I finally finished paying off my bills for my prior kidney stone-related visits to the ER. Although I had insurance at the time, it was poor insurance, and I wound up having to pay about $4,000 out of pocket just for visits to the ER. Who knew that a CT scan was billed (before discounts) at $3,000? It only takes about 5 minutes to do a CT scan - how can it cost so much?
Fortunately, my recent visits / procedures were / are covered by my better insurance.
So, I've set up a plan to save up money over the next three years so that I can move out of my place. I mentioned this to my parents today, and they asked where I would move to. I told them that I'd plan to live in the same neighborhood, but just a different place. Something above ground and with an extra bedroom to house visitors when they were in town. I'm giving myself three years just to save up money.
I've created a budget spreadsheet to make sure my goals are reasonable, and have set up a recurring transfer of some money into savings.
On Friday I had a few drinks with two guys who used to be the Ubuntu-Chicago group with me. One of them said that he had $30,000 in student loans when he got out of school. That's so horrible. I hate that school is so expensive, so out of reach for people. That going to school can financially cripple someone even before they get a chance to get started in life. The expense of college has always perpetuated inequalities, but now it's even worse.
When I was out of school, I eventually got a full-time job making 31,000 per year. That was a lot of money to me. It still is a decent amount of money. But if you are making that much money and have 30k or more in student loan debt . . . it seems like it would be hard to keep your head above water.
On Saturday I went with a friend Ernest to see Snow White and the Huntsman, and then hang out with some gay dudes up at T's in Andersonville. Snow White wasn't horrible, but didn't seem very remarkable, either. This was the first movie I've ever seen with Kristin Stewart in it, and I had only kind of seen the memes that say she has only one facial expression - so I kept checking to see if she would smile. She did smile once, but otherwise . . . yeah, maybe she's not the best actress.
It was good to hang out with Ernest and the others, though. We made our way over to SoFo for a couple of drinks after we were at T's. It was a nice night out, and we had a good time talking in their outdoor seating area.
Today I've mostly been studying for a PHR exam that I'm taking next weekend. In studying for this exam, it occurs to me that I don't really need it that much. I had originally gotten certified when I worked at ADP because they thought it was good for us to have the cert. Now that I'm at my current job, I don't feel like I need it so much, but it's still a "nice to have" so I'll give it a try again.
Fortunately, my recent visits / procedures were / are covered by my better insurance.
So, I've set up a plan to save up money over the next three years so that I can move out of my place. I mentioned this to my parents today, and they asked where I would move to. I told them that I'd plan to live in the same neighborhood, but just a different place. Something above ground and with an extra bedroom to house visitors when they were in town. I'm giving myself three years just to save up money.
I've created a budget spreadsheet to make sure my goals are reasonable, and have set up a recurring transfer of some money into savings.
On Friday I had a few drinks with two guys who used to be the Ubuntu-Chicago group with me. One of them said that he had $30,000 in student loans when he got out of school. That's so horrible. I hate that school is so expensive, so out of reach for people. That going to school can financially cripple someone even before they get a chance to get started in life. The expense of college has always perpetuated inequalities, but now it's even worse.
When I was out of school, I eventually got a full-time job making 31,000 per year. That was a lot of money to me. It still is a decent amount of money. But if you are making that much money and have 30k or more in student loan debt . . . it seems like it would be hard to keep your head above water.
On Saturday I went with a friend Ernest to see Snow White and the Huntsman, and then hang out with some gay dudes up at T's in Andersonville. Snow White wasn't horrible, but didn't seem very remarkable, either. This was the first movie I've ever seen with Kristin Stewart in it, and I had only kind of seen the memes that say she has only one facial expression - so I kept checking to see if she would smile. She did smile once, but otherwise . . . yeah, maybe she's not the best actress.
It was good to hang out with Ernest and the others, though. We made our way over to SoFo for a couple of drinks after we were at T's. It was a nice night out, and we had a good time talking in their outdoor seating area.
Today I've mostly been studying for a PHR exam that I'm taking next weekend. In studying for this exam, it occurs to me that I don't really need it that much. I had originally gotten certified when I worked at ADP because they thought it was good for us to have the cert. Now that I'm at my current job, I don't feel like I need it so much, but it's still a "nice to have" so I'll give it a try again.
