Thank god for telemarketers.
Or at least, thank god for the one that called this morning at 8:30 and woke me up from the This Fish Buys a Violin dream.
It was beautiful. The violin, I mean. There was a small roomful of people waiting for me to play it for them. As I put my fingers to the strings, and tucked it under my chin, it occurred to me that I had not budgeted for such a purchase. Realizing that my rent check had not yet cleared and that I could not afford the violin, I panicked.
I didn’t play a single note on the beautiful new instrument. Instead, I looked at my brother who was seated across the room and said, “I have to take it back! I don’t have any money!” I was embarrassed and worried.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”
I ran to the next room, fired up my computer to check my finances on-line. As I suspected, the situation was desperate. I had to fix it.
Then the phone rang. And I didn’t have to fix anything. Phew!
I did, however, have to phone in my birth control prescription.
Now, I’m actually quite strapped for cash in reality until payday, due to doctors’ bills from The Pain that Would Never End. And until July, I am still sans health insurance. So when I asked the pharmacist what the cost would be out-of-pocket, I almost lost my mind. Impossible! It was ten bucks with insurance. Ten bucks!
Multiply that by…well, let’s just say several times…and that’s what I paid.
Birth control is not an optional expense. I mean, the emotional horrors of going off and back on it alone are enough to warrant the cash. So, I paid it. Then I went to the grocery store and bargain shopped my way into next week’s food.
And now, I’m officially broke. Scary broke. Can’t-buy-coffee broke. Have-to-ration-cat-food broke. Really, really, really, incredibly broke.
It's like being in college all over again.
oh my gosh! I was praying for a telemarketer or anyone to call me this morning! i was having a horrible dream -- i could fly, for short spurts of leaping at least, and so could a bunch of my friends... and someone else was trying to kill us. and they were largely suceeding, one by one. so they'd kill almost everybody, except me, but i knew they'd get me pretty darn soon!
and then the dream happened again. and again. it always ended in a back stairwell that you could get into from an airshaft from the other side, with those of us who were still alive being backed into it from both sides.
yeah, well, being broke could be worse -- you're in new york, after all. and there's all sorts of delicious free stuff going on during the summer that you'll still get to discover.
Posted by: shana at June 5, 2004 07:16 PMBeing broke sucks. I know, I've been there. Going to my mum pretending I'm there just to socialize when really I don't have anything to eat left in the house and this is my way of getting food in my stomach. See, I've been there
Posted by: JustAgirl at June 5, 2004 08:24 PMBeing broke sucks - when I found out last week that Columbia Bagels was closing imminently I just about cried - I would have starved to death without warm $25 bagels.
Posted by: AnneWhitney at June 5, 2004 09:43 PMuh, if that's the case, i've been in college for like 8 years now.
Posted by: ellephantom at June 5, 2004 10:13 PMOh boy. I just paid rent and put away money for the impending Eay Tiger European vacation, and now I've got, like, $80 for the next fortnight. Which is fine until you start thinking about things like the phone bill that needs to be paid, or the automatic deduction from my almost-maxed credit card for gym membership, or sponsorship for the little girl in East Timor.
Yeah, I'll be toasting you with my tap water as i sit down to tonight's meal of cheese on toast. Hang in there.
Posted by: Dani at June 6, 2004 01:25 AMI feel your pain. My little peachy pills of hormonal sanity are $40.00/mo. My allergy medicine.... $100.00. I decided to just deal with the cough that never ends. Not having insurance sucks.
Posted by: girlie at June 6, 2004 02:48 AMRationing cat food? NEVER. I just sent you a paypal. Hope it helps.
Julie
Posted by: Julie at June 6, 2004 07:48 AMwow! atleast your insurance pays for some of your "pill" i have to pay the full price... broke i know the feeling... it hurts in so many levels... found you through candiedginger.net... love the post... :)
Posted by: maizzy at June 6, 2004 10:36 AMIf it truly is like college all over again, then:
1. You can totally wear your pajamas to work.
2. You should probably have to walk through the halls of your apartment building wearing nothing but a towel and flipflops, carrying some sort of bucket that contains all of your "shower essentials."
3. You should knock on your next door neighbor's door and ask them if their mom sent them any care packages lately.
Posted by: Kathryn at June 6, 2004 12:37 PMIf you should suddenly find yourself about two thousand miles west, surrounded by cattle ranches, and see an old longhair and his sweetheart walking down the road, shout a howdy and we'll invite you in for dinner.
And, if ya want, we can turn you on to some tips for how to survive being broke, as we're quite good at it. Not that it's always easy to hold the fear at bay...
Posted by: Arthur at June 6, 2004 04:18 PMThere's a couple of different ways to maybe get the bcpills cheaper. The first is to try through the health department there, which I'm assuming has a sliding payment scale. If that won't work, there's always ordering them from overseas. I have a couple of insurance-less friends who do this, and get a six month supply for ten dollars a pack. If you want details, email me. But if you're just insurance-less till July, it's probably too late for that to be of use.
Find out where all the free parties are and go eat at them!
Posted by: Bondgirl at June 6, 2004 04:57 PMOr, try Planned Parenthood. At least out here, if you make below a certain level, the pills are free. You have to have another exam, but that's free too, if you qualify ...
Posted by: lauren at June 6, 2004 06:31 PMMy boss was just telling me (during out conversation about Supersize Me) that when he first came to this country and was unemployed he used to get soft ice cream cones from McDonalds - five or six a day - because they only cost 45 cents. "Then I discovered M&Ms," he said.
Posted by: Michael R at June 7, 2004 12:15 PMYou are not alone =)
Hello Planned Parenthood. Never too proud to strut in there and pick up my 15 dollar pill pack- being eyed by scared looking college students, and High school kids I used to have in class-feeling like I'm never too old to be broke and transient, and never too young to have sex.