It’s a decision every girl has got to make for herself.
Whether or not you’ll ever actually be put in the position where you have to decide, it’s best to have your answer up front. I personally would have been saving myself a lot of heartache having thought about it in advance. I mean, when it really comes time to take a stand on the issue, which camp are you in?
Faced with limited resources, do you eat for the next week or go out drinking with your friends?
I did a quick check of my financial status last night, balanced it against upcoming social events and the painfully empty state of my refrigerator (can you hear my tummy growl?) and wished I’d had a little bit of that good ole ‘fuzzy math’ to make things looks less bleak.
Forty-two dollars and five cents. An empty fridge. And no less than three confirmed social events requiring bar attendance. Granted, straights are not dire. I’ve seen dire and this is not it. But this is just far enough away from comfortably happy-go-lucky to be pretty annoying.
Not possessing whatever Kate Moss-ian discipline it takes to go without food for six days, I will most likely be conserving my buying power for yogurt and lean cuisine lunches. Though, now that I think about it, the alternative isn’t wholly unappealing. A diet of straight booze for the next week would certainly put me back in my favorite jeans without any wiggling. And what bout with scanty finances would be complete without a hangover or two?
Okay, okay. Fifty-fifty it is -- twenty for groceries, twenty for play, and two-oh-five for to keep a scant something in my bank account until Thursday. I do so love a good compromise.
And when this twenty dollar bill runs out, I’ll drink water, dress it up with lime, and have a silly old time. Because this girl has never needed anything more than good company to be silly.
And, if I remember correctly, disco spins are free.
Extend my regrets to all involved. Enjoy the spins.
Posted by: Paul Gutman at July 9, 2004 10:31 AMYou too busy with the Bar to come play with us, Gutman? Apox on the Bar!
Posted by: Fish at July 9, 2004 10:33 AMMany, many poxes. (Poces?)
Posted by: Paul Gutman at July 9, 2004 11:09 AMGeez, who abducted Gutman and replaced him with a robot clone?
(ps -- you can always fall back on the tried and true method that beautiful women around the world have always used: get someone else to buy drinks for you)
Posted by: Frankenstein at July 9, 2004 11:20 AMI completely agree with Frankenstein. Do the places you go offer a free buffet during happy hour? If so, just arrive early. Eat dinner a la buffet. Then wait until the bar gets completely backed. Ease up to a group of guys with bar access. Ask the one closest to the bar to order your drink when he can get the bartender's attention. Nine times out of ten, once the drink comes, he won't ask you for money. He won't want to look like a looser. And while waiting, you being your fabulous self will entertain his friends so much that they'll think of you as a little sister, needing to be cared for, or a potention hook-up, needing to be gotten drunk. (Holy Run-On Sentence)
Posted by: Queen Goddess at July 9, 2004 11:47 AMFirst, pleasse read "The Kristen Buckley Show" this morning to find out about the exact WRONG approach to your problem. (And Las Vegas is utterly tacky and charmless, anyway.)
Then open MS Word on your magical electrical computing machine and UPDATE THAT RESUME! A fresh Fish sale...limited time only...no reasonable offer refused.
[sorry...that was advice...]
:)
Posted by: Michael at July 9, 2004 12:02 PMSadly, my credit card is my best friend at the moment. No credit card for the Fish? Not that I'm promoting the use thereof, but in situations where it's eat or drink and starve, it might come in handy.
Posted by: Anne at July 9, 2004 12:04 PMShould we take up a collection and/or send you care packages? I make a MEAN homemade Martha Stewart Kitchen Sink cookie and care package box complete with all your favorite college food-- ramen noodles-- macaroni & cheese-- hamburger helper (for use with any filler, including soy, you want) etc....... of course, that would require an address. You can do a PO Box!
I mean, I rarely donate to websites who ask for money, feeling a little like I do when NPR goes on that weeklong tirade about support. But yours is one I would gladly donate for.
Or you could design some T-shirts for CafePress and we could all sport Fish's lovely logo and the quote.... And proceeds to go to fish food. :)
And I know, I know, it's advice. But not meddly kind, I don't think, hopefully HELPFUL kinds....
Posted by: Kim at July 9, 2004 01:40 PMKim, for cookies? I'd give you my social security number, mother's maiden name AND PIN number.
;)
shit, I'll buy you a drink tonight and I'm not even a guy!
Posted by: Daniella at July 9, 2004 02:44 PMHee!
But I'm not making out with you, Daniella! Just so you know. ;)
Fish Food:
This might sound like advice, too, but it's just a recipe....(knowing how little you like to measure, though, follow it at your own risk!)
Scones (great breakfast food, and makes enough for a whole week if you can limit your intake to one a day!)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
Mix all the dry ingredients together and then cut in the butter - you cut it into little pieces and mix it together with the dry stuff with a fork until you can't tell there is butter in it. Then take:
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla (the little top on the bottle is just enough).
Mix the egg and milk together and add to the flour/butter stuff, then add the vanilla.
Here's the easy part: Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface (preferably one without kitten hair on it), and knead it 11 times. Pat it into a circle, cut into 8 pie-shaped pieces and put them onto a plain old ordinary baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees fahrenheit, and voila! Instant breakfast yummies!
The really cool thing is, if you already have all this stuff in your cupboard, the financial outlay is minimal to nothing (except maybe for butter) - if not, bulk food stores are good places for "just enough" ingredients without totally blowing your bar budget! (Big plus? I've made these for guys, and they totally LOVE it that I cook!!) :)
Take care of yourself, Fish!
Posted by: lawyerchik1 at July 9, 2004 03:43 PMSave enough money for a good book. Preferably a thick paperpack. Or two or three if they are used. I once had $7 and two days to go to get more money, so I bought a book (Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance, I think) for about $4, and a half dozen oranges, and survived quite well.
(I wandered in from here. As my livejournal name is bike4fish, I thought I'd look around.)
Posted by: bike4fish at July 9, 2004 04:19 PMI almost forgot to share my most favorite quote for such situations:
If thou of fortune be bereft
and of thy store thou hast but left
two loaves, sell one and with the dole
buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
Happy Friday!
Posted by: lawyerchik1 at July 9, 2004 04:45 PMUgh, I am in the same boat. 72.40 til next Fri.
Posted by: Erin at July 9, 2004 05:10 PMWhen I'm down to my last $50, I just buy a computer game. Then I don't eat, sleep, or leave the house for around a month. And computers are so much better then people. For example, they don't sleep with your brother.
Posted by: NEIN at July 9, 2004 05:22 PMFish, you are much better off than I this coming week. Doesn't make it any easier though does it? I like the compromise, when faced with that kind of a decision, it is always best.
Posted by: Catarina at July 9, 2004 06:07 PM