the skinny

I think this cutting-down-on-starch, increasing-my-fruit-and-veggie-intake thing (which I refuse to call a diet) has already lost me some weight. My jeans feel baggier, although it could totally be my imagination too.

I'm annoyed right now because I realized mom and I had tickets to the Red Sox vs. Yankees game, on the day I'll be leaving for Worldcon. Augh! Sox vs. Yankees, at the end of August when the pennant race will really be heating up!! *beat head against desk* This sucks, dude. Sigh, oh well. The trip will be fun, anyway. The things I sacrifice for you, tiggrrl. (Speaking of which, I forgot to ask you about those plans when we spoke yesterday. D'oh!)

I spoke to my brother last night and he is survivin', if sweltering in his tiny and non-running-water-enabled trailer home in Arizona. Electricity he has, cell phone he has, but running water he has not. Job and car he also lacks, although he had a promising interview and was waiting to hear back. *shakes head* I tell ya. It's always something with him.

I still haven't told him about Plan G, because I'm too much enjoying the notion of not telling him until it's a reality. But now I'm starting to feel bad about that. I guess it's a little cruel. I told him nothing was really going on with me, and how humongous a lie was THAT?! Oy!

Blither blather. I need to close this up and do a friends-only post about Plan G. There's nothing interesting and non-Plan-G-related to report, anyway.

waitaminnit...

I'm paying my bills and looking at my bank balance and wondering why on earth it's so large. I keep feeling like there's some huge expensive thing looming in my future that I'm just forgetting to plan for. I mean, there must be some mistake; I can't possibly have that much money.

But...

...I've budgeted in the plane ticket for Worldcon, which will appear on my next month's credit-card bill.

...I've already paid Laura for the Worldcon hotel. Just the flat fee, not including the tax, but the tax can't be much.

...I've written the check for the first installment of the fees for my choir trip to Japan. And I've got enough to cover the rest of it, sitting in a money market account that I pretend doesn't exist.

...I've paid all of this month's bills and am pretty sure there aren't any that will come due until after my next paycheck. And yes, that's factoring in the rent.

So. All this money in my checkbook right now really *is* mine. Whoa. I think I'll go order the Buffy Season 2 DVD set! Whee!

I shall probably decide to lend my brother some money. He's in desperate circumstances in his Winnebago in Arizona. And I know he'll pay me back ... some day. ;)

After that, the trick will be to force myself to hold onto the money, and not run out to buy something expensive. Like, say, a new computer. Or a G3 upgrade card for one of my Macs. Or ... no! Stop thinking about it!

I'll concentrate real hard on the $4K that I owe my mom, instead. Maybe I'll give her a chunk.

[Edited to add: Oh yeah. And I owe Siubhan something like $110 for United Fan Con this fall, which we pre-paid for. I think I'll ask her if I can pay her for that now.]