This one will bring my bill with Projects Abroad to below $1000! If things go the way they’ve been, I should have my trip paid off by January/February, and then I just have to save up for my plane ticket.
This is my first loan to a group, and I hope they use it wisely! They are still in need of another $1,350 as of this posting, so if y’all want to drop by and help them out that would be great.
Next month I’m being sworn in as a CASA volunteer, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. CASA volunteers are responsible for advocating on behalf of a child (or children) who are in foster care. Their job is especially important, because while social workers are assigned dozens or scores of cases, CASAs only have one child (or sibling group) at a time. If you’re interested in helping children in the foster system in your area, please go to www.nationalcasa.org to see if your area has a CASA program.
I’m moving again, for the 6th time in 3 years. I need to get my books packed up this weekend, so that I’m ready to move them when we close on the house next week.
I’ll probably have more than $5,000 saved up by the time I graduate in May, if my spreadsheet is correct.
Well, I was planning a roadtrip, because I thought it would be too expensive to fly. It turns out a plane ticket is only about $200 though, so I’m going to fly and have a long weekend in Arizona.
I took my last CLEP test today (Intro Sociology) and actually scored better on this than I did on my 4 other history CLEP tests! I highly recommend CLEP tests to people just starting college, or need to get some core classes (100/200 level English, math, history, etc) out of the way, they save so much time and money.
Labor Day weekend, 2009 in Tempe, Arizona! I’m planning a whole roadtrip around it, so I can see some of the southwest while I’m out there!
I went on Friday and had Lasik done! I had to go a few days before to have them do a bunch of tests to make sure my corneas were thick enough, and for them to get my exact precription and all first, though.
I don’t know if this is common practice, but at my clinic they make you take a valium half an hour before your appointment, and let me tell you, it did nothing for me. I haven’t been that scared since I was 8 and had to have reconstructive surgery on my thumb! But still, I’m glad I did it. The actual laser part of it only takes 15 or 20 seconds per eye, the whole thing probably took less than 10 minutes. Afterwords they gave me:
a pair of safety glasses, to be worn for the first 24 hours after surgery, and then every night while sleeping and in the shower for the first week;
3 types of eyedrops, to be taken 4 times a day
I had standard Lasik done on my right eye, and custom on my left (yeah, my prescription was wacky). If you’re thinking about getting this done, don’t wait! You won’t regret it!
I have an appointment on the 20th to have the pre-surgery exam so the doctors can decide if I’m a good candidate. I’ve already been told by past doctors that I am a good candidate, so I’m not worried about that. But they said that it could be as little as a week after the exam to have the surgery!
Well at least I’m making progress on this goal. If only it weren’t so expensive!
I dropped my second major, and now I’m graduating a year ahead of schedule. And have no plan for what to do with my life. Except to go to India, but that’s just a month long thing, not really a lifestyle or career. sigh
5 went to Ni Ketut Sudarni in Indonesia, who raises pigs to supplement her husband’s income. Normally I loan to people in Ukraine, but apparently Oprah Winfrey and a couple news places featured Kiva this week, and ALL of the Eastern European loans had been fully funded when I looked at them today!
I had a loan repaid on Monday, so I reloaned the money to Mr. Uryi Gontaryov, a Ukrainian who wants to expand his house repair business.
I get paid in about a week and a half, so I’ll be able to make another loan soon!
There is a woman’s shelter that has been advertising around campus for volunteers, and when I get back to college next week I’m going to call them and see if they need help on the weekends.
This goal needs to be broken down into little goals. The next part will be to try and exercise more. I’ve read that it takes anywhere from 3 weeks to a month to make a regular habit of something. I think my goal will be for the next 31 days to do sit ups and crunches every night. After that I will try to add morning crunches and sit ups. I used to do this, but back in October I got my belly button pierced, and was a little too sore to exercise, so I got out of the habit.
When I get back to college next week, I’m going to see about getting a locker for the semester to keep clothes in, so I can go to the gym whenever I feel like it. I’ll try to make time to go at least once a week.
I finished one! The seams are a little crooked and the binding wasn’t done the way the books said it should’ve been, but I’m happy! I have 3 more placemats in various stages of completion, and hopefully they’ll be finished before I leave to go back to college next week. Yay!
