Lifestyle Shock

It's been a few weeks since I left my job, and it'll be a few weeks until my new job starts. This is a huge anomaly for me. I've been working since I was 16 and I've never been unemployed. This is the first time I've allowed myself to live on basically no income.

You can imagine I've had a bit of a shock.

For example, I did a really stupid thing and miscalculated the total amount of my last paycheck from my job. By a lot. So much so, that I overspent my financial aid on I-don't-even-know-what, and found myself in a very interesting financial position.

See, I'm just not used to not having a disposable income. It may not have always been much, but I've always had one. I've always been able to buy my morning chai without feeling too much guilt. I've amassed a decent collection of shoes as well, thanks to my ability to drop some cash every couple weeks on footwear.

So this is definitely weird for me.

But, I like a challenge. From here on out it would seem I need to actually stick to a budget and exercise some common sense when it comes to spending.

Or I could just find that money tree everyone keeps talking about...

~Megan

Making Money in College

You know, without taking your clothes of or anything of the like. 

(Not that I have anything against sex work whatsoever. Work is work. Read about it)

Anyways.

I'm a poor student now, after leaving my full time bank job to finish out my senior year.

Soon, I'll be a Campus Ambassador in our Student Success Office, mentoring incoming transfer students. I'm super excited for the opportunity, not only to make money, but to gain skills, make friends, and generally be more involved on campus. 

In the meantime, however, I'm a little uh...cash poor.

So I opened my eyes.

There are a lot of opportunities to make money through a university. There are various studies being done all the time. Some pay a lot, some pay a little. But for just a few hours of your time, even a small amount is pretty good.

For example, there's a couple fliers for an alcohol and energy drink usage survey. It's an hour long survey and pays $20. There's another (super confidential) brain imaging study for both users and non-users of marijuana. It takes 8 hours over 5 sessions, involves things like getting an MRI, measuring physical and mental fitness levels, and completing thinking puzzles. It pays up to $340 and you get a souvenir print of your brain MRI.

Some studies involve things like behavioral issues such as test taking anxiety or things like smoking cigarettes. 

And, bonus, it's all for science! Science is pretty great.

So next time you're wandering around campus feeling the pain of an empty wallet, take a look, there might be an opportunity for a bit of cash hanging right on the wall.

~Megan

Good Night, Milwaukee

I've been dreaming of living in NYC since I was probably 15.

But you know the saying "Be happy with what you have". And let me tell you, Milwaukee is actually pretty great.

We have:

One of the best Zoos in the country.

One of the largest natural history museums in the country.

Some of the lowest prices on alcohol.

A vibrant arts and music culture.

And this:

A view of the Milwaukee Art Museum, which not only houses many fine pieces of artwork, also ranks high on the list of world's sexiest buildings. The Santiago Calatrava Brise Soliel is famous, and I'm proud to have it right in my city. (This was taken on my walk back from the world's largest music festival, held every year, Summerfest!)

I mean, New York City is great and all...but can they say that is has the largest four-faced clock tower in the western hemisphere? Yes, it is larger than Big Ben, which is the largest chiming four-faced clock tower in the world. Take that, London!

Not to mention plenty of beer, cheese, and sausage to go around. 

So I suppose for the time being, Milwaukee is a pretty cool place to call home.

~Megan

Study, study, study

I know I was excited to take summer classes and really dive into my coursework but wow. I guess I didn't stop to think and realize that three upper-level courses at once over the course of a month would be this intense. This coming week, I have:

1 quiz - sociology of sport

1 test - ancient Egyptian mythology

1 presentation - sociology of sport

2 discussion/response posts - culture of online gaming

1 response paper - culture of online gaming

1 gaming journal entry - culture of online gaming

and finally...

9 hours minimum clocked in an online game or virtual world - You get three guesses as to which class that's for.

Excuse me while I go live in the library for a week. Hey, at least the library has A/C.

~Megan

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone had a great time today!

I spent the day at my grandmother's house for an impromptu barbeque. It was great, because it gave me a chance to use up the rhubarb and strawberries I had from my trip to the farmer's market last week, to make these guys:

Some Phyllo dough, a recipe for pie filling, and a few blueberries later and I had a very patriotic (and tasty!) dessert.

Most of the afternoon was spent outside, enjoying the weather (which was about 10 degrees warmer at my grandma's house ) and taking little trips down memory lane.

My grandma and I were walking in the yard, and she said "Remember when you and your cousins would play "indians" and you would mash up grass and berries to serve to us? Bark was your specialty!" Apparently, I was all about the food even back then.

We also discovered that her cherry tree was giving fruit! My favorite cherries (and the only ones I'll eat) are the really tart ones, which happen to grow on that tree. You'd better believe I left with plenty:

I think another tart is in order. These little cherries are just too perfect. That is, if they last long enough for me to bake with, I can't stop eating them!

Well, the fireworks just ended so I should probably get some homework done. I hope everyone enjoyed our midweek holiday!

~Megan

Rule Number One

Every. Day.

Otherwise this is what will happen:

Yesterday, I decided to wear leggings as pants. Not even with a tunic length-top. I was wearing a t-shirt and ballet flats. Very obviously a leggings-as-pants situation. Oh, and a boyfriend cardigan. Needless to say, I was feeling very lazy (and having a "my leggings are kind of the only things that fit right now" Regina George day). I went to class. Not a big deal - my campus is a toss up between well dressed and not so much.

Of course, as I'm stuffing my face with potstickers in the cafe, I see a girl I went to high school with (we aren't friends). We ignored one another but I still felt that twinge of "oh good, of course on the day I look like a mess".

It gets better.

Tuesday nights are my standing appointment at a wine bar downtown. On a nice street downtown, with well-dressed clientele. However, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go right from class to the bar. It usually ends up being just the wine director (a good friend of mine) and I, so I wasn't really worried. And for the most part, it was just the two of us. Fast forward to the end of the night: I'm chatting with my friend, about the new store opening next door. I look into the window to see what they're selling. The lights go on and a very nice looking, well-dressed man opens the door and says "Hey, I saw you looking in the window, why don't you come in and see what the store is like? We aren't open yet but come on in." Okay, of course it turns out to be a high-end women's clothing and accessories store. Of course.

Fast forward about 15 minutes. My husband and his friend show up to pick me up, since I'd taken the bus down there and it was late by this point. Turns out, Andrew's friend C knows the very nice looking man - who runs a local fashion magazine and is pretty much "the" fashion guy in Milwaukee. Of course, on the day I'm wearing leggings-as-pants.

Though it turned out that the guy was trying to pick me up, telling C he was "just trying to pick up this beautiful girl" when the guys showed up (which turned into a contract for C's PR business! Score!). He wasn't too thrilled to see my husband, but I had the ego stroke of a lifetime (and apparently I'm losing the ability to tell when I'm being flirted with - though he was very, very smooth about it. He gave me his phone number and Andrew laughed that I didn't immediately realize what was going on. What? He had a good reason - he wanted to show me the store when the apparel side was done and get my opinion! Okay, that still sounds like flirting now that I type it out. Oops.)

Even though this story turned out with a very happy ending, imagine how much nicer it would have been had I decided to dress somewhat nicely? Even jeans instead of leggings. Or black pants! Something with a zipper or button!

I've learned my lesson.

(Though at the moment, I'm wishing it was acceptable for me to go to the CVS in my pajamas...though I've had a few run-ins there too. Ah, well.)

~Megan

Procrastination

I may or may not have spent my first day off taking a really long nap. Okay, I admit it. I totally did, it was great.

Tomorrow though, I don't have class until 5:30, and only one assignment to do before that, so I have really no excuse not to finish (completely) at least one room in my apartment. I'm probably going to start with the bedroom, and the little office connected to it. I'm missing a textbook that needs to be returned to Amazon by the 6th. Hello, monetary motivation.

What I'm really excited for is cleaning out my dresser, putting things that I am very unlikely to wear on campus into boxes, and putting them away in my closet, which I will also organize. Like the entire drawer I have for pencil skirts. Not that I dislike pencils skirts, actually the opposite is true, I just don't see myself in a pencil skirt and heels studying in the library.

Instead, I'm going to make a trip up to the mall to find a new pair of jeans or two, maybe a couple of cute tops for the fall, and hope my shipment from Target comes in with all of the shoes I've ordered.

Oddly enough I chose about three pairs of flats. I don't normally wear flats, ever, but heels on my campus is kind of an unheard of thing. It feels weird. Plus, I'm trying to walk to campus as much as possible, and a mile each way in four inch heels is easier said than done (and it isn't even easy to say!).

So, project self-improvement begins...tomorrow!

~Megan

The Last Day

Today is my last day at work - Woohoo!

Although the day is definitely crawling. And I keep forgetting that I'm not just going on vacation. I almost asked a coworker to bring something to work for me this week...and then stopped when I realized, wait, I won't be here this week, or next week, or the week after, etc.

As busy as I am with school, I'm a little curious as to what, exactly, I'm going to do with my time. I'm thinking I'm going to take this month of solid unemployment (my student job starts in August) as a month of self-improvement. I want to:

• Read more books. I even started a book club! I can't wait for the first book to get here from Amazon. I'm so excited I might just buy the kindle version. Ahh!
• Drink more tea. I just love how fancy I feel with my cup and saucer.
• Actually get into shape. Without work weighing me down and exhausting me, I have no excuses about skipping workouts and eating poorly (no cafeteria right down the hall!).
• Whip my apartment into shape. Two months later it still looks like we just moved in. Unacceptable. But now that I have vast swaths of free time I have, again, no excuses.

I also want to try my hand at canning. Of course, I'm going to start off with tomatoes, but I'd also like to branch into sauces. I know Andrew is really excited for me to experiment with the French mother sauces. The man loves a good demi glace.

~Megan