I've made a point not to use such language when writing blog entries, because unlike in speech to me, it smacks of laziness and an unwillingness to find a more descriptive word to convey one's irritation. But it's the only word that fits to be applied to those who at this very moment are toying with the economic lifelines of millions of Americans and countless more people worldwide with the ongoing debt-ceiling "negotiations", in clear defiance of popular sentiment.
And though I've learned not to trust the numerous entities I can't control when it comes to determining my finances (and in so doing coming full-circle from my mortgage days, when I was the one on the other end of the phone call or email saying whether or not someone could get their home loan approved), I've made peace with it as best I can. With the current exchange rate (via this site which I still morbidly check from time to time) at 94.364 Canadian cents to one U.S. dollar, I'm still fine, but if those...frauds in suits... can't reach a debt agreement and the practical effect is to tank the U.S. dollar against the loonie, then we figure out another Plan B. I can control what I do, and I can give it the Stuart Smalley treatment now and then, but I have learned well how to bull forward and advocate for myself. That skill will never suffer from lack of demand.
Both of my nice basses sold, giving us money to live on and some hope of obtaining an off-campus apartment (though the on-campus one is still there, awaiting its turn at the countertop where lemons are made into lemonade). And my friends Mehdi and Kyle offered to sell at a discount and straight-out loan textbooks for two of the six courses that I'll be taking in the fall, likely saving me nearly $300.00. They'd be great guys even if they weren't helping me out, so hopefully I can do the same for them at some point. And I may yet be able to use the same finance textbook for the fall class as I did for the bungled winter version, as the school bookstore had dozens of new copies still shrink-wrapped on the shelves as they transition from the summer course material offerings to the fall ones. Pre-emptive corks for where the bucket threatens to spring leaks are some of the most satisfying corks to have.
I am enjoying life, finally relaxed and awake at 7pm in the evening after being tired all day, as Jen sleeps back into a more normal Circadian rhythm after interviewing for a job this morning and waging a noble battle to win unemployment pay after being dismissed by a former boss whose once rosy image gets re-tarnished with each return communication. My girl is a strong fighter and doesn't need me to be proud of her to be who she is, but I am proud of her anyway and inspired by her constructive defiance of the expected roll-over.
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If you find this blog randomly, find me on Twitter. Slowly but surely, I am incorporating more and more facets of my diverse life into the proudly visible collection of people and entities that I follow, and doing so more regularly than I do here. Thank you for reading if you've made it this far!
