I haven't always been in the best finiancial situation, but I make the best with what I have. Given the current state of the economy, most people would say I'm doing just fine. I really can't complain.

On New Year's Eve I made a promise to myself that I would adopt better financial habits. I pulled my credit report two weeks before Xmas and was very disappointed by what I saw. From that moment I subscribed to finance blogs including the financial newsletter from the Washington Post.

As I was reading through the material, I realized I knew most of what I needed to do because, well, it seemed like smart things to do. The not so smart part was not putting these tools to use. After I weeded through the info to determined what applied to me, I opened a savings account. Though I would save money periodically, it was housed in a checking account and easily accessible which is a bad idea for right now. I opened an account with ING Direct which had the best interest rate at the time. It's linked to one of my checking accounts, I can still do a money transfer, but I can't walk up to the ATM and take money out, which helps me maintain a balance. If I should encounter a situation, I can just transfer money and wait a couple of days.. Not really a big deal.

To also cover non-routine expenses, I now keep a cushion in my main checking account instead of spending down to my last dollar. It's hard not to sometimes, but it keeps me covered, especially when I have to wait for a transfer from my savings account.

I said all of this to bring me to my fuckery filled afternoon.

I subscribe to various financial websites that help me figure out what I want to do with my money. I'm on a personal finance blog and today's topic is "Small Luxuries" where we are to discuss which luxury are we able to maintain in this declining economy. One of the commenters (I hesitate to say she's a cawk stay at home mom, but I digress) left this little nugget in her comment:

I love Food Therapy (and I completely believe this is why so many poor people are over weight).

*blinks*

Is she serious? Surely I'm not the only one that sees irony in her statement. I'm all about expressing opinions and all, but let's look at this a little further.

Poor people are just that--poor. It's not likely they have enough money to gorge themselves with enough food to become overweight simply because....

...they don't have any damn money.

When your cash is low healthy options are few. It's cheaper to buy 10 for $10 Pasta Roni than it is to purchase a pould of chicken breast that may not feed your whole family. I'm won't even go off about the rotten (literally) produce offered in grocery stores that disservice the low income communities they proudly "serve". Go to another store? Not likely if you don't have your own transportation or cab fare.

So why are poor people overweight? Not because they're lovin themselves down with food; however because in 2008, they still receive the scraps from massa's table, that's why.

That's white privilege for you, wallowing in the stench of ignorance.

This is the second time I woke up this morning to go to the bathroom. I can't go back to sleep. I have enough quiet at 4am to haer myself think--think about things I can't discuss with anybody. Sometimes it's disturbing, this aloneness with my thoughts. There's no escape from what I really think or what I really feel. Sometimes honesty is overwhelming.

I hope the Lord can forgive me for what's on my mind and what I'm ready to do.

A lot of randomocity has occured lately. (LOL! i said that like it's actually a word...or is it?) I'll just give a quick rundown of what's been on my mind lately.

Friends
The amount of fingers on one hand will account for the number of true friends I have...with change left over. Sometimes I get these spurts where I want to make friends...then I'm over it. Quick. It's always been my position to keep to myself cause people have a tendency to disappoint me. They place expectations upon me that they either can't or don't want to maintain on their end and I'm not interested in a one-sided friendship. Reciprocity much?

Apparently, I said something to a friend last week that she didn't like. It certainly wasn't my intention to offend her, but she said it herself: Truth hurts." So if it's the truth...why are you mad at me for sayin it? What gives? Now I can see if I had lied, which I hadn't. But to have an mf mad at me for tellin the truth? I can't relate. So to my knowledge, we aren't friends anymore.

Work
Same shit, different toilet. Overworked and moderatly paid, but I think I'm getting caught up with the work part. The pay part--not so much. I'm working on changing that as well.

Today the CFO sent an all employee email and labled it with high importance. I open the email to find that his daughter was coming in the office to sell Girl Scout cookies. TF? Important to whom? Talk about corporate abuse. Exit stage left.

I absolutely hate it when he brings that chile to work. Everybody fawns over this lil blonde haired chile like she's special. Secondly, the recept acts like a damn nanny to her. She then expects anyone who sits at the reception desk to be a wet nurse. I refuse. I don't go to work to play with kids (it's all subjective, really) nor am I contracted to babysit. That aint happening. I'm not rude to the chile; I'll smile and say hello. Anything more than that is extra, and I'm not putting for the extra effort.

Education
I've decided to stop fooling around and finish my degree. I'm signed up for two courses this semester. Unfortunately, I hae to pay my tuition out of pocket but my job will reimburse. I wish they offered tuition assistance instead of tuition reimbursement. This shit is hurting my pockets but I'll do whatever I need to so I don't have to work another boring admin job.

When I cover the reception desk I make a point to bring my textbook along to get in a lil study time. I can barely get past the first page without fiddlem mfs stopping to ask me what I'm reading, as if they've never seen anyone read a book before. They don't know how to respond after I tell them what it's about, then they slink away. It's hilarious! I'm reading From Slavery to Freedom for my African American Studies course. The story is unbelievable. I'm really enjoying it.

My Bloggerversay has come and gone and I'm pretty indifferent to it. I became disenchanted with blogging a couple of years ago; it just wasn't fun anymore. In my opinion, there are way too many useless gossip and niche blogs. You really can have too much of a good (or not so good) thing. Good personal blogs are hard to come by. I'd rather spend my afternoon reading about an average person's experiences and opinions than read the latest Beyonce or Paris Hilton gossip. Besides, them bitches bore me to death.

I have very little to report as far as new happenings is concerned, though I'll touch on a few things.