The Cold Outdoors

Days until Christmas: two

This morning I have decided to brave the cold and make the Walmart trip I've been putting off since Wednesday. It can no longer be avoided -- the cats are now completely out of litter and only have about two days' worth of food left, and I'm down to the last few bare essentials of food in the refrigerator (not counting, of course, the stuff my parents sent me, now stored safely in the cupboard).

I planned to go to Walmart yesterday morning, but Arrested Development derailed those plans, as well as an hours-long chat with Andrea and the later desperate need for sleep. That was all I did yesterday that was worthwhile, actually. I went to bed afterwards until after 8PM, made a can of the Vegetable Beef soup my parents sent me for dinner (because at least that has meat in it, and I don't have any other meat in the house) and watched another full disc of Arrested Development until well after midnight.

I was very lucky that I'd waited to go to Walmart, and hadn't done it earlier -- upon checking the mail when I woke up last night, I had a Christmas card from my parents. It was the card my mother had been telling me to watch for over the course of several days, and for good reason -- inside it was a $50 Walmart gift card. Any thoughts of using it to purchase luxury items like video games, t-shirts, or DVDs were fleeting, however -- that $50 gift card will cover the majority of my grocery shopping trip this morning, and it must cover nothing else if I want to be able to stay on my budget for the rest of the break. Anything over that $50 (because, trust me, I'll inevitably spend more than that) will have to go on the credit card. At least the car doesn't need gas anytime soon, which is a plus.

Yes, I do (finally) get paid again today, the money from which will be going towards the rent almost immediately after Christmas, leaving me with less in my bank account than I have now. But at least all of the bills will be paid, and I'll have some food in the house. I've already made a huge shopping list full of things I won't be able to afford until after January 6th. Like I said, it's these two weeks that my budget will be at its tightest -- when I will have no spare money whatsoever, and when I'm waiting to be paid next and waiting for my student loan to drop -- that I'll be at my poorest. In fact, it's the poorest I will have been since, oh, almost three years ago when I moved into this house with the former girlfriend. While being that broke and destitute should be fleeting and shouldn't last too long, I don't necessarily like it, of course. If I were in school, I wouldn't be able to do it -- the gas for the car alone would eat up what little was left of my money.

Of course, I don't know when the credit card bill will come due, either. I'm really hoping it doesn't come in until next week, and isn't due until January 20th or something like that. Obviously, I don't have the money for that either, and have to keep using said card for little things until I do. Can't do much about it. I have to be able to survive, folks, and it's really shitty luck that all of these financial responsibilities are hitting right now, of all times -- the only time in almost three years when I don't have the money to cover all of them immediately without a second thought.

Anyone want to come out here and marry me so that I'll have regular sex and a two-income household? I'm taking applications. Must love cats; it's a package deal.

In the mailbox I did have another special surprise as well, from Wayne and Jane. It was a small flat-rate box about the size of a VHS cassette. Inside was a very sweet card, several of Jane's wonderful cookies, a molded-chocolate bar of Han Solo in carbonite (no, I'm not kidding, she made it with one of these), and a small wrapped present. The present, once unwrapped, was the DVD of Captain America: The First Avenger. Which, needless to say, is awesome. I'll finally be able to see it. Again, I can't thank the two of them enough for everything they do for me, especially when they don't have to do anything at all. I'm beginning to realize now just how fortunate I am to have wonderful friends like them, and many others.

"I now have a dilemma," I told Jane. "Should I interrupt my eight discs of Arrested Development to watch the movie, or just wait until afterwards?"

She replied that she didn't like Arrested Development, so the choice would be easy for her. For me, though, it's a little more difficult. Perhaps I'll finish the first season today and tomorrow, and Christmas day will be all about America, explosions, and the Red Skull. In fact, that's more than likely what I'll do. At least it'll take my mind off Christmas being Christmas, you know?

After I get home from Walmart this morning, hopefully making the trip there and back before dawn, when the daytime shoppers start crawling the store for last-minute Christmas gifts and Christmas dinner supplies, I once more plan to garage the behemoth and not leave the house again until absolutely necessary. Zac, my officemate, tells me I should immediately begin playing my copy of Knights of the Old Republic II that I found for my Xbox a few days ago, as he says it's the best thing Star Wars-related since Return of the Jedi. While I may keep that one, I'm seriously considering selling off a lot of my older games for both my Xbox and my DS over the next few weeks or so on Craigslist just to get some cash in my pocket. I do have some rare ones I've collected over the years that I'd much rather have the cash for than let them sit on my shelf.

On that note, it's time to make my shopping trip. No reason to put it off any longer than I have to. It's 5:10AM and I really just want to go get it over with. I'll update again soon; I have plenty more to write about over the course of the next few days.