Travelogues

Days until my next paycheck: 2

I received an email from my mother today with plane ticket details for my trip to West Virginia over spring break -- flying out of Wichita at 6AM into Minneapolis, then flying out of there to Pittsburgh, getting on the ground a little after 1PM. The flight home would be shorter; I'd be flying out of Pittsburgh around noon and getting back on the ground in Wichita a little less than four hours later. I told her to book the tickets if those were the best deals/times she could find, because that's pretty good time for each trip, especially the trip home.

If she does book those tickets, Minneapolis will be a new airport I've never been in before. In fact, I've never been in Minnesota before. Taking a look at the airport on Wikipedia, it looks like an interesting place to experience. I'm game. Whatever works, after all, especially since those are fairly short flights. I'd spend more time on the ground than I would in the air on the flights out there. So, sure. I can do that. Like I said, as far as I know she hasn't booked the tickets yet, but she probably will within the next day or so just so that they can be done and taken care of. Should be fun. Add that to the list of stuff I can look forward to over the course of the next few months or so.

Yesterday was another fairly quiet day. I didn't wake up until mid-afternoon -- wait, no, that's not exactly accurate. I woke up at 9AM to pee, and then went back to bed until around 2:30. Upon returning to bed, Pete crawled under the blankets with me to be my warm teddy-bear-kitty, which (obviously) helped me pass right back out. The mail came and went, the garbage men came and went, and I didn't do a whole lot. I spent the evening cooking (soup, again) and watched the Captain America DVD Wayne and Jane sent me for Christmas. It was a fantastic film. I highly recommend it.

But other than that? Yeah, I didn't do much. These few days this week are an exercise in killing time, again, until I get paid and/or get my student loan money. I can't go anywhere or do anything, really, until that happens. My entire paycheck will go towards my water and electric bills as well as some groceries. Whatever's left will probably be put into a tank of gas for the car to prepare for a possible trip to Hutchinson -- if, and only if, I get my student loan money soon. The weather's been really nice, so it sucks that I don't have any money to go out and do anything in it, and a road trip to the next town over for a little light retail therapy at the mall and Target will do me good if I get the chance to do it before classes start again. I need to get out of the house and do something just for myself, something fun that doesn't involve me worrying about stuff to take care of for school or about money.

Now you watch, the day I get my loan money to drop into my account, there'll be a horrific Kansas snowstorm or something just to spite me. You just watch.

I've become stifled in my writing. Not my writing here, of course, because as you know, I've been blogging quite a bit. No, I'm talking about my real writing, my professional stuff like my book(s) and my poetry. I've tried to write new poetry several times over break, and I just can't get back into my groove again. At least not just yet, anyhow. I usually need some sort of pressure to produce anything somewhat decent -- or, barring that, high spirits and social interaction with people. Over the past few weeks, high spirits and social interaction has been hard to come by, for obvious reasons. I've been preoccupied with being alone here with the cats -- especially over all of the holidays -- and, of course, I've been worried about money, trying to make ends meet, etc. So there's really not been a whole lot of high spirits to speak of. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've not been depressed or anything, but it's not like I've been ecstatic to be alone either.

Yes, believe me, if I were depressed, I'd tell you. My mental state is actually pretty awesome. I've just got a general "eh" sort of feeling cocooning me right now. It'll pass once I can take care of most of the money problems. Everyone says money doesn't buy happiness, but in my case, having access to it and not having to worry about it does wonders to lift my spirits, and ends up drastically changing my mood and life outlook for the better. I was never more content with my life than in my first fall of graduate school (August through December 2010), when I had gotten the first student loans of my life, and suddenly no longer had to really worry about being able to pay bills for more than a year. Though, admittedly, the fact that I'd just started a new education and career greatly helped as well.

I mentioned in my last post that there was a Colorado ski trip with friends that I was invited on, but had to decline, and said that I would write about it if I felt like it. I suppose I can tell that story, but there's not much to tell. One of my friends and colleagues within the department -- the older sister of the 19-year-old I've been passively courting over the past month or so -- wanted to know whether I'd be interested in going on a ski trip with her, her husband, a few friends, and her aforementioned sister sometime in January.

"But I don't ski," I told her. "I don't own any skis, my car surely wouldn't make it up and down the Colorado mountains and back, and I hate the cold. You know these things."

"You don't have to ski," she said. "It's a huge cabin, and there will be plenty of food and drinks, things to do, etc. Plus, it would give you some quality time with my sister."

She thinks my crush on her sister is very sweet, despite the age difference between us. She's also said on more than one occasion that she thinks the two of us are a perfect match, but I digress.

"So...what's the catch?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No catch, just figured you might be interested. I'd need about $100 or so for your share of the house for the week, and we'll deal with the driving; I know your car has enough problems already."

The car's actually running really well and has been for a while, but she knows about all its problems because it was her husband who has offered to fix it up for me as a favor in the past with no expense to me except for the parts and my gratitude. I also told them they could take the stereo/speakers out of it if they wanted to as well, because I've never been able to get them to work anyhow.

"Besides, I know you want more time with my sister," she added. "It's not a family thing, it's just us and our friends. A lot of really cool people. And a hot tub."

Oh hell, a hot tub. Good lord, a hot tub. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

However, she told me this in late November, around or shortly after Thanksgiving, and even then I knew of course that by this time, I'd be really, really short on money. I told her I'd definitely consider it, but money would certainly be incredibly tight during the time of the scheduled trip.

As you know, money not only became tight, but has become virtually nonexistent for me, so the window to give her the $100 or so she needed came and went, and I had to pass on the trip -- which I told her sister. They're leaving next week, and her sister certainly understands why I can't go. She told me something to the effect of "Well, being able to eat is more important than going on a vacation," which I was inclined to agree with.

As much as it sucks that I'm unable to go, I certainly would have loved it. It would've been one of those trips that I sorely need in order to get out of this house and actually spend time around life forms that aren't my cats. It would've given me the social interaction I so desperately need, and probably would've produced at least a poem or two.

Plus, y'know, it would've earned me some brownie points with the kid. Without the trip, getting to know her better and continuing to passively court her will take much longer.

...okay, I can't call her "the kid" because that just sounds really creepy and makes me feel like a dirty old man.

Anyway, so I'm not going on the trip, which was sort of the point in telling you the story. Could've been fun, though.

As for the rest of my week, like I said, I'm killing time until I get paid, so I'm sleeping really strange hours again and have been relatively bored. Tonight's the Orange Bowl, in which WVU (my alma mater) plays Clemson, so I'll watch that streaming online. I've even decked out my Facebook's "cover photo" for the occasion. Aside from that I don't really have any plans. My internet's also been working just fine, so I've not had to worry about that either. As usual, I'll keep you updated on anything else that happens. For now, though, bed.