Cash money!

I love looking at my bank balance on the night of pay day. It’s so refreshing seeing money in my account; it kind of gives me new hope that the fortnight to come will be better than the last, that I might be able to save a little. I bask in this feeling as long as I can, soaking in the joy of thinking what all this money will bring for me…and then I pay my bills.

I’m sure it happens to everyone: There comes a time every few months where all your expenses seem to come at once, amiright? Sadly for me that’s this month. Last fortnight I was forking out $700 for a course and this time I’m paying electricity, mobile, credit card and gas bills. All are due within six days of each other and fall just short of my next pay day. Unfortunate. Some poor life choices and a serious impulse buying habit have meant I’ve grown accustomed to the feeling of being broke on pay day, but it never gets any easier. It’s made worse this time around due to the fact tickets for Soundwave music festival go on sale tomorrow, a music festival that I have already decided I am not going to miss out on. There goes another $155.

I’ve kind of reached the conclusion that I will not be saving any money before Christmas - there’s just no point trying. Until I can get a few debts under control (credit card, financing through Apple) I might as well ditch any ideas I might have about travelling overseas next year, but I won’t rule that out just yet. Who knows? Maybe I’ll come into some money soon, or maybe I’ll find myself a Sugar Daddy who can ease my money woes. Or maybe I’ll just sell my wares on the street or moonlight as a stripper by the name of Kandy Kane.

I know it will get better, I just have to show some discipline, something that’s much easier said than done. If I want to get out of this vicious cycle I’m going to have to learn to be more spend savvy and buy the cheaper brands, eat the same meal four nights in a row and maybe sell some stuff that I really just don’t even need.

With that said, anyone want to be my Sugar Daddy?

Such is the motto of my life.

As I type this I’m a bottle of wine down, dressed, made up and ready to go out on a Saturday night. My plans fell through, however, when I was advised that the club I was planning to go to was charging a $10 entry fee from 9.30pm. Shit. I was never going to make that.

It sucks when you can honestly say to someone “I don’t have $10”, and sadly for me that’s true. I recently paid for a $700 course to enable me to teach English abroad so, at the moment, I have NO money. I may have $4.70 in my purse but who’s counting?

It seems to be a theme for me, though: I never have money when worthwhile purchasing ventures arise. I’ve missed numerous concerts, festivals, nights out, trips away, et al purely based on the fact that I am broke at the time. It’s a vicious cycle that I hope to be out of. Someday. 

In the meantime I’m happy to be at home, alone, drinking wine and listening to each and every song that was returned to me from a ‘blood’ search command of my iTunes library. However I would prefer to be somewhere. With someone. Anyone. My night’s plans fell through when a friend cancelled on me for reasons that were completely understandable to me, but now I’m getting antsy. I’m ready to go but I have no money. What to do? Go to a pub or club with no cover charge and hope my alcohol intake for the evening is sufficient, or stay home watching TV series’? Either way I’ll probably be happy, but I hate that this conundrum comes up as often as it does. 

Dammit. Why does everything have to cost money?

Sports have obscure statistics, like “Only player to score in the first minute of the 2nd period while 3 players were skating backward.” - Amanda Stratton, Serial Tweeter

I don’t want to make a habit of publishing shallow beauty posts but I wanted to share this little gem with anyone who might be interested.

Feeling a little unpretty yesterday I decided to pamper myself. With no store bought face masks handy I decided to do some research on oatmeal face masks. A quick Google search led me to the following recipe:

1/4 cup ground oatmeal
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons honey

I happened to have all this stuff on hand and having heard many a testament about the benefits of oatmeal masks I gave it a go. To grind the oatmeal use either a coffee grinder or a blender (I used a blender and it worked fine). Mix ground oatmeal and honey in a small dish using a metal spoon, adding water until you reach the desired consistency (I found 1/4 cup of water to be too much so had to add more oatmeal). You want the mask to be thick (you don’t want it dripping) but easy enough to spread. When you have done this apply to face (and neck if you choose). Leave for 10 - 15 minutes and rinse with warm water. Pat dry with a towel and voila! - clean, fresh skin.

Personally I didn’t cleanse my face before I applied the mask but the honey does all that work for you. Try it at home and tell me what you think.

(Source: wikihow.com)

I’ve recently returned from three weeks overseas, a trip that many consider to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I, on the other hand, could not be happier with my decision to travel to Europe alone to visit someone I’d never met before and to spend a week with five others I hadn’t met until I got to Spain. Personally I don’t see how it differs to a Contiki tour, but I digress.

At the tender age of 23 I have opened my eyes to the world; I was given the opportunity to travel cheaply (free accommodation, you see) and I took it. In those three weeks I had some amazing experiences, met some wonderful people, shared a lot of laughs and saw a part of the world I may otherwise not have seen for quite some time, if at all. Now, after returning to reality, I am left feeling unfulfilled in almost every aspect of my life. Instead of wallowing in self-pity I have decided to use my dissatisfaction as motivation to change that with which I am unhappy. First things first: work.

It comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me well that work has been a source of contempt for me for quite some time. I’m currently employed as an Executive/Personal Assistant in a workplace full of catty infighting, dodgy office politics and a management team that refuses to support the skill development or career progression of anyone in the low-level administrative stream. I have been in my role for nearly four years, growing increasingly cynical of the business and the way in which it is run and the fact that I have not received any training since August 2008. My attempts to develop my skill set to move into an area of interest within the organisation have been met by dismissive neigh-sayers. Thus my contempt grows.

For the record I consider myself fortunate to have secure work and a regular income but I have every intention of moving on in the next six to 12 months. My idea is this: Incorporate my newfound love of travel with my love of the English language and my desire for a new challenge. This brings me to TESOL, or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. After some hefty research over the last 24 hours I have concluded that this will be by new path. Operation Life Change (as I like to call it) will commence with a one hour information session on Tuesday 11 October about the TESOL course, my preferred of which is a 140 hour course over three months incorporating a 20 hour practical component with 120 hours of online study and testing. Seems a small price to pay for the ability to earn good money whilst travelling abroad. 

I have truly caught the bug. As soon as I returned home from my three week stint in Norway and Spain I was trying to figure out how and when I could return overseas. Teaching English abroad has been in the back of my mind for some time but I never thought seriously about it. After some brief research I felt it was a right and comfortable fit for me. After all I am a fluent English speaker, I have a true passion for the English language and, if I’m to be honest, I spent two years of high school under the influence of a very inspiring English teacher wanting to be just that: an English teacher.

It’s about time I knuckled down and thought seriously about what I want to do with my life. I’m young, I’m single and I have ample opportunity to take the necessary steps now in order to be where I want to be later. This feels right to me. I just have one question: Where do I want to teach?