Go Figure

So over the past week, I've been working on sticking to my goals that I wrote about belong, and of course, the most interesting one to everyone is the not drinking. It's interesting to me too, because I really see it in action. I don't notice not buying stuff, because it's not like I do that every day. In the past week, though, I've gone out to watch the Illini game, gone to a Happy Hour with lots of friends, and gone out for a night on the town with Shital, Saumil, Ravi, and Reena. A full night of fun, and not one drop of alcohol for me. It wasn't a stretch or anything, though I did think that it would be nice to have a beer when I saw some of the commercials on TV...haha...interesting, now I notice the commercials. I look through pictures of fun tailgating of friends, and watched a movie that had a drunken night out...and a twinge of want went through me. I resisted though, a small victory for me over my desire, and a small victory for the path of working towards happiness.

So my money conciousness helped...going out to dinner became less expensive because of the $20 or so easily saved by not having a beer or sangria...Tapas were more affordable! We found a really nice restuarant (Amada's), and a great waitress (Emily)...hopefully it's somewhere we can go back to!

Saw a neat show last night, called SonicVision...a beautiful array of computerized artwork set to music by Moby. Imagine going on a ride through a fractal image infused with fluid, and lots of non mathmatical imagination, kick in some music, and you're on the right track to figuring out what it's about....

its tax time...next week is the advanced training for the Baltimore CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) campaign. I'm looking forward to it. It gives me a chance to ground myself, as I see folks coming in with W2's that amount to 3 months of my salary, and realize that these people need help in many ones. One of the ways that I can pitch in is to help them not waste money on expensive quick cash loans for their tax returns. The folks at the tax prep services, and have a right to charge for it...but it's freakin expensive! Fees upwards of 20% for a loan that essentially risk free to the giver, if you've prepared the tax return right. That's higher interest than most everything around, even credit cards are 25% a year, not percentages in the thousands, as 20% for a few days amounts to. Unfortunately, people view their tax returns as "extra" money, not their own...so they don't seek to maximize it all the time, they get what they get, and are happy. For me, it's okay to do that, I'm not feeding anyone else's mouth...but with kids, and rent to pay for a place that's too smal...well like I said, there's lots of help needed, and I can do my part...well at least something, my "part" is probably bigger than this...