 Insomniac Musings |
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Zuko woke me up at 4:30 a.m., so here I sit in the dark writing an entry so I have something to do other than kill him or writhe in bed waiting for the alarm to go off while gnashing my teeth. Refinancing: Breaking It Down I will save $140 per month ($100 in principle/interest, $40 in dropping PMI). I didn't need to have a reappraisal because the automated underwriter accepted the estimated value of my home (we took the average cost per square foot of the comparable homes around me and multiplied my square footage by that to come up with this value). That value bumped me into the equity percentile where I could drop the PMI, which, with my current loan, I would need to have for the LIFE OF THE LOAN -- not good. My interest rate dropped by 1.5%. With the closing costs, I will break even in a year and a half. In a perfect world, there would be no closing costs, but all the banks I went to in town had them, and I felt more comfortable going with my own bank than some fly by night mortgage broker on the Internet. And I WILL be opening a Roth IRA. I will have this extra money as well as the money from the note for my car, which will be paid off as of next month, JOY JOY JOY PEACE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. Of course I will use all superfluous funds to pay off what's left on my Visa from my trip this summer and then get busy opening that IRA with the extra money from the house, from paying off the car, from paying off the card, etc. etc. I will also now have a "rainy day fund" that is actually accessible (unlike the IRA, of course) because I am ashamed to say that I do not have that. Then the only other debt I will have left is student loan which is low low low, my faux wood blinds from Home Depot (12 months no interest) and my flooring which will be paid off in January (and which is also no interest). And I feel really REALLY GOOD ABOUT THAT. It is very hard to literally zero out my checking account the day before every payday and just hope for the best on a wing and a prayer. The only other big thing on the horizon is getting some work done on my car as I am in such dire need of new tires and an alignment that I can't drive over 60 miles per hour without my car shaking like the tires are about to fly off but I think I can pay for it over 3 months with no interest on my Firestone card so that will make it easier. After that, I will be saving to have some tree work done in my backyard because I hate those trees with venom. I just feel a lot better about having some damn money and saving some damn money. 1. Tell me something obvious about you. Sometimes I accidentally drop repeated F-bombs around small children. This would be obvious to you had you been on the one hour and fifteen minute walk yesterday on which I was dragged by my friend and her two-year-old who hopefully will not be scarred for life by my dirty mouth. 2. Tell me something about you that many don't know. I sucked my right index and middle finger throughout my entire childhood, and my index finger is slightly crooked as a result. 3. What is your biggest fear? Death, Fire, Attack. The cancellation of Veronica Mars. 4. Do you normally go the safe route or take the short cut? In driving, short cut. In life, safe route, though that is not always a good thing. 5. Name one thing you want that you can't buy with money. For Zuko to be well-behaved. To believe in an afterlife. 6. What is your most treasured possession? My grandmother's ring and my other grandmother's books and journals. 7. What is the one thing you hate most about yourself that you do often? Lately, it's my tendency to overeat and then fall into a total shame spiral over it. 8. What is your favorite lie to tell? "I'm not going to eat any chocolate today!" 9. Name something you've done once that you can't wait to do again. I'd go back to Paris tomorrow. 10. Are you the jealous type? Yes. 11. What is the one person, place or thing you can't say no to? I have a hard time saying no to my parents because they've rarely said no to me, and I feel obligated to return the favor. 12. What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you? My sister surprised me with a plane ticket to New York for my college graduation. That was probably the best and most surprising gift I've ever gotten. 13. If you could do something crazy right now, what would it be? I don't know that I'd call it CRAZY, but I would really like to smash my current backdoors with a baseball bat and get some decent French doors. 14. When was the last time you cried? The other night at the end of the PBS special on the American musical when Oscar Hammerstein died and Stephen Sondheim had him sign a picture and he signed it, "To Stevie, my friend and teacher," referencing the line in The King and I about how "by your pupils you'll be taught," and they talked about how he was dying of cancer and he wrote his last song, "Edelweiss," and it showed how special he was because it's about things blooming and growing forever and that just represented what he represented, which was hope. And I cried and said a silent prayer of thanks to my parents for introducing us to musicals practically straight out of the womb. 15. When was the last time you felt so good that nothing else mattered? I'd have to say when I was walking around Lake Derwentwater with my sister for hours and hours, singing in the rain. 16. Do you feel comfortable in public with no shirt on? I guess the beach or the pool are the only places I've ever been in public with no shirt on, and I'm pretty comfortable with that as long as I have on shorts. 17. Name something embarrassing you did while drunk. There are so many I can't even count. And that is embarrassing enough as it is. I do not drink heavily anymore and haven't for a long time, but when I did, I was SUCH AN ASS. I guess the two most embarrassing times were my senior year in high school and they both involved sobbing, barfing, and then blacking out. Once I went into the bathroom, fell into an open ice chest, came out sopping wet, and was determined (falsely) by my male associates to have peed all over myself. Yeah. That was awesome. Once I crawled after my friend J., with whom I thought I was madly in love, on my hands and knees through the grass at a party. Actually, several of my most embarrassing drunken moments involved my friend J. ... God. I can't even think about this topic. Shame spiral. SHAME SPIRAL. 18. Name one person, past or present, with whom you’d like to spend the day. 19. Name one place you’ve never been and would like to go, and tell me why. I would like to go to the Beara Peninsula because I spent a lot of time researching it earlier this year upon a friend's recommendation when I thought our trip might involve Ireland and I fell in love with it. 20. What’s the story behind your online persona/name? My online named used to be Dora and I can't even remember why I picked it and that is the God's honest truth. Now I go by part of my real name. I think the PBS special is replaying this weekend. It was wonderful. The final part was really good. I was so glad that they featured Sunday in the Park with George -- how can anyone not be moved when he's making the final arrangements of the painting and then all of a sudden, there it is in all its glory -- and I loved seeing all the old footage like Lea Salonga's audition (say what you will about the Cameron Macintosh machine, but she is so good, and I saw her on my first trip to New York in my life and I will always love her). And, I mean, West Side Story. And all the stuff on Jonathan Larson. And even Wicked. It's a great special, all three parts, and if you are at all a musical theater fan, you are stupid to miss it! And that is my decree. This weekend should be good and busy. Tonight I'll be drinking some beer with Karla. Tomorrow some friends from Florida are coming in for the game. My little brother has a gig. Hopefully somewhere in there I will catch up on some sleep and spend some quality time outside. Hopefully it will cool off; it's been 90 degrees for the past couple of days. I have to go find some coffee now.
© Copyright 2004 elb |
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