Cars

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
Stephen R Covey
Guilty of doing this. All the time? No. But guilty? Yes.

http://foodgawker.com/?s=cast+iron
Beauty. I have a cast iron grill skillet that I've been using more. And now I want a regular skillet for these kind of recipes.

A couple months ago I spent a couple hundred on my car. Today I'm spending almost 900. Aka over a grand in the past couple months. Aka I could have bought a beautiful lens for my film camera, my first leica lens in all it's engineering beauty. Or I could have used that money towards a laptop that I will have to buy within a year because mine is slowly dying. And yes... I want an apple. Or it could be used towards a phone that I will probably get next year as well. Aka the money that I saved up as a buffer has served it's purpose. As a buffer. Rather than be used for my dream of travel, it has/will be used so that I can work. So that I can get around and live. Sigh.

Cars. I hate you. Yet I need you. Makes me want a motorcycle. Cheaper than a car. More fuel efficient than a car. Higher insurance and inclement weather prevent me from committing to it. But makes it more tempting going through this.

But ultimately what does this all mean? It means more frugal living. Babysitting my cousin for my aunt whenever I can cause she still likes to spoil me and will pay me haha (which I haven't done in case you are giving me that weird look, but I'll be driving up to nova twice in December to help her out). Selling a couple things that I have that are worth money. Aka headphones, and some of my film camera stuff. Let me know if you're interested! I currently have 3 film cameras. 2 of them I plan on selling along with their lens in the near future. I will be keeping 1 of them. Why? Don't need film slr's/can't justify the price especially when I have a dslr. However keeping a film rangefinder is more than acceptable in my book haha.

Ahhh money.

Money can be so annoying. I want to save a certain amount. And yet bills add up my friends. My parents gave me a grace period of not paying for phone or car insurance cause we are sharing. But now that is over. Thankfully, car insurance is a lump sum for 6 months, which is annoying cause it's a lot. But nice cause it's something I only have to worry ever so often. But phone bill... Plus, I'm still covered by my family's health insurance still. Until I'm 24 or something, and then I have to take care of it. Oh these bills.

So then, how do people in full-time ministry survive? It's crazy if you really think about it. If you're not working or in that position, you won't appreciate it. No offense, you've just never had to deal with it. And part-time jobs give you a solid glimpse of it, but certainly not the same as paying for everything... There's being frugal, and then dealing with the reality of money. Unless you were in charge of your families expenses and bills, then I take all of that back. Granted knowing that my roommates will be reimbursing for money every month is somewhat unsettling cause I'm overpaying by quite a bit.

Yes I combined two posts into one in case you think there's a lack of coherence. No, I don't feel like rewriting them both to flow better. But yes, my car repairs are today 11/7/2013.

EDIT
There are kind people in this world. The guy in charge of my car managed to get my bill down to 840 compared to the roughly 900 it was at. Thank God.