All this work, while beneficial for my savings fund to go back to the Netherlands, also mandated that I stop mooching off my parents' chaperone routine (despite how generous they were to putt my butt around as long as they did) and get my own car.
And despite my deep-seated fear of debt and cars (A.K.A. money-sucking machines), I finally found a sturdy little red 2001 Toyota Corolla for sale on AutoTrader. A week, two loan applications to Mission Federal Credit Union (the first was denied because I haven't held my current job long enough), back and forth phone calls with the car seller, two trips to Chula Vista, ten thousands forms to sign, registration and title transfers, cashier's checks, and sales tax payments later...the car was mine.
It's a dandy little thing, if I do say so myself. I still can't make it feel like mine just yet, but my dad helped push it along a bit.
I'm still reeling from the sudden outpouring of money, and a previously healthy bank account sucked dry, but I know it's for the best. And now my paychecks can start going toward my savings - once they've paid the monthly loan payment, insurance, gas (which alone is enough to suck my account dry again), cell phone bill, groceries, and health expenses. Savings what?
My writing has been put on the backburner while I try to get all this business in order, and I'm hoping I won't lose my touch. My thirst for travel documentaries and all things Rick Steves is absent for now, and I can't remember the last time I listened to Bon Jovi. (Gasp)
To throw more changes into the mix, my aunt and uncle have recently moved up to North County - cutting a 45+ minute trip into a 15-20 minute trip to see them. I love that they're closer, but it's weird - even for me - to picture them in any house other than the one I've always known them in. (Even though it's a really cute house, and I'm not just saying that because I know my aunt will read this. ;))
And my little sister is moving to Nevada any day now - and how hypocritical of me to not want her to go, when I moved clear out of the country last year. I still can't come to terms with the fact that she doesn't live in my parents' house anymore, let alone that she will soon live out of state.
It's a strange time right now, that's for sure. I tell myself every day to just keep moving, keep plodding along, and that what I'm doing now is what I need to do in order to get to where I want to be: back in the Netherlands with Bjorn, hopefully teaching English and traveling.
I actually miss school. Where did THAT come from?! After pushing hard to cross the college finish line, which felt like it took a hundred years to cross, I thought I'd never set foot on a campus again. Yet not even a month after graduating, I had started considering my Master's degree. And now, 8 months later, I sit on my bed on a rainy Saturday night, wishing I had something to study. Some sort of project to work on. Something to research and learn. I'm a scholar at heart, I guess.
I've never done very well with unpredictability. And when I was in school, everything was laid out for me: it was routine and planned, and I lived in a little proverbial box of comfort. Despite my whining to get out, I liked the safety of that box. The certainty of its paramaters.
I'm spontaneous in that I will up and go to the movie theater on a weekday, or try Cherry Coke instead of my standard Dr. Pepper. (insert chuckle here) I'm not equipped to be calm and collected when I don't know what the next day will bring. It's been a big struggle the past few months to learn to take each day one at a time, and accept that I have little control over what happens next, no matter how much I think I can mold it to fit what I want. I am definitely learning life's biggest lesson. (And my mother is now saying aloud, "What have I been telling you all these years?!")
In other news, my 23rd birthday is in two weeks. Unlike my aunt, who sent out her carefully organized and charted birthday list weeks ago, I have none. All I want is a healthy savings account, because that will be the foundation for my achieving all the "things" I DO want in my life right now: my dreams and goals to become reality.
(So if you were looking for ideas for birthday gifts for me, there you have it. :))
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