Jan 2006, 250 entries

This is beautiful failure personified. Literally!

Attention is a funny thing. It’s like back when I was trying to be more honest in highschool, and I would see how long I could go during the day without lying or being dishonest. And, I think that the very act of TRYING to be honest made me be more dishonest for some reason. Everything became more tangible and I saw more opportunities than when I wasn’t trying at all.

That’s sort of what happened to my finances during this month of caring too. Of the ten categories of spending, I spent more in eight during January than I did in December.

Categories I spent more in:

Auto/Gas: Used FlexCar more than the previous month… I think to pick up friends who were visiting from Japan for a tour of the city.

Charity: Well, I don’t spend much on charity but I think tickets to the Paul Auster reading got classified as charity for some reason.

Entertainment: Ended up paying for a bunch of tickets to Ride the Duck, and two shows. Money well spent and thoroughly enjoyed.

Groceries: I think my juice fast is responsible for the bulk of the $100 spent on groceries this month. It’s usually closer to $40.

Clothing: Andy Warhol mentioned that he’d rather watch someone buy underwear and socks than see what art they made… as it told more about the person. So I went and bought new underwear and socks. And a few new shirts, and a scarf, and some other things. Clothes are a basic need, right?

Utilities: I switched my phone bill over to use my debit card rather than my credit card, so this is simply being tracked for the first time. In any case, I spent $100 on phone stuff this month… and enjoyed every penny.

ATM Withdrawals: I took a bunch of money out for the Vancouver trip, but ended up spending $200 more in cash than I did last month.

Checks Written: I think the rise in this is due to the increase in my condo dues. Lame!

I tied in the Household category, where, for some reason, my NetFlix subscription is billed to.

Categories I spent less in:

Restaurants: I spent significantly less in restaurants this month than last month. That’s odd. I don’t remember spending less… and the Hideout bills (which are usually the biggest) ended up being almost exactly the same month to month. A mystery! It could be that I went on fewer dates this month than last? Or maybe someone forgot to charge me. There’s no way to know.

Caring is fun. I think it increases the pleasure of spending to more tangibly feel the money come and go. I’m going to simply watch how things go one more month before experimenting with spending LESS and spending MORE.

My morning routine has sort of fallen apart. Oops. Help! So I’m going to try another tactic and work on my waking up skills.

I’m pretty good at waking up already, but I think I could be a whole lot better. I think the area that needs the most work is the “getting out of bed” phase. Once I’m out, I’m golden. But getting out is the problem. Over time, my wake up strategy has evolved into a bit of an embarrassment. I have two alarms on my clock set at, respectively, 90 minutes before I have to wake up and 45 minutes before I have to wake up. The snooze routine is a celebration of procrastination. To top it off, just in case, downstairs I have an alarm on my computer to start playing the radio at an irritating volume 60 minutes before I wake up. All of these sounds represent a symphony of wake up calls… all equally effective.

I think the faulty thinking is that it requires SOUND to wake me up. If I have trouble waking up, double down on MORE SOUND. What I need to do is work on the wiring between wake up signals and ACTUALLY WAKING UP.

So, to this end, I’m going to bring the waking up ritual back to its basics and solve the problem where it actually exists.

1. I’m going to remove all but the simplest of sounds. One alarm, and no radio.
2. No snoozing, so the alarm will be set at the exact moment I want to wake up.
3. I’m going to wake up and scream the first thing that’s on my mind. No going back.

The screaming is just for fun… but I tried it this morning and I think I screamed “FUCK THIS WAKING UP BUSINESS!” And that actually seemed to do the trick.

Andy Warhol used to call someone every morning and have a short conversation with them. I might start doing that. So, if you get an early morning call from me in the next couple days or weeks, consider yourself special.

If this helps get me back on track, then I’ll re-integrate the rest of my morning routine. Baby steps baby.

the organic route: as you become more eminent, gradually to increase the parts of your job that you like at the expense of those you don't.

the two-job route: to work at things you don't like to get money to work on things you do.

1. Take the morning train. It goes along the water for most of the ride, and everything is quite beautiful.
2. Try to secure a seat with a table. Play cards.
3. Buy the DISH D’LISH before they run out.
4. Don’t let the little kids get you down.
5. Eat your apples before they take them away at customs.
6. Score a bottle of the sweet merlot and drink it back at your seats.

erikbenson posted a photo:

erikbenson posted a photo:

erikbenson posted a photo:

erikbenson posted a photo:

erikbenson posted a photo:

erikbenson posted a photo:

erikbenson posted a photo: