Somedays are just full of negativity!
Today has been one of those days. I'm not bummed out or depressed but everything that has been coming at me today has been negative. Maybe it's the gloomy weather also but I can't really decide.

For the past two days I have somehow managed to land on the 97.1FM afternoon talk show called "Monique & The Man". Sidenote: I can't stand Monique's voice! She sounds like one of Marge's sisters from The Simpsons or like some 60 year old woman who has smoked 3 packs of full strength Menthols everyday for the past 40 years!!! Anywho....
Yesterday they were discussing married couples who hide stashes of cash from their spouses. Today it was whether or not this one listener should get drunk on his wedding night. Both days, the discussions managed to segue into a dozen other popular marital issues. I have always been terrified of marriage for the simple reason that I only want to do it once and I don't want my first attempt to end in failure! But these days, that seems to be the most popular trend! Money issues could easily be solved by each person agreeing to put a large and equal percentage of their monthly income into a joint account and using all that money for JOINT expenses (i.e. groceries, mortgage, anything related to the children, etc...) and putting the remaining smaller percentage into individual accounts with the premise that this money may be spent by the earner in whatever way he/she sees fit, no questions asked. But no one seems to want to work that hard to make a marriage work! I could go all day on this subject with several examples, but instead, perhaps I should reconcile myself to the concept that I may be alone for quite some time. I hope not, but I would rather be single for 10 more years than to jump into a marriage that would likely end in short order. But that's just me.

I spoke with Taco the other day. He told me a very disturbing story about Jason. Jason is a Child of a Disabled Veteran, or CDV. This means he goes to college free of charge (well free tuition anyway). My sister and I are also CDV but that's beside the point. Jason attends IUPUI majoring in what they call New Media. Technically it involves CGI and other computer-enhanced graphics and imaging. Anyway, to make a long story short, he goes to school for free but has been living the last 4 years off of student loans instead of working. Although he still lives at home (most of the time) and doesn't have many bills but he is frivolous with his money and he knows it. According to Taco, he is roughly $35,000 into student loan debt. Unfortunately, he missed the entire last semester of school last year and an absence from full-time enrollment for that amount of time voids the application of CDV payments. In a nutshell, he cannot return to college next semester (he has a little less than a year to go) until he repays his gov't loans! All $35,000. I will investigate this dilemma further because I am a little shocked that Jason didn't tell me this himself. Until then, my heart goes out to him. If I ever hit the lottery, I'll invest in his education. He's a good guy suffering from a ridiculous run of bad luck.

Speaking of Jason, he will be taking me to the airport tomorrow to catch my flight to Denver at 2:15 PM. I'm a little anxious about the flight. I haven't flown since before 9/11. My dad flies all the time and he says that security is just a little more of a pain in the ass but that there shouldn't be any cause for concern on my part. I'm not really worried. But I'm anxious to see all the changes. I like flying anyway!

I have now been informed of the plans for my birthday next week (I will be 23 on Nov. 9th). Jason will be picking me up from the airport when my flight arrives at 1:00 AM Monday night/Tuesday morning. We will head for Taco's house and crash (not in the vehicular sense!), wake up Tuesday and immediately begin drinking. I plan to spend the entire day consuming beer, maintaining a sufficient buzz and playing video games. I miss college! I consider this a reenactment! Interestingly, my sister has volunteered to be our taxi/delivery driver all day should we need her to make food runs or to cart us around for any reason! I shouldn't be surprised at her willingness to jump at the chance to give me a worthy birthday gift that will cost almost nothing! I don't really mind though. I figure that after your 21st, birthdays are just a convenient day where everyone is supposed to be a little nicer to you. No big thing anymore!

A few minor mentions: It isn't fair that women are provided with vibrators and other toys while men are left to surrender to the fact that one forearm will always be slightly larger than the other! Also, I was kind of rude to the painters at my dad's house today. Oops! And my guitar needs new strings badly!

Oh and I love wheelchairs, underoos and my outlawed mind!

CHEERS!

- posted by The Outlaw @ 7:06:00 PM