Semi-Charmed Life

Life Update

Last Thursday I began to feel the onset of a cold coming and on Friday it hit. This time what started as a slight sore throat never developed and instead what I felt was complete weakness in my body and a dizzying headache. Pretty much just about the worst time to get since too since I am less than one week away from my competition.

I stayed in and slept early on Friday and Saturday to try and recover. Luckily the weakness and headaches seem to have pretty much disappeared but now I'm on to the next phase, which is a full blown runny nose with choking nasal congestion. I shouldn't have chosen today to be a little more adventurous and just stuck with Nyquil instead of getting Alka Seltzer Plus at the pharmacy. Completely not effective!

I'm not exactly sure how I got sick but one possibility could be overtraining. I really have not been giving my body much time to rest. Training is an addiction for me and I guess like all drug addictions, this one is going to end up with my body wasting away.

In other news, I'm thinking of moving in with a buddy of mine. The first two years after I came home from college, I hated living at home and was desperate to move out. I couldn't at the time though because I was just doing contract work and had no job stability. About two years ago I landed at JPM, but was still just under contract. A year ago, I was finally brought aboard full time. Now I'm at the point where moving out can become reality.

I checked out the apartment last night and it looked fantastic. Very spacious with brand new floors and even our own private access to the backyard. The room though, was wanting in terms of space and lacked closet storage. Storage is not a huge concern, but it would be nice.

The rent I'd be paying is very fair in my opinion. The problem I have is that rent is pretty much a major portion of the free cash I have to spend a month after accounting for my fixed expenses and savings. Re-tooling my budget to accommodate rent is tough. The main things I'd have to re-adjust are my savings and the amount I give back home to parents.

I'm trying to make sure that the amount I save would still be a responsible amount of money to save up. I've lived most of my life with zero penchant for saving. It was only in the last year and a half that some sense came to me and I realized that saving is something I have to do. I've been steadily disciplined since then and I'm trying my best to maintain a healthy saving habit.

The other big cost I have is the amount I give to parents to help out with various bills. Household expenses add up to a lot and my parents make shit right now. Seeing my mom scrap by from one unsteady job to the next is hard, especially because she's no longer as young and strong anymore. My dad also deals with physically intensive labor which a man of his age should probably no longer be doing.

For the paltry amount they make from their jobs, it breaks my heart to see them work so hard.

As a son I'm obligated to help. It's just the right thing to do. Moving out on my own though is something has to be done eventually. It's such a fine line between balancing my own well being and the well being of my family.

If I don't re-tool my budget, I will be able to live on my own but I basically have zero money to go out. No dinner with friends. No happy hour. No parties.

The obvious solution would be to make more money. In time.

Or win the damn lottery.

But seriously, I have to really think on this. I'm going to give my friend an answer this week.