I feel so poor (relatively).

I have shitty phone service, but anything more would be $15 more per month (which would add up to be a huge piece of my discretionary income, yearly).

I have no net at home, though if I had a newer laptop (minimum price $700, for a kind worth having), I might be able to pick up my neighbor's signal and not have to pay for internet.

Otherwise, it'd be minimum another $35 per month, given the net providers in my neighborhood.

Also, because of my health plan and the way the college clinic is set up, I'd have to pay $230 to access the clinic over the summer. So, when I had a sinus infection, I went to a clinic in a local pharmacy again, for a $70 appt. Because the clinic was in-network, there were no fees for going out of network, but because I had no referral from my primary care physician - which I'd have to pay $230 and set up an appt. to get! - my insurace company paid $55 of that $70, then charged me a $50 no-referral fee.

Money money money.

The other week it was mega-hot out, so I spent the evening reading a newspaper out in a park by the lakefront where there was a nice breeze.

On my way home, I stopped through the (Puerto Rican-owned) liquor store to get a bag of potato chips, and when I paid, the guy working said everyone's money that evening had been moist, from the sweat soaking through their pants into their billfolds.

Saw Tennille.

The other week I got my haircut by Tennille.

I was telling her about my tutoring, and then I said I felt like a mafioso from having a roll of twenties and fifties on my bureau from all my off-the-book jobs.

"Isn't it great?", she was like, and she started telling me about all the jobs she has that are off the books.

She's been doing a lot of volleyball this summer; she's not a spiker, she's a defense player known for her digs, which means she's that person who dives into the sand to save a ball and keep the other team from scoring a point.

I swear, Tennille is super nice, but she's also made of iron.

Asshole college kid.

The other day I was working on a perfectly quiet floor of the library by the computer by the stairwell doors (the other terminals farther in were all taken), when this (white) young kid starts talking near the top of his voice to some young (Asian) girl. It was going on and on, so I just turned around and was like, "Shh, can you guys whisper or move the conversation into the stairwell?".

They went to the stairwell, but as soon as they were through the doors but before the doors had closed the young guy pointedly was like, "SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!".

Tutoring Challenges (2 of 2): Latin lawyer.

The lawyer who wants to learn Latin has a very erratic schedule. He can always make appointments on weekends, but not always weekdays. Sometimes from wishful thinking he makes appointments and then cancels them (though he always pays me some good amount of money for cancelling, without my even asking for it).

For his progress, and for better payment, I think I'm going to ask at our next meeting what else we can do, so he doesn't slip behind if we don't meet face-to-face for a couple weeks. Could I meet him at the coffee shop near where we live for 20-30min before he goes to work, or during lunch time? I will couch everything in terms of what I can do to help him with his progress - which, of course, I am concerned about!

Tutoring Challenges (1 of 2): Home Schooler.

My home schooler whips off homework and guesses at meanings of words way too much.

I've had class set up where she sends me her translations and I underline/bold parts to re-examine and look more closely at before the next class, to see if she can come up with a better translation.

So, I think I'm going to start putting in brackets words that she needs to look up the meaning of and put into a study guide for herself.

Got some tu(r?)meric.

I want to try cooking up Indian potato dishes, so I've been on the lookout for cheap bulk spices.

I still need to find some cheap curry powder before I really start cooking, but I do have some tu(r?)meric now, and I added it in to some Spanish rice that I was cooking up the other night.

After my late dinner, I brushed my teeth and went to bed...

And then when I got up the next morning, I noticed that my toothbrush was yellow from the tu(r?)meric.