Late Night Ramblings - I Think I Should Make This A Series

Since my last post: Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Deception, The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008),Wall Street

Music of the Moment: TLC, "Red Light Special"

As the days pass and I wait for the results from different job interviews, I continue to grow restless. Not to say that this is a bad thing, as it gives me plenty of time to do my favorite thing - think. While thinking is a nonstop chore for the brain, I believe I do spend an uncanny amount of time thinking consciously. I guess when it comes to food for thought, I'm a glutton.

Speaking of food for thought - I had a thought-provoking conversation with a good friend of mine yesterday morning. She's the same age as me, but graduated from college a year before I did. One of those rare few who actually graduates college in four years. Go figure. Anyways, she majored and minored in Anthropology and Biology, respectively, and after graduation, sought to get some experience in the life sciences industry before going to graduate school. Unfortunately, that turned out to not be the case. Though an internship at a zoo or aquarium would have done wonders for her professionally and personally, the call of real world responsibilities was too great to be ignored.

In order to pay the bills, she took a job as a cashier at Wal-Mart, and a year later, has had to deal with some rough situations. Her mother (who I love, by the way) is an adorable, feisty woman, with some glaring bad habits, financial mismanagement ranking top among them. A couple of years ago, my friend, who I'll call G, agreed to authorize her mother as a user of a few credit cards under G's name.

One thing led to another, and those credit cards were maxed out, with G having no way to pay for them. Throw in a broken down car, medical bills, and general monthly expenses, and it's safe to say that G has had a rough time. One of the things we talked about during our conversation was the fact that you can't stay mad at things that have happened in the past. We talked about the age-old saying "Don't cry over spilled milk," and how it's really antiquated, seeing as how people have a tendency to spill milk over and over again. I joked that the saying should be updated to say this: "Don't cry over spilled milk, but learn to not spill it again, because milk is expensive." Not catchy? It sounded good at the time, I swear.

G has been through more than her fair share of financial woes, and I give her a lot of credit for pulling through. She talked about how she had to guide herself through the car-buying process, as her mother was in too much debt to cosign on a car loan, and didn't offer much help at all in terms of information or advice on where to look or how to shop for the best deal. I've definitely been fortunate to have been raised by parents who saw after all of my needs, and although they may not have had the best financial practices themselves, they did take the time to talk to me about the mistakes they made, and the things I should do in order to avoid them.

Learning about how to take care of oneself is so important, and it's something that I preach about (a little too) fervently. Independence is a quality that I find attractive and empowering, and because that isn't easily achieved, I work constantly at it. I'm always reading blogs and news articles on how to budget money and save for the future. Sometimes it's hard to do that when you're young and old age seems far off, but I know what I want for myself.

Do you?