No Money, Same Number of Problems

I have about 10 dollars to my name right now and that's the least of my worries. In fact, I'm pretty lucky because I lead a mostly worry-free life. I did, however, do my fair share of worrying today over whether or not I'll be able to find a course to take this fall through distance ed. and whether or not it'll transfer. Here is what happened today in a nutshell: a runaround at UVic. A transcript of today's conversations with UVic officials, you ask? I'd be happy to oblige:

Me: Hi, I have a problem with my courses.

UVic official (UO): You'll have to wait in line.

Me: (Waits in line, with a smile, because she's generally cheerful) Hi, I have a problem.

UO: (Big Sigh) Ok, what is it?

Me: Blah blah blah. I've done this, this, this, this, and this to try to figure out whether or not my problem is solvable. Can you help me please?

UO: (Avoiding eye contact, and using uninterested tone of voice) Maybe. Let me look on the computer... Mmm, nope, I've done the same things you did at home to solve this problem and I don't know any more than you do. You should fill out a form, give me money and go talk to the English Department.

Me: Ok... (Gives money, walks over to Clearihue to try to talk to someone she's already emailed twice) Hi, (with a smile, because she's a fucking smiley person) I need to know if a course I might take elsewhere would transfer to UVic.

English Department Official (EDO): (Without making eye contact or smiling) Have you looked at the BC Transfer Guide?

Me: Yes. (Do I look stupid??)

EDO: You should talk to the guy who's in charge of that stuff.

Me: Yeah... I've already sent him two emails. This is urgent because I need to register in this course before August 20th and I know it takes time for you people to process things. Also, it's not even my fault I have to do this, it's YOUR fault because my class was cancelled two days before it was scheduled to start. (Why won't UVic admit they've made mistakes and try to squeeze in people who were adversely affected?! I'll tell you why: because they just don't give a fuck, they only want your money.)

EDO: Oh... Well he's at a conference. He'll be back tomorrow.

Neat-o. I went to Victoria for nothing that helps with the reason I went down there. On the plus side, I did get some books from the library for the course I may or may not take, depending on whether or not this guy who will email me tomorrow wants to accept it as transfer credit. I also spent an ungodly sum on textbooks I know I'll need in the Fall, which makes me kind of happy because it means I won't have to wade through a sticky Axe Body Spray and candy-smelling Uggs-wearing eye-rolling sea of awkward pubescent first-year students at the bookstore in September. A silver lining, I guess.

Anyway, to liven up this post here are some pictures of delicious things I've recently eaten:

Sweet and succulent local strawberries!

The following badly-lit photo is of almond-crusted filet of sole, pan-fried in garlic, with lemon and parsely, accompanied by grilled 8-ball squash (not lemon) and peas. I did get a good photo of it, but I accidentally deleted it. This dish looked a lot better in person. Oh, and the wine was a cheap and delicious Gewurtztraminer (I had to look up the spelling). Squash-grilling credit goes to GP.
Last but not least, here is a meal of roasted garlic and lemon chicken with steamed green beans that have been drizzled with a white wine reduction of the pan juices.

Damn, I'm good.

PS, I nearly forgot: I'm in the process of making yoghurt! Stay tuned for details.

Making Endsmeat

I'll be finishing my BA (double major in Linguistics and English, if you forgot) in December. I'm one of those exceedingly fortunate people whose parents saved up for her education when she was wee, so she didn't have to worry about money ever, really. (Aside: That's not to say I'm irresponsible with money, I have just been very lucky with it being provided for me... Don't judge.) With my impending initiation into adulthood coming up I've been getting more and more anxious about life after university and how the hell I'm going to survive without Mummy and Daddy's generous financial support.

I intend to become certified to interpret American Sign Language (henceforth known as ASL), but like everything there is a cost to this training. That cost, according to my careful, if somewhat liberal, calculations, comes to around $13,250 with textbooks and various other accoutrements, over a four-year span (one year of which I'll likely be able to work full-time, thank god).

Why am I talking about money crap? Well, for two reasons: one, it's my blog and I can write whatever I want, so nyah. And two, it made me think of the funny (well, I think it's funny) anecdote that forms the title of this post. Given that I (and GP, if he's so inclined, which I think he is) will have to move to Vancouver for my schooling, our lives are going to be hella (ha, I'd never say that in person but it seems appropriate here) expensive. And I am wondering how I'm going to make my ends meet. I doubt GP will really have to worry because he's a lawyer and we all know lawyers are rich.

Anyway, the point is I got to thinking about the idiom "make ends meet" and how, when I was a kid, I always thought it was "make endsmeat", like you're making a kind of meat. As in "What are we having for supper?" "Endsmeat and potatoes, dear.". That kind of thing. And now I think it's funny that I thought that, but it makes total sense because people always say "makeendsmeet" so quickly that it's hard to tell where the word boundaries are. (I want to make some nerdy linguistics joke here, but I'll refrain, mostly because I can't think of anything witty enough right now.)

What I'm trying to say here is that kids don't think about money because (hopefully) they don't need to. Obviously I have to think about money more and more, the less kid-like I become, but I think remembering your kid-ness is important because it reminds you that taking time to have fun and think up imaginary things like endsmeat is just as important as taking time to plan out how to make ends meet.

A picture (or two, or three) of a very simple dinner, which consisted of grilled garlic/lemon chicken, a beautiful salad, and some yummy iced tea I made (from scratch, of course):