Something Ridiculous

Just found this news article. I love it when local law enforcers decide that “simulated sex” is something worth arresting people. Not just people…Chippendale’s dancers. Doing their JOB. Things like this make me wonder about the crime rates in small towns. OH WAIT NOT SMALL TOWNS. Lubbock, Texas!

Seriously?

Montana

Tomorrow, I’m off to Montana with my dad.  He’s going to a business conference, I’m mooching off his hotel room.  I’m bringing my running clothes, my swimsuit, a nice dress (sometimes business conferences need them), pajamas, five books, and as little else as possible.

I’m starting my new real-world job soon, and I’ve been thinking and rethinking about what this means.  When it comes down to it, I really have no idea.  I’ve been keeping up with the personal finance blogosphere about saving money until your money makes enough money to finance your life.  My only way to do that right now is to save and invest–my job has a clause saying that I can’t make money outside of my job.  I think it’ll be pretty time consuming anyway.

I just realized that 60 hours a week is TWELVE HOUR DAYS.  Oh lord.

On the road again…

I’ve been traveling around the Midwest since my last Oklahoma post–back home, and then off to my little college town for the fourth. Next up is the hog butcher for the world, and then on to my new hometown to look at apartments.

I keep seeing things I should blog about, links that are interesting, and I’ve been saving some of them and keeping them in mind. All the same, I doubt I’ll have much up in the next week or so.

Until then, love and love and love.

Oklahoma

I’ve never been to Oklahoma, but I’ll be there for the next few days, hanging out with friends.

I’m going to restrict my own internet access right down to none, so I’ll see y’all on Sunday!

Moscow and Dubai

are building the world’s first wind-powered buildings.

They’re like horizontal windmills! They run on the sun and the wind and power themselves! I’m not sure how much sun there is in Moscow, but maybe there’s a whole bunch of wind…

They’ll be done in 2010.

Who wants to go to Moscow, spring break 2k10?

Banksy: Mystery artist of my dreams

I was at work today, just putzing around on the internet (shh, don’t tell my boss!) and I came across some articles about this wonderful subversive almost-graffiti artist from England. His names (hopefully obviously) Banksy, and he’s contributed his own flair to places ranging from the Gaza Strip to the British Museum.

I first found out about him through a blog called WebUrbanist, a site that explores urban culture, focusing on visual art from advertising to architecture. I’d been perusing their articles on gurilla advertising, and eventually branched off into Banksy.

He’s frekin amazing. He focuses on pop culture and environmental degradation and the military and EVERYTHING. No one knows who this guy is, either. I mean, even his manifesto isn’t about him–it’s just about how graffiti is a powerful force for (rather questionable) justice.

This also comes down to the fact that I love modern art in all of its forms. I’ll watch modern dance until my eyes hurt, I think I’ll only ever buy modern art for my living spaces, and modern music intrigues me to no end. And this guy has everything I love about modern art: it’s not about individuals, it’s about ideas. It doesn’t even use individuals as examples, it uses archetypes. The colors are always simple and usually subdued. If there’s something that stands out, it’s there for a reason, and the clever satirical poke at society is usually obvious.

So I’m a fan. If he ever gets outed, I’m adding him as a facebook friend.

I kissed a girl (and I liked it)

The song that’s sweeping the nation (and that I sort of guiltily love) has the same name as a 1995 hit by Jill Sobule. I’m not sure it counts exactly as a cover, and maybe this is common knowledge. But as someone who’s started listening to more than just the Beatles around the time that Hanson came out, I had no idea. Here’s they both are:

Jill Sobule

Katy Perry

Katy’s is catchier, but I think Jill’s is better–she’s not kissing girls for the shock factor (omg, Katy, maybe your boyfriend won’t care because society thinks girl on girl is hot), she’s legitimately interested in her neighbor instead of in…Fabio?  Okay, they’re both sort of awesome.

I was almost into RPGs

In fifth grade, I played Magic: The Gathering for about six months, maybe a year. My mom eventually made me stop because she thought it was effecting (affecting? anyone?) my mood (turns out I was just turning into an ornery pre-teen), so I was only able to start my deck (green) and add a few creatures. I still think very fondly of Magic, though I think I would need a little refresher before being able to play it again.

I bring all this up because my two favorite personal finance bloggers were really into Magic. Past tense, because the game is set up to be so expensive, and these are guys who are also really into (more really into?) getting things done, paying down debt, and living within (and below) their means. Magic doesn’t help that too much.

I’m trying to figure out how I should budget my salary from my new job, and I’m finding stories like these to be inspiring on more than one level: of course it’s ridiculous to spend $161 over a week on a game, but the reasons behind the money are probably greater. I personally love pretending to be productive (by you know, reading personal finance blogs) when I’m actually procrastinating something I should be doing that would be much better for my future (actually working on my budget? e-mailing all those apartments back so I have something to look at and move into?).

It’s easy to get caught in the trap. I think a major goal will be to keep my eyes open for things that I’m throwing money and time at uselessly. The hard part is actually stopping…but at least guilt can start to suggest that change should happen.

I think the things that I’ll have to think about are jeans, skirts, candy, and eating out. A one-in-one-out policy for clothing might have to be implemented, and I’ll have to plan ahead for meals. It’s doable.

Everyone responds to incentives

Five reasons to love $4 gas!

I found this link through Greg Mankiw’s blog. As an economist, I love him. As a political citizen, I have no idea how he could have worked for Bush.

The article is spot-on, up until the last point. I don’t love the biofuels movement, and won’t until it demonstrates itself as sustainable. At this point, we’re just looking at another commodity as a silver bullet. And one that isn’t as stable as oil, at that! I’d be with Honda on hydrogen power, if it didn’t cost over $100,000 to make a $50,000 vehicle.

Also, I toootally figured out how to make links! Learn something new every day!

Work

I’ve just started an “internship” that I’ll be working at for the next four or five weeks. I’m going through reports that this organization has written, and writing or editing web content for their new website, which should be up towards the end of July. It’s fascinating.

So far, I’ve run out of things to do twice, I’ve read my entire google reader full of blogs, and I’ve visited my mom (she works down the hall) three times. I sort of forgot how internships work: a few hours of work, followed by a few hours of downtime while the boss or supervisor looks over what you just did and thinks of something new to assign you. I think this one will actually have a little bit better workflow that the ones I’ve had over the past two summers after a couple of days of orientation. At least it has a tangible goal!

I’m working in a little corner room with leather couches and lots of light, which is nice. But some guy I don’t know just came in to sit down and share it with me. Eee!