When we last left off, it was mid-July and I had just taken my car in for $1300 in repairs. About a week and a half after that I was in again because there was some creaking going on and apparently the shocks in the front had actually broken and were in danger of rocketing straight out of the wheel well and into the tires, so I had to get those fixed, too. Another $700.
The end of July I went on a weekend vacation with mum out to Boston (which I had already paid for in April, so it wan't like I was going to save money by not going). It was EXCELLENT. I hung out in the Italian-dominant North End for a couple days, eating Italian food and hitting up street markets and little stores crammed with imported olive oils, spices, and herbs. The place we were staying at was a rented-out apartment with a gas stove, so naturally I made dinner there every evening. Apart from the night we went out for seafood. MMMMM! I also took a train out to Salem for a day and a half to hang out with a fantastic tumblr friend (who I had actually never met face-to-face before that weekend). It was really chill. Salem's got a good thing going for itself.
I spent most of August surviving on primarily beans and rice, and whatever other cheap staple foods I could get my hands on. Trying to make good food on an incredibly limited budget really brought me back to my roots. It made food exciting again. The Madison students moved back in near the end of August, so I took a week to drive into the city after work every day and see what people were leaving out on their curbs. I got a good handful of houseplants out of it, as well as nearly 175 pounds of clothing that I washed up and donated, which felt good.
I don't think I actually did anything in September. It was a boring month.
October was a really big cooking/baking month, no doubt. One of my older coworkers lives in a retirement village and they were trying to get a pancake breakfast event together but didn't have enough people, so I volunteered and met a lot of really cool old folks and heard a lot of great stories.
One of my coworkers' sisters was diagnosed with cancer, and I was commissioned to bake up gift baskets for the silent auction at her benefit. She tried to pay me for the labor and everything, but I wasn't about to take money away from the benefit, so we settled on paying for just the cost of the materials, and not the labor at all. But it was exciting for me because it was MY FIRST PAID INDEPENDENT BAKING JOB and I framed the first dollar and it's hanging up on my wall.
Also I came out as asexual to my family, but you already know that.
Halloween I went to a coworker's wedding, and everyone was dressed up and I brought food for nearly half of the taco bar we had at the reception (which is probably the best idea I've ever heard for a reception), and then we all went out in our costumes and got drunk.
And today I blew $15 on three full grocery bags of discount Halloween candy.
I'm spending most of my time this weekend getting videos prepared to upload for my youtube channel (FINALLY) and I'm shooting to have a new one up at least every Monday, and sometimes Fridays as well, if I have the time.
That about brings you up to speed, I guess.
