Thank God for Twitter!! The past few weeks have been non-stop craziness and if it wasn’t for my ability to update the world on my antics through 140-character blurbs then I would be denying everyone of awesome cheap things to do around Orlando. And that’s just selfish!
So anyways, I’m sitting here on the couch in my brand new apartment with a fresh cup of coffee. Yes, its almost 2:30p but I’m still enjoying breakfast (eaten long after noon…). Last night was great and I’m sure I’ll see photos of me all over SmileForCamera.com in a day or two. Independent Bar was great last night- can’t beat free cover till 1 and $3 mixed drinks till midnight, and the DJ that plays all my favorite indie rock songs!
Yes, I did say new apartment, and its positively bad ass! I have a new game plan for Year 2 of living in the real world. Last year I lived with Eric, my boyfriend at the time. We had our shabby-chic apartment in Casselberry, complete with roof leaks and all! Not sure if I posted it or not, but Eric lost his job at Circuit City. Add that with the fact that he never really grew to like living in Orlando, so he decided when our lease was up in mid-June he would move back to Ormond Beach with his family. Totally understandable J However, it left me in a predicament because I couldn’t exactly afford living on my own on top of paying things like student loans and not have a cozy corner on South OBT… So, around April I crafted the new plan of action:
All the cool kids seem to be doing it- Going back to school to defer their student loans! Whether you’re going for your Masters, a second bachelors, or just screwing around on the community college level, taking part-time classes (usually 6 credit hours a semester) will qualify your loans for an education deferment. For me, since I’d like to put my 4 years of French in high school to good use (and because one day working for Conde Nast would be pretty cool, so this might be a requisite), I’m studying French at Valencia Community College. I chose the 2nd level beginning class since its been a little while since I’ve used vocabulary outside of a gastronomical context (i.e. fois gras, crème brulée, etc…). So far, I’m having fun with it! I’m also making A’s on pretty much anything, so even when I’m having a bad week at work I can still say that I have something boosting my ego. My second class is Abnormal Psych- something that I wanted to take in college but I never got the chance to after I completed my required Intro class. I just had my first class the other day, and I really think I’m going to like it. Only problem is that the class is over in 6 weeks, so I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was spread out over a full semester and not condensed over the summer, and also its going to make things pretty stressful. It’ll be fun, none the less!
So with an extra $600-something dollars in my bank account every month due to not having to make the loans payments, I can finally start to chip away at my credit card debt. Granted, putting your loans into deferment is going to make the payments go up significantly since you’re just earning more and more interest rather than paying things off, but for right now its what I have to do. Besides, the credit card carries something like 30% interest where as none of my loans are over 10%... Which would you pay of first??
Secondly, I moved! I met up with a really fantastic UCF student name Chris and we really hit it off. He was looking for someone mid-June, which was right when I needed to move out. The new place is ten times nicer than my last place, and still about $200 cheaper to live here than to stay in my old place. I do live all the way out by UCF now, so I have about an extra 20 minutes tacked on to anywhere I drive. It really doesn’t bother me, though, except on Fridays when I just want to get home but I have to deal with the brake-slamming traffic on Aloma between Semoran and Chapman. That gets old quick!
But aside from saving lots of money by living with another person (other than a significant other), I’m also making a new friend and meeting new people. We have a lot in common and one of those things is hitting the various parties around town. Chris and I went to the Good Look party held at The Beacon in Thornton Park a week or two ago- It sadly might be the last Good Look party, since The Beacon is slated to close soon. We got our photos taken by SmileForCamera.com, and hung out with Ricky Diamond (who I’m hoping is reading this right now and smiling, since he was supposed to look this blog up because he loved the name!) Last night, a group of us went to IBar for College Indie Night, which is always a blast! They also played a good bit of Michael Jackson in honor of the King of Pop’s passing. Tonight I think it will be Back Booth for Midnight Mass- No cover till for those of us who are 21 and up, and there is free beer till the keg floats! I’m not a beer drinker myself, so I’ll be sure to pregame it at Big Belly Brewery with Lauren from French class. BBB has a great deal from 10:30p-11:30p, so get there early!! Its 3-4-1’s on your basic mixed drinks. However, I took out my friend Eric M. for his 21st the other week and taught him how to order at the bar. Tips I gave him included sticking to 1 bartender if at all possible, tipping well to establish report and a heavy hand, and letting them know, ‘Hey! I just turned 21!’ Although Eric M. was reluctant at first, it served him well and he got 7 Jaeger-amaretto-cokes (tastes like Dr. Pepper!!) all for the low, low price of 2 drinks J Yes, count them- 7 DRINKS! And Jaeger is usually not on that list of liquors that you can do 3-4-1 with.
Got any bar tips?? Post them!! Happy weekending!!!
