The Pizza Philosopher

Or, Friendships, Finances and Other Reasons For Living

Prelude:

SOMEBODY messed with my html tags...and it wasn't me, damn it, it wasn't me!

I am not happy. GRRRrrrRRR whoever you are. And if you WERE me, then I love you and I forgive you and you get a second chance. The rest of y'all are all still suspects ;^)

Actual Post:

Been thinking about something "Kahn" said to me, up in Arlington last month. "You need to learn how to balance a budget," he said, meaning that I ought to have a credit card. I explained to him politely "Screw credit, I hate credit, credit is evil. I pay only cash." And giftcards, when I get them. But never credit cards. Let's be clear on something: I despise interest rates and deferred payments and all that other garbage. Anyhow...

Favoring me with a look that one normally reserves for things from the bottom of one's shoe, he said:
"OK, I'll make an example. Suppose you and your friends are going out for pizza." Note: Here is where the pizza comes into the picture. The philosophy will arrive shortly thereafter. "Suppose," he says darkly, "that it's your treat."
"Uh-huh," I say vacantly, not sure where he's going with this latest diatribe.
"With cash, you automatically either have the money or you don't," he continues.
"Exactly," I say, picking my nails and waiting for the revelation.
"But with credit, you have to know exactly how much is in the account, or you won't be able to pay for the pizza," he finishes triumphantly. "And then the tab will come 'round, you won't have any money, and your friends'll have to spring for it themselves." He's almost smirking. "They'll think you're a cheapskate and a loser, and never ask you out for pizza again."

Now, it's not what he said, or how he said it, that got to me. What got me is this: ( Behold, the philosophy! )

1) As I said before, "screw credit". This makes the entire story completely implausible.
2) If I were going out to pizza with my friends, we would be splitting the bill. Period. (We come from varied levels of economy; for some of us thirteen bucks is a lot of money).
3) If they were the kind of friends who would abandon me over one lousy slice of pizza, then they weren't really friends.

To summarize: real friends do not abandon each other over trivial things. And uh, oh yeah, "screw credit". >=^D

In Other News:

Jaz has gone on a trip "across the pond" and up North, to see a friend of hers. Buh-bye Jaz, have a nice visit. Hope all turns out well at that dinner party thing :^D I'll be here when you get back :^)

I'm going tommorow to see a preview screening of the kids' movie, "Big Fat Liar". Thoughts before attending? Ehh. It has that kid from "Malcom in the Middle" in it, so it shouldn't be TOO agonizing...we'll see.

Mirrorworld Part 4, or a version of Part 4, is up at ff.net. Yeah yeah I know, it's spam. Well it's my spam and my log, so tough toenails. ;^p

Jhera's story is actually coming together. Be afraid, be very afraid. >;^)

And that be all, for the moment...

~Jheti (Herself or Someone Like Her)

(Theme Song for this entry: "Englishman In New York" by the Police)

The Normal Mortal Girl

Or, The Average Monday Morning Post

Well, here we are again.

Kathy spent the weekend over :^) This is getting to be a weekly thing, which is cool. Every Saturday evening she arrives, we stock up on chips and so forth, rent more movies than we could ever possibly watch, and just basically have fun :^) Plus, Kathy is my parents' friend and not mine, meaning that she's like, I believe, in her forties (I haven't asked just yet but she talks about the 80's as "twenty years ago" when she was 19, so I peg her as someplace in her mid to late 40's). This means that not only does she have an infinite number of interesting stories to tell, it also means that if I want a snack or would rather be chatting with Jaz, I can simply excuse myself from the conversation and haul out of there without worrying about hurting her feelings or seeming impolite :^D

Have I mentioned that I hate seeming impolite? (Except, of course, when I'm being intentionally rude, and then you deserve whatever you get ;^p) Western decorum is bizzare to me still, sometimes. It always was, even as a kid. I was the proverbial "bump on the log" of parties--this because I would rather shoot myself and fall down dead in a puddle of my own blood, than listen to Nirvana's "Dookie". (Yeah, it was about that long ago that I last attended a slumber party. STOP that snickering. =^P)

However we eventually reached a compromise: I would read their older siblings' comic collections, and they would leave me alone, if I agreed to at least listen to a couple of the songs. And in all fairness, when they switched to the dance station, I made up for being otherwise disinterested :^) Same with "blackout", which was this form of freeze tag/hide n' seek that involved running thru the house tackling people and flipping light switches on and off until we were yelled at to "GO the HELL to SLEEP!" (Which was the sure sign of a successful game ;^D).

I mean really: what did we have in common? They liked Nirvana. I liked Michael Jackson. They worshipped designer clothes. I worshipped Ninja Turtles. They read "Seventeen". I read "X-Men". We had absolutely nothing to talk about. But they kept inviting me to their parties because I rocked at "blackout". *Sigh*...

Anyway. Where was I? Monday mornings...*ding!* My next tangent of doom: circadian rhythms.

ALL: Circa-what?

DR. JHETI: Sleep patterns.

ALL: Well then why didn't you SAY that?

DR. JHETI: But, uh, I just did...

Anyhow: they're the natural individual patterns of sleeping and wakefulness that affect every human being. For instance, my grandpa's rhythm seems to be: up at sixish, nap from 1 to 3, bed at nine-ish.

Tenchi's natural rhythm (outside of parental restrictions) is up at 9 or 10 (approaching noonish), bed at anywhere between midnight and three in the morning. From what I've seen of my Scottish cousin, hers is similar ;^)

Mein own sleep pattern is up at 5 AM, bed by 9-ish. No seriously, that is my natural, biological tendency. If "trained" to do so for about six to eight weeks, I eventually adjust to a pattern of up at 8-ish, bed near 11:30. One time I even managed to twist my rhythm to up at 10, bed at 1, but that was an agonizing experience that I don't care to repeat. I've even stayed awake for three days solid. NOT a pretty experience. I really was starting to look like Mileena at that point; which is to say, like hell. I swear my teeth were getting longer and the whole bit. ;^p

I missed ThunderCats today, despite being awake for it: the lure of our extra computer was just too much to resist :^D

Our WHAT? Oh, wait, lemme bring you up to speed:

My stepdad's uncle, Donald, is moving out of his house and had a bunch of stuff he no longer wanted and so gave to us in exchange for yardwork and suchlike. Among these swell stuffs: another computer (yeay!), an ancient TV set which actually has dials on it instead of buttons (0_o) and this huge 80-lb. electric typewriter which now belongs to me (I have this thing for archaic machinery ;^)). So that be just bubbling over with swellness :^D

I have that class tonite :^P At least it's almost over...it ends February 4th, and man am I counting the days...

~Jheti