You should come and play and not tell the bloodsuckers that you're anywhere near office range!

Yeah, well, I am using every single second of my PTO to take a week off pre-wedding and two weeks after for the honeymoon, so it'll be awhile before its built up again. But I'd love to come visit, I've been telling Ross for ages that we should go down so he could see where I used to live.

I am a corporate whore. That used to be a joke, because I work for a very small company that used to be very good to its employees. We called ourselves corporate whores because all of our work is in support of big nasty corporations. But now, my company has turned evil and awful, and although its a small corporation, its become way more CORPORATE. So I'm a true cororate whore. Grrr.

Re: Cryptic hints

Got it. That's what I figured. Hi Paperdol!

Catching up after a few days....very interesting conversations spawned about wealth, there!

wealthy to me would be zero debt, the ability to buy a new car with cash and things like travel won't be dictated by cost.

Huh. I consider myself fairly well-off by the "friends of mine" standards. Maybe only OK by "people I went to college with" standards, since lots of them went on to do finance type stuff and make tons. Superrich by "most of the rest of the world" standards. But apparently by Beth, I can call myself "wealthy"! Woot!

That said, I know that unless I get a partner, it's unlikely I'll be buying a house/condo here anytime soon. Even with a bigger income like I'm hoping for. I would be hard-pressed to see how I could afford a kid without a partner either.

But the jobs I'm looking at would likely be a $15K pay raise for me. When I think of the total amount, it seems like surely that ought to be TONS of money. And yet, when it hits my bank account and I start paying bills, it doesn't feel that crazy rich!

Some of it is me, though--even when I made half what I do now, I didn't really worry about buying lunch or a CD or a vacation. But I've just automatically adjusted to having more money--I've never had to go DOWN in salary (other than being unemployed), so I'm not sure how well I'd handle that! I have friends who made more than me at the time who were always short of cash. So that starts feeling like a personal issue rather than a "how much do I make" thing

I agree with bon bon though--fancy hotels don't seem to be all that worth it! Sure, the Motel 8 isn't as nice as the Ritz, but the fact that the nicer hotels charge for each thing (internet, breakfast, etc) while some of the cheaper ones include it (ie, Embassy Suites charges for those, and is more expensive, while the Hampton Inn includes them) made the difference in price seem even more ridiculous.

Pricey restaurants, I'm all for, though. :) That and drinking are too much of my expenses. Which was one of the reasons I liked travelling for work...pricey restaurants on their dime!

I wasn't mentally prepared for someone to ask me how much internet porn is too much, and if I'm okay with actually talking to a person instead of typing to them.

That's....OK, admittedly, I'd rather have an IM convo than a phone one, but...but....but....("When it affects your relationships or lack thereof, your porn habit is too much")

CALLALUNA/Cybervixen!! Eeee! Miss you!!! Come back more often! (So, you're marrying the chimneysweep, right?)

I keep hoping by the time I get to the end of the thread, a miracle will have occurred, and ita will be all better. Yet somehow, I'm doubting that.

Hi Steph! Was just thinking of you the other day! How is your life?

Hi meara!!! Yes, I'm marrying the chimneysweep, but he's trying desperately to become "the former chimneysweep." He's been doing landscape lately, and he enjoys it, but somehow he just keeps getting chimney jobs (this time of year its building and repairing chimneys rather than sweeping). So he's just working twice as much as before!

Oh, and I dare not promise to be back more often, as nothing has really changed in terms of my free time. BUT, I will say that Allyson's book reminded me of how much I miss the Buffistas and the sense of community here. It made me want to try harder, at the very least. But, as noted, crazy-stressed-out bride here, so it may be hard to follow through on that in the near future.

Pretty dress!

Calluna Vulgaris, the Latin name for the Heather

That is somehow perfect for us.

Callaluna! Hey sweetie! Your dress is very very pretty.

Hi, Callaluna!

Man Boards Plane with Monkey Under his Hat.

No word on whether or not the hat was yellow.

Thank you Jilli, and everyone! I tried it on and cried, so I knew it was the one. Of course, I don't look like the model wearing it, but my curves are well displayed in it. Oh, and I can walk in it. Some of the dresses I tried on weighed more than I do!

Jesus, ita, what a day.

I am glad for the impending world takeover by Allyson and Jilli, though.

Also, I learned something really important in high school about money. I had one friend who had way more money than the rest of us, but would often say she "couldn't afford" to do something. That made me INSANE, until my parents helped me realize that what she meant was that she was choosing to do something else with her money. I still try to keep that in mind, because everyone I know makes choices, and they are all very different. How do K&C own a house, when she's been in grad school for the past couple of years? It's in the middle of New Jersey in a not-cute neighborhood. How did D's husband have enough money to buy her a fat diamond AND new boobs? He lived at home for several years after college. In the general mass of middle-class people I know, people can look really different financially, and it's all about choices.

Oh, and imposter syndrome came up in the meeting I was at all day today.

Yay, Callaluna! Yes, I do expect being crazy stressed bride probably would crimp your free time style. :) (Me, I got loads of freetime, I'm unemployed again, crazy industry. But plenty of opportunities seem to be out there, so yay)

It was a spider monkey! In his hat! This makes me feel less worried about clearing Customs, somehow...

The spider monkey thing blows my mind. I can't sneak a bottle of shampoo on board, but he snuck on a spider monkey?!?!

Good luck with job hunting meara. Sounds like you're pretty cool with it, though.