Andy’s Blog

Well here I am 16 days into 2009 still reflecting on what went wrong/what went right in 2008. And I am in no way “emo” but I must say that the “what went wrong” outweighs the “what went right”. Towards the end of 2007 I moved in with some people that at the time I didn’t know would change my life. This was definitely one of the “what went right”s. The became my best friends and my second family pretty much and even though roommates came and gone I developed new friendships and found myself doing different things. I was starting to go out a lot more and just having more fun in general which is what I was lacking for a long time in my college life. I happened to move in with Nathan who was an avid dancer at ASU. He took me with him one day and things changed for me from there on too. I really started getting into dancing around August when I took a class. This was one of the best choices that I’ve made in a long time. It kept me happy and was a cheap way to have fun for the whole night. Those were the best things that happened to me in 2008.

Well sadly 2008, wasn’t all good as some people could probably guess. Besides on a global scale all the economies of the world starting to fail affected all of us. As far as work is concerned I couldn’t find anything when I most desperately needed it. I always had a job where I worked from home on web pages and etc, but that could only go so far as to how much money I could make and how much I needed…sadly the amount I needed way outweighed the amount I could make. Other than money I turned 21 this year which I’m still trying to determine if that is a good or bad thing. Sure it’s fun to go out to the bars and stuff, but it’s extremely expensive and I’ve made some poor choices that I’m bettering myself on now. As far as my personal life goes I ended a relationship that I have yet to this day figure out why I did and I feel like an idiot still and am always wondering. My grandmother that I was extremely close to passed away this year which was probably the hardest part of the year because it was just like that and suddenly she was gone. I also had mono and pneumonia at the same time which forced me to withdraw from the spring semester at ASU.

Well 2008 wasn’t the best year of my life, and I’m not sure if it’s the worst and if it’s not it’s definitely in the top 2. I’m hoping 2009 will be much better but so far it’s been good. I have an amazing job that’s going to help me get out of the debt I’m in, in no time. Thanks for ready and comment I hope to talk to everyone soon!

Andy

So I’m looking to become an “official” resident of Arizona in ASU’s eyes, but apparently that’s not going to happen.  I must be completly self sustaining which I am, but according to ASU being independent means making enough money to pay tuition (the out of state tuition by the way) AND enough money to reasonably live.  This means I must make $18,000 PLUS an additional $8,000.  Add those together and I must make $26,000 a year and the real kicker is that the $18,000 for tuition CAN’T come from student loans.  Working a full time job for 52 weeks a year @ 40 hours I must make $12.50 to come up with $26,000 a year.  Factor in the fact that I’m taking 18 credit hours it’s virtually impossible to work 40 hours a week.  Alright so lets do some more math for funsies.  Assuming I work 40 hours a week for the summer and winter so about 5 months and 20 hours a week for the school year working a same job I must make $17.50 an hour which now as I’m writing this doesn’t seem too unreasonable, but still that’s assuming I can work 20 hours per week and balance 18 credit hours.  The thing that frustrates me the most is that I can’t use student loans to pay for tuition.  That shouldn’t matter how I’m paying my tuition because even residents use student loans to pay for their tuition if they have to.

So besides the fact that Joe just scared the hell out of me because he decided not to goto work today and I’m sitting here working on Kendra’s computer that he asks me if I want a ride to school later and I thought he wasn’t here and I was the only person here .  Anyways this sleep thing is getting out of hand but I can’t decide what’s more important getting a car or getting a bed.  Last night I woke up 4 times every time I woke up I had a really sore back which is definatly no bueno, but on the flip side I’m still extremly annoyed with taking the bus everyday so it’s a toss up between the two right now.  On a positive note Ellie is as cute as ever and she is trying to get into less trouble but the spaghetti Kendra left on the table that is Ellie’s height was a little too tempting…I wasn’t mad at her though because who can blame her…after all would you want to eat dry dog food day in and day out?  Didn’t think so.

So I’ve started to realize my sleeping has gotten more sporadic and is becoming much and much less per night.  I think it’s due to my bed which is incredibly crappy.  I’ve come to this conclusion because when I stay at my mom’s house in chicago I sleep just fine…in fact I over sleep which NEVER happens here in Phoenix.  I’m going to be looking for mattresses possibly when I move in December or earlier if I can’t get a better sleep because it’s just tearing me down right now.  I’m looking to spend a little more on a mattress probably two or three hundred dollars or so.  So if you guys have any good suggestions for a good mattress let me know because the one I have now just isn’t cutting it