Dream bigger than big!

the other night my boyfriend and i were dreaming soooo big. shopping for yachts and looking at sunglasses worth 200 dollars. as a kid growing up i never let anything stand in my way when it came to getting what i wanted. when i wanted a car i found a job and worked until i could successfully buy a car and drove it all summer long and still have money to keep it running. i told a friend of mine that my BF and i were shopping for 300,000 dollar boats and he laughed in my face....... i felt bad because he doesn't know how to have a dream. a want. an attainable goal. all children should be taught to dream big and never let anything or anyone tell then they can't do something. it's a totally free country and if you want to own a private jet and you were poor as a kid if all you have is a dream that is better than nothing at all. KEEP DREAMING BIG. NO BIGGER THAN BIG :D

Credit Card Confusion

Yesterday, my girlfirend decided that now was the time she wanted to get a credit card. Im 20 years old and had one for 2 years and I told her it would be a good idea to get one in order to build some credit. My first one was from Teachers Federal Credit Union. They were a tremendous help and were able to get me a student credit card with no previous credit history. From there, I was abe to build some credit and about a year ago, I applied for another one. I was pleased when I heard that I was approved so I ened up with 2 credit cards. Looking back, this was probably one of the smartest decisions i've ever made because I got in there just at the right time.

So me and her walked into the bank the other day and explained to the woman that she wanted to apply for the same student credit card that I got a couple years ago. Her first question, however, would be her last. She asked my girlfirend if she has a job throughout the year. Well, she only works durring the summer and doesn't make enough to be considered full time for the whole year. The woman then explains that with a new Credit Card Law that was just passed, you need a guardian that can co-sign with you if your under 21. Well, her parents credit is pretty bad so she was pretty upset about that. I guess the only route to take from here is to wait till your 21 and have a steady income.

Sweepstakes

I haven't been successful in finding a sumemer job so far, so i have resorted to entering to win online sweepstakes. i know it's a long shot but why not? you put in your e-mail and hope for the best! worst case is i don't win anything which is not too bad considering i haven't really done anything to win a sweepstakes. maybe i should start playing the lottery? same concept but presumably odds are better because entering to win an online sweeps contest you never really know if it is real. the fine print could jut say some bullshit like "contest actually does not exist by putting in your e-mail you consent to us bombarding your mailbox with useless crap". that always is in then back of my mind. what if it's all a scam (though most of it is anyway.) the lottery on the other hand though odds are slim people actually do win from time to time. now that i am( and have been for a year) of age to play the lottery i will give it a shot!! who knows i may just win big! it seems when people are at their lowest point (for me it's not having a summer job) they chance their luck on the lottery and end up with millions. I WISH!!

Caitlin Richards 35

I could actually use some comments on this post, if anyone would care to share. The questiopn I need answering to is ~ Should I tell?

I am almost broke, and I have almost spent all of my savings on insurance co-payments. If you read my last poem, they think it might be cancer, so thats some bull sha-nay-nay I have been dealing with. I haven't told anyone except 4 of my closest friends. In fact I go in for hopefully my last biopsy Saturday after our performance. I can't bring myself to tell my parents. I have burdened them enough throughout life and to be honest I've been to angry with them to let them care. My little sister called me from home to tell me that she over heard them talking divorce. I'm angry that they would consider that while she is the only one home and about to start high school in a new town with nobody around to be with her. I am at school, my brother is with his new wife in NC waiting to be deployed somewhere overseas. I hate my parents sometimes.

 I love my mother, but I do not like her. She is a good human being, but not always a good mom. I don't feel like she deserves to know. My dad is a stressed human being, and it would break me if I gave him another thing to break him. I've been dealing with this all on my own since September, but depending on Saturday's results I wont be able to support this anymore. That sounds weird, I have to support a sickness I may or may not have. I don't know if I will ever tell them, maybe I'll just let it rock.

Extreme couponing? WHAT?!?!

so lately i have been catching this new show called "Extreme Couponing" on TLC. the show follows women and how they use coupons in an extraordinarily clever and sometimes obsessive way. the show is a little disturbing when you see how much these women and their families devote to saving money. rooms upon rooms filled to the brim with thousands sometimes millions of dollars worth of merchandise that they have stock piled. most people save a lot by using average coupons like a dollar off on fabreeze or buy one get one free but these woman truly take it to the extreme.

As i was watching these shows i started thinking about how i use coupons. living on campus i hardly go to the grocery store which means coupons are far and few between. when i return to the real world outside of campus cash and flex points coupons are more available. I had no idea you could walk into a grocery store buy lets say 300 dollars of food and other items and walk out being OWED money by the store. it's remarkable to see it done but still how many times do you see that happen in your local shop rite?? Now some of the women in the show turned to extreme couponing because they had to find a way to feed their family of 12 on a grocery budget of 80 dollars, under those circumstances i understand why they do it. When the well off women do it it's just creepy, they have no NEED to buy 100 bottles of ketchup for 2 cents. if you can afford to pay 3 bucks for a bottle of ketchup PAY FOR IT AND MOVE ON leave the coupons for the people who need them. they need to have a show that is rehab for wealthy woman with addictions to stupid stuff like extreme couponing, now that's a show that would bring in the ratings!!

Texture in time: falling coins

Money controls us all whether we admit it or not. The visual of "falling money" if often seen as a good this like rappers 'Making it rain' with 100 dollar bills. I am a broke college student so the Benjamins got swapped for the Lincolns (the copper kind), Roosevelts and Jeffersons. the economy is down and money is tight especially for college aged students trying to get on their feet. the video is in slow-mo to show the detail of money falling

The Stony Brook Phone Call

This undergrad calls me to ask for money to donate to the "Parents for Students" Donation, where my parents-> The struggling minorities, are to donate what little money they have to a school where we already pay full tuition because we aren't poor enough for financial aid. This isn't the first time I have been called from Stony Brook asking for a DONATION. So I say to the girl on the line.. "I am sure you have some sort of list that you scroll down and call each one, speaking to parents, asking for their hard earned money, now can you get me off of it?" She says "NO, I would have to speak with your parent, so I won't get in trouble with my supervisor" I decide to be an asshole. I know what your thinking, its not her fault.. but you know what she decided to take on this awesome job for whatever student council club memeber she is and I have a gut feeling this chick on the phone's parents have donated a hefty fund to our "PARENTS FOR STUDENTS" little donation club. So I ask her.. Are you midterms? she replies.. yes. I responde with "Thats great so am I, and you would you like to know what I was doing before you called?" She replied ..okay. "I was studying for my midterms. You know.. it's 8:35pm on a tuesday night, and I have to study because I don't have the time to volunteer for useless clubs where I solicit parents for money, because I have to work two jobs." She responds "okay I get".. I say "do you get it? really? really? cause I have the feeling that you may call me again." She goes to say "Well, I can't take you off the list because my supervis-" I hung up.

Has money ever came between you and a friend?

How far is too far when lending a "best friend" money? Money always seems to come between two people. Money has such a sentimental meaning although it is just really PAPER. I believe that money reflects how hard working an individual is. However, there are people out there who were handed everything growing up. I was always taught to handle my own finances and to get a job at a young age so that I can afford nice things. My best friend on the other hand, was handed everything from cars, to gas, to clothing and even money to go out. Although we have two completely opposite personalities, we always have a great time when we go out. However, it always seems that even though she works and her parents are always handing her money, she never has money when we go out and I always end up paying for her. I feel like if I say something then it might trigger a fight. The two of us have never had a fight in eight years. Its almost not worth it over something so dumb, money. Money is always the key to fights between people. She can never meet me half way in our friendship anymore and it drives me nuts. My family treats her like family and quite frankly I think that she comes over my house to hang out with them. Her family on the other hand acts cold when I am around and is really uncomfortable. Do I break ties with her after eight years? Has our friendship came to that level where we hide things that bother us from each other just so we don't get into fights?

Overpriced food!!!

Have you ever been to the SAC or anywhere else on campus to buy food? A lot of people usually pay with their ID cards so the price doesn't really bother them that much but I was reading an article that gave some of the prices for foods at the SAC compared to Target and the results were kind of ridiculous. I realize the school has to make some money but jacking up the prices of food to where its like buying food at a movie theater is really dumb. I'm not saying all the prices for everything is ridiculous but when you compare buying a bottle of gatorade at the SAC compared to Target you can see why some people, if not most, think the SAC is sells overpriced foods.
As students shouldn't the last thing we worry about is how much the food is? We come here for an education and see our wallets take a hit from the tuition and then when we think the worst is over they take another hit from buying food? I know that when students pay with their ID cards they don't add tax but the fact that the price is already that high doesn't really make a difference. Its not hard to find some students with all their meal points gone a good month before the semester is over and that just from eating 3 meals a day which probably would cost $10 meal. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't have to pay that much for food since we are here for an education and not eating at an Applebees. All this typing is making me hungry so I think I'll swing by the SAC and take out a loan so I can eat.

Dan Gulino #2 Mo' Money Mo' Problems

Who would know that dating could be so stressful? Who could fathom that meeting a cute girl in class a few weeks ago would cause so much anxiety and stress in my life? After a nice long lunch with an fresh looking twenty one year old woman, I was discovering a ocean of issues underneath this "beauty". A long background of domestic violence led to an even longer history of drug abuse, summing up to a world of problems. What amplified this beauty's addictive and abusive personality even further? The millions of dollars she inherited from her now dead father at the young age of 21.
When I discovered the girl I was occasionally dating had seven figures in the bank, all of the issues I knew she had seemed to dim drastically. As I spent time with her, she would treat me with monetary backed gifts frequently. As a nineteen year old guy, this has never happened to me in my entire life, and it was a strange feeling...being provided for by a woman? However the more time I shared with this "dream girl" (as my friends would say) I realized I could not be a part of this girl's issues and abusive problems. I asked my father for some advice, and he said run for the hills while I could. I took the old man's advice, and haven't spoke to the girl since. Who needs emotional baggage anyway?