1. The Bursar’s and Financial Aid offices at CSU. Or, more accurately, the fact that I am on hold for a ridiculously long time before I get a recorded voice tells me, “we are experiencing an unusually large volume of calls, please call back at another time” before being disconnected. Then, the very helpful voice tells me the best times and days to call (usually corresponding perfectly with the time that I was holding so patiently before being disconnected).

This means, of course, that I still have no idea when my scholarship will be applied to my tuition bill. Loan money is supposed to be disbursed and applied to accounts any day now, and refund checks are supposedly being sent the nineteenth. If my scholarship is not applied to my account (along with the $400 in seat deposits already paid), no check for me. This would be a Very Bad Thing.

2. Health insurance and, namely, the fact that I never even though to budget for it. Nope. There just went $1000 from my already tight nine-month budget. Great.

3. Books and, namely, that I budgeted a generous $400 a semester for them (oh yes, I’m laughing too). After a quick online tally now that the book list has finally been posted (I have assignments already with no idea what text anything is referring to), I realize that I should have budgeted more like $800. Oops.

Miraculously, my farewell lunch today benefited me in this area. Apparently there are actually some benefits to working at West. Looks like I can get an employee discount on the six textbooks I need that we publish (and it’s a whopping 33 1/3% off, not the 10-15% that I expected). If I can managed to get the Lexis and Aspen crap used, then it looks like I’ll be able to keep it just a hair under $500. Practically a bargain. Or not.

So much for the couch that I’d hoped to buy.

4. And why the hell have I managed to not save a dime over the last four years anyway? What the hell is my problem?

5. This ill humor about frigging money, the one thing I try to tell myself doesn’t really matter in life, is taking away from my earlier excitement about all of the following: the Social Distortion concert tickets that I was planning on buying Saturday for the show in October, the announcement on the Weezer website stating that a Cleveland date has been confirmed, my planned reveling next weekend in celebration of my last weekend of freedom, the fact that I have only three days and a couple hours left at this place, the list goes on and on.

6. The macaroni and cheese that is stirring up all sorts of trouble in my tummy. What was I thinking?

7. Fuck. I’m going to be eating a lot of macaroni and cheese for the next year.

8. My full-time status apparently qualifies me for a free bus pass for the RTA (Cleveland’s public bus system). This is actually a Very Good Thing (saves me $300 a year in parking passes and who knows how much gasoline, it’s a very environmentally sound option…and, when you consider that I’m driving with a suspended license…). But, then, there’s the unmistakable sound of gun shots every now and then coming from the eastern route I’d have to take to school. Unnerving? What do you think?

9. And where the hell are all of my quarters? I’ll never get laundry done at this rate! None of my sinks hold water (except, of course, my bathtub, the only thing that I’d actually like to drain immediately) so hand washing, hang drying option is a bit…I’d say impossible but maybe I should more seriously consider grabbing a rock and a stone and heading for the lake…

10. I was late to work this morning. Sneaking out early two days in a row is mighty shifty. Establishing how much I really care about that is pretty difficult.

Difficult…but not impossible…