Recent Reads: Candide

A few months ago, I decided to purchase an Amazon Kindle. There were a few reasons I decided to make that purchase, which I will leave to a future post. If you're not familiar with e-books, you can download out of copyright books for free. One of those out of copyright books is Voltaire's Candide. 

 

The story is a short, sometimes disturbing, well-written, timeless satire about the hardships Candide must face to reunite with his love, Lady Cunegonde. The story will make you think about optimism, circumstance, and your perspective on life. I enjoyed reading it and I hope you will too.

You can download Candide for free for your e-reader, laptop, or phone at Project Gutenberg.

Credit for book cover: Listverse's "Top 15 Banned Literary Classics"

Thanksgiving Day

I love this day, mainly because I love spending time with friends and family, eating excessive amounts of food, and talking. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Things I'm grateful for this year: 

1. The special people in my life. Family, friends, and my man.

2.  My job: It is now my third year as a high school math teacher. So far, it has been the best year. I have such great students and colleagues. I've been able to visit Austin, TX and Nashville for conferences. I've grown as a teacher. It's been great.

3.  The library that is a two-minute walk from my apartment: I am obsessed with libraries, and living next to one has been a dream. I rent movies from there, roam the stacks for books randomly, and even just spend time sitting on their couches to read a gossip mag every now and then. Thank you for being so awesome, library.

4.  My neighborhood: I love Astoria, Queens. It is bustling with life, culture, and I can go to the Museum of the Moving Image for free on Fridays ;)

5. Good books: I have a long work commute. Thank goodness for all the great books I can read to keep me busy and help that commute fly by!

6. All of the inspiring blogs, magazines, and websites I find online. The internet is a never-ending source of infotainment, and I love it!

Buy nothing, gain something

Three years ago, on Black Friday, a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by a mob of shoppers. I have never gone shopping on Black Friday. I have never wanted to go shopping on Black Friday. And I don't understand how anyone, ever, could be so desperate to purchase something that isn't a need.

Blogger And Then She Saved posted about it before I could: November 25th is Buy Nothing Day. You don't have to buy on Black Friday. And you certainly don't have to buy into the hype of Black Friday.

How I saved $15.00-$27.00 today

For lunch today, I had some leftover soup that I was so excited about. After microwaving the soup, I ended up spilling it all. over. the place.  I considered purchasing food at that point, which I quickly decided against. The line for the food truck is long, and I don't have much time. Not to mention, that food would cost me 5 to 7 clams.

So, I decided to finish what I had left over-- some pita bread, a small pack of sour patch kids, and the rest of the spaghetti my coworker was about to throw away.

By the time I got home, I was famished. All I wanted was a quick, warm meal, but I knew that would cost me $10-$20.  So I looked in my freezer and found an old, but perfect good pack of spinach pie. I saw I had some eggs in my fridge that would go bad by the end of the week, so I boiled them and made some egg salad too. The seltzer I purchased for $0.70 at the supermarket last week was still bubbling too. So I had a great dinner and it didn't cost me much (All came from my fridge/freezer/cupboard: eggs I payed $0.99 at the supermarket, seltzer 0.70, mayo  from fridge- figure $0.50 for the amount I used, spinach pies $4.00). And I have plenty of leftovers for a second meal. It would have been so much easier to go out and buy something quick from a local restaurant, but it would have cost me. 

Go me.

Inspiration for this blog...

Last month, I found out my rent was being increased by $60/a month. It's not a large amount I suppose, but it got me thinking...When will my rent stop increasing? Based on NY Housing laws, my rent can increase $85 next year, and more the next. It won't stop.

So I decided to start doing my research. My goal is to purchase a 1-bedroom condo by mid-2012.

What do I need to do ? Save a lot more money than I've been the past few months. To be fair, I have managed to pay off thousands of dollars of debt ($18,000, to be exact). But now I need to put the money aside, in a savings account. How am I going to do this?

1)  Follow a strict regiment of no spending, just like this savvy woman did: http://www.andthenshesaved.com/
2)  Rid myself of my dwindling student loan so it doesn't get in the way of my mortgage. Ever.
3)  Hold on to those savings
4) Do a lot of research on real estate, buying a home, and make realistic decisions about what/where I need to purchase.

I am excited.  I have moved every year since I graduated college. I am done with moving, with living out of boxes, with paying broker's fees, with crappy, roach infested NYC apartments. I am ready for the next step of my life. I am ready to own a home.

First post. Hello, world!

I love reading other people's blogs and decided to start my own. I want to talk about the books I read, the movies I watch, the food I eat, and my goals and dreams.