What a Monday it will be

Monday is the five-month anniversary of me leaving home to move out here. It is also payday.

God, five months?! That sounds like a lot, or at least, not short. If something's been happening for five months, it's clearly not new anymore. Should be sort of old hand.

What is New York to me? Hm, it's weird. I honestly don't feel like I live in New York. I have so rarely been in the city that I really could be living in any suburb. I'm sure I should take advantage of all that Manhattan has to offer, and it is my sincere hope that I'll get to that point someday. That I'll have friends to hang out with, in the city.

Regarding payday: I think that my financial situation will become much better with this paycheck. I have now paid off the huge security deposit and so from now on, my rent check will be smaller than my paycheck, rather than larger. Excellent. I'm still being very good about not needing to use the credit cards, so I can start focusing on paying them all down and soon/eventually all the way. But I would also like to start being less frugal. Now that the required, huge expenses of moving and starting as a new teacher are done with, I can spend some money to increase my well-being.

The book I just added to my list, C'est la Vie, talks about that a lot. The French consider le bien-etre to be as vital as food and shelter. One must have spiritual and bodily peace and harmony to fully enjoy life. They work fewer hours and spend more quality time with friends and family. I want that.

I'm starting to get a bit worried about Thanksgiving. Four days with no one to talk to; everyone I know will be somewhere else. I hate turkey and really hope neither of my roommates cooks a smelly meal of any sort. The break will be an excellent time to get a lot of planning and studying done, but I predict I won't be very productive. I'll be too busy being lonely to get much done.

Happy five months, New York. You're still surprising me. I wonder what the future holds for the two of us together?