My life has been turned into a perpetual state of "When My Financial Aid Comes In." It seems like that's my answer for every question beginning with 'when' these days, made worse by the fact that I do not have a specific date. "When are you going to order your winter jacket?" "When my financial aid comes in." "When will you have your 'emergency' money back at the level it should be?" "When my financial aid comes in." "When's our next linguistics exam?" "When my financial aid c... oh, wait..."

But really, I hate this state of limbo. Mostly for superficial reasons (like Dan Brown books and Bath & Body Works candles) but I really can't stand it. Some people will argue that you have to take the cost into account with everything you buy, and normally I would agree. I am not what could be called a 'big spender' or a 'shopaholic', not by any stretch of the imagination. My sister is further down that spectrum than I am, and even she doesn't really rank up there with the Clueless cast or anything. But I still think I should be able to just buy the occasional six-dollar paperback when the mood strikes me instead of having to put such a simple thing on hold Until My Financial Aid Comes In.

Also, my roommates C (who is leaving Monday) and P (who is new here) are having a ball going wild in the Gator Apparel store this week. P has a cute little zip-up jacket I'd love to have, and C just bought a newly designed sweatshirt. I'm dying for a couple of T-shirts, among them a "College of Liberal Arts and Sciences" one. (Yes, I am a nerd.) And then there's the iPod - a dream, a ways down the road. M with his hoity-toity full-time job wanted to buy it for me for Christmas (and one for himself, too), but I told him there was no way in hell I was going to let him spend that much money on me. (They cost even more there than here.) Anyway, but that non-necessary stuff obviously has to wait.

So then we move to the jacket I'm going to order before my NL Christmas to replace my two cheap nylon winter coats, neither of which I have ever been fully satisfied with. This coat has now gone on sale and you even get a free hat ($25 value) when you order. Crossing my fingers that the sale is still on when I reach When-My-Financial-Aid-Comes-In nirvana. It should be.

And then we get down to the nitty-gritty - rent and food. I am shopping as infrequently as possible and buying certain items on campus using my Gator1 card to avoid having to go to Publix, so that situation is relatively under control. But as for rent... I have already had to crack into my so-called 'emergency' money to book my NL ticket (otherwise I would have wound up paying twice as much for it When My Financial Aid Comes In), and November 1 is going to wipe me out the rest of that fund. Also, Mom and I struck a deal that I would make a few of the upcoming car payments (something I am this year thankfully NOT paying for as I have in the past, seeing as Mom will inherit the car when I leave... or else we'll sell it) and that we would call that 'even' for the cost of my LASIK next month. It's a very good deal. But if My Financial Aid Doesn't Come In before the first of the month, either the car company or the rental office is going to get shorted. Wanna take bets?

By the way, none of this is a bid for pity or donations. The money WILL come in eventually. I'm just sort of frustrated and looking for somewhere to dump it, and isn't that what a blog is for?

"And y'all come back real soon now!"