4,044.14

10/27/11	CHKCARDJAVA CITY SACRAME CAUS		$4.31
10/27/11	CHKCARDYUM YUM DONUT FSACRAME CAUS		$2.38
10/27/11	CHKCARDPETRA GREEK SACRAME CAUS		$7.54
10/27/11	POS MIDTOWN SACRAMENTO GROSACRAMENTO CA		$8.35
10/27/11	POS SAFEWAY STORE 2684 SACRAMENTO CA		$6.55
10/27/11	GYRO 2 GO SACRAMENTO		$5.75
10/27/11	JAVA CITY SACRAMENTO		$1.51
10/27/11	EAST END SPORTS GRILL SACRAMENTO		$15.23
10/27/11	YUM YUM DONUT FRANCHISE 6SACRAMENTO		$2.38

This has to stop.

What is that, anyway? That's 54 dollars that Wells Fargo still hasn't taken out of my bank account (technically). The total still represents the end result. I'm not sure, but I think I'm burning through my money too quickly. Granted, the actual total of my "expendible income" is about $1,800, so that's still a decent amount remaining considering I'm only in Sacramento for about 3 more months. Having 54 bucks pending removal, however, with all of it spent on food or beer, is a little discomforting. I'm not trying to talk myself out of buying Uncharted 3 or anything, but part of me knows it's time to put my wallet in lock-down for a while. 

We'll see. I've said this before. 

If I'm being honest, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I knew, officially, that Istanbul was a go-ahead. Moving ahead as if it were official, however, is probably the best thing I can do. Fill that path with positive energy. 

So far everyone has said that Istanbul is gorgeous. I've got a fair amount of warning that the University courses will be demanding, so I'm raising the intensity bar as high as I can imagine so as not to be overwhelmed when the homework starts. I'm expecting nine chapters to read out of ten different textbooks and fifteen blank Word documents that need to become essays by ten o'clock tonight. But I want that. I want to be a cunning linguist. Had to say it, but it's true. 

The burn on my arm is healing, looking less and less like a zombie bite every day. 

Screenplay's coming together nicely. Still so proud of the idea that I want to keep it a secret, which is hard because a few people already know.

Jenny's doing good. Teaching little Korean kids how to speak English. Moving into a new apartment. Getting a new phone. Making friends. Doing yoga. Eating noodles. It's a real treat, this experience with her. It's still rough around the edges. I still miss her a lot and each Skype session is all the more a blessing and a curse as time goes on. It's been about a month already. I think one thought that helps me the most is erasing the concept of time and realizing that despite geographical distance we are still coexisting simultaneously, therefore our thoughts are coexisting and so when we think of each other we think about each other together.

Tutoring's going well. Kaycee says that Anonymous Kid* says good things about me. It meant a lot to hear that and I think knowing that made me really start to care about the kid. Makes me invest in whether on not AK understands when I know he wants to. Whatever you want to call that tutoring I did with PS7 not too long ago was nothing like this. Reading Partners has really created something where the tutoring matters. 

*I signed a thing that said I'd keep AK's name private. 

Bonfire was dramatically mellow. Iven, Kelly, Andy, Daniel, Mike, Patsy, Drew and some friend of Mike's. Plenty of beer. I felt good and had a good time talking with everyone. It was nice to catch up with Patsy, who's stuck baby-sitting another huge project involving tax documents or something she's not all that psyched about. Hearing about her job confirmed the fact that I've entered the adult world. I listen to people talk about their military experience. People talk about huge life changes. Sometimes they talk about 90's cartoons they used to love. Sometimes we talk about music or movies or super-powers. I look around at all these semi-strangers and friends growing up around me and realize that we're all teammates against the world, embracing our simultaneous coexistence, sharing the now.

Bottom line: I got an 85% on my linguistics test, dropped off my advisement form with the head of the English department for signatures, taught AK how to spell circus and center, held the door open for a stranger or two, added a character to my screenplay, Skyped with my girlfriend, listened to the Rolling Stones and stayed up late to celebrate insomnia.