Hygiene, Mirrors, Sex, and…Finance?

June 8, 2008

When I was a kid, in say, 4th or 5th grade, I distinctly remember the girls and the boys getting separated for a sort of birds and the bees type talk. Well, I guess it wasn’t really the birds and the bees, but we were herded into the library so we could learn about “becoming a woman.”

I sat there for two hours while Mrs. J. droned on about how now that we were going through puberty we needed to make sure we always wore deodorant. We were also not supposed to laugh when the boys’ voices cracked. And the most vital part of the course was that when talking a shower, we weren’t to wash our butts and then our faces….always the other way around. My teacher really covered her bases. Nothing about condoms, sex or STD’s, but all vital information, of course.

A year later our science class started preparing for the big eclipse, that happens, you know, like once in a million years. So in order to get ready, we learned how to build special mirrors that would allow us to look at it in the reflection rather than stare directly at the sun, burn our eyes, and go blind, as the adults all warned us. Well, let me tell you, someone bet me a piece of gum or something special like that to stare at the sun for 5 seconds to see if I would go blind. Because I was an exceptionally intelligent 5th grader, of course I did it…and lived to tell the tale, 20/20 vision and all.

So what am I getting at with the post that just seems to be like a walk down memory lane?

Because today I spent hours googling information on how to invest for retirement. And then it occurred to me, why did nobody ever teach me this?!? And it’s not like I never took a business class in my life, because I did. I suffered through economy and finance and marketing and all that jazz. I had my brain stuffed full of really useless information in grade school, high school and college, yet none of my professors or teachers ever mentioned personal finance. For pete’s sake and crying out loud, I was forced to take math through A.P. Calculus, yet no one thought it would be more relevant to skip the logarithms and go straight to talking about a 401k??? What are our educators thinking?

Sometimes I get really frustrated because I just feel like I should know about this stuff and I don’t. I’ve struggled trying to work out a budget for us, to figure what makes more sense to save where. I’ve got the basics down, spend less, save more…but the specifics, as in, what should I be doing with the money I’m saving, totally baffle me.

Why didn’t I learn this crap in school?!?

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Chile Postcards

June 6, 2008

Hey peeps!

I’ve had several inquiries about prints of my photos recently. I know a lot of you who read this blog don’t necessarily have the cash (or desire) to shell out for a fine art print.

So I’ve decided to offer postcards of Chile featuring some of the most popular images of everything I’ve shot over the year…and trust me, these are not the typical shots you’re going to find on the street corner postcards here.

I’m really nervous to put this little venture out there. If nobody buys them, I’ll feel like a total idiot. So if I’ve ever been of use to you and you feel like supporting me and this blog, at 5 for $15, they’re not a bad deal :)

Chile postcard information here.

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Rainy Days

June 4, 2008

It’s grey and wet outside. The rain has been falling pretty hard all day. I love listening to it, although living in an apartment the noise is just from outside, since our “roof” is the people above us’ floor.

I’ve been worried about winter getting me down. Like so many of us gringas have blogged about/talked about in real life, every year it’s easy to go into it with the mindset of, this is the year I will not let Santiago winter make me HATE LIFE. You start out with positive thinking and then little by little the cold and dreary chip away at your happy outlook.

In Michigan, at least snow would make the cold worthwhile. It’s cold, but beautiful. Here in Santiago, when it’s nothing but drizzly rain, it gets old quick.

At least I have a lot of things to be excited about! My mom is coming in less than three weeks. I am going to meet up with some of my old colegio friends from here whom I haven’t seen in almost 10 years, so that should be so much fun! I’m going hardcore at the gym, trying to make it there at least 5 days a week. I love going because it warms me up, so I’ve been really enjoying exercising. In August I’ll hopefully be going to Brazil for work. We’re having a gringa party when my mom gets here, so those are always awesome. For now, I have lots of stuff to look forward to.

In a month or two when I start bitching and complaining about how depressed I am living in Santiago winter, will somebody please remind me of this post? I have the best intentions of keeping positive, but we all know how easy those plans can go awry when you haven’t seen the sun for weeks on end. :)

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