The Time I Got Poor

I am Kelson and I am a "recovering" tech-o-holic. As referenced in an earlier post, (you avid blog readers will remember this) my love of all things HD has made me lapse into my own personal recession. Without boring you to death with my finances lets just say I owe the equivalent of 7 abortions.

To amend this I have been selling off some of my personal affects and basically telling myself to give up on my dream of rock and roll stardom (no worries, the ego will stay). Below I have provided a kind of list of what I own (made me poor in the first place), what I am selling (with stories of selling them) and what else I will do to remedy my situation.

First things first - admitting I have a problem.

As a college student I made a paltry few hundred bucks a month. However, thanks to my parents paying for college, it was all I really needed. I had to pay for gas, car insurance, phone bills and cocaine from any dealer who wouldn't take a Capitol One Credit Card (what's in YOUR wallet?) As I said, this was sufficient for all my needs, but never really let me save any money.

Once I got a full time salary position and the paychecks upped significantly (4 digits/check!) I decided to go nuts and buy everything I wanted. In the last year I have bought:

Toyota Prius (05/07) - The Toyota was well out of my price range, but my previous car died (probably because I shamed it to death for being an ugly whore) and the Prius was just too good to pass up. The car dealership made it worse by making it seem so much better. "You are a college student? NO DOWN PAYMENT!" Thus I was roped into a lovely Hybrid for the next 5 years of my life. My monthly payments are more than my apartment payments. Enough said.

BONUS NOTE: The Hybrid will eventually save me (in gas) what I would've paid for a cheaper car in 7 years. (However, I will consider myself lucky I am allowed to hold pennies by that point.)

Computer - 06/07 - This was also a necessity purchase, after my previous computer decided that booting up and sounding like a jet engine was the way to go. I was modest with this purchase however, and was a good shopper and bought a pretty low end version with no monitor included. (I just remember I bought a widescreen monitor 2 months before this, so I guess that has to go on this list). The computer is also how I make a living,

HDTV 1 - I bought this one with new real need for a new TV other than the fact that its FUCKING HD! Again, I bought a low end one, but I have to say it's been a pretty good buy thus far. (Aside from the fact that to get the most use out of the TV you also have to buy HD Cable which amounts to another $25/month)

Bonus Note: I seem to buy low end technology for cheap prices, meaning it will be outdated in a matter of minutes. So I'm thinking is their really a point? The high end techs will make fun of me and people that don't have the technology won't be too impressed because it's the low end of the spectrum. (Congratulations, I just got more depressed.)

HDTV 2 - I bought a smaller one for my bedroom...I have no excuse.


XBOX 360 - I really wanted a HD player of some sort, whether it be HD DVD or Blu Ray. So I went to the store and debated about whether to buy the XBOX 360 with HD attachment or PS3 with Blu Ray built in. Xbox Came with Heroes thrown in and I figured HD DVD would win the HD war anyway (it has HD in the name!). Incorrect, I bought an HD player that can only play such hit films lucky enough to come out on HD DVD as The Nutty Professor and Mr. Bean's Holiday. Nonetheless it still plays a bunch of HD DVDs that are now on sale for $6.

Bonus Note: I really want a Blu Ray. Like sexual favors want, if there are any takers please leave a note. (I promise i wont tell my Tech Anonymous group).

Things I'm Selling

1. Guitar Amp - This was an amp I bought 2 years ago and to be honest I've played it less than 30 times and never in front of people. It may be time to give up on the dream of being a rock star. (Good news I bought this for $250 2 years ago and I am now selling it for $200. That's like only paying $25/year! I'm savvy.)

BONUS NOTE: In my quest to sell the beast, I posted it on Craig's List. After receiving about 15 replies I gave out my address to those interested. This was 2 days ago, and currently only one man has showed up. (I'm really excited to see what the other crazies are doing with my address as I speak (fingers crossed for identity theft!)). The one man that came over decided he wanted it, but couldn't stop at the bank until later. He planned to come back in an hour. Instead he calls back in an hour and the conversation starts like this "I don't help out disrespectful youth." I was instantly horrified that I may have accidentally gazed into his eyes for too long or that he had done some research and read the awful things I said about him on my future blog. Instead he claimed his son was naughty and didn't deserve an amp. Click. The good news is that once he told me he wanted it, I almost emailed the other 14 in one lump sum and said "Sorry, Sold." However, I did not and now I still might be able to sell it, unless you know... someone stabs me when they come to pick it up.


2. Other miscellaneous guitar gear - Guitar pedals and such. I sold one on ebay for the cool price of $83, using the buy it now feature. I then looked up what other pedals were going for. Over $100! MMM, could I make any more poor mistakes.

3. DVD sets - I am a big fan of TV and consequently TV on DVD. I own 50 real sets (and countless others that were umm....borrowed from Blockbuster, mysteriously put on my computer and then subsequently found their way to a blank DVD.) Each DVD could sell for about $10 on amazon or ebay. So...I mean that could help...everyone wants "Friends Season 3 - A Collection of 5 random episodes" right? RIGHT?


Other things I may or may not be doing.

1)Getting a job, again. I recently had a good cry (once a month, whether I need it or not!) and decided these money issues just had to stop. So i looked into getting a job that I could do part time, while holding my full time job. I looked into newspaper delivery boy or pizza delivery boy. Really delivery is the best job ...ever. Drive around, listen to music and deliver something and be on your way. No arguments from people. Nonetheless, I decided that I shouldn't contact anyone until I was recovered from surgery (more on this tomorrow!).

However, I was on Craig's List and saw an ad for Pizza Delivery boy and I was there. I was called in for an interview, which consisted of filling out a 1 page application and explaining how my Prius worked. (Everyone was impressed! The job is mine.)

The job is about 13 minutes away, in a very remote location, I fear my technology craving will kick in and require me to get a GPS, to navigate roads I have never been on. (Oh yeah, I also got a lifetime subscription to Sirius Radio a few months ago. Add it to the list and kill me please).

On the way home I saw that a Dominoes was hiring and was about 5 minutes closer and in a more...populated...area. I stopped in and filled out an app and I gotta say, everyone was really nice. Normally I root against big corporate entities, but everyone in the store was really nice. I asked for the app and went to sit down to fill it out, however the cashier came and gave me a pizza box to right on. Then the manager came over introduced himself and was real nice and told an anecdote about a drug dealer that included the words "How can you be bad at drug dealing? I could go out to Montana and deal drugs in a field and not get caught."

I handed in an application and he was impressed that I went to Elon. I made eye contact, shook the hand and was told I'd get a call tomorrow. 2/2. I don't know who to root for now. The closer job that pays more or the further job that pays less...(this seems too easy.)


2) Next up on the list is donating semen. I'm totally ok with getting paid $50 a dose to have little Kelsons running about the country. I have good genes (other than the obesity, poor eye sight, anger issues and the new find of my life - thinning hair! Hi, I'm 22.)