Turns out, goods and services require currency.
I’ve already paid up for my initial dentist visit, plus the co-pay for my cavities. I know there’s another decent charge coming when they get going at my gum disease in the summer. After going to my physical check-up, I got my prescription for Vitamin D (because of course I don’t go outside enough) and a large blood pressure cuff so I can see if I actually have high blood pressure, or if I’m just nervous at the doctor’s office. And my insurance isn’t real, big boy insurance, so it doesn’t cover the weight loss clinic, sleep studies to see if I have sleep apnea, or counseling for my very probable depression.
But that’s OK. I mean, I’d much prefer that everything in life was fine, and I didn’t have to pay these fees. But ignoring my problems is how I got to the point that I had to pile up all my problem solving into a short period of time. I’ve been able to live fairly frugally, though not…actually that frugal. More accurately, I’ve been able to spend money without keeping a budget, as long as I don’t spend on things I don’t “need”. For example, before the diet, I was eating fast food a lot, when even off a diet, it’s cheaper to get frozen meals at the grocery store and make them myself. But at the same time, I only have one game console with 4 games, instead of all the latest with any game I want. Those kinds of things.
The point is, I can afford these costs, to a point. I can afford what the baby insurance doesn’t cover for regular doctor visits. I can, if it looks promising, afford to pay full price out-of-pocket for counseling. As far as weight loss and sleep studies, I assume that both of those will have better results once I’ve plowed through the “easy” pounds from just my diet change, and need help pushing past to the actual lifestyle/medical changes. So I don’t mind not paying for them just yet.
I’m one week into the diet, by the way. I could be eating more vegetables; I’m still a child in that respect, avoiding my greens. But I’m also keeping well on the low side of keto, based solely on my food choices (since I haven’t been counting grams of carbs). Next week, I’ll be looking into things like Crystal Light with caffeine as a morning Mello Yello replacement, or tips for making lettuce wraps that actually hold together in a lunch bag.
Also also, next week is spring break, so no work for a week. No work means…I’m going to have to clean my room. I’ve been slowly pecking away at an actual factual organization of my space for over a month now, and I need to actually do it. I know, this is the riveting content you read this blog for, but I’m here to bring you the truth about life. And the truth is, sometimes, you need to give yourself a clean space to exist. That’s all there is to it.
Song of the Week: Halo Theme by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori. I like video game music, as evidenced by previous SotW spotlights. But this one is a classic, almost a landmark point in game music. Before this point, the consoles were the N64, Playstation 1, Sega Saturn. Not exactly known for their musical capabilities, especially the cartridge-based N64. Sure, the songs were iconic, but it was for their classic melodies, not the impressive arrangement and performance. With the advent of the Microsoft Xbox, the Playstation 2, and the GameCube, with their DVD disks (mini-disks for the GameCube, but that’s a different story), suddenly there was a lot more space for graphics, and story, and music. And Halo, as one of Microsoft’s first games on the console, set the bar for years to come. It’s not going to win any Grammy awards, or show up at a non-nerdy orchestra very often. But it’s got the iconic melody that made classic video game music great, along with arrangement and production that lifted it to greater heights.
That's Pretty NEET 