07
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Medium Aevum’s official Halloween tune!
An eerie (but fun) interpretation of:
William Shakespeare
from Macbeth
A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.
Enter the three Witches.
1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ‘tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
Just in time to book your Halloween travel.
(by undergroundmess)
SYLVIA PLATH. OMG. PLEASE ALWAYS BE ON MY DASH.
(via to-jupiter)
A change of tactic
So I’ve been having lots of financial problems lately (it happens when you don’t have steady, reliable income for over three years but you do try to keep on top of your bills). I’m trying to balance paying off my credit card debt with the need to create savings. My savings were wiped out and my credit card maxed out on the day I started my new job. Now I’m trying to dig myself out of this mess, but it’s really tough to do while living paycheck to paycheck. The financial wizards over at Marketplace Money suggested that I build my savings first and then tackle the credit card.
My new tactic is going to be this: all income not from my primary job goes straight to savings (this has been ongoing), on the 1st of the month I’m paying the minimum credit card payment plus the interest from that month, plus the $45.95 internet bill that goes onto my card each month. The rest of my “credit card payment” money (usually a few hundred dollars) will go to savings until I get my savings account up to $1000. I know it’s a small start, but it’s better than nothing. Then I’m going to take everything I can and put it towards my credit card bill. I really, really, REALLY wanted to be out of debt in two years. That’s not going to happen, and I know I need to make peace with that. But I *will* be out of debt someday, and I’ll pour more money into savings so I can start doing all those things I was on track to do when I lost my job in January of 2008. I’m going to buy a new computer, save up for a down payment on a house, save money for when I eventually have to buy a new car, etc. Maybe someday I can even talk my company into providing insurance for me so I can start saving that $340 a month. That would help!
One of my co-workers came into my office yesterday and saw my piggy bank. He started telling me how foolish it was of me to get into credit card debt and now have to pay all that interest. He said that I had been living beyond my means while I was unemployed and/or underemployed and I got what I deserve. Way to kick me while I’m down, mister! First of all, lots (admittedly not all) of my debt comes from paying my bills while I wasn’t working. Not from taking vacations, going on wild shopping trips, eating out all the time, some deluxe cable package, or anything like that. Most of it is from having to put living expenses on my card since sometimes even when I was working I was barely making enough to cover my bills. Sometimes I didn’t make enough to cover my bills and had to pay them from my savings. And several thousand dollars are from a five-hour visit to the ER last year where they charged me an arm and a leg, a doctor never saw me, a student did an EKG on me (over two hours after I went in with chest pains and high blood pressure), and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. Glad I was coughing up over $380 a month back then for that great health insurance that covered just over $100 of the bills!
Anyway, the point is that I have a new plan. I’m sticking to it, and someday soon (even though not as soon as I hoped) I will be out of debt and back to where I was four years ago. Nowhere to go but up from here!
“If you cry ‘forward’, you must without fail make plain in what direction to go.”
Anton Chekhov quote (from ThinkExist.com)
I’m attaching a link to my call on “Marketplace Money.” Obviously, I’m the one asking about debt and savings. (It’s around the twenty-six minute mark)
npr:
Gratuitous soccer elephant of the day: Meet the “oracle” who predicted the results of the women’s World Cup this summer. Fabian Bimmer/Reuters
This must be the day for re-blogging fun animal photos! —Wright
I just finished watching the Michael Palin travel series “Himalaya” and then found this on here. If you haven’t seen the Palin series (his others are also excellent, my favorite being “New Europe”), netflix them first chance you get!
Made our day.
(Source: The Huffington Post)
Interview!
I just got word that I’m going to be interviewed for American Public Media’s “Marketplace Money” tomorrow (I suppose the segment will air this weekend). We’ll be talking about paying off credit cards quickly vs. building up savings, something that is (tragically) relevant to many of us right now. After all, which is better: paying off credit card debt quickly or building up a little savings?
What are your thoughts on credit card debt vs. savings?
Now, if only this were a paid interview….
15 products made unintentionally offensive by careless sticker placements.
These stickers not only tell you the prices of products, but also how little attention is being paid by the people who put prices on products. As these examples show, all it takes is a few inadvertently obscured consonants or vowels to transform a wholesome tale of family life in the 19th century into a riveting drama about an underage prostitute being pimped out to pioneers by a ruthless Michael Landon. Let us know if you find any more of these out there, even if you’re a store clerk who “accidentally” makes one yourself.
Via Happy Place
I’ll see your mirror ball and raise you a mirror boat
Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Artist Zoe Walker stands on the prow of the Celeste – a yacht covered in 60,000 mirror tiles – in Raasay, near Skye
(Source: fuckyeahifeelsomuchbetter, via traveltheworldandwrite)
