it’s just you and me

It’s been a month (more, actually) since I decided to cut fast food out of my life and cook for myself. Here are the results:

Between 4/14/2008 and 5/14/2008, I spent the following on groceries:

The items marked in red are expenses incurred from the Virginia Gold Cup. We bought a ton of alcohol, some food, and other miscellaneous stuff like ice and a cooler. For the purposes of this experiment, I’m going to ignore those expenditures, bringing the total spent on groceries to $466.78 for the month.

I spent the following on eating out:

Everything in red here is from going out to eat with Jenn, either when I’m staying with her in Richmond or when she was in town last weekend. I’m not going to count these expenses either, since I wouldn’t have gone out otherwise. The items in black from 4/14/2008 are expenditures from the weekend before I began this. My last hurrah, sort of. The Wendy’s item on 5/9 was a slip-up; I’d been working later than usual and was starving.

The total for Jenn-related dining is $472.35. This brings my relevant eating out expense to $61.22, and the total on food for that 30 day period is $528 even.

Compared to the same period in 2007, I spent $462.08 less. The average amount I’ve spent on food between now and May of 2006, which is as far back as my data goes, is $865.38, so that’s $337.38 less than the average. The most I’ve spent on food in a single month is $1384.30, so best case scenario, I saved $856.30.

I think that’s a pretty compelling argument.

Aside from the money-saving aspects, the food I’ve been eating is better tasting in general. I never really realized how rubbery and tasteless processed chicken is until I started cooking my own. It’s probably healthier, and I don’t have to leave my house. I feel better. My digestive system isn’t working against me anymore.

The downsides are, obviously, more work and more maintenance. Cleaning up after cooking sucks balls. I’m having to take the trash out more often since there’s now food remnants in there, and they tend to stink after a few days. I’m constantly in search of a matching tupperware lid or even a clean piece of tupperware to begin with. And the worst drawback, in my opinion: if I fuck up, I can’t just send it back.

Jenn came to stay with me last week. She had a break between classes and was here for 9.5 days, so I took the week off from work and we bummed around Virginia Beach. Pictures are here. You’ll also see pictures there from Sandra’s birthday / Mothers day on Sunday. Jenn and I made awesome nachos:

We pretty much devoured those ourselves, with the help of Sandra.

You’ll also see pictures from the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center. It was good times, but that place has really gotten to be run-down. Most of the machinery didn’t work, and the walls were bare drywall in some places.

I really loved having her here, and I really, really miss her. Hopefully she’ll be able to come back in July and stay longer.

Speaking of pictures, I played the role of good, proud, dumb American consumer this week. I spent half of my tax rebateeconomic stimulus check on a Canon Coolpix S600 and a 4 gig SDHC card for it.

Dad seems to be taking his illness seriously. He called me Wednesday and said he’d only smoked 4 cigarettes the day before, and those were only social cigarettes. It’s impressive to go from 2 packs a day to that so quickly. I guess when your doctor says “Stop smoking or you’re going to die“, it tends to make an impression. I just hope he sticks with it, and I hope he goes to the hypnotherapist soon. He needs all the help he can get, and I’d like to believe that I don’t have a genetic expiration date of 55 years old.

Joanna is moving in. I wasn’t sure if I was going to look for another roommate or not, since the last few have been less than successful. Tabetha wasn’t too bad, but… Meh.

I get along very well with Joanna, but she’s an extreme neat freak, so I see potential conflict there. I’m not a slob, in my opinion, but I’m far from Danny Tanner. Hopefully it won’t affect our friendship.

Culture updates:

• Games: GTA4 is amazing. Also, I think Wii Fit came out. Hopefully Jady and Kelly or my mom will get it and be my guinea pig.
• Books: I finished Hocus Pocus and am that much closer to my goal of reading all of Kurt Vonnegut’s books. I haven’t spent much time reading lately, though, and that makes me sad.
• TV: To counteract the horrible reality TV that Jenn subjects me to, I watched the John Adams miniseries, which was very good. I cried like a fucking baby during the last episode.
• Movies: Iron Man. Yes, it was THAT good. Baby Mama was pretty funny. Made of Honor was awful. What Happens In Vegas was funnier than I expected. Forgetting Sarah Marshal was really funny, but there was way too much penis on-screen. Street Kings sucked hard. Fool’s Gold was awful. Jumper was lame. Bank Job was alright, but got really silly toward the end.
• Music: Atmosphere’s new CD, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, is good. It’s more downtempo and jazzy than their others. I’ve been listening to The Ugly Truth by Prolyphic and Reanimator lately. That’s about it.

Oh, and CJ and I are going to see Pablo Francisco on Thursday at the Funny Bone. Awesome.

That’s about it really. Job status is still up in the air. I still need a new car. Sandra’s still pregnant (and still smoking). I’m still not doing any art.

Overall, things are good.

Dad called this morning and said he was diagnosed with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

I’m sad for him. I’m angry at him. I’m angry at myself.

I’m sad for him because he’s staring death right in the face. I don’t believe in an afterlife. When he’s gone, he’s gone forever.

I’m angry at him because this is entirely his own fault. I’ve begged him for years to stop smoking. He always dismissed me. I knew this was going to fucking happen.

I’m angry at myself for all of the wasted time.

I’ve read that if he stops smoking and they’re able to clear some of the obstructions then he has a good chance for survival, but is he doesn’t stop smoking…

Anyone who knows my dad will know how unlikely that is.

I’m digging up hypnotherapists for him to help him quit. Hopefully, this is enough of a wake-up call that he’ll take it seriously.