financial whews ...

on thursday i realized i was 200 dollars wealthier than normal. i dared to consider math and came to a startling conclusion: i have finished paying off one of my student loans. the one that gauged me in the appendix bi-monthly. the one that made me rue that filthy den of brick-ladden snobbery and 5'2 boys in baseball caps that gave me a degree. the university that i have -- since the onset of my student loan repayment plan -- considered my grandest, most gluttonous -- operator error.

i now almost-completely own my diploma. i have one more student loan to go. a smaller monthly, low-low interest payment that feels more like a mosquito bite than getting jumped into the bloods.

i could weep.

i knew i was getting close in february. i'd plotted on scrap paper with a sharpie, using a crude english major version of financial awareness. i figured i would be done with that loan in november, right around the time i finished paying for my obnoxiously non-jeep wrangler honda civic.

on one hand, i hated to wish away the summer.
on the other hand, i began wishing away the summer.

then wambo bambo -- 200 extra dollars fell from the sky. and there is more where that came from.

i approached a woman who seems more keenly aware of my financial ruin and dared to ask her today if it was a mistake.

did i finish paying off my student loan? i asked her.
yes, she said.
WEEEEEEEEE!!!! i said.

[i'm totally going to spain].

and you may get a refund from them, if you paid too much in your final payment.
WEEEEEE!!! i said.

[i'm going to have a savings account!]

i stopped by another institution to check the status of my car loan. i stood at a table next to a tin of free mints, sucking on the candy and using the demon calculator.

eight more payments.

i'd failed in my february mathematics again. in a good way. i'll be done in mid-september, if not earlier. [i tend to estimate].

i'm getting a new laptop.
WEEEEEE!