austin bound

so, i'm really for real going to austin. plane tickets have been bought, cheap hotels have been reserved. i even just bought a ticket to the damn show that i'm flying all this way for, doh. (would've felt pretty stupid if i forgot that little detail and it sold out, no?) i'm arriving earlier and staying later than the rest of my austin-going friends, which is not at all an unfamiliar setting for me, and i'm excited about that. just wish i didn't have to work so many damn shifts to pay for it beforehand, specifically to have enough cash on hand so as not to worry that i'll be penny-pinching when i should be having fun. it's weird being all responsible & setting aside rent & paying various bills before counting out trip money. weird not being able to just whip out the credit card & stay at a nice joint, and invite my friends to join me, their budgets be damned. not that it's all that recent that i could do that, but given the specifics, and the history with same... it's weird. but good, i guess. "fun money" set aside for the trip is at a reasonable level-- now i have to focus on all the pre-trip stuff that i always forget to budget for-- carton o'smokes, bottle o'soco, tank o'gas to get me to a freakin airport that i can afford to fly out of... if i manage to add a small "new pair of boots" stipend this weekend, all will be well in my world. weird too to be going to texas & not seeing a single blood relative, but, first time for everything. i suppose there's still a chance we could take a side trip to san antone and i could run into my cool cousin who's in college there, but that's not likely. i'll be back soon enough. and maybe, someday, for good. i really do love my apartment, but aren't there a few cool pads in every city? a few days ago i got a tour of the one downstairs that's being reno'd, with the "new improved" central HVAC, and, um, no. they're not going through the walls, they're just dropping down the ceiling enough to fit in the ducts along the outer edges. which makes it feel smaller. if i'm assuming correctly that we'll also then have to pay for heat/AC, i'm really not interested, unless she can somehow throw in an off-street parking place. or, haha, keep the rent from increasing. ever. B: thanks for R's phone number. as expected, i haven't yet used it. i really did sorta want to go to that show tonight, but between "yesterday was my only day off from the cafe before i leave, why didn't i accomplish everything on this giant to-do list" and "oh yeah, i still have a crapload of work to do for my other job," i couldn't justify the time. naturally, i came home & spent an hour & a half on the phone chatting about the austin trip instead of working. oops. screw work. i gotta sleep.