The up and coming year will require a great deal of diligence on my part. This past year has seemed rather reckless especially in the last four to five months of the year. I have been reckless in my spending, reckless in my schoolwork, and reckless in my dating life.
Upon moving to the "birthplace of aviation", aka Ohio, I acquired a credit card for the purpose of moving to Ohio and getting settled. This was not the worst idea I had, but after I was settled, I continued to spend, and spend, and spend. At points I was spending my monthly pay from my checking account and then spending about two weeks worth of my pay every month on my credit card. This of course was disastrously stupid. I saw, I wanted, I bought. (Makes me sound like a modern Caesar...). This all has come to a peak here in December where I have reached my credit limit.
So two-thousand-and-eleven (and even parts of 2012) will be a year of the grand budget! I have worked hard on providing a suitable budget for the coming years in order to reduce my debt and live in my means (which is completely do-able). I will allot myself a certain amount for food AND additional expenditures. This may seem absolutely awful to have a food budget (and it is!) it will force me to do what I do best--plan ahead. I think it will force me to be more conscious and efficient with my funds. If I didn't have all the credit card debt imagine what I could do with the extra 300 I'm spending to pay it off each month! I greatly look forward to being debt free...but the battle is long and I must persevere and remain focused.
Now we come to the part about academics. I have just completed my first semester of graduate school. It was everything shy of disaster. Over the course of the semester I was forced to drop a course which has hit me both academically and financially (I will have to retake it in the summer for over 2k). This alone was devastating since I have never been in the position of needing to drop a course for my own academic survival. Furthermore I placed half my attention on my classes, should have studied more, and failed to pay attention in class. This resulted in a GPA lower than the required 3.0 to stay in my graduate program. Thus next semester I will be placed on academic probation.
Academic probation is in all accounts unideal. Not only must I get good grades in the Spring of 2011, I must get good enough grades that my cumulative GPA is 3.0 or higher. I must have a 3.33 to meet the requirements. This is a B+ average at my university. My goal this coming semester will be to understand my coursework, care about my coursework, establish strong studying habits, and pursue beyond my 3.33 goal. The road will not be easy with the added complication of research. Furthermore, the course I dropped (with 2 weeks remaining) is fundamental in my research. I must fully grasp a deep understanding and application techniques of a class in which I had to drop for the lack of understanding of the subject matter. Focus, focus, focus. I look forward to proving that I am indeed worth the assistantship that covers my schooling.
Lastly I come to my dating life. In September, my boyfriend of over a year had broken up with me. We had spent the whole year apart, sharing our troubles and joys over the phone. With the increased pressures of grad school he cut off the relationship. Naturally I did not take this gently. I cried, I suffered from a depressed mood, and my desires to do anything subsided. Shortly after this I dated a man whom I'd say was disastrous to my finances and my schooling. Over the course of two months, I spent most my weekends beyond drunk and I did nothing over the weekends toward school. E and I would go out to eat, where I'd find myself in the predicament of paying or going dutch (about 75 percent of the time). Doing this several times a week, along with buying liquor drinks at bars was costly and half ruined my finances. In a nutshell, I was everything I didn't want to be.
Currently I enjoy the companionship of a homebody. An individual who is cautious and wise. I greatly appreciate his insight, his suggestions, and advice. Despite my love of alcohol, I have been sober for several weeks without it thus far. At this point it is an unnecessary expense and does not help me pursue my academic goals. Maybe I'll have a glass of wine every now and then. :-) Furthermore, I am back to working on friendships (which can cost money...yet again *sigh* but these are much better).
Thus as one can see, reckless behavior has consequences. If the recklessness is discovered and fully realized it is possible to recover from such. As Henry Ford once said, "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." I could not agree more.
Thus 2011 will be not only a year of consequences, but a year of intelligence.
Happy New Year everyone.
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