Karate Starts Today

I'm excited! I haven't worked since the end of August, I've been living off my last paycheck from camp and the little bit of money I've had in savings. I'm not ready to have a job again, but I'm ready to have money. It's actually the sweetest deal I've ever had for a job: Tuesdays/Thursdays 3-5pm and Saturdays 10-12 and get this, I'm getting paid up front. Here's how that works:

The karate school that I'm working with (not my original school where I trained) does after school programs and the students pay up front for the whole semester's tuition, like it's a regular class they're attending. The other instructor I'll be working with will be there to help teach for the second half of the semester, so I get half of the tuition that's brought in for the Tuesday/Thursday classes. The Saturday classes are all me, so I'll be getting all the tuition. I have the opportunity to earn a good bit of money. I won't say how much but it's a lot. :)

It's a great opportunity for me to start budgeting my money and watching it way more closely. I'm definitely going to be able to finish paying off my computer and I'd like to start putting some money aside for when I graduate and I need to start paying off my loans. I don't want to count my chickens, but I'm hoping to have enough kids sign up that I'll be able to buy my own car (a nice used one, nothing fancy) so when I move out of my parents' house, that's one less thing I'll have to buy.

The downside to this job is that I'll have less free time on the days I have class, because it's at the same school that camp was, which is a good distance from my house (45 minutes on a good day), so travel time is included.

As far as I can tell though, it's the only downside. Sure, there may be one or two of the kids from camp that I was not fond of, but I only have to see them for an hour at a time (maybe two, and I stress maybe) as opposed to the 6 straight hours I had them at camp. I already know that I can work with the instructor and my paychecks aren't going to come up as $0.00 (which happened at one of my restaurant jobs and it was a mistake that took them forever to fix). I know the admins already since it's at the same place as camp and a couple of my friends from camp are also working at the school for other things. So I'm really stoked about this job.

Back to School Time...

It's back to school season. I only have one class and it's on Thursdays, so I am going to have a goooood semester. I'll be up on campus as much as I can just to hang out and see everybody, especially since it's my last semester. I've already got couches in dorms lined up to bum off my friends (who are awesome btw!) and my goal is to have other residents see me so much they'll think I'm a resident too. Despite the fact that my class is larger than it should be (and may or may not contain people I'd rather have in other classes where we will not be given group assignments and my grade will not depend on their abilities), my schedule got screwed up, and I'm graduating later than I should be, I'm looking forward to spending these last few months with my friends before we all graduate in December (another perk of graduating late) and get sent off into the real world.

What Did I Do This Summer?

I was arrested for "illegal minoring"...

Learned two different dances to "Cotton Eye Joe"...

Searched for gold during the Klondike Gold Rush...

Busted some of my kids out of jail...several times...

Fixed a knee, without the use of a band-aid...(See How To Fix A Knee)

Got paid when I didn't go to work...twice!

Was transported to a secret wizarding world for two straight days...

Solved a murder at a beach resort with the aid of a Belgian detective...

Raided, pillaged, and plundered my weasley, black guts out in many towns in the Caribbean to become the number one most feared pirate...

Got all of my defendants declared "Not Guilty"...

Defeated Bowser and his minions....

Got to swim during adult swim for the first time ever...

Defeated the Elite Four and the Champion for the fourth time (Blue, Gold, Emerald, and now Pearl)...

Met up with several friends from school...


...and so much more. Despite working 45 hours a week for 7 straight weeks (I was out for a week when I hurt my foot), this has been a great summer. I wouldn't trade any of it.