Near-Future Plans

Yesterday I watched Oblivion which I got from Redbox. $1.27 is way more worth it than $7 in the theater. It's probably $1.35 with tax. I've gotten used to quickly trying to tack on sales tax to the cost of things, since the prices of food at the fast food restaurant aren't the same as the final price the customer pays. I sometimes have to explain why the cost seems so much higher, so quickly figuring out a round number of how much tax they paid is helpful. The movie reminded me a bit of Terminator and Independence Day, with a little bit of Transformers and Battle:LA elements in there, too. Probably one of the few movies I've seen in a long time that didn't have an obvious religious theme in it at all (although the evil-alien-robot says "I am your God," to its human creation at the end, but that came across more as a demoralizing insult [like the pivotal point with the Reaper in Mass Effect] rather than a metaphysical claim about God's existence).

Last week and this week, I've been working on getting a number to call, or a link that would give me some solid information on what my loan repayment amount will be starting in November. I finally found a loan calculator on a website that has my information (but apparently isn't who'll be servicing the loan--servicing means to be the one to send the bills and acquire the repayments; they aren't necessarily the same people who "hold," i.e. own the loan), and I ran some income numbers to see what the differences are between the following:

Standard Repayment
Graduated Repayment
Income-Contingent Repayment
Income-Based Repayment
Pay-As-You-Earn

I need to do some more research to find out what the "catch" is for any of these and then weigh my options. I have a feeling I have to do some "exit counseling" before the loan repayment starts. No one told me. 

That's the responsibility part of maturity. Your situation might not be your fault, but it's your responsibility to take care of effectively.

In the meantime, I'll keep working, and in a few months I'll be up for a promotion. By late Spring, I could potentially be in a low-level manager position so long as I keep getting better at handling the things that the store needs taken care of for it to run properly. And by that time, I should have raised enough money to buy my own car for the first time. Then I could use it in my spare time to drive farther when looking for work, or going in for interviews. Next summer could see me with a number of different doors opened for me. Just gotta be faithful and diligent day by day until then.

That's what's going on with me. Keep the faith :)

~ Rak Chazak