Why having money is nice.

Having two jobs is not fun, but having money certainly makes life easier.

This summer I picked up a job at a hotel as a night auditor. Essentially what I do is take care of people, check in people, check out people in the morning, and compile a giant stack of paper reports for the managers. It's been a pretty great job, actually. I love to people watch, and hotels at night rank somewhere in between the mall and a bar on the people-acting-stupid scale. I work the 11pm-7am shift on weekends, freeing up my weekdays for my job at the bookstore. I've managed to save quite a bit, but I've also managed to spend money on something I've pretty much neglected through high school and college - clothes.

I've managed to prepare myself for a year in Scotland with just under 4 shopping trips. We're talking an entire wardrobe restocked in less than 6 hours. I tend to shop by touch, running my hands across racks of clothing to feel for the softest fabric. Next comes color, and I am lucky in this area because anything but orange is an acceptable color for my skin tone. Put orange next to my face, and I looked like I swallowed something vile and will soon be sick everywhere. Every payday, I take one full check (mostly the hotel's) and stash it in savings, then spend the other one to live and buy clothing. I've bought three pairs of jeans, two peacoats. and countless long and short sleeved shirts. My savings is used specifically toward rent and getting to Stirling, and I bought my plane tickets in June. I think I'm substantially more prepared for this trip than I was the last time.

By this time two weeks from now, I'll be on a plane to London where I'll catch a flight to Edinburgh. I think time needs to hurry up, but I still have to clean out my room and pack. A week from now I will be in a panic, and the world will be a scary, scary place. For now, I'll enjoy the happiness of purchasing pretty things.