Monetary Mitosis

I've been rubbing two pennies together all night to see if I could witness the miracle of penny creation, but no such luck. My plans to reign in spending for the rest of 2010 have gotten off to a rough start. I have an especially large challenge since one of my paycheques this month will only be for half time. If I can get by on 75% pay then I know I'll be in a good spot when it goes back up to 100%. I've considered getting a second job, but perhaps I will wait until the new year to see how my cost saving plans work out.

Nuit Blanche was pretty fun. We got off to a late start, but I wouldn't have looked forward to the crowds for the first portion anyhow. Adam and I hit up Yonge & Bloor, and then traveled to Dundas Square and walked the main downtown core. Then back up to finish the night at Casa Loma. Surprisingly, the whole night took 4 hrs. I was put to shame by my colleague who lasted until 5:45am and yet started well before 6:00pm. Good for him. A lot of people have spoken negatively about the night, and perhaps I just don't have a good point of comparison, but I enjoyed myself. I am kicking myself for missing the human clock. We arrived at 4:15am and it wasn't back on until 5:00am so we left. A coworker says it was his favourite of the entire night. I also missed a self mourning experience just south of my house, out of pure laziness. I should have just walked down on my own at some point earlier on.

I finished the book Old City Hall last night. It was written by a top criminal lawyer in Toronto. I did enjoy the city references, which is one reason I picked it up in the first place. But overall it just wasn't my cup of tea. Ending several chapters with, "I can't believe I didn't think of that before, how could I have missed it?!" got annoying after a while. And with a constant multiple narrative running through out the entire book I was happy for it to be over. He also left the ending completely unresolved leaving multiple plausible explanations for how the murder could have happened. With 4-5 main characters all with rich character development, I often found myself flipping to the early chapters of the book to remind myself who was who. In the end it felt like a drawn out 400 page episode of Law and Order. I would suppose maybe mystery just isn't my genre but Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite books, and it even has a cliffhanger ending. Perhaps because Alias Grace was based on a true story it resonates more with the reader.

As annoyed as I may sound, I feel the fruits of my frugality shall pay off in the near future. I've always had enough money to get by, but I want better for myself now.