A Post-Apology Update

So, I've actually had a really financially chaotic several weeks--my record-keeping system had kind of broken down, because my computer had been down so long with all my records on it, and I'm just now starting to clean up the mess I allowed to accumulate. There'd been a ton of life stuff going on: settling into the new place still, and then a dear friend staying with me for a week (lovely, but having friends is always expensive--the eating out, and going to do things you wouldn't otherwise, and all that. But totally worth it), and then a crazy week or so at work, and then a little vacation, and then a week spent reviewing six plays in seven days, and then a week recovering from that...and that pretty much brings us up to now, where I'm sitting in the midst of a pile of undone to-dos and clutter, financial, personal, and otherwise, and facing down the "time to get serious" deadline about grad school. In shorthand, a sketch of my situation goes like this:

Financial tasks accomplished:
--Continued regular savings (bless you, ING autodrafts; I couldn't have done it without you).
--No utter disasters.
--Insurance claim filed.
--Flung more money into ETS's gaping maw, to the tune of the $130 GRE registration fee. Again.

Financial tasks unaccomplished:
--Successful hounding of former management company. So, it was supposed to be two months. Then it was supposed to be three. I called up, said it had been three months and where's my check please and the cranky receptionist (dear Alexis, if you read this, maybe think about getting a massage or doing some yoga or something else relaxing) explained that the check is actually sent out in the fourth month. Clearly the hope is to maximize "breakage" and keep many security deposits. Not mine, you assholes.
--Following up insurance claim. Insurance company kind of bonkers, dispatched large packets of letters to various health providers requesting information they already had. Must call. Laid out $700 from savings that will be replenished from reimbursement, if reimbursement ever successfully extracted from clutches of Empire BCBS.
--Full righting of financial system, i.e. getting back to routine of checking on things daily.

Current financial concerns, other than former management company and insurance company:
--the prospect of depleting my savings to cover my half the broker's fee that K already paid our broker. How I'll make up that money by the end of the year, or, if I can't, how I will find budget room to save at an advanced rate for the trip I hope to take next summer AND replenish savings.
--Dwindling financial obsession nice in some ways, problematic in others (i.e. results in dwindling motivation, which results in "oh, whatever, I'll just put this $12 lunch on my credit card").
--Can I really afford/is it really necessary to get out to Portland for a week in the fall? Plane fares are more expensive than they used to be. On the other hand, I have somewhere to stay, and I do feel like it really would be a good idea to take my recommendation-writing professors out to dinner to remind them who I am and how much they want to help me get into grad school.

Current nonfinancial concerns:
--American Studies or English departments?
--Time to study for GRE in Lit in English comes from where?
--Holy shit, personal statement needs drafting like now.

And so, I am a busy little bee, but did not mean to neglect so egregiously this blog. It is just that my entire life is up in the air, you see. But a return here will be helpful as I do a quick sweep through my finances to get them back in order, and I'm glad to have made one, and sorry, very sorry, that it took so long.