Breathing.....

Yes, I know I'm stressing about math lately, but it's for a good cause...

I ran the average numbers again today, assuming that nothing changes in my salary, savings rate, or general financial situation for the next 12 months. And the comforting aspect is that as long as I'm able to support myself while studying for the Bar, I can get everything paid for that HAS to get paid. I only have about $1500 that I need to come up with outside my actual job and salary as long as I'm very conservative with my spending. That's entirely doable, as I can probably come up with a good chunk of that in this first few months of the year from sewing and selling yet more crap on eBay and Amazon. Which is good, because that's mainly my slush fund to pay expenses while I'm not earning a dime in China. Oy!

The painful part is that relocating is going to be interesting. Depending on jobs, I may just up and move at the end of the year, and moving expenses, the cost of paying basic bills and getting into a new place to live just isn't in the budget at this point. In theory I can get an extra job for the summer months when I get back from China. But that also precludes me taking a summer class (no money, and it's a trade off for tiem working). Not taking yet another summer class above and beyond my China trip makes the Fall semester tight, as the limit for part time is 11 credits. What do I need to graduate? Yup, 11 credits... I'm squeaking under the wire on a lot of fronts here, and I'm just not keen on taking yet another $9,000 in loans to make life easier. Not to mention the general cost to my sanity to extend this thing yet another semester...

I dunno, I could be putting too much pressure on myself, but I'm pretty keen on having a life again. if you're considering going to grad school, remember that while the benefits to your employment prospects can be huge, but the cost to your general life can be just as big. I put whole sections of my universe on hold, and I'm really chafing at not havign the ability to just go home and relax. Add in the financial constraints and stress over getting a job next year, and there's no wonder why I long for a massage like my life depended on it....