it’s friday, and i’m broke

yeah, i know it’s not friday…

…and for that matter, i’m not technically broke.

but i usually plan for this sort of shit and this time i didn’t. see, probably about a quarter to a third of my income comes from tips from the guys i work with. it’s what the corporate world calls “at risk income”, but they’re usually talking about spiffs, bonuses, or commission. i personally think it’s sad that after ten plus years i still have to rely on that, but honestly part of that is just my spending habits adapting to my income when it’s at its peak, and then when it wanes it tightens things up a bit more.

or in this case, a lot more.

back in july i dropped some coin on tickets to see the jay & silent bob reboot road trip at the paramount. it was november 1st, which i realized meant i’d have to miss work (and tips) from a friday, but i didn’t sweat it for three reasons:

1. it was months away so i had time to save
2. typically halloween marks the unofficial start of “slow season”
3. it confirmed to the UFC i wasn’t trying to go to NOLA

the last one was due to a wedding we were invited to, and i was gonna just do a back and forth staying one night. she heavily objected for multiple reasons, so i saw this as a gesture of saying i was taking her side.

here was the problem – two months later i bought tickets to the aforementioned tool show, which was the previous friday, so that’s tips from two fridays gone. couple that with lots of guys taking time off and i am, in the words of a former co-worker, “nigga broke” for the weeks leading up to turkey day.

not fun.

here are two things i’ve discovered about ballin’ on a budget:

1. it’s a bit easier when you’re single
2. it’s a SHITLOAD easier when you’re used to it!

that being said, the UFC ain’t broke – but i’ve tried not to lean on her in these situations. guess we’ll see how this all works out the next couple weeks! usually i anticipate this and have money set aside (i had $200 set aside for the saturday i missed to see the stones, for example) but this time i also have our anniversary coming up so things are a bit more snug than usual.