In the last few days a selection of seemingly bad things has befallen me one right after the other. I can look at these events in one of two ways. A glass-half-empty kind of conundrum.


First: One of my best friends, Ben, had his wedding. I was supposed to go with another friend of mine, however the weather was calling for a real blizzard coming through and he was too afraid to come with me. I was prepared to go alone, but my parents would not let me. So that I could go dad decided at the last minute to come along. He knew how much it meant to me to be at Ben's wedding. But, mom and dad's finances are tight, so I insisted on paying for everything. At the time I was 100% sure that I could do this and still have a solid $200 or more for Christmas shopping. Ironically, we didn't hit any snow on the way down or on the way up. But on the upside, the wedding was great. It was amazing. And a traditional jewish wedding is certainly a sight to see. But, if my friend had gone I would have had to pay only for my hotel room and any food I wanted. With dad coming instead I had to pay for two tanks full of gas (one for the drive down, one for the drive back, and ill need another this week too), two hotel rooms, plus dinner and breakfast for the both of us. But still I was confident I would have at least 100$ to spend on presents.


Second: I had been toying with the idea of getting a new computer. I love my macbook pro, but it cannot run world of warcraft at anything more then the lowest graphics settings available. But rationally I couldn't justify getting a new computer simply because mine couldn't play one game, when it does everything else beautifully. Then a few days ago a thin blue line appeared on my screen stretching from the top down to the bottom about a pixel thick. I was worried, but I restarted my computer and it was fine so I thought nothing of it. Then it came back. It went away after a short time, but again came back two days ago, and has remained there ever since and is still there now. While this little line doesn't hurt it functionally, it is very distracting when playing wow, or watching a movie. I found support forums where people claimed the same problem, with the only resolution replacing the screen for about $700. I could buy a new computer for that price. I could just ignore it and live with it, but according to the forums once it starts it will get worse with other color lines popping up eventually. orange, red, purple, etc. Apparently nothing else happens, the screen doesn't fail completely, so technically I could survive and just put up with colored lines slicing my screen. But chances are I will get a new computer. I've been browsing around for desktops that I can hook up to my flatscreen. So while it is aggravating at how it came about, it still means a new computer which is always fun. Though it will be a couple months.


Third: This is the worst tragedy so far. This morning I decided to get online and check how much money I had to spend on Christmas shopping, which I planned to do tonight. I was shocked and surprised to find 200 dollars less in my account than I expected. I had forgotten about my car insurance, and about the wedding present I had gotten last minute for Ben and Miriam. So not only do I not have a single red cent for presents for my family, but once the company that has my car loan processes the check, I will be overdrawn. I can't afford to get anyone anything for Christmas at all. However, though this seems terrible it may be a small blessing in surprise. I want to do something for my family, so I have decided to do artwork. Perhaps it will work out, I will do great pictures, my family will love it and all will be well. However it will be hard. It is Monday. If I do digital work I will need to bring the files to staples to get prints made and this may take a few hours it may take a day, so I would want to get them there by Wednesday so just in case it takes a day I'll have them on christmas eve. I have a single $20 in my wallet I can use to pay for the prints with some left over to put gas in my car that will hopefully last until a get paid next week. But that means I have today, tomorrow, and some of Wednesday to do 5 pictures. I already have the sketch done for mom's picture. So that leaves Dad, michelle, granny and alahsandra. Dad I know prefers my pencil drawings, so that one wont take long. But can I do 5 complete pictures in 48 hours? We shall see. I cannot afford frames, any suggestions on wrapping them?


Fourth: The fourth and final blow is minuscule compared to the rest. My last good pair of jeans broke on the trip. So at some point I will need to buy myself some new pants, as I now only have two pairs of pants that I can wear to work and one of them is ugly, tight, and uncomfortable.


Despite these upsets, and the stress involved, each one might just be a small little jewel in disguise. Because my screen is broken I am going to get a new computer. Can you imagine playing wow on a wide flatscreen tv with the graphics set to max? It will be epic. My pants broke, but I will buy new ones and perhaps find a good deal and get a few pairs I really like even better then the ones that broke. I cannot afford christmas presents but that is forcing me to do something I have always wanted to do, and that is to give my artwork to my family for presents. And perhaps if they like it, that will boost my self esteem greatly and I will do more work. And lastly my plans for Ben's wedding didn't work out exactly right, but I got to go. I got to spend some quality time with my dad, I got to see new york, and I got to see a traditional jewish wedding. Not to mention seeing Ben dancing, and being hoisted up in a chair by the men while his wife was hoisted up by the woman. The food was great, the ceremony was interesting and a great experience, the place it was at was beautiful, and it is all good memories I will always have. So I will try to look on the bright side. In the meantime, expect at least 5 new pictures to be posted in the next 48 hours.

Love you all
Seasons Greetings, happy holidays and all that jazz.