Day 12: Will I ever have enough?

Ugh. They don't tell you when you start a career in news that the salary will be meager and slow to grow. Television sounds all shiny and exciting, but the pay is the exact opposite. So here I am, 29, more than 5 years up the ol' career ladder...and I'm off to an interview for a part time job. At an amusement park. Designed for kids. The best part is I have to jack my sleep all up for it, because the interview's at 4:30...which I'm so fortunate as to call the middle of my night.

Good grief, I can feel the bitterness just rolling off me! Okay, I'm reigning it in and accepting it for what it is. For one thing, what else do I have to do with my time? I can squeeze out a few hours a day and (yuck) on the weekends to put little kids on rides. And, think, just THINK of the extra money to fall back on! It won't be much, but when you're stretching every dollar, literally taking your funds down to a balance of $.42 (that's my current total til Friday!) an extra $100 a week makes you feel like rockstar. So for the second day in a row, I'm sucking it up again, this time my pride and my desire to get 8 hours of sleep, for the chance to get groceries, gas, AND maybe catch a movie all in one pay period.

Makes you wonder what I'm constantly striving for though... Will I ever hit that point where I can live comfortably off my salary? Where I can pay all my bills and have money leftover, actually, *gasp* put some into, what's it called again? Savings? I don't want Bentleys, or mansions or diamonds (well, that's a lie, what girl doesn't want diamonds??) or 5 star resorts, but it would be nice to not scramble to get money (which I've likely rustled up by pawning DVDs) into my checking account when I realized I've just made a purchase for more than my balance and I don't want to get smacked with an overdraft fee. Will I ever reach that point? Right now, it seems impossible, that I keep paddling just enough to keep my head above water...but I want to float serenely on the surface. All I can do is keep my nose to the grindstone, keep my eye out for the next career move and hope for the best...the best being a sizeable raise with a gym membership, 5 weeks vacation and a sweet holiday bonus. Okay, I'll settle for a moderate raise, and maybe a shift that takes place during daylight hours.