1. When you take a vacation, do you ever suffer from Internet withdrawal? Or maybe the nagging urge to blog or read blogs? Or are you glad to be away?
I don’t get to travel that often, but when I do, I try and find a computer to check my email and such. The last trip I took was to visit my sister at xmas which I had my laptop with me, but had to install AOL on it and use dialup to access the net thru her account.
2. Have you ever been “furloughed” (told to take time off work without pay) or laid off? How did that impact your family dynamics? Your finances? If not to you, have you seen it happen to anyone you know? How did they handle it?
I did get laid off from my job at Midway Games a couple years ago. I got severence pay, and collected unemployment. I ended up getting a better job (which I still have now) shortly after so I didn’t end up losing any money at all in the interim.
3. If you fell on hard times, what is are some non-essential reoccurring luxury expenses (cable TV, TiVo subscription, cigarettes, high-speed net connection, newspaper, daily Starbucks coffee, etc.) you would give up to save money?
I’d cut back on what I could. Eating out, buying dvds and stuff I didn’t need. I have stuff I could sell to make some extra money for awhile so I think I would be ok.
4. On the same thought, what is the one non-essential expense you would NOT give up?
Buying records! Though I would have to cut down. Come to think of it, lately I haven’t been buying them hardly at all, so I think I’d be fine.
5. Would you ever ask your family (parents, in-laws, relatives) for financial assistance? What would be some of your concerns about asking for help? Have you ever asked for it before? Did it go well?
If I really needed to, I would ask for help. I know my sister would help me if she could and I needed it, as I would do the same for her.
6. Has a friend or relative ever borrowed money from you? Who were they and how much did they want? Did you ever get paid back, or did it matter? Did you feel compelled to keep an eye on them to see if they spent it wisely?
I have loaned people money in the past, though it is rare that I would loan anyone more than a few bucks. I once loaned a friend a few hundred to fix his car and he took so long to pay me back that I ended up making him give me things of his to sell to make the money he owed me.
7. Imagine you won a tax-free gift of $7,000. The only stipulation on the gift is that it must not be invested or saved, and must be spent before 2004. How would you use the money?
I would buy a hot tub for the back yard, and a whole lot of records. I ‘d have that shit spent in a day without fail. Hell, it is only 7 grand, what kind of pathetic challenge is that?! Make it 70 grand and I still could spend it WAY before 2004.
