FAFSA is tryna keep ya girl down!

Raine is constantly bemoaning the fact that I can't cook ergo, spend most of my life eating crap--otherwise known as the loop, midnight calls to dominos, grace's, alpine and the occasional Mickey D's when all else fails. Basically we have a pattern that is twenty years in the making: she complains about my dietary habits, I roll my eyes and assure her that I eat just fine, thank you very much. Well, if Raine could see me today, I am sure she would wave her finger at me, yell "aha!" and generally bask in that wonderful feeling of being right. It is almost 3:00 in the afternoon and so far today I have had one miniature can of Pringles, a piece of bread and a south beach diet 140 calorie cereal bar. All I have to say for myself is, at least the bread was whole wheat. This of course, would not satisfy mommy dearest in the least so thank goodness she doesn't know how to use the internet! lol

On the real tho, I love being in the middle of everything but have I mentioned lately that living la vida loca is EXPENSIVE and FAFSA clearly is on that "bare minimum" type mindset! And shoot, living in the heart of midtown, even the the necessities are coming at a premium. Three small cubes of watermelon at the corner store cost me $3.26. (After I left the store I def had one of those--"what the hell was I thinking moments.") My neutrogena face wash at the drugstore across the street, $8.99. One load of laundry (done by yours truly, no special services included) ran me almost $5. I'm trying to think like Visa right now but it remains to be seen how damn priceless have clean laundry and acne-free skin is going to turn out to be in the long run!

Which brings me to my latest conundrum... to eat or not to eat. Supposedly we can live for forty days and nights without water and it seems I will be testing this hypothesis soon enough since my refund check from Duke (aka. money to survive) is no where to be seen. Yikes! In other words, ya girl will have to get real creative on the survival front. Where is Julien when I need him? Where is Ade with his supposed new cooking skills? Shoot, where are the football players who so-graciously supplied me with all the food points a girl could need?!?! On the upside, I have been wanting to learn more about NYC street food for a while now. I mean the real stuff, not those suspicious looking hot dogs and dry ass pretzels on every corner. I've been reading up on some of the top-rated vendors in the city (from reputable papers like NY Mag, NY Times, etc.) And with prices under $6, they are speaking my language culturally and economically. In addition, I'll be adopting my London strategy for eating on the cheap: nice, big lunches. Cheaper than dinner by a long shot and if you go to the right places (I need to find the right places) there are portions big enough to stretch,

Anyway, I am on my way to a ballroom dancing class--another thing I have been waiting to try for the longest. I'll let you know how that and the pursuit of dinner goes!