Thank God It's Friday -- in a couple of days

Last month, I was nearing the end of my frantic economic problems. I was living paycheck-to-paycheck, or more accurately "paycheck-almost-to-paycheck". I'd basically run out of money a few days before I was due to get paid again, and then I'd have to hold my breath until I got more money.

In that situation, I tended to look at the calendar a lot. "What day is it? Tuesday?" I'd say to myself. "Okay, I just need to get through today, and then Wednesday and Thursday, and then I get paid again." Eventually, this process got abbreviated (because it takes awhile to go through that whole rigmarole every time) to "Gotta get to Friday," which is a phrase I would mentally insert after every day. "It's Monday -- gotta get to Friday." "It's Tuesday -- gotta get to Friday." And so on. You can fill in the other days of the week as necessary.

As you can see, I had an unhealthy focus on "the next payday". And I've mostly gotten past that. Right now, I get to payday with money in my pocket and money in the bank. It's nice. However, this Friday is the day on which I will receive a bonus.

I'm not sure how big it will be. It might be sort of big. And there's a chance that it will be absurdly large. Or it might all be lies and I might get practically nothing. I've actually got a pretty good idea what it'll be, but I'm rigorously preparing myself for the idea that it might be smaller than I think. Really, any bonus is good. That's a weak pun, incidentally, since the Latin word for "good" is "bonus". I just put it in to entertain myself.

So now I'm looking toward Friday again, because on that day I will receive a check of indeterminate size. It's kind of annoying, because I am distinctly not living in the now. Instead of it being "Wednesday," it's "two days before Friday." I'm not exactly counting my chickens before they hatch, but I am aware that I've probably got some chickens on the way, and I've started preparing for their arrival in my mind. Am I stretching the metaphor too far? My point is that even though I'm (finally) on solid financial ground, I'm back to focusing on the next payday.

But that's enough talking about that. At least out loud. It's still going on in my head, but it's just more of the same words, and I think you'd probably get pretty sick of it. I'm sick of it myself, but that's because I've been thinking the same things for a couple of weeks now. Gotta get to Friday. Gotta get to Friday. Anyway.

In completely unrelated news, I'm going to be doing a Walkathon on April 24. The idea is that I walk ten kilometers, and that keeps babies from being prematurely. If you're not clear on how the two connect, it's because my physical effort is supposed to inspire people to contribute money. I've got a sponsor page and everything. C'mon! Donate some money!