~Spending, Earning, Saving and Aspiring
2006-08-08 - 1:55 p.m.

If I'm serious about getting back into writing down the many story ideas I have, instead of simply lying in bed at night or in the morning dreaming them up, then forgetting them the next day, then I think I need a laptop.

I do like writing many of my ideas down manually, but, if I'm wanting to actually stay at it for a good hour or three, then I don't think using pencil and paper is ever going to be much of an option for lazy ol' me. Of course, I have a perfectly good desktop PC here, but the computer room is part of the main living area and I never feel like surrendering to a good story when I'm constantly brought back to reality by the noise of my parents, or by them actually interrupting me.

It's annoying, because I don't have a lot of money right now. If I wanted to, I could afford a laptop right now. Those four weeks straight I just worked have given me a little breathing space money-wise, but it's not really enough for me to consider savings. A few thousand is good to have, but, if I have a few lean weeks (and I've felt so worked-out and pressured to do other chores that were put on the back-burner while working this last month, I refused work for today and yesterday), then that money will go just on things like groceries and clothes.

It's one of those dilemmas I'm facing over lots of things at the moment: how much should I live day-to-day, focus on my health and establishing a lifestyle and skills that I want to develop; how much should I be working hard now, while I can, to save up money for a house deposit, for a superannuation/retirement fund, for maybe another holiday?

It's interesting that, when I first returned from overseas, I was motivated to push forward with those big plans to do with independence, security and so forth, yet the very act of going overseas caused me to change my ideas of how I want to live my life in general.

Well, buying a laptop would take a huge chunk of my pay that I may not earn again quickly (especially not if I'm trying to work less than a full week and therefore have more time for writing, exercise, appointments, chores, classes and so forth), but if I'm serious about writing then it's not going to really happen, I think unless I have the laptop and don't work full weeks (although four days would probably be fine). Hmmmm.