What's Paupin'

Hello All (two of you reading this), I've been slacking on the blogging for quite some time now, struggling to find a topic that is important enough to me to write about on a semi-regular to very regular basis. During a late night of insomnia, the little voice inside my head - Beyonce - started speaking. "Hey, girl! You're poor. Why don't you write about that? Now go to sleep and enjoy some sweet dreams and/or beautiful nightmares." And so here we are. Being broke isn't important to me per se, but it's become a major part of my day-to-day life.

A bit of back story just in case anyone reading this doesn't know me and is reading this out of friendship obligation. I'm a writer. For quite a few years I was gainfully employed at a pop culture news wire, and it was fun. I had a cute studio apartment, a cat that loved me, the ability to buy new shoes every so often, and everything else a modest girl could want.Then the publication shut down because the economy went to shit. Goodbye steady paycheck and cute studio apartment; hello unemployment checks and room rental in a house with no insulation. Eventually, I even had to give up the cold, yet adorably decorated room for even lamer accommodations - my mom's house....in Mexico. Yup. I cross an international border to return my rental of Twilight: New Moon at a Redbox. More on that later.

Now jump to my current state. I am once again gainfully employed (part-time, but better than no-time) at a very awesome alt-weekly that I've always loved and wanted to work for since my college days and I freelance whenever possible. But my cat hates me for moving her around so much, I'm ass-deep in student loan debt, and still cross an international border to make questionable movie rental choices. I'm broke, but getting by with what I have and what I can somehow weasel, and trying to keep a positive perspective. I'm a modern girl adapting to a life of pauper-tude, and making the best of it. Maybe you can relate.

xoxo alex, the modern pauper