Sticker Shock

This past weekend was sunny-warm in SF, the kind of weather that people who don't live in California think we have all the time (if you don't live in the Bay Area, in sum, it's foggy and cool mostly).  Some people I know spent the day picnicking, at the beach, at the park or otherwise outside.  I got CPR certified. It really is nothing to complain about.  The class seemed like one of those discount, not-too-serious formalities considering he didn't have most of the supplies (like infant dummies or breathing masks) and we got out 2 hours early.  It worked out because I've been certified bunches (I was a lifeguard after all) and his bare-bones class was sufficient for me.  Or so I say now.  Foreshadowing?  God, I hope not.  Anyway, at one point our instructor asked what "shock" was.  If I was still in my "Anatomy and Physiology consumes my every waking thought" year, I'd have regurgitated something about insufficient blood flow.  Instead, I immediately thought of my reaction to the MEPN cost of attendance notice.  Maybe for shits and giggles, or more likely because of UC budget problems and the general state of disarray that is the California budget, our fees went up.  Not like $1k or $2k as in previous years, but $7k.  I mean, at some point another $7k in loans seems inconsequential, but then I remember what I could buy with that extra $7k and I get a little resentful.  Fortunately, UCSF hosted some totally worthless funding seminar that provided the same information I read online (actually, the information they provided was wrong...gold stars all around!).  So, I already knew it.  Well, I knew the right information.  They made shit up.  I eventually got over my sticker shock though because I got to almost half my 'cost of living' loan thanks in (tiny) part to my savings but mostly because I live in a shoe box studio THAT I SHARE.  Whatever, we have a couch.  My shoe box is fly, like a G6.  Sort of.  The conclusion I came to is that I'll only eat recession-buster small plates and drink prison wine until I graduate.  Cheers!

PS. Happy Cinco de Mayo