Your 9-in-a-row workday

Oh my friends, I fully believed that I had figured out my key to debt freedom this morning. And no, it had nothing to do with amateur night at the Brass Rail. (That is what the boyfriend suggests at least four times a week. I assume he's joking...) All I needed to do was win a radio contest!

Can you smell my desperation?

On Mix 99.9, they are giving away $10,000 to the 25th caller when they don't play 9 songs in a row during the workday. Doesn't $10,000 sounds like the perfect number? Just enough to pay off my debt and still afford a chai latte and a cookie at Starbucks. I was fully prepared to do whatever needed to be done.

So I arrived at work, plugged in my headphones and tuned in online. I wrote down the phone number I would need to call to collect... I mean win my $10,000. I kept track of how many songs they were playing while also trying to tune out the pop music so I could edit the advertorial I'm working on. Lo and behold, just before 11am, the commercials came on after only 7 songs!

I threw my work aside and dialed. Busy signal. I hit redial and crossed my fingers. Busy signal. I hit redial and crossed my legs. (I kind of had to pee.) Busy signal.

People, I must have dialed 40 times over. All the while trying not to look like an insane person trying to win a radio contest. Not only do I work in an open concept office, but I just moved to a new spot this week, so I don't really know all my neighbors. I sincerely hope they didn't spot my frantic dialling and assume the worst.

Well, of course I didn't win. And when I heard the woman that did win go crazy, I was sort of glad I hadn't won. Because radio stations that give you $10,000 just for counting and dialling don't appreciate polite, but subdued thank yous on the air. It's bad for business.

Do you think it's crazy that I thought I could leap out of my debt pit with a single phone call? Or is it just human nature to want the quick fix.

Also, do you think we only get one shot at winning something big in our lives? Because I won a red convertible in high school. Yep, it's true. I spent a lot of time hanging out at the DQ that my friend worked at, so I kept filling out ballots for a free car. Trouble was, I was only 17 at the time, so I kept answering all the questions about age range, credit cards and household income differently. When they called to confirm my information, I had no choice but to admit that I lied and that I was underage. So maybe I've blown my one big shot to win something.

Ah well, I am without a red convertible or $10,000. But what I do have is...hope? Sure. Hope that I will one day tell anecdotes at dinner parties about how I blogged to keep myself on track while paying off my heinous student loans. And then I'll raise a glass and toast all of you for coming along for the ride.

I made three stops on the way home and spent money at each. First to the card store, where I had three cards to purchase. Luckily the first two filled up my frequent buyer card (Yeah!), so I got the third for free. Then I bought a single tomato, because we were having burritos for dinner. And then I rescued my dress from the dry cleaners. (The guy totally called me on the fact that I dropped it off on JANUARY 7th!!)


Total debt: $9990 plus some more
Spent today: $23.39