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I Need A Massage, but I'll Just Take Another Shift Instead
I am in a precarious position this summer.
I've opted out of taking classes this summer, in the hopes of delaying my inevitable graduation and descent into reality. I am, however, working 60 hours a week, both to pay the bills and save some dollars for my study abroad trip to Belfast this fall. So here's my situation: I have no money and very little time or energy to have any fun. I also spend a great amount of time stressing myself out.
But I am nothing if not a resourceful little bunny-rabbit, and I find free ways to give myself a good time, if on a limited budget, with a limited time frame and limited sanity. So I'm going to start a new miniseries:
Emma's Tips for the Financially Deficient and Really, Really Stressed Out.
Number 1:
Go outside.
Seriously. If you're like me, and you spend a good 12 hours of your work-day staring at a computer screen and breathing recycled air, you will begin to long for sunshine. I know it seems obvious, but it astonished me how easy is was to get into the routine of getting up, taking the bus to work, staying inside for lunch, and going home well after dark. Then on the weekends, I was so tired I decided to spend the entire day inside watching re-runs of The X-Files. Not only was my skin pasty and sallow, but I was tired and depressed. I recommend a healthy dose of beach sand (with sunscreen, of course). Most Boston city beaches are free, and you can spend the whole day soaking up delicious Vitamin D from the sun's rays. Yeah, I know, Boston beaches aren't that great, blah, blah, blah. But as a girl from land-locked Ohio, I can tell you that you start to appreciate what you can get. Go to Trader Joe's (easily the cheapest grocery store in the area) and stock up on snacks. Take your one measly day off, pray that it's actually sunny and save the re-runs for after dark.
Correction: In an earlier version of this posting I cited Vitamin E as a benefit of sunlight. It, in fact, is Vitamin D.
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