I woke up at 5:00 this morning worrying about money. This week is Drew's birthday and I've probably spent around $[REDACTED] so far.

That's insane, I realize, given that I don't have a job at the moment. But considering that this is a person who has shouldered most of our financial burden for the past year doing a job he finds increasingly pointless and demoralizing I think it's probably fair. Plus it's his 30th.

Still, $[REDACTED]is a bit steep. I talked to his mom yesterday and she's taking over one of his presents, which will knock that number down to about $[less REDACTED]. She also gave me a very generous gift last week, so I think I'll survive financially.

Drew and our friend John (both of whom make bucketloads, in my opinion) are each generous big spenders. They spend on themselves and their friends & families. They don't buy a lot of stuff, but they have very expensive taste. Our friend Chris and I are constantly in awe of how much money those two will shell out for a lamp or a pair of socks or a camera.

Yesterday I drove Chris and John to the airport (they're going to a wedding in NY together) and John was bemoaning the last time he went shopping in Manhattan.

Chris: "You still haven't gotten over that, have you?"
John: "I really haven't."

Me: "Why? What did you buy?"
John: "It's what I didn't buy."

Chris: "Well... four thousand dollars is a lot of money for a jacket, John."

I didn't even blink, because I honestly wasn't surprised that John might consider buying a jacket for four grand.

John smiled: "It wasn't four thousand. It was nine hundred."
Chris laughed: "Well, if you wore it 50 times that's just eighteen dollars per wear."

Meanwhile I'm sitting there thinking "God I wish I had eighteen dollars."

Drew's birthday presents went on the credit card. Yay! Credit card debt! I interviewed for two jobs this week, neither of which I really want to do, but both of which would be perfect for me these days.

Drew's strange relationship with money (and by "strange" I mean his family has lots of it and since college he's made lots of it) can cause problems when I'm job-hunting. He doesn't think anything pays enough. My mom loves that he once objected to me making $11/hour by saying that it wasn't even minimum wage. But it's easy to listen to him because he doesn't put pressure on me to find work and when you don't have to get a job nothing seems to pay enough.

But do you know what's really, really low-paying? Lying naked on the floor eating yogurt and watching The View.

Hopefully these jobs will come through today or tomorrow and I can quit dreaming about finance charges.