Debt Free Kid

Last night before I fell asleep I was seriously contemplating selling my bass guitar and my violin. I own a 1974 Fender MusicMaster bass that I used in several punk-rock bands in the 1990s. I also own a 1902 Stradivarius copy that I have never really played. A few years ago I took it in for repairs and was told that if I played for 20 minutes each day that the violin would repair itself. I never did it. I could probably get $600 for the bass and maybe $50 for the violin, so it might not be worth it. That amount would be spent pretty quickly with nothing to show for it. I still owe $2900 to my debt. $650 would barely make a dent. Yet I don't intend to play either instrument any time soon so I would do it for two other reasons: 1) to de-clutter a bit 2) to break from my past. I played the violin in public school from grades 6-9. I went to music camp for a couple of weeks for two summers. I was actually pretty good by the time I quit. I was supposed to audition for a sch...

When I was much younger I tried to educate myself about global issues. The more negative the better. This was not always easy to do because the internet did not yet exist. I got most of my information from obscure zines, and my favourite issues were the ones about animal rights. Later on I got into food security and environmental destruction, and when I chose my majors for my Bachelor of Arts one of them was International Development, which focused on these issues. Somewhere along the way I crashed. I knew that the Western way of living was destroying the planet for everyone else, even though the media told us it was third world population that was responsible. At one time I wanted to work in the media but I quickly learned to distrust it, particularly the mainstream news. I also decided for my own sanity to ignore the booming "independent" film documentary industry that was seeking to expose the truths. I can handle only so much negative information before I start to becom...

So my Ford is still sitting in my parking lot, and I'm still driving the borrowed Honda. I can't say I've saved much money, since I have paid $130 for a new (used) tire and a replacement brake line. Both situations leading up to these repairs were costly in terms of stress and slight trauma as well. I have a feeling I should bring the Honda back to it's owners' house and say "thanks!" If I do that I have three choices: 1) Get back on the bus 2) Buy a new(er) car 3) Repair the Ford The mechanic who installed the Honda's new brake line said more lines are rusty and are going to break, and will need replacing. He's willing to take look at the Ford for free. He thinks $3000 was a high quote for the repair, but admitted that it will still be expensive. I hope to have the credit card balance down to $7000 and in a couple of months I will transfer it back to the LOC (5.5%), before the interest rate on the card goes back up to it's normal 19%....