first world problems of the ridiculous order

I was in the kitchen the other day playing doing important nutrition-related research on our new breadmaker, while the JB was in the living-room playing making vital technical adjustments to the new flatscreen TV, when these things occurred to me:

• We now have two fewer reasons to Get Out (I refer to the flicks. See also: Trips to bakery)

• We are now officially bourgeois.

While clearly a thing to celebrate, (I know, I know, I DO REALISE) the social mobility afforded by the husband's meteoric rise to fame default, civil servant-style promotion (Oh, you're still here. Well. Look, have some more cash.) it has provoked some reconfiguring of the mental furniture. I've been a starving artist for so long, it's ingrained to the point where it's part of me. I like to live in the grittier parts of town, with the "real" people, for instance. (No, I don't even know what I mean by this. Are South-Siders made of plastic? Are they trained monkeys? Are they?). Should we now give in to the forces of the market,  move to a leafy suburb and start listening to country music? Also, how will this work henceforth given that thus far we've been a fifty/fifty type of couple? His salary may be enlarged, but mine is still the familiar runty one it has been lo these many years. If he says: Let's get a Mercedes/an indoor gym/some tickets to Paris/whatever mysterious things well-off people do, do I repressively shake my head like some sort of puritan?

I accept this makes me as odd as two left shoes, of course. But any virtual kicks up the arse/advice/comparing of notes, anyone on this the eve of the new year?

I will return tomorrow, brain fog permitting, for resolutions and good wishes. Though I quite like the new page feel of the first day of the year, I am not really one for what I (would, wouldn't I) see as the enforced jollity of New Year Eve (Insert repressive, puritan head-shake.) - it brings out the melancholy in me. Maybe it's that I simply hate saying goodbye, even to years? The beginning of the academic year fits me better as a starting point, and it's the beginning of the autumn which I love, being of the Reverse SAD disposition.

But you lovely, normal, healthy, people do Have The Fun! I'll be in the back room with the lights off,* drinking cocoa and eating jaffa cakes.**

T

*Only joking! I am going to a partay!
**My mother gave us a YARD of these. (People not of these shores, they are a very sweet spongy biscuit with a jelly-like orange filling. (Well, orange flavour, anyway. I doubt if any natural ingredients are allowed in a Jaffa Cake. It would be improper.) And a chocolate coating.) And since the JB believes the chocolate/orange combo is a thing of the divil, every inch is MINE ALL MINE.
MINE I TELL YOU.

 

Comments

[bunny]

You have a sweet that comes by the yard? MY, you people are strange. My preferred choc-orange combo is the chocolate orange, which comes shaped like an orange, with a sticker on the top that says "whack and unwrap", and when you whack it, it turns into segments that are molded to look like REAL orange segments. I once stuck the whack and unwrap sticker to myself, and then thought better of it.

My husband makes enormous amounts of money. While I now make a normal amount for a highly educated person, when in grad school I was extremely hand to mouth, and it was awkward. We split things like rent and bills, but I had to let go of saying no to things I couldn't afford, like fancy dinners. And when we got married, I gave up on 50/50. As a result I live in a beautiful house. Hurrah! It's fun to be a kept woman.

Welcome to the bourgeoisie. It's nice here, and we have good things to eat. Sure, comfort kills art, but hey. You can live off your archives for a while.

[bunny]

Oh, and Happy The New Year!

[Dr Spouse]

Jaffa cakes are a biscuit, but they do indeed come by the yard. Mmmmm...
I now earn more than Mr Spouse, it's slightly odd as before we earned the same, but you tend to forget about it. We tend to save more than we did and be a bit more random about spending on travel. Oh and adoption. Big money sink!

[Andie]

JAFFA CAKES! I LOVE jaffa cakes! Such thing is no longer available to be found in Australia given that all the food companies were bought by US conglomerates who don't understand such things. Am also partial to those chocolate oranges that Bunny speaks of...Terry's Chocolate Oranges?

Not sure what to say about your new found bourgeoisie, except that glad the JB is doing well. I like Bunny's advice.

We don't usually do much for New Year, although last night we deviated from tradition and in fact said goodbye/hello (it was a busy year) and had a glass of wine or two. Then we watched Graham Norton and went to bed at 10pm, because we are old and boring.

Wishing you all the best for this coming year, Twangy dear.

[a]

It's New Year's Eve. I expect to be heartily snoring off my champagne by 11:30 at the latest! We shall see - part of the problem is that we don't have a local show with a midnight countdown, so there's no reason to stay up. I can watch New York welcome in the New Year at 11. We could have gone to my SILs for snacks and games, but...no thank you.

I used to make more than my husband. Then he made more. Now we'd probably be close to even, if he were working full time. But since he's not, I make more...and that bothers him sometimes. I don't care. We're definitely bourgeois, I suppose, but we live like we're poor most of the time. There are a few things we must have (computers, internet, TVs (but no special cable or satellite service), sometimes food), but it's best if we can get those things at a deep discount. :)

[Valery]

Ah, the money... First I made tons and DP not enough and I shopped at Aldi so we both could save. Then he got a nicer job in Amsterdam and we would go out for dinner more. Now I'm not consulting anymore I only make half of what he does. But still have savings. That we will put in the new house. But I think I'll never be able to spend money like water flows from a tap. No matter how much or little we have.
Hoping you will have adoption and child to spend all that money on soon. I vote for this year for you!!

[Bionic]

Ugh, poor old chocolate, contaminated with orange like that. You can have whatever yardage might be my share by bloodright.

We do not by any stretch make much money, but Sugar has always made more than I do (hence the name). Things got easier between us when we just put everything in the same pot, so I could stop fretting. Don't know why it took us so long.

Congratulations to JB on the raise and the fine taste in confections!