It’s Friday! It’s Payday! And even though paying my bills today wiped out most of my paycheck, I had some cash to spend on myself. So here’s what I did with one of the $20s that I got out of the ATM.

(1) Hollywood Video – rented 4 videos for $4 (and tax). This week’s movies will be Bringin’ Down the House, Under the Tuscan Sun, Stickmen, and, starring the new Doctor Who, 28 Days Later.

(2) Krogers – bought a package of No Pudge Fudge Brownies ($3 and a bit) to make elsaf and judiang for next weekend. (Alas, they sell out so fast, there was only the one package. Hoping to get some packages to give the girls for their own brownies.)

(3) BW3’s – supper and conversation with co-workers at our favorite haunt. For a chicken tender wrap (with Captain Morgan Sauce), 2 legs w/ Thai sauce, and water: $9.

(4) Newton School Gym – $4 to get into the HS play. Tonight’s production was Cheaper By The Dozen. It was fun to watch and the kids did a great job. The majority of the cast were students of mine, and the others either were or will be. I laughed often and loud. I’m never worried about laughing in public. Indeed, it’s crucial to have a good laugher at a high school comedy production – gets the rest of the audience laughing too when they realize it’s OK to do so. At least, that’s what dad told me when I was in the school play. And you know? He was right. Half of the cast thanked me afterwards for my laughter – they said they could tell it was me. Indeed, some of them asked if they could pay for me to come again to tomorrow night’s performance. (Considering we relied upon my dad to get folks laughing when I was in the play, it’s good to see I inherited his Loud Laugh gene.)

Actually, I should have paid $5 for the play, but I’d heard the kids bandy the $4 price during school. Silly me didn’t think that this was the student price until just before getting to the door of the gym… I’d only brought the last $4 from the $20 bill… Still, the boys taking the money figured I was good for it. As a staff member, I can get into any school run event for free, but I usually pay anyhoo. I’ll give Jared and Stephanie (the directors) the extra buck on Monday.

So how did I get to the school? The usual answer is “walked” but as I was leaving my place, 3 senior girls invited me to go with them. (One of my seniors lives across the street and the other two were picking her up as I was going.) I think this is only the third time I’ve ridden with students – not including my cousin Deanna or her friends. The first time was a wild ride from one store parking lot to another by one of the craziest kids I had at Eaton. The second time was in another Eaton student’s purple VW bug (cool car!)

I had brought my umbrella (the one with the London Underground map on it) with me and was able to walk home in the light drizzle.

A nice evening, all in all! And only for $20!