Money SUCKS!!

Everything in the world today has a price. To pay for an item, you use money. I'm going into my senior year of high school, and everything I need or want costs money; money that I don't have. I've heard this saying before, but never really thought about it before now: "Every penny counts."


First off, let me give you an overview of my life so far. I've been living away from my parents for a good two months now, and it's been GREAT (for the most part)! The only problem is the expenses I have to pay, with my own money. In the spring, my jobs included tutoring, refereeing soccer games, and maintaining palmersoccer.org. Tutoring paid $30/week, until the schoolyear ended. Reffing paid a minimum of $24/game. I would get a handful of games each week, until I pissed off the ----- president by doing my job (but that's a different story), and then the season ended. I maintain the ------ ------ ----------- website for $25/month, but only get paid when the treasurer actually shows up to the meetings (I'll cover this later on as you read). Now, I only recieve the $25/month and have to scramble around looking for small jobs that will help me pay for food for the week. Sometimes I'll get lucky and my parents will give me $40 towards gorceries, and other times they won't. As you can see, I'm really really tight on cash right now. Which doesn't help me since I'm trying to save up for a soccer camp before my high school season starts, college, and a car when I get my license this August.


My entire life, I think I've only been to a few soccer camps. And that was when I wasn't a big fan of the sport. Eventually, the camps moved out of my hometown and it would take about a half-hour in a car to arrive at the location. My parents got tired of it and said the camps were too far away, so I couldn't go. This year, getting into a soccer camp is EXTREMELY important! I'm going to be one of the captains for my high school varsity team, so I really need to take my game to the next level. I've found a camp in Milford, MA, that will focus specifically on defensive play. I really want to go to this camp so I can be the best sweeper (last line of defense before goalie, for those soccer-illiterate people) Pathfinder's ever had. I'm working my butt off for a soccer scholarship that will help pay for college. I can't get this kind of experience on my own. I would benefit extremely from working with professional trainers that know exactly what they're doing. Since I'm only getting $25/month, can't find another job in the area, and am spending all my money on groceries, I asked my mom if they could pay for me to go to a soccer camp. She said no, and that I should've been saving up my own money. I've wanted to go to soccer camps for all these years, and each year was told no. My little brother asks to go to some mad-scientist camp or the camp they hold at Pathfinder, and they say yes. He's driven to karate tournaments out in the middle of nowhere, where he has to pay to enter and my parents have to pay to watch him. I've never been driven to ANY tournaments, and when I wanted to play indoor soccer in Northampton, I was told it was too far away. This is my final year to have any chance at earning a soccer scholarship; I ask for money to pay for a soccer camp, and I get turned down. I then pointed out that I've lived with the Cousineau family for less than two months and they've already bought me tickets to a New England Revolution game. Heck, it could've been tickets to ANY soccer game! My parents have never done that, and they know soccer consumes most of my life! I eat, sleep, and breath soccer! My mom told me it's because they actually like soccer and my parents don't. Ouch :-(. "Every penny counts."


Looks like I won't be paying for college with a soccer scholarship. I guess I'll hope that the military will help pay for college (Air Force or National Guard), along with all the academic scholarships I'll be earning. I sure hope thats enough! "Every penny counts."


Now, about the car... I went to Palmer Auto School for driver's ed during Christmas vacation back in 2007. I got my permit in January, 2008. Since then, I called PAS a few times a week, trying to schedule on-road lessons. They never returned my calls. I then went down to Louisianna for the 2008 summer to live with my aunt and uncle. I should've had my license that summer! When I got back up to MA, I heard that PAS was going down, financially. Eventually, they took everyone's money, filed for bankruptcy, and ran. So now I've finally scheduled my 12 on-roads with Belmont Driving School. They begin at the end of July and go until August 12. It's $30/on-road, and I have no idea how I'm going to get the money for them! I'll have to do a bunch of small jobs for a lot of different people. Then, I need to save up for my own vehicle, because I need some way to get to Foxborough for my Revolution game! This is going to be challenging... As I said before, "Every penny counts."


Remember when I said my only current job is working for ------ ------ -----------? That job only pays $25/month, and I only get paid when the treasurer shows up to the monthly meeting. Now, a little about ---. I maintain the website, and I also coach and participate in the fundraising activities. I'm currently in charge of setting up a fundraiser game for the fall. But managing the website is the only paying-position. So I'm spending all my extra time working for ---, and I don't expect to get paid one penny. But the least they could do is show me a little respect! I'm a Goal Club member, so I can get discounted items from soccer.com. I brought up, one meeting, that we could be ordering equipment and uniforms using my account through soccer.com and it would probably cost less than what we do now. The president of --- tells me that it's not their business and I'd have to take it up with the equipment manager. I can't take it up with the equipment manager if she NEVER shows up to the board meetings! Last night, we had a board meeting. And ofcourse, neither the treasurer nor the equipment manager show up, so I don't know why I'm even there. We begin the meeting by the president introducing ---- ----, saying that he's going to help us with the --- website. This irritated me because I've been telling them for a year that the website was crap and I could create one once our contract with ------------ expired! Plus, I've looked at his sites and picked up where he left off on a job, and everything is CRAP!! I got an email this morning that included ----'s conversation with the president of ------ ------. In it, I found that I was referred to as some high school kid. It's like, I HAVE A NAME!! But back to last night... A little while after ---- ---- left, -------- (president) asked if anyone would volunteer to help out with the fall fundraiser. I raised my hand and said "sure." She said, "Oh you would!?" as if it were some kind of joke. She then asked if anyone ELSE would like to work on the fundraiser. The board member that we had just voted onto the board raised her hand and said she'd like to help. -------- writes down her name and then moves on to the next topic. So overall, I'm working my butt off for this organization, and they show me NO respect in return! I was told I should quit because they don't appreciate me and they don't take me seriously. The only problem with quitting is I won't be able to coach anymore and I won't be getting the $25/month. And like I said, every penny counts.


I HATE MONEY!! MONEY SUCKS!!!




*** I don't want anyone finding this and flipping out at me, so I've ---'ed some of the names. ***