The Reckonynge

I just completed my financial aid application stuff for PA school. I also recently took stock of everything I've spent so far in my college career. Wow. That's a lot of double cheeseburgers, people.

Let me put it this way... what I spent on my original undergrad degree -- which covers the roll of fin-aid derived quarters that fueled an all-day "Rampage" marathon at the junior college, all the way to the diploma the U of MN printed with my name spelled wrong -- is about equal to what a 2003 Mercedes SL would run me today, on eBay Motors.

Last year's post-bacc adventure, meanwhile, with the rolling green vistas and the continual looming threat of failure, more than doubled that. The new portion of the loan total ups the ante by a approximately the cost of, for example, this Maserati Spyder or this Dodge Viper RT/10.

And am I deterred? Am I overwhelmed? Hell, no! I need to keep going. Eventually, a year's pay will come close to what I owe in loans, and at that point, in theory, there's a way to make decent payments while still enjoying the perks that come with a decent income level. And anyway, flippin' burgers won't feed this here bulldog, nossir.

So what I just signed up for is another vintage 1967 Dodge Dart Magnum or, for something a little more fun, TWO brand-new BMW R1200 motorcycles.

Of course, by the time you click these, the prices are likely to have shot way up. I would merely respond that I worked in the financial aid division of a grad school for long enough to feel okay about that, as an expression of how much this crap costs.