What Whitney Wants To Say #6

Apparently September starts this week and with no evidence to the contrary, I’m forced to accept it. Just yesterday I was in Punta Cana getting ate up by horseflies and now it’s almost Halloween?! Insane. Anyway let’s get into it:

• For about 8 years now, I’ve been celebrating Whitney Day bi-annually, usually once in the Summer and once in the Fall. To elaborate, Whitney Day is a day in which I take myself on a day long date and do whatever I want for that entire day but I have to a) travel somewhere for that day and b) eat whatever I want. In college I would go into the city, walk around Chinatown for hours, and spend too much on really average Boba. Now, my Whitney Days usually consist of me going to New York to pretend I live there by walking everywhere really fast, which is always fun for me. However, this time I wanted things to be a little different. Instead of giving myself a loose schedule for what I wanted to do, I planned everything meticulously down to the minute. I really let my worst neurotic tendencies fly and it just improved the trip so much. There is something so satisfying about being right on schedule and correctly anticipating how fast you walk and how long you eat. I was also able to include more in my day including eating the best bao buns and spam musubi of my life at Dragon Fest 2023 and seeing Sweeney Todd on Broadway starring the incomparable Josh Groban (side note: if you ever grew up listening to 91.9 WGTS you know how big a deal it was to see Josh Groban live 7-year-old Whitney would be gagged). I also made myself a cute little flyer for my trip on Canva which I highly recommend doing. I also recommend taking a day for yourselves if you can. It’s a good way to decompress from everything and if you’re like me, you can find ways to make it cheap (I got my Amtrak tickets months in advance and picked horrible times so it came out to $51 round trip)!

• Y’all see gas prices sneaking back up right? They must think we’re stupid.

• Lately I’ve been bombarded with emails from Edfinancial about my “upcoming student loan payment”. Huh? What is that? Do they really think I’m about to open up my coffers for them? It has literally been years since they even asked, clearly they don’t need that money back and they should be ashamed even bringing it back up. According to CNBC, 56% of borrowers will have to choose between paying their loans or buying GROCERIES and 45% of borrowers expect their loans to go delinquent. Loans, mind you, that would’ve never been taken had the price of higher education not skyrocketed out of control. These loans also have insane interest rates that all but guarantee that the vast majority of us will pay forever and never even make a dent in the principal. So why? Why even bother? I don’t blame anyone from opting out.

• I finally started my book. Like actual words on paper. I’m so proud but the problem is I want it to be Pulitzer Prize level right out of the gate and it’s just not giving that. Honestly, it’s not giving at all but I’m having a good time. I’m trying to accept the fact that my first book will probably be mid but as a former over-achiever I’m really struggling with that. Would y’all still get a copy even if it sucks be honest?