#mostly to get used to rendering again while I’m stuck in the car for six hours

[paging-possum]

I wanna know how this guy feels about soda

[james-stark-the-writer-wips]

A Year At The Opera - Excerpt

Chapter 11, Part 2: Svetlana

WC: 2900 words. It’s not perfect but it’s here. I hope you like it :)

*

Svetlana

Going back like four days, back to the first day of school, we’re going to catch up on what’s been happening with her. So, Waverly, Sean and the rest had called her for a thing at the park, right? Well, she went home after school, asked her mom if she could go. Anya said yes but only if Svetlana would help her unpack tomorrow and after that, Svetlana drove out to the park. And that’s where we pick up.

Embrace Park was mostly filled with kids at this point, it being the middle of the afternoon and all, but Svetlana found the group standing by the large tree towards the other end of the park.

“You came!” Waverly said, walking up to Svetlana.

“I said I would.” Svetlana said, lightly hugging her. 

“Come on, everyone's waiting.” Waverly grabbed Svetlana's hand dragging her along to the others.

“Hello there.” Sam said, expecting a ‘General Kenobi’ back. His face immediately fell when she didn’t reply back.

“Hey.” Svetlana said. “Alicia isn't here?”

“General Kenobi.” Waverly said to Sam, giving him a quick peck on the nose and making him turn his face to hide the fact that he was blushing.

“No, she and Leo couldn't make it.” Britney chimed in. “She's got a date with her girlfriend who lives over in the next town. Leo never comes out anywhere.”

“Cool.” Svetlana said. “So, like, what do you guys actually do around here?”

“Mostly we just hang out.” Sean said. “Talk about shit like what our days have been like, what's been going on at home or whatever shit we've got going. Think of this as casual group therapy.”

“Isn't group therapy already casual?” She retorted.

Sean chuckled. “Fair enough.”

“So… what do we do now?”

“I guess we talk. Let's get to know each other.” Sean said. 

“Sounds good to me.” Svetlana said. 

The group spent the next few hours talking and complaining about their life and whatever they had going on. They talked about a lot of things I'm not going to go over because they'd literally take hours so I'm just going to cover the highlights. 

First. Britney filled in Svetlana about what happened to Waverly. Turns out, about three years ago, she’d gone on a trip where she’d decided to go swimming in the ocean and almost drowned. Since then, she’d been careful around talk of death and scared to go swimming. It had forced the group to adapt to some colorful expressions to talk about death around Waverly.

After that, the rest of them continued to talk about the mundanities of day to day life. Sam talked about his mom being a bitch, Britney complained about the lack of good looking guys and everyone rolled their eyes, basically telling Svetlana they’d been hearing the same thing for a long while and Waverly complained about her dad not liking Sam. They walked around the park as they talked. And finally, as the sun began to descend, Sean talked about a problem with his mom’s finances.

“She’s just been secretive, you know?” Sean said, “Like she’s trying to keep it from me, like she thinks she can hide it from me.”

“She probably just doesn’t want you to worry.” Sam said.

“Yeah well, it’s not fucking working. I took a peek at the bills yesterday. We might get kicked out, man.”

“You really think they’d evict you?” Waverly asked.

“If we can’t pay the bills, I doubt they have any other choice.”

“What about your dad?” Svetlana asked.

Everyone in the group stared at her awkwardly. Waverly inhaled sharply.

“Well, he left when I was five… so, he’s really not gonna be much help.” Sean said almost cheerily.

Svetlana got quiet. “I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“It’s fine.” Sean said, “It was a long time ago and there was no way you could’ve known.”

“So,” Brtiney stepped in to change the mood. “You’ve heard about our depressing problems, it’s only fair we get to hear yours.”

“Oh I don’t really have problems.” Svetlana brushed it off.

“That literally can’t be true. Everyone has problems.” Sam said.

“No, I swear. Home life is actually pretty good. And so far, so is the rest of everything.”

“You like the town so far?” Sean asked.

“Yep.” Svetlana nodded.

“Okay, so, if you don’t have problems right now, give us your tortured backstory.” Britney placed a firm hand on Svetlana’s shoulder.

“There’s not much to tell.” Svetlana began.

“So, you were born in Russia?” Sam asked inquisitively.

“Not really. Because my grandfather had married an American woman, my parents had come to live with them during the tail end of my birth so I was technically a United States citizen before my parents because I was born here. But, after I was born, my parents left with my grandparents for a year or so before they came back to get me. I spent about six years with them before they also migrated here. But they still have family there so they visit often and I go with them.”

“Cool!” Britney said.

“Not as much as you think.” Svetlana continued. “After we moved here permanently, we lived with my grandparents for a while but they died so we had to move away when I was about ten or eleven. My grandma’s parents really didn’t like us because they’re raging bigtots who think every russian is a communist and didn’t want us staying at the house so we moved to Philly for a bit then my dad got a good job working as a manager and we stayed there for a while and then my dad got a better offer and now we’re here.”

“That’s rough.” Sean said. “But I’m glad it worked itself out.”

“Hey, Sammy, what’s the time?” Britney asked.

“Uh, 6:05.” Sam replied.

“Shit! I have to go or my mom is going to strangle me. Bye!”

“Bye!” Waverly said as Britney ran off into the distance towards her car. 

“We should get going too. It’s getting a bit late.” Sam said turning to Waverly.

“Yeah, we’ll see you both tomorrow then.” She gave Sean a cheeky smile, grabbed Sam’s hand and started to walk away.

“So…” Sean hooked his fingers in his pockets as he and Svetlana continued to walk.

“So…” She bit her lip.

Sean stopped and took in a sharp breath. “Hey, I know this is kinda forward but like, do you wanna go on a date with me?” Sean asked.

Svetlana didn’t know how to respond.

Sean must have noticed her distress because he immediately added, “You don’t have to answer immediately, obviously.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I know it’s weird considering we just met today but its just that…” He let out a sigh. “I’d like to take you out on a proper date and give this a shot before we have to file for bankruptcy.” He laughed to himself.

“Sure, why not?” Svetlana said. This could be fun. If nothing else, she could get a tour around town and the proposition of free food was always fun.

“Cool. How’s friday sound?” He smiled. “I could even give you a proper tour of the town, then.”

“It sounds awesome.” Svetlana said. “But I’m paying. For any services rendered.”

“Any services rendered? Whoo, there. That might cost you.” Sean said sarcastically. “But, jokes aside, if you want to, it’s your prerogative.”

“That’s a big word!” She joked. “What, did you pick up a dictionary today?”

“Ouch.” Sean said. “Word of the day app.”

Svetlana smiled, looking away.

“Here, give me your phone.” Sean said taking out his phone and handing it to Svetlana. She gave him hers. They quickly exchanged numbers and wishing her a quick goodbye, Sean walked away with a large smile stuck on his face.

Svetlana checked the time. It was already close to 6:30 and it was starting to get dark. Time to get home.

-

Svetlana reached home a little later. As the car pulled up to the driveway, the tires slowly dragging along the pathway, she spotted the silhouettes of her parents approaching the door from the living room window. Oh no, the curtains are pulled. The curtains were never pulled in the Petrova household. Not unless there was an emergency.

Fuck. She thought as she opened the car door and got out. Quickly locking it, Svetlana hurried to the door.

“Gde ty byla?” The door opened before Svetlana could get her hands on it and the large, imposing, absolute unit of a figure of Anatoly Petrova stood before her.

“It’s only seven, papa.” Svetlana protested.

“Seven in a new city, dochinka!” The slight russian accent in his voice was in a weird middle ground to Svetlana’s non-existent and Anya’s moderately-heavy russian accent. The accent had certainly faded over the years, and his five years of study here had helped as well but you could still here hints of it on occasion when he was angry or stressed. Perhaps it was an internal instinct to stick with what you knew.

“Can I come in? It’s freezing out here.” She rubbed her arms and Anatoly let out a protesting grumble but moved aside to let her in.

“Where were you?” Anatoly asked again.

“I made friends.” She replied, walking into the living room. “They invited me to hang with them at the park.” 

“You could’ve called, Sveta!”

She looked over her shoulder just enough to see Anatoly in her periphery as she removed her phone from her low cut jeans and threw it on the couch. “I lost track of time. It won’t happen again.” She stated calmly. Fortunately, Anatoly was prone to freaking out about little things so Svetlana wasn’t worried much.

Anatoly walked in front of her to talk to her but before he could get another word out, Anya’s voice came from behind Svetlana. “We’ve been worried sick!” Anya’s tone was sharp and accusatory.

Svetlana turned to face her. Anatoly rolled his eyes. Anya continued, “Especially after what happened at your father’s job today and right on the first day too. This isn’t a good sign, devushka.”

“Whoa whoa. Stop.” Svetlana’s expression grew serious. “What happened at papa’s job?”

“You didn’t hear?” Anya asked innocently.

“It’s a little accident, don’t worry about it.” Anatoly said. “These things happen.” Unfortunately, Anatoly was also prone to making small things of big issues.

“What happened?” Svetlana asked again.

“A little accident? People are dead, Anatoly.” Anya spat.

“Whoa!” Svetlana stopped Anya. “Can you both just tell me what happened?”

“It is a massive radioaktivnoye leak.” Anya said. “Your father’s been cleaning up the mess all day.”

Svetlana turned to Anatoly. “God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He reassured her. “I’ve just been trying to contain the situation all day. Thankfully the media haven’t caught wind of it yet.”

“But are you okay?”

“Yes, yes. The leak was taken care of quickly and the radiation was contained quickly. Somehow one of the tanks sprung a leak and flowed out but it didn’t do much damage to any important equipment. Ended up killing eight people though.”

Svetlana had to do a double take to even process how casually Anatoly said that.

“I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Have to get to work early tomorrow.” Anatoly said before turning to Svetlana and letting out a quick yawn. “And if you’re gonna be late, call before.”

“Yeah.” Svetlana nodded.

Anatoly climbed the stairs and made his way to his room.

“Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” Anya placed a warm hand on Svetlana’s back and guided her to the kitchen.

-

The next few days passed in relative silence. With the school closed for a while and not much to do, Svetlana spent the days helping Anya unpack and binging shows and movies and Youtube video essays about those shows and movies. But, time flew by and it was officially friday. The big date was here.

And, right on time, the bike arrived out Svetlana’s house.

“Mama, I’m leaving!” Svetlana shouted grabbed her jacket and reaching for the door. 

“Don’t be too late!” Anya shouted back.

“I’ll call if I’m gonna be late.” Svetlana said before exiting the house. 

Sean turned the key in the bike and shook his head to straighten his hair that had been tousled up by the wind.

Svetlana quickly jogged up to him.

“Ready?” He asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” She quickly answered.

She was certainly excited to be going on this little date but more than that she was really excited to be on that bike. It looked like a beauty, the sun glimmering off it’s glossy paint. The seat wasn’t too low which was comfortable for Svetlana’s tall 5’7 figure.

“Get on then.” Sean smirked.

“Where are we going?”

“I guess you’ll find out soon enough.” Sean said. “Grab on tight, we’re going fast.”

A smile crept on his face as Svetlana got on and put her hands on his shoulders.

“Here we go.” The bike sped off into the sunset.

-

As the sun flared behind them in the distance, Svetlana and Sean arrived at their destination about ten minutes later. 

“So,” Sean said, parking the bike. “Welcome to Chester’s: the supreme hangout spot for literally everyone and the best milkshakes in the state with pancakes to rival Rose’s, over in Tenebris.” His tone resembled an overenthusiastic advertisement.

“Well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” Svetana said quickly running a hand through her hair to straighten the rebellious blond strands that had flown everywhere as they flew through city traffic at high speed.

“Let’s head in then. You will never have milkshakes like this anywhere.” Sean said, stuffing the keys in his pocket.

“Thats’s going to be a hard challenge, I’ve had milkshakes at Vinny’s.” Vinny’s, as you probably know, is regarded to have some of the best milkshakes in the world.

“Well, I’m sure they can’t compare as far as taste.” Sean walked towards the door and opened it, letting Svetlana go in first.

“Ah, a gentleman, I see.” Svetlana joked.

“Perfect behavior.” Sean replied perfectly seriously, walking in with her.

“How delectable.” Svetlana muttered under her breath.

The sound of the bell above the door subsided as Sean turned to Svetlana. “So, where do you wanna sit?”

“Well, you’re the expert, where’s the best seats in the house?”

“That would be the far left booth but unfortunately, it seems to be taken.” Sean pointed at the booth.

Svetlana saw Mason sitting with Ingram, instantly identified with his fiery red hair, while the ‘Manic Pixies’ as Britney had called them, stood talking to the boys.

“So,” Sean continued, “Best seats in the house are probably going to be the second booth on the right.”

“Lead the way!” Svetlana said. 

But even as they walked, Svetlana couldn’t stop thinking about Ingram.

As they slid into the booth, she turned around for a quick glance at him. They were still talking to the girls.

“So, what do you want to eat?” Sean asked.

Svetlana smiled at her and whispered a quick thank you before turning back to Sean. “Well, what milkshake would you say is the best?” She looked over the menu.

“I’m biased but I’d personally take the strawberry. But, you know, chocolate chip is never a bad choice if that’s your thing.”

“Nope. Strawberry sounds good to me.”

“Great! Anything to eat?”

“I’m just gonna have some fries but you can get whatever you want. Or we could get a large fires and split it.”

“Shakes and fries? Sounds godawful.”

“FYI, It’s actually delicious. Chester always puts more salt on mine because he knows I love them and they go amazingly well with the fresh, fruity, sweet milkshakes.”

“Alright, if you say so. But I’m also getting a burger to go with those fries.”

“Cool.” He said. “Hey, Arlene!” He called out and the waitress from before quickly hurried over.

“Yep?” Arlene took out her notepad.

“Alright, so, two strawberry milkshakes, go heavy on the whipped cream, a little extra sweet. A side of large fries, half curly, half plain, extra salt and a burger for the lady right here.”

“Got it.” She quickly rattled off the order back to them to confirm it and then hurried off behind the counter. 

“And now we wait.” Sean muttered under his breath.

Svetlana’s eyes drifted off her menu to the Pixies who were starting to walk away.

“Hey,” She asked, “You mind if I go check up on him? I didn’t really get a chance to see how he is.” The words flowed out without a second thought.

“Uh, sure.” Sean said, visibly tensing up. “We have some time to kill before the food comes anyway.”

And Svetlana realized what she’d done.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m stupid. It’s rude.” She quickly said. Ugh, she couldn’t believe she’d been this stupid. God, she couldn’t even imagine how poor Sean felt. He must’ve felt she was ditching him.

“No, I swear, it’s fine. I have to call my mom anyway.” He said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” He said but he was still tensed up.

“I’ll be right back.” She was already off the seat before beginning that sentence and making her way to Ingram Shaw.

*

[runionnayrb]

How to Move and Do What You Want

When I was about nine years old, my parents decided to move my family of six across the country from Placentia, California to Hot Springs, Arkansas--quite a different place for anyone making the transition, but definitely for a nine year old who didn't exactly understand what was happening when my parents first told me about the move. It seemed exciting and new, so of course, I was happy to be on the road trekking 1600 miles from what I called home. For most of my childhood as an Arkansas resident, after the "honeymoon phase" of it all faded away, I loathed having to be there. So much, in fact, I promised myself to move away from Arkansas because it didn't have what I really wanted: a big city, the hustle, and bustle with all of the sounds and people it had to offer. Don't get me wrong, my childhood was fine. I didn't experience anything out-of-the-ordinary (other than southern accents, Republicans, and crazy Christian people who would try to scare me into following Jesus Christ).

All of that aside, I moved back to California when I was nineteen years old with my car full of stuff and a huge heart full of ambition. I wish I could say I had help from friends and family to aid in my journey to become my own person, but unfortunately, I didn't come from a well off family with even an ounce of being close to being a wealthy family. What we had was for necessity and everything extra was up to me to provide for myself including my car, cell phones (when they came around), gas, food money, etc, etc. I learned to work for what I wanted and that it wouldn't be handed to me like some more fortunate people. I feel like my having to work to provide for myself created the drive I have today to make it happen, no matter what blocks me from getting there. Just ten short months later, I made the difficult decision to move back to Arkansas on the last few hundred dollars I had. It was a combination of not having enough money to do anything except go to work and back, being lonely, and feeling hopeless. My time there from July 2009 to May 2010 taught me so much about myself, my limits and what I wanted to do, or rather what I didn't want to do and how to evaluate who I was as an individual. I still had a lot to learn and still do even today.

When I arrived back in Arkansas, I decided to give myself a fresh start in a different city other than where I had grown up and gone to school. I really disliked living in Hot Springs--it is a small tourist town where people get stuck there; they don't leave. I didn't want to be one of those people. After moving, I didn't feel like a failure deciding to move back because I wasn't in a position where I had to move back like I was homeless or about to be evicted. It was a choice. I took a pretty decent job as a manager at a local fast food chain and got my own place. I began to work a lot of hours. After a few months, I decided to leave the job due to the long days and lack of compensation to make up for the job.

I took a series of several serving jobs over the next few years until, in 2011, my car stopped working--it literally broke down at a stop light and I had to push it off the road. With no way to get to my job, which was at least 5-10 miles away from where I lived, I had to quit the job and find something closer to me. Luckily, I was positioned quite well to succeed. My apartment and the new job I found, which was a local coffee shop that also served a full breakfast and lunch menu, had everything I needed in between. The grocery store, bank, and gym were all in between my 10-15 minute walk from home to work every day. I lucked out! I continued to work at the coffee shop for about a year. Coming up to the end of working there, I had gone to a local car dealership, which was also near my apartment, to see if I could afford to get a used car to be able to get around easier. My mother was gracious enough to help me co-sign for the car. I had a car again, a newer car, probably the best car I had every owned up until this point in my life. Over the past few months, I had really started to resent my job, mostly because of the lack of joy I was getting out of going to work early each morning or staying late at the end of the night. The owners weren't as supportive in the operation of their business as I had hoped or maybe I just didn't see their support for what it was. Either way, I really wanted to go back to school since I wasn't able to continue school while living in California. I owed a few hundred bucks to the school because I didn't take enough hours to make me eligible for financial aid, rendering the costs as out-of-pocket, which I definitely didn't have at the time. My account was put on hold and there I was.

So, I worked my ass off to pay off the fees to get my transcript released so I could transfer to a school nearby, get my financial aid up and running again and go back to school. I worked hard, picking up hours, staying late, anything I could to make extra money to pay off the fees. I was finally able to pay them off in April 2012. I registered for full-time summer classes and made straight As--something I had never done up until that point. The classes I took replaced low grades with higher grades to raise my GPA and then I transferred to The University of Arkansas at Little Rock where I graduated in May 2016 with a Bachelor's in Theatre Arts.

In the last year of my undergraduate studies, I was contemplating what I wanted to do after school. As a stage manager, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in stage management, but I didn't quite know how to go about it. I wrote my mentor and chair of the department to help me through the process. He guided me to several professional internship programs and graduate school options. The longer I began to research the two very different options, I was led to pursue grad school more eagerly than the other. I still applied to a few internships and got calls for interviews--after I had already been accepted to grad school. I was accepted into The University of California, San Diego for their Masters in Stage Management program. It is a huge honor and very competitive program. Some days, I still cannot believe I'm in grad school.

Once my wife and I knew we were moving to San Diego, we had 6 months to save money, sell things, pack things, figure out our moving situation in order to get out to San Diego and find a place to live once we arrived. Because I am really great a budgeting and saving money, I created a budget and found places for us to cut and how to maximize our earnings so we could have some money set aside for us once we got to San Diego. We used a moving company called U-Pack, which is a place where you pack your stuff into a trailer or cube and the company ships it to wherever you are moving. We saved over $1,000 using their service. We were able to use those savings to go towards our fuel, food, and lodging.

The lessons I've learned from the time my family moved from California to Arkansas are embedded in my personal skills, a knack for budgeting, and go-getter attitude. Those experiences are what shaped me to be able to go after what I really wanted to do in addition to my parents and family being supportive about what I was dreaming about. You can move and do what you want, too! Take a look at some tips below for how to get started. To learn more about my tips or to get advice, feel free to contact me!

5 Quick Tips to Help Make Your Move Successful!

1. Planning is essential in order to make a successful move.

If you are thinking about moving to a new place, especially to a place where the cost of living is considerably higher, creating a plan for how, when and who will be coming along with you is essential to making your move as smoothly as possible.

When planning, figure:

the difference in your income where you are now and where you will be moving,

the difference in cost of the expenditures you currently have and what they will be in your new destination, especially rent, parking, insurance, and fuel cost. Most other costs won't be affected by much. Even the items I listed may not be affected at all.

Plan your spending habits in order to maximize savings. Saving money is hard enough, but when you are trying to move, you have to go into survival mode. Think about anything you have in your budget that is extraneous and is unnecessary such as a Spotify premium account, Netflix, the best level of the internet, going out to eat, etc. Many of these things seem like must-haves these days, but hearing/watching commercials or eating out are not things you need. If you really want to save money, you'll have to sacrifice the small things to save big!

How are you going to move your stuff? Are you going to get an old-fashioned Uhaul and make stops as you go? Are you going to fly and ship your stuff? When my wife and I moved across the country, we were asking ourselves the exact same question. We ended up going with upack, a great company that will ship your stuff for you after you pack the items by either drop-off or pick-up.

See more in "Budgeting can maximize your savings" into the right places below.

2. Researching will give you insight and smart decision-making.

Take some time to research where you want to move. Start with where the city is located. What other cities are around it? Is there a hot tourist attraction around? What's the weather like?

Look into the cost of living by doing a basic Google search. Be sure to look at rent, utilities, fuel, groceries, transportation, etc.

Does your new city have public transportation? Is it good? Is it affordable?

What do people on forums like trip advisor, yelp, google maps, and other third party websites say about the atmosphere and condition of the city?

3. Make a list of goals.

Goal setting is one of the most valuable assets you can have when planning a move.

How much do you want to spend on moving expenses?

How much do you want to save?

How much to you need to save?

When do you want to get certain moving goals done?

Do you want to get rid of unwanted stuff? If so, how will you do it?

Make realistic deadlines for you to reach your goals. If you know you are unable to save $5,000 in six months, don't make it a goal. Maybe you can save $500 in six months. That's ok.

Making goals can really bring the process of moving into perspective in terms of whether it is feasible for you in 6 months or a year from now.

4. Budgeting can maximize your savings into the right places.

Figure out how much money you're bringing in then figure how much money you are spending, not including credit cards. Once you figure those numbers out, subtract your spending from your income and that is your excess (or net) income. It is what you are able to save each money. You might be asking yourself, what about my credit cards?

If you are not using your credit for you, but against you, here are 2 helpful pointers. This will also allow you to eliminate your credit card payment while building your credit and freeing up your money to save.

"Pay your credit cards off" each month. What I really mean is pay your statement balance off every month. Credit interest is calculated every 30 days or each at the close of each statement period (30 days). If you pay your credit cards' statement balance off, you don't pay interest. Pay your payments ON TIME. I would recommend having it be an auto-payment.

Once you pay your credit card bill(s), use your credit cards to pay for what you need such as gas, groceries, bills, etc. etc. By using your credit cards in this way, it "eliminates your credit card bill," since you are paying the statement balance. It doesn't actually eliminate your credit card bill, but instead of paying the minimum and having it be another expense to your budget, you are paying the balance on the account and turning around to use the available credit on the account without adding the amount of the minimum payment. If you use your credit cards in this manner, then the amounts you would pay for a minimum payment on your accounts can then be rolled into savings each month.

Once you figure out what you can save each month, make it a goal to save a certain amount by a certain time. Try breaking up how much you need to save daily, weekly and monthly to give yourself more specific goals, depending on what your spending habits are currently.

Evaluate your spending habits. What are you currently spending money on that you can eliminate for the time being? Roll those $5 a month you might be spending on Spotify or Apple Music. $5 adds up over a year, not by much, but add it to other small savings and you could increase your savings by $250 or more!

5. Don't second guess yourself.

The biggest mistake I hear people making when they are talking about wanting to move or do something they want to do, it's they aren't sure they can even do it! You must believe you can do the things you want. If you take my advice for how to move and do what you want, you will be able to achieve your goals, budget, save money, use credit wisely and do what you want!

Share your thoughts with friends and family, but don't let them talk you out of your goals. Sometimes, you have to take risks to grow. Chances are if you want to move from where you are, you need a change. Take a risk!

The only reason you are not moving to where you want to live or doing what you want is you. You have to decide it is what you want and go after it. Make it work and never give up.

If you liked this article, give it a like and share! More to come!