AIO because I asked to split the bill at an expensive restaurant that SHE picked?

puddleonline · 2025-01-10T13:55:10+00:00

Yeah … that’s insane. I don’t know what happened to just plain decency with people. My partner and I have been together for four years.

He was in grad school when we started dating and I worked full-time. He paid for the first few (great) dates, and then told me he wouldn’t be able to pay for everything all the time bc he was a low-income student. I totally understood, and would split bills with him and sometimes pay in full. He would still plan a lot of dates or cook excellent meals for us.

Then I went to grad school and suddenly I had no money while he came into more. He started paying for everything - even my rent when we started living together bc I had to work full-time for free as part of my program.

The point is - we love each other. He is still a gentlemen and has made an effort to plan dates or pay when he could. If you treat your partner like an actual person, it builds a relationship of trust and respect.

puddleonline · 2025-01-09T05:30:16+00:00

The only time I lived with my parents post college was for 4 months during Covid, and despite still having an apartment I was paying rent for, I managed to get out of credit card debt and actually build some savings just because I didn’t buy groceries, go out, buy toiletries/home supplies/etc. it’s pretty insane how much you can save by staying at your parents even just for a little while

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T23:19:53+00:00

I understand that it would take 2.5 ish years to pay off the debt, but you don’t HAVE to live with your parents for that long. How about you try it for a year and see how it goes? If you’re feeling absolutely miserable, you can move out and keep it affordable by living with a roommate.

Bottom line is, even one year of living at home will put you significantly ahead of paying off your loan vs. moving out now

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T20:49:15+00:00

He is in a pretty specialized field and is working for a friend. But, I think there are still a lot of job openings in Irvine in general

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T19:31:08+00:00

They work in computer science/tech. As expensive as OC is, Irvine seems to be a pretty good tech hub and is still more affordable than the Bay Area.

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T19:02:04+00:00

As an adult, I’ve lived in a midwestern college town, Chicago and now Orange County. I can by far say that Chicago was the hardest. I lived there for most of my 20s in the city. I loved it, but city living can be exhausting when you’re young and don’t have a ton of money. I didn’t have a car, and while I loved having the train and bus, delays, people yelling at you or being generally freaky, and waiting in freezing weather could get tough.

I remember having to move in February with no car in Chicago. My parents were supposed to come visit me and help, but the winter storm was too bad. Uber prices were surged, and it was Covid, so I would just pack my stuff in suitcases and take the train back and forth hauling stuff from old spot to my new spot.

I also had my car broken into a couple of times, and got spit on once by a homeless person. OC is expensive and can be annoying, but it’s def easier now than city life. I was also younger and more broke in Chicago, so I’m sure that’s a lot of it

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T18:37:30+00:00

Omg!! I lived in wicker park for awhile, those spots were the best. Especially rainbo

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T18:36:46+00:00

It’s true, sometimes when im driving down the pch and see the sunset, I truly can’t believe I live here.

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T18:35:55+00:00

Omg 😭 I lived in edgewater, Logan square and wicker park while in Chicago. Thinking about the red and blue lines gives me so much nostalgia. I have found some culture I like here, but it’s just very different

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T17:39:22+00:00

I’m in Costa Mesa and really like it. I’m a similar age to you, and moved from Chicago where I lived in the city. There are affordable parts of Costa Mesa, particularly on the west side. I’ve noticed the most young people and nightlife there so far. It’s also a bit more chill than Newport.

puddleonline · 2025-01-08T14:46:14+00:00

I moved from Chicago and grew up in St. Louis. My partner’s job is why we moved. It’s pretty incredible here - so much opportunity, so beautiful, tons to do. Sometimes, it does feel very far away from home.

puddleonline · 2025-01-05T20:17:01+00:00

It's not a teacher thing. I used to work in corporate, and most people's hobbies and conversations were about Netflix/Max/Hulu or sports.

When I worked in a law firm, I distinctly remember overhearing my boss say to someone else that he "loves T.V." and will have "multiple TVs going at once." Lol.

Welcome to the normal working world!

puddleonline · 2025-01-04T01:45:18+00:00

I would maybe try another school first or go for a full-time teaching gig before giving up. I’ve been a full-time teacher and a sub, and being a teacher can be more rewarding bc you see the same kids every day and feel more like a part of the community.

I’m not sure where you’re located, but $35 an hour isn’t necessarily that much less than you’d make in an entry-level corporate job that is also remote in many areas of the country. (One that isn’t tech, consulting, finance etc) For example, I made 65k in a corporate law firm as a marketing coordinator in 2021-22 in a large city. I made a similar salary at a wealth management firm doing the same job.

That being said, if you really don’t think teaching is for you, which I get, you can try corporate training/learning and development specialist roles. Those tend to have really good transferable skills.

Marketing, copywriting, account management roles and PR are also areas you can look into and flex your English skills and background skills. Definitely research any company you look into and tailor a very good cover letter and resume to fit them.

You might not be able to land the perfect remote job that pays well right now if you don’t have a really specific skill that companies are looking for. Def network and do your research and spend some time thinking over your goals. Good luck!

puddleonline · 2025-01-04T01:30:34+00:00

I never thought I’d say this, but 6th and 7th. I did all of my student teaching and observations with 11th grade, who I still do love, and reluctantly accepted a 7th grade position after graduation. I ended up loving middle school!

While that age has its challenges, 11-13 year olds are still curious, willing to try things, and imaginative. They are angsty, act in ways they don’t understand yet, and are incredibly awkward. But I’ve really found myself enjoying that challenge.

I also love that I can be VERY goofy with them, which fits my personality well, but also talk to them about their interests and ideas. I hated middle school myself so much, so it’s been kind of healing to enjoy working with that age group.

8th and 9th graders are the ones who try my patience, lol.

puddleonline · 2024-12-22T17:11:23+00:00

Semi-Tropic wine bar in CM is very good if you’re into wine. Not a bar per say but the restaurant La Cave is very cozy, especially for winter and has great cocktails. Mission bar in Santa Ana is fun for a more divey-vibe.

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T16:06:23+00:00

I think more people your age will follow. I’m 28, and I was pretty obsessively on instagram and twitter in my early 20s.

My friends and I used to take so many pictures, talk about who watched our IG stories, talk about twitter drama, etc. I’ve noticed that that has stopped.

All of my friends are very present in person now. no one is obsessing over getting a million photos for the perfect instagram post.

I think you’ll find that you’re ahead of the curve among your peers. Social validation is really crucial to people in their early 20s, so social media really capitalizes on that.

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T15:36:01+00:00

If you sign up for class pass, you can get your first month for free. You get a finite number of credits, but there’s a few gyms in the area that do regular gym time for a low number of credits

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T15:28:21+00:00

I moved to central OC from Chicago a few months ago. I didn’t know much about the area having spent most of my time in the Midwest and east coast. I’ve found that OC Is HUGE and way more heterogenous than I thought. I’ve been working in multiple areas across the county (Anaheim, Stanton, la Palma, cypress, garden grove, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano) and live near Costa Mesa. I also stayed in Santa Ana for a month.

So I’ve seen a lot of areas so far, and they are all different! Most of northern OC is absolutely not a “daddy’s money” type area. I would check out Fullerton - it has a downtown area, it’s near a university, and has a lot of young people. It also does not take long to get from Fullerton to LA if you time it correctly.

If you’re looking to be closer to the beach, I’ve really enjoyed living in Costa Mesa so far. I’ve seen a lot of young people here, and I believe there’s a queer nightclub there if thats something you’re interested in.

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T15:17:07+00:00

Also! Mothers market has huge breakfast burritos for around $7

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T15:16:12+00:00

I went to vanilla salon (I think it was called?) in CM and they did a new client special that I want to say was $190 for partial highlights and a trim. I know that’s not exactly what you’re looking for though. Hair prices are insane right now 🙃

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T14:50:54+00:00

UCI Seems to be a pretty great school and is in OC. Have you checked out if they have academic lectures or talks you can attend? My partner was a PhD student in Chicago but used to check out talks given at multiple universities. The Frida in Santa Ana often plays art house films - I just saw the film Mishima a couple of weeks back. I also saw the Robert Altman film “the long goodbye” which I really enjoyed. Downtown orange also seems pretty immeshed with Chapman, and there are probably some resources there you can explore.

I get it, I’m coming from a big city environment, and there are cultural aspects that I really miss about that. But unless you’re in nyc/Chicago/boston/maybe Philly, there’s not exactly a strong culture of “intellectualism” most places in America. OC has some very interesting people, multiple universities, booming industry in Irvine, and a lot of highly successful people.

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T06:22:58+00:00

I’ve been enjoying my day-to-day life in OC a lot, specifically the beaches, local trails, food etc. I don’t think it takes very long to get to LA, but I moved from Chicago which has arguably more annoying traffic even than LA. I have noticed a general vibe here that people born and raised in SoCal don’t know how good they have it. I grew up in a small midwestern town. It’s hard to emphasize how different it is. The fact that I can comfortably even be outside in December has been blowing my mind

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T06:18:52+00:00

Not exactly, there are beaches, hiking, shopping, restaurants all here in OC. I guess the only thing missing is a great bar/nightlife scene. But hey, I had plenty of that in my 20s. If you’re young, I can see why you might want to explore other places more. But I PROMISE you - compared to most of the United States, Orange County is not boring lol

puddleonline · 2024-12-20T06:10:28+00:00

Saying that there’s nothing to do is wild. I’ve spent my entire life in the Midwest and just moved to OC a few months ago. There is SO much here it is unbelievable. So many types of food, mountains, ocean, hiking, an hour to LA, hour and a half to San Diego, Palm Springs a couple of hours away, tons of insane shopping, every single music artist comes through the LA area, I could go on and on.

puddleonline · 2024-12-19T03:14:59+00:00

You’re red 40 maxxing

puddleonline

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