stories from the moneyless trenches, or, "well, that certainly explains a lot."

For numerous reasons, I just compiled a list of all my out-of-pocket medical expenses for 2006. For the first three-quarters of 2006, mind you. Before I reveal how much of my own cash I've dished out to pay for treatment, over-the-counter medication, and the ridiculously overpriced prescription medication I rely on to function somewhat normally, keep the following tidbits in mind:

1. I have had a health insurance plan all year. True that it switched last month, but I've been covered all year, and total money I've spent, the total I'm set to reveal, does not include health insurance plan costs. My sweet parents helped their then-student daughter with that burden.

2. I have had a health insurance plan all year. But I still pay exorbitant amounts for prescription drugs. That's all I'll say about that.

3. I'm only counting costs of things for which I could find receipts. Those of you who know me well know that I am not the best at holding onto small bits of paper with teensy numbers written on them, so who's to say what I might be forgetting?

4. I don't have a steady source of income. Seeing this number might not seem like much to you, but when you think of how I only work a handful of hours a week and have not even a steady part-time job (let alone a full-time one), it might hit home that this amount of money is what it takes me to make in surprisingly lengthy periods of time. But finally it makes sense to me why I don't have money--it's true that I spend almost everything I have on Migraines. Yay, head! Suck up my money! Yeehaw. (It's true that seeing this grand total, though shocking, is a source of some relief--at least I know that I had money at some point, and that it wasn't all a dream.)

Okay, here we go: $2,625.

*I mean my tone to be matter-of-fact, not whiny.