28

Well, my birthday passed and I am 28 years old now. I am now in my mid-late twenties (If you'll remember, I section each decade in groups of three, so 21-23 is early twenties, 24-26 is mid, and 27-29 is late. 20 and 30 are rounded numbers and don't get included. Each decade is treated the same. I am 28, so in the middle of what's considered my late twenties, ergo, I am "mid-late twenties")

I got 35 Facebook messages, two texts, two emails, three phone calls. My numbers are down from last year! I've spent too long skulking around under the cover of the night, people have been forgetting me.

 I posted on Facebook "Happy International Day of Peace and do you remember the twenty-first night of September?" because my birthday occurs on the International Day of Peace (great PR for a Social Service Worker) and because the Earth, Wind and Fire song "September" contains the line "do you remember the twenty-first night of September"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk

But my only commentor was someone who doesn't speak English, saying that she liked the music. So she obviously doesn't get it and just thinks I'm a disco fan. I don't think anybody made the birthday connect on either reference

On these posts, I usually list my accomplishments over the previous year. At age 27, I finally managed to gain sustainable full-time employment in my field, and I was accepted into and began University. I can't think of anythinhg else.

I finally got my OSAP today. Originally, I'd mailed my OSAP application to my school's financial aid office, because OSAP said I would need to submit my application there. But then I got a notice that I'd sent it to the wrong place, and that I was supposed to send it to the National Student Loans Service Centre. They linked locations online, but when I went to the locally indicated place to submit my forms, I was told that even though it says it's the place to do it online, they don't provide that service and I would have to go to another location. So I went there and it submitted just fine.

I was told I'd receive my funds on September 1st, but it didn't happen. Checked again and said it would occur September 1-6. Didn't come. Called the National Student Loans Service, at the number they stated I should call if I didn't receive my funds, and it was literally impossible to get a human. Just automated responses to prompted frequently asked questions. But among those responses, they said it would take five business  days past the start of my academic year. Since my academic year started on the 7th, that put things off until potentially  the 14th.

Called the financial aid office at UW even though OSAP's newest estimate wasn't expired, and good thing I did. Financial aid said that I hadn't written a promissory note, which was required to receive funding. Neither OSAP nor UW had indicated this was necessary. The promissory note turned out to be some little option tucked away, that gave some little multiple choice test that read something like:

Are you going to use your funding for school?

By clicking below, I agree to use my funding for school.

So from this point, they requested a couple days to process my promissory not, and then five business days to submit my funding. So in the end, I finally received funding on the 27th. I had to pay for textbooks out of pocket.

Let's talk about the grant. I just had my tuition paid and $2500 for living expenses for the semester.

Really appreciative for the tuition payment and the grant, but player please, let's budget this $2500.

So my rent is approx $950 per month. With roommate, let's lower this to $425. I pay hydro and gas. Let's estimate $60 hydro, $30 gas. $90 divide by two, that's $45.

$55 Internet, $55 phone. That' $110.

Let's make a conservative estimate of $50 per week for food. Let's say there's four weeks per month. That's $200.

So $425 + $45 + $110 + $200 = $780 for the month. And that' excluding other small bills like laundry, textbooks, and recreation. $780 multiplied by four to cover the semester is $3120, exceeding the budget of $2500.

I'm okay because I now have savings, but what I already have surpasses what was given, and I've still got like, three paycheques coming in from Hatts Off which will also surpass what was given. Which indicates that this isn't a sustainable way of living. I don't know how so many students manage it