hmpf | Expensive M.A.

Since I've just placed another two big orders with amazon and Donna Barr's web store, I've taken a moment to add up all the money I've spent on books for my thesis so far. I can't reconstruct all the prices, but it seems I'm approaching the 400 euro mark rather rapidly. That's a full month's pay, or the equivalent of my rent plus phone bill for a month. (Yes, I'm earning less money per month than I need to live. I'm getting some additional financial support from my parents, and I also take money out of my savings every month - which are also rapidly dwindling. Hardly surprising, seeing the recent development of my comics spending habit...)

I'm also running out of shelf space. Have run out of shelf space, in fact. I'm now stacking books on my desk, behind the monitor. Thankfully it's a flat screen, so there's some space there.

I hope and pray I won't have to buy Cerebus (estimated price: another 400 euros. Plus another half metre or so of non-existent shelf space). There's a library in Berlin which has it, and I have family in Berlin... if I can get a cheap deal for getting to Berlin, this may be an option. Though it would probably mean a week or two of hardcore, non-stop reading and note-taking in Berlin...

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In conclusion: I must be utterly mad. Nobody should spend this kind of money on an M.A. thesis.

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Also, a note to Fandom: amidst all the insanity, I actually committed fic the day before yesterday. Unpublishable fic, fic for a readership of one, but still fic. Note to space_oddity_75: Sam's fighting back now. I cut myself on the paper I was writing on, yesterday. Deeply.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The books you just ordered for $30.00 American are worth over $90.00 themselves. A deal, no matter how you cut it. You can't deduct these as study costs?

I'm just really kind of poor, is all. ;-)

And apparently very intent on making myself even poorer. ;-) I actually really love buying so many fascinating comics in so short a time (who wouldn't! *g*), but it's probably not the most sensible thing I've ever done. (I used to limit myself to one trade per month, in my sensible days.)

It's like the addiction was only waiting for the excuse of the thesis to break out full force! *g*

I can't deduct anything - my monthly wage is well below the taxation threshold, so I don't have to pay taxes, and hence cannot deduct anything from them.

And really, the comics shopping spree wouldn't even be that much of a problem, if our dear government hadn't decided to introduce tuition fees recently, and if I didn't have one or two big, expensive moves to look forward to next year.

Arrgh. Sorry for the whining. I'm actually not quite as destitute yet as I make myself sound here. If I'm careful with my money from now on - the main comics buying for the thesis being done - I'll only reach the 'zero' point sometime next year, and by then I'll hopefully be free to work full time, and replenish my savings a bit again. :-)

Well, look at it this way: because people pretend to be me, and one of them died, a verified Desert Peach #1 was posted at ebay to take advantage of supposed posthumous collectibility -- at $124.00. So maybe you're building an investment. The poster was a bit shocked to get an email from me, very much alive. So far.

Wowzers! Thats huge. Hey, is the government paying your school fees? Last time I was in Germany I was told that the Bundestag was moving towards making students pay their own fees and books. I was attending University and a ton of students were out protesting.

Oh, and P.S. you are right.

"In conclusion: I must be utterly mad. Nobody should spend this kind of money on an M.A. thesis."

The average American is $45,900.00 in debt for their M.A. or M.S. So something like 23,000 euros.

My estimated cost of attendance is $45,000.00 a year for my M.A.

Expensive M.A.

Costs

I know, it's an unbeatable offer.

Re: I know, it's an unbeatable offer.

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