Yes, it was a miracle truly St. Nagato-chi is Marshall Victory she can summon tanks!

The best part of coming home after a Federal close out is to take stock of all that stuff that came in while you were kicking work into high gear. As you can see Haruhi-sama has summoned forth St. Nagato-chi to my desk. The first of St. Nagato-chi’s miracles was to bring forth a copy of Halo 3 that works and summon forth more tanks. Strangely enough Lord Moyism has sent me a t-shirt that commemorates my indoctrination to the ways of Moyism to mark the occasion.

So I have finally settled in a bit and as this fiscal year closes It it time to try and plan out how much money I am going to spend this year. Though in all honesty the most I can probably do is merely track my runaway spending…Hopefully by adopting the motto of the famed 442nd RCT (the only Japanese military unit to have acted honorably in the Last REAL Great War because they were Americans first unlike those lackeys in the IJA) I can come out of this quarter alive and kicking.

Playing Halo 3 on Heroic is hard but rewarding,just be prepared to die and die often. Killer AI indeed…

Yes, I know the last week of September first full week of October (Sorry the siren call of Halo 3 took me, and school started) is not the real start of a solar or even lunar year, but it is the start of a new school year and also marks a new series of government stipends for the taking. So I have many grand plans this fiscal year I have been working like the military dog that I am in my quest to amass a big enough war chest to fund my second childhood. Perhaps I am quite mad in my financial planning, however I still wish to put forth my humble guidelines in getting the most for your hard earned money.

Coupons:

Yes, it seems very miserly to be clipping coupons or printing them out to save a few dollars, but in the long run it always counts for something. I sold my information to Borders (your typical Rewards Program) and through them I have been able to keep my manga purchases at a tolerable less than 10 USD per volume. Sure I am supporting a company that results in de facto censorship of books that will never get published when they don’t carry them, but so what? Just because it is a book does not make it important or significant, in fact there is a bunch of crappy romance and sci-fi books that I would like to see banned. I am looking at you Warhammer fiction…

Yes, milady it was getting lonely up there but fear not for two more allies will join you shortly…

Flea Markets:

While most anime conventions don’t have flea markets these days, gaming (CCG, Miniatures, Roleplaying, and LARPing) conventions do. As far as I can tell many an otaku has also dabbled in other disciplines of the Nerdy Way. Thus far I have seen some of the strangest stuff get sold at a gaming conventions including anime and manga. In fact I started reading xxxholic simply because I got a couple volumes for the low low price of 1 USD each. Best part is there is no tax and most people just want to clear space for more junk, and as such most sellers are willing to negotiate to some low prices. Some of those people are actually trying to defray the cost of their hotel room! Heck I am one of those sellers from time to time. I got rid of my Xbox for 50 USD and most of the games for 10 USD. My tip is that if it is the last day to sell be on the look out for fire sales, most sellers don’t even want to take the stuff back home so as they say one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

Stipends:

Many of us are poor starving college students and many more are poor staving college students that want nothing to do with the military. Even greater are the numbers of us who are not Impz-class scholars who get to coast through school for free and make money while attending. Depending on where you live there are plenty of ways to get your government to defray the great cost of tuition. If you are however like me, and have parents who make too much but cannot bring yourself to ask them for money all of the time then your last resort for getting on the government gravy train is to sign away 6 years of your life away in the Reserves. It sure beats minimum wage and unless you really fuck up you can’t get fired. Besides 10,000 USD from the GI Bill is nothing to sneeze at nor is 4,500 USD every year for just getting a D (yes Uncle Sam thinks your are stupid, you did sign up after all), even better 350 USD a year for books by just brining in a receipt and filling out a one page form. If you go to school near a military base you can get commissary privileges with cheap food (especially meat) and all tax free. Plus a 10 USD dental plan, sure it means long lines and lots of paper work. So what? Just brush and floss. Also when on orders do go take care of your dental bi-annual dental exam because all dental work is free to keep your dumb ass deployable.

Scholarships & Research work:

For those who are on the bright side (mostly on optimism), there are also some sweet plans as stated earlier for those who are surviving above the academic line. Schools are generally willing to pay quite a bit for people who have the ability to do some decent research work for them. Even though it is not exactly the most exciting job around, they do pay quite a bit and they often come in between your daily pile of shit school work. Of course, this is not the most attractive method since most people refuse to work even a bit to get some cash. However, if anything, it is the sure way of getting some quick cash for that figurine you want. Schools are also slave traders. They know you need the cash.

Black Friday:

While the Japanese would have you believe that Christmas is for confessing your desires to mate date someone, that is undeniable the WORST use of Christmas. Christmas starts to poke its nose around October, but it really takes off on Black Friday or the day after Thanksgiving. Wake up early suck on coffee beans, drink a bottle of hot sauce, and get to the Best Buy or equivalent early. Sure you’ll be freezing in the wee hours of the morning but cheap electronics are hard to pass up. If you are ready to get an HDTV like I am be prepared to go in biting and kicking your way to the biggest 1080p LCD you can afford. It is also a great way to get random cheap stuff for Christmas gifts, like a 512 MB or less USB flash drive for your least favorite sibling…

Moar Tanks for Kampfgruppen SOS-dan.

Credit Cards:

This here is a double edged sword since it is easy to go into debt with a couple of these. However I limit myself to two. I also have a government travel card which is affected by my credit score which Uncle Sam can look up at anytime, so I am filled with dread at the very thought of missing a payment. If you have online banking and your bank gives you a credit card you can always check how much you are spending and guilt trip yourself into stopping. Assuming of course you do suffer from guilt when looking at bills. If you can find a card with no annual fee that has rewards or points you might as well use you credit card and pay it off as soon as the pay period ends. The cash rewards are dismally small, but free money is still money. Besides your are fighting the system by using your plastic at large chains by slapping them with a convenience charge. In theory you could set up an anime only card with a low credit limit to instill some discipline in yourself, after all going over your credit limit is always painful…

My Plans

In following Moyism’s example in heeding Stripey’s calls for more charts and graphs here is my running budget for the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. As you can see I am going to be a very bad Otaku this quarter while the volume of purchases for anime related goods is significant games and real life are far more expensive. I actually have been scaling back on my miniatures hobby. One because I have gotten my armies to a decent size and second, all that is left are a few small purchases here and there but nothing pressing that I can’t pick up for cheap a t a convention. Besides If I want my HDTV I must start making sacrifices, good thing I don’t smoke or drink. I have no idea how much I am going to spend on food this quarter it really is a hit or miss thing depending on what the commissary has and what the local farmer’s market can offer. However if once I gather all the data from this quarter it should not be hard to extrapolate how much my food bill usually runs. good thing I am trying to diet and eat better. Fuel for my car and utilities are an even bigger problem since I don’t know how much it will cost until I get the bill. If there is one thing being in the military has allowed me to do is learn to maximize space. Hence I have a roomate to keep the cost of my one small ass bedroom apartment mercifully cheap. Bunk beds are a God send.

At least I feel kind of responsible when seeing that more than half is going toward real life expenses. Then again is my otaku level a bit low as the HDTV eats up more than figures and manga combined?

I would have been really damn near broke if PS3 had a killer line up this holiday season. I still do not know if the rumors of a 399 USD SKU is in the works or not but with out that killer app this holiday season I can hold off for another year or two. I guess that it is a good thing for me since that is one less money sinkhole. and in the case of the PS3 a 499 USD one. Thankfully while there are those who argue that being an otaku in the internet age is a lone wolf affair, otaku buddies do have one purpose, co-op. Thank goodness I have a pal that owns a PS3. Suffice to say after I plow through all my DS, Wii, and 360 games it’s off to his house…for some MGS4 . I hope Black Friday will turn out well since I need a good deal to get my HDTV since the Sharp LC-D64U series has pretty much what I need and ought to be stocked in retail. Otherwise I hope the powers that rule newegg cut me a deal I can’t refuse. I was drooling over the Sharp LC-37GP1U but it is really expensive for a 37″ though the connectivity cannot be beat. I really wish more manufacturers would follow Sharp and include more connectivity on the side since I am going to wall mount the sucker. Alas putting it all in the back was a great idea for them I guess… While I would have preferred to use my younger sibling’s TV his was only 1080i and I hate having to share so to prove that I am better than him I am not only getting one that is going to be cheaper but one that is bigger and better. Hey I know I am being very petty, but I am the older sibling so I have to have better stuff than him. Besides I want to play my Wii at 480p and my 360 at 1080p, he has no faith in the Wii-mote strap…that heretic.

Gaming wise my 360 is going to get a lot of love this Christmas. Thing is my worthless cousins are slinking back asking to borrow my 360 games after ridiculing my Wii purchase. They could not afford Halo 3 boo hoo. Assassin’s Creed looks teh awesome, but hey can’t pay wah wah. Mass Effect is going to have the option for Yuri action, but they’re getting Dynasty Warriors Gundam instead. Suckers. Like I am going to cough up 60 bucks for each of them this Christmas…all they are going to get from me is some MS points. They better be grateful to get anything from me at all. I don’t like giving games to people who don’t pass their classes.

I have plenty of DS games that I haven’t finished, and in many ways I am glad that Phantom Hourglass is the only big game that I must buy because of my fealty to Nintendo. The Wii on the other hand is going to get more software I am going to get my first Fire Emblem game and cannot be any more excited. I still got 4000 Wii points I have yet to use so I should be good on Virtual console this quarter, though I hope Nintendo enables some way to plug in an external USB hard drive since I have five of those.

Figure wise I am actually just starting so I guess two in this quarter isn’t so bad. Anime DVD wise other that SHnY I have not other series that I am just dying to get that I don’t already have. I usually do more DVD purchases in the second hand market at conventions since its much more cheaper and I like giving these items a new home. Besides most of the old stuff I really want is out of print leaving the second hand market the only market.

I don’t import at all since once I start I might not be able to stop. I am still hoping by the time I make E-6 that JTF in Tokyo will still be around. I hate paying for shipping and might as well cut out the middle man though even then it probably won’t be cheap.

I really am grateful that Uncle Sam is paying off most of my college fees again. Otherwise I would be down 2,800 USD instead of the 850 USD I had to cough up. I am also glad the book stipend went up again too…Serving the Evil American Empire sure has its perks. Evil always wins because Good is stupid.

Lastly diversify your bonds n%gga. Dollar dollar bill ya’ll.

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