A Hopeless Romantic In Paris

Will I make it to Paris or not?  That is the question.  For am I to save the money, or wallow in a failed attempt?  Cross the world for a nice week of relaxing, or relax at home in my boxers?  Am I to...alright, I think the Shakespeare gag is running out of steam now, so I'll get down to the chase.

After days of calling, I finally reached my brother today and laid down the good and the bad of the trip.  November 28th/29th is coming up fast, and we'll need to buy tickets soon.  Amazingly, the tickets are still dropping!  I'm not sure if the Greek stock market crash has anything to do with this, but I thought for sure the prices would have gone up by now.

Turns out they haven't.

I'm still not sure that we can count on them to go down much more, but a round-way plane ticket to Paris is now costing less than $800!  That's WAY below the $1,450 I was budging for!  That said...I'm just a wee bit shy of that.  By about $100 or so.  Frustrating.  On the other hand, I made over $130 online today alone.  I made over $50 this weekend.  By the time they clear into the bank, I may have the money.  Victor said that he'd even help if he could.  That's nice of him, but I told him no.  Unless it was a real small amount that would be easy to pay back relatively quickly, I don't want there to be money issues between us.

We're finally acting like real brothers do, and it would be a shame if money were to mess that all up again.  I admit that there is a part of me that wants to throw in the towel at this point, admit that I missed the mark by that much, and move on.

But I can't.

Not yet anyway.  I really do want to go on this trip.  If ever there was a time where a relaxing trip was needed, this would be it.  I think I'm also feeling a little more anxious these days.  Like...I don't know, life feels much shorter than it did last year, and I don't want to waste that time.  Granted, I've had a good life.  I've been to Japan.  I've visited five of the major animation studios (including Pixar, the week before last).  I've seen some of the classic movies.  Experienced theater.  Have met famous people.  I don't think I can be accused of wasting away.  I want a girlfriend and eventually wife, and it's so damn frustrating none of the girls I meet can see what a great guy I am, and that they should consider themselves damn lucky if I take an interest in them (sounds egotistical, but its not).

Unlike most people who want to be in a relationship though, I haven't put my life on hold just because I don't have one.  I've been living my life because there are things to see and do.  If I was to get a girlfriend next year, this would probably be one of the last major trips I take on my own.  Am I expecting that to happen?  Heck no.  Again, I've met lots of girls - good girls too, by the way - who passed me up because they couldn't see what a good thing they had in front of them.  But I've lost a few people this year.  Someone close to me died in the worst way possible.  Now more than ever I don't want to sit around and do nothing. So while the trip to Paris is (as Bon Jovi would say) living on a prayer, it's not something I want to give up just yet.

Money for this trip just got complicated.

Alright, so maybe I should have built up to that, but I think that's almost all there is to say.  Some money I was expecting to get didn't come in, so now going to France looks to be in jeopardy.  To start, I got my security deposit back...but only $159 of the  the $350 I put down.  There were various deductions (some with merit), but the head scratcher to the deductions was $117 for carpet cleaning.  This I found strange because when I moved out the carpet WAS clean, with no stains or real dirt of any kind!  Not to mention I was renting half a room, and $117 will clean most HOUSES, not rooms!  Not only that, but the landlord was tearing down the roof to the house the next day, so I'm doubtful there would even BE a cleaning even if it WAS dirty!  So...yeah, I'll be pushing her for a receipt on that one.

The second setback is that I was supposed to be getting three days of Bereavement pay from my job.  They already paid me for two, but they wanted an altered doctor's note before they could give me the other three.  Well, after many delays they finally came back with an answer: Sister-in-laws don't count towards Bereavement because they are not "immediate family."  Yeah, I was blown away by that statement too.  While they aren't taking the money for the two days back, getting the other three days looks unlikely.  My manager promised to give me eight hours of overtime if I need it though, so I guess I'll pull in some of that $200 I was supposed to get.  Where this leaves me, basically, is a few hundred shy and only a couple of weeks left in the month before I should buy the plane ticket.

I'm sure I can make up the few hundred within a week past the due date, but by then I take a HUGE risk that the plane tickets will go up in price!  Part of me wants to write the trip off right now.  It was never something that HAD to be done, and right now I'm not even sure if one of the two people that's over there right now even wants to be friends with me anymore, so it's not like it's urgent to go!  However, I could use this fun time.  My brother is definitely set on going, and having some quality brother time still sounds very appealing at this stage.  So I'm pressing forward for the time being.  You never know, there are still a few things that could happen.

First, I'm selling stuff on Amazon.com again.  I made over $200 last week alone, and over $400 in the past month since getting back on.  Yeah, I have to refund two orders worth $110, but if this keeps up this can more than make up the difference.  Secondly, I'm pretty sure I can get that $117 for the carpet cleaning back, since I'm 95% positive there was no cleaning, thus no receipt, thus a legal reason to get that back.  Whether it would be before the 1st of November or not is the real question.  I could also take a loan out on my 401k to fund the rest of the trip.  I don't really want to do that if I can help it, but the interest IS only 7%, and the good thing about these loans is that you ultimately pay yourself back, so it's not as big a deal as it could be!

I guess the Kickstarter project is also still up.  Granted, it hasn't moved for weeks, but there are two weeks left.  I've been surprised before, and maybe I'll be surprised again.  The bottom line is this is far from over.  There are still some options open.  It's just frustrating because I was so close to be done with this, and now I have "options" to look at.  Isn't saving for world traveling fun?

So faithful readers, I have an announcement to make: I'm writing a book.  An Oscar book to be more precise.  See, its like this...

Alright, so the picture quality is not all that great (and I know I misspelled "presents," and I'm more ashamed of that than anything else I've done recently).  Just because because I understand film, doesn't mean I'm good at making it.  I actually meant to bring this up earlier, but every time I would have time to work on this blog, there would be a topic I wanted to discuss.  I didn't have time to pimp my book, so I sort of forgot about it until now.  As mentioned in the video, this book is supposed to be the first in an 83+ book series.  After the initial book I want to write two a year until they are all published.  If this Kickstarter project succeeds, then I can have future books preordered in the same method (though much lower starting costs, since I'll have an established account with the book publisher).

I picked the 60 day option because I wasn't sure if 30 days would be enough.  Turns out, it wasn't.  After 24 days the project has stalled at $721.  That's 14% of the whole project funded.  That's a good start, but it's not promising.  Its sat there for several days untouched and unmoved.  Kickstarter itself has buried the project due to lack of activity on it.  My mom says that I should be patient, that lots of people wait until the last minute.  It's true that I expect to see a bump during the final days...but a $4,300 bump?  I don't know.  My dad doesn't believe the project will succeed, but encourages me to publish the book as an e-book.  He has a point.  I mean, e-books are slowly becoming the way of the future (even if most authors find they make next to no money publishing this way).

I'm sort of old fashioned though, and would love to see the book go to print, even if its just a small amount.  A digital copy would be available either way, but having something to put on the shelf just feels more right.  Since a good portion of the book has been online for free for awhile, the difference between having the e-book as opposed to reading most of the book online for free is...well, the reason for purchasing a copy is much less (though there WILL be exclusive commentary and reviews that will never go on my site).  This book is another reason I started updating the blog again: It was to promote this project.  There's also a sense that - should this succeed - this could all be new material for next years book.  Granted, it would be extra material, but that's fine by most people I think.

The point of this post is to let you all know that this project exists.  Maybe its also a way for me to wonder out loud whether or not it will succeed.  I'm hoping it does.  So far all the movie sites I've e-mailed to help promote the project haven't even gotten back to me.  So now I'm in my own underdog story.  Maybe I'll write a screenplay about it someday?  Who knows.  But anyways, there's the project.  If you'd be interested in a book, please consider pledging.  It goes without saying that this project could help with my goal of getting to Paris (though, in all honesty, is not needed to get there).  Oh yeah, Paris!  There have been some interesting developments in my planning for a trip there.  I need to talk about them.  Soon okay?

Since I first decided to go to Paris the first few months have been more saving to see if it's a possible reality.  After saving all my lunch money (so to speak) I think there's a pretty good shot at this working.  I was having lunch with some friends on Sunday.  One of them is going to Paris for a few months (hi Maggie!), so there's a good chance I can meet up with her at one point during the trip.  Her mother then asked me a strange question: "Have you considered asking your brother to join you?"  At first this seemed like a silly question since I liked to take trips alone.  But I sat on that thought a bit.  See, my bother and I have been getting closer throughout this year.

It wouldn't be right to explain why right now, but needless to say we are.  The idea made more sense the more I thought about it.  So I decided that, yes, I would ask my brother if he wanted to join me for my trip to Paris.  I called him up a couple days later with one of those awkward conversations that only brothers can have:

Me: Hey Victor.

Victor:  Hey Kev, what's up?

Me: Well, I was thinking - and keep in mind I haven't decided on anything yet - but I was thinking of going to Paris for about a week this winter.  Near the last week of November and the first week of December.

*slight pause*

Victor: Yeah, that sounds like fun.  Let me just see if I can travel by then and get off work.

And that, ladies, is how easy it is to plan a trip to a foreign country.  We chatted a bit about plane fare, hotel costs (Hotels.com is going to help with that), and we hung up.  I then decided to run the cost of a round trip plane ticket at Travelocity.  Turns out the round trip ticket for France would be less than $1,000 per person.  Book on a certain day, and it might even be less than $700.  Pinpointing when the plane ticket is going to be that cheap is like playing a game of Craps though, so we're aiming for $1,000.  Funny enough, there was another thought that accorded to me after Victor said yes: With us now splitting the cost of a hotel room, the trip will be a couple hundred cheaper for both of us, which makes the trip very doable now!

See, little bothers DO come in handy once in awhile!

So the first idea pitched to Kickstarter didn't get picked up.  No matter, I've got at least seven more ideas to pitch.  It just means that this becoming a book might not happen as soon as some other one.  So where do I sit with Paris right now?  Well...a little ahead of schedule, but still in about the same place.  See, right now I have a surprising reserve of extra money that could be a good boost to the trip (in that it actually covers a good chunk of it right from the get-go), but that money is also there in case of an emergency.  If nothing major happens then it will be a big help, but as it stands now it's there for other reasons.  I'm still assuming I'm at square one.  On the positive side, I'm back on eBay again, so hopefully a little money will come in.

The first step in my plan to save is that any money I make from eBay, iOffer, Bonanza, or Amazon.com will go directly to the fund.  It will NOT be spent on anything else!  This can add up to an extra few hundred dollars a month, so this could make a HUGE difference in the plan!  Whether or not I actually sell enough for this to be a reality is another matter altogether.  After all, we're still in a recession.  In the meantime I'm going to start buffing up on some classic French cinema.  It might be fun to view some of the classic landmarks in Paris and see how they were used in some of Frances most beloved films.

In my pitch to Kickstarter I listed this project as being somewhat of a travel guide that is informative as it is funny.  In reality, it's likely going to be a non-fiction account of how someone who is broke manages to raise money to take a trip.  That I'll write about Paris in an informative way that is also humorous is one of the perks I suppose.  I took a break from writing this blog to review Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris."  You can read my review by clicking the link (or - if you're reading this as a book/e-book - by scrolling down a bit), but it would not be fair if I didn't give this movie credit for making me want to write about the city.  I have heard that when writers write in Paris, wonderful things happen.  They express thoughts and emotions they never dreamed they could.

I want to experience that.  I want to write what that experience feels like down on paper.  I want to see some of these wonderful sites and best express to people how good they are.  And the only way I can properly do that is to walk the streets during the day and night, come back to a hotel/hostel, and write about it.  Get the words out while they are fresh on my mind.  This is a six month project.  Obviously what is going to interest most people is the steps I took to get there.  I'm hoping the experiences I have while I'm there are the words that will leave a lasting impression though.