Permanent Retrograde

Permanent Retrograde

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Permanent Retrograde
Permanent Retrograde
Jazz Hands

Jazz Hands

Kelly Oxford's avatar
Kelly Oxford
Jan 13, 2022
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Permanent Retrograde
Permanent Retrograde
Jazz Hands
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One of the things that keeps me up at night is the fact that my ninety-pound sheepdog has scratched up the floors of the Los-Angeles-overpriced-for-what-it-is house I rent. I don’t want to google how much refinishing hardwood costs. I’m assuming it’s more than my damage deposit. 

If I want to be as frugal as possible with this disaster, I need to learn how to refinish floors and do it myself. Instead of nights YouTubing Fosse choreography I could be YouTubing how to refinish hardwood floors. I’m either going to have to do this myself or lose my damage deposit + extra.

Why does this keep me up at night? Because I’m an excellent mid-level writer. I made a small film that most critics loved. I’ve published two internationally best-selling books. I mean, based on that alone, one could assume I have a tidy savings account. But what you really should be assuming is when I get a deposit from this audience supported newsletter, it’s grocery money.

Two things I hate: guilt and shame. Nothing gets me there faster than thinking about money. I know this to be true of my friends as well. Top-tier friends do talk about money.

My friend Sarah texts:

I use emojis because when my glasses are off it helps me figure out who’s texting


My friend Orlando recently opened up about his work and finances.
We’ve been talking about money for years.

Orlando gets this emoji because one of us texts WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? by 9 a.m. every single day.

So, let’s talk about money…

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