Being Cheap

I tried to get into the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park on Saturday for their grand opening. The problem is that I got there around 9am and it was evidently too late. The line not only snaked out the building but it went ALL the way around the building and out to the entrance of the Park itself. And not once but TWICE! By the time it was 10am, all 20,000 tickets had been given out already and the building had only been open for 1/2 hour. Truly, it is my fault for being cheap and unwilling to pay $25 for the entrance.

But let's take a second and evaluate that. $25 is no small number when you are a very poor grad student with an alarming debt. These are the various items I could get if I had $25: (they are "OR" situations)
2 lunches of tofu soup at Tofu House.
2 group tix for bleacher seats at a Giants game
1 blouse on sale at Banana Republic
2 CDs
1 law textbook from Ebay
3 Bento boxes from my favorite cheap eats Japanese restaurant
And at this rate, I could also try to get others to contribute $25 and come up with a $700 Billon bailout myself.

Mine is surely not an exhaustive list. The conclusion: I'm gonna remain "frugal" and go to the Academy when its a free Wednesday. Who wants to join me?

p.s. I feel like the U.S. is in the last 5 seconds of an NBA final where they have to make a quick decision to win the "game". Fix the economy and elect the correct man. Are we going to choke and the fat lady will cry or will we make the shot and the fat lady will sing again?