The author describes her days as a broke college student and the misadventures she had trying to make money and survive.
"People always say I'm going to look back on these days and laugh - why put it off?"When Angela Nissel found herself struggling financially while in college, instead of sulking, she decided to entertain herself by creating an online journal that chronicled her day-to-day trials and tribulations. Written with humor and intelligence, her "Broke Diary" quickly found an audience as people wrote to Angela to empathize with, console, and laugh with her about her experiences and even share their own. The Broke Diaries is the first complete compilation of her experiences, written in a voice that is funny, unique, and dead-on.On buying ramen noodles- I am sooooooo embarassed. I only have 33 cents. I (please don't laugh) put the money on the counter and quickly attempt to dash out with my Chicken Flavored Salt Noodles. The guy calls me back! I look up instinctively, I should have run . . . Why didn't I run???!! He tells me the noodles are 35 cents. I try to apologize sincerely. I thought the sign said 33 cents yesterday, so that's all I brought with me. Could he wait while I ran home and get the 2 cents? I show him my student I.D. to let him know I am not a thief. He shakes his head and motions either for me to get the hell out of his store and never come back again or get the money as do come back. I don't know. He said something like "Nyeh" and swiped his hand in my direction.I can't translate hand motions well.The noodles- tasty!!!
Angela Nissel is cofounder and site manager for Okayplayer.com which gets 300,000 hits a day and was named Best New Website at this year's Online Hip-Hop Awards. She has a degree in medical anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia.
Written with style and a wicked wit, The Broke Diaries caused quite a stir when Angela Nissel first posted on the Web a few entries detailing her days as a broke college student. People sympathized, shared their own stories, and even offered to send her money (she refused). When she stopped posting the entries (to take a paying job!), her site visitors begged for more. Here now are her complete (mis)adventures, in all their broke glory. Angela on her first experience at a check-cashing joint: I am really teetering on the edge of this temporarily broke/permanently poor dividing line. All I need is one push from the left and I might trip over that line and land smack-dab on Poor. Angela on fixing her car: The rearview mirror fell off my windshield again, so I pulled over and got out the superglue I keep in the trunk. It fixed my bumper nicely, so it should work on a mirror, right? Angela on sweet-talking the utility company man into not shutting off her electricity: He looks up from filling out the form and says, "Wow, I've never done this before." I tell him this is my first time, too. Just wanted to make him feel special. The Broke Diaries is the first complete collection of Angela's true tales of turning pennies into dimes (wrap them in a thin layer of aluminum foil...but, umm, she doesn't do this anymore...).
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