By Kennedy Kierans

anuary is a popular time to
Jess clean out your closets,

and get in shape. But what about
your finances? They may be in pretty
bad condition after the holidays and
need some attention too.

There are a lot of things you can
do to get your money situation back
on track, but first you need to find out
how bad it is. Check your account
balances and credit card balances.
How much money do you have? How
much do you owe?

Now that you know where you’re
at, you need to figure out where your
want to get to. What is your goal?
And, how will you get there? There
are lot of things students can do; here
are some of the key ones:

Become aware of your
spending. The easiest ways to do this
are to put away your debit and credit
cards and use cash only. It’s very easy
to become disconnected from your
spending when you are using plastic.
Also, write down, every day, what you
spend your money on. This will help
you see where your money goes and
why you're broke by the third week of
the month.

Cut down on your big
indulgences. Driving is great, but if
your money is really tight in other
areas, you might want to cut back.
You don’t necessarily have to cut it

Getting back on budget

out entirely, two hours on transit after

your Tuesday night class can be really
tough, but you might want to consider
taking the bus other days.

Cut down on your little
indulgences. Tim Horton’s or
Starbucks can be a great way to start a
day, but the money can definitely add
up. Again, you don’t necessarily have
to cut it out entirely, and it’s stressful
to feel deprived, but you might want
to consider cutting down. How about
two or three days a week, instead of
every day?

Get a handle on the little
details. A lot of money can be wasted
on bank fees. Go to the bank machine
just once a week for the money you'll
need for that week, and make sure it’s
a machine from your bank. There’s no
point paying more than you have to
for the right to use your own money.
Late fees can also drain a lot of money
from your account. Know what the
rental periods are at your favourite
video store or, better yet, see if you
can borrow the video, for free, from
our library. Beware, though, we charge
fees too if you’re late returning it.

There are lots of other ideas out
there; just Google “budgeting hints.”
With just a few simple changes, you
could find yourself more financially
comfortable during the month. You
might even have money left at the
end!

 

Baro

Insufficient (fun)ds: Movieland Arcade

A safe-haven for those in their quarter-life crisis

By Jacey Gibb

ne of the feelings I miss
most from being a kid was
the thrill that came with

receiving a single quarter. To a child,
twenty five cents holds an incredible
amount of potential: you could buy
several five cent candies or if you
could get your hands on a couple
pennies more, you could even splurge
on one of those larger sour soothers
or coke bottles. As you grew older
though, you realized that twenty

five cents doesn’t go too far and that
you’d need about thirty more just
like it before you could start to afford
anything decent. However, I’m here
to tell you that there’s still a place
where mindless enjoyment is only a
quarter away: Movieland Arcade

True, arcade games didn’t go
extinct or anything. Almost every
movie theatre around has a corner
of the lobby dedicated to consoles,
both from your childhood and the
ones you WISH were from your
childhood. All you have to do is cash
in a loonie and then you’ll receive
three tokens. But wait, that racing
game costs four tokens to play so
that means you have to give the
change machine ANOTHER loonie.
And then you’re stuck with two left
over tokens with no way to get rid of
them. Don’t you love overly complex
setups that are specifically designed
to make you spend more money than
you want to?

At Movieland Arcade, the
simplicity of arcade games has been
preserved in a way that’s familiar and
comforting. The process is simple:
walk in, place your money at the
stand where you enter and say how
many dollars worth of quarters you’ ll
need (spoilers: it won’t be enough)
and then you’re good to go. A little
over half of the games cost fifty cents
but an almost equal amount only cost
a quarter. From the moment you walk
through the doors you'll be greeted
with a sense of nostalgia as you’re
drawn to the Jurassic Park Lost
World jeep directly in front of you.
Then you’ll break eye-contact just
long enough to see that Time Crisis
2 lies just to your right and is just

 

begging for you to play some co-op
mode.

If shooting games aren’t your
thing (?) an impressive row of pinball
machines are lined up along the left
side of the arcade, ranging from
classics like Playboy and Addam’s
Family to impressive newer editions
like Terminator and Star Wars
Episode 1, my personal favourite,
which has a screen that plays movie
clips to correspond with different
bonuses and challenges in the game:
An arsenal of racing games can
be found to the left of the pinball
machines but I’d recommend not
wasting your time. Though they can
be fun when you have four or five
friends racing each other, the races
are short-lived and never seem worth
it.

Near the back you can find other
games that you forgot about until just
now like Area 51, Gauntlet Legends
and even Ms Pacman. I always
avoided playing Big Buck Hunter
at bars when I would see that it cost
one to two dollars each round, but at
Movieland its only fifty cents. Let me

- tell you, that price drop has made me

shoot virtual deer like never before.
And of course, make sure to save a
couple quarters for a game of Crazy
Taxi on your way out (right next to
Time Crisis 2).

If you’re downtown on Granville
Street I highly recommend checking
out Movieland Arcade (its right by
the Commodore Ballroom). It’s a
fun way to revisit the fossils from
your past without having to spend
thousands on a pinball machine for
the basement.

Damage: Depends. $5 should last
about half an hour

~ as