This blog post was supposed to be published at the start of spring quarter, April 11th to be exact, but I got busy. I wrote a bit about how I was saving money and not planning to spend much on campus. However, there was one event I couldn’t miss, Dick’s food truck on campus, famous for Seattle hamburgers at reasonable prices.
They’re known for their great cheeseburgers, better than McDonald’s yet lower than what you would find at a quality restaurant. But with Dick’s it’s not about having a fancy hamburger; it’s about enjoying a good quality affordable meal with loved ones.
If you’re looking for a whiskey burger with barbecue sauce and all the toppings, you might have to go elsewhere. Dick’s offers simple, delicious hamburgers wrapped in plain yellow paper, fresh off the grill and are nostalgic.
Dick’s Drive-In offers shakes, fries, ice cream, floats, and their famous hamburgers, but the food truck only has hamburgers, shakes, chips, and sodas. So, I got myself a chocolate shake and a couple of plain cheeseburgers.
The person I was with got a vanilla milkshake and a couple of plain cheeseburgers, and we sat down on campus to enjoy them. It was worth every cent because Dick’s doesn’t come around to my city a lot, so when they do, I make sure to grab a few hamburgers.
They were here this month as well, a couple blocks down from my apartment building, so I was able to grab a few plain cheeseburgers and a chocolate shake.
Understanding When to Spend on Experiences or Invest in Future Cash Flow
I often talk about saving money as a college student, and I think that’s important. But on those rare occasions when I’m willing to splurge, I believe it’s important to do so for experiences that I truly cherish. Like when a certain food truck comes to campus or when there’s a unique event that I know will be once-in-a-lifetime.
For example, I’ll be going to see the Titanic exhibit in downtown Seattle later this month, and I’m really excited about it. Normally, I don’t go out, but part of saving and investing is so I can enjoy these experiences. Hopefully, over the next decade, I’ll be able to have them more frequently.
In the meantime, it’s about making sacrifices and recognizing when to say no, but also when it’s okay to say yes. As long as most of the “noes” add up, they make the “yeses” feel much more worth it.
It’s not about depriving oneself, but about realizing that some things are more impulsive, driven by FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), rather than genuine desires.
However, there are also times when you realize that you might have missed out on an experience that you genuinely cared about. You think about it long after it is over, and the next time you have a chance to experience it, you’re not going to miss it.
There was one experience like that a couple of years ago when I was starting to build my first investment portfolio. I passed up the chance to see Andrea Bocelli in person with his family in downtown Seattle. The tickets and hotel room would have cost around $1,000, which I could afford at the time, but I chose to invest that money instead, and it has paid off.
Now, looking back, I don’t regret my decision, however, I won’t miss the chance again if given the opportunity (even though it would be a tough decision because I value investing my present cash for future cash flow) because it’s about realizing when saying yes to an experience is a better investment than waiting for future growth.
With that said, this was a valuable experience that I wanted to document on the blog. I know that someday, whether in a decade or whenever, I’ll look back at these times and realize how quickly time has flown by. I’ll be a different person in a different place, reflecting on the beginning and middle of my journey. It’s important to appreciate these moments when I’m in them, especially those I used to dream about.
Similar to my last post where I talked about studying subjects like biology, chemistry, and algebra before returning to college, now I find myself taking a biology class. It’s nostalgic and reminds me of how we can make things happen for ourselves. I’ll link that post here as well; it’s one of my favorites because it discusses one of my favorite movies as a college student, “With Honors.”
It’s a great movie that I recommend to anyone associated with academia or anyone who enjoys a feel-good movie about introspection and character development. Some may call it cheesy, but I love it. With that said, I’m wrapping up this post, and I’m glad I could document this experience.
The Broke College Student 
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