Financial dilemma

OK, so I have $652 from a debt refund check and my "economic stimulus" check from Uncle Sam. And all spring and summer, I've been so financially tight that I can barely get through a pay period, because I've been forced to split my paychecks between both my savings and checking accounts, which doesn't allow either account to build up much of a cushion, because by the end of 2 weeks, both accounts are nearly cleaned out or at a very low balance. So here's what I am faced with: Either I can split that $652 in half and put $326 in each account and finally create a financial cushion that will allow me to breathe easier and have some money to spare, or I could spend it on going down to the Augusta Heritage Center on vacation, but still be financially struggling, or I could pay off the surgery bill from my recent hand surgery and thereby at least wipe out one debt, but still be financially struggling. I want more than life itself to go down to Augusta, but right now, if I spend that money doing so instead of putting it in the bank and considerably reducing my stress level, then I will be incredibly depressed at the idea of still struggling financially and not being sure if I can make it through each pay period with enough money to pay bills that come up. But right now I desperately need the tonic of being there at Augusta. It emotionally lifts me up like few things that I know of during the year and I could sure use that right now, truth to be told. If I add that surgery bill to my Consumer Credit debt reduction program, then that will add one more debt to that bill and will add to the amount that I will have to pay them each month, but if I bank the money and create a desperately needed savings cushion, that may not be so bad in the long run. I take the bus when I don't have to leave work early for an appointment but lately, I seem to have had a lot of doctor and PT appointments that a require my leaving work early, so I still drive more than I take the bus. Still, that should not last too much longer and if I get to go on vacation, I will probably finish PT this next week and should only have a few other doctor appointments in the coming months. So I am trying to weigh what would be the best option right now. My gut tells me, bank the money and give yourself a financial break, but my heart tells me, no, you really want to go on vacation. So I am torn between head and heart, but my stress level lately has been unbelievable with all these recent financial woes weighing me down and I've been so depressed as to feel like the anti-depressant meds I've been taking since last year don't seem to be working as well anymore. So what should I do? How can I resolve this difficult dilemma? I don't have much time to resolve it because Augusta is the week after next, and I still haven't registered yet because I don't know what to do about this. The longer this dilemma goes on, the worse it gets, because I spend my days worrying about it almost to the exclusion of everything else. I just want to get out of here and not have to think about this anymore and spend time relaxing and enjoying myself, not worrying every minute about how I am going to afford this bill or that. If I bank the money, I will have enough in both accounts to where I can actually put one entire paycheck in each account instead of constantly splitting them and shorting myself out each pay period. It would do wonders for my financial well being, at least for now, barring any other unforeseen large expenses that might come down the pike. It would be so nice not to have to spend my days and nights constantly worrying about money and being able to look forward to a nice vacation as well, but it looks like it's going to have to be one or the other, but not both. And I feel like that's tearing me to pieces inside. Not exactly the way I wanted to spend my summer, on top of massive amounts of stress at work lately that is also wearing me down emotionally. God, how I desperately need a break from all of this!!!!!

BRINGING DOWN HIGH OIL PRICES

Gas has risen a full dollar a gallon in the past year and everyone's quick to blame supply and demand, especially with the recent rise of India and China as major industrial powers (thanks to US outsourcing of our manufacturing base to those countries in search of cheap labor), but I find it impossible to believe that in just a few short months, the supply has grown so short and the demand has grown so great as to drive gas prices so ridiculously high. From doing enough reading, I know for a fact that part of what is driving oil prices through the roof is a combination of a dollar grown so weak against international currencies that it's practically been reduced to a Third World currency, rampant and unchecked speculation on Wall Street on oil futures that has been caused by the bursting of the housing bubble and the tight credit market as a result and the increased saber rattling against Iran coming from the White House that is making investors nervous. Oil, I know, is traded in dollars, and when the dollar is weak, oil prices go up. Speculators are also gobbling up investments in oil futures to recoup their losses in the bursting of the housing bubble and as a hedge against inflation, but unfortunately, there are plenty of loopholes that allow investors to drive prices of certain commodities up through the roof. Some people say that this is good for business, but I can't see how that can be the case. High oil prices are hitting us in virtually every aspect of our lives, because so many things we use and buy are made with petroleum based products. It's also causing world wide economic instability because everyone's feeling the pinch, not just us. So my simplistic solution to this mess would be to find a way to strengthen the dollar by reducing our trade deficit with other countries, close loopholes on commodities speculation and to engage in reasonable dialogue with Iran, its neighbors and the rest of the international community over its nuclear capabilities instead of shunning any chance to engage in some badly needed diplomacy. We also need to disengage ourselves from the Iraqi civil war and find some way to negotiate a just and lasting peace among all of the various warring factions and allow that country to return to peace, safety and security, within itself and with its neighbors. I know - tall order. But it's my thought that this is exactly what the incoming President, whoever he may be, must do in order to bring about some of the changes we are all clammering for. While I am no student of international relations or economics (and I know that there are probably a lot more complicated issues at stake in all of this that I am not giving consideration to), still, sometimes it seems like the simplest solutions to things are the ones that are right before our eyes and that we refuse to see because we always want to complicate things a lot more than they need to be. Well, whatever happens in the coming year, I hope that for everyone's sake that gas prices don't continue their meteoric rise, and if they do, that this country throws its entire resources into research and development of more fuel efficient transportation as well as clean, green, renewable energy sources that don't cost a bundle to produce or use. We can't wait any longer. It's now or never.