If I had a thousand dollars...

sung to the tune of Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had a Million Dollars"

Well, I've been pretty excited since last night and here's the reason why: I received my Christmas bonus (in the form of a Walmart gift card to avoid pulling taxes out of it) for, WHAT, 1,000 dollars!

Seriously that's like 10 times more than the highest I expected. Talk about a pleasant surprise. Since this is a Walmart gift card, my options are slightly limited. After all, as my Dear Santa post illustrates, I would LOVE to buy a brand new Mac book...but unless someone has a quick way to turn Walmart money into Apple money, I may have to pursue other options. I even thought about completely paying off the mere remainder of my student loans, but hey, I can't cuz it's a gift card. Too bad.

Yes, I could use that card to buy my groceries and household needs for who knows how long, but how fun is that. I have NEVER had this much money at my free disposal before (it kinda freaks me out) and I really want to just splurge and get myself something that I probably would never get otherwise.

My top option right now: A flat screen t.v.

Second choice: A nice SLR camera that I can use to really deepen my photographic interest...this is one skill I would love to have...but I don't know if having the equipment would be enough to provide the skill, although I'd also love to take reaall photography classes or what not.

Ideally, I want to use this money in the best way and to cover as many options as possible. Right now I'm considering maybe using $500 for a t.v., $200 for a normal (but nicer than what I have) digital camera, and the remaining $300 for odds and ends (see Santa letter) and other things that I've been wanting but never got around to buying.

I've already asked one friend who's quite well-versed in t.v. language and she might help me make a decision in that regard. What do you think? What are my best options? Any ideas of instead getting a macbook? Input welcome, I'm not good at spending this much money. AH!