gah!

look, i'm someone who lives on the edge, financially speaking. i am fully electronic (paper WHAT?), and i play fast and loose with credit cards until i need to use them for a specific purchase. then, i will often make a large payment to ensure that i can cover said large purchase. then i make said large purchase, realize that it put me within like $20 of my limit and make another payment, not quite as large, to ensure that i can still use the card for other stuff if i have to. in spite of the fact that my bank account contains ample cash, and that the money has actually come out of my bank account, it's still not showing up as available credit five days later. freaking out a little, i think, "man, maybe i went over and they're not gonna let me use the card or something." now, i know i didn't go over that much, but still. credit card paranoia has me in its grips. so i make another payment yesterday. neither payment is showing up on my available balance yet.

i called today to be like "what the fuck?" and the chick told me that when there's a lot of activity on a card, they like to wait OVER A WEEK to make sure that the payments are going to clear the bank account. now, i appreciate being protected, and i did recently (like, over a month ago) add an authorized user. but: 1. the bank account that i use to make the payments is the same bank account i have used to make payments since i moved here in may of 2004. 2. said bank account is in the name of me and my authorized user. 3. in three years of having this card, i have never, ever bounced a check to them or had a payment dishonored by my bank. 4. i am ON THE PHONE with the woman, verifying ALL THE ANSWERS (full social? check. mother's maiden name? check. street i grew up on? check. favorite pet's name? check.). 5. i am LOOKING AT MY BANK STATEMENT and the first payment is on there, having already cleared.

now, here's the thing. w and i decided that this is what we're doing for my break. and he knows that if he can get me to not only buy tickets to the festival (which can and have been e-bayed before when our situation has changed and made it impossible for us to go--see the last phish festival ever. and i know, bad ticket karma, but whatever. incidentally, the shows conflicted with my orientation for school, and not going was one of the first "adult" decisions i ever made to put something quasi professional over a once-in-a-lifetime live music experience. our friends who went said it was miserable; half the people with tickets could't make it cause the traffic was so bad, there was supposed to be camping which was totally rained out, it was a grody mud fest and they slept in their car. totally confirmed that i had made the right choice. plus we ended up just going to the hampton show a few days earlier instead, and it was awesome), but also plane ticktes/rental cars through non-refundable websites, then i can't back out no matter how broke we are when the actual event comes around. (wow, that ended up being a much longer parenthetical than i was thinking. i forgot where i was in the sentence proper). so he convinced me to make a big payment to the card and buy everything in one fell swoop. and i did.

but now i need to go shopping (this weekend, so i have time to order the online backup dress and have it delivered before the 18th if i can't find anything at the mall) for my law school prom dress and i want to use my credit card and i can't! not until my last (stupid) payment clears! GAHHH!

faith in humanity: restored.

so i freaked out a little yesterday. see, i haven't consistently carried a purse...well, ever. whenever i have, i've lost it or forgot it, sometimes permanently. that sucks. i much preferred, for a long time, to just strap my life into a wallet that i could shove into my back pocket. uncomplicated. if you're sitting on it, you know it's there.

well, since sometime before christmas, i've carrying a purse (which my mom gave me, of course). sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully. case in point, i drunkenly left it at the mirage after the last day of exams party. luckily, it was all law students that night and the 1L SBA president grabbed it for me. (funny story, he also drove me and my friends home in the drunk bus. we had consumed a full bottle of tequila, with shot glasses, between the three of us. my friend A didn't realize how drunk i was till i was trying to call w, our DD for the evening, to come pick us up. i sat beside A on the bench outside the mirage and proceeded to call HER CELL PHONE. not once. not twice. at least three times. and each time, she would apparently pick it up and go "hello!? hello?!" totally priceless. anyway).

i managed to keep up with it on my roadtrip to the crookedletter state, which i was very worried about. i even got a compliment on it!

but last night i went to go to the store and couldn't find that biatch anywhere. i tore the house apart, looked up at school, everywhere. it was not to be found. w had to go get me wime cause i had no ID. it sucked. and i retraced my steps and knew that i had had it sunday night for my trip to walmart, and the only other place i had been was the laundromat. surely i wouldn't have left my purse at the sketchy ass laundromat up the street? i mean, i didn't even bring it in with me, did i?

yes. yes i did. the laundromat lady brought it back for me. said she was expecting me to come get it, but since i just lived up the street she figured she'd drop it off for me this morning. thanks laundry lady!

and it still contained everything: $59, all my credit cards, ID, nice pens, moleskine planner. everything i was worried about and would have been lost without. holy crap.