Looks Like It's My Turn

This seems to be the year of financial disaster for many of the people I know. Lost wallets, identity theft, unemployment, about the only thing that hasn't come up yet is a brutal mugging (knock on wood).

So I considered myself very fortunate to have not had to deal with any of those kinds of problems. My money was mine and it stayed that way and I kinda liked it.

Until this past week, when the money gods decided that any dollar or coin that I set eyes on would either disappear or erupt into flames.

Catastrophe #1
Moving. I was a complete idiot during moving and spent more money than was in my checking account. Mind you, NOT more money than I had, but more money than was in that account. So I made a transfer from savings as soon as I caught my mistake, hoping I'd beat my bank and they wouldn't notice (it's worked in the past). No such luck. We'll leave this story with saying that overdraft fees are a real punch to the cunt.

Catastrophe #2
Computer errors on my bank's part caused the transfer mentioned above to be charged to my savings account twice. Now THAT I could not afford. The money simply doesn't exist. So this little glitch sent my account very negative, and I got hit with more of those overdraft fees. Bull, I said to myself upon this discovery, and called my bank immediately (actually the first thing I said to myself was more along the lines of "I want my mommy" but that's neither here nor there). They fixed it, and even gave me some extra back. Happy ending :)

Catastrophe #3
Last night I went out with a bunch of friends to a bunch of places and had been carrying $20 with me. I spent 10 and dropped 10. Yes, 10 dollars slipped out of my pocket and I am anything but thrilled about it. That was the only cash I had, period. "That sucks, but you can always just get more," you say. Not so. Enter, catastrophe number four!

Catastrophe #4
Before going out last night, I had hit an ATM to get $20 (the same 20 that would be half spent and half lost in the coming hours). It was one of those ATMs that screens the general population for idiocy by making you put your whole card into the machine and doesn't give it back until you're done. I failed the test. I took my money, walked away, and left my card in there. I don't know about you, but I think that leaving a debit card in an ATM on capital square in summer on a Saturday night in Madison qualifies me as legally mentally handicapped. The worst part is that I didn't realize I had lost my card until this morning.

Fortunately, whoever has my account appears not to have used it. I called my bank, had the card canceled, and had them do a check to see if there'd been any activity on it after my withdrawl, which there hasn't been (blessing count: +1). The shitty part is that my new card won't get here for another 5-7 days, and the pin number that goes with it won't be sent to me until a few days later. BOO. Oh well. Lesson learned.

The Silver Lining:
My financial aid check got here! Though the sick twisted irony that I now have all this money but no way to access it (aside from writing checks, which I hate doing) sucks big sweaty goat balls.