It’s not like I bounce checks all the time. I’m pretty diligent about making sure I can pay my monthly bills. But last week, I screwed up and bounced a check. An online check. So here’s what happened and here’s how I rectified the whole situation:

My credit card bill was due for $100 and being the diligent good debtor that I am, I went online and made a request for a payment on the credit card company’s website, totally forgetting that I already had that automatically set up to pay every month. So last week, the credit card company tried to pull $100 twice. I had only enough money in my bank account to cover $100 so the second attempt to pull the other $100 resulted in Insufficient Funds! Not only did my bank bilk me a $25 bounced check fee, but my credit card company charged me the fee too. That’s fifty smackers! I’ll admit, it was totally my fault for being a bimbo about the whole thing. It’s not like I had recently set up the monthly auto-pay on my credit card. It’s been doing that for months if not a year at least. I don’t know why I forgot. Still, $50!? So I emailed my bank and the credit card company asking them to give me back my $25. I totally admitted to being a dumbass and they kindly refunded the monies.

Moral of the story, be careful if you use automatic payments. Keep track of what’s what. And if you ever screw up like I did, just ask and they’ll forgive you.

Me: I’m suffering from daily-grind blues. Bored, no energy, unmotivated. Is it waking up in the dark every morning again? Not having enough time off? 10 hour days compounded with a 2 hour commute? Stupid bosses? Stupid coworkers?

Sis: I know just what you mean. I have been feeling the same way lately. I don’t know why…

Me: We are spiritually connected. I’ve sensed this similarity in energies between us before. I think we have a connection similar to twins.

Sis: I think now is the time (since you are feeling extra sisterly) to tell you that I have broken my sunglasses. On the bright side, I didn’t lose them.

This time, it’s not like I actively quit coffee so much as July-August isn’t exactly a time for hot beverages. Yesterday, we had an all-day meeting at work. I didn’t want to doze off and someone was kind enough to bring a gigantic supply of Starbucks so I sipped a small cup. Then another. Then another. By the time my heart was racing it was too late. And it’s 3AM and I am still wide awake!

Every time I have to rely on myself to get up and go to work, I invariably oversleep and show up hours late to work.  It’s embarrassing and annoying.  Previous times, I’ve set my cell phone alarm.  Unfortunately, I must’ve done something to the setting where it will only beep once.  That’s it!  That’s the entire alarm.  One teensy wittle beep.  I can sleep through a fire alarm so the beep doesn’t even register.  I oversleep.  So yesterday night, I made a point of figuring out how to set the alarm clock and even setting two separate times so if one doesn’t work for whatever reason, or I don’t hear it, the second one will surely rouse me.  Yeah, this morning, I got to work close to 10AM.  I don’t know what went wrong.  Anyway, I need to learn how to be self-sufficient enough to wake up and go to work.  This is yet another minus on living alone.

My face has been itchin’ since this past weekend. The Internet and I think it’s cosmetic dermatitis, some kind of reaction to a facial product. I don’t know if it was sunburn, a bad reaction to Bare Escentuals mineral makeup, or maybe my face is saying “Stop being such a cheapass!” to the CVS knockoff of Olay facial lotion. Right now, based on where the rash is covering, I think it was the Clinique sunblock + 5 hours of sun. It was a great product and made my face very soft when I used it normally. Then when I went out Saturday for 5 hours in the sun I got a sunburn where the block didn’t cover and where the block did cover, my face freaked out. Itchy. Bumps. Rash. Yuck. No one can see it, but I feel it and I see it. And it isn’t pretty or comfortable. I’m not sure what is really causing it but whatever it is, my face ain’t havin’ it. I got some allergy tablets and also Eucerin Calming Creme. I was going to get a hydrocortisone cream but the pharmacist told me to go with Aquaphor or Eucerin. I suspect for the face, they don’t recommend anything too strong. Face products are always so iffy. I don’t want to point at Clinique or Bare Escentuals because who knows what it really was. But I’m not taking any chances when I travel to New York. I got new sunblock and makeup. Neutrogena Mineral Sheers powder and Dry-Touch sunblock. After testing the Mineral Sheers powder, I think it feels and looks nice. I’ll have to give it a day-long test to really see how it holds up but I love that it’s very light. Also, don’t worry too much about buying the right color if you want to try it. It’s so sheer, it barely makes a difference.

I just had a sudden realization of something I witnessed about 2 or 3 months ago.

Riding home from work on the Metro, it was maybe 7PM or so on a Friday night I think, two young (20s) people hopped on board. They looked like they’d just gone shopping or out somewhere, there were a couple of bags. It didn’t appear as if they were a couple, maybe friends or acquaintances. They didn’t appear to sit very close or familiarly together. She appeared kinda’ FOBby or maybe they both did. They were talking and smiling, a bit distanced politeness or shyness and then his stop came and he waved good-bye to her and she waved bye. No hugs or kisses. Just a friendly wave. Then she kept waving and I couldn’t see if he was standing there waving back or what but she kept waving and re-waving and then as the train pulled away, she started frowning, then crying. I was staring, maybe slackjawed. Or not. But I kept wondering what that was about. Was one of them leaving for good? Going away on business? Long distance relationship in two different college towns? Did he give her an indian burn before stepping off the train while I wasn’t looking? And I have no idea why it even entered my brain this afternoon but I think I may have figured it out. I think she regretted not getting that pair of cute shoes when they’d gone shopping. Non-buyers remorse.