Thursday, January 29, 2009

Have you ever noticed...

...that most of the time you're angry at someone else, it's actually you be angry at yourself? I had a big lesson in that today when I dropped a couple of F-bombs with a woman at American Express. I wasn't angry at her...I was so pissed at myself for a couple of childish financial moves that are akin to my library fines when I was in elementary school. Not making a payment because you forget is no one's fault but your own, and if a credit card company decides to lower your limit as a result, without telling you, which results in you having one of those embarrassing "declined" scenes at a checkout is no one's fault but yours, which in this case, is my fault. I haven't had one of those moments in a long time, and when you make even one late payment, they have you over a barrel, the bastards. "The borrower is servant to the lender" is truer than true. This is the first time in a long time that I've actually carried over some balances on credit cards. I want to get back to that point. It's time to live within my means. When you pay off a balance every month, you have power with the credit card companies. If you slip, even once, they've got you by the throat. Which is why, in typical Dan fashion, in a flurry of indignation, I paid off half the balance today, closed the account, and told American Express to F-off. That's me being a bastard, and the woman I talked to didn't deserve that kind of treatment. My anger was misdirected towards her, which really is the result of my choices.

Anyone know when the ETA is for growing up is? Just wondering. I'd like to get there, sooner rather than later.

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