791

Today at work I logged into my online bank account and found charges amounting to $791 made to my debit/credit card. They were in chunks of about 350 and 400 dollars and a couple smaller charges. I'm pretty good about saving my money and never spend that much and A.) Forget about it or B.) Have it not go to pay car insurance or something practical. I called the bank and they said all the charges were made from two different airlines. I immediately had the bank assistant cancel the card and file a claim because obviously if I had planned a trip or two for myself, chances are I would have let myself in on it. So basically some mother fucker stole my credit card number and fucking bought himself a vacation.

The thing is, I still have my card so it's not like I left it somewhere or someone stole it from me. I am always careful online and never make purchases from online stores that I don't trust so I don't think I was phished or scammed somehow. The only things I really ever buy online are concert tickets or stuff from Amazon and I haven't bought anything online in a while. And I always keep my receipts from grocery stores, etc., even if it only shows the last four digits of the credit card number. The only thing that I've done differently is pay by credit card to the locksmith who opened my door for me. Since he couldn't swipe it, he did the carbon paper and crayon method. (Is that thing even a crayon?) I'm not blaming him for it, but it had the entire number and my name on the receipt. Maybe my address too. (Or at least the company knew my address.) My roommate said maybe the locksmith lost their copy of the receipt and someone got a hold of it that way. My dad offered that someone might have sold the number. I don't know what to think. Right now I'm just concerned about getting up early enough in the morning so I have time to go to the bank and get some cash out so I can pay for stuff for seven to ten business days until I get my new card.

Arg.

O9

This morning as I drove to work, I caught a glimpse of the marquee of a local independent movie theater. It had more text on it than usual, which is what caught my eye. Instead of movie titles, it had a note saying something to the effect of "The national disaster will finally be over on January 20. Good luck Obama." I don't consider myself an overly political person, but something about that note made me start crying right there in my car. I'm so happy for Obama, not just as a President (elect), but as a person. I can't even explain it. So really: good luck to him and good luck to us.

Reconnecting

My former co-worker, D, contacted me tonight over IM and asked me for my phone number so he could put it in his new phone. We talked for a while. He sent me some clips of the music he's going to be putting on his next album. I admire the fact that he's writing and putting a lot of effort into his music. One funny thing he told me tonight was, "When I meet girls, they like me. When they find out I do music, they LOVE me." It really cracked me up. I asked him if it worked the same way--if a girl does music, do guys like them more? He said it depends on the guy and if they like that sort of thing.

As for myself, I like a guy more when I learn he's a musician (but only if he's a GOOD musician--just because he can strum a few chords doesn't mean he's a musician). I always thought I liked them more because it meant we had something in common. Now I'm just wondering if I like them more just because they're a musician. I'm pretty sure I'm not that kind of girl because I can distinguish between good and bad musicians. I remember back in my CIS days, I'd immediately like a guy more if I knew he was studying computer science. It's interesting how we're attracted to different people for different reasons.

That's me going into tangent mode because it's got nothing to do with D. But back to D: He checks in with me from time to time and it's nice. I'm glad he wanted my phone number in his phone. He's a good guy to have around and his energy and focus is oftentimes contagious. If we ever get an office for my company, I wish he'd come back and visit or work for a while with us. He's coming back in February, so I'll be happy to see him back. One more friend in the city.