The 2 things I wanted to accomplish today I accomplished. (1) was calling HSBC and talking about my overdraft protection and hoping to avert my Con Ed check from bouncing. (2) was taking the cds I’d wrapped last night at work to the post office, and mailing them. I’d wanted to call the Bank around 8:30. It was 9:30 when that happened. And it turned out that I’d been paid – by TPW – and I didn’t even know it was payday. If I had been paying attention then I wouldn’t have had to borrow $3 last night; I wouldn’t have had to do all the machinations I did after leaving work – walking all the way ‘round to Vesey, walking across West Side Highway to the uptown side to get a cab; getting out of the cab after 3 blocks and still having 1 block to walk to the subway. All because I had so little money. And all the time my paycheck had been deposited. But we’re talking about today. So I find out I got paid and then find out that my Con Ed bill was paid. Then I find out that I still owe the overdraft protection $199. Part of this stems from August, when my well ran dry and finance charges were added on since then. So because of another unawareness, I’ve had to pay out money unnecessarily. Paying a bank does not make me happy. I get “one” finance charge waived, but I still ended up giving them $176 and change. Next I talk to someone about getting my overdraft protection reinstated. All I ever remember was someone saying you have overdraft protection. It seems that it’s hooked up to a line of credit. Which I never knew. And after I’ve been asked a thousand questions and I’ve answered all of them, I sort of understand how it works. But the guy said it was based on my credit rating and I don’t have a good credit rating, so how the fuck did I have overdraft protection in the first place. Then he asked me about whether I wanted a credit card and spent about fifteen minutes reading me the rules and regulations that have to do with getting and keeping a credit card. After which I told him I would wait, which I don’t think he was too happy about, after having read all he had to read. But that’s his job right.

Like I said before, I went to the post office. Unbelievable how crowded. It’s a fairly new post office, having moved a block, and a half from the old one, which was quite awful. But it’s still understaffed and always crowded and the employees are not really pleasant. Today it was xmas crowded. After you enter there are a couple of steps down and on your right is an area where they sell stamps, postcards, envelopes with stuffing and various other assorted postal items. There is a counter and sometimes it is manned – by a woman. Actually I just realized that there are no men employees in this post office. You can purchase money orders here and get the pay for small articles, but for everything else you must keep walking to the back where there are 3 stations. As you walk back, there are post office mailboxes on your far left, then there are a couple counters in the middle where you can write out forms, put postage on envelopes, or whatever else is necessary, and then a few feet before you get to the stations at the back there’s an area where they have a display of express mail and priority envelopes. They also have a couple of chairs. My plan today was to go to the small area up front, pay for my cds and put postage on them and get “cash back”. I saw a person leave the area and I was about to go right behind her because there didn’t seem to be a line, but then I saw the line was curving around a different way. And a lot of eyes were glaring at me for thinking I could just get in the line at the front. Thank goodness they have the self service area and I went straight there. It’s to the left of the steps and back. There’s a couple of stamp machines and mail slots as well as the self service scale. Right near the scale and the machine to figure out how you’re sending your mail and to pay, there is a big drum. Which is especially for this mail. It is wide and oval and has a big handle you pull down and then there’s this open bin. I had 5 cds and another little package and you have to weight each one, one by one. It’s a question and answer thing and then you have to put in your debit card to pay and you wait for your stamp to come out and then wait some more for the receipt to finally come out and then you start all over again. So after I’d gone through that whole thing 6 times I went to the drum to deposit the cds, pulled the handle and nothing would happen. And of course I think I’m not pulling the handle correctly, so I do it over and over and over. I even stay there for a few minutes trying to figure out what’s going on. It’s almost like something they would do on candid camera. There’s no sign or anything to tell you – THIS DRUM IS NOT WORKING. They might as well put up a sign that says KEEP PULLING THE HANDLE AND EVENTUALLY YOU’LL REALIZE THAT THE DRUM IS NOT GOING TO OPEN. Finally I turn around and put my packages in the regular mail slots.

I bought cat food at the supermarket. Now the supermarket is fraught with ………….minefields (disturbances). In the aisle where they have the cat food they usually have a cart piled with unwanted items. Only it’s in the way. It’s usually in front of the cat food I need or in front of the cat litter. So today they had set out 3 cardboard displays in the aisle. One on the left – in front of the cat food and the other two were on the right. I’m not really sure what products are on the right, only the freezer with ice cream. And oddly I’ve never bought ice cream here. I guess cause I only end up here in the daytime and I don’t get cravings for ice cream in the daytime. Only late at night. And they’re closed by 8:30 or 9PM. I think this display held tea. After selecting quite a bit of cat food I then went to the cereal aisle where I also saw Lean Cuisines. So I ended up getting 2 spaghetti and meatball lean cuisines and a salmon lean cuisine. I’ve never had the salmon. My intention was to take it to work, put it in the freezer and have it to eat instead of ordering out. At the checkout line I had a small altercation with one of the checkout ladies who was refilling the magazine holders. Seems like my cart got a little to close to her so she had to move it out of the way. And then the last little disturbance comes when you’re paying. I use my debit card so there’s a little contraption where you swipe your card. Only the contraption is fucked up. It’s very loose and swivels and even if you hold onto it it doesn’t really stay in place. The last time I was in there I asked the manager if he had a screwdriver. It was still in the same shape today. It’s like walking in jello or something. I got $10 cash back and left.

My next stop was the drugstore owned by a black guy. Ivan. And the name of the drugstore is Ivan Pharmacy. What else would it be. He’s a jazz fanatic and most of the time he has jazz playing. I went there to get dental floss. For some strange reason I can’t keep hold of dental floss. I keep losing the little things. I bought some dental floss at Duane Reade’s near me on Sunday – or Saturday – and I have no idea where it is.

I went home. To wait. I was waiting for a Fed ex envelope from Vanguard with my loan check. I called Fed Ex last night and gave them the tracking number. My envelope was still in Newark, New Jersey. Supposedly my envelope would be delivered by 3PM. But I was supposed to be somewhere at 3PM so I asked if they would say I needed it by 12 noon. It was a little after noon when I got back from the store and there was no fed ex envelope waiting for me. From all the craziness with my checking account the past 2 weeks, a check to my therapist had bounced. So I owed her. My session was today and she asked if I could pay her cash. Long story short, the envelope arrived almost exactly at 3PM. Then I had to go to the bank and deposit it. Luckily I have acquired a friend at the bank and she deposited the bulk of the check which will take about 5 days to clear, but she gave me some cash out of it. Of course I ended up at the bank a really long time so I missed my session – which I have to pay for. And I left the house without bringing the lean cuisines. They’re sitting on the floor in the bag in the foyer. Melting. Another waste.

I’m not broke anymore but I have to find another way. I can’t keep borrowing from my 401K.