Ugh. Ughughugh.

I was hoping to get Zo spayed at her usual vet, but they want 125 to do it. I normally wouldn't begrudge them this, but I don't have 125. TAMU wants 150-200. Student discount is 10%. This isn't because TAMU has high-quality vets working on your pet, it's because they have a forth-year student AND a vet working on your pet. WTF, last time I checked, having your pet be a guinea pig for a student's training was supposed to be cheap. Or maybe that was just twelve or fifteen years ago when your whole family's broke as shit and the next door neighbor is a vet. "Hey, we've got students who need practice, want to get the cats done?"

Supposedly I close next Saturday, so I'll probably pack her up and drag her to Bellville for most of the day. If I don't spend too much this weekend, I may be able to afford to get her retested for FIV as well, but it may just be the spay. I want to do both, but my financial forecast shows a record level of broke followed by brief periods of "buy the toilet paper now while you still have the money to do it." I blame it on my love affair with having a savings account.

I'm really getting annoyed with my bank. First, the check I deposited Saturday...those should go through Monday, but instead go through Monday at midnight, which pisses me off, but I can deal. Now it's going through tonight (Tuesday) at midnight. Bullshit. And when I tried to deposit my second paycheck (you know, the second job, people-in-banking? some of us have to have two because we don't wish to enrich you assholes further by going into debt) the teller had to call in a manager to "authorize it" since I'd deposited a check Saturday.

I've never felt like a person with this bank. But now they make me feel like I'm part criminal and part cash cow. "Let's put off depositing her checks so she'll overdraw!"

Anyone know a decent bank? Or do those just exist in some fantastic land where money grows on trees?

Busy busy busy. I took on a second job at stainedfeathers' workplace. I'm trying to avoid too many hours because I don't want to burn out on either (or exhaust myself into a stupor), but extra monies is nice.

I'm still updating the Tiny Ouroboros. I'm going for MWF, although depending on my work schedule a post may be made early or late. I'll post links to the articles here on Fridays/Saturdays, so those of you who don't want to check that page three times a week can still read anything that sounds interesting over there.

My finances are slowly straightening back out. First order of business is getting rid of that credit card bill, and then I've got to work on building the savings account back. There are also a number of things I need to get done...Zoe needs to be retested for FIV and spayed, the bike needs to be fixed I need to get a tv tuner card so I can ditch the TV...

So, to make a long story very short, I now both have a job, and on the 8th, a roommate. Also, thanks to my tendency to overpay my car note every month, I don't have to pay it this month. Which is good. Very good.

Got turned down again. I'm glad I've learned not to expect anything. I need to look up the location of the temp agency here. I *might* have enough, if I use my credit card for all my purchases, have enough to pay the bills for this month and make rent next month. However, when my next car note comes due, I'm fucked.

Mom called me this morning and said she'd give me the other hundred dollars for the tires. She said. Granted, she hasn't given me any reason to doubt her, but there's always a first time.

Regardless of whether or not she does, the tires are getting replaced Friday morning. I ended up going with a nearby Bridgestone instead of Across the Street (as it's called at TPS). It's a hundred dollars more, but they're nicer tires, better warranty, actual customer service, and the tires aren't in danger of falling off if I drive it over a curb. I think I'll get it inspected while it's there, so I don't have to remember to do that and then make time to do so. The extra hundred dollars is going to hurt a bit more, but I think I can handle it.

Tuesday I have to go find out where that stupid vehicle registration paper went off to. It wasn't sent here, so it must be at Mom's.

Also Tuesday is calling the credit card company and finding out how to have my mother removed from my credit card. She co-signed when I got it almost seven years ago. My parents keep yakking about how they're having trouble paying their mortgage, and I'm not taking the chance that they'll declare bankruptcy. That card is the last thing they have an attachment to. The Roach is in my name, the lease is in my name, student loan is in my name, phone is in my name. Mineminemineminemineminemine. I'm not taking any chances with my credit.

Yay! I got my WF credit card canceled today. I already have an older card that I'm not using either, the WF never even left the apartment, and the tellers were harassing me about the stupid "rewards" program they offer. So I told them I was sick of getting the spiel every other time I got my paycheck deposited and that I didn't want it.

"Did you ask them to notate your account not to ask you?"
"They never gave me the chance, and I didn't even realize it was an option."
"Well, if you have other loans you should move them to the card because you have a 1.9% rate."
"All I have is a student loan and a car note, and neither of them are moving."
"Oh, okay."

I can hope that the higher-ups take note of this, but they probably won't.

If I actually settled down somewhere I'd probably go for a local bank (Austin County springs to mind), but with the unstable nature of my existence I'm better off stuck with these fuckers.

So two months ago I told my mother that I would need two new tires for the Roach. In fact, I expressed the desire to have them as a Christmas/birthday gift.

I reminded her of this last week. Now I need all four replaced, before the inspection comes up in Feburary.

Her answer was to give me less than half of what I need and tell me I need to pay for the rest myself.

This is AFTER she went and spent a hundred bucks on useless baby shit, like rugs and lamps and valences for the damn thing's room.

I get to kiss my savings goodbye. I was saving that for the move out of here. You know, paying for the new apartment, covering expenses in case there's a lapse in work, etc, etc.

I'm so pissed right now I can hardly see straight. More than that, it fucking HURTS. I really do feel betrayed. The fact that a lamp, a rug, and window dressings for a creature who doesn't give a fuck about any of these things is more important than helping me pay for something I actually FUCKING NEED.

I'm going to try and make a few jewelry pieces to sell. That's really the only thing I can think of to do to try and recoup. This stupid shit is going to set the savings back three months. And a lot of that was from me selling books, dead shit, jewelry, etc. Stuff I don't have lying around anymore to sell again.

And let's not discuss the fact that if the swelling in the arm doesn't go down, I'm supposed to go visit the doctor.

I guess since I'm out of the house now I don't matter anymore. This is the one fucking thing I've asked for in probably the past two years. I don't want much, I don't need much. I told her TWO FUCKING MONTHS ago that I would need new tires soon.

But apparently I'm just paying second fiddle to my precious sister and her spawn.

So apparently this week was "Give Fox a Raise" week. Not that I'm complaining. I'm now making $8 at the pizza place, and $10 at TPS. I've already decided all that extra cash is going straight into the savings account as an emergency fund. Once that gets built up, I'm throwing it all at the student loan until that fucker goes away. Fuck you, student loan, fuck you.

Video on credit cards everyone should see:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/