Seeking God Knows What

Never open your credit card bills just before bed. Now I cannot sleep as I feel absolutely sick over bill I just opened from our Chase account. Now let me first say I am well aware I am miring away in my sh*t that I have created. Originally this card was owned by Bank One and when we used it to finance our daughter’s adoption, it had an 8.9% interest rate. As of today’s statement, it is now at 29.99% and we have $9500 on it, with no way to pay it off. Our minimum payment has now gone up an additional $75 and is MORE than we pay on our car. The interest rate has more than tripled since August when Chase officially took over handling our account.

Yes, we had have two late payments but not within six months and one was because I screwed up and was $4 short in my monthly payment, which I discovered and paid online at their site the day after it was due. The majority of the payment was early but nope, apparently, we now have to pay 30% interest.

Let me also say that we have only been 30 days late once on a bill in the entire time we have been paying bills- it was not to Chase but to a different company and that was because we never got a statement.

Our other credit card companies have NOT treated our account this way, even though we are overextended and I have been a day or two late on payments recently due to how we get paid.

I have thought about full-time work but now that I know how much daycare in my area costs for full-time (most of them require at least 3 days and at the rate you pay for less than full-time, you might as well use full-time), plus the rising cost of gas, lunches, clothing, etc, I would have to make greater than $28,000 gross to come out ahead of what I make working two days a week and not paying child care. My current pay rate does not get me that much if I worked full-time and there isn’t full-time work in my job, so I would have to find one that is willing to pay me more than I have made per hour on avg. for the last 3 years. I had just barely hit that mark when I left working full-time in 2003, so I doubt I could land a job that paid what I need very easily. And no, I don’t have child care for even one more day a week as I cannot rely on my mother (particularly since she is having a lot of back pain that is not improving even with the physical therapy and muscle relaxants she has been on).

How on earth do they expect us to try and pay this off?? Oh wait, they don’t want us to so we can pay scads and scads of interest….

Apparently now you can get health care for minor injuries, allergies, etc. at a few of the local Meijer stores. There is a little blurb about the newly opened health clinics on one of our local news channel’s website which I ran across while checking out the weather for Easter (not as nice as I hoped but slightly less risk of rain which is good).

I’m not sure what I think about this. Certainly gets across the point of “one-stop” shopping and it sounds like they are working in conjunction with a local hospital but all in all, I think I prefer my health care to be done in a health care setting, such as a doctors’ office or hospital. I should think the liability of having such a clinic on site (even if it is not run by Meijer itself) would be quite high and Meijer prides itself on “low prices”.

So now, you too can get your Starbucks coffee, your hair cut, your child’s picture taken, your groceries and that cough that has been bugging you checked out all in one place…

Ack….

I grew up in a liberal leaning family. I learned that Jimmy Carter was president when I was little, my parents rallied for Walter Mondale, I voted for Dukakis in school mock elections, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, when I was old enough to vote. I generally vote for Democrats over Republicans when I’m not up on the election. Environmental concerns have always been high on our list. My dad even got the major furniture company he worked for to institute a recycling program before it was “cool to recycle”, he helped work on a treaty for the use of tropical timbers in manufacturing. I don’t believe in capital punishment or legislating abortion issues (personally, I would never have an abortion, I would never counsel someone to have an abortion, but I would never look down on someone who had an abortion). Gun control is good. Social policies are good. Everyone should “feel” the same effect from taxes on their wages… The rich should pay more than the poor in percentage- no flat tax for me. Free speech, the whole shebang is how I was brought up. I went to the Episcopal church, one of the more liberal churches in the US.

Then, last night, I had a “revelation” as I was thinking about a line in a Jack Johnson song I really like. He says “station to station desensitizing the nation” which is so true. Everything, everywhere seems to be designed to push the limits of what we see, so that it is nothing to 10-11 year old or younger to be idolizing pop stars who dress as if the more skin they show the better; listening to songs with lyrics about not explicitly about sex but the intention is there or full of swearing; playing video games or watching tv shows with extensive violence.

I actually find myself listening to a Christian radio station instead of the other local new rock/ alternative rock stations because of the content, what the d.j.s say, the commercials about local bars that have bikini/lingerie shows, emphasizing “girl on girl” action or the local hookah bar.

After watching a Dateline special a couple of weeks ago, I am actually rethinking gun control policies. While I don’t believe that anyone should be able to walk in anywhere and buy a gun without a waiting period/background check, maybe allowing people to carry a gun might prevent some criminals from robbing/mugging a person, for fear that the person has a gun.

Maybe it is becoming a mother that is changing me…

But I’ll never like W or the war in Iraq.

Tonight is the big State of the Union speech. I haven’t watched a single one since Bush was elected but I watched nearly every one during the Clinton Years, particularly during college because I was a political science major. I was too young to really be into Bush Sr.’s speeches.

I have no desire to listen to Bush speak. If he could speak the English language properly, it might help, but I highly doubt it.

Apparently this year’s theme, “Things talked about around the kitchen table”. Does that mean things he thinks we should be talking about, things we are talking about (has he done a poll on this?) or is it just an excuse to bring up the “War on Terror” again? Sorry, bucko but methinks your plan to bring Saddam down hasn’t improved the world all that much. I absolutely agree that he was a masochistic dictator but this seems to be a huge mire for the US to be in now, certainly not well-planned for the future. Look at Saddam’s trial. For pete’s sake, the man is allowed to stomp out of the courtroom in protest, speak whenever he wants, say whatever he wants. Ridiculous. Will justice be served by this circus? Probably not, considering the thousands of people he had a hand in killing.

I hate to say this but I’m beginning to think that for some societies, democracy is not necessarily the best fit for government. No, I don’t have a better solution and yes, I do recognize the human rights violations that have occurred under dictatorships such as Saddam’s. Whatever form of government that will ensure basic human rights and equal rights for all people in the country is the best.

Anyway, tonight, the tv at my house will be off.