Addressing the "Alive"

I'm going to veer off the debt track today and address the alive part of my little story, because the following incident really has me shaken up. Not literally shaking, although at one point I was, but more in the *wow did that really happen* sense.

I almost got into a fight on the subway. On my way to Grand Central and upstate NY, I hopped on the subway to go to 2 stops to catch the metro north. I get on the subway and as soon as the doors close at 59th, this girl starts cursing, f-this and f-you and f-yourself to her friends and basically to anyone that could hear/would listen. I start feeling bad for her because I just thought, what a beautiful girl and what a hard life she must have. Seriously, face of an angel, with two guy friends who were much more fashionable than she was feminine. She was basically ready to pick a fight with anyone that looked at her the wrong way and I gave her the stink eye.

She immediately says, "what are you looking at, b****", I said nothing and looked the other way. A few minutes later I feel something pressing on my foot and it is this girl stepping on my foot (she's sitting, I'm standing). I say "excuse you" in the most stern teacher-voice that i know. she says "excuse you" and unleashes a barage of curses and insults my way. I stand there, not moving, pissing her off more (why am i so stubborn? to her, I'm just another "bit-ch" in a burberry (this is a debt blog) scarf and leopard print shoes, while in my mind I'm someone just like her, from a tough neighborhood, with neighborhood developed cajones that should have been cut off as soon as I went to university.

Anyway. I move away. She and her friends move to get off at 42nd, my stop, I think great, I'll just let them go and follow from a distance. Then I feel her stepping on my foot again, I start to say something and she whips around with "don't touch me! why are you hitting me?" I, flabbergasted, just move to get to the exit, as we are stopped, she is cursing something horrible, with the overall message of: you better just move on, curse curse curse.

And of course I feel the need to say something to her. (why god why) so I say "you'll never get anywhere in life talking like that" like that will jar her angry bitter not even 15 year old self into a reality check. it won't. although one of her friends chimes in with, "you know, she's right." yeah, I am.

Then her friends have to hold her back from hitting me or doing any of the numerous things that she was yelling she would do "get back here so I can spit in your face" "I'm going to lay your white ass out" angry angry angry.

I'm scared (and amazed/bewildered that i said anything), make my way up the stairs after almost taking a dead end up the platform, and rack my brains for the closest police location, because even though she was barely 5'6", I'm sure she could have taken all her rage from whatever went wrong in her life out on me in under 60 seconds.

The police were exactly where I wanted them, as she struggled to get past people (excuse me! excuse me! she knows manners...or at least how to move people) on the stairway after her friends (thank god!) held her back for long enough for me to get away to the safety of eternally
stationed cops. and she went down the corridor to the shuttle with her friends. kicking and screaming. rage.

I proceed to have a massive anxiety attack and almost throw up once getting to the civilized world of grand central station and the metro north.

This may be what pushes me out of NY, to the suburbs, away from the madness.

Does anyone remember the story of the actress on the lower east side who said to a bunch of teenagers "what are you going to do, shoot me?" and then got shot? I need to repeat that story to myself daily and keep my mouth shut! and eyes averted!

Why I love Suze Orman

Suze Orman is great. I just saw her on Oprah the other week and she always offers the most sensible, straightforward and, my favorite, compassionate advice. She's been there, in debt, trying to keep up the the Joneses (or Garcias), dug herself out and has gotten to a point in her life where she is secure and offering help to everyone who will listen to her.

I keep her Young, Fabulous and Broke book by my bedside for practical advice. Even though I am getting further and further away from young and nowhere near fabulous. Her steps go getting out of debt are what I go by (tackling the cc with the highest interest rate first, the amex). Suze's steps are:

1. If you are in credit card trouble, you must cut up all of your credit cards now, with the possible exception of one card for emergencies; do not carry this card in your wallet, however.
   
2. You must pay more than the minimum payment every month, as much more as you possibly can. If you owe a credit card company $5000 at 18 percent interest and all you do is pay the minimum each month it will take you over 30 years to pay it off.
   
3. You must pay off the credit card with the highest interest rate first, and the rest in descending order.
   
4. You must negotiate for yourself the best interest rates, even if it means switching credit cards every six months.
   
5. You must understand everything about how your credit card works--all fees, how the company charges you, all about the so-called grace period, everything.
   
6. You must honor all your debts equally--whether it's the money you owe Visa, or the money you owe your brother.
   
7. After you pay off one credit card, you must apply the money you have been paying that particular company to paying off another credit card.
   
8. If you doubt that you can do this yourself, you must get in touch with a wonderful nonprofit agency known as the Consumer Credit Counseling Service; they can be reached by calling 1-800-388-2227. They will help you organize and consolidate your debt.
   
9. You must never let this happen again.
   
10. After your debts have all been paid off, you are to apply the money you were paying all those months toward creating your future.

More advice can be found on her website, which is why I'm linking to it here: Managing Debt

November Debt Update $14,058

CC1: $2044
New Balance: $1654

CC2: Was: $2741
New Balance: $2768 - Payment Issues

CC3: Was: $4934
New Balance: $4874

CC4: Was: $4816
New Balance: $4762

Total Debt: $14,058 - so close to under 14k! yet so far....

I've got a new high interest rate in the room thanks to some issues. CC2, the newbie, has an early in the month date and is a Chase credit card. I have an old Citi credit card (that was paid off a while ago) account in my online bill pay. I accidentally paid Citi an extra $60 and forgot about Chase. So the payment went in 2 days late and they jacked up my interest. I've now applied for a new balance transfer with Capitol One that I should hear about in a few days.

This doesn't bother me, because I knew that I would have to transfer eventually due to the expiration of the balance transfer option on the Chase card. What does bother me is that I didn't get a notice from Chase about the interest, I received and increase in my credit! As in, "now we've really gotcha and are gonna try to make the most out of you while you don't realize you have an incredibly high interest rate (20.5%)." I don't know how the woman on the phone said that while being so cheerful.

The new Cap One card will keep that balance transfer interest rate at 0% until November of next year.

Other than that issue, I've been spending recently. I'm not proud of it, but with the holidays coming up, I really have to buckle down.

as my thighs grow bigger with the lack of a gym membership.