In which I almost get killed, and I appreciated it. . .

Last night we had an awesome night, a date night. For Valentine's day (even though we agreed not to get each other gifts) my wonderful hubby bought tickets for us to go see Ben Folds and the NC Symphony. We went to eat at Dos Taquitos, it was awesome (I had steak tacos with black beans and rice and I ate until I was super fat). Then we walked across downtown to get to the Progress Energy Center and that's when it happened. The crosswalk turned green for me to walk and I stepped onto the street and almost got run over by a green SUV turning right on a red. I turned to glare and yell at the driver when, who do I make eye contact with? The man himself, Ben Folds, I almost got run over by Ben Folds. He smiled and waved at me and I proceeded to slap my husband in the arm, jump up and down and squeal like a girl, "Ben Folds, that's Ben Folds! He almost killed me!" OK, I'm such a girl, I know, but I was excited. I love Ben Folds.

Anyway. . .the concert was A-Mazing!! He played my favorite song, Smoke. The gorgeous arrangement brought tears to my eyes. Seriously, he is a gifted lyricist. There is nothing quite like hearing Landed or Stevens Last Night in Town with a full musical ensemble behind Ben and his magical piano. It reminded me of how much I love music and watching it live. I'm adding concerts to my list of things to do, instead of worrying about the things I can't do. I've been doing way too much of that lately and this was kind of a wake up call about that. I'm gonna get my lazy, sad tail off the couch and start living life. Alright all for now, time to take my tail back to work :)

Weekend Update

We just finished off a pretty crazy weekend. We've had a garage full of stuff to sale for like almost two years, I kid you not, so we decided Saturday morning to drag it all out at the crack of dawn and sell it. It's amazing the things people will buy for $1 but ask $2 and they drop it like it's hot. And we couldn't give away a couch, apparently free is too much too. We made out OK, nothing too big money wise, but every little bit helps.

Sunday we went over to a wedding shower for my SIL. I'm planning her next shower as we speak and I'm super excited about it. This one was a lot of fun, interesting to meet her new extended family. They told stories and laughed a lot (I was told they were the same stories that have been told hundreds of times). It's good to know that is universal. Come to my house in Georgia and your bound to hear at least one of the following:

• The time my mom half-way woke up in the middle of the night and tried to attack my sister and I with a high top Reebok.
• The time my sister walked full speed down our hallway without turning on the light and smacked face first into my brother's bedroom door because it was closed (and it is usually never closed).
• When my mom grabbed up my brothers half eaten steak and fed it to the dog and he came back to an empty plate.

Those are the most generic ones but I'm sure there's more. Check with my husband I'm sure he could tell you :)

Speaking of the Mr. I came up with a new nickname for him this weekend that's pretty fitting, he's now Captain Reiterator. Why you ask? Because he explains the punch line of jokes away, if you allude to a joke he can't handle it and will explain it in great detail and then laugh at himself. And now for those who know him, please point this out and use his new nick name appropriately.

That was pretty much it but I'm soooo tired now. . .more later when I've more interesting stuff to write.

FCHS

Do we ever really get over high school? It’s been almost 15 years since I graduated and things that happened in those 4 years still haunt me. I can remember the first time a boy ever crushed me by referring to me as a little sister and then dating a good friend younger than me, the first time my best girlfriend ripped me a new one for daring to have friendships outside our inner circle, the drum cadence from Friday night football games still plays in my ears, embarrassment still surfaces from the time a guy friend rejected me as a prom date and I ended up going solo with the girls, and this all feels like it happened yesterday. I can still feel the heart ache of wanting a guy to like me so badly and I’ve been married for over five years now. I still get a happy feeling in my heart playing over again a male classmate telling me I had pretty eyes, the first compliment I ever received from a non family member. I recall being paralyzed with fear because I had to do a class presentation, the same fear that appeared when I had to take any math final. It’s so strange how those few years can shape the person you are going to be. It instills the fears you’ll carry with you forever. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why. Bigger and better things have happened to me, but high school still floats right below the surface. So, why is it? Why don’t we ever get over high school?

The problem is. . .People

I check the e-mails that get sent in to the bank for general questions. Today I received the following e-mail and it made me remember how much I love demanding customers:

To Whom it May Concern:

My name is XXXXXX (see I protect the guilty) and I have an account at your bank. I need to open another account. I am coming on my lunch and would like most of the paper work filled out prior to my arrival.

So, let me get this straight, you think we're Burger King? You wanna have it your way. Pull up, sign a paper, and drive away. We should do that for everyone right. Spend our days doing paperwork before you get here, forget the people who actually sign in to see us and take the time to sit and open accounts. Gosh, we are really behind the times huh?

And then just to add insult to injury I had another customer come in with a problem that he was upset that I couldn't help him with. You see, he took out a loan with another bank and gave them permission to draft his checking account to pay on the loan. Well, he told them that now he doesn't have the funds to pay the loan so he wants them to stop trying to draft his account because they are causing him non sufficient fund fees with us. They, the mean bank, won't stop trying to take out the payment he owes them. His solution? For us to put a stop payment on the draft, which we won't do. His next solution? To close the checking account. Really? What is wrong with people?

Fashionable

I go to get a customer who has questions about a credit card and I wonder if the $5000 she wants to transfer here is a result of her questionable fashion sense. She was wearing a cute, plain charcoal dress but then. . . well the accessory aisle threw up on her. She adorned her hair with a headband made of a huge blue-green feather, had a turquoise shrug on her shoulders, a black and white gingham scarf, a gold bracelet on her right hand, and three noisy bracelets on her left (my favorite was the black and silver tiger whose teeth were the clasp of the bracelet) and she ended this hot mess with black tights splattered with blue, pink, white, and purple stripes. I've got news for her though, she's not different or an individual, she just dresses badly.

Reflection

My life is wonderful, perfect for me husband, great family, stable job, roof over my head, everything a person could want. When I look back at the journey that got me here, I'm proud. Proud of the decisions I made, proud of the ones I refused, and even thankful for the horrible stuff that made the person I am today. I often wonder if I've lost some of me over the years. Not my core beliefs or anything like that, but the fun/carefree me. I'm quicker to snap, get cranky and angry. I've always been bitter, but I used to have a lot more tolerance for people. I still have compassion but people just get under my skin. I hear about a lot of people's problems every day and I think my skin has just gotten really thick. I don't want to be this angry, tired, mopey person. It's weird, people will ask me what I've been doing or what's new in my life and all I have to offer right now is a litany of complaints about people, my job, etc. Where did the joy go? The love of life? What am I doing that makes it all so dark and depressing. I'm not this person. I've lost me somehow in the shuffle of "living life" of going to work and coming home and eating dinner and staring mindlessly at the TV. The outside world is a stranger, the confines of my office and my house have become my safety net. I'm super lazy right now and I'm not even sure when it happened. So, I'm gonna snap out of it. I'm tired of it. I'm so done with it. I'm going back to being me. Still bitter but hopefully happier...

It's the people, they are driving me crazy!!!!

So, Christmas has come and gone and the holidays are over. I'm kind of glad because all the traveling, food, family and fun kind of wore me out. But now, now the crazies are coming out full force and work and I'm not sure I'm mentally stable enough to handle it.

We have started volunteering to do taxes for people (note the word volunteer) at no cost. This is a wonderful service and great for people with low income but also very tedious and annoying. I'm not a CFP (and I'm losing the trial to be one) or accountant or even a tax professional yet people want me to magically make their returns huge. Here's a hint, if you got unemployment all year and paid no taxes on it, you aren't getting a refund. You can't get a refund of something you never paid. Hello. Are you listening?

Also, people seem to think we are in the habit of giving out interest free loans. They let their account get into the negative and call to complain about not having access to their NEGATIVE account. Apparently because they have a direct deposit coming in next Friday we should let them spend money they don't have because at some point they will have it. Have people lost their minds? I think the answer is simply yes, yes they have. It's not that hard to balance a check book. Add, subtract, come out with a balance, if you can't do it, then close your account immediately!

And people also seem to think that loans they do want, should be waiting here for them to just come grab. Like we are the freaking Burger King, yes have it your way. Let me serve you, I won't ask questions, that wouldn't make sense. Just pull forward and get your $10000.00 and fries. Hey, just because you've never paid anyone, ever that shouldn't mean you can't get a check too. I mean, we should help people right, especially people who don't want to help themselves or take any responsibility for themselves.