Moving on & starting over

So, it's official, no turning back now. I am moving to the Bay Area. I was going to try and stay in FL until the end of my lease but things happened (work-related), and it led me to make the decision to make my move now. I like to think that everything happens for a reason and am therefore excited to be moving sooner than later even if it may be a bit of a struggle.

I know the last time I wrote, I had decided that I wasn't going ahead with my plan of moving to CA, but I had time to ponder and really think about what I wanted for myself and came to the conclusion that I do want to go out there and try something new. It seems right to me and maybe I'm crazy and/or wrong, but am going ahead with my gut feeling. In my last post when I said I wasn't moving out there, it was based on a personal issue involving someone else. But I realized that I need to do what I want to do and right now I feel I need to go somewhere new where I can start over and perhaps re-invent myself once again. I have had a lot of tough times this year and a lot of changes have happened and are up ahead, but I am looking forward to a new challenge and a new beginning. I really need this right now.

Where have all the people my age gone...?

I can't believe I didn't write in my blog at all during the entire month of March. How lame of me. I know had some great ideas for blog entries but they never made it to the computer. A lot of times I'll blog in my mind and then forget to actually type it up. I need to get better about that.

Anyway, one thing that's been on my mind lately is age. I feel like no matter where I go, everyone I meet is younger than I am. Whether it's at a bar, a Yelp outing, or work, people seem to all be in their mid-late 20's, maybe 30 max, but never early or mid-30's. I wonder where all the people my age have disappeared to. Are they all at home living lame married lives? Is it possible that I am the only single girl in my early 30's who goes out around here? I feel like I'm older than I should be. If/when I do manage to meet people that are within my age range around here, they always seem way older than me appearance-wise and out of touch with anything I like. Not like these encounters happen often but when they do, this seems to always be the case. Sometimes I feel like I was born before my time. I should at least be in my late 20's. Hopefully after I move I shall meet some younger-looking, cooler people in their early thirties because I'm over being the oldest one around.

Old songs, new meanings

I've always loved music and it's always been an important part of my life. Certain bands are especially dear to me because their music helped me get through difficult times in the past. When I was in high school I primarily listened to heavy metal because a lot of the songs have an angry sound to them and they matched my emotions at the time. Although metal was my favorite, I also listened to more mellow rock. I loved rock ballads even though I couldn't necessarily relate to the general topic, lost love (I never dated in high school. I know, pathetic). Anyway, years passed and my taste in music has changed slightly. I'm not saying that I no longer like the music I listened to back then, but my genre of music of choice now has evolved a bit. As a result, there are a lot of albums that I haven't listened to in years.

Earlier tonight, while driving to the grocery store, I pulled out an Aerosmith CD that I hadn't played in a while and I listened to track after track. Suddenly, this one track started playing that I remembered loving, not because I could relate to it at the time, but because it was just a good song. Tonight, however, it had a new meaning for me because tonight I could relate to what Steven Tyler was feeling when he wrote those lyrics. It made me love the song so much more and once again, music is there to help me get through a tough time.

Help me! I'm addicted to Facebook!

Lately on my days off, or when I am not at work, all I do is lay on my couch and go online. A lot of my time is spent on Facebook updating my status, responding to other people's status messages, and responding to other people's responses to my status/pictures. When I am not at home on my computer I'll log onto Facebook on the mobile app on my G1. I know I'm not the only one who does this but it's getting addicting. Is it pathetic? Probably. At least I'm not the only one. I must say, I definitely have a tendency to get addicted to anything online. Makes me wish I'd pursued being an online editor after I graduated college like I had thought about.

I'd make a bad, bad parent

So as you know, I have a Shih-Tzu named Perry. I love him very much and don't know what I'd do without him. At this point he's pretty much all I have and he keeps me busy. There are days when I probably wouldn't get out of bed if it weren't for him.

Despite my love for him I haven't been giving him the attention he deserves. I've been so wrapped up in my pathetic life that I haven't really thought much about him. I walk him, feel him, play with him for a little while if he asks to play, but that's pretty much it. I realized that I've been ignoring him the other day when I was walking him and noticed that he went to the bathroom on the grass. Now, for most dogs this isn't a big deal. In fact that's what dogs do, they poop on grass, but not Perry. For the longest time he's avoided grass and if I picked him up and put him on it he'd run off. I always thought it was funny. Anyway, the other day I was walking him and looked down to realize that I was standing on grass and he was pooping on it. He actually had been doing so for days but I hadn't even thought about how for him this is a big deal. That was when I realized that I was being selfish by not paying much attention to him and just worrying about my own problems. My poor baby! This also made me realize that I'd probably make a lousy parent because everything would always be about me. Not like I want to be a parent or like anyone would want me to be their kid's mom. It was just a weird realization.

My Personal Debit Card Fraud: The Conclusion

So the fraudulent charges on my debit card finally cleared today which meant I was able to call Bank of America and officially file a dispute. Apparently, whoever made the charges had a card present which means that someone made a fake card with my information on it. Normally I'd think this was creepy but this happened to me once before when I lived in NJ. Someone had withdrawn as much as they could out of my account at an ATM in NYC and then purchased a Metro Card with the remaining balance. Gotta love thieves. What I don't get about these latest thieves is why they'd choose to buy stamps. I mean, really? Stamps? You have access to someone's account and you choose to buy stamps on three different occasions? Weirdos!

I think the most annoying part of this whole experience was how many times I had to tell a BofA rep that no, I have not been in Texas. The rep today asked me if I was sure I hadn't been there. Do you really think I could forget going out of state let alone, to a place like Texas?

Anyway, they filed the dispute and they are giving me a credit for the amount which is supposed to clear on the 24th. The only thing left for me to do is sign and mail back the affidavit they are sending me. I can't wait to get my new debit card. I am not a fan of using cash because I don't believe in it. I feel like everyone should use a debit card, even though the system obviously has its flaws.

More irony

So the day after my entry about staying positive, what happens? Something negative! I was out having a drink with my friend Erika when I get this email message from Bank of America about possible "irregular activity" on my debit card. I get these a lot from them so I thought it was probably just them being over-protective again but I call anyway because when you get one of these notices, your card has a hold on it. So, I call and wait what seems to be a million years (about 30m min) and finally get to speak to someone who tells me that there were three charges from USPS for $37 and change. Two were in Houston, TX and one was in Richardson, TX. Wtf? I have been nowhere near Texas in years so obviously there is something fraudulent going on. What was annoying was that the representative kept asking me if I'd bought stamps. I said no and he asked me that on a couple of different occasions. Would I really fly all the way to Texas just to buy stamps 3 times? Retarded! Anyway, I wanted to dispute the charges then and there but since they were still in their pending stages I couldn't do so. They told me to call back when the charges clear. Annoying! At this point I just wanted a new card sent out to me. In the meantime, the rep said that I could go to any branch to get a temporary card which I attempted to do this morning but failed at my mission. Apparently, because I opened my account in NJ, they couldn't do it for me. It needed to be a FL account. What? I don't understand that but whatever. I just withdrew some money and left. I just want this to be over already but it will probably take a while because the charges are still pending and they said the amount of time for the dispute to be settled "depends." Fun times ahead!

Anyway, I thought it was ironic that this happened the day after I said I was going to try to be more positive about things. I swear someone out there is testing me. Well, I haven't given up yet! I just hope there aren't any more tests anytime soon. ;)