Worst Week Ever? Close to it!

Whirlwind week...

Deets Inside!!



I'm not even sure where to begin on this so I guess I'll start...well...at the beginning. Sunday was my first LSAT online course and it was pretty informative. I learned a lot and even felt inclined to do some of my homework that wasn't due until NEXT week (tomorrow actually). New lease on life I tell ya!

Monday morning, I awoke and headed off to work as usual as any other day. I realized halfway there, that I had no cash on me and would need some to board my bus as I forgot to refill my bus card (replace FORGOT with too broke to afford the monthly rate until payday ...lol). No biggie... I'd stop by an ATM at one of the various gas stations along the route. Got to the ATM and started digging through my wallet...Panic ensues because my VISA, which I NEVER remove for more than 10 or 15 seconds is GONE!!!!! I ran back to the car and headed home. I needed to empty my purse out and search every nook and cranny and I wasn't about to do that in some gas station!

Got home and cleared out the contents... no luck! I then began the process of backtracking which brought me to some new realizations. Firstly, as I always try to keep at least $10.00 (if not, $20.00) on me, why is there no cash in my wallet? On Friday I lent my brother $20.00 for gas...hmm... Then I remembered that after doing that, I took out $40.00 to get me through the next week without having to go back to the ATM. That $40.00 was nowhere to be found!!!! Logged on to my bank to make sure I did indeed withdraw it and had a mini heart-attack! There was the $40.00 withdrawal clear as day as well as a charge made on Sunday at a gas station. It was an authorization charge of $1.00 with a notation that the full amount would be charged shortly. Shit my pants! Who the HELL used my card and where was it!!?? How much did they spend at the gas station!?

Well... I had no time to figure all of this out as I still had to be at work! On the way, I called Bank of America who immediately blocked my card from use and alerted me that as soon as that charge went through for the full amount, I was to call them back and they would put the amount back in my account and I could then file a claim and we could find out who did this and prosecute them. This all took less than 10 minutes so Kudos to Bank of America. Unfortunately, I now had no cash and no means of GETTING cash since my card was gone. No problem, they said, I could head to a banking center and have a new ATM issued that day. Yay!

Cancel that yay... after waiting 20 minutes for that banking center to open.. I realize that my ID is also missing... so I can't even prove who I am! Also means I can't get a new ATM unless I call and have it mailed (which could take 7 to 10 days).

Gonna give Bank of America another kudos here as I called and asked to have it expressed to me and it came on Wednesday!

Back to the story (pretend you don't know I got my card on Wednesday!). This is where things get sad and fishy... The card was in my purse all weekend as I never left my home, as was the money. Honestly, at home I do not lock my purse up so it was sitting on or near my bed for most of the weekend. Sunday, my older brother and younger brother were arguing all day because my younger brother borrowed the car and neglected to fill the gas tank. He claims he did and couldn't fill it anyway because he had no cash (you can start to see how this is going to be sad...). Finally, tired of arguing, my younger brother says he will go fill it as he has another errand to run. He asked to go in my room and grab the iron and ironing board and I thought nothing of it...

Monday morning... gas tank full but my $40.00 and my ATM card are missing! Long story... semi-short... I filed my claim with Bank of America who told me that they would mail me an affidavit and from there they will begin to search for who did this. As you can probably guess, my inkling was that it was my younger brother. This was hard for me to even begin to think but after adding up all the details, it seemed to be the case. I cried, just so you know; it hurt me to even have those thoughts but I will say that my brother is not the most innocent person in the world. The Bank of America rep, after hearing my story, agreed that it was probably my brother and asked if I was sure I would want to pursue this to the full extent even if that were the case. I said yes but asked if the option to withdraw the claim would still be available. I would still make him pay, but charges like this are serious and can result in years behind bars. Theft itself is punishable by hefty fines and up to 4 years in jail, and in this case, Georgia also considers this Identity theft which would add an additional 2-4 years on. I wouldn't want my brother to spend up to 8 years in jail for 80 bucks... I asked him Monday if he did it, to which he responded "no" and seemed peeved that I would even ask. Tuesday, after speaking with another rep, I realized how serious (again) this charge would be and that Bank of America would really go after the person even if it was only a few dollars. Again, I questioned, and got resounding "no's".

On Wednesday, the charge went through for $40.00, the exact amount needed to fill my brother's gas tank. It was all too clear to me at this point, and I filed the claim officially. That night, I asked for the last time, to which my brother responded (pissed off might I add- as I would be if the situation were reversed and I was innocent) "no". So, at this point, I will file the affidavit and whatever happens, well... happens. I really hope it's not him but we'll see...

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Time for some cheerful news! I took my first LSAT Diagnostic test for my class today from 2-5p.m. It was as difficult as I remembered the real test being but I got the same score I got in October of 2008. Now, at first I was sad, but then I realized that if I got the same score today as I got two years ago, with only 3 weeks of studying and preparation, then I can do nothing but improve. In 2008 I was studying on my own with no real idea of how to prepare. I was also working at a new job and dealing with stresses associated with late payments of bills and calls from creditors as I had been out of work for almost a year. My job required me to go in on weekends (I would get 60+ hours a week during this period). This left little time to prepare and when I did have an hour or two to study, it was ineffective study as I was too stressed. I took the test TWO YEARS AGO and never cracked a book since until recently (less than a month) and I managed to make the same damn score. If this class can get me back to there in less than a month, imagine what it can do in the ~5 months until the test. I will be golden!

That's all for now as I'm sure your eyes are tired of reading!