I couldn't believe when i learned I had an overdraft on that sucker, and then I took a look and found out my bank had taken out $7 as a monthly fee. Free Checking my fanny! I went online and found out that it was changed to "personal checking" this sept. 12th, and because i'm poor, they're gonna take out money i can't afford to lose from my checking account every month. sheesh, i thought they wanted us to spend money in this economy of ours--gotta keep saving so the bank doesn't take it all, apparently, now.

grr...nice to know the bigwigs will penalize you for being broke by taking what little money you have. to top it off, they transferred the overdraft from my savings (didn't have an overdraft til that $7 was taken out, the *$%&^$*s!), and now my savings is below the minimum amount and i'm gonna have fees taken out for that too! Gah!

Aside from the last check i've sent out for a charity, i'm seriously thinking about closing my checking account for good--i barely use the thing anyway as it is, hence the reason there's so little in it. but dammit, i can't keep a minimum of $1500 in there just to avoid $7 a month charge. that's extortion, and i can't stand it. hmm...i think i might close it out. the only thing i'm really concerned with is trying to buy on e-bay (i think you have to do the whole checking account thing with paypal, the only reason i'd even think about keeping it).

i'm gonna check on that, though, because if anything, i need to stop spending money as it is. today was my last splurge (i promised myself i'd be penny pinching beyond belief--my card's almost maxed out from lack of paychecks to pay for school...and art supplies.)

i'm gonna end up chucking my checking account maybe. perhaps someday i'll get another one, but even if i do the college checking and savings thing, i'll have to wait on that or get more money to transfer over to it in the first place. this just sucks, really.

on the other hand, i had a friday night to myself for once. it occurred to me that i hadn't had a friday for me in about 4 months, and i was going to take one. i like being around people more, but the "me time" is something i cherish too. i felt bad that i'd missed a lot of fun in the star wars gamers group--it seems something i'd started my first full night playing took on a life of its own (i'm definitely gonna have to get a t-shirt made--hee hee), and all hell broke loose (the fun kind).

i got the play by play a bit at the open house at school. it was pretty fun to be there and tell all these newbies about ConJour and the Gamers' Guild. We were chatting and having fun--sold maybe $2 of goodies, but everybody else it seems was having a bake sale or food giveaway, so bad planning there. maybe some other day, who knows? Either way, it was pretty cool and i've been doing alright.

Otherwise, i also got my homework done after that--and dropping ms. deborah off at home--by going to Best Buy to do test marketing. I had some fun with the Kinect and tried to get others to play it, and by coincidence ended up talking with a Microsoft Rep for a while--pretty cool. I went to the mall, hoping to get more white shoes to permanently ruin (no bogo deal, so i didn't bother, i think next week i can do the 2 pairs thing, and hope i can for sure--i wanna do splatters of school colors for the I Heart UHCL event in a couple weeks). I ended up getting more silly tees instead, and a new purse i needed--after 8 years, this one's finally rotted apart on me.

Then there was dinner at Monument Inn, across from my baby. We had an officer change of command, a small ceremony, and some excellent fish. never had tilapia in sauce before, and i could've gotten several other items, but i thought if i was in a seafood restaurant and they were footing the bill, i'd try some fish dish. it was wonderful tasting (and the bread yummy--can't pass up many restaurant breads, really). It was nice, though i was incredibly underdressed. I was wearing my funky green and purple shoes with black capris and my talking electrons t-shirt. most there were in suits and dresses. in my defense, didn't know how major an event this would be and they failed to include a dress code in the invite (they admitted it), and i wasn't the only one underdressed, so no biggie there, and i got complements on my shoes, which was fun, too. I hung around a few people I didn't know, and George, another volunteer/employee, and we had some fun. I also got to take home a floral arrangement I didn't realize we could take, and its very nice--also big, but i'm clearing space on the table so i can get it off the island, eventually.

I'd better get to looking up some more stuff now, and i got a project proposal i need to turn in soon. later.