FAIL.

This is me, failing:

I got a call from American Express on Monday saying that my account was overdue by about two weeks. This freaked me out because I am super anal retentive about my bills, always paying them on time, etc. I was in the middle of running errands so I drove home to check my paperwork. I paid it on time - I even had written down the confirmation number from my online bill pay through my checking account. So I investigated my bank account ... turns out I made the payment to "American Education Services" - my student loan provider. Not American Express. They're right next to each other, alphabetically, in the online bill pay center. Oops.

I quickly made the outstanding payment to American Express and called them back, and asked if this would affect my credit report and/or my 0% (introductory, till, oh, early next year) rate on the card. Well, my rate is now 17.99% and they said they can't change it. This means I'd be paying $600 in interest in the next six months before they can look at lowering it again. I actually cried on the phone with the woman, I was so upset. All the explaining in the world about the accidental payment to a similarly named company did nothing. I felt - and still feel - so dumb about it.

So now I'm going to investigate transferring my balance to a different company to get either a 0% rate or a low fixed rate so I can just keep paying down the balance like I've been doing. And once I figure out which is the best option, I'm going to put my game face on and call American Express and tell them "match it or lose my business."

And another example of me failing...
I had start-itis today and cast on for a simple stockinette cowl for a friend's birthday gift. I got out my Options needles, set it up, cast on, and found that the needle was too long. I had picked the wrong cable length. FAIL.

So I switched to a shorter cable, cast on, and found that I had too little yarn by about six stitches. FAIL.

When I looked at the needle, I actually had re-attached the needle tips to the same, too-long cable in the first place. FAIL.

So I got the shorter cable (and actually checked this time), cast on, and found that it was still too short. FAIL.

I dove into my DPN stash and found the same size DPNs, never been opened. So, I set it aside to let my temper cool, and I'll cast on later. One friend's birthday was yesterday, and another's is next week. I ordered a gift from Etsy for one friend, but someone's getting a late birthday present no matter what. I feel like I can never get ahead on knitting - I'm always days behind. Sigh.

My life hasn't been *that* full of fail, to be honest. I rejoined the city's fitness center last week and have been going very consistently, doing at least 50 minutes of cardio and then some machine/weight work. I feel a little guilty for not going today, but I went the past two days (even after the Amex drama-llama), and I'm going the next two days. Everyone needs a break. And I need to clean the apartment. I'm glad to be back in a gym routine, that's for sure.

Tomorrow's my only day off - I'm working Friday for someone and then next week, I will be off three days in a row. Sweet! That Saturday (the 14th) is WWKIP day, and I'm going to the Tides game with Josh, and my friend Janice and her hubby and baby. We got tickets through the local knitting guild so we should be sitting with other knitters. I am really looking forward to it!