April 29, 2007
Would the shows "30 Rock" and "The O.C." be as interesting and would the actors seem as cool if they were set in South Dakota?
It's a shame, but it's hard to avoid defining someone by where they come from. My friend Tom brought this point up a while back, and it got me thinking about the stereotypes I have of people from certain regions. When I think about the characters in "Roseanne," for example, I get the same sense about them as I felt about people in Pittsburgh. Hard-working middle-class people who had respect for where they lived but deep down probably wanted to get out if they had the means. This probably isn't really what it's like, as I frequently return home and visit friends only to see that they have tattooed the Steelers football logo on their face, but that's sure how it felt to me, and that's why I wanted to leave.
My cousin Jordan goes to school in Kansas and seems to mock it self-consciously sometimes in her away messages. But I have another friend who used to live there, and she used to be so proud of Kansas, she would often befriend passersby on the street wearing Kansas paraphernalia. And they had the same pride as she did, high-fiving her back and exchanging e-mails. I was always impressed by this, since whenever I would hear the nasal all-too-familiar Pittsburgh accent on my college campus, I would try to go running in the opposite direction (in the direction of DON-TON).
The first few years in college, unless you attend a small school where everyone else is from the same place, you will be identified by where you're from. Going to school in Nashville, I was the "Yankee" with my fast-walking, fast-talking, uptight ways. I didn't mind it so much, and I guess there's not much else to talk about when you're shoved into a social setting with thousands of other people with not much else in common. But everyone seemed to take comfort in knowing where everyone else was from.
The problem Tom brought up is when people move to a new place and try to mooch off the coolness for themselves. Did you ever have a friend move to New York and suddenly become light-years cooler than you? They'll sashay up to you and exclaim, "Each day, I spend my day with 8 million of the most interesting people in the world!" and you try with all your might not to punch them in the throat.
I've tried not to let this happen to me moving to LA. I love living here, and it feels right for right now. I'm just trying to blame that on a more positive life outlook, though, not because I happened to move to California.
Tom has lived many places. When he lived in Oregon, he mocked outsiders for pronouncing it "Or-e-gone" and lived the software developer geek-chic life. Now he has a city-crush on New Orleans (pronounced Naw-lins).
Justin has pointed out that many people seem to latch onto a country to help define their personality. Walk into any frat house in the country, and there's a good chance you'll find an Irish flag hanging in half the rooms. And I'll bet my Blarney Stone that none of them are over 1/64 Irish.
But I can't argue. I have a thing for Switzerland and Japan. Melissa has an unhealthy crush on Russia. My friend Kameron loves Cameroon. Okay, that last one's not true. (Or is it?)
Traveling to Japan, I'll have to prepare myself to be an ambassador for the United States as best I can. But I'm a member of a forum for the program, and since there are many British, Canadian, and Australian participants as well, there is always a lot of US bashing, which I find unfortunate. Even more unfortunate are the self-conscious Americans who respond with a knee-jerk, "Oh, don't worry! I hate my country, too! BUSH LIES, PEOPLE DIE!"
When I lived in Switzerland for a month in 2003, I was minding my own business, reading a book in a cafe, when a group of teenage boys came up to me. They asked me, in German, what I was reading, and I must have misunderstood their dialect, because I asked them politely to repeat their question. They heard my American accent and suddenly flipped me off with both hands and shouted "FUCK AMERICANS!"
Everyone turned to look at me. It was terribly embarrassing, and I still don't know what to make of it. Did his parents teach him to hate anyone from the United States, or did he watch on the news that it was the cool thing to do?
In conclusion...I have nothing to conclude. These thoughts have been rattling around in my head, and I've tried to tie them together conclusively. I guess what I'm trying to say is...be proud of where you're from, and if you don't like it, go somewhere else? Sure, why not?
April 23, 2007
Been writing a lot.
Parents in town.
Going to Disneyland today!
Pictures to follow.
Also full sentences.
April 13, 2007
Since I am the number 1 Google hit for "TLG Hotline" and that is the only cryptic information left on many people's credit cards, billing them monthly for $9.99, many net-savvy individuals stumble across my site and e-mail me frantically since I once boasted that I had rid them from my life.
Well, I'm going to attempt to defer some e-mails from my inbox and just tell you what I did to get the money credited back to me.
The story starts about four years ago, back when I was fresh out of college, and before I was a savvy consumer.
I got a check in the mail for $2 from what looked like my credit card company, Chase. Being a poor member of the service industry, I cashed it. A few months later, I noticed a $9.99 charge I didn't recognize on my statement. Flipping through old statements, I noticed it had been there for a few months. I called Chase, and they told me that technically, I had signed up for it by cashing the check, but I was able to work it out. They refunded me all charges for the past months. They admitted that they worked in connection with this third-party company that offered "credit protection." I'm still not sure what that means, but I've gathered that it has something to do with them taking lots of money from me and not protecting me at all and possibly abusing baby kittens.
Fast forward two years, during which time I had received many more fake checks and quickly shredded each one. One month, I happened to notice another TLG hotline charge, this time going back 4 months. When I called Chase, they informed me that they had cut ties with TLG, but they would report the "disputed" charges for that month.
By the next statement, I had yet another charge of $9.99, but also a credit for $9.99.
I called Chase again, and they said they would put the back-charged $39.96 in dispute, but I wouldn't actually be refunded the money until the situation was resolved between me and TLG.
I wish I could tell you that I then informed the unhelpful Chase representative that they should change their jingle from "Free to do what I want any old time" to add "Unless what I want is to not have $40 stolen from me by two asshole companies," but I was only able to think of that hilarious addition several hours later.
Anyway, my years of detective training (watching "Forensic Files") paid off, and the 800 number on my statement was indeed the TLG Hotline. I talked to a bunch of representatives reading from a paper. I was polite, but none of them seemed to understand the problem, or why I didn't like paying them money each month for nothing at all.
When I finally spoke to a manager, he told me that I had signed up for the service myself. I told them that I had been tricked by the check-cashing before, and I learned from that and would never have done it again. He kept insisting that I had asked for it, but I was adamant about not wanting it and wanting a refund.
"Well, we don't authorize refunds that over the phone," he informed me. The reason for this, although he didn't verify this to me, was that he couldn't authorize it because he wasn't at a desk and was in fact swimming Scrooge McDuck-style on a mound of illicit money, spitting out coins above his head like a fountain.
He told me I would have to fax a request. I got his name, number, and fax number, and I sent it that same day.
Another month passes. I get my credit card statement, and -- you might want to remain seated for this shocker -- there was no credit on it! I call up TLG again, not a happy, calm consumer at this point. After waltzing with the representatives, I finally spoke to another manager, who said they had not received my fax, and now I would have to send another request in the form of a letter.
Here is the letter I sent, original bold and all.
================================
To whom it may concern,
I am writing in hopes to resolve my dispute over the charge of $39.96 since $9.99 has been appearing on my Chase Credit Card bill starting in the 10/11/05-11/10/05 statement and occurring up until my current 03/11/06-04/10/06 statement (a total of 5 months).
April's statement (03/11/06-04/10/06) actually has a $9.99 credit on it (for the date of 3/20), even though there is another charge on it (from 3/13) of $9.99, so that month evens itself out. This credit appears as a result of a call I made when I received the previous month's statement, which I assume happened between the 13th and the 20th, which explains why I was still charged. (Cancellation number XXXXX)
However, the credit to my account should have been 49.95 ($9.99 x 5 months). Since this last month was credited back as $9.99, I am now owed $39.96. ($49.95 - $9.99 = $39.96)
I was told by a representative that you have a signed document of mine from August requesting to be signed up for your service. I have been tricked before by your company, and I learned my lesson with the first batch of multiple phone calls needed to cancel that, so I am unsure as to why I would willingly sign myself up for that again.
I am not sure how you would have a signed document from me signing me up for your services, but it was completely in error. Please inform my credit card company that this has been an error and credit my account with $39.96. Thank you.
I already sent you this exact letter in a fax last month on April 17th. The refund of $39.96 has not appeared on my statement as of yet, and a call on May 6th informed me that you "didn't receive" my fax. Please understand my frustration and resolve this matter QUICKLY.
Last month's credit card statement stated, "Payment of amount in dispute $39.96 not required," which gave me hope that my needs were being addressed, however I never received the actual refund. I am owed $39.96. My email is XXXX. My telephone number is XXXX. My address is below. There is simply no excuse for avoiding my request this time.
Signed,
Lauren
=================================
Yeah, my OCD kicked in while writing the letter, and I admitted to myself that, while slim, there was a chance that I may have sleepwalked to my mailbox, signed the check, then sleepdrove to my bank and cashed it. I know I didn't do this, but they were just so damn adamant that I had, I was doubting myself. I really don't need 2 bucks that bad.
The happy ending here is that I eventually did get refunded, regardless of my snarky letter including extraneous bold text and insulting basic addition.
The sad ending is that this company still exists, and old ladies are constantly e-mailing me for help because I pop up on Google instead of the actual company.
The reason for this is that the actual name of the company is Trilegiant. From their website, I can't really tell what they think they do.
So, for anyone else who comes across this, the number I used to contact them is 800-633-3985.
The address I used was:
Attention: Support Service
Credit Card Hotline
PO Box 6100
Westerville, OH 43086
In conclusion, read your credit card statements, and don't cash checks sent to you from your credit card company. Then if someone says you did, in fact, cash a check from your credit card company and you're sure you didn't, call up the company, speak to the highest person you can reach on the phone, and inform them that you're switching credit cards because you don't appreciate companies that accuse you of lying. Yeah! Damn the man!
April 11, 2007
I've been keeping a secret from you.
Back in October, I decided to take a slightly large plunge and apply to a program that I've been wanting to do for quite a while. It's the JET program, and its purpose is to ship native English speakers to Japan and have them teach school children.
Depending on who you ask, it's pretty hard to get in, it's completely a random lottery, or they give the job to anyone with a pulse. Personally, I went for the option that would bring my full-blown OCD to the surface and leave me whimpering in a corner for months on end. So, yeah, I didn't want to post about it here because if I didn't get in, I would have to admit to the Internets that I had failed them.
BUT since you're reading this, and if you've hit refresh recently, you may be able to tell that I got good news.
I tried to mentally document all of my harrowing tales, which I hope to recreate in the coming months before I leave. And once I get there, I hope to continue to provide you with awesome stories of my travels and classes.
I don't know where I will be placed just yet, but I'm leaving in less than four months, and all I know in Japanese is how to count to 10 and how to say "Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto." Yeeeeah.
Anyway, so the last week was spent madly getting chest x-rays, blood tests, applying for a new passport, getting fingerprinted for the FBI, and trying to figure out what the hell all these IRS forms are saying. And now that that's through, I can sit back, relax, and worry that all my Fed-Exed documents will simultaneously get lost in the mail and I won't get to go to Japan, and I will have to admit to the Internet that I've failed.
So there's that. Other than that, life is AWESOME! I'm going to Japan! Whoo! YATTA!