I hoped my wallet had just fallen out of my bag and some lovely person would mail it back to me. I did call the credit bureau they said they’d notify the others and I got a letter in the mail saying they had. I also contacted my bank and put a super secret password in place on my account. Then I continued about my business.

Over the weekend, though, I got a letter in the mail from Sears telling me my credit sucks so I can’t get a credit card. I thought, WTF? I haven’t been in a Sears in YEARS. Why on earth would I want a credit card?  I then realized those bastards who stole my wallet thought I had decent credit. Did they not notice that I have no credit cards?? Hello Dumbasses!  Well, after talking to my brother and being told some horror stories, I went to the police station and filed a police report so I could cover my ass. I then called the FTC as well as Trans Union, the credit bureau listed on the letter from Sears.  Well, it turns out that although Equifax (who I called the Monday after  my wallet was gone) said they’d tell the others, they didn’t actually tell the other bureaus that my stuff was stolen. If you are ever in this position, call TransUnion first, you actually get a person on the phone. Equifax is all automated, never do you get a human.

I ran my credit report and I saw that these jackwagons went to Sprint and AT&T as well.   I called Sprint to make sure they didn’t give these people anything (they did not) and I called AT&T to be sure as well. Since I do have AT&T home service already I was worried they may have given these idiots a phone or something and then I’d be stuck with the bill. A very lovely woman named Elizabeth helped me and gave me the number to their fraud department (If you think someone is trying to get AT&T service with your info call 866-718-2011)  The thieves did not get anything from AT&T with my info, thank goodness.

If you lose your wallet or it gets stolen, or if you think your identity has been stolen here’s what you need to do:

Call your bank first – hopefully they’re awesome like my bank and you get a human on the phone without pushing buttons. I honestly have no idea if anything with my bank account number was in my wallet, so they put a super secret password on my account.

Call the credit bureaus – all three of them. Don’t believe them when they say they will contact the others for you.

TransUnion

Equifax

Experian

Each of them have a way to report fraud online. TransUnion was the only one that  I called and actually  reached a person. I’d certainly start with them. If you’ve got the option to make these places call you to confirm that you’re the one applying for credit, do it. Experian has it on their online form, but you’ve got to check the box to make it appear. I did not see anything like that on Equifax’s form. TransUnion asked me if I wanted the option.

Call the FTC – 1-877-438-4338 Make sure it’s on file with them that your information was stolen. It will help you in your fight to prove your identity was stolen.

File a police report – I know it seems like a hassle to go to the police. Especially in a city like Chicago where they don’t even pull you over for turning right from the left hand lane in front of a police officer (I saw it happen!!).  But, in Illinois if your ID is lost or stolen and you have a police report you don’t pay the fine to get your ID replaced. Also, it’s something you’ll need when calling the FTC – they ask for the police report number.

And finally, keep written notes of dates and times when you did all of this. Also write down who you talked to at each place, the officer’s name who took the report (if it is not on the police report you received), and everything else you deem worthy of writing down.  Put all of this in a very safe place. Check your credit report immediately and then check it each year. Keep an eye on everything you get in the mail. Even if you think it’s junk, open it and look it over. I thought that Sears letter was junk but something made me open it. If you see someone submitted your info to any kind of lender or potential creditor, call them and make sure no one got credit that wasn’t you. I feel that I’m lucky that my credit is completely shot or I’d be fighting with a few places right now.

Check your wallet and purse right now, what’s in it that doesn’t need to be there? Take it out put it in a safe place and make sure you know where that safe place is because you don’t want to lose it. Also, if you carry your money, ID and bus pass in the same place – that’s going to bite you on the ass. Keep each one in a separate spot. Luckily my bus card was in a separate pocket of my bag and not in my wallet. I was still able to get home.

I need to ask myself this question far more often.  The past couple of weeks I allowed this fear of failure to get in my way. I made all kinds of excuses and talked myself out of doing my project for class. The only person I was hurting was me. Why did I let this fear of failure take over? I spent Monday & Tuesday of this week working on the project and aside from a much deeper belief that CSS was created to torment me, it was nothing. It was the easy-peasy thing I KNEW it would be, but still, that fear stopped me in my tracks. I turned in my assignment before checking it in other browsers. Luckily IE is the only one it doesn’t work in but if you’re still using IE you’re an idiot anyway and should die a terrible horrible painful death. Seriously people, grow some balls, install Chrome or FireFox or Opera, your life will be better for it. TRUST ME I’m a web developer in training!

Back to the topic of fear…

Fear the BEHOLDER!

Back to the fear and failure topic…  We all suffer from fear. What we fear is this thing that in our minds becomes this huge monstrous beast that will torment you and tear you limb from limb and eat your entrails while you take your final breaths. But the reality is never nearly as awful as what we create out of fear. Overcoming the fear is the hardest part. Realizing that what we’re afraid of will never be nearly as bad as what we create in our minds about the situation is really hard. Once you let go of the fear, you can move forward and as you take those first steps, you realize it was never going to be as bad as you were imagining. Why do we constantly do this to ourselves? Why do we create these monsters that stop us from finding joy and happiness? Why do we keep holding ourselves back? Are we really afraid of success? Is being happy such a terrible prospect? Don’t you think you deserve to be happy and successful?

Imagine a hero!

The mighty paladin rolls a crit and gets max damage!

Your imagination is a powerful thing, like all powerful things you need to use it for good. Instead of creating a monster, create a mighty hero, a vanquisher of evil. This warrior will fight to the death on your behalf. He has no fear. Imagine the most awesome things that will happen with this warrior fighting for you. Don’t focus on what can go wrong, focus on what WILL go RIGHT. Focus on what will be amazing as you move forward. Don’t focus on failure, focus on success. Feel that success in the fiber of your being.   Embrace that success and make it real. Ask yourself: what would you do if you knew you could not fail? When you focus on success, in the end, you can only succeed because you wont give up until you do.

Nativity - courtesy of SpamanthaB

Okay friends, I need the get a job mojo. I had some developments this past week and sure could use an extra push from TPTB. If you all send out the message perhaps I’ll get offers from BOTH places. Wouldn’t that be a great problem to deal with? Yeah so please pray to Jesus, Mary & Joseph (or just God even) that these people see I am awesome and I do deserve to work for them because of how awesome I am, and hire me.

Yes, I would LOVE to work at both places. Both of them have exactly what I’m looking for but in different ways. I know I’d be happy at either place. Their locations are perfect, the people at each place seem incredibly nice. They both have been around for a very long time and have excellent lists of clients. I want to work at both places, so to be offered a job at either or both would be amazing.

Other events…

I’m working part time at Sports Authority out in the suburbs. My first official day of working begins tomorrow. It’s part time and minimum wage but it’s better than worrying about how I’m going to have enough money to pay my bills. Yeah that’s reaching nuclear proportions right now. But one worry at a time, right?

Dude Upstairs is still going, he’s got very strange hours too. He does something up there almost daily that sounds like he’s moving furniture, and it is at all hours of the day and night. I have no idea what he is doing. Maybe he’s into some kinda weird S&M stuff? Maybe there’s a body? Maybe he really is moving his furniture at all hours. Who knows. One day I may actually see him. I’ve seen just about everyone else who lives here at least once. Dude 3rd floor front keeps getting new roommates. I don’t know if I’ve ever met any of them. They don’t seem to last long. William Turnipseed was one of them, I only know him from his mail and yeah that last name gave me the giggles when I saw it. I’m giggling now looking at it.

That’s all the events really life is fairly dull when you have no money and no job.

Hey you,

Yeah, it’s me. I’m about 3 months away from celebrating our 2nd annual 39th birthday. Yes, I’m calling it that…mostly because our 39th birthday was pretty frickin’ lame. There’s nothing you can do about it though, so start planning now to celebrate 39 a second time and try to do it up big.

With that said, I’m not sure what to say to you. I keep having flashes of Diane Court in Say Anything giving her valedictorian speech saying, “I’ve glimpsed our future and all I can say is, GO BACK.”  I’m not saying it sucks here on the brink of a new decade of life, but from where you are to where I am now, it’s hard. Really, really hard. I don’t want to scare you, it’s not just 20 years of suck. There are amazing things ahead, but for each amazing thing, it seems you’ve got to endure some serious shit.  I’m sorry. None of it is any of your doing. It’s just what life throws at you. There’s nothing you can do to change any of it so just accept it and keep going. Sure there are some things I’d like to tell you to avoid, but those things are what makes me who I am now. I’m OK with who I am right now. OK, maybe you should drink more water, and try to save more money. But aside from that, things are what they are; you’ve got to take the bad if you want the good.

Keep in mind you don’t have to shoulder everything all alone. You don’t have to be the strong one all the time. You can ask for help, there’s nothing weak about asking for help. And speaking of weak, it’s OK to cry. Really. You aren’t a cry baby, you aren’t going to be laughed at, and you will be able to stop. I know you think it makes you look weak, but there’s nothing weak about crying. There will come a day, when the shit really hits the fan and you won’t be able to control it any longer. You will cry with such pain, the sound will terrify you. But don’t worry; you will be able to stop. You’ll pull yourself together and you will be able to move on. I just wonder if you cried more in the past if that moment wouldn’t have been so terrifying.

You are amazing at finding and keeping friends. It may not feel like it, but it’s true. Keep treating people right and learn to lean on them. You have collected the most amazing group of friends. You will surround yourself with people who care about you, who love you and want the best for you. Sometimes it won’t sound like it, but really, they do. Those people are telling you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear, that’s what makes them your friend. No matter how far away these people are, keep them close to your heart. Even if they are people you haven’t met in person, they are all important, and you will eventually meet them in person. (I know this sounds odd to be friends with someone you haven’t met, but roll with me here, it’ll be clear to you soon enough.)

Oh, and when you’re writing in your journal, could you try writing about the good things as well as all the bad stuff? Reading those journals now, you sound like some kind of whiny, angst ridden teenager. Seriously, life wasn’t ALL bad. Celebrate the good by writing it down. I know that you work out the crap by writing about it. But share the good too would you?

In the end what I want to say is, be good to yourself. You deserve happiness, love, and to be treated well. You are beautiful inside and out. Yes, you ARE, don’t fight with me. I’m an old woman who knows more than you do. Enjoy the next 20 years of living, go crazy, do all kinds of things. You have no regrets so, live it up. Have fun. I’ll see you when you get here.

The episode I caught is about Sarah Jackson, a woman from England who was living a big party lifestyle of drugs, etc and found herself three thousand pounds in debt to a loan shark. In order to pay off her debt he gives her the only option of going to Peru and smuggling “a few kilos” of cocaine back into the country. The catch is, he wants her to take a friend. It looks less suspicious if you’re not traveling alone when you smuggle. She gets a friend, Simon Burke, to go with her. She tells him it’s just a holiday to check out Machu Pichu and all the beauty therein. He asks about money, she tells him she got money from her Grandmother so it’s all good.

As the departure date looms, Sarah has second thoughts and tries to get out of it by telling the loan shark she can’t find her passport. No problem, he has one, but the picture looks NOTHING like her, well, OK the girl in the picture also has short hair, but it’s not the right color… But it seems it’s very easy to get out of the UK with a passport that looks nothing like you, and it’s really easy to get into Peru as well. The only problem they had was the airline losing Simon’s luggage. She and Simon have a lovely time in Peru seeing the sites. She lets nothing slip to Simon about why they are really there.

She ditches Simon for an afternoon to get the goods that are already concealed in a suitcase. All she has to do is pack it and bring it back to the UK. Simon is totally clueless about what’s going on. They fly from the Machu Pichu area to Lima where they will switch planes back to the UK. All is well when they land in Lima. They claim the bags and then head to check in for the next leg of the flight. Sarah doesn’t want Simon around when she checks the bag in because she’s trying to keep him out of it. She tells him to go check on his lost bag from the beginning of their trip.

She checks in and everything seems totally OK, until a worker questions her passport, then her luggage is X-rayed and that’s not going well either. But right when she thinks she’s finally made it, they pull her aside and have her open her luggage. They cut into the bag and find the drugs. She’s brought back into a holding area and they discover she’s not traveling alone. The police go out into the airport to find Simon. These two are a man and woman traveling together, obviously they’re working together. They are interrogated. The police find 10kg of cocaine in the suitcase. They find Sarah’s real passport and a wig.

This all went down in 2007. Both Simon and Sarah were put in jail since Peru’s justice system is nothing like the US or the UK. After 18 days together in some sort of holding cell they are sent to separate prisons. The whole time Sarah is trying to tell anyone who will listen that Simon is innocent. However, no one in the Peruvian justice system cares if your innocent or how long it takes to prove that you are.

Sarah, the guilty party, is sent to what looks like a luxury resort. Simon, the innocent one, is sent to hell. The disgusting filth of the men’s prison in Peru where he is stuck for 10 months, is enough to make you lose all faith in humanity. Once the Peruvian officials accept Sarah’s guilty plea they let Simon leave prison, but he can’t leave the country. He has to wait until Sarah is sentenced before he can go home. Again this could take forever because they don’t care about due process or speedy trial in Peru. Now he’s living in equally squalid conditions.

I searched a bit online to try to learn more, I found the blog of Adam Sweet. He saw the Banged Up Abroad episode when it first aired on Channel 5 in the UK. Simon was staying in the spare room of a Peruvian family. He was trapped there for over 2 years. It cost his family twenty thousand pounds because Simon had no means to earn an income while stranded in Peru pending the court case and the prosecution’s appeal of an earlier acquittal. Simon was finally allowed to get home in October of 2009. If I remember correctly (as no online sources say) Sarah was sentenced to 7 years in prison. From what Adam Sweet says on his blog, there wasn’t a lot of mainstream press coverage about Simon and what was happening to him. His family and friends started a few Facebook groups to help raise awareness and pressure the British government into doing something. They also took donations for his living expenses. This poor guy’s life was ruined, and ruined by a friend.

So… let this be a warning to you, just because you’re innocent that doesn’t mean you wont get fucked over in another country. Peru’s law is lock you up and sort it all out later, even if that takes years. If going to Peru, make sure you’re a woman because the women’s prison is so much nicer. But also, don’t get involved in drug smuggling. You WILL get caught and it WILL be nasty, because you’ll get caught in a foreign country. I think I may continue to remain holed up in my cave.