Category: Life

So it’s been 100 years since the first airplane flight. Wow.

You know what I hate? I hate how growing older ruins things. Not just the “there’s not really an Easter Bunny, Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy” things either. I mean how growing old, and being introduced to a little thing called reality, makes us more fearful of the world around us. Such things as flying, for example.

The first time I went on a flight was when I was around 5-6 years old and my grandparents took my cousin and me to Disney World. I was so excited to be on the plane and thought watching the ground grow smaller as we took off was so cool. I went to Disney World again sometime when I was … um … who knows – 10? I honestly can’t remember. Again, I enjoyed the flight. Then we went to Disney World a third time when I was in high school, and while I wasn’t as thrilled, I certainly wasn’t scared.

Well … that has changed. The last time I was on a plane was in 1996 when I went to London. I was pretty apprehensive about flying, and I just so happened to come down with the flu right before I boarded the plane. Seriously – I was fine until I was sitting in a restaurant killing time before my flight took off. I have to wonder if it was mere coincidence or if I literally made myself sick from worrying. In any case, I spent the ensuing 10 days in my friend’s bed feeling horrible, only venturing out when I had to (like to see the most awesome Cure concert I’ve ever been to). It was disappointing to say the least to have missed so many sights because I felt so terrible.

So anyway … after growing older and wiser, and realizing that each time I set foot on a plane I could possibly die, well, I’m certainly in no hurry to get on another plane. September 11th didn’t help matters much either.

So I guess I’m just wondering how many of you out there is scared of flying, and if you don’t fly because of it. I figure I have to get over this fear because there are a lot of places I’d like to visit and I don’t plan on driving to all of them. Maybe anti-anxiety drugs would work? How does one stop obsessing over dying in a fiery crash? I realize that statistically speaking driving is far more dangerous than flying, but at least my car is planted firmly on the ground and I am in control of it (yea, the control freak in me is uncomfortable putting my life in someone else’s hands).

God, I hate what a wuss I’ve become. :p

I hadn’t planned on spending a good portion of my Sunday afternoon organizing my closet, but that’s exactly what ended up happening. It started innocently enough with me performing my bi-monthly paperwork maintenance. Then I decided it was about time I went through all my old cassette tapes. They’ve been sitting in my closet collecting dust since we moved here a year and a half ago. Many of them were homemade tapes of singles or albums I didn’t own at the time I made them. So I weeded out the ones I currently own on cd, and listened to the unlabeled ones to determine if they should be saved. I came across some funny stuff – me quizzing my brother on his ABC’s and stuff when he was around 5 years old and another one of me trying to catch my brothers on tape misbehaving so I could show my mom how they act when she would leave me to babysit them. I saved those ones, obviously.

After all that I had room to put all my old shorts and tank tops (that are currently too small for me but WILL fit again eventually) into the boxes I had the cassette tapes in. I also have some empty cassette tape holders. God knows who’s going to want those now that everyone owns cds, but maybe I can sell the one that holds 72 cassettes for 75 cents or something. It felt good to ditch some junk. I can be a pack-rat sometimes.

Earlier in the day we took Joe’s mom to The Pit for lunch for her birthday. We stopped at Walmart first so she could get Joe’s kids some Christmas presents. We helped her pick out some really cute outfits for them as well as toys, which was fun.

It was certainly a busy day. I think I’d like Sundays a bit more if they weren’t followed by Mondays, though. :p

Today I ordered a credit report from all three national agencies to make sure my information was accurate and up to date. My credit score falls into the highest (Excellent) category, which is higher than 70% of the population. Cool beans! I feel all responsible because I’ve always made a point not to carry a balance and I don’t have ANY instances of delinquent payments.

I don’t want to end up like 35% of the population who has credit card debt exceeding $10,000. That’s just crazy! I charge EVERYTHING, but I do it because a) It’s easier to keep track of expenses, b) I have less transactions/payments to balance my bank account, and c) I get rewards and cash back for stuff I buy anyway. But I never spend beyond my means and I always pay off the balance in full every month.

All this info puts my mind at ease. We plan on buying a house in the next year or two and it’s good to know we shouldn’t have a problem getting a home loan.

We spent some time this morning at the bank, adding each other’s names to our respective accounts. The relationship banker asked us if we had gotten married recently or were planning to. I responded, “eventually”, to which he congratulated us as if we were engaged. That must have been what he thought too because he referred to Joe as my fiance when introducing us to the financial services guy who will be helping me invest the money I left in my old 401k account. Luckily no one asked to see the (nonexistent) ring!

Honestly, I can’t wait to get married … and not just because I’m in love with the most wonderful man alive. I also want to reap the financial benefits from the tax breaks and better insurance coverage. Joe’s insurance is way better than mine, plus it wouldn’t cost him any more money than he pays now because his two kids put him into the family plan anyway. In the meantime, I’m paying twice as much now than with my former employer for less benefits. So yeah, it would be nice to be Mrs. Joe ASAP.