Venting, Wallowing in Self-Pity, Etc.

Call it what you want, but I need to write today. This week has been one of the worst weeks ever. (Part of the reason there was no Thankful Thursday yesterday.)

Well most of it is on my last post. But then, after that, yesterday my dad calls me and says that the BYU police called him at work while he was at lunch. (I have NO idea how they got my dad's work number, or how they found out we were related for that matter.) So I have Jed call and just ask for their address so I could send them cash and be done with it (and not have to give them any of my info). She says they can only take card or check because they need my info to link with the car in case they need to hunt me down or something. So then I asked Jed if he would call them back and give them his credit card, or even mine, over the phone. When he called back, the lady said they figured out who I was (and who he was) and they will just post it to my BYU financial account. I was like, fine, whatever, I'll just pay it and never park on campus again. End of story.

Then Jed IM's me and asks what my work phone is because a BYU cop just called his cell number (don't ask how they got that) and needs to talk to me and won't tell Jed anything over the phone. So this Lt. Barber calls me at work and says I need to come in in the next day or two to "have a little chat". I'm thinking "What the heck?" Why can't I just pay it online and be done with this? And I tell him I can't come in because I work the same hours as their office is open, and I work all the way in Lindon. He tells me that I'd better find a way to come in on my lunch break or something. So now I have to leave work early (second time this week) to go to BYU. This is absolutely ridiculous. BYU parking enforcement are not real cops, so me telling them false information cannot/should not be an issue. The lady that Jed talked to said something about Honor Code... However, if I pay the tickets, then they have nothing against me.

I was thinking about just paying it and blowing it off, and I talked to my friend Justin last night (he's a cop) and he told me I could probably just pay it and not go in. But then we decided that if the cop got mad or whatever, he might be able to take it to the Honor Code office and then not only did I tell the pee-on parking enforcement the wrong info, but I never went and talked to this real cop. I'm so sick of BYU. I'll be glad when we never have to deal with them again. The only redeeming quality they have, besides providing a decent education, is that it's cheap. Otherwise I/we would not be going there.

Anyways, this week, in fact this whole month, has just been one thing after another. I feel like I can never get ahead. I'm struggling to stay above water, but I feel like I'm drowning. Jed, bless his heart, is SO supportive and trying his hardest to help me out and be uplifting, but he has no idea what I'm dealing with... Any thoughts, advice, prayers, money would greatly be appreciated. ;)

Poop Sundae with a Cherry on Top

Yesterday was a poop sundae with a cherry on top. Let me preface this. At the halfway point in the semester, I still hadn't seen my loan money that I was approved for, so I called the financial aid office at BYU and the little girl on the phone told me that I since I only had 5.5 credits and needed 6 credits to get the loan, that I needed to add a .5-credit block class (taken the second half of the semester). So I scramble to find a class that would be even remotely interesting/relevant, and that I can fit into my schedule. I add the class, get the loan money, and pay off my fall tuition. Then, about a week ago, I notice that I owe BYU $4000 (repayment on my loan that I just barely got, in addition to winter's tuition). So I call them up and a new girl tells me that they've had some gliches in the system and that they are working on getting it fixed, that I should check back on Monday (2 days ago) and if it still says that I owe, to call back again.
Monday rolls around and guess what? I still owe $4000. Surprise, surprise. So I call back to their office and this girl puts me on hold for 15 minutes trying to get an answer for me. She comes back on the line and tells me that since I haven't been taking 6 credits consecutively over the entire semester, I was ineligible for that loan they gave me. My only option would be to come in and talk to a financial counselor and talk about payment options. So I make an appointment to talk to this counselor yesterday.

Jed and I get to his office and he tells us, after we'd been waiting outside for 15 minutes, that he had been on the phone with someone who was looking in to my situation and seeing what my options are, and checking to see if 6 credit hours over the semester would be sufficient (that would make sense, right? I'd be getting 6 hours whether it was each block, or total). So she calls back and tells us that there is no way that I could get that money back and that I do, in fact, owe them $4000 immediately. Are you freaking serious?? At this point I'm irrate! It was their office who approved the loan, it was their office who advised me to add another class that I don't care about or need, it was their office who dispersed the loan to me, and now it is their office who has revoked my loan and is now asking me to repay that money ASAP. I did nothing wrong. I simply did what I was told by their office. Where am I supposed to come up with $4000 by the end of the year?? That's the whole reason we got the loan in the first place - because we couldn't pay tuition out of our pocket!! (By the way, it's too late for me to drop that class they advised me to add. Now not only do I have to take this unnecessary class, but I have to pay for that too!)
Their advice to me: Take out double what I was asking for winter, and use that extra to pay back fall tuition. But while I wait for that loan to come in, I have to call the collections department of BYU like once a week to recite my case and make sure I don't get holds on my account, or get sent to collections. It's ridiculous! For the record: This is not the first time that I've had to deal with the BYU financial department. They are the worst.
**Any advice?? Anyone??**

I go out to my car (that a certain other person told me to park in a permit-only teacher parking lot) and there's a parking officer standing by my car. Since I've gotten two tickets this semester (both times a certain other person told me "oh, you'll be fine to park here"), I am on the "impound list". If I hadn't showed up before he left, I would have come out to a boot on my car. I would have had to pay for the boot, and given them my info. So I guess it's a good thing I came out when I did, however, I had to give them mine and Jed's info so they would have it in case my car was illegally parked again. I gave them my old TX license and wrong phones numbers. I was scared. I just won't park on campus anymore... :\

So after I finish with that, I picked Jed up on the other side of campus (where he had gone to drop off an assignment - thank goodness he wasn't with me when I went out to my car because I told them that he was the BYU student of the family...) and we hauled butt up to Salt Lake for my monthly weight check-up. Here's the cherry on top! I "lost" 8 pounds this month!! Well, I lost 3, but 5 pounds were converted from fat mass to lean mass!! So technically, I lost 8 POUNDS!! I know it would have been more if I had been more disciplined, but shoot! I'll take it! :D