Life on this planet: Home Sweet Home

After another world adventure it is always good to get back home to my cosy little abode, especially after such a very long trip. You know you're in the most isolated city on Earth when you travel. You also know that you are in one of the most expensive cities on Earth when you travel, having brought back 1/2 a suitcase full of clothes bought in the USA for a fraction of the price you'd pay in Perth for them. I think moral of the story is, if you need certain items, wait until your next overseas trip to acquire them for a much cheaper price!! Of course it doesn't work for all items, such as large electrical items, for obvious reasons!! But for clothes and other small items, this approach works very well.

The night in Rock Hill prior to my departure was my coldest night yet that I have experienced, when the temperature dropped down to 7 degrees Celscius BELOW freezing. Leading such a sheltered life in relatively balmy Perth I have never before experienced such cold temperatures, and I don't care to experience such temperatures again!!!!

So them embarking on my very long journey back home, and it was mostly uneventful until I got to Sydney. At Sydney Airport as I waited for that final flight back to isolated little Perth, I spotted a Krispy Kreme donut shop so I decided to treat myself to some donuts. I didn't have any cash on me except a small amount of USA cash which I intended to keep until my next trip rather than exchange it. So I used my credit card to purchase those donuts...... BIG MISTAKE!!!!

Within a minute I received a txt msg from the finance company informing me they've placed a temporary block on my credit card "for security reasons". They deemed my small purchase at Sydney Airport to be "suspicious" and I needed to call them to confirm that it was indeed myself who had made the purchase. So I planned to deal with it when I got back home. This annoyed me greatly. How dare them intrude on my space and basically nanny me as if I can't look after my own affairs. Also I used that same credit card in the USA, to pay for my car rental, hotel lodgings, and food, etc, at USA airports. Why didn't they deemed those transactions in the USA to be "suspicious"? Why did they wait until I arrived back in Australia???

So I thought.... when I got back to Perth, I just call the finance company, confirm that the Sydney transaction was genuine and performed by me, and so would unblock my card. I was to be most sadly mistakened. When I called them, I was confronted with the typical automated response so loved by corporations to save money on employing humans to do the job, having to press menu buttons to finally get to the department that I needed.......

Then they asked me the usual security questions to establish that it was indeed myself the owner of the credit card who was talking to them, not some ET from Mars..... or the Pleiades!! Fair enough I thought..... then I confirmed that it was indeed myself who had performed the transaction in Sydney. So I thought, well they should unblock the card now...... However the guy on the other end went away for a while, and when he came back, he informed me that someone would call me back in two days!!!!

Now I was getting really pissed off. My Scorpio Mars kicked in big time. I had just confirmed that it was me who made the transaction after proving it was me who was talking to them, yet they still wouldn't unblock the card. This was Wednesday, and so it be Friday before someone calls me back. Meanwhile I am without a credit card for those days. As if I was being punished for daring to use the card in Sydney, it seemed like I was the "criminal" who "stolen" the card. I was polite to them, but deep inside I was absolutely livid...... and I hexed them, me being a witch!!!! I do have two other credit cards I could use but that is not the point!! I should not be denied use of my own credit card for several days when I had done nothing wrong!!!!

So I waited ever so patiently for that call...... and on Friday the call finally came. About bloody time!!! So once again I was put through the usual security checks, having to prove that it was indeed me the owner of the credit card whom they were talking to. Then once again the confirmation that the transaction in Sydney was a genuine transaction performed by me. So will they now unblock my card...... NO SUCH FUCKING LUCK!!!!!!!

They then told me I had to email them a scanned copy of my Drivers License and a scanned copy of a letter with my signature confirming the transaction in Sydney was genuine and requesting for the card to be unblocked!!!!

WHAT'S THE FUCK NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...........

Now I am totally livid!!!!! More massive HEXES being sent, cos when I get mad, I don't shout at them, I just send hexes - curses of a witch.

So I duly composed the letter, scanned the Drivers License, and sent off the email. But because it was Friday and past the close of business on the east coast where the finance company is based, it would be at least BLOODY TUESDAY before they would deal with the email. Of course being a holiday weekend when Monday being a public holiday.

Therefore I am STILL without a credit card, and Tuesday would mark a whole week since the credit card was blocked. And so help me Goddess, if they don't unblock my card on Tuesday and make me jump through more hoops, I am going to utterly explode!!!!! There will be no more politeness. I am a witch with a Scorpio Mars in my chart, those who fucks with me does so at their peril, and this finance company is fixing to experience a lot of peril at my hands. I will not be taking this lying down.

If and when this issue is FINALLY resolved, I will be submitting a written complaint. I will not be letting the matter rest. My days of just taking shit from corporations are over. I am going to kick up a fuss. Me and my Scorpio Mars!!!!!

Moral of the story...... don't use credit cards when overseas. I also have my travel cards which are basically debit cards that can be converted to foreign currencies. However there are places overseas that accepts only credit cards. This includes Car Rental companies and Hotels, they won't accept debit cards, even travel cards, you must have a credit card to enable transactions with these places. It is ironic that the finance company did not place a block on my credit card when I had performed these much larger transactions overseas on this same credit card. It wasn't until I arrived back in Australia and making a $6 transaction that they blocked my card for "suspicious" activity!!!!!

This was not the only catastrophe that happened to me at Sydney Airport. As I tucked into my very costly Krispy Kreme donuts, I fired up my laptop..... only to be confronted with a HARD DISK FAILURE message!!!!! Oh SHIT, what's the fuck now??? The laptop was working without any troubles whatsoever while in the USA, and it was working perfectly fine back in LA. So what's the Hell happened between LA and Sydney?? OK we did go through some severe turbulence just out of LA but I would not have thought that would have affected the hard disk, especially since the laptop was with me on the plane and safely tucked away under my seat storage area.

Fortunately I had backed up my data just prior to my USA trip, but was freaking out a bit that I would have to get myself a new hard disk, re-install Windows and restore all of my data. This would have to be something I would need to deal with immediately after I arrived home, when I be feeling exhausted and needing a rest. But I can't live without my laptop!!!

After I got home, I fired up the laptop to test it again..... and yes indeed, an apparent Hard Disk failure!!! So I went to look for my Windows installation stick, what I bought last time when just last year I had to replace the hard disk after dropping the laptop. That time there was a valid explanation for the hard disk failure, the laptop had been dropped. This time there was no valid explanation, I do not think that the turbulence, as severe as it was, would have impacted on the hard disk.

However after looking high and low in my tiny little abode, I could not find my Windows stick anywhere!!!! So I needed to purchase a new copy of Windows. I duly ordered it online, and it be the next day it be ready for me to collect from the store.

I collected the Windows installation stick the next day, and then attempted to install Windows back on my laptop. I was hoping that just reformatting the hard disk, which is what happens when installing Windows, would be enough to fix the hard disk, Perhaps it was just a software failure in the Boot Sector rather than any physical damage, so just reformatting the hard disk would cure the problem.

Alas!!! It was not to be so........ OK I now have to order a new hard disk. So I opened up my laptop to retrieve the apparently damaged hard disk so to get the model number, to ensure I order the correct hard disk for my laptop.

When I went to retrieve the hard disk from my laptop, I noticed that the hard disk seemed to be partly dislodged from its socket. Hmmmmm...... OK..... so I pushed it back in, and something told me to just fire up the laptop again........ and you wouldn't believe it....... everything was now working perfectly fine!!!!! So the alleged "hard disk failure" was nothing more than the hard disk unit being partly dislodged.

I was so happy that my laptop was working again....... but kicking myself for spending all that money on a new Windows installation stick when I didn't need it afterall. Uh well, I suppose it is a good idea to keep a spare copy of Windows handy just in case shit happens in the future...... and THIS TIME I will keep it in a specific spot in my apartment so I could find it again!!!!!

So now resetting my body clock back to Perth time...... settling back into life in Perth...... and getting ready to head back to work on Tuesday...... until my next adventures...... which is likely to be back to South Carolina, for the love of a woman who is so besotted by me. I have no idea what she sees in me. After nearly two weeks of living together in a single room at a hotel, totally exposing her to my annoying Virgo habits and my other annoying traits, my obsessions, my many foibles..... and she is STILL so besotted by me!!!! Indeed she made me promise on several occasions that I would return to see her...... This MUST be love!!!!! ....and so I must return to see her. I really wanted to go to Peru, but well, just have to wait and see how things pans out......

I really do enjoy being single..... I did not ask for this, I was not looking for anyone, I was not even flirting with anyone, I wanted to remain single forever..... and well I suppose in a way, I am still "single" since we are not physically together, being literally on opposite sides of the planet...... so "single" but "unavailable". She is not going to let me go anytime soon!!!! No woman since my wife had been so besotted by me. What is it about those American women who becomes so besotted by me???

Back to my quirky sense of humor now.........

I have days like this......