I reported the scammers to OLS just hours before receiving the second worthless check and was surprised when Brent, the site’s founder, replied. He said he was sorry for my experience, but then he went on to make like he didn’t believe me, asking why I would try to cash the check if I thought it was bad, why the bank wouldn’t do anything about it, saying it made no sense for them to send bogus checks if they didn’t want to give me my prize, etc. I explained it to him as best I could, but then I got frustrated, knowing I wasn’t obligated to explain myself to him. All I wanted to do was alert them to the fact that these people don’t deliver prizes in some cases. I’m sure if I’d been anyone else the check would’ve been perfectly cashable. Except for a few odds and ends sold on eBay or swap meets, you know I’m not allowed to make money. I was so frustrated with all the headaches these damn sweeps have been bringing that I didn’t even sweep yesterday. Even Tom agrees that while he’s excited to get away, we should’ve bumped it up a year. I don’t know about that, though. If we’re broke at this time next year, then we wouldn’t have the thousands of dollars this so-called “win” has cost us. I really hope it turns out to be loads of fun to make up for all the hassles we’ve gone through so far, though I’m sick of always having to be punished for pleasure. I really am.

We went down to Safeway earlier, but Liz wasn’t there. Of course she wasn’t. I straightened my hair and did a damn good job, too. Especially with this new shampoo I started using that de-frizzes and smoothes your hair. I would’ve liked to show it off to her and say, “See, I straightened my hair just like yours.”

It’s hard to believe that at this time next week, we’ll be up in the air flying away! Away from this freezer! All the train and plane time is something I’m certainly not looking forward to. I look forward to taking off and landing 4 times, but spending hour upon hour on the plane will get old. In fact, I’m not going to write much between now and then so I’ll have more to write about while I’m sitting on my ass for so long.