credit report

Today I finally decided on which loan provider I wish to indebt myself into 6 digits, and I filled out the on-line application. I got a "pending" notice and phone number to call.

They almost denied me. Why? I have 30 pages of credit report saying I always pay as agreed.

But there's a collection agency who reported me in 2003 for a $60 bill they say I didn't pay from some place I've never heard of. I certainly never got that bill, and in 2002-2004 I was living in my Tower house so I know it wasn't lost in my numerous moves.

This is SUCH BULLSHIT. How is it legal for them to report this and drop my credit from excellent to fair without ever notifying me? The credit companies have ALL my old addresses, so I know they could have contacted me.

So, I was fortunate, because I had seen this problem two days ago when I ran my credit report because my law school paperwork said I needed loan approval. Therefore, I had a sound argument to give the telephone person - that I had disputed this charge and she should look at everything else. (Plus, I've paid $20K to this company from my LAST student loans! I am an ideal lendee!)

To think that some bogus collection agency could have stood in my way of attending law school! Sheesh!

Tonight we watched Chocolat - not the Pirate-gypsy-boy one, but one that takes place in Cameroon. The subtexts were complicated and confusing (compounded by the problem I have in distinguishing white men from each other), but it made me yearn so strongly for West Africa. This love I have of Africa, it's so deep in my marrow, as if existing long before I ever set foot there (in this lifetime, at least). For all the damn malaria and heat and public latrines and abuses of power, it is where I feel most alive. My experiences there are polar opposites from Claire Denis's (Chocolat is her story), but at the same time things have not changed so much - and she captures it well.

So, I've spent the past three hours trying to find a place in Africa to go to if I quickly get situated in New Orleans. Airfare is atrociously expensive, however, and I realize how selfish that is. Instead, I volunteered to work with Habitat for Humanity in St. Bernard Parish again until classes start. Their work hours are now 6:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., so I could spend afternoons moving and orienting.

But, I am bargaining with myself. To do this volunteering, I will go to Senegal for my three weeks of winter break, to study French in Dakar and do some volunteering. And I'm borrowing almost the whole amount for school, so that I keep my savings for these adventures. I know how I get when I don't get my adventures. Plus I've just started harboring a fantasy that I will do an internship in Liberia next summer in addition to courses in the Greek Isles on maritime commerce and The Hague on international human rights.

Damn it, I keep swearing I'll go to bed earlier, and every night I don't. Much to do in the next two days, then taking off for California on Saturday - woo hoo.

Monday will be interesting - after I sort out how to get the additional $1,000 I'm entitled to from my job, I am going to hunt down a former student. Why? Because he functions better when I'm grilling him about doing his homework and all that. So, I will do that, between trips of emptying my storage and getting a malaria prescription from my old doctor (just in case I *have* to go to Africa for a weekend or something).

(Because of this, Gail, afraid I won't make it to dim sum on Monday - plus, I realized I don't want to drive beyond where I'm staying because the next day I have to start on a 2,000-mile drive - maybe we can do something nearer to where I'll be? It would be fun to see you before I leave for good!)

OK, enough African fantasies. I will not go there until December. I'll just keep telling myself that.