There are these tiers of

There are these tiers of accomplishment in which I always say "I'm an adult now!" But before I get into why I bring that up, let me talk about my blood for a second.

My blood is disease free. The test results are in the mail, but I've been assured that the test results are of no help in diagnosing the problem that no longer exists. My blood is pristine. It's what I expected, now that I'm wheat free and back to normal. Still I'm interested in reading these results. I'm interested in reading about my blood. More on that later in the week, I'm sure.

Last year I tried and I tried and I tried to get financing for a laptop. I had a steady job, a bank account that I had never overdrafted. I had credit that was clean and clear and under control. I had no luck. Best Buy, Circuit City, Gateway, Dell... they all sent me rejection letters. They all said the same thing... "LACK OF CREDIT HISTORY."

Here I ran into the young person's credit catch-22. How do you establish credit, when all credit establishing routes... require credit.

Someone suggested a Sears card. They turned me down.

Someone suggested a Target card. They turned me down.

I was left with two options. Put hundreds of dollars down on a cell phone plan or put hundreds of dollars down on a pre-paid credit card with a high interest rate, even though I've already pre-paid the balance. Being that I'm impatient, the idea of paying interest on money I already had was absurd. And the cell phone... I just didn't have enough friends to warrant one of those.

And so I gave up.

And so it was with great shock and awe that I tore open and revealed my new CapitalOne Platinum card earlier this afternoon.

I signed up for it as a lark! I laughed when it said I was "pre-approved!" I'd heard that one before!

Yet, now I hold an actual credit card in my hand... an actual credit line of $200 ($400 in three more months) and I feel I've been given a great opportunity. I don't know a single person with good or established credit and here I've been given a ticket in! I must nurture this thing, truly. I don't even understand why I was approved, but I'm not going to question it, just nurture. Just pay more than the minimum, always... and never, never, never spend it up to the limit.

If only Van Gogh could see my credit card. Starry Night has never looked as beautiful as it does on a rectangle piece of plastic--the little Visa logo in the corner--a holographic eagle above that. I think it's the medium Van Gogh originally intended for Starry Night, but never went through with because credit cards had not actually existed yet, let alone holographic eagles.

Oh and yes... I used the outdated phrase "shock and awe."