A Credit Score Conundrum, or The New Slavery

Financially sliced 'n diced.

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical Southern Woman
and The Most Brilliant Woman in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

I once met a man from Texas 

Buys everything with his cashes.

He has no debts.

Bills ne'er forgets.

Still his credit score was a-messes.

It's true. I know this man. He wanted to get married but the woman said she had to know his credit score. It was almost non-existent. He had always lived within his means. If he didn't have the money, he didn't buy. He'd save and scrimp until he could pay cash. 

Sounded like a good plan. He was stress-free. Could pay attention to his woman. But she was freaking out. He had to have a credit score that registered, see. 

So he went out and got an auto loan. But he paid it off too fast. Change in credit score? Nil.

By this time the woman was gone and then the loan company came after him saying that he wasn't allowed to pay it off ahead of time and instituted a bunch of early payment fees that equaled the interest he would've had to pay them. That fight lasted three years.

In any case, his credit score never got higher than about 350. He decided to live even further off the grid. Built him an underground house in the desert and that's the last I heard of him. I bet he's happy. 

Why am I telling you this? Because my bank, Wells Fargo, is like a lot of banks these days. Trying to be helpful, they are now offering my credit score through my online banking; free of charge. Here is my FICO [Fair Isaac Corporation] score. Now, you're probably noticing the big eight-two-zero in the middle and you're thinking, "Hey, Angela. That ain't bad at all." 

Now, see the little black dot in the green area? It does not go all the way to the peak of the green. Why not? 

Because of this language below:  

Right about now I feel like the man from Texas. I've always paid off my credit card balances every month. I do not have a mortgage and I own my condo outright. I do not have a car loan as Baby Doll has been paid off since she was five years old and she turned five in 2007. 

So, here I am with one of the almost highest credit scores in the world and I am still being dinged because I do not have any loan history and I don't have any aging balances. 

If I were a cussing woman I'd be saying "Jesus H. Christ!" But I'm not a cussing woman. Okay, I'm lying. I cuss, but I never say Jesus H. Christ. 

All this to say that in the credit reporting world, it doesn't matter what you do because you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. The financial system is designed to keep you enslaved. 

If I lived near a desert, I'd be hunkered down living off the grid, too. 

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Flawed and Good. Perfect and Evil.

This is a visual example of
Flawed but Good.
I know. I do my best.

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical Southern Woman
and The Most Brilliant Woman in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

Flawed is not the same as Evil. 

Perfect is not the same as Good. 

For instance, Pussy-Hat Wearing Politically Correct Liberal Democrat RINO Socialist Fascist Commie Do-Gooder Environmentalist Social Engineering-types believe they are Perfect — all FLOTSAM from #CrunkNewsNetworks push that narrative — but they are Evil. 

While their number-one and other nemesis, Donald "The Hammer" Trump and normal regular folk, are Flawed but they are Good — and all FLOTSAM does not push that narrative. 

See how that works?

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** FLOTSAM: For Liberal Opinion That is Serious and Actually Matters

The Faces of the Crunk News Network During this Pandemic

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical Southern Woman

and The Most Brilliant Woman in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

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Princess Angela.

Angela now feels like a princess. Her bed is a little jewel box.

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical
Southern Woman
and The Most Brilliant Woman
in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

One-and-done is how I think about painting my walls. So it takes me a long time to figure out what colors to put on them.

Also, I am highly reactive to vibrational patterns. If the color is wrong for me, the vibrational patterns will totally make me crazy. And so yet another reason to take my time.

I have four colors on my walls. Kitchen and livingroom/bedroom: Gray with a dark blue base, as you can see in the picture. In my office is a dark metallic blue with silver undertones. A small hall is black and the bathroom is white.

Each color fits the space and supports my mental acuity. But today...oh, today was added the pièce de résistance.

You see, I sleep in my living room on a wall bed. [My condo is less than 600 sq.ft. The bedroom is my office. I work from home, so work/life must be split well.] That is, it folds down out of the wall and, boom, there is my bed. The heavy case it sits in is solid black. Black is great. I love black. It is my fave color. Except that after almost nine years, the solid black behind the bed was getting to me, bad.

What could I do?

Yesterday I had an epiphany. I took a set of long red drapes and hung them in. You can see the picture. Tied them back with some sparkly red ribbon. Put a crystal vase with a beautiful bouquet of silk flowers (I'm allergic to real flowers) right in the middle so that it is framed.

Wow. I immediately felt like a princess.

Which is only fitting as I can feel a pea under a stack of twenty mattress and we all know it is only real, true, bona fide princesses who can do that.

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Over-response or calculated manuever?

Resting Coronavirus Response Face

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical Southern Woman and The Most Brilliant Woman in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

"Hunker down" is used even by Gen[Whatevahs] and P-HWPCLDRSFCs* — and is no longer only a Georgia Dawgs rallying game cry.

"Shelter in place" and "novel coronavirus" are now in our lexicon — and a punchline to those who work from home and will be featured in future stand-up comedy shows and movie/TV scripts.

And "herd immunity" happens when nobody does "social distancing" but claims that when they finally did do it that is what saved lives.

But I, your Citizen Journalist, have more serious thoughts. Was the the response to the novel coronavirus —

• over the top? [Yes.]
• just right? [No.]
• a political opportunity? [Yes.]
• a logical medical step? [No.]
• an opportunity for graft? [Yes.]
• a way for the Deep State to grab power? [Yes.]
• a reset of sensibilities? [Yes.]

Did the response to it point a spotlight on:

• the fragility of political correctness? [Yes.]
• experts who are the "little man behind the curtain"? [Yes.]
• the utter moral bankruptcy of the Deep State, Democrats, and RINOs? [Yes.]
• the grit and determination of the vast majority of US citizens? [Yes.]

Has the mainstream legacy media —

• lied to the public? [Yes.]
• played false with the public? [Yes.]
• lost their ever-loving minds? [Yes.]
• shown they are totally against freedom? [Yes.]
• can't wait to receive their Commie medals? [Yes.]
• proven they are #CrunkNewsNetwork? [Yes.]

More importantly, will this response destroy the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights? [Quite possibly, if we allow this lockdown to keep on going because Chicken Little experts are manipulative and being manipulated.

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Hunkering down.

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical Southern Woman 

and The Most Brilliant Woman in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

"Hunker down" is used even by Gen[Whatevahs] and P-HWPCLDRSFCs* — and is no longer only a Georgia Dawgs rallying game cry.

"Shelter in place" and "novel coronavirus" are now in our lexicon — and a punchline to those who work from home and will be featured in future stand-up comedy shows and movie/TV scripts. 

But what do people really think about this current state of affairs, how is it affecting them, and how are they handling it? Your Citizen Journalist has come to your rescue.

That's right, she sent out a survey to over 500 LinkedIn contacts. Five responded, that is, one percent of those invited to respond. You may be thinking "Wow! That's not a lot." Normally I would agree with you but, according to many pollsters out there, it does not matter how many responded. The only thing that truly matters are the percentiles of those that did respond.

I am not lying. Haven't you ever heard a reporter say, "Of those that responded, __% agreed with...", to be followed by a sweeping conclusion that therefore __% of everyone that lives in the US agrees with a Commie-inspired permutation of the survey question and then ends with "should be made into law"?

Think about it.
I'll give you a minute. 

Ding-ding-ding! 

Exactly, you have heard that; you just didn't understand what it meant, did you? So, using that methodology, I too will opine using responses by three males (I happen to know them, and one is my cousin therefore I am positive they are males even if I haven't laid eyes on their junk) and two unknown genders (they did not list a name, so I couldn't even take a guess, but you can assign any gender that pleases you). Here are the breakdowns to questions I asked:

Employment status:

• Small business owner: 0%
• Self-employed: 20%
• Employee: 40%
• Retired: 20%
• Employed as musician for gig work: 20%

How your job has been affected: 

• No change: 40%
• Laid off: 20%
• Business is better: 0%
• Pay reductions: 20%
• Working from home: 20%
• Blank response: 20%

(Yes, this adds up to 120%, but we are in the "gig economy", sooo...)

Types of business you are in:

• Manufacturing: 0%
• Service business: 20%
• Restaurant: 0%
• Writer/writing: 40%
• Performance/Consulting/Retail: 20%
• Blank response: 20%

What can we deduce from all of this if we were P-HWPCLDRSFCs* or worked for any #CrunkNewsNetwork that spews FLOTSAM**? Let's write some headlines in their style, shall we?

Small business destroyed by economic slowdown from novel coronavirus response. 

Manufacturing destroyed by pandemic response.

Novel coronavirus response lays off 100% of all American workers, but that's okay because they are happy with leadership of Nancy Pelosi and also wish AOC was president so she could save the world.

You know what? That isn't fun. So, I went to this site here where one can see, by month and year, historical employment rates.

Now, according to this, there are 22,000 fewer people employed in March 2020 than were employed in March 2019 when things were starting to blow and go.

However, there were 1,229,000 more employed in March 2020 than employed in March 2018. So, we are still better off than we were in 2018, just two short years ago. 

But let's get back to my thoroughly sweeping and comprehensively scientific survey.

Take a look at what was said here in free-form response, that is, no leading questions:

Couple of things I learned from this response? I did not know financial institutions ordered hardware. I always assumed they had a vendor who did that sort of thing. However, one respondent had been too busy and is now benefiting from the downtime.

Upside: Eating together and cooking at home. Grocery stores should be seeing uptick in sales. Downside: Restaurant owners/managers could name a few.

I like this last quote. The respondent said "...I for one REFUSE to live in fear." In fact, I liked the whole quote. But who said that? Well, surprise, surprise. It was my cousin Wayne Kell. If we weren't hunkering down, why I'd go over and elbow-bump him. 

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* P-HWPCDLRSFC: Pussy-Hat Wearing Politically Correct Democrat Liberal RINO Socialist Fascist Commies

** FLOTSAM: For Liberal Opinion That is Serious and Actually Matters

Gravel Maker or Sculptor?

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical Southern Woman 

and The Most Brilliant Woman in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

I had opportunity to have a conversation with the daughter back in February wherein I said to her, "I know you will not believe your mother is saying this but: I believe that all people are born with all knowledge of all things in their brain but not all the connections work the same for various reasons."

She simply stared at me and said, "Hmmmm...well...."

In other words, she did not know what to say. I've always confused both my mother and my daughter. However, my theory explains, say, idiot savants or, as they are now more accurately called, autistic savants. It also explains random flashes of brilliance in a person otherwise middle of the road or in one who is just plain stupid to the bone. 

Now before you get your panties all in a twist and prove that you are a P-HWPCDLRSFC* and/or work for a member of the #CrunkNewsNetwork that spews FLOTSAM**, please rest assured that I can say all this because I am talking about myself.

I can say I am The Most Brilliant Woman In The World about absolutely everything. But never have you ever heard me say I am The Most Brilliant Woman In The World 24/7. See? Connections do not fire all the time, but when they do everybody, including me, are always amazed. 

But one brilliance connection that has fired in me consistently is words. 

From my earliest memories to today as you read this, words I understand. Let me explain.

When I look at a boulder, all I see is a lot of future gravel I can make by knocking it apart and I can make a nice cover for a muddy, rut-filled, dirt driveway. 

But when a sculptor looks at a boulder, he sees the parts that simply need knocking off to reveal the figure within and he makes art.

Same boulder. Two viewers. But one whose connections are firing all the time about shape and form and seeing art. Thus it is that not all editors accomplish the same thing with a manuscript.

A boulder never complains about how it is used. Gravel or art, it doesn't care. Neither does a manuscript. But some, nay: many, editors take a boulder of a manuscript and make the gravel equivalent of a book useful only as a doorstop.

Another editor, though, can see that same manuscript and see what is hidden in it, then knock off the parts that are hiding the loveliness of the words and make something readers will enjoy and keep on their shelves. 

I am the latter. This is not me bragging. This is me telling you a fact...and we all know if it's fact it ain't bragging. So, this is me telling you what I do for other writers all the time. This is me telling you that, in my service to words, I will always serve the words first because by doing so the reader is served well always. 

But to do that means I must hurt writers' feelings. There are quite a few who will tell you I've done that to them. Sure, they all pitch fits and get their egos out of joint, but the ones who care about readers — and thus their own reputations — always come back for more. And why?

Because, as one of my clients said, "Angela, you always make me look good."

But truthfully, I don't care about whether the writer looks good or not. Looking good can be accomplished all sorts of ways. That's called marketing. Though some consider it to be the show, marketing is merely the advance man.

What I care about is: Does the writer deliver the goods or will the reader be crying "Where's the beef?"

I bet that's why I've always been mistaken for either a school teacher or a dominatrix because, honestly, aren't they just about the same? Oh, sure, yeah. Both hurt you and you whine, but in the end, you know you like it like that, right?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Get in touch if you need a sculptor for your words: angeladurden@msn.com. Otherwise, buy one of my books and see some of my flashes of brilliance. You will not be sorry. 

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* P-HWPCDLRSFC: Pussy-Hat Wearing Politically Correct Democrat Liberal RINO Socialist Fascist Commies

** FLOTSAM: For Liberal Opinion That is Serious and Actually Matters

When I look at a boulder, all I see is a lot of future gravel I can make by knocking it apart and making a nice cover for a driveway. But when a sculptor looks at a boulder, he sees the parts that simply need knocking off to reveal the figure within and he makes art.

Thus it not all editors accomplish the same thing. Some editors make gravel. Others make art. I am the latter.