Tagine, or not to Tagine? That is the Question.

Le Crueset tagine.

Got it from Craigslist at half the price.

If you wonder where this desire is coming from? Yes, I'll tell you. It's Kani's obsession once again. It seems that this cookware possession obsession comes about whenever I'm thinking of losing weight and start thinking of a diet scheme of one type or another.

Well, I got in the mode and decided to look at Craigslist to see what was happening there. I saw that the same tagine that it seems I had seen there ages ago (or was ages just one week, but seemed longer because I'm so obsessed?) and decided to follow up. I liked the Craigslist ad. It said "I've used it once. I hate it. Someone who cooks should have it."

So, I e-mail and asked if it was still available. About 4 or 5 days later, I get a response that it is. Why are people so slow about responding? Or is it I? I'm the impetuous and crayzed one. So, the seller lives in Long Island and we have a little back and forth e-mail conversation about this (i.e. how do I get there via public transportation, blah, blah, blah).

So, the meeting date is set (this morning at 10:45 at Panera's, right next to me). How nice of the seller was that???

I go to the 711 this morning, which has a Citibank ATM machine (thank you, Trevor, for telling me about this) and try to get my cash out. .....Nothing....I don't want to walk away lest my account information is still open and someone else will get the money I just asked for. I decide to try it again. This time, I ask for a receipt. Same thing.....nothing. My receipt says invalid card. Eeeooughghghgh!!!!! Yikes!!! That can't be. But, somewhere in the very furthest recesses of my mind, I seem to "possibly" remember having gotten a card and having put it aside because it wasn't valid yet. Crap, crap, crap.

Now, it's freezing this morning, but I walk the five blocks back home and start the search. Nada!!! I empty my purse -- maybe I stuffed it in there for further use? Nope. I go through all my conceivably important mail. Nada. I look in my file cabinet. Nada. Oh, I think, how can this be??? This is so embarrassing. I walk in the other direction to a regular bank in hopes of getting money out with my credit card. It bothers me that I will have to pay interest, thereby making the tagine even more expensive, but, hey, it's my fault for not having kept track of my new card. I go through the whole process and it looks like it's going to go through....but no, I didn't input the correct pin number. I don't even know what the pin number is for my credit card -- I've never used it for cash; just for everything else. I walk back to my apartment, get my blank personal bank checks. But......but, there's still one more option. Oh, please......please don't let me have mud on my face. I get to Panera's and buy a chai tea latte (yeah, I pronounced it "latay" with the stress on the second syllable) with soy and ask if she can add $100 to my bill and give me $100 cash. She says, "No, we can't do that." I'm just about tearing my hair out at this point.

And, at this point, it's almost time for the seller to arrive. I finally sit down and accept my revolting situation.

The seller arrives and she's charming and enthusiastic. I presume that she's happy to be able to sell the tagine and not have a total loss on something that she hates. I don't tell her my revolting situation right away, but I do have to tell her at one point. Soon, since she's not taking me up on my offer to buy her a beverage because she's running and her husband is waiting for her in the car. When I tell her, she looks at me.....I feel as small as an ant and really feel like crap. I tell her I have a blank check with me but don't know what assurance I can give her in order for her to feel comfortable accepting it and handing over her tagine.

Bottom line, she is so very lovely and decides to accept my check. I can't believe that a pure stranger has decided to trust me this way. If it were I, I wouldn't trust me.

I run home with my tagine in hand, worrying about how my seller might be feeling right now, but happy it has turned out. I search some more for a possible new ATM card but find none. I finally call Citibank and ask them to send me a new card. I tell them that I never got a new card and the former card has expired. This turns out to be so. Never mind the slight recollection of having received a new card. It never happened. Citibank tells me that there is no record of a new card having been sent out. The rep tells me that she has put in a request for a new card and that it will be received around January 24 (it's now January 15). Uh, can you rush that card please, I ask? She tells me that I'll have to go directly to Citibank for a temporary card until the permanent card arrives.

So, currently, I have about $3 in my wallet. I won't be able to even eat lunch in my office's lunch room. Let's hope that I can do everything I need to with a credit card until then. :(