Dilemma!

Okay, so I've been religiously checking my WaMu account back in the States everyday for the past week, to see if that transfer I made from my last paycheck cleared. Well it did today, as promised by the girl at the post office. And of course, WaMu took $10 from it as a fee (and I'd paid something like $23 just to MAKE the damn transfer in the first place. Geez, how useless!). But hey, the money's in there, and it's enough to pay for the rest of Hong Kong.

Here's my pickle.
(1) If I go to the post office today, withdraw the money I need (about 63,000 yen) and pay for the trip today, I will have something like $40 left in my bank account. I have $25 in Savings. That's it. But I have to pay for the trip by 12/5 (Tuesday), or lose it all.
(2) I have a $121 phone bill to pay by 12/10.

BUT!
(1) I do get paid on the 8th. If I go to the post office and make a transfer again, I *MIGHT* be able to pull something off... this time I actually know the Bank Code, so theoretically I could do a wire transfer. But wire transfers STILL might take up to 5 days, and even if American and Japanese banks/post offices are open on Saturdays (for a limited time compared to weekdays, aka "business days"), the money might not get there in time for me to pay my phone bill.

(2) Dad said he'd help me out after I emailed him, but he didn't say when or how much he'd put in. And while I could easily ask Mom, I've ALREADY DONE THAT, and for a SHITLOAD of money, and I DO NOT WANNA DO IT AGAIN.

The bright side is that any leftover money I have from the next 2 paychecks I'm going to get, I'm saving for the actual trip to Hong Kong (food, transportation, etc). Of course I also have to save some for my December (and possibly portion of January) bill for Yahoo! BB, since I only get the first two months (October and November) free. I don't expect it to be much, but that doesn't mean I can go out and buy Louis Vuitton purses and Prada key holders.

GAAAH, WHAT DO I DO!?

The No-Longer-Anxious Update

Okay, so I went to the post office right after Japanese class to try and pay for the rest of my HK trip. The postal savings ATM wouldn't let me withdraw 63,000 yen; it said "You have exceeded your credit limit." I freaked out, because I didn't know whether that meant that
a) The Postal Savings ATM only lets you make X number of withdrawals, or withdrawals up to X yen (if you're a visitor to Japan/using a foriegn bank card).
b) I had much less money than I thought (or the exchange rate made what I thought was enough money "less")
or c) WaMu put a limit on the amount of withdrawals I was allowed to make from abroad

Turns out it was the latter, as I vaguely remembered someone from WaMu telling me I had a limit of $500/day to withdraw. Now, at the time, I obviously thought "Why would I want to have $500 on me IN CASH, anyway?" Well, so I couldn't do it, but I did withdraw 32,000 yen successfully. I said bye to Holly, who was inside the post office mailing packages (turned out we'd been on the same bus on the way there), and headed toward Tokyo-Mitsubishi bank a few blocks down. It was actually a lot closer than I thought, so I don't think I'll take the bus the next time I have to go there from the post office (and I would have to go to the post office, because I already know the bank can't make withdrawals from my bank account... there's no CIRRUS symbol on the back!)

I decided I would try and remember the order/process of making a deposit (o-furikomi), but I kept encountering all these options and I had NO idea what they were or what they meant. The security guard tried to help, but he couldn't translate anything into English. One lady DID help me read the correct branch name in kanji, and eventually one of the clerks helped me through the whole process. She also helped me get a card that will expedite the process (I don't have to enter all the account information again) for the next time I go on, probably on Monday.

And I emailed Fumi, the IACE Travel representative, and she'll probably get back to me and tell me everything's fine with the transfer today, and that'll be it! As for the phone bill, I called Dad and he said I was going to get a SIZABLE Hanukkah present of cash deposited into my bank account TOMORROW. *YAY.* This will probably negate the need for me to deposit any of my future paychecks into my U.S. account, which will save money (because those kind of transfers always cost money. I didn't try to do it today at the bank, though WaMu has some sort of hook-up with Wells Fargo and Tokyo-Mitsubishi. I wonder if transferring through a bank is cheaper than through the post office? I know Golloyds or whatever is supposed to be the cheapest remittance, but I don't think I can use it or something.) So I'll be able to pay my phone bill on time, save my next two paychecks for HK and Tokyo (I need SOME money for the hostels, and of course, transportation and food in HK).

...So now I just need to build up the courage to eat FISH.

Because apparently if you don't eat pork here in Japan, or in Hong Kong, you MUST eat fish. I wonder what the percentage of vegetarians or vegans is in Asia... Probably extremely low.

I refuse to eat grasshoppers (or horse meat, or other varieties of bug), though. I don't care how delicious Kawashima-sensei says they are when they're covered in chocolate.

Also on the bright side, I might just be able to swing getting some presents for people online. I found this site that has a ton of coupon codes for all sorts of stores and websites (i.e. Amazon.com, Best Buy, etc.), but I don't want to get all excited over it until I look through it some more. So if you see another post on it soon, it's because I've approved of it and it's cool enough for me to want to tell everyone and their dog (or cat) about! So far it's looking good, what with coupons for 1-800 Flowers (which I use often) and even some CLOTHING stores, which might help for presents for a Certain Someone Who Shall Not Be Named. I still have to mail out packages and things like that, but generally I think I'm good. Mom'll be sending me macaroni and hot chocolate, and I'm hoarding my Kasumi discount cards and buying the cheap stuff late at night to save money. Yay for 9pm Late Night Sales! Now if only I could get a Suica card to save me time and money when buying train tickets. Maybe when I get paid this Friday, I'll buy a JR Seishun 18 Kippu so on the days baine and I are in Asakusa, I can get around easily. Unlimited travel on 5 days (doesn't need to be consecutive) during the travel period on all JR lines (shinkansen and super-express excepted), for only 11,500 yen! Not too bad, I'd say, especially considering you can spend 1/10 of that just on ONE-WAY to Tokyo from Mito (on the slow train).