“Why I’m against the $1,000 pay-out” or “Please don’t punish me twice for the same stupid mistake!”

I have a confession to make - I’m a procrastinator that hit bottom in 2007.

Why do I consider it "hitting bottom" when all those years of late term papers, late bills, late everything didn't seem to be a "bottom" for me?

This time, I accidentally blew off literally thousands of dollars...I forgot to sign up my family for the Permanent Fund Dividend.

First, let’s get it all out of the way: Yes, I’m an idiot. Yes, I know I had 3 months to apply. Yes, I should have applied right away, like I know the rest of you did. (It’s amazing how many folks feel the need to tell you every detail of how they did everything exactly right when you admit you screwed up.) Yes, I know that applying in 2008 will be more complicated because we skipped a year. (We’ve applied already, but I’ll get to that later.)

The shame and embarrassment has been hard to take. At first (I realized it the day after it was due) I was so upset, anytime a PFD commercial came on the television, I would change the channel. Then, I finally got to the point where I could leave the channel on and live with that little sinking feeling in my stomach each time.

But then at the end of September the announcement was made of how much the Dividend was going to be. That’s when the self-loathing started all over again.

$1,654.00...$547.04 more than 2006…

When my 10-year-old realized that she would not be getting the same money her friends were, she was furious at me. Do you know what it's like being (rightly) chastised by a 10-year-old? (That's when we discovered that there is a built-in “idiot parent” clause for kids, where they can apply for skipped dividends when they hit 18.)

So, October came, everyone else's money came, we heard tons of commercials asking us to spend our non-existent dividends throughout the Holidays and then - finally - January - a new year and a new opportunity to redeem ourselves! So, we apply for the dividend during the "early bird" period and can feel good that we'll be getting our 2008 checks.

However, the Universe has a sense of humor and 2007 is not done torturing us yet.

As it turns out, the Alaska Legislature is talking about dipping into some of the oil surplus money and distributing between $500.00 to $1,000.00 to Alaskans based on...you guessed it...folks who signed up for the 2007 Permanent Fund Dividend!!!!

*quietly beats head against the wall*

Well...it may be time for me to get on the phone to my legislators and start begging!