well, get this...i went to the apple store, made an appointment at the genius bar, waited, and lo and behold...it worked again! how odd is that? i tried every plug in my apartment, made sure the magsafe was connected correctly. it's the weirdest thing. so they replaced my charger...hopefully it won't happen again.
regarding it being a charger vs macbook problem. it could be either...could be the charger, or could be the circuitry that the charger plugs into in the macbook. i was praying it wouldn't be that and all i'd have to do is replace the charger. but if it were that, then that's what i'd be wondering if other people had that same problem, which would make me think it could be a design flaw.
good to know there is no design flaw i need to look out for.