Health Care (yes, again)

Tomorrow I'm marching for health care. I don't remember ever attending a rally before but this is definitely a cause worth showing up for. Being a dual citizen I have had a taste of what government health care can be in my other country. I liked that taste. I had the flu and was able to see a doctor, be prescribed medicine and pick that medicine up all totally for free.

I love America, without reserve. But you don't get that here. Even if you have private health care there's always a co-pay and who wants to pay $40 for a visit and some medicine for just the flu? So we (well I, but I bet I'm not the only one) struggle on, sick longer than we have to be, costing our workplaces money by not being able to work. It makes no sense to me. If we have public libraries, public schools, public roads, etc. why is public health care so different? Because it's more expensive? If people could afford better early care less people would get sick enough to need the really expensive stuff.

And if it's too expensive for the government, for a community as a whole, to be able to cover it, imagine what a drain on an individual household it is. Especially if you can't work due to your illness. Private insurance is so so so expensive. Too expensive unless you work for a business big enough to pay for it for you - which by the way, does cost you, because if your boss wasn't paying hundreds of dollars a month for your health care maybe they could give you that raise you want so bad. And talk about death panels, they turn people down all the time. Have you ever heard of a compassionate caring insurance company? Please.

I did some research. I'm young and healthy and it would cost almost $200 a month for me to get the most basic catastrophe insurance. I would still have deductibles to meet, still have co-pays, still have potentially thousands of dollars of out of pocket expense for an illness or accident. And it would cost me more than food does a month for something that could still bankrupt me and that I hope I would not ever use.

I would rather pay slightly higher taxes (yeah I said it) and know that I was covered, because those taxes could never possibly add up to what it would cost me to pay for private health care myself, or cost me as much as it would if I ever got sick while on that private plan. Not everyone can work for a big company and be covered. Lots of people work for small businesses or want to start them. Lots of people freelance. Lots of people, especially right now, are in between jobs and many artists/actors/entertainers may never have jobs that are covered. Do we not count?

So I'm marching tomorrow. I hope I'm not alone. And I really hope our Senators, and Obama, and Hillary and everyone else who has the power to make a change follows through and we finally, FINALLY, have what most other first world countries take for granted.

Books books book!!!

I am a bookworm (do people even use that word anymore? I digress.). Ever since I learned how to read, back in first grade, I spent most of my free time (and sometimes not so free time, like when a teacher was talking) going through book after book. I am especially proud of the fact that I had a grade school teacher tell me I was the only student she'd ever gotten into trouble for reading too much. I have noticed as I've gotten older that reading has gotten cooler, but sadly my choice of books still tends to be on the nerdier side, with fantasy and sci-fi being two of my favorite genres.

(By the way, just want to say I am not profiting AT ALL through this review or your clicking on the widget. Not that anyone thinks I am, but I wanted to throw that out there.)

I am currently in the throes of geek excitement over the fact that the newest book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, An Echo In The Bone, is coming out in just a couple weeks. I LOVE that series. It is a little romance novely, a little fantasy, a little farfetched in premise if I'm being honest - in short, not exactly War and Peace, but it is so well written and so engaging that really, who cares? For those who have never heard of it, the series follows a modern day woman who has fallen through a time hole into the 18th century Scottish Highlands, and who eventually moves with her hot Scottish husband to the new world, where they are sucked into the rising conflict between the colonies and the motherland (I like the term motherland. I don't get to use it enough). The author has obviously put a lot of research into each book of the series, and when I read through them I am not only entertained by the characters but I feel like I am learning a little bit of history despite myself.

It would have been easy for this book to end up as a fluffy little romance novel, I mean seriously, hole in time leading to forced marriage to old fashioned Scottish stud? Really? But it didn't, mainly because the characters actually act in a way that makes sense. Like, there are no heaving bosoms, no smoldering dark threatening yet lustful glances, no feisty declarations of hatred and independence immediately before brutal-yet-melting kisses.

On a side not, my pet peeve with romance novels (which this series isn't, just saying) is that both characters tend to be absolutely hateful towards each other, going so far as to beat, humiliate, rape (they don't call it that but seriously, even if the heroine ends up enjoying it despite herself, no means no) and enslave the object of their eventual affections, and still then call it love. Who falls in love with someone who treats them that way? That's not love, that's Stockholm Syndrome.

Anyway, the Outlander series avoids that trap and makes the leap into authentic historical fiction, with just enough fantasy and romance to appeal to lovers of those genres. The characters are intelligent and likable, and though there are obvious cultural differences faced by the main couple, those differences are discussed and worked through, not just ignored once the author has bled enough drama out of them. It is the ultimate story of star crossed lovers, with deadly enemies, epic battles, injury, torture and heroic rescues, but somehow it is all believable. And it is incredibly moving - I frequently find myself tearing up or laughing out loud while reading through these books. I cannot wait for the next book to come out - sometimes I wish I could just lock all my favorite authors into a tower and force them all to WRITE FASTER DAMN YOU but when those books finally arrive they are worth the wait.

Sanctuary

I found a refuge today in an unexpected place. I'd been running around dropping off resumes, trying to keep on going, trying to carve a life and career in a city that takes no prisoners. It's been a cycle lately of resumes resumes resumes, just hoping someone will actually read one and see what I can do. Passing a tall brick wall I came to an open gateway and on impulse I turned in.

St. Luke in the Fields.

Beautiful. Like a secret garden, a little oasis in the city. Tangled vines and flowers, tall guardian trees shading those who had come to find peace. I sat for five minutes, then five more, my book in my lap, just staring at those vines. Ten minutes is all I can sit - I haven't discovered stillness yet. I'm a girl who has the tv on with a computer on my lap, a book on the table next to me, constantly changing channels, always refreshing my browser. I am still learning how to dive into a pool of peacefulness and let it engulf me. Still learning how to quiet my mind. But I was able to find that quiet for ten minutes in the middle of my day.

I walked around the garden then, admired the wild order of it. I went into the little thrift shop next door, curious to see if the same spirit lived there as in the garden. It did, and some cute clothes and shoes also lived there, for when I have more money to spend. Then I dropped off one more resume and came home. If those hours of walking and dropping off papers today come to nothing, it's ok. My payment, if it can be called that, for today's work is finding that little garden right when I needed it.

Pet Rapture

Have you ever worried about what would happen to your pet after all the Christians were brought to Heaven? Fear no more! My boyfriend just told me about this website, a post-rapture pet care service.

Image courtesy of Eternal Earth Bound Pets

Now, if you're like me, you don't know what the Rapture is. Apparently it's when God comes down and picks up all the good Christians and brings them up to Heaven. Since I guess pets can't be good Christians, they will be left behind with all the non-believers and sinners. And some clever non-believer has decided to make a little money off this, by offering (for cash! that people are willing to pay!!) to take care of those poor left behind pets.

Hilarious!!

Now, it does seem to be a bit of a catch-22 legally since if the people who run the website actually believe in the Rapture, wouldn't they be taken up too? And if they don't believe in it, then they are blatantly scamming people. So I feel like at some point they're going to get sued. But then again, maybe the pet loving Christians are willing to take that risk. Either way, in a country where the inventor of the Pet Rock can get rich, obviously this website has a chance too.

Vanilla Wafers

What I did with my evening :

I would post the recipe but it's my grandma's and I have the feeling it might be a deep dark family secret. Basically butter frosted with butter, though. I'll check and if allowed will post the full recipe later. Yum....

What Would You Do?

Ok, internet, I'm looking for feedback. Am I being hyper-paranoid or was this guy actually a pervert? You tell me.

I was on the subway today, wearing my normal summer outfit of a (stretchy in this case) tank top and capris (see below). Nothing particularly scandalous or low cut, but showing a little skin.

I told you I'd be using my built in camera a lot.

As I sit there reading, I hear the click of a cell phone camera. Looking up I see an older man, could be a professor or businessman or something, fifties, innocently looking at the screen of his phone. The thing is the lens of his camera phone was pointed at my me. At my chest. Now, I don't know that he took a photo down my shirt but I was sitting and he was standing and that's what it looked like to me. Not being sure I restricted myself to catching his eye and glaring very pointedly at him before raising my book a little higher and continuing to read. If I was sure what he was doing I would have called him out, but I wasn't.

What would you have done? Have similar things happened to any of you out there? Frankly, with the stories you hear about the NYC subway, this is probably pretty tame, but it's still aggravating. I'm posting a picture of my outfit, sans head, in case it makes any difference, but even if I'd been sitting there in a bathing suit I don't think it makes creepy behavior ok.

Jon and Kate plus Cash

Ok. As everyone knows I am sadly addicted to large family TLC shows. While 18 Kids and Counting is my wholesome ultra-conservative fix, Jon and Kate has become my trashy reality show fix.

I have previously fallen on Jon's side of the Jon and Kate Plus 8 showdown, just because I felt like Kate really did everything she could to belittle and drive him away in later seasons (wow, I can't believe we all know this much about this random family). But you know what? I take it back. He is being such an ass now that I am completely going over to Kate's side. According to PerezHilton and TMZ he is so irresponsible with money that Kate has been given most of the control, and she was a good enough mom to put money into college funds for her kids while Jon squandered his. Plus, he is dating multiple women, talking to paparazzi, making endorsement deals and generally being an idiot.

Now, enough tv, back to my actual life. :-)