Love Roller Coaster of Love

Well, a lot has happened, as is the nature of life.  Barack Obama is finally the president of our country, and I must admit, the proceedings (except the actual, awkward oath-swearing and the sad excuse for a Whitmanian poem) were wonderful.  I watched CNN as Obama addressed the nation for his first time, and I must say, I sighed relief as he offered something we've needed for a long time, and that is hope.  Stuff sucks.  It's not all Bush's fault, and I don't think Obama can possibly fix it all, but isn't it nice to see someone being honest and squaring with the country while inspiring us to do what is necessary to make it better.  I don't know where our new president will take us, but, in all honesty, the America he is inheriting is not the America that Bush inherited.  We've changed dramatically since 2001.  People don't think or act or live the same way they did.  My prayer is that Obama will be used to lead the country into a modicum of sanity that our bursting bubbles and fervent unrest seem to keep just out of reach.

I watched the inauguration because I didn't go to my first class today.  I didn't go to my first class because I was sick.  I woke up last night around 4:45 with a searing pain in my throat (that's been around lately) and decided to get up and have some water and pain relievers.  When I got to the bathroom, I became really dizzy and nauseus, so I went and hung out with the toilet for a little while.  After a few minutes curled up on the bathroom floor, the wave of disorientation passed and I took some naproxen sodium and went back to bed.  A few minutes later, lying in bed, I became nauseus again, went to the bathroom, and it passed again.  This time when I returned to bed, I lay shivering and with teeth chattering for a few minutes, realizing that I must have had a fever.  The naproxen sodium is a fever reducer, and eventually I went to sleep until my alarm went off.

This morning I got up and showered and set to work on my homework for my Script Analysis class at 10:50.  I deemed that after the escapades of the wee hours I was not up to par for the day, so I was going to stay in.  As I was working at my computer, I got a call from Monique, my liason with Kaplan.  She said she would be on campus today and wanted me to come give her my paper work and introduce me to the campaigns that are going on right now.  So I got dressed and decided to go to Stage Makeup (since I was going to have to get out anyway), and after that class I killed time and eventually met Monique.  Things went well, and I manned a table in the Student Center with her during X-Period.  She gave me a stack of flyers and asked me to get them up in the buildings around campus according to the appropriate test-type (GMAT in the business building, etc.).

This afternoon I had diagnostic quizzes in Chinese.  They were alright, but my character retention for the last couple lessons is poor.  Fortunately we're going to be reviewing a lot, so I should be able to catch up.  I posted on Craigslist about a week ago that I would like to do private tutoring for beginning Mandarin.  Today I got an email from a man in the Clinton School in Little Rock who wants to learn some Chinese because he is looking to do an internship in China this summer.  I told him my best availabilities and what rate I'm looking to charge, so now the ball is in his court.  I'm kind of excited to start tutoring.  I've wanted to do so since I got back.  We'll see where this goes.

So the other day I got a prescription that I needed to fill.  Monday, I swung by Walgreens in order to do just that.  I had written down the information I needed about my insurance, and I strolled in confidently, knowing what the possibly co-pays would be, and reliant that things would work out.  I am naive.  Things went smoothly until I they called my name over the intercom to come pick up my drugs.  They got the right ones, and then the woman at the counter rang it up: $138.38.  I said, "Uh... um... is that with insurance?"

"The insurance covered $20."

"Uh... um... what?!" Panic set in.  I have like a dollar.  I lost my job last week.  There ain't no money.

"Well, did you maybe get a new insurance card at the beginning of the year?"

"Yeah.  But I don't have it.  Can I get it faxed in to you guys?"

So I got the fax number and left and called mom.

While on the phone, complaining to mom about how her insurance is apparently being sold by snake oil salesmen calling themselves Blue Cross Blue Shield, I realized that I was perhaps barking up the wrong tree.  Mental notes were made to call the CSR line and give them their due.  Mom went on to note that the bank account at CapitolOne (which has been problematic since the TIME magazine overdraft fiasco) was being cleaned out by the bank.  They sent some letter letting us know that they were taking the rest of my money out of the recently resurrected account.  Of course, the timing of this conversation was impeccable.  I proceeded to have a massive aneurysm in my brain burst and die.

I will say that through the past few days, I've definitely had comic relief to make things better.  I had a really good time with my Stages Sunday School peers the other night.  My roommates seem to have amusing crises at just the right moments.  And I've been trying to hang out with a more broad circle of friends including Meghan, who just moved up to Conway, and Kris, who drifts in and out of my life at just the right moments to remind me that we'll always have something to talk about.

This week I've realized that no matter how much I worry, God has time and plans for what He wants.  And even as much as I've stressed, it has done no good, but it's probably made me stay sick.  So here's to more lessons learned the hard way.  At least these have been comparatively minor.

T