Universal Health Care

The United States is the ONLY industrialized country that does not provide universal health care. Yes, even in some developing countries, government-funded programs offer medical, dental and mental health care to all eligible residents. This means that there are people in third world countries who have a better health plan than I do, as I do not have dental. I pay 1200 American dollars a year to not have dental.

Since it would be a waste of money to not take advantage of this amazing NYU sponsored health plan, I go to health services about once a month. I figure that comes out to about $100 a visit. I am still not getting my money's worth here, so maybe I should go skiing. I was always jealous of those kids who came back from spring break with cool injuries. You would think, as much as I fall, I would have broken something by now.

I recently diagnosed myself with tinea versicolor. It's like dandruff, but not on your head. Most commonly found on your chest and back, it is associated with hot, humid climates... and tanning. I am probably victim to the latter. I have a dime-sized circular patch of tanless skin on my shoulder and a slightly larger, nickel-sized dot on my chest. My skin has lost it's ability to produce color. How ironic. Treatment for tinea versicolor is simply to use an antidandruff shampoo like Head and Shoulders or Selsun Blue. Just to make sure this is what I had before I started my own home remedies, I went in to primary care to have it checked out.

It took about 4 seconds for the doctor to say, "Yep, you have tinea versicolor." I was told to stay out of the sun and use antidandruff shampoo. Staying out of the sun will definitley not be a problem, winter has come early this year. So far, my healthcare plan has been useless to me. I got a referral to see the dermatologist if my problem persists and I was given a depression questionaire. Ten minutes later, I have 10 sessions with the mental wellness counselor booked to help with my coping strategies. After another look at my records, I was asked to hop on the examination table for my temperature and blood pressure because the doctor thinks that the nurse who took my stats earlier might have made a mistake. Nope. No mistake. I have high blood pressure.

I am 24-years-old, I go to the gym four times a week, I do not smoke, I do not drink and I do not eat red meat. I have not had a hamburger in 10 years, I don't remember what soda tastes like, and I have high blood pressure. This probably explains my chest pain, irregular heartrate, tiredness and why occasionally my right eye has not been able to focus. Just another thing I can thank my dad for passing on to me. Thank you, dad, for the large calves that I cannot fit into skinny jeans or boots, thank you for the diabetes and the high blood pressure, and thank you for taking me to Chuck E Cheese and telling me it was Disneyland. Yes, I am still angry about that.

So to celebrate my skin fungus, lack of coping skills and hypertension, I ate 3 rolls of sushi and went to Urban Outfitters. I had a great day.

...brings May flowers.

And these guys.

Just in case you were wondering what New York looks like in the spring.

Click on images for a full sized effect. Note the the guy on the left with leathered man-boobs.

Strawberry Fest

In celebration of my favorite fruit...

...this is New York's longest strawberry shortcake.  It was delicious.  I forgot my camera and had to rely on the camera phone.  I sat and ate all my strawberry themed goodies on a bench in Washington Square Park.  A feather floated down in front of me and my friend exclaimed, "Forrest Gump!!!"  and then a bird pooped on her.  It was poetic.  

She still lives in Brooklyn.

The Alligator Lounge on Metropolitan gives you a free pizza with every beer.  If you order a Bud Light, this comes out to 4 dollars, plus tip.

I spent 20 minutes at 3am Wednesday night looking for someone's tooth on Leonard Street.  We found the tooth, he put it back in his mouth after we picked it up from the sidewalk.

The sushi chef at Wasabi on Bedford Ave is awesome.  He makes me custom plates and doesn't charge me for them.

The Korean laundromat on Metropolitan has shitty dryers.  They are open 24 hours.  The people there suck.

Settepani on Lorimer has the best butter cookies.  They will cost you 16 dollars a pound.

The Bagel Store on Bedford Ave and N 3rd has cannoli cream cheese with white chocolate chips.

I took a train to Long Island and found myself in the east coast version of San Jose.  I think dreams have died there, too.  

Dreams have died here.

In the words of a wise man, Coney Island is where dreams go to die.  

The hot dog line was 2 hours long, I saw a man eat leftover ice cream out of the trash, the Freak Show was closed, the beach had a fake plastic palm tree, the broken sink had a sign that read "Don't work".  

The City Sparkles

As April rolls around, I am heading into my fourth full month in New York. I'm starting to get into the flow of things.  I have a weekly routine that consist mostly of writing papers and going to work.  Frequent visitors gets me out to do touristy things that I would otherwise miss.  

I finally made it out to get the view of the skyline that I have been dying to shoot since I moved here.  My lack of a tripod has prevented me from doing this at night and it really hasn't been clear enough to get.  Fellow Pad Squad and Aztec, Jeff, was also dying to get this view, so we headed out there our first night.  Of course, it was cold and rainy and all our pictures came out fuzzy and gray.  After the unfortunate outcome of the NIT semifinals game at Madison Square Garden where the Aztecs lost to Baylor, we went back to Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park along with a friend Jeff made on the subway.  (Who is Baylor anyway?  Has anyone heard of them before last night?)  With Jeff's gorillapod that looks like some sort of sex toy, we managed to get some decent shots of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.  It was much clearer the second night, I even saw a star or two, but it might have been airplanes.  I can't even distinguish between them at this point.  

Jeff and his gorillapod will also be in Australia this summer.  Sparkling photos of the Sydney skyline to come.  

Let the Sun Shine In

I just had my first official New York visitor last weekend. Seriously, I'll have more visitors in one semester here than I had the entire 5 years I was in San Diego.  As an early birthday present, Jill braved the cold and packed her rain boots... and everything else in her closet.  Lucky for us, Friday was the warmest day it has been in months.  The weekend consisted of a lot of sushi eating, a failed attempt to go to Connecticut, Sex and the City sites, Bedford Ave., West Village, Marc Jacobs, Washington Square, the bathroom at the Westin, Times Square, an off-Broadway murder mystery, Hair the musical, and devouring apple cobbler at the Hard Rock.  

First of all, I would like to say that I am not the best New York hostess.  I will get you lost, I will make you walk a lot, and if you don't like sushi or Thai food, you're screwed.  Broadway musicals are awesome.  I heart my bạn gái.  

Winter Preview

Winter on the East Coast will not be pleasant.  I am currently accepting donations of all winter accessories, including but not limited to: gloves, hats, beanies, scarfs, parkas, long underwear, igloos, anything thick and furry.  I learned that text messaging with gloves on is very difficult.  I'm also having second thoughts about being anti-fur.  

The Society for Neuroscience decided to meet in Washington DC this year.  Not as cool as INS in Hawaii, but it gave me a chance to fly over to NYC for a day to get things set up.  DC was exactly like it was the last time I was there; mean cab drivers, cold, and political.  Although I did get to buy an Obama '08 tshirt for only 3 dollars.  I'm going to wear it in Vietnam and be THAT American.  

New York looks just like it does on TV, except bigger, and the skyline is prettier than I anticipated.  It really makes a girl feel small.  I thought I was prepared for cold weather, but I don't think any amount of clothing is going to keep my butt warm next month... and does your nose ever stop running?  ...cause that part kind of sucks.  The naked cowboy is still naked in the winter.  Wtf?

My adventure back to California might just be the most awful thing I have ever experienced. The shuttle decides to pick me up at 2:30 in the morning for my 6am flight back to Dulles. From there I had a noon flight back to San Diego. I almost snuck onto the 8am flight, but they have this policy about you being on the same flight as your luggage now. Stupid. So I sit at the airport, exhausted, for over 4 hours waiting for my flight. At this point, I have been up since the night before and I'm still in my pajamas. Then, a lady on the plane has some sort of reaction and we have one of those "is there a doctor in the house" situations. Luckily, everyone on the plane was coming from the Society for Neuroscience meeting so she had plenty of doctors to choose from. Poor lady sat with the oxygen tank for the entire flight and got rushed off the plane as soon as we land. By the time I get back to Poway, it was 5pm and I have now been up for over 36 hours. I envy the people who can sleep on planes.