GOBAMA!!!!

I'm watching Obama's speech on the Health Care Bill and I'm definitely tearing up. Now, part of this may be that I'm faint from not eating/throwing up every bite that's hit my stomach, but the other part is that I am SO PROUD that I helped put this man in office.

Under his bill, it would be illegal for insurance companies to drop you when you're sick-- this means that if you're in college and have mono and the flu and bronchitis and you take a semester off, your mother's insurance can't boot you to the curb (you know, just a random example... don't know anyone like that...) leaving you with a 105 fever and no option to go to the emergency room. Insurance companies also couldn't deny you coverage because of pre-existing conditions, so if you have a history of arthritis in your family, they couldn't say, "Sorry, there's a possibility you could die of RA when you're 70, we can't help you out-- also, that wrist that was re-injured in your accident post-surgery, we're not going to cover any future therapy on it." Preventative care, such as (oh, I don't know) A COLONOSCOPY, won't cost you... (hold please, I'm pulling out bills and calculating) $1500.

There will be a required health care law, with a hardship waiver and a requirement that any business which does not provide insurance to contribute to paying for insurance. If you are unable to get insurance and you have to make a trip to the ER, it's covered.

He also dispelled the myths that the new system would drain our economy, called for malpractice revisions (thank GOODNESS since I can't disagree with the Republican side that it plays a part in driving up healthcare costs-- I mean, if someone can sue you at the drop of a hat, what's to stop them from doing it?), declared that the public option would not be available to illegal immigrants (to which there was a strangely resounding, "NOT TRUE" from one side of the aisle-- to which Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi gave them the "how rude" look), and said, "If you spread rumors and untruths, we will call. you. out."

He also just said "silver bullet" which kind of makes my B-movie side happy.

Also, on an unrelated note, as pleased as I am with post-election McCain, he still looks creepy. Snake-like. Shudder.

I've totally worn myself out now-- I really hope this stomach thing ends tonight so I can a) actually eat and b) not lose another day at work before we take off for Memphis!

Ciao for now, more from Memphis!

"We did not come to fear the future, we came to shape it. I believe we can still act, even when it's hard. I still believe that we can act when it's hard, I believe we can replace acrimony with civility." -Big O (I'll post the rest when the transcript is posted, it's a really great sentiment and something that is required for us to be a great country once more)

(and O finished in time for Glee!)

Insomnia strikes again!

Well, it's 5a (almost 6) and a multitude of things are keeping me awake. Appropriately enough, the only thing on TV that isn't infomercials or baseball is an old episode of MY personal high school favorite-- Angel! And, even more appropriately enough, Angel can't sleep. Not even during the day... (y'know, since he's a vampire and all) though I totally forgot how cute Charisma Carpenter is.

Anyway, not much to report really but since nobody's on, here I am! Work's been getting slowly better, made enough tonight to make tires feasible tomorrow, which is really awesome! I'll finally have my own transportation again! I think instead of dealing with the changing the tire and jumping the car, I might just get the darn thing towed up there and let Tires Plus charge up the battery for me. Then I can be off to cash my paycheck, and head out for my candlelight and dinner with the AOIIs!

Semi-formal was a lot of fun, more than I thought it would be. The girls were really great, very well behaved, even if their dates weren't for the most part. I ended up having to clean up someone's vomit off a table, but the president is going to be asking him to write me an apology for having to do that. Other than that, things went really well! Here are a few pictures:


Me and India (madam president)

Me and Danielle
(social chair and one
of my advisees)

Becky (another AAC member)
Katie (most recent president)
Me and
Natalie (whose office I can't remember right now!)





(let's see if that spacing works...)


I continue to love and adore all my new sisters, not that I'm terribly surprised, but it's always wonderful to have a group of friends wherever you go who love you so unconditionally!

I'm trying to think about what else has gone on since I last updated (pre-sickness, blech!), but there isn't really too much. This week should be exciting and busy, which will be really nice since I've been getting a little bit of cabin depression (I totally stop functioning without anything to do...) and poor Jeremy's had to listen to it all.

Tuesday: Tires on the car, INAUGURATION DAY!! HURRAY PRESIDENT OBAMA!
Wednesday: Moving and Work
Thursday: Moving and vodka tasting at work, dad and Emmy are coming, possibly lots of other people I haven't seen in entirely too long
Friday: Moving stuff day
Saturday: Dress fittings at David's (pictures to come, I promise!) and then spa afternoon with Emmy, Becky, mom, and possibly Vicki and BC.
Sunday: More moving! Whoo!

I'm excited about getting in to the new house and having my own room and breaking out my old furniture from when I was little. Since the desk is staying in Southaven until we know where we're moving, I'm going to get out my old dresser/vanity to use and my old chest of drawers (the set mom got smells really funky and makes my clothes smell bad...) and if I get particularly motivated this summer, I may even finally strip them down and re-paint them since we'll have a deck and it will take QUITE some time to get off a bajillion layers of 30 year old paint!

Well, that'll do it for now. Probably won't get to update with anything interesting until after the vodka tasting on Thursday-- and will definitely update this weekend with pictures from the dress fittings. I'm going to Morrow and dealing with this David's Bridal crap, I will be trying on several gowns, believe you me! I won't have enough money to buy one this weekend, so I may take my leftovers and split it between getting a webcam for me and one for Jeremy so we can get on Skype and talk to each other and the multiple peoples we know around the world including Valerie and Ana, and Megan in Chile!

Oh, and here's your daily dose of cute-- Feist on Sesame Street:

Change is in the Air

Last night was an amazing experience, and I feel more than any other time in my life that I have been a part of making history. Here in Decatur, fireworks shot off, people were dancing in the streets (no, really, not just another song lyric), hugging strangers, it was an amazing night. I think we feel really connected to this moment here in Atlanta because we are the birthplace of Martin Luther King, JR. and, rightfully, the entirety of Metro Atlanta went blue for Barack. Ebeneezer Baptist Church celebrated through the night, Dr. King's home church.

I hope, so fervently, that this means better things for our country. I know some extreme conservatives who are still convinced he's a socialist Muslim terrorist, but I really don't think that's the case. I think that, like everyone who believes in him, he wants this country fixed. We've been scared and hateful for the last eight years, turning away from each other when we ought to have been lifting one another up. This is the rhetoric of hope, love, and charity (which, correct me if I'm wrong Jimmy, is a keystone of Corinthians) which is foreign to us at this juncture in time. John McCain's concession speech was beautiful and graceful, even if his supporters decided to be real buttheads and boo and interrupt him, and was a true show of bipartisanship. He knows that this is the change our country needs, and he intends to stand behind President Obama and help effect that change-- to get us back to glory. If you missed either of their speeches, you can find them in whole on MSNBC (to the left of the main images). I encourage you to watch both-- they are both incredibly important speeches, and darn well written at that.

Moving on (though I'm still not entirely sure what to do with myself...), not much has happened since getting back from Florida. I've been doing my best to keep Jeremy company on the phone, he's been really bored with nothing to do, and doing my best to keep applying for jobs. I think this afternoon will include a trip to Sushi Avenue for a lunch special and then sitting down to apply for more jobs. I'm hoping that now the election's over, people will start hiring again. The election always screws things up anyway, and the fact that the economy stank to begin with certainly didn't help!

I spent the election coverage generally with Comedy Central-- CNN got on my nerves pretty quickly-- the maps, graphs, holograms, charts, lists, and other computerized crap was insane! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, WOLF! I stuck around on the off chance James Carville threw something at him, but that didn't happen and then Campbell Brown started talking, so I was pretty much out at that point. Instead, I showed my mom the Weekend Update clip with the map. It was pretty much the EXACT SAME THING that the dude on CNN was doing at the same time.



It's at the 5:28 left mark. The rest of it is pretty funny, but the map is what you want.

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart were, of course, really freakin' funny.

Well, I think that's about all I can squeeze out for this one, so I'm gonna go get dressed and walk up to the square. Ciao!