Notice to readers: If you wish to read previous posts, click on the archives located just to the right. To the right and down a bit you will also see a link to my photographs taken at home and while abroad.

After 30 hours of traveling to San Francisco from London via Washington Dulles via Frankfurt we crashed for about eight hours before getting on the road to head for Portland. We left Tim's mom's place at about 8 (where Tim's truck was left), but had to stop in San Francisco to pick up other things we left before we went to India. We got into Portland at about 10 PM, and I woke up this morning pretty depressed. Back to the same old crap. Everyone in the USA runs. I don't know where they are running to, but they run. Like the guy who speeds past you ony to sit and wait at the red light while you pull up directly behind him. People are angry, frustrated, and stressed out. People hang their heads, apologize profusely for things that aren't their fault, and beat themselves up over the smallest things. The man behind the counter asks you if you are having a nice day as if he cares, so obviously not even waiting to see if there's an answer. Nationalsim and militarism is so popular and over-the-top that I felt like I stepped into 1937 Germany when I got off the plane in Washington Dulles, especially when I saw the store called "Amerika!" filled with wonderfull White House paraphenalia.

While in the store of Amerika! browsing at all the propaganda, I noticed a foreign woman staring at this little "Pet Toy" of Saddam Hussein that is meant as a chew toy. She looked at it for a couple of seconds in complete disgust and then in English said, "This is so horribly wrong".

Americans seem so insecure. We run around with aggregating wealth in order to prove our worth (because in the USA society values you not on who you are but rather how much you make), and our over-compensated nationalism arises from a lack of national identity. We blow ourselves up like pufferfish, even when we are not threatened, just to make sure any possibility of threat is quelled. Just like our military adventures abroad. We are so afraid of what we do not know, and we are so afraid of what might be lurking around the corner, always fearing the absolute worst. People in the airport don't look at each other for fear they might make eye contact, while others walk around puffing up, staring at people aggressively and making threats about where their luggage is supposed to go. Everyone seems to always be looking for a fight, as they talk to themsleves in a fit of anger about the guy who acidentily bumped into them 10 feet back. Our nation is ill. Seriously mentally ill. It's no wonder that we have the highest rates of depression in the world. And it all comes back to our obsession with wealth. All of it.

This is my last post.

Emergency Room Visit
24-hour stay in hospital
3 blood draws
3 Malaria slides
TB test from blood draw
3 Sputum tests
Urinalysis
Chest X-Ray
Blood Count
Blood Culture
Serum Electrolytes
4 meals
___________________
Total Cost $0.00

And I don't even live here. The care I got was just as good as I've gotten anywhere in America. As a matter of fact, I would bet that it was better then had I waited to get back. Had I gone into hospital in the States without insurance, there would be no way in hell they would have kept me for that long and did such a battery of tests knowing that I probably couldn't pay for it. Here they wanted to keep me until Monday. I had to argue to let them release me. Not only did I get tested for Malaria and TB, but they also figured they'd run tests for any other bacteria that may be brewing and come up to "bite [me] later". Get it together, America. The socialized health care system here is CHEAPER than what we have with the same quality (whether it is paid for out-of-pocket or through taxes), because there's no profit margin to be maintained, and it seems to be more concerned about actual CARE as well. Oh, and if you want to go to a private doctor here you can; you're not forced to get free, quality care if you don't want it. You can pay out the ass for the same thing if it's your desire.

The fact that we are still the ONLY industrialized nation to not grant health care as a human right considering we're the wealthiest nation in the world is disgusting. Just absolutely repulsive.

I'm out of the hospital. I can't really say why, or explain the relationship, but for some reason after three months of traveling India, The Beatles' songs all make sense. I never really liked them before. But now a chord is struck. Don't ask me to explain. I can't.

Just spoke w/the Dr. They're doing one more set of tests just to make sure it isn't malaria and that it is safe for me and others for me to travel on a plane. I should be out shortly, and will only need to come back tomorrow morning for one more blood test. Dr. think's it's just a nasty viral infection.

A recollection of events starting from 6 PM yesterday:

1800: I phone National Healthcare Services regarding me cough. It's free for me to phone and talk to a nurse. I tell them my concerns, and they tell me a nurse will phone back within the hour.

1900: The nurse tells me that it's probably nothing to worry about, but that I should go to the walk-in clinic and get looked at for safe measure.

2020: After an hour of public transit, I make it to the clinic. I get punted over to A&E (the ER) because, I'm told, I'll need bloodwork and a chest x-ray.

2130: I get pulled into "minors" and talk with the nurse. They isolate me because of the possibility of TB. Good news is that my NBP is 117/63 and my HR is at 62. Healthy as a lamb for being ill.

2230: Further isolated and put on a BP/HR monitor. I've given a cup into which to spit up goobers.

0100: Chest X-Ray

0200: Blood draw. First go is a miss, second one is a big bruise. I think the guy was new at it. It took him quite some time to do it all, and he was quite talkative.

0430: Talk with Dr. from infectious diseases: "Nothing obviously TB, but there is definately an infection, and given that you just got back from India, we're admiting you for more tests." I tried to conince him to do the tests as an outpatient, as there was no overt evidence of a TB infection, but he had none of it. Especially considering that a former travel partner just informed me that he was told by a doctor in an Indian hospital after a chest x-ray that he'll need to come back for TB tests. Oh, that and the fact I'll be getting on an airplane and could easily infect numerous people.

0530: Moved to the infectious diseases ward and quarantined in my room. But have this great internet gadget, and I can leave the room to wander the ward if wear this bright pink face mask shaped like a bill; a "duckie mask" I believe one of the nursing students called it.

They wanted to keep me through Monday, but considering my flight is Monday morning, they may need to speed up their game a bit. It's 14:25, and I have yet to see the Dr, let alone do the mandatory induced sputum activity.

Thursday I went out to Cambridge to check out the town and the University. I wasn't expecting, however, to be charged to go into every bloody college, and then not even be able to go into any of the buildings. I guess Cambridge is pretty touristy, and they wanted 4 Pounds from me just to wander the King's College campus and check out the Cathedral.

I was initially intending on checking out Oxford because it was closer and I've read plenty of books either by people out of Oxford or printed on OUP. But I was convinced otherwise, only to pay a pretty pence, and last night I heard from two Oxford grads that it is absolutely free to wander around Oxford, and that no one is going to be guarding the doors and barring people from entering the buildings.

That night I went out to meet up with James' friend and a friend she brought along. It was "great crack", and we were invited to go to a pub and club this Saturday with a group of people. As for tonight, I will probably take it easy, because I am still fighting this bugger (whatever it is), and I don't want to wreck myself before Saturday. Ugh, viruses are to coolest things until they happen to you, and I just found out that a guy we were travelling with just before leaving might have TB. So I may be heading in for a FREE skin test today. It's amazing how England treats its guests with free health care, and Americans won't even give it to their own citizens. Ehem.

Yesterday my illness got the best of me. Whatever I caught in India put me out. I had a low-grade fever that peaked at about 100.2 deg F, then disappeared as of this morning. I'm still fighting a chest infection, but any fear of congruent Malaria symptoms has subsided.

So last night Tim went out with two of James' friends and, from what I hear, had a blast. Hopefully we'll have a chance to go out with them again when I'm well.

I'm hoping to wander around the Oxford or Cambridge campus while I'm here, but I don't know if it will happen, as time is quickly ticking away. I might be going down to Brighton tonight or tomorrow, Saturday is Camden, and Sunday is Soho (I think). Monday we challo USA. It sucks I've lost 30% of my London time to this virus, but better here than in India. By a long shot.

Damn, this coffee is good. No more instant Nescafe.

Average fare London to Mainland Europe: $60
Cheapest fare NYC to Mainland Europe: $400

I live on the wrong side of the world. The USA really is an isolated place.

Same old thing here in London: wandering around aimlessly afraid to look at a menu for fear of spending the budget for an entire day in India on one meal. Oh, and the sunglasses fashion out here is Out. Of. Control. It's London for crying out loud. Why on earth would you spend that kind of money on something you might wear one week out of the year?

London is also filled with people not from London. I don't think I have ever been in a city anywhere where I have heard so many different languages being spoken on the street: English, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Spanish, etc, etc.

Yesterday we tried initially to meet up with a friend of James and a friend of hers, but we missed each other. She had some trouble with tube (subway) tickets, and Tim and I ended up going to the corner of the meeting spot for some fish and chips before heading home. We later found out that she arrived 45 minuted late, 5 minutes after we decided to take off. Then I guess she was standing right at the meeting place when we came out of the pub lunch, we passed her, Tim looked to find her, and we just completely missed each other. We literally walking past eachother and not seing each other. But those fish and chips were heaven. I've waited eight years for a proper fish and chips. What is so hard about a slab of cod and french fries? Why is it so difficult for Americans to understand how to fry a slab of cod? I think I have a business idea . . .

We did end up meeting the friends of James last night at the pub for a drink and some dinner, though. It was good conversation, I just wish I wasn't feeling so ill; I was very poor company. I came down with this illness only a day after arriving, and it has been becoming progressively worse. Just a cold, but a nasty one at that, and last night was ridden with sweaty tossing and turning. Tim is ill as well as his mother, so we sound like a right infectious disease ward.