I saw a dead guy the other day. Was driving home after dropping Betty off at work during morning rush hour, and while passing through the intersection I say every day is a death trap for scooters, there one was. Face down, blood everywhere and the medical crew taking their time to remove the body. This intersection is one where there is a lot of cars merging left to make a soft right onto a major road, while buses are merging left coming out off a depot and trying to go straight. Caution on every ones part here is paramount, but in typical TW dipshit drivers haste, as detailed in the 'driving' post two weeks ago, there are many impatient cars that will make the illegal right from the middle lane while speeding, or go straight from the right turn lane, all the while the scooters will be dicing in between them to get no where fast. Every morning I see bad behavior and say that someone is gonna get killed here. It sucks being right all the time.
Another topic that has confounded me recently concerns warts. First, 'wart' is such an ugly word. Other than a profanity, it is hard to come up with a word that is as revolting. The scientific latin name for the common wart may be even worse...verruca vulgaris. Sounds like a name for an actress from some BDSM niche porn. The reason that this is in mind these days is that we have had a bit of an outbreak in the family. Last year, both kids had them grow on the bottom of their feet in between their toes. We had them dealt with over the summer and they seem to be gone now. Also last year, I had this thing start to grow on my nose. Wasn't big and my US doctor said it wasn't skin cancer and to leave it alone, but it started to grow when we got back to town and was looking like something that you'd see on Scrooge or the Grinch during the X-mas special season. Descended into the TW universal health care system to learn that it was said verruca vulgaris. They carved it out and have a swell scar on the end of my schnozzola.
Researching the internet as to why warts form and how we seemed to have this family outbreak has not provided a satisfactory answer. I want to blame the environment, but all I can find is something about viruses. Whatever it is, a truly disgusting development. The side affect of having one was that I got to delve into the universal health care system here. With it being such a hot button in the States, getting an opportunity to experience one first hand has helped better understand that dialogue.
From my experience, not only this time, but also with Carolyn's bone bruise last Spring and a subsequent visit to the dermatologist for Betty and I, have found it to work really well. Most of what you would normally see your family doctor for is done here at the hospitals. Cannot overstate how chaotic these places seem. People everywhere...waiting for their number to be called, patients on gurneys, looking like they just got out of surgery, the best analogy I could give is that it looks like a subway station at rush hour. But it works. To get this thing removed, I had to navigate the giant Veteran's Hospital three different times/places...on my own. Not an easy feat for a local, but that I was able to do it with my limited knowledge of Mandarin was an impressive feat if I do say so. First was the diagnosis, then the removal, and finally to have stitches removed. Each visit cost about US$12 and took no more than an hour. After the wart removal on the 16th floor, was instructed to go to the pharmacy on the 3rd floor for some meds. There was about a 12 person line at that window and thought I'd be there all day, but it moved fast and when I got to the front, understood why. My prescription had a bar code and when they scanned it, the meds were already pulled and prepared at the counter and was issued them almost immediately.
This system works and when I read all the "horror" stories about ACA/Obamacare, it seems that it is fear mongering from the section of the population that has the most to lose financially, and do not see enough about what it can do for the majority of Americans. It is not a secret that the biggest impediment to US implementation is the insurance needed from all of law suits and the only solution is tort reform. Truly, the fact that this reform is not the top issue being discussed on both sides of the aisle amazes me to no end, but I guess that is just a result of naivete and the pessimist in me realizes that our politicians are all controlled by the money that runs that show. Sad. Wake up America.
Going to take a few weeks off from posting and don' forget to check back in early January. We leave Thursday evening on a winter break vacation for a week each in Israel and Istanbul. Going to be amazing and can't wait to tell you about it.
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