Warning: nighttime generic cold medicine is typing this. (And if you have to ask, yes, it's Wal-tussin.)
I have a nasty cold that I can trace back to other people I was hanging around with (and also my immune system shutting down in regards to stress lately.)
Has anyone else ever been curious enough about the origin of a cold or other minor ailment to want to bring in a pathologist?
Or rather, who would be the appropriate specialist to satiate my frivolous interest?
This is why I wish I were independently wealthy.
And of course, I've created a wide opening for my conservative friends to walk through, with Joe the Plumber jokes and the like about what would happen to my wealth. Well, I would be a patriotic rich person and embrace a sense of common purpose--unless I made $251K, then I'd just be incredibly bitter...at first. Then I'd remember that that crazy socialist Obama wants to roll taxes way back to Reagan-era levels. And then I'd fall back on a fundamental belief I have in the ingenuity and creativity of the American people, my belief that if you're smart enough to get wealthy, then you ought to be smart enough to find reliable tax shelters. Like if you suspect you've got a dullard for a child, put it in a college fund that you suspect will never really be needed?
Which brings me to my last point: I felt good last night when one of my most conservative friends (I have alot, actually) thanked me for not rubbing it in. That was very rewarding to hear. I know how embittering politics can be, but at a certain point it's not a game, meaning: 1) real things are at stake, but more importantly 2) winning and losing is more complicated.
I have my own beliefs and opinions and am prepared to explain them and, to a certain extent, defend them, although at a certain point, a value is a value and our proclivities are hard-wired into us by our perspectives and experiences (duh). But I like when someone with a different point-of-view defends or explains their position in a similar way. I'm often left with, "I see, but I disagree." Maybe I should learn some debating skills and, you know, really go for the takedown.
But in the meantime, can somebody get to the bottom of my nasty cold?
[cue crack about socialized medicine--I've left one heck of an opening!]
*Obligatory socialized medicine comment*
ReplyDeleteYou probably wouldn't be seen for a cold. You would be told to get over it. I have family in Canada. They just don't get in to the doctor that often. Not to mention the fact that if you opted in to the UI GradCare, you don't qualify for the paid-for-by-tax-increase government health care.
*Obligatory 250K+ Comment*
250K a year will not make you independently wealthy. You will be able to buy a nice house, nice cars, and live a comfortable life, but you will not be astounded with your wealth.
p.s. If you are working hard and you have made $249k by October, take November and December off work!
I have this image of Canada being this fairytale wonderland, though.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I've only learned about it from Michael Moore films.
And heck, if I made 40 grand a year, I'd feel rich and maybe buy out my roommate's share of the apartment. Or else, just buy like thirty cases of vitamin water. But then I would be low on cash and not feel rich anymore.