Money

There's something beautifully ironic in reading essays by travel writers talking how they believe people with less money are happier just as my family is struggling with the issue.


Cystic fibrosis is an expensive disease to have. Even with our Kaiser coverage, medications still pile on in price up into the thousands, and while I really shouldn't, I do feel guilty. Both my parents are in the movie industry, and that's a difficult industry at the best of times. Right now, it's horrid, and neither of my parents have held a steady job for at least three years now.


Switching majors is not a decision I regret, but it's put me somewhat behind in the grand scheme of things. I need to take summer school if I want to graduate on time, and I can only take the classes i need at UCSB- community college isn't an option at this point, because I need to take upper division classes, and those aren't transferable. As you can guess, it's expensive. Rent around here is crazy- I'm attempting to find a place to sublease for under $800, and I haven't found much luck so far in finding a single for that price.


Given our financial troubles, I may well have to drop summer school. It's a depressing thought, but I need to get a job to help support the family. It feels like a curiously heavy weight to have to be 20 and be told that I need to provide support for my parents.


There's also been hintings and rumblings that we're moving to an apartment and selling our house. I have no problem with that- but most apartments don't allow pets- especially not cheap ones. That is a problem. We have an older German shepherd, eleven years old, who is a BIG dog, and he needs space. I also have a small parrot, and there wouldn't be a lot of room for his cage. He's bonded to me- the thought of selling him breaks my heart, but it may be something I need to consider, because he can't live with me here in the dorms.


All in all, though my health is good and I'm happy with recent decisions i've made, this is a depressing time for me. I've started applying to jobs in this area so that I can hopefully make enough money to support my rent, but it's looking like studying abroad and visiting Australia aren't going to happen any time within the next few years. At this point, I'm hoping we can afford to finish school and not rack up any more debt than we have with student loans. The school won't give us financial aid because we legally own the house my grandmother lives in, and they told us that if we were that desperate we could sell the house. Uh, no we can't. My grandmother lives there. What would we do with her? Her whole life is up in Northern California, and we live in LA.


I may have to consider selling some things of mine to make money as well. I can probably get a couple hundred for my Xbox, which would cover 1/4 of rent... and then I don't know. I really hope Borders gets back to me and offers me a job, because I'm not sure what I"ll do otherwise.

An Article

Written about me and cystic fibrosis while I was in high school. I thought I lost it!

http://www.tokoni.com/experience_view_confirm.php?id=2983

Turning 20

My god, I've suddenly turned old, haven't I? This Thursday was my twentieth birthday. It seems like a fairly significant mile stone to me, given the cystic fibrosis and what not, but I still can't help feeling like an old lady.

The best present, by far, is that my mom agreed to pay for some riding lessons for me.

Good news... and break!

Honestly, I'm just lazy about writing at this point. But I have good news! I had a doctor's appointment on the morning of Christmas Eve. Obviously I wasn't too pleased about that, and it did sort of ruin that Christmas excitement for various reasons. But it turned out to be a good appointment. Even though I've gained weight (Oh god, must shed pounds...) my lung function went up. We had my glucose levels tested, and even though they're all out of whack, I don't have diabetes! I was pretty nervous about that, so it was a huge huge huge relief when they called later that day to tell me.

Too lazy, will write more later... that, and my life is boring.

Sexy Blue Catpeople- My Review of Avatar

Thank god Avatar is pretty, because I ended up feeling like that's all it had for it. It had so much potential to generate wonder and be a great movie, and it was squandered by clunky dialogue and a plot that was, quite frankly, horrible and heavy handed. The allegory for Native Americans versus white men was just painful to watch- it was as if James Cameron had just taken my 'intro to Native American religion' class, boiled it down to stereotypes, and decided to make the movie about everything Native Americans hate. The plot was predictable beyond that, and the lines were just painful to hear at times.

Oh yes, the planet design was beautiful, as were the creature designs, but don't think I don't have complaints about that either. The creature designers didn't seem able to make up their mind on whether or not Pandora had a six limbed or four limbed evolutionary scheme. It bothered me that it was so widely varied. They could have created more animal species too- should I really believe Pandora only has like seven species of animals, and the Na'vi?

Oh yes, and the Na'vi wear feathers in their hair- where the hell do they get the feathers? Only the rhino creatures had feathers, and it was established that it would be impossible to collect them- besides, those feathers were the wrong color and size. At no other point were creatures with feathers shown.

Honestly, I do think the movie is worth seeing for the visual effects, but don't get your hopes too far up for the greatest movie ever, or you'll be sorely disappointed.

Long Time No Update

Partially, I haven't updated because I had finals and school got extremely busy. Mostly though, I was just too lazy or didn't feel up to it. I really have no good excuse for the past few days, but at least I feel like sharing life right now. We have guests from Australia that came the morning after I got home from school, so it's been pretty hectic.

On the CF related front, things haven't been stellar. Part of it is that I haven't been exercising- I know I should, but it's just been so busy the past couple of weeks that I haven't found the time, and it was raining, and... Yes, plenty of excuses, I know. My pre-diabetes is acting way the hell up again as well, to the point where if I even eat a cookie I feel shaky. I'm concerned, but I don't want to deal with it right now- not during the holidays. The last thing I want is to have to spend hours in the doctor's office and find out that I can't have some cake on my birthday.

Endlessly Cheering

I honestly completely forgot about my addiction to National Geographic's WildCam Africa until today... and I am rehooked. From where I am in Los Angeles/Southern California, it's about a 23 hour time difference, so as I write this, preparing for bed, the day is dawning on the savannah. The birds are singing, and it sounds exquisitely different from what you experience here. Two impala are nibbling on a bush, and a baboon tribe are playing and fighting. Birds I can't identify are sunning themselves as a stork pokes around in the shallows. They keep a wary eye out for a croc, but it looks like it's all clear from here. On other days, I've seen elephants stopping for a drink, and the distinctive eye shine of lions at night.

When you stop and think about it, it is pretty damn amazing that I can be watching live footage from an African watering hole and grow sleepy to the sound of birds half a world away. These are places I can only dream of visiting one day, but for right now, I can feel like I'm there. I think this is especially valuable to those of us who can't travel so easily, due to CF or other chronic illnesses.

There are some other cameras as well, but none I watch quite so religiously as WildCam Africa. It must be the zoology nerd in me, but it's so fascinating. I can watch absolutely nothing happen on the camera for hours. Without much further ado...

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildcamafrica/

I hope someone gets as much joy out of this as I do.