November 2nd, 1997

Healthcare

Just read the last few entries in Plain Jain's journal, and totally agree about the nonexistent american health care, long lines and painfully expensive BS care you get there. I spent three weeks and more than a thousand bucks listening to bullshit from people who I'm convinced could never have practiced medicine in Sweden, and not getting any better. I had bronchitis, couldn't breathe, and couldn't walk more than 50 meters before I had to sit down and have a rest (caused, btw, by the ridiculous amount of cars in California and the laughable building codes causing our house to be death to any kind of lungs. Also made me allergic to cats, which I happen to love, but now I can't even touch them). These doctors let me inhale some stuff from a humming little machine, told me to go home and it'd get better. I'm sure they must've known that this thing only helped for about half an hour, after which it was as bad as before, or worse. OK, end of whining here, but her journal made me remember how much I hated those guys for taking my money and doing nothing whatsoever to help me in the long run.

It also made me remember how much I loved living in the US, apart from the above problem. I found american people to be more openminded and interesting to talk to than swedes in general. It might have been the fact that I mostly hung out with people who went to college or university, but it seemed to me that most of them were gong somewhere, had some kind of vision or goal. Coming back here I found that the people I tried to talk to were content with living in the little town they were born in, working at the local factory, and go to some little island in the Mediterranean to drink their head off once a year. And I can't stand it, it bores the shit out of me, and I feel like I can't talk to them, they just can't relate to my experiences in any meaningful way. Then again, if I find a nice job, preferably in the computer business, and working with nice people, I'll probably stay here for a while... Or wherever I happen to find that job. I don't feel bound to one place anymore, and thanks to the net I can stay in touch with the people to whom I _do_ feel bound.