it's okay to kill your idols

First off, many thanks to everyone who has donated money to help me get my jaw fixed. I was able to get braces earlier this year with $5k leftover to put toward the surgery, which is estimated to cost $15k.

I know I haven't been very active in comics or on livejournal lately. That's because I've been spending all my free time freelancing to earn money to put toward surgery. I don't really have much of a life outside my work right now. I do miss making comics. I miss my readers and the community. But I have to do this. Surgery has to happen in February/March.

The following is exactly why I had to quit comics: Young and Uninsured: Cartoonist Julia Wertz


My company changed insurers, which would be a good thing, but the company we switched to, Blue Cross Blue Shield, simply never covers orthognathic surgery (not much different from the old company!). I had a meeting with the representative when he came to talk to us at work. He told me that they won't help with hospital costs if they aren't helping with the surgery costs.

So let's have a look at where I am financially:
Including the $5k in donations, I have $13.5k of the $15k needed for surgery. However, the hospital costs could be from $10-15k. I won't know how much until after the fact. Even though I am still working and saving, I don't think I'll be able to pull that much out of the hat in two months. It's intimidating and has put me in a funk as of late.

I'm finding it exceedingly hard to be around certain types of people, mainly middle to upper management types who have the notion that you should be able to make a living by "doing nothing" or should be paid more to do what is already an overpaid monkey's job. Nothing enrages me more than Entitled White People. I have no sympathy for someone who doesn't have the excess they've become accustomed to.

I know I'm not as poorly off as I was two years ago. I have a real job working with people I like, and I can buy food and warm things to wear and sleep under. I have a house and a new car and a lovely husband who cooks delicious food (and whose Veteran's benefits allowed us to secure a loan for said house--more economical than paying rent!). I am very grateful for these things. And I hope I will never take them for granted. I feel very lucky to have the good things I have right now.

I saw the last Michael Moore move, Capitalism: A Love Story, with some coworkers. His films are always educational and entertaining, even if he is biased. I felt I learned a lot from it, and it did get me thinking. After the film, one of my coworkers said that he had been hoping for a revolution during the bailout discussions. He said he was disappointed that no one did anything. I asked him why he hadn't done anything himself. He said he had nothing to gain by it. "That's what everyone thinks," I said, "No matter how low on the totem pole, we all fear abandoning the scraps that we have. You could almost say that people like you are the real problem in this country." People who stare out the window wistfully thinking about change but not really doing anything about it.

When I get out of surgery, I want to take up fencing and run for a public office. Any office you think I would be suited to?

( My finals week is wonderful. )

My high school is doing a faculty-only production of A Christmas Carol, written and directed by the students. It's 45 minutes long, and I only know about five of the teachers, but I'm incredibly excited. Especially because Tiny Tim is played by this one science teacher who's like seven feet tall.