Chocolate Cake & Beer

You know how sometimes, you've got this idea that the handful of ingredients you've got lying around is something you can turn into this idealistic, thrown-together plate of absolute joy? Because you have SKILLS and WINE and RADIOHEAD playing on your stereo and you are going to BEAT your angsty mood by cooking.

And then you get about halfway through the process and you look at what's in the pan and think, er, dunno, that may not end as well as I'd hoped. But you keep cooking because what else are you gonna do, and you just hope it turns out fairly ok even if it's not something you'd serve someone else. So you're now resigned to a meh dinner that would be a disappointment aside from the fact that it's food and you're hungry.

And then in the last five seconds, when you add the final ingredient you were sure was going to REALLY ruin it, some crazy kitchen alchemy brings it all together to be way higher than your self-lowered expectations, and you sort of can't believe it, but you have renewed faith in your SKILLS and you've ended up with the thing that is the reason you started cooking in the first place.

Maybe not exactly what you planned but and as-good or better different.

And then because you are and always will be an English-Major jerkface who can't let a thought pass without overanalysing the crap out of it, you think, there's probably a life metaphor in that.

And then, surveying your situation, you hope it holds true.

If you haven't watched this already, you really need to. It's an hour long, but don't be put off. The fact that our President was willing to sit down with Tumblr and answer these questions blindly is, I think, incredibly impressive.

This came at a coincidentally perfect time for me because I've been trying to figure out what to do about the nightmare of paying my loans from abroad once and for all. It needs to get easier, and in considering my options, I have to start paying better attention to the details of what is and isn't possible via Sallie Mae. That isn't the easiest task (understatement of the century), but the fact that this public conversation even happened gives me a tiny bit of hope.

I don't run my mouth on the interwebs about politics all that often, and I have the healthiest of skepticism for any politician, but I really think that Obama has shown a lot of honesty here. There are things I don't fully agree with, and his answers weren't always perfect, but I don't feel like he was ever trying to actively dodge a question or pull the wool over our eyes. I really appreciate that. There were some difficult questions here.

We have a GOOD president, you guys. We really do.

While I don't intend to live in the US again any time soon, I am still American, and I'm happy to say that. The US has problems but I hold it in equal regard to my current home. My family is in America, as well as many of my friends, and I think it's a great place to grow up and to live. I've been away for a long time, and the beginning of that time was a difficult time to tell people I was American because I always felt ashamed that George W Bush was in charge. I felt like I had to apologise. I know I'm not the only one. Some people may take issue with that, but most of those people haven't seen the US from outside the US, particularly during that time. America is great, but it's part of the world, and I feel an awful lot better about being an American out in the world when a guy like this is the one calling the shots.

Protective measures to make sure that, in case of disease, you remain alive to brag about a massive exciting trip long after you get home, are kind of a big deal. I knew this when I decided that for my 30th, Africa was going to be The Trip. And I knew there would be costs. But man. MAN...

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I am a lady who plans. A lot. And loves to do so. So I don't know why I didn't do more extensive research on the number of immunisations I'd need and their prices. It's something I would do! It's something I would probably bizarrely enjoy!

But I didn't. I just kind of figured that what wasn't covered by the NHS would be reasonable. I suppose 'reasonable' in my brain was 'under £20 per disease'.

But oh no. Let me tell you.

I have to cover myself on the following:

Tetanus

Polio

Diphtheria

Typhoid

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B

Yellow Fever

Rabies

Malaria

Plus a well-stocked personal first-aid kit. Luckily, the NHS covers the Tetanus, Polio, Diphtheria booster, the Typhoid, and the Hep A vaccine.

The rest combined are going to cost somewhere in the region of £250-£350. I had a long weekend in Gothenburg for that much!

Today I found out that I did need the full series of Hep B again along with the rest, because the last time I had it was way too long ago. This started an anxiety-fest, not even because of the money but because of the MILLION appointments I'm going to have over the next month to get all of these things, and the logistics of getting everything in the right place and at the right time and still being at work when I'm supposed to be. Because it's pretty much impossible to get it condensed sensibly.

OF COURSE all of this is absolutely, 100% worth it. It's a privilege to take a trip like this, and I want to make sure, as far as I can, that I'm not sitting there worrying about the possibility of being really, really sick (or dead) just because I wanted to go look at rhinos. (Rhinos!)

So I am not cutting corners. Especially after learning that the fatality rate of rabies is 100%. One. Hundred. Percent. THERE IS NO CURE. (Which I learned when listening to this episode of Radiolab, before I even decided to go to Africa.) The vaccine doesn't even protect you completely, it just gives you more time to get sorted out if you do get a bite. Given those numbers, I would like that time if I should need it. Credit card bill be damned.

I just reeeeally wish I had priced all this properly before charging into it. It's rare in my life, but: Not enough planning!

Anyway I will report on the final cost when I've finished it all, because hopefully it'll help someone else out.

Hee. This is great.

Your mother was always right, people. If you don't have anything nice to say on the interwebs, don't say anything at all. (Or else you may be pwned by Benedict Cumberbatch or whoever you decided to badmouth.)