JULY & AUGUST 2023: Summer in Boulder, CO
Turning 41, getting sick, drinking craft beer, going hiking
SICK SICK JULY
Two days after my 40th birthday last year I got Covid. I was stuck in my apartment for ten days. Thankfully a friend had given me a bone broth recipe that I lived off of during my days of isolation. In Argentina, I paid less than $10 for my doctor’s visit, and even less than that for an at-home antigen test.
Two days after my 41st birthday this year (July 14, Bastille Day) I got sick again. I woke up with swollen lymph nodes on one side of my neck. Two very differing jaw lines on each side of my face. As in, one side of my face had no jawline at all. Just a soft curve that blended my cheek and neck into one surface.
I took an antigen test for $10 from the pharmacy inside the nearest supermarket (tested negative for Covid). My sister, being both a nurse and a worrier, pushed me to also get a strep test. This pharmacy did not do strep tests, but the clinic on the other side of the parking lot did. I went to the clinic, masked up, hoping to leave with an antibiotic in 30 minutes, and a throat that allowed me to swallow without pain in 24 hours. I got neither of those things. But what I did get was a bill for $179 usd.
I had to pay nearly $200 to be told I was negative for strep and “good luck out there.” No medications, no prescriptions, no answers. The doctor told me he calls this period “The Great Echo” because since Covid, all germs have transformed and nobody knows what anything is anymore. Fun! Now down $179, I went home and stuffed my face with alternating Ibuprofen and Tylenol every few hours. Ginger tea with lemon and honey. Vicks throat spray. I even took THC gummies every night before bed hoping they would help me sleep a little. The pain was unbearable.
I had only been back in the US for about 6 weeks when I got sick. I didn’t have a regular job, and unfortunately for me, health insurance is tied to your employment (which is absolute crap) in the US. If I had insurance, I probably would have paid a co-pay of around $15, or maybe it would even be ‘free.’ But for an uninsured sick person? $179! If I had been abroad, I would have had travel medical insurance with SafetyWing. Actually, SafetyWing even allows you to use insurance in your home country for up to 30 days (15 for the US) for every 3 months of travel medical insurance abroad. Unfortunately for me, I had already canceled my insurance so I wasn’t able to take advantage of this. Please don’t be like me. Get travel medical insurance with SafetyWing while abroad, and then you’re covered for a bit while you’re back home. They have great prices for plans, especially if you’re 40 and under.
YOUTUBE CLEANSE
As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, I’m a sensitive person. Being a ‘person on the internet’ was just too much for me. Strangers having opinions about my life after watching a 6-minute video, tell me things like “You really need therapy,” and “I don’t want to hurt your feelings but you seem really entitled” on the daily just really stopped being a good time. Spending the majority of my time alone as I operated my solo YouTube channel and travel blog made it harder. I had nobody to talk about it with. Nobody to be able to laugh about it with and put things in perspective. Just me and my thoughts and strangers on the internet’s thoughts all swirling around becoming one.
So I took a step back. I haven’t posted a video on YouTube for 3 months. And ya know what? It feels really good. I have pretty much stopped checking comments altogether. YouTube was making me miserable.
However, the greatest thing that came out of YouTube was the real people I met who found me through YouTube. I’ve done several consultations with people about going to Argentina, and some of them have become real-life internet friends who I get to cheer on from the sidelines of Instagram stories. My Argentina journey might be over for the time being, but others are just about to get started. And I’m so happy for them.
I’m still spending time developing my travel blog as it is something that still makes me happy. Trolls don’t leave nasty comments on blogs. I’m just able to help people, which is what I wanted to do when I started my YouTube channel in the first place.
All of that said, I’m still very proud that my YouTube channel reached 6k followers this week. I may not be reading the comments, but I’m very happy to know that my videos are still helping people out there.
BEER FIRST. THE REST WILL FOLLOW.
Due to my desire to no longer be a person on the internet, I got a job in person. I’ve been working at Avery Brewing, just outside of Boulder, CO for the past 2 months. Every person does every job. I started as a food runner, moved to host, then expo, bartender, and now server. I managed to move up through the chain pretty quickly. I haven’t had ‘in-person’ co-workers for nearly 7 years, and I’m really enjoying that. Seeing and getting to know the same people every week, talking about our days and our lives, and those annoying customers at table 35. This is definitely the kind of human connection I’ve been needing.
ON THE JOB HUNT
While working at Avery has been great, I’ve always seen it as a stopgap. Ideally I would like to find remote work which will allow me to both be closer to family, but also have the freedom to travel around my own country visiting friends and national parks and new cities. If you happen to know of remote work that values someone with extensive travel experience, multiple languages, and video editing experience (or otherwise), feel free to pass that info over my way!
THANK YOU
As always, thank you to all of you who support me and my work. Thank you for reading my words and watching my videos. Buying me coffee and donating to my blog. I truly appreciate all your continued support and encouragement.