Remember AOL TimeWarner, that company that was totally gonna rock the consumer media world through the power of “maximizing synergies”? Not working out so great for the AOL part (long since dropped from the mast head.) We tend to over-estimate the potential of two great tastes. They do not always taste great together. Such was the epic failness of my attempt over the weekend to put some, shall we say, skin in the game vis-a-vis the healthcare debate. Turns out taking a real life interest in Congressional policy making is not as much fun as they make it sound on This American Life.
Following up on January’s epic fail of an attempt to recreate a Frank Zappa song, I visited a specialist on Tuesday. He ordered up some tests for Friday. By Wednesday, I had read enough on the interwebs to convince myself that this blog was about to turn into yet another sad sack of recollections regarding surgeries, treatment regiments, et cetera. The term “anatomical abnormalities” will do that to you. Thursday’s rather massive freakout was calmed by Friday’s photo session and the knowledge that results would not be available until “the first of the week. $1,000 please!”
So as national anxiety over healthcare grew to a fever (get it?) pitch on Sunday, so too did my abated personal anxiety return. I tried to put the two together, to somehow see our fates as parallel. I would be rallying the troops, a living illustration of what this country could accomplish or should avoid. It would be me, Lance, and Barack taking it to the people if and when the time came. The time, however, did not come. Not for me, anyway. The bill passed Sunday night, and I heard nothing Monday morning. Nothing Monday afternoon. By Tuesday my affable veneer had grown thin, but the answer came before it wore down completely. “Nothing to see here. Keep moving.” So maybe I am like the healthcare reform bill: not exactly great news, but not as bad as I had been made out to be either. Ah, synergy.