war and ringworm

Just got done watching Stephen Colbert (who is maybe less funny but far more subversive than Jon Stewart) interview the editor of wikileaks (see link below). Then I watched the video on wikileaks titled Collateral Murder, then I watched the analysis of the video on Al Jazeera English by the editor of wikileaks and a former DoD dickhead.. Here's the link to the wikileaks video:

collateral murder

It is shameful that as a country we have yet to apologize for the mess we have made of Iraq. Just shameful. So it is gratifying to me to see this video, and all the press it's been getting (though obviously, not any national/mainstream press). It is awful to watch, and should fill American breasts with abject shame, but it should galvanize viewers toward the ever-obvious conclusion that the Iraq war is and always has been obscene and unjust.

So after getting my fill of political chaos, as outlined above, I googled ringworm. That's because yesterday I showed my neighborhood Walgreen's pharmacist my scalp and she said, "Oh, yeah, that's ringworm."  Here's what the pharmacist saw:

Three weeks ago I paid a board-certified dermatologist $30 to ask her what the fuck was wrong with my scalp. She told me it was "a fungal infection", but that I shouldn't take an oral anti-fungal to cure it. Instead she handed me a coupon for a couple bucks off a brand-new type of anti-fungal gel. The gel she prescribed cost $180.00, so I didn't get it.

I called the dermatologst right back, and had to leave a voice message saying I couldn't afford the gel she'd prescribed, so I needed to know what else I could use. A week later, the doctor's secretary got around to leaving me a voice message telling me to use Tough-Actin' Tinactin  (yes, the jock-itch medicine) twice a day, and to come back in a month.

Holy crap. My internet diagnostics today taught me that scalp ringworm is the most tenacious variety of this infection, and because it is so hard to get rid of, the first line of defense is an oral anti-fungal medication. 


Additionally, during my visit she should have told me to:
1- check my kid for symptoms because this shit is contagious as hell
2- throw out my hairbrush
3- dunk my newly-adopted cat who has a weird skin issue in buttermilk
4- use super-strength Selsen-Blue daily for at least one month
5- dab on some Tea-tree oil once a day
6- bleach-wash all my towel and bed linens

Otherwise, I could end up looking like THIS:

I would have a gentler walk on this earth if I didn't have an issue with authority.

But today I am mad as hell at authority in general. Therefore, today I want to:
1- break all the speed limits
2- tell someone just doing their crappy little job to go fuck themselves
3- stamp and grind on the foot of Sam's doctor if she is even ONE minute late for our appointment
4- call my boss and lodge a formal complaint against the bitch charge-nurse who has made a dear patient of mine suffer two Sundays in a row
5- stop thinking such dark thoughts right this goddamned minute or else these stupid heart palpitations I'm having as I write this will probably kill me.

You know, there are still two wars going on right at this minute, and I still have ringworm, but today connecting with others on the internet made the thought of them easier to bear.

It has done nothing for my issues with authority, however.