Life and Times of AlieMalie

There are days, and unfortunately, they’re becoming more and more frequent, where I walk into my local coffee shop and dream of being the person behind the counter instead of the person ordering the coffee.

I am so jealous of the folks who brew the coffee, make the latte, or whatever because I just don’t want to think about my job 24/7 but that’s the nature of the beast.

I should say here that I love my job, I love knowing that I’m in the thick of health care reform as well as knowing within moments exactly what’s going on in DC on the different committees, having meetings with the members of congress and their staff and knowing they know who I am and being actively engaged. I love it and wouldn’t change it for the world.

But there are moments sometimes when I just wish I could shoot the breeze with folks in the morning over coffee, and not have to worry about the weight of the world.

My secret dream job is that of a coffee shop barista. What’s yours?

PS – my favorite moment in politics from the last week? See below. Best “Your Mama” joke, ever. And really, the only acceptable one.

One of the worst things that can happen when you drunk text – and I don’t care who it is to: boyfriend, girlfriend, boss, sibling, parent, friend, ex … well, scratch the ex part – if they don’t respond within a decent amount of time, it can get veddy, veddy interesting. At least inside my skull.

I, of course, started panicking.

Saturday, no response. “OMG, that was so stupid. I’m never drinking again.“

Sunday, no response. “OMG OMG OMG, so stupid, they totally took it the wrong way.”

Monday, no response. “Oh shit. I’m totally going to get to work and get a phone call from my project manager about being unprofessional.”

Tuesday, no response. “Fuck. I’m totally going to lose my job.”

Wednesday, no response. “I should probably just quit.”

Do y’all have any clue how long 5 days is with no response? Eons, people, EONS.

Wednesday afternoon, my phone rings and I have never been happier to see my boss’s caller ID show up. I knew she’d been at a convention all week but it is totally unlike her to not take calls or texts. Turns out, her phone had gone massively and unfixably DEAD. Right after she got my text.

So, she’d gotten it, laughed it off and had then gone off the radar and my brain went INSANE.

I’m never drinking again. And if I do, the phone will be far, far away.

Ever do something so monumentally stupid that it consumes all your thoughts for hours if not days on end?

I did that Friday night.

I sent a text to my boss – who, I must add, is one of the best bosses ever; I’d say boss, except I have four of them and they’re ALL amazing, this after having the worst bosses EVER on the campaign trail last year. The only problem with the text is that I was joking about a person we have in common and forgot to put any context in the message.

So, I’m pretty fucked. I’m hoping they realize that it was a Friday night that two of their lush coworkers were together at a convention that had a hospitality room with free alcohol. Oh dear god I hope they put it all together.

Otherwise, I have a lot of explaining to do.

Also? Lesson learned? No drunk texting – especially to your boss.

Things have been busy around here. Last weekend we hosted a rally that pulled people from all over the state and had more than 800 attendees. For ND, that’s MONSTROUS. It’s also the largest pro-health care reform rally per capita to date which is all sorts of awesome. AWESOME. And fucking hard work. Somehow our planning documents were leaked to the anti-reform groups here in ND so we also had a healthy dose of tea-baggers who were out on the sidelines of our event. Their fearless leader spent a week on his daily radio show ranting about us, trying to drum up support amongst his listeners to turn out in protest of our rally and try to outnumber us. Unfortunately, he only pulled about 50 folks. 800:50. You do the math.

I could rant on and on about what I don’t understand in the republican playbook in their decision to stand against a public option in health care reform, but I would just upset myself further. I wake up every morning to hear another ridiculous excuse as to why reform is bad, why it’s socialist policy, how Obama is a nazi, death panels, rationing of care, how we’re going to use voter registration to allot care and I just get all steamed up again. I swear to god I wake up with steam coming out of my ears every. single. morning. I just don’t get it. A public option would increase competition in the market place, that’s like, the bedrock of republican policy for any and everything else. BUT NOT WITH HEALTH CARE!

OHMIGAWD!

Also, Obama is going to address school children next Tuesday to encourage them to take responsibility for their own education and to work hard. Great message, eh? The speech will be made available to parents before and after the address, previous presidents have addressed school children but now, when Obama does it it’s indoctrination? Really? Wow.

Well serve me up some indoctrination.

Anyway, new subject.

I was initially going to stay in ND/MN for Labor Day weekend, maybe go to the lake or go on a road trip with some friends, but due to some last minute situations back home, I’ve been forced to fly home for a week. At least I’ll get to see some of my friends and get some decent Mexican food. I’ll also have the opportunity to get up close and personal with some physicians to ask them how they feel about health care reform and how they see it impacting their hospitals, cities and states. Lots of differing opinions depending on what part of the country you’re in. How the fuck did I get back on health care?

So, hopefully this trip won’t hinder my finances too much. I’m intending to go to Germany for Christmas this year as a friend of mine just moved there and I’d like to get away for a while. I also hope I’ll still have enough time off saved up. I seriously need a real vacation from all this craziness.

Maybe this weekend I’ll get a chill day or two. Or at least relaxing, it certainly won’t be chilly in Texas. Oh dear, the heat and humidity are going to be nuts. At least I’ll get 5 days of summer this year.

See y’all on the flipside.