5.6.04--Dentists and snowboards await me!

So great news for me, I got a part time job! I will be working as a part time office manager for a non-profit, and the best part is I will be getting HEALTH BENEFITS! YES! It's unbelievable. After riding the scary and risky wave of being uninsured for a while now, I will for the first time in my life have a job with health benefits. I believe America is the only industrialized country in the world that has no guaranteed health coverage for all it's citizens. That is so whack.

And I am very lucky that I managed to find a part time job with benefits. This is very rare. The job will allow me to still be an artist and maybe do occasional residencies at different schools. I am in negotiations right now with some East Coast schools to do some residencies in the Fall. I am thrilled about that.

I was about to ask one of my friends to marry me or at least sign into a domestic partnership with me because I was getting so desperate to figure out how to get health coverage. I even tried this totally whack health savings program called the MEDICAL SAVINGS ASSOCIATION-- basically a discount service card for medical services. DON'T EVER USE THEM! THEY ARE SO BOGUS AND A REALLY POORLY RUN GROUP! I thought it would be a cheaper alternative to health insurance, but it turned out to be a booty and an impossible to use program. Please friends, program their name into your head. MEDICAL SAVINGS ASSOCIATION--the worst alternative to health insurance in the world. It took me over a month and a half to get a refund from them, and I had to wait another two weeks because they didn't get me a FULL REFUND like they were supposed to. They were rude to me over the phone and completely unsympathetic to me when I tried to work with them to make the program work.

Things I plan to do when I have health insurance:

-- see a dentist
-- snowboard off a cliff
-- bike

Anyway.

I am sad that I will have less time to write and make art, but the hustle was getting too hard and I am looking forward to having something to regulate my life a little. All this travelling, stopping, teaching, then travelling some more, performing, doing a different thing every single day is fun, but a little much on my aging body. I have white hair! What the hell! Plus summer is upon us which means actors and artists alike must find a safe place to duck, cover and hide from the work slowdown.

Am I too trusting of Canadians? After watching "Bowling for Columbine" and "Canadian Bacon" I have this impression of Canadians being super generous and always looking out for our well being. I was approached by a Canadian TV station this week to be part of their series about Asian American/ Asian Canadian sexuality (because some of my projects like bigbadchinesemama.com deal with that subject) and I was totally so giving and trusting of them over the phone and even squealed out, "I trust you because you are Canadians!". Though for all I know, they could be like a Jerry Springer kind of show.

I am off to the Bay Area this week for a gig at DeAnza College. That will be cool. I like being able to say that I am touring. It sounds more intimidating and impressive than the reality of it all. In reality, I am driving myself up and performing in a conference room, then staying at my folks' house. But I have no complaints. Beats working.

Check out the photos of Fannie Wong below from VC Film Fest Opening Night!

	Karin Anna Cheung and Fannie Wong
	Dante Basco and Fannie
	Sung Kang and Fannie
	James Hong, Fannie, and Tyrone
	Leonardo Nam showing off his Fannie Wong autograph
	Fred Wu, Fannie, and Fannie's escort Tyrone. If you've never heard of Fred, don't worry about it.

more later! love, kristina