Today was the first time I've been really upset in a long time. Why I am upset might be really confusing, you see because the reason I am upset is over my pay check. Normally these are the best times of the month. Since I moved to California, I have had the same job at the University, and I have been paid on the 10th and 25th of every month for nearly 2 and a half years. Never before today was being paid a time that I can remember being upset.
I looked at the net pay on my check and it was $1836 dollars, which isn't bad for a 15 day period, then I looked at all the deductions, and finally at the bottom was the amount that I was taking home, $1207. That means $629 dollars had been taken out somewhere along the lines. This made me exam even harder where exactly this money was going. First off a whooping $249 went to the federal government for taxes. Let me say that again incase you didn't read it right the first time $249 went to the United States of America federal government. The reason this is outrages is simply this, if I drove my car to work tomorrow and got into an accident and had to go to the emergency room, I would have to pay out of my ass for the next year just to cover the bill. That money that I just handed over to the Federal Government doesn't go into universal health care like it should. Instead $200 of that $249 is probably going to ruining some villagers life in Afghanistan or Iraq. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind paying the federal government, if in fact they were going to take care of sick people, or provide a free education, but sadly that is not the case.
Secondly a ridiculous $119 went to Social Security and this of course might be the biggest joke of all. In June of this year I received a letter telling me that I have to start making plans for my future and look to invest my money, because by 2026 Social Security will not be able to support the amount of people that will be eligible. Essentially I am paying money into something that will never be given back to me. When the majority of jobs don't offer pensions in America, how on god's green earth are we expected to survive after we retire at the age of 67. Now granted Social Security was not much money to begin with, but it was still enough to keep senior citizens from going hungry, and enough to keep a roof over there head.
I could keep going through the break down of it all, but there were state taxes for California, then SDUI taxes for California which I don't even know what that is. Medical insurance, with very bad coverage, Dental insurance, Life insurance, employee stock purchases, vision insurance etc. All totaling $629 in the end. Some of these things are optional and I would rather be safe than sorry, but do you see how I can be angry that 1/3 of my salary is gone before it even hits my bank account. I am not sure when the amount of taxes changed but I do know that pay day should be such a happy day, not the most upsetting day of the week. That's all I have to say about that.  ¶ 10:37 PM

 
I am back in San Diego writing this post...this one is long over due. So, I've been back from Europe since Saturday night and I have a lot say about the entire trip. I posted when I was a little more than halfway done, but I saw a lot in my last week, some good and some bad. I'll start with the positives.
From the moment I arrived in Europe, people started asking me about the current President of the United States. No matter what country I went to I had to answer questions about him. The people in Europe were so proud that Obama is the President and time and time again they said to me, Americans must be so happy that your country is moving forward. It was very sad when I explained to them over and over again that Americans in fact don't like Obama, and his approval rating had slipped to a very low rate. I was so shocked that in Holland, France and Ireland people seemed to love this man and everything he stood for, and right here in this country people don't even see it.
France turned out to be the most amazing part of the trip. Paris was beautiful, Lyon and Grenoble gave me perhaps the best views of any cities I have ever seen from the mountains. Lille was surprisingly a much bigger city than I expected, and overall the food in all 4 places was magnificent. I tried escargot for the first time and loved it, I ate stuffed tomatoes, french breads, camembert, and white wines. After a week of sampling all the different foods in France I am certain I only had 1% of what that country has to offer. At some point in my life, I would like to spend a significant amount of time living in France so I can experience even more of this beautiful country.
Now there were also some things I didn't like about the places I went in Europe. In London perhaps the only negative thing I can say about my favorite city is that all of the service workers are Eastern European. I have nothing against Eastern Europeans, but sometimes the common courtesies of the english language seemed to be lost on them, things such as please and thank you for example.
Next was Amsterdam, I had very high expectations for Amsterdam. Holland has long been one of my favorite countries to talk about, because when it comes to social programs and taking care of it's people, they are very close to the best in the world. The city of Amsterdam was an utter disappointment however, the streets were filled with litter and the canals smelled like a giant toilet bowl, but perhaps the worst part of all was the way Dutch people seemed to push and shove each other in every way possible. Getting on and off trains and buses they pushed each other as if it was a contest to see who could be first. Then the crazy bikers all over the city, who just go even if the light is red and cause gridlock. It was as if no one there paid attention to the fact that there were other people around them, each man was his own island. I have always heard New York, and London are suppose to be the cities where people are selfish and rude. I have spent a significant amount of time in both places and neither one of them can compare to what I saw in 2 days in Amsterdam.

Overall the trip was a huge success, I had 3 weeks on my favorite continent, with my good friends, enjoying good food and nightlife. As always when it came time to leave, I was not ready to go yet. I think it goes without saying that I never want to leave Europe when I am there, England and Ireland especially made me feel like I was home in the past, but now I can add France to that list.  ¶ 8:59 PM