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GUYS the most awesome thing just happened!

I’m three days away from being completely out of crazy pills, and I am far, far too lazy to go to the doctor to get a new prescription. I know it’s my health and putting on clothes is really a small price to pay for some of that sweet sweet Canadian health care, but it is seriously a huge pain in the ass to get done – an hour+ out of my workday, a random doctor who doesn’t really care (“are you sure you’re not just depressed because you’re fat?”), having to convince someone new each time that I’m not six years old and can handle more than thirty days of medication at a time, and so on and so forth. I’ll gladly (well, maybe not gladly but you get the point) go see a clinic doctor if something else is wrong – say, I’ve grown a third head or my kidneys fell out – but the amount of hassle for a routine prescription really gets my goat.

SO! Instead of promising myself I’d go to the clinic tomorrow or maybe Friday but FOR SURE before I completely ran out of meds, I decided to give Medeo a try. Medeo is an online health care system that allows you to see a licensed BC doctor right from your computer or smartphone, and it is completely awesome. I signed in today for an appointment, and was immediately talking with a super-helpful receptionist. She took some information from me then booked me in for an appointment: in 20 minutes I could talk to a doctor, and all I had to do was keep the window open. I was able to keep working (aka sending dirty tweets and arranging a trip to Seattle) while waiting to see the doctor instead of idly leafing through outdated fashion magazines and glaring at the clock; a pleasant change.

My appointment time came and I checked in, spoke briefly with the receptionist again, and was talking to a doctor a minute later. I had already provided my BC Care Card number and preferred pharmacy, so after chatting for a few minutes the doctor filled my prescription and sent it right over to the pharmacy – I can pick up my meds later today. The doctor also offered to help me find a regular family doctor, and when I told her about my current IUD issues, referred me to a local doctor on Broadway and Cambie who is “the best IUD insertion specialist in all of BC”. Both the receptionist and doctor I spoke with today were crazy awesome, and I couldn’t be happier with the speed and service and amazing convenience of Medeo. Seriously, if you’re in BC, give it a try*. So cool.

Oh! And I just checked my Medeo account, and the doctor’s notes are already there complete with my prescription, where it was sent and when I can get it, the info on getting a regular doctor, and the IUD Expert’s contact information. This is amazing! I am pleased! And so should you all be pleased, as this means I will continue taking my crazy pills and therefore not go on any kind of rampage anytime soon!

*: Obviously using Medeo is for things that don’t require a physical examination – otherwise I would have taken care of my IUD issue right then and there – so please approach with common sense. Don’t use Medeo if you’re currently on fire or bleeding heavily from the eyes or you’ve fallen and can’t get up. DO use Medeo if you need a prescription or you have a non-life-threatening medical concern or you’d like to have some tests done (seriously, they can email you the test form and you print it out and go to the lab for various fluid work or exams). Check the website if you’re not sure, or call 911 if you’re on fire. Don’t just go on Twitter. I learned that lesson the hard way.

In case you don’t follow BC news unless another foot has been found, two people have been arrested for allegedly plotting to bomb the BC Legislature building on Canada Day, using pressure cooker-style bombs. This is awful for many reasons, and I am glad they did not carry out their plan.

We’ve never been this close to a terror plot before, and it’s strange to watch it unfold in the media and know it’s on our turf instead of elsewhere in the world. I get the distinct feeling that no one is really quite sure what to do, so anything goes .. like touring the apartment of the suspects and showing the world how they live.

Yesterday afternoon the suspect’s landlord opened up their apartment and let the media in to take pictures and film the inside of their home. Is it just me, or is that really fucking weird? It feels like we’re taking a giant leap towards the media obsession shown in Natural Born Killers, and I definitely don’t want anyone to saw my legs off. Just sayin’.

It’s also a slippery slope. What if the media was invited to take a look at your most private moments the minute you get accused of a crime? What if people were invited to see how you live and pass judgement on you based on your dirty laundry, both actual and figurative?

I can only imagine what people would think if they knew little more than what I was accused of and what my home looked like. At first glance (and also second through nineteenth glance), my house is full of toys and gay porn. I have books on common household goods that will kill you and lists of poisons that can be mistaken for disease. Murder in the 16th century? You bet. How to have sex like a lesbian? Entire shelves. A butcher knife with blood splatter? Yes, but it came like that, honest. Bloody coconuts? Naturally. My browser history is terrifying (intellectual research); my purchase history questionable and fabulous. If you add all my superficial pieces up, what sort of picture do you get? If you were told I had done something terrible, how ominous does my collection of headless Hello Kitty vinyl bodies become?

I don’t blame their lawyer for having misgivings about the media tour. As horrible as their alleged plot is, they deserve to answer for their actions and NOT the fact they are terrible housekeepers with poor taste in decor. Catch anyone in a bad week, and the same could be said about us (um, minus the plan to blow people up). The gubmint already knows too much about us; we don’t need that information casually shared with Jack and Sally Public (because they’re jerks).