My life right now

Friday Soapbox

I've been congested for nearly two weeks now. It started as a terribly runny nose that I thought would lead to a cold, but has instead clung to me this past week as severe congestion. I couldn't sleep Monday or Tuesday night, before finally finding some nighttime medicine that worked and knocked me out the past two nights. (Which was especially nice when I missed the end of that dreadful basketball game on Wednesday.)

I've gone through two boxes of tissues, one at work and one at home, and I know my office is tired of hearing me blow my noise, sniffle, and groan, "Ugh I just want to breathe!" And yes, I should probably think about going to the doctor, but I hate doctors.

I am going to let this not-a-cold die out, I hope, and plan on taking it easy this weekend, for the most part. Going through my financial papers, clearing out at least two-feet of magazines, and maybe a movie.

Oh, how exciting, the life of a 20-something!

Day 325: Fever, Aches, Chills, Tiredness, Sudden Symptoms?

I read an article on CNN regarding how the CDC is using Google searches to map flu outbreaks. They record where peoole are when they search, and see where there are clusters or patterns. Absurd, I know. While I don't think I'm anywhere near the flu, I decided to Google flu symptoms anyway. Not only did I learn about the flu, but I also got to mess with the CDC,too. In another life I'd love to be a (relatively lawful) infidel that's constantly bucking the system and sticking it to the government. But for now I'll have to settle for warping some CDC stats.

Day 322: Tar Heel dead

I hate hate hate calling in sick, and I know I've been sicker than today, but I did it anyway and stayed home from work, which is new because I've never missed work from this job before. It's lame and I'm sorry and I'll be better when I don't want to cut off my nose and bury myself in my bed.

Day 321: Who needs to grow up?

I am definitely paying for yesterday's jaunt in the rain, today, with a head that feels like it's in a vice and a blocked nose. But needing to eat, and remembering a "recipe" I saw last week for making a pancake in the microwave, I made a pancake cake in a bowl in the microwave.

It tasted about as appealing as it sounds. I used a Hungry Jack complete mix, which only requires water, so maybe that was the problem. Or my not being able to breathe and thus not able to taste anything, could have been the issue. Or maybe just the whole making a pancake like a cake in the microwave for 2 minutes was the problem.

Whatever, I'm going back to bed.

Day 320: $%&@ Terps!!!! Go Heels!!!!

Oh, I love my Heels. Really and truly, even when they lose. Especially the football team as I have gotten quite used to them losing over the years. So this whole winning, national ranking, actually tackling thing they are doing this year is quite exciting. So exciting that I bought tickets and travelled to Maryland, venturing on to enemy Terp territory, to stand in the rain for close to four hours, to watch my Heels play, for the first time not in CH.

Our awesome seats:
I had lovely company, and I loved seeing my first UNC football game in three years. But the combination of being sick and the cold and rain and horrible Terp fans and a newly broken camera and, oh yeah, losing, made it less than ideal. But would I do it again? Absolutely.

And, I can say with absolute certainty, that Terps are some of the nastiest lifeforms on the planet. I know Heels fans aren't perfect, but I'm not sure I've ever been around such a lack of sportsmanship and grace. And of course the snobby Tar Heel that I am can only say, well, it's because they go to Maryland.

(Thanks to the roommate, Brandie, for the picture, as my camera is still refusing to turn on.)

Day 319: Ugh.

I'm getting sick and I'm not happy about it. At all. I sure hope this is new even though it's lame, I bought, and ate, two bags of peanut M&Ms, and yucky adult Halls cough drops, to help my throat. The ill-advised cough drop purchase were Kiwi-Apple, Mentho-Lyptus flavored. There's a reason I prefer my tasty yet ineffective Luden's cherry cough drops: because they don't taste like a kiwi and an apple got in a fight and fell in a pit of mentholatum and eucalyptus. (Two things, by the way, that should not be used in items intended for human consumption.)

The peanut M&Ms didn't help either, but they made me temporarily forget I can't breathe out of my nose.
How I feel, with the exception of the bubbles coming out of my head.

Day 273: Just say no!

The mornings are cooler, pumpkins are for sale, the leaves are falling on the sidewalk in Old Town, making every morning commute a potentially deadly experience, and the allergies appear to be on the way back in. Nowhere near as bad as they were in the Spring, but I still have a perpetually stuffed nose and yucky cough.

In the middle of a coughing fit on the metro this afternoon, the woman in front of me turned around and gave me a cough drop, my first cough drop from a stranger. On the metro. I was getting up to leave when she said "don't worry, no medicine, just Vitamin C," OR "don't worry, no meth, just Vitamin C." Hmm... Either way, as sweet as the gesture, I don't take food items from strangers, with or without meth. So the coughing will continue for now.