Colds are STUPID!

I'm into my fourth day of having a wicked-annoying cold. I'm in a sour mood because of it, and I'm just going to embrace that, so buckle in.

Mindless musings of a man on Sudafed...

I spent Monday & Tuesday sick on the couch, for the most part, which doesn't really happen all that often. I redboxed "Coraline" which was pretty cool. On Tuesday, I bought "The Patriot" on Blu-ray because it was on sale. I hadn't seen it in a while, but I know why it's on sale.

At one of my high school track meets, I was about as sick as I am now...not sick enough to stay home, but certainly not well either. I brought a bottle of Dayquil to that meet, determined that I would not be sitting out...and I didn't. I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing and began treating that bottle like cough lozenges. Well, half a bottle later, my dad retrieved me from lying sprawled out at about the 50-yard line. He told me the meet was over and it was time to go. It was the only track meet I ever won all four of my events. (to his credit, my buddy Mike who was my long jumping superior, was on an injured ankle that day.)

One good thing about saying home sick is that you know you just can't work. I couldn't focus on email, and I surely wasn't about to go out and fix somebody's "something or other." There is a certain degree of liberation that comes with that. It usually gets squelched, however by the fact that we need money and we can't make it while we're sick on the couch.

A couple of years ago, my flag football team had their playoffs all on a Saturday. I was, of course, sick as a dog. I knew I needed some Dayquil (I take recommended dosages these days), but I knew I also needed some caffeine, so I grabbed a Full Throttle energy drink on the way to the game. Let's just say I wasn't exactly at my best that day. I remember the huddle felt a bit like the circle of Charlie Brown's friends swaying around the Christmas tree...or was that the Who's (I debated on that apostrophe...too sick to care) of Who-ville? Well, the huddle wasn't swaying, but it sure seemed like it.

Colds suck because they have to run their course. I can't arm-wrestle a cold. I get really frustrated with them because they block off my nose entirely so I can't sleep properly. In exhaustive stupors, I lose my cool and get really frustrated and angry at the cold, which makes it even more difficult to fall asleep. Not to mention the fact that I have to try and sleep sitting up in attempt to keep my nasal cavity open.

Perhaps colds are a reminder for us to be empathetic toward one another. We all get colds, and they're not fun for anybody. Note to self, take care of the sick...now where have I heard that before?!?

In closing:

If I could punch a cold in the face, my fist would come out the other side of its head.

That's how much I hate colds.

More cohesive and positive thoughts to come!

Special thanks to Rod Jones this morning, whose blog posting made me laugh so hard I literally cried into my cereal!

Sick for Christmas...

A few blogs back I mentioned that I'd like to hear more of "the unadulterated thoughts of my heart." One of the best ways to hear/view these is to be in a place of helplessness...being sick is a REALLY good testing ground for this sort of analysis.

I don't get sick very often...never really have...I ususally attribute that to the fact that I'm constantly on the move. When I do get sick, however, I REALLY get sick...sort of like payback for not letting the little germies in earlier. Like any rational human being, I take getting sick as a personal attack on my health.

For contrast sake (and maybe just a little bit of bragging rights) let me offer this. Earlier this year, I broke my first bone that wasn't on my hand or foot...guess I was getting a bit too big for my breeches. I cracked/broke my rib playing flag football. The bragging rights come from staying in the game with my busted rib & catching the game-winning touchdown...c'mon...you'd have mentioned it too. 8) You know what though, I don't regret any second of that or the next 2 months of recovery...I'd totally do it again. Why? No pain, no gain.

So what's the contrast?

During that football game, I went toe-to-toe with my limitations & lost. With being sick this week, no such fight took place. The cowardly germs snuck in like a thief in the night when none of us were paying attention. I didn't even get to roll the dice or anything. I can't tell you how angry that makes me...I mean c'mon out & fight me like men you little freaking pansies...AAAAAHHHH!!!!! Sorry.

I spent three hours of Christmas morning literally writhing on the floor in pain, which is sort of customary when I get bugs like this...I guess my body's really succeptible to these kinds of aches. I just can't seem to get comforatble, so I obviously can't sleep either. Honestly, I'd take the worst of my cracked rib over the least of that achey rubbish. I think that's what makes me so angry about these bugs being so cowardly.

My sister & nephew spent the night vomiting. I refused. If I'm going to ralph, I'm going to ralph on my own time...and I did. I waited till I was good and ready and showed that bug that it can't run my life. I locked the door to the bathroom so that my brief moment of weakness wouldn't inspire weakness for anybody else.

I think being sick made me a little more emotional than usual. I'm not a cryer. I don't actually remember the last time I cried. I teared-up (not cried, mind you) 3 times on Christmas though.
Time #1: During the Muppets Christmas Carol. Something about the classic Dickens tale really got me this time...particularly the part where Scrooge turns his life around and realizes the value of friends.
Time #2: During my 3 hours of writhing. I was so angry that I couldn't do anything about my situation - these would have been tears of frustration.
Time #3: When I'd finally gotten home, I had the pleasure of receiving an email about Copper. I was over-joyed to hear that he's doing REALLY well in his new home setting. That was great news to hear at the end of a rough day.

Well, that ought to make for some fun psycho-analysis, which I'm too worn out to do right now. Ideas anybody?!?