schnief

five things that suck about today:

1. when i left work yesterday, i had a accomplished a lot, felt like i was on a roll and was looking forward to continuing the groove today.  instead, i am home sick.  which brings us to...

2. my nose.  we normally have a tolerant relationship at best.  it's not so good at its supposed main function, but it excels at recognizing and responding violently to minute airborne allergens.  to show it who was boss, i got someone to poke a needle through one side of it eight years ago, and it doesn't seem to have ever recovered from the shock.  today, for example, it is producing copious quantities of clear snot, while protesting every time i have to dig out the kleenex that oh, it's soooooo sensitive and can't i be more gentle?  no?  fine, let's see how you like sneezing til you BLEED!

3. i was awakened from a restful, non-sneezing nap by some guy at the door wanting to sell me cheap internet.  being groggy and sick and trying to hide my ugly but comfortable blue fleece pants behind the door, i played the i-don't-organize-the-internet-in-this-household card.  so now he's coming back later in the evening, when the pebbles is home.

4. i guess today hasn't been that bad, since i don't have any other specific things to list, but the ongoing nasal war (runs like a faucet while awake!  completely stuffed while asleep causing snoring and sore throat!) is dire enough to easily cover numbers 2, 4 and 5.

5.  see above.

and now, for balance, five things that are great about today:

1. the cup of tea drunk in bed this morning, courtesy of the pebbles, which immediately knocked out the sore throat.

2. a 90-minute bath that completely drained the hot water heater and allowed me to finsh my book. 

3. my cat, my wonderful, snuggly, better-than-any-blanket 6kg cat, who has been on my lap for the last four hours.  he is immune to my sneezing, pretty much covers my entire lap from hips to ankles, and when i start petting his toes, he purrs. 

4. we saw das leben der anderen last night (hooray for cheap tuesdays at the arts cinema), a fantastic movie and well worth reflecting on during a sick day at home.

5. i did the first two lessons in the teach-yourself-japanese book bought for me by the pebbles many moons ago, in preparation for my trip later this year.  i start a once-a-week beginning language course next tuesday, but will miss the last six classes, so augmenting the coursework with a little home study seems prudent.   my goal is to be able to say something more useful than anatano tako wa honto ni chii sei (your octopus is tiny).