Self Medication

Non-drowsy cold medicine is a lie. Less-drowsy is more appropriate. It hasn’t completely shut down my higher faculties, but I am lackadaisical, and a bit slower. If you came at me with an attack, it would take me a second longer to register and react, by which point you probably would have disabled me.

The medicine has kept me from coughing up a lung, which is kind of useful when you’re trying not to infect others with the latest and greatest nature has to offer. It also helps when you’re working in an open room around others that have no desire to be laid low by whatever it is you’re carrying.

I never really took sick days as a kid in school, because my parents instilled in me that learning was so important. There was one occasion where I almost passed out and fell down a flight of stairs, I was so light headed. Even growing up, I am loathe to take sick days unless it is bad. Like the time I caught the flu and had trouble sitting up without falling back down, that forced me to take sick days.

This sickness makes me wonder about the state of my immune system, that I have one to begin with. Without it, this cold would ravage my body, until I could no longer sustain myself, at which point I would die. Hopefully, the cold virus would have found a chance at some point to jump to another host, at which point it would then reproduce and thrive again.

I get sick once or twice a year, probably about average. Can’t remember how often I got sick as a kid, but I have to imagine that it was fairly often, because my immune system is fairly strong now. Had to be exposed to all that crap as a kid to learn what was good and what was not, develop a response, and go from there.

Even as I type this, I want to pass out and sleep for a while. would much really change, aside from me getting a deserved nap? not really.

***

I love callback humor. Watch Arrested Development for a great example, constant callbacks to earlier conversations and episodes. We're all guilty of callback humor in our own way, like when you're joking with someone, and reference it fifteen minutes later. Of course, the only problem with callback humor is that you have to be paying attention.

Whenever I have to introduce myself, I tend to be very much the smartass when I do so. If nothing else, it lets people know that I am not always serious, that I don't take myself seriously. The last time I did so, I introduced myself as an alcoholic, also mentioning it was three hundred days since my last drink. Also asked if Irish coffee counted, since I had a cup of tea from Starbucks in front of me.

Then, I promptly forgot about this. This was a problem, as when all anyone knows about you are the few words you say, such as being an alcoholic, that's all they have to go on. R.L. kept making repeated references to me drinking heavily, which I completely missed as I was tired and not paying attention. That was embarrassing to me afterwards, when I had some time to think.

High humor is hard. I started with fairly low humor, sarcasm, and R.L. took it to a higher level, making callbacks. I couldn't even remember my own words, which was quite sad. Of course, that also means that, for all that to have worked, I would have needed to be paying attention and concentrating on the funny.

It's so hard to focus on the funny, especially when you're thinking about it. In my life, I've found you can either be funny, or pay attention, so long as you're actively trying one or the other. If you don't try, it turns out you can do both. Unfortunately, I try way too hard, and things fail. And maybe that is the key, making it seem effortless, by not expending effort. It's hard to break the ice, and sometimes, maybe I should just let it happen naturally.

Or, you know, I could probably drink more. I am an alcoholic, after all.