spoiled

My media-panic overblown illness having beset me a week ago or so, it's pretty much run its course. What this means is that I've been indoors for almost an entire week, save a trip to the doctors office.

Cabin fever vs. Stir crazy. (Only on Pay-per-view)

One unintended side effect of this was my sleep schedule auto-reset itself back to nighttime. I go back to work tonight, and it's not a normal 8 hour shift, oh no.

Daylight saving time.

That's right kids, when you get an extra hour of sleep, I get an extra hour of work. This when I'm trying to fight off sleep. Anyway...

So this illness having run its course, I decided to venture out in public once again. I did so mere hours before this posting - 10AM or so. Such a time is not one where I'm normally out in public. 10PM is more likely. (For perspective, I do most of my grocery shopping at 6 AM)

This is what I mean by spoiled. When I do any grocery shopping, I need only navigate vendors, early risers, stock boys, and the occasional grandma. Typically one or two of each. The pharmacy is still closed. One checkout lane is open. The 4 foot Pillsbury dough boy display at the end of the row my only companion. My cart is one with the floor buffer.

Fast forward a mere four hours. Crowds. Throngs. Masses. HORDES! People everywhere, clogging every spot you can imagine. I couldn't even *see* the deli case! Everywhere I turned there was another fat mom with a cartload of kids spilling over, another old man that can't remember which way to go, and the endless pains of people that leave their cart sideways in the middle of the aisle while they walk away to painstakingly examine every can of whatever is so important while hordes of people get jammed in trying to get around it.

I was always a night person.

p.s. It's Halloween, yet they already tore down the Halloween display, and set up the Christmas display. (it starts...)

After Dark

I'm awesome. I found a working copy of After Dark. It doesn't run properly on Win 7. (Any of you that had it on windows might remember that you didn't configure it from the screen saver menu. It would add a tab to the display properties menu. Win 7 doesn't even have the same menu style, so it's Starry Night or nothing) My laptop, however, still runs XP. Now the flying toasters have graced my machine once more.

Envy it.

sick?

I've been coughing since Thursday. A little nagging cough that wouldn't leave me alone. Monday morning it decided to hit me like a brick gently soaring through my skull.

Sleep it off. Class? Sorry class, you'll have to wait.

Now I'm short of breath. That's bad. I need my lungs. I can't sing opera without my full lung capacity, so I need to nix this bug, now. (Never mind that I can't sing opera, let alone in the shower. That's not the point) I had bronchitis awhile back, feels the same. Doc gave me some nice powerful meds for it, let's see.

"H1N1"

What? I know you came in here wearing a mask, I figured that was standard procedure at this point. You may have poked and prodded me all over, violating me in ways that would make a frat boy blush, but seriously?

The doctor won't let me to go work. Nor will he let me go to school. Ok, not bad. It's like a terrible vacation where all I have to do is get bad sleep and eat the same boring food over and over again. Between coughs. On the bright side, I can still type... between coughs.

Excuse me, I need a cough drop.

The pants problem

Consider fashion for a moment: men have fewer options, women can get away with pretty much anything. This is made up for by mens sizes.

Mens sizes are a measurement. Womens sizes are just an arbitrary number tacked on with no regard for dimension, each being different according to manufacturer and store. Another reason it's great to be a guy, right?

I'm stuck. Trapped. Caught in the middle. Mens pant sizes only come in even numbers. I'm a size 33. Everything is either too big, or two small. Do I get pants and a belt, or do I get pants and a treadmill? The real question is: which way am I headed? Am I losing weight, or am I gaining it?

If stress tells me anything, it's that I'm losing weight. Planning for it would change it. Meanwhile, my clothing doesn't fit.