Sniffle Sniffle

I’m sick.  I hate being sick.

If you’re following me on Twitter you know that today was the first time I’d left the barpartment in days.  I don’t think I’ve even looked out a window since Sunday afternoon.

I guess getting sick couldn’t have come at a better time.  It’s the beginning of the year, which means all of my sick time at work is restored so my pocketbook won’t be hurting from missing two days of work.

But my email count at work is definitely hurting.  I came in today to 371 emails in my inbox waiting for me to do stuff.  And a new boss. 

I expected the emails and had an inkling that the new boss would be here today as well.  But it’s definitely a good thing that my motto whenever I’ve been off sick is to “Look the way you wish you feel”.  Meaning I actually woke up early enough to sneeze and cough my way through the better-than-usual get ready routine.  My hair is done, I put on make-up and a fancier than usual business outfit.  I always try to trick my body into feeling better by looking better than I feel.

It works.  Sometimes.

Today is not one of those days.  But at least I was able to introduce myself to the new boss this morning with a confident handshake and enough sparkle in my eyes to convey that “I’m a winner!” attitude I wanted him to see.  Then I went back to my desk and sneezed and coughed my face off.

In order to power through the pain I’m working my butt off, getting done with lots of projects that I’ve been meaning to get through for months.  This was already my plan for Monday (but I was sick) because it goes along with my goal that I talked about in last Friday’s blog – to actually accomplish things and not just try to get through the monotony.

Even though I’ve been sick I’ve been trying to keep that goal in front of me – do things that make you happy and feel accomplished, don’t just breeze through the days.

In the last couple of days that I’ve been home – when I wasn’t sleeping in a Nyquil-coma – I was reading and writing.  Ok, and I was watching Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix.  Don’t judge me.

I started reading Tom Brokaw’s book The Time of Our Lives.  I bought this book over a year ago and never got around to reading it.  It’s been a little slow-going what with the Dayquil/Nyquil haze I’ve had going on but it’s thought-provoking and makes me have hope for the US again.

I also tried to sort out some of the details of the story I’ve been writing.  It’s a post-apocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy story I’ve been working on for over a year.  It all started with a dream I had that featured a desolate landscape, a racing heart and a run-down warehouse with metallic blinds.  Like most dreams it was just a lot of feelings and flickers of images - not a lot to build a story from.  It’s been an interesting process, building this world and these characters, but I’m in love with my two main characters and the world they live in is starting to make more sense.  When I get the details sorted out once and for all I might post an excerpt on here.

Saturday night, I got up the gumption to contact a friend of a mutual friend to ask him if he and his boyfriend wanted to go out for drinks with me.  (For the purposes of this blog, they've asked me to call them Bubbles and Mr. Tightpants.) They came out and we had a great time together.  It was great feeling like that take-charge person again and it was wonderful getting to know these boys a lot better.

So I’m staying on the right track.  Now, if only my immune system would get itself in gear!

Much love,

Annie Jay