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well, that was unpleasant
Wednesday, 14 December 2005 07:50 amThis two-day hiatus was not, in fact, general laziness, inefficiency, or even manic encyclopedia-entry-writing. Instead, as a farewell gesture before fleeing the city for the wilds of Gauteng, Stace gifted me with her really nasty dose of gastric 'flu. This does explain the faint nausea all weekend, clearly some sort of malign herald. The major bout of it hit me on Monday evening, prevented me from sleeping at all on Monday night, and turned me into an aching, nauseous, shuffling zombie for all of yesterday. Apart from the usual gastric 'flu symptoms, which I will not ennumerate in the interests of good taste, I had to deal with the inevitable problem of 24 hours without tea, namely a thumping caffeine withdrawal headache (small, enthusiastic gremlin with powerful drill behind my left eyebrow). This means I crashed at 7pm last night and slept heavily and uninterruptedly for 12 hours. I feel a lot more human this morning. OK, weak, faintly sick, faintly headachy, generally a bit spaced, but more or less human. I've managed a third of a cup of tea without feeling too nauseous, which is a great improvement. Tonight I may even cautiously try solid food.
I should hasten to add that I bear Stace absolutely no malice for this. Since she went through pretty much exactly the same horrible 36 hours that I did, I figure the crime is its own punishment.
Given all of the above, there hasn't been much time for other achievements. Sunday was Stace and Andrew's farewell braai, which was pleasant, if sad. Monday I spent writing encyclopedia entries frantically; I've shunted off 5 of the 7 to the editor on time, and will finish up the other two today. Two days after deadline, but if gastric 'flu isn't a good reason, I'd like to know what is. Also, academics being notoriously lax about deadlines, apparently I'm currently the teacher's pet in terms of submissions.
The completion of this garage has produced a whole lot of interesting life changes. One, of course, is the absence of noise and disturbance from the Army of Reconstruction, which makes me Very Happy Indeed, TM. Another is the fact that I can park behind the automatic gate now that the Evil Landlord is parking in the garage, which is (a) a lot safer, score! and (b) allows me to play with cool toys like the remote. I do enjoy obedient machines. New game: how to position the car so that the gate closes as closely as possible to the back bumper. Current record, about 10cm, which sounds like not too precise, until you realise (as I did, with a shock) that I have a tow-hitch, which ended up about a centimetre from the gate. That's precision happenstance for you. I also have this nifty new courtyard outside my bedroom, just calling for interesting plants. During a plant raid at the local nursery on Monday we achieved a bunch of scented plants, according to my known proclivities, but also some new catnip, which means the cats spent Monday evening giggling and bumping into things. Dear little druggies.
Today: the significance of Tolkien for fairy tale and folklore. In a thousand words. Do I have a cool job, or what?
I should hasten to add that I bear Stace absolutely no malice for this. Since she went through pretty much exactly the same horrible 36 hours that I did, I figure the crime is its own punishment.
Given all of the above, there hasn't been much time for other achievements. Sunday was Stace and Andrew's farewell braai, which was pleasant, if sad. Monday I spent writing encyclopedia entries frantically; I've shunted off 5 of the 7 to the editor on time, and will finish up the other two today. Two days after deadline, but if gastric 'flu isn't a good reason, I'd like to know what is. Also, academics being notoriously lax about deadlines, apparently I'm currently the teacher's pet in terms of submissions.
The completion of this garage has produced a whole lot of interesting life changes. One, of course, is the absence of noise and disturbance from the Army of Reconstruction, which makes me Very Happy Indeed, TM. Another is the fact that I can park behind the automatic gate now that the Evil Landlord is parking in the garage, which is (a) a lot safer, score! and (b) allows me to play with cool toys like the remote. I do enjoy obedient machines. New game: how to position the car so that the gate closes as closely as possible to the back bumper. Current record, about 10cm, which sounds like not too precise, until you realise (as I did, with a shock) that I have a tow-hitch, which ended up about a centimetre from the gate. That's precision happenstance for you. I also have this nifty new courtyard outside my bedroom, just calling for interesting plants. During a plant raid at the local nursery on Monday we achieved a bunch of scented plants, according to my known proclivities, but also some new catnip, which means the cats spent Monday evening giggling and bumping into things. Dear little druggies.
Today: the significance of Tolkien for fairy tale and folklore. In a thousand words. Do I have a cool job, or what?
