Born to Blossom, Bloom to Perish

Where did I leave off? I missed all my classes on Monday because I was too sick. I typed up my paper on Confucius and was actually planning on going to class on Tuesday.

Monday night was a night of misery. I hadn't remembered to take my cough medicine until I went to bed at 1AM. The cough medicine I've been taking before bed is called phenergan, if you must know. It's from a few years ago but I think it's still okay.

Anyway, all I did was toss and turn (fever), cough, rattle and hurt. In my whole life I don't think I've coughed as hard as I did on Monday night. All the tylenol finally got my fever down to 100 degrees. Even though I only slept for 15 minutes (no exaggeration) it felt like a nightmare. The one thing that sucks about college is that due dates are concrete. The cooler professors will let you turn in a paper late for a small penalty (10% deduction). Others are more hard core and won't accept a paper given to them half way through class. (So, for example, if class starts at 8am and you get there late and turn in your paper at 8:30 they will say no.)

Tuesday morning was the first time I left the house since Friday. As I shuffled out of the house at 8:15am my eyes instantly burned. I felt like poor little Smeagol peering up at the sun. 'It burns us, It burns us!' Although I do not remember the drive to school, I have a very vague memory of my professor telling me I looked very pale and yes, it was okay if I just went straight home after turning in my paper. I slept for at least four hours when I got home.

Tuesday night I had just enough energy in me to type up my thesis and outline for writing workshop. I hate outlines. Always have and always will. In pathophysiology we had to do these long, complicated outlines. Our instructor was completely daft- each one of these 10 page outlines was worth 0.25 points. I remembered to take my phenergan, so-- I actually slept. Alot.

Wednesday I actually went to all my classes. I picked a topic for my speech on October 18th and signed up (talk about waiting til the last minute.) In Ancient Near East, Dr. Roth passed back the midterms. I started to scrunch down in my desk, dreading the moment when he called my name and gave me back my test. As he handed me my blue book I cringed.

I don't know if I mentioned this midterm last week. It was worth 200 points: fill in the blank, definition, short answer, map, and essay. (The essay was worth 100pts, the remaining 4 sections made up the other 100 points. I completely forgot about the map portion, so you can imagine my horror when I was flipping through the test booklet and saw that. The map didn't have any hints-- at all. Not even squiggly little lines for rivers. My biggest problem with these sorts of assignments is that it's hard for me to figure out what's ocean and land. It's just a bunch of black lines for the Near East and the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Ack! I got an A+ on the essay, but I totally bombed the rest of it. Apparently, no one in any of his classes has managed to ace one section so completely, while the blowing the other half entirely. I'd prepared myself for an F but I managed to get a C.

My last class was cancelled so I just went home.

This morning my fever dropped to 99 degrees. Oh happy day! On my way past the bell tower on campus, this guy came up from behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, looked me right in the eye and said "You're running late, you don't want to be left behind." I'd stopped walking, while he delivered the second part of the sentence walking backwards looking at me. I'd never seen him before and I have no idea who he was.

I had two quizzes today. Alejandro was such a sweetie, he got all the handouts for me while I was sick. He's two years older than the rest of us and Phuong and I are convinced he's a genius. He could probably go to Harvard if his family had more money. It's not just with history. He took physics as an elective. For fun!! Anyway, I'd done the reading for the first quiz so there weren't too many surprises. Alejandro's cool though.

In our second class I tried to take notes and do my reading at the same time. We sit in the back, so I wasn't too worried about the professor seeing me. I was sitting there, reading about Church Reform in Russia in the seventeenth century thinking to myself that I was going to make it-- finish my reading. I'd already read the previous chapter in the parking garage. Alejandro got my attention by tapping on my desk. He shrugged at me and gestured at my book. "huh?" I asked. He reached over to my book and flipped ahead four chapters-- "the quiz today is on 18 & 19! Read about the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution," he whispered.

Oh crap! I'd just read 15 and 16.

I think I did okay though.

I'm just so tired all the time. It sounds strange, I know, but it's almost as though I'm too tired to cough. Every muscle is just so tired it's like I'm physically incapable of coughing anymore. And when I do it's so hard to catch my breath. My sore throat has eased, which is nice. I can finally drink and eat again. The cough syrup and tylenol really do the trick. I wish I could take it during the day too.

Oh. The soonest appointment I could get was November 4th. "Live well and Thrive" my ass. What a crock.

I recorded the "Making of... What you Waiting For" on MTV last night. I absolutely love Gwennie's new video and wish I was her.

"Born to Blossom, Bloom to Perish."
<3 Tragic Tuyen