I do not do well with fevers. My own, that is (I have no problem with yours). This may be your brain on drugs, but it’s mine when my temperature rises above 100.º
I woke up Tuesday morning and promptly wished I hadn’t. Fever, congestion, cough-sneezing and sore throat. I’d felt something coming on Monday, uttered those famous last words (it’ll go away) to myself, and tried to rest most of the day, in order to fulfill my March 5 World Read Aloud Day commitment. I was scheduled to read excerpts from The Mighty Quinn to two classrooms: Tuesday eve at 9 p Pacific Time (which translates to 10 am March 5, Pakistan time) to a classroom in Karachi via a Skype call, then on Wednesday to a classroom in Seattle.
I tested my Skype connection, practiced (whispering, to save my increasingly hoarse voice) my excerpts and set my phone alarm for the evening, so I wouldn’t sleep through the call from Pakistan. I assumed the fact that I looked like something the cat dragged in – and we have four cats, so that’s a lot of dragging – would be attributed to the computer connection.
oh, poor widdle yuppie model, pretending to be sick – dude, never have I looked this good, even at 98.6º and even when…not a dude.
The call from Pakistan never came. My attempts at connection were for naught, as the teacher remained offline. Then, the next day, when my fever rose, I had to cancel the WRAD session with Seattle, when I realized that being conscious (not to mention vertical) for 30 minutes was not an option.
Wednesday eve I told pathetically whined calmly articulated to MH how in the last couple of days, the most exercise I’d gotten was putting my socks on when I got chilled and then taking them off five minutes later when I was feverish and overheated. With all due spousal support and sympathy, MH told me I seemed to be taking a Karate Kid approach to my convalescence. Socks on; socks off….
wax on…wax off….
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While cleaning my office last week I found a CD I’d purchased in December, buried under a stack of scratch papers. So, this means that, for more than 8 weeks, I have been unmindful of the thereabouts of my “Mindfulness: An eight week plan for finding peace in a frantic world” guided meditation CD. Does this mean I’m ahead of, or behind, the plan?
Wednesday eve my son sent me a link to a draft of his undergraduate research grant proposal, with the request that I give it a “proof.” I’d warned him about my fever brain, and said I’d try to get to it…whenever.
Thursday morning my temp dipped to under 100º – yay! (and then slowly rose as the day went by – boo.). I took a copy of my son’s paper and my Red Pen of Proof © upstairs, figuring I could take a crack at it every fifteen minutes or so, between sleeping through whatever horrendous shows were on the Overheated Brain Pacification Device (TV). Scratch that – my convalescent viewing was to alternate bouts of consciousness while playing my recently acquired, used-but good condition DVDs of the first season of Once and Again).
But I digress. The research paper. Working title: Investigation of the activities of MalA, a maltase from the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.
Imagine my surprise, to find that sentences such as
GH13 enzymes are known to display a wide variety of hydrolase activities such as α-1,4-glucosidases, as well as isomerase and glucanotransferase activities. GH 13 enzymes specifically act on molecules containing α-glucoside linkages. GH13 enzymes employ the retaining mechanism, meaning that their product’s anomeric carbon will have the same configuration as their substrate’s anomeric carbon
are somehow less intimidating to me when I have fever-brain. Instead of, WTF? my reaction is, wow, man…this is so true.
Oh, and to my amazing son, K: Honey badger may not care if it’s your birthday tomorrow, but I do. Happy 21st to my guy!
Oh, and K – your sister has the best present for you, in the making. Like all true works of art it won’t be done overnight, and I’m hoping she (and you) will let me post a picture of it here, when it’s finished.
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҉ Let us pause for a moment to consider another one of life’s mysteries ҉
Nasty for any reason: a paper cut.
But worth it: when said cut is procured while opening a box of Lindt 85% cocoa Extra Dark chocolate.
Can you tell I minored in Philosophy? [1]
PIX:CHOC caption: just what the doctor ordered
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May your all fevers be fleeting, all your thermometers be oral, and may the hijinks ensue.
Thanks for stopping by. Au Vendredi!
[1] That’s a lie. Further proof of illness: only one footnote?
