Thursday, February 23, 2006

Just Shoot Me and Get It Over & Done With

You know one of those days when you just pray for a swift end?


The bone-deep fatigue that drags your cement shoes-hooved feet across a gritty floor? The invisible burden of Atlas crushing your shoulders towards the ground, compressing your chest and lending your gait the lithesome grace of Quasimodo? The woolly-headedness that creates fuzzy outlines around the frame of your vision?


Yesterday, in the midst of helping 3A Gurl and 3A Hubby move, I felt a sudden buffet of lightheadedness that necessitated the kind of lie-down you only associate with your mothball-smelling aunts. You know … the ones with the rubber bands holding up their stockings.


The flu that I had been trying desperately to fend off had struck back. Take that! Kaplunk.


I still managed to crawl my way to the nearest food court today to get some noodle soup. The alternative was to order in McDonalds … I’m ill but not that ill. And you know how the Fates just love to kick you when you are down? Well, I must be wearing a T-shirt with a bulls eye on it and an X marking the spot.


Shuffling home, I made the unpleasant discovery that the attentive food stall assistant had been suffering a condition that made the simple act of securing the lid of the soup-ladened carton a Herculean feat. Her dainty hand has failed to literally put a lid on it and I returned home with a bulgingly soggy bag and a semi-dry noodle soup.


It was almost too much to bear. This was not the first time this particular food stall assistant had committed this horrible crime. I hurried home as fast as I could with a hot, dripping bag feeling much like one of the geriatrics ambling along with their colostomy bags. Yes, horrible imagery. Misery loves company so suck it up.


I hate being ill. I can’t taste a thing when I am ill and eating becomes a chore because everything tastes like cupboard. I’m not sure if the food was really that bad today, which is odd since I’ve eaten from the same stall many times and it’s always been fairly decent, but the noodles were chewy and strangely elastic. I had a horrifying moment when I tried to bite through a strand of rice noodles and the thing bounced back and hit me in the face!


The soup was bland and I was perversely relieved that Miss Dainty Handed Stall Assistant had been so lazy. The only saving grace was the fresh fish. Even with my AWOL tastebuds, I could tell from the texture and look of the fish slices that they were not of the frozen variety.


Since eating was a bust, I decided that I would try to chase the flu away by chasing the chills away. Yes, I’ve been a shivering mess and not in a good way. So I set a pan of water on the stove, plonked some ginger and a cinnamon stick in and went for a short lie down as I waited for it all to brew.


Nothing … and I mean nothing ... OK, maybe a hot toddy or a warmed snifter of scotch whiskey … soothes and warms the body like ginger tea. With a heaping teaspoon of clover honey, my ginger and cinnamon tea made me feel almost human again. For a while anyway.



And now, excuse me as I go for a lie-down. Creak.




Categories - Call Me Others, Sweet Thang, Rambling Prose




12 Comments:

Blogger Prim said...

Hope you feel better soon. Being sick is the biggest drag. If you can, get your hands on some Coldeez and Airborne. I find those do help, along with the tea.

3:53 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear you are feeling badly (but well enough to post, na? So not all hope is lost...) I love ginger tea when I'm sick. I make mine with ginger, peppercorns and palm sugar. Hope the flu passes soon - feel better, MM.

10:20 am  
Blogger Anthony said...

The bone-deep fatigue that drags your cement shoes-hooved feet across a gritty floor? The invisible burden of Atlas crushing your shoulders towards the ground, compressing your chest and lending your gait the lithesome grace of Quasimodo? The woolly-headedness that creates fuzzy outlines around the frame of your vision?

If you write paragraphs like that when you're ill, I'm selfishly reluctant to wish you a get well.

1:01 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

get well soon, MM :-)

2:54 pm  
Blogger Haalo said...

Hope you feel better...I'll make some extra hot chocolate!

Haalo

7:40 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with Anthony, you express yourself very well when you're sick!!! Here's hoping the ginger tea does the trick. I drink it when I have a cold and it's fabulous.

2:54 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ginger do will do the trick.
sometimes i just boil rice w ginger
when all food taste like cupboard

PERASTIKA the greeks say that!

3:39 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What I do when I feel that way is go to the pharmacy and ask them to give me what it takes. Usually about 4 or 5 different wonder drugs, $30, and I'm human again.

Good Luck!!

4:13 am  
Blogger Michelle said...

Feel better soon! The flu is miserable - but your tea sounds awesome. I've always wanted to try this (ginger tea) a sickness remedy and then i get sick and forget! I wish I could send you some elderberry tincture from my kitchen - it's even supposed to knock the flu on it's butt!

9:09 am  
Blogger Pille said...

Hi MM - obviously we should not visit each others' blogs when ill - this bug seems to be highly infectuous!! :)
SOrry to hear that you're poorly. I was feeling better yesterday morning and bravely wandered out in the world for a cuppa - just to return home, totally exhausted and with a slight fever again:(
Too bad about the soup. Does that mean Golden Arches for you after all now?

5:17 pm  
Blogger Stephanie said...

Wow, thanks guys! I am so touched! Am slightly better and up on my feet although I still need to take little breaks. And I managed to cook today too ... which is a mistake as now I am knackered.

Prim - Singapore is a very strange place and a lot of medication which we take for granted elsewhere is banned here. Like Tylenol and Epsom Salts. Yes, Epsom Salts ... amazing!

Thanks Tin but better not hug me in case I spread it to you.

Diane, my computer is literally next to my bed so it's actually easier for me to type than cook ... yes, I am a nerd.

Thanks Anonymous (oohhh, so mysterious) and Haalo - I sure love the hot choccie on your site!

Anthony & Sher - thanks so much but it's called pathos. I find I always write best in a state of self-pity. I only write poetry when depressed or miserable. Eck.

Sha - that's really interesting. Is that like a ginger porridge?

Anonymous 2 - I hate medicines and try to avoid it like the plague if I can, prefering natural medication. But I saw a doctor and came home with an arsenal of medicine. Ptui.

Michelle - that sounds like my kind of medicine! Elderberry tincture! Sigh ... I wish you could send it via computer as kicking the flu butt would be great.

Pille - I know! I was looking at yours and was like ... it might be you who infected me! LOL. At least you were smarter than me. I actually cooked and now I feel a little trembly and weak. Duh. But no, I have not succumbed to the evil M yet.

5:44 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

similar to congee
my own concoction when am sick

6:55 am  

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