Laura Occasionally Blogs

Wow, I had this completely written on Thursday, but I suddenly got too lazy to post.

( SNL episodes 4-6 )

What do me, Mallory Pike, and hundreds of sixteen-year-olds have in common? Besides the emotional maturity of sixteen-year-old? I'll tell you... we all have MONO!

When I heard about this disease as a kid, I wondered what it would be like to be sick in bed for a whole month, and NOW I WILL KNOW. (At least I hope it is only a month.)

It has been about a week now--three days since I was 100% resigned to it and lying in bed all the time--and it's not as terribly boring as I thought. I'm too tired to WANT to do anything. The thought of doing anything productive exhausts me so much that I don't mind my lack of productivity: it is a relief to think I am sick and don't actually HAVE to do the activities I once enjoyed. TV shows are suddenly absorbing. I can just lie there... and... watch. Reading is a journey of the imagination and I don't think about something else and get distracted every five minutes. Mono has cured my ADD. And it turns out my apartment is actually perfectly situated for being sick: two blocks from a health clinic, round the corner from a grocery store, so even in my weakened state I can usually muster the energy to go buy whatever specific food I decide I wouldn't mind eating at any given time.

There are a couple of things I don't like about being sick, though. I don't want to be unfair to being sick, but there are some areas of improvement.

* It is pretty lonely to be sick when you live by yourself. I am too tired to go out. Even if I did make the trip to your house, I'd be so wiped out I would immediately fall asleep on your couch (this theory has been tested). Everyone should feel free to come over to my untidy apartment and tell me EVERYTHING.

* Having to cancel fun plans, such as my D.C. trip and theater tickets (although I'm lucky I got sick now and not later: I can reasonably hope to be better by Christmas.)

* I don't get hungry anymore, but if I don't eat, I get the sensation that my stomach is burning, which makes me want to eat even less. This seems like a worse system than hunger.

* Worse at Agricola.

* Too tired to finish this list.