Fighting the Beast

I saw it coming yesterday: the headache that lasted far after I'd had my morning (OK, it was actually afternoon) cup of coffee, the feeling that my sinuses were going haywire. Thus far, I'd been lucky enough to avoid all the sickness that was going around (a big feat, considering how many sick kids came into my studio every week). Halfling had it a few weeks ago, but he was well enough by the day of The Hang™ that I wasn't exposed to anything. But after not much sleep this past week, I knew I was susceptible, and when I woke up this morning, my throat was raw, raw, raw.

I'm not sure that what I get every year around this time is actually contagious; I think it's more like sinus stuff related to allergies, and it gets me when the change of seasons (which happens about 27 times between January and April) lines up with my being more than a little run-down. But still, I can't really afford to be sick; when I don't teach, I don't get paid, so my goal was simple: get whatever it is out of my system in one day, that day being today.

I saw no reason to push myself this morning; playing for two hours, singing when I wasn't playing--none of that seemed conducive to quick healing. Plus, if I really did have something contagious, there was no reason to share that with everyone else in the band, so I put a quick call in to the worship leader and "opted out" of playing today. That actually did seem to help a lot, because by the time I actually did make it to church (late service, skipped the singing, up in the balcony with a chair's space between me and anyone else), the extra sleep and fluids had taken most of the rawness away and I felt much, much better.

Probably the best thing working in my favor today is the weather: warm. It's a "shorts day," as Halfling raved about in his ode to Texas weather earlier in the week, and that should definitely help things if I'm not shivering in my own house. I'll continue to pour on the fluids in heavy fashion, including the old hot-tea-and-honey trick from my radio days (which also worked well for Eric when I recommended it to him a while back), and I'll probably swap out this for my usual nighttime dosage of the generic version of this. This afternoon will be devoted to reading, with some little naps thrown in; maybe I'll work on a combo arrangement for a bit. My transcription may have to wait a day or two, because it's probably better not to play at all today, since there aren't that many days where it's possible to do that.

So we'll see what happens; if this is the worst it gets, I'll consider today a success, and I'll definitely go to school tomorrow since last Monday was a holiday and all. With any luck, the beast of illness will meet defeat quickly...and I have to say, it's incredibly convenient that I managed to get sick on the one weekend that I actually had time to do so.