Sore and swollen throat. It's not pretty.

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Well, my throat is sore and I can see swelling on my neck. I don't feel much like talking today because of it. I have a hot cup of green tea in front of me. I have Ricolla cough drops in my medicine cabinet. I have cans of soup in my kitchen in my kitchen pantry.

I also have a massive research project on my job that I do not want to abandon today. I could work from home regarding that, but I know all about my lack of discipline. If I stayed home, I would be grinding Battle Trophies on Star Ocean - The Last Hope instead of making progress on my research project.

I asked my boss for projects like this a couple of months ago. A couple of weeks ago, she gave me this interesting one - read many scholarly articles and books involving the issues that aging parents of individuals with developmental disabilities have, condense and distill that information, and write something that is easy to read for any such parent that walks into our office. I want to prove myself here. I know that I am capable of doing this job perfectly well. I also do not want to be arrogant, piss around and waste too much time.

So, I guess I will take the next bus to my office. At least I only have to ride one bus - it picks me up directly in front of my apartment complex, and it stops directly in front of my office. It does not get any more convenient than that. Of course, I really wish I had a working pair of headphones that would drown out the annoying noises of the louder and more obnoxious riders..... It sucks that my earbuds had to die last week.

To work I go.

Yeah, I am blatantly trying to mine some sympathy out of this part of the forum, even though I am thoroughly capable of doing what I need to do to pick myself up. I admit it.

I do hope you get feeling better. Take it a little easy and please continue to take good care of yourself.

Thanks. Here is an update.

I got sent home from work because my boss did not want me to spread the love around the office. More than half of the office was home already because of all of the nasty bugs that are going around. I am going to do some research at home tonight. And tomorrow, as well. It now feels like I am coughing up pieces of my lungs. It went from bad to worse in the last few hours.

I could blame my caring and loving 12-step friends for giving me this present..... f**k it, I'll blame the narcissistic and lazy co-worker who insists on taking no responsibility for her incompetent actions instead (she came into the office extremely sick last week). There's no way to prove who I got it from, anyway.

I am eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup. And sipping on some orange juice. Without pulp. I usually love pulpy orange juice, but it does not work so well in situations like this one.

Star Ocean awaits me after I read, highlight, and take notes on 200 pages of scholarly articles that I printed off from the local library's periodical database last Friday. I want to get some damn work done during this downtime. I might not be getting paid for the time, but to me, research is fun. The hard part is finding the motivation to start, but once I find my groove, the hard part is finding the nerve to take breaks to eat and sleep. Go figure. All-or-fucking-nothing thinking. Comes with the territory of my mentality.

Hell, I might attempt to lighten my mood by making some new iTunes purchases. There are some Tech N9ne albums I have been meaning to pick up for a while. Some small indulgences might not be the worst thing in the world right now.

I like how you describe intellectual work. Yes, once I get rolling, then it's the nerve to take breaks to eat or sleep. Someplace I read that one writer would leave a break in the middle of a single sentence, as a device to get himself started and rolling again. I havent' yet tried that but might be fun, or at least an adventure.

Please continue to take care of yourself. A bad cough is one thing, but if you start to have trouble breathing, see someone pronto.

The concentration to work on research just is not there today.

My intellectual abilities are on vacation.

The smartest and most eloquent thing that I can say right now is, "f**k this goddamned flu!"

Need I explain more? I'm sick, I'm pissed, and my mind cannot concentrate on anything other than how miserable I feel right now.

I think a doctor visit is in my near-future.

Hope you get feeling better.

Please stay hydrated in a middle-of-the-road kind of way. And yes, talking with a doctor may be a good thing.

And since you mention flu, you know that flu occasionally leads to pneumonia. Nothing to panic about, just something to know about and be skilled about. The following is perhaps the single most useful bit of information:

And presumably, this applies to adults, too.

It's just that flu wipes out some of your body's defenses. You know those cells with the mucus and the upward sweeping motion. Well, they're your friends. And when some of them get wiped out, you're then more vulnerable to any old bug.

And I heard Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN say, in reference to flu, that relapses are bad and should be taken seriously.

Again, no need to panic, just handle it skillfully. Maybe the best case scenario is your doctor calling in a prescription for an antibiotic in a matter of just a couple of hours. And merely using the word pneumonia in any context, such as possibly 'pneumonia,' or worried that I might have 'pneumonia,' will hopefully get the attention of both the person answering the phone and your doctor.

Good luck! And hope you do get feeling better.

If you aren't allergic to bees, raw honey is soothing for a sore throat. I eat a big spoon daily to avoid pollen allergies.

Thoughtful study is not easy when you are sick. Kudos for going in and making the effort.