The Kill-Me Cold

In the NYTimes, there was an article that stated that they may have found some leads to cure the common cold- I say they better do it soon.

Being sick as an adult is probably one of the worst things that can happen.
Unlike those days where you can go to your parents and miss a day of ABC's and 123s,
You are burdened to either spend our days miserable in the office or at home in your bed watching television, missing important meetings, and getting work finished- which then you need to make up and do double work once you are actually back to feeling healthy. This, of course, is reflected in your paycheck if you don't have sick days.

If you are like me, and get sick if I get too stressed that your body just breaks down, it can be crippling to take just one day because the trouble you have to just catch up and get back on the top of your game becomes an uphill battle with cyclic effects. You get even more frustrated when you have mountains of paper and e-mails to deal with, less pay to manage your finances, and replacing the ten tissue boxes you go through- and what about the medical visit and cost of prescriptions?

When all of this happens, I wish I could just crawl in my bed and wait for my mother to bring me a steaming bowl full of hearty chicken soup with matzoh balls. A cool compress on my forehead and a box full of ice pops to soothe the throat and cool down the fever. Instead, you are an adult so you can buy all the OTC drugs you can afford and feel like you are on cloud 9- but risk your heart exploding from all the pseudo ephedrine.

Mission 19: When you are sick:
So what can you do? Do you take off from work or try to plunge ahead and hope it all goes away? It seems that the best option is to go to work/school and hope that your boss/professor notices how hard you are trying and tells you to go home. It shows that you care enough to go and that even though you are sick, you understand the world doesn't stop-even if you wish it did. Then, go home and hibernate until you can actually breathe out of both nostrils. Also, just by going for a short time, you might actually get a few things off your checklist. Only use those sick days for times when you really can't function- otherwise you'll be ore of a hindrance than help- you also don't want to get your coworkers or colleagues sick.

Hearts On A Platter

Everyone posts about Valentine's day, so here it goes:

Valentine's day sucks.
It's a wretched holiday that makes people feel inferior, lonely, and more pressured to find someone. Even if you are in a relationship, it puts more emphasis on expressing a romantic or sexual side than what may be pre-mature for where the relationship may be.

If you are just starting out in a relationship, V-day requires an "I love you" kind of moment. But what if it is still "I like you" or "I'm infatuated by you"? This causes more problems than necessary. People tend to rate the value of a relationship based on how much money is spent. Do you buy the diamond necklace to express your undying love or do you make a promise? Which has more meaning?

While I do hate it, there is something about it that does some good. Many people think of it as a Hallmark holiday- but I see it as something different. I see it as a way of boosting certain industries sales and providing some economic stability. There are only a few holidays during the year that require cards, flowers, candy, crafts for making sentimental statements, tickets to shows and other performances, and any other industry that is involved. If we think about what people spend their money on, you can see that these horrible days actually employ thousands, if not millions of people and keeps businesses flourishing. So, I guess in today's economy- I guess we can stand it just a little bit.

So while everyone is having dinner, having sex, buying roses, being cheesy, cutting out their hearts with scissors for the sake of another- if you're alone, don't feel grumpy.

Here's Mission 18:

Express self-love: Take yourself out to dinner, make a list of all the things you love about yourself, make yourself a valentine, be happy that you are not in a terrible or abusive relationship and be grateful for the fact that you can sleep with whoever you want with no obligations unlike your committed friends.