The Common Cold

So my last post was about failing at life as an adult, and some people took that to mean I was sad or upset with how life was going for me, which, although somewhat true, it was more frustration about the things piling up against me.  Well things got better for a bit… or at least evened out, but then I came down with a pretty bad cold.

It started with a cough that just kept getting worse and made it hard to breathe and then by Saturday turned into a full blown (literally) cold. Headache, runny nose, coughing, sneezing, the works.  There were cough-drop wrappers and tissues everywhere and the whole apartment smelled of Vick’s.  I took Monday off and attempted to work on Tuesday, but left early after blowing my nose between every customer.

Being sick as an adult can be tricky (for me at least) because it’s hard to decide whether or not to go to work.  At my job, if I don’t show up, someone has to pick up the slack.  On Monday someone had to go in half and hour early to open for me.  Luckily most of my coworkers would rather pick up my slack then have me get them sick, but for me it’s really hard to determine the extent of my sickness and I try to do whatever I can to not have to make people go out of their way for me.  I started getting better by Tuesday night and took some medicine and was back to it by Wednesday.  By thursday I was feeling much better.

Something else I realized during my brief illness: nothing makes you miss home more than being sick.  I made myself soup and tea and had orange juice and stayed in bed, but there is nothing as comforting as your mom handing you that soup or bringing you a new box of tissues when you run out.

I think everyone misses their mom when they’re sick.  Each mom has their own cure to make you feel a little bit better, and it’s never the same when you do it on your own.  My mom makes Hot Lemonade for me when I’m sick.  I know. You think it’s gross.  Pretty much everyone I’ve ever told about this thinks it’s the most disgusting sounding thing in the world.  Who doesn’t love a nice cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer’s day.  But heat it up for that sore throat?  NO WAY!

Well, my mom likes a lot of crazy concoctions.  She dips cheese-itz in cottage cheese and potato chips in pickle juice.  And I guess Hot Lemonade was just something she discovered on the way.  But if you remember this the next time you get a sore throat, I dare you to try mixing some lemon juice with steaming hot water and some sugar.  Basically, just drop the tea bag.  It’s delicious.  And the way the citrus tickles the back of your throat as the heat soothes it at the same time can cure that cough like nothing else.

I made myself some and it helped a bit, but it wasn’t the same as when my mom made it.  And it wasn’t the same without her there.  I video chatted with her a few times and she pushed me to snort some Flonase, and sure enough, after I started using that—I could breathe again!  Mom to the rescue!  All better now and I get to see my mom in a few days! Maybe we’ll share a nice steaming mug of Hot Lemonade!

Fail

I have failed my new year’s resolution already.  And it’s only March!

For some reason, I haven’t felt up to writing the past couple weeks—partly because there’s not much to write about, and partly because I’ve just been completely unmotivated to do anything.  I have felt so unproductive these past few weeks and it seems like things just keep getting worse.  Being an adult is not what I had hoped it would be.

I take you back to one night in college when I was deep in the boring studies of Literary Criticism (I’m sorry, but it was boring).  I remember thinking to myself how much I wish I had a boring desk job (even if I hated it) where I could at least be making money for spending my life tediously passing the time away with useless meaningless tasks.

I look back on that moment frequently now, as I make transfers and withdrawals for customers at the bank—things that could easily be done online or at an Automated Teller Machine (that’s an ATM, in case you—like it seems of our customers—don’t understand what it stands for).  But I’ve learned a one important lesson since becoming “an adult”—even though most days I don’t feel worthy or wanting of that title.  All of that “extra cash” I earn while repeating the same menial movements day after day just disappears—rent, groceries, insurance, electric, internet, etc, etc, etcetera…

And then tax time rolls around and oh, how excited I was to treat myself to some new mugs and maybe go out on a date.  But sure enough, life caught up with me. Apparently, past-Jamie (pre-adult-Jamie) made a mistake when filling out my W4 paperwork for work.  And now, instead of my new mugs and a date night, I owe a chunk of money to the good old U S of A.

But if that wasn’t enough to get me annoyed with adult life, my brand new (to me—certified used) car decides it doesn’t like to start in the cold weather. Personally, I think that’s a load of horsey doo-doo. I grew up in Mass and have been through my share of bitter cold winters and never heard anything like that. Then I move down south to the slightly less bitter Virginia, and people talk about it like it happens all the time… seems a little fishy to me.  With my car not working I’ve been late to work a couple times and Jim had to skip a few hours of work one day when I took his car (he also used it as an excuse to get out of class early, so at least someone is benefiting).

When I finally got my car to the shop, after it had been working on and off (and jumped when not) for a week and a half, the mechanic told me there was nothing wrong with it.  Frustrated, I explained to her that it had not started multiple times now and had needed to be jumped.  So there must be something wrong with it.  She told me it was probably because of the cold.  I got audibly upset with her, but she insisted they had tested the battery and everything and they couldn’t find a problem.  I left the shop and parked across the street to call my mother and leave her a half-screaming/half-crying voicemail.

And now, almost a month since my last blog post, I am failing at the one thing that might actually bring me happiness someday.  Other than a semi-monthly technical editing gig, this blog is the only way that I keep myself writing.  I say that I want to be a writer and that I love writing, yet I can’t even force myself to write a weekly post about the nothingness that is my life.  If being an adult involves following your passions and trying to make a living doing something you love, I am most definitely failing at that.

But I haven’t stopped trying.  This post is proof of that… and I have already emailed HR to fix my tax withholdings.  So, as long as my car starts on Monday, hopefully I can work myself up to a C- on the adult report card.