This morning's illness update

I woke up with some back pains but no creepy skin feeling. I sneezed and a fire sale worth of mucus came out. This is a hint that the disease is nearing completion. Oh, and my temperature is down to 99.0F. I'm not completely healed yet but I have no desire to be trapped in the apartment all day. Oh, and food! I've barely had any the past couple days! I bet this has been roxor for my diet.

I just ate a bowl of cereal. Man, I need to come up with something intelligent to say, now that my higher functions are coming back. Uhhh... not yet. Maybe later. I was thinking about how my brain decides to learn things, but that could get dull fast. Let's see how lively I can keep this...

I learn almost completely through mnemonics and analogy. People have gotten annoyed with me because I'll try to teach the analogy first to prepare the thought. This is because it can be condescending if a person doesn't think that way (how do they think, then?) and perceives this pedagogical tool as oversimplification.

But yeah, in my mind I'll always need an analogy. You can take an analogy too far and read more into it than the actual event provides. However, this may lead to a minor paradigm shift -- you develop a better analogy to integrate the fuller set of concepts.

I am so tempted to run outside and see how my eyes react to light. I've only been indoors for 22 hours but it feels like years. Later, dudes.

-got through a year of MegaTokyo, Dante

On drinking TheaFlu for the first time

Ass! It tastes so much like lemon-flavored ass! All the great things about cough syrup but you can't chug it.

So you boil 6 ounces of water and put this powder in a mug. Pour boiling water over the powder. Take a sip. Gack. Read ingredients. All the active stuff is the same as what's in Tussin CF (Guafenessin, Sudafed, Dextro) but the inactive ingredients include aspartame (hence the ass-tastics! Hello, N*trasw33t) and some dyes.

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike downers? I include cough syrup among them. I know some of you kids love the downward spiral but I can't stand it. I also hate the feel of cough syrup -- that nasty taste. Now imagine combining all of my loathings into a hot drink that I can't just gulp because it's scalding hot. Toss in a fake, fake lemon flavor.

No thanks. Not for me. I'll stick to pills.

Some of you may be saying, "but Dante, you're a cheapskate. I suspect you didn't pour this pap smear of a cold cure down the sink." You would be correct. I cut it a few times with tap water and started chugging. I survived Mount Bleh!

Others among you may be asking, "Dante, how do you know what ass tastes like?" I have my ways.

I wanted this stuff to be suitable -- after all, it's made by a local company (the same one with the strips you dissolve on your tongue to do the same stuff). However, I can't recommend it unless your ingestion masochism is stronger than mine.

-lick your cold Papa Smurf, Dante