I managed to catch this lovely little chest cold last night. I went to a movie - felt fine when it started, had this nasty rattling cough when I left. I will never understand how I manage to get sick so fast. So what I really need to do is take a nice steamy bath and go to bed early, but is that what I do? Heck no. Do I stay up because I need to finish the homework for that nasty class I have tomorrow? Of course not! No, instead I let my friend (who I shall call 'Ren' because I don't want him to chew my head off for using names here) drag me to his apartment after anime club for tea and . . . more anime? Bleh, I feel so pathetic! Not to mention exhausted and miserable, and thus more pathetic because I know it's my own fault.

On a random tangent, I met Ren this summer when we ended up in a class together. The class involved a week of classroom work and a week of travel for fieldwork. It was a small class, I got to know everyone pretty well after a week in a van. Ren, however, was the one who decided to test my limits by threatening to sleep on the foot of my bed one night. I, being who I am, decided to test his limits by doing nothing to prevent him. He was still there in the morning, complaining quite loudly (and unjustifiably, I believe) that I had kicked him in the head. We were obviously destined to be friends.

I blame the cold on my mother. She never gets sick, and when she does she stubbornly denies beings sick until she gets over it, at which point she says, "See, all I have to do is think positively and I don't get sick!" I love Mom. Any road, as a result of my dear mother's mule-headedness when it comes to her health, it always confuses my whole world when she admits to being sick.

Not only did she admit to being sick last night, but she called ME for advice! I seriously think the shock of it threw my immune system over the edge. "KJ," she said in this horrible raspy voice, "I have this awful sore throat, I'm so sick. What should I take for it?" This seriously disturbed me for some reason. I am just a student, and frustratingly insecure about what limited knowledge I have managed to retain. Besides, this is my mom, for crying out loud! She always knew the answers to these questions when I was a kid! What's up? I half suspect that she does it just to make me feel important - KJ the future pharmacist, so amazing that her own mother won't take a Tylenol without a full consultation. It's the sort of thing my mom would do, intentional or not. Or maybe it's just an excuse to check up on me, since she's so worried about calling too often and being the overbearing mother type. No matter how many times I explain to her that I love her and want to hear from her and have enough trouble remembering to look up from my homework long enough to eat, let alone phone anyone - no matter how many times I tell her, she still worries. She's so cute.