A Graphic Letter

Dear Sick,

I have a few words to share with you, and if it offends you to hear, I still won't apologise because I feel strongly about this and you deserve to hear it from the horse's mouth.

You were not a part of my life until very recently. Ever since that fateful day you have been relentless, cruel and inconsiderate beyond belief. I was entirely healthy before you disturbed my peace and turned my world upside down. You took away my comfort, my sleep and most importantly my voice, which I need more than anything right now as I am in "Beauty and the Beast"--a musical which, as can be expected, requires me to perform numerous vocal feats.

Perhaps I was asking for you to come, what with my burning the candle at both ends. I was stressed--about the musical, about school, about relationships--my entire life was a mess. I was sleep-deprived, over-exerted mentally and physically and turning to no one for help. Perhaps it was my own exploitation of self that invited you in to worsen my situation tenfold. Perhaps it was my own ignorance that didn't take the necessary precautions when I should have seen it coming. Perhaps I would have become sick in any case.

Regardless of why, the fact is that you are still present and appear to have no intention of leaving. You still plague my mornings with a nasal cavity so plugged I am forced to mouth-breathe, my days with painful coughs that rattle my insides, my evenings with the practical vomiting of phlegm the size and shape of slugs and my nights with endless restlessness. I have consumed more OTC drugs than food this week and quite frankly I'm tired of tasting like medicine all the time. I can't even sleep unless I down a dollop of Buckley's (which stings my raw throat, by the way) and a side of Gravol.

The way I was coughing the other night, I think if I was any younger I would have thought I was dying. Hunched over my bedroom garbage can, eyes watering with the pain and effort, gobs of slime slowly working their way up my esophagus with every hacking, torturous cough, my ears ringing with the great lengths my jaw went to to open wider than I thought possible. It was awful.

And you are to blame.

You did this to me, you are doing this to me, and it appears that you are going to continue doing this to me. Sick, you are heartless and tyrannic! How could you prey on someone so in need of her health? I curse you. I commission you to end this. You have compromised my dignity, stolen my instrument and condemned me to watery liquids. What more do you want from me?

You know more than you let on. Force me to endure this no longer. I have worked too long and too hard to lose my voice. Please, leave me forever and always, I beg of you. You can't make things any worse.

Desperately yours,

Callie.

She Scores!

Well, the opening ceremonies for the Olympics were held tonight (and perhaps are continuing now?) in this my home and native land, and I was at work! I saw bits and pieces of it and it kind of just looked like a feeble Canada-ised imitation of Beijing's crazy ceremonies. We must face it, we are not the crazy Beijing Olympics. Plus it's winter. Of course, I didn't see them all, so if they improved from what I saw, let me know.
Anyway, it's pretty cool that the Olympics are in my country. I kind of want to say it makes it feel less distant and otherworldly, but it doesn't, really. The Olympics don't feel any closer to home even though they are. Someone from my school is going to be snowboarding. Ah well, that's the way it is I suppose. I like to watch the figure skating, speed skating, ski/snowboard jumping and ski/snowboard races. I like the other stuff too, of course, like the very Canadian sport that is hockey, but even though I enjoy winter as a season much more than summer, I like the summer Olympics more.
In other news, I fell at work today. It wasn't very embarrassing because the only one who saw was Greg and he is very polite and gentlemanly and didn't even mention it to anyone else as I am sure anyone else would have, which was awesome. He asked if I was okay and moved on with his life. Plus I saw him drop something and spill it all over the place later and didn't mention it, so we're even. The only downer was that I kind of hurt my wrist and it made my ongoing headache even worse, which really sucked. I've felt awful all night. Highlight of my night: Vince got my Sunday shift covered! Yes! I was contemplating faking sick if I couldn't get anyone to take my shift, but I didn't really want to be deceitful and I hate calling in. I feel bad because they need me there. Hence, I opted for honesty and just told my managers I needed Sunday off because I wanted to be with with my boyfriend on Valentine's Day. It turns out this was an excellent idea because Vince jumped on it and tried (and succeeded!) to get my shift covered all night. I was so grateful. So that is awesome.
Plus I was working with Jarred tonight and he's the bestest manager of them all. Also awesome.
If only I wasn't feeling so sick.