Seven Days of Joy: Day 4

[sinkwriter]

Almost forgot to post tonight!

I've been suffering a nasty something-or-other since last Friday (body aches and an incredibly annoying cough) and all I could think of was taking some medicine and getting to bed. Was just reading the directions on the bottle when I remembered. So here I am. Happy, happy, joy, joy! ;)

Then: Day 1. Day 2. Day 3.

Now:

DAY 4

* Hot chai tea with vanilla soy milk. So soothing and warm for my throat, and it smells and tastes like liquid pumpkin pie! What's not to love? Once, my friend (the lovely Lady Amanda) was making up silly haikus and emailing them to me, and I sent her one as an "Ode to Chai Tea." Regrettably, I cannot find the email in which I wrote that fascinating poem, but I'm telling ya, it was inspired! (Heh.) I know I have it saved as a printout somewhere; someday I'll post it for you. I know... you can hardly stand the suspense, right?

* Supernatural's "Nightshifter" episode. It's hilarious, especially Sam's exasperated protest to the paranoid, Lone Gunmen-like, night watchman Ronald: "We're not workin' for the mandroid!" Heeee. There's a brief shot in which the lighting and camera work make Milwaukee look like Gotham City, and I mean that in an impressive sense. It's Milwaukee, for crying out loud! (I exclaim as someone who grew up in Green Bay.) They made it look so cool! It's also a marvelously tense episode, with a terrific twist at the end. And the final minute is perfection: the denouement is captured brilliantly using a soft, tell-tale heartbeat blended to match the percussion in the fittingly chosen and excellently cued a capella music (the opening strains of Styx' "Renegade"), just as Dean sums up the results of the episode with a marvelous understatement. "We are so screwed." A fantastic episode all around. I rewatched it earlier today, and I was once again delighted.

* lylyan getting on board the Happy Train! Whoo! *rubs hands together wickedly* Yessss, beautiful one, join meeeeee! *hugs B*

And most especially, as I watch the news tonight and hear about all the reports of homeless people stuck outside in this freezing, bitterly cold weather...

* I am so grateful to have a safe, warm home in which to live, and I hope all the people who are suffering tonight are reached by the wonderful workers who are desperately trying to bring them in from the cold. Be well.

Comments

[not-thyne.livejournal.com]

Zicam, sweetie! For next time, because I fear you've gone beyond incubation... *cuddles close*

[sinkwriter.livejournal.com]

I got your email about it, but I figured it was too late. :'(

That stuff's supposed to be taken as you feel it coming on, right? My symptoms started last Thursday or Friday, so I think it's too late for me, very sad to say. Next time, though, definitely.

Had an AWFUL time trying to sleep last night. Took a cough suppressant in the hopes that it would, you know, suppress my coughing so that I could GET SOME SLEEP! That did not happen. In fact, I was awake until almost three in the morning. Then I added an extra pillow in an attempt to elevate my head (hoping that would change something), and while that seemed to help, by that point I had coughed so much, my throat now felt shredded, it was so sore. Owwwww. Which kept me awake some more. I think I slept fitfully here and there, but it was not the solid sleep I had hoped to get. I really want this to be well on its way out before the family comes to visit for the holiday, but if I can't get any rest, I just don't know that it will get better. *groan*

*curls up next to you for comfort*

[bardsmaid.livejournal.com]

Speaking of homeless people out in the cold, last week a homeless man was found frozen to death on a city street here (it had been down to 15 degrees the night before.) It turns out that he'd been a major in the Army at one point, but was never able to kick his subsequent alcoholism. A sad commentary on the lack of attention given to soldiers returning from war, a problem that's still going on to this day.

[sinkwriter.livejournal.com]

One of The West Wing's best episodes (and my absolute favorite) covered that very subject (from season 1, "In Excelsis Deo"). A homeless man perished on the Mall, and the character Toby was called to identify him because his business card was found in the man's pocket. When Toby arrived, he didn't know the man, but he recognized the tattoo on the guy's arm as a Marine battallion tattoo. He'd come back from Korea and never really recovered or reassimilated into society.

It's an incredibly sad state when they train soldiers to go to battle but not take care of them on their return as part of the same process.