GN/BN

Good news: It is 85% likely that I don't have strep throat (initial test negative; apparently the more accurate throat culture takes longer to develop).

Bad news: I just have to ride out this virus until it's done gone. Until then, I have all of the pleasures associated with strep throat: sore throat, swollen glands, malaise, headache, sinuses. This is really eating into productivity. Three hours lucidity per day for the past three days is not good. And I wasted a couple of hours at the doctor and waiting for results. Worse, I can't see TD.

Potentially worser news: If it doesn't clear up by the end of the week, it means it's Teh Mono. It sucks enough to be sick during the finals push, but it's demeaning and demoralizing to have something called "the kissing disease" that generally afflicts careless college students living in cramped quarters. It's like having adult acne. You know, you think you're beyond it. But then, you're not, and it's like, WTF, did I just pop into a wayback machine? What with my clever way of dropping into class and running back to my apartment miles away from school, taking vitamins, and exercising and eating healthy, I avoided most of the epidemics at school. Alas, I started to rejoice too boldly in my cleverness, and pride cometh before a fall. My hubris has been cut off at the knees, and I am now a fallen soldier, my face frozen in a look of scornful pride, as my hands are locked in a claw-like position, not around a spear, but at the keyboard. Oh, I have tempted fate, and it has tasted of me.