Sniffle, Sniffle

The past two or three days for me has been a miserably endless cycle of sneezing to the point of tearing up, blowing my nose until it's dry and red, drinking so much water that I go to the bathroom every hour, taking random pills (Benadryl, Sudafed, Tylenol) in hopes that one will fix me, and sleeping in until lunchtime or until my morning lecture has well begun.

In short, I got sick. Despite all my (paranoid) precautions--wiping my desk and keyboard with Lysol disinfectant wipes, not inhaling for the few seconds after somebody nearby coughs, drinking lots of water, taking vitamins--my immune system has, to my physical and mental demise, buckled down to the wraths of the common cold.

How did this happen? I went home last weekend. That's all I will say.

I took two Benadryl pills about half an hour ago and I think I got high from it or something, because a short while later, I started laughing at the fact that I had exceeded the maximum number of toppings for the pizza I was going to order. A few seconds into the nonsensical hysteria, I actually started crying. You know, the kind of laughter that makes you cry and then all of a sudden, you can't decide whether you want to bawl out in tears or in laughter. For me, apparently, it's a (silent) combination and a tissue (otherwise meant to blow my nose, nowadays).

More bad news... Thirty-something of California's Borders are closing soon! This includes the one in Glendale, which is the one I go to most often, and the one in Pasadena, the one I have been intending to go to. Where will I get my books now?! Oh, I just realized I also go to the one in Arcadia... I really hope that one doesn't close. Now or ever. I LOVE Borders bookstore! What a heartbreak. This is yet another indication of the temporariness of something as even concrete and tangible as a bookstore. In others words, another indication that forever doesn't exist! Considering this, how can anybody REASONABLY believe in forever-ness, so to speak? Castiglione elucidates in The Courtier (and Sidney alludes to this in Astrophil and Stella) that reason and senses do not mix. Senses as in love. Intellectual reason must combat sensual love, and since reason points out that forever does not exist, eternal love cannot exist. That is, unless the lover climbs the ladder of love from the bottom to top--from sensual, physical love to the spiritual love that only God demonstrates time and again. And since it is quite impossible to reach the exalted position of Christ and His perfection, it is quite impossible to perfectly, reasonably love.

Then how do I love Borders, you ask? I love it passionately, the human way. I love it materialistically, for its books. If Borders weren't a bookstore, I probably wouldn't love it. Per Castiglione's standards, I don't love it perfectly. But I love it regardless. Take this love in the sense of the everyday, ordinary layman's meaning. I genuinely love Borders bookstore and am deeply saddened by the financial (or lack thereof) situation it is sinking in.

On a much brighter note, I ordered Papa Johns pizza. Large for $10! And then there are the delivery fee and sales tax... and tip. I'm kind of excited because I have never eaten Papa Johns pizza before. I am not deprived...

I remember in elementary school, whenever somebody asked me what my favorite food was, I instantly blurted, "Pizza." Now that I think about it, I had no idea what that even meant, because I rarely ever ate it, and I never particularly loved (ha) it. I think it was more of liking to eat it rather than it itself because I rarely got to eat it. Well, in any case, now I am excited, despite my somewhat sore throat that will probably make the pizza taste not as good (or not as bad?) as it actually is.

This past Sunday, I ran the 33rd annual Chinatown Firecracker 5k. Yes, 5k instead of ten. I was disappointed, too. At this point, I realize how foolish it was to expect to run the marathon this year since the most I have run at a time is 5k. But really, though, I do intend to run at least five marathons (be it in LA, Pasadena, the OC, etc) before I bear my first child!

Next Monday, I sign up for classes for spring quarter. I cannot believe that freshman year of college is almost over. As time flees, my image and idea of what I want to do or be in the future get increasingly blurry, partly because the time is passing by so bewilderingly quickly and partly because I just have no idea or am too lazy to dwell on it anymore. However, I have ruled out the life sciences/ medical path, because I'm already having trouble bearing with one basic chemistry class. So, the list of rule-outs: all south-campus (non-humanities) paths, because I can do neither math nor science nearly as well as actually aspiring south-campus students can. Although, sometimes I wonder--HATER ALERT--how some people expect to land in the medical field when they don't know the simplest things! I would not trust those people to diagnose me, much less treat me...

Since I'm on the topic, I suppose I shall discuss school. COLLEGE IS SUCH A DRAG. Now that I have put that in text, I vividly recall that that's what I said about high school, too. I feel like college is a more intelligent, more competitive, more mature, more liberal version of high school... I suspect I will say about the same thing regarding work in the future. A demonstration of the cyclical pattern of life.

The pizza got here a few minutes ago. It's quite delicious.

With that said, I hope to blog again soon. Farewell!