I think the sickness has migrated into my sinuses. All day yesterday I had this pressure inside my head. Last night it got worse, so I went to CVS to get some sort of medicine. As I stood in the aisle trying to decide between the 20 different boxes with the word “sinus” printed on them, slightly dazed because of my pounding head, the CVS pharmacist came up and asked if I needed any help. The conversation that followed was a little weird, although it could be just because I was sort of out of it.
Me: “Yeah, I think I have a sinus infection.”
Him: “An infection? If so, you’ll need antibiotics…”
Me: “Oh, well not an infection, but just…well, my head has all this pressure in it and it’s getting worse.”
Him: “This should do it.” (hands me a box of generic CVS sinus relief medicine)
Me: “Ok, thanks.”
I start to walk up to the front to pay.
Him: “Did you go to Stanford?”
Me: (looking down and realizing I’m wearing a Stanford shirt) “Oh, yes, a couple years ago.”
Him: “Oh, you graduated?”
Me: “Yeah, well, I mean, I went to graduate school there, so I was only there for a year.”
Him: “Where’d you go for undergrad?”
Me: “Georgia Tech.”
There’s a pause. He didn’t say anything, but it felt like a weird pause, so as I started to walk away again, I turned around.
Me: “Both good basketball teams this year. Haha.”
Him: “Yeah, but we’ll get you in the end.”
Me: “Oh–where did you go?”
Him: “Arizona.”
Me: “Oh.” (drawing a blank, but later I realize that Arizona and Stanford are both Pac-10 schools, so he must have been referring to that)
Him: “Stanford has springs under the court.”
Me: “What?”
Him: “The basketball court. It has spring under it.”
Me: “Springs?”
Him: “Yeah. For earthquakes.”
At this point I was certain that I’d missed his train of thought somewhere, so I just said thanks, and paid for my medicine, and left. It was one of those conversations that doesn’t sound all that weird when I recount it, but it felt very weird when I was having it.
Anyway. My head is feeling a little better today, although I’m having trouble focusing on the monitor without my head aching. When I lean over, I feel pressure on my nose and the roof of my mouth. It’s all very weird, and I’m all paranoid about it. I had a sinus infection when I was like 8 years old, and the only thing I can remember about it is lying on my parents’ bed sobbing because my head hurt so badly.
As a result of all this me-being-sick, I haven’t done anything remotely active since the half marathon more than a week ago. I’m going stir crazy, but I don’t want to push myself. Friday I got home and couldn’t stand to be in my apartment, so I went out to dinner with Becca and Nick, and then conned Nick into folding race brochures with me. Saturday morning I got up and went to the local 10K; I didn’t run, but I did hand out race brochures. Saturday afternoon I got a pedicure (my poor feet needed it), and then had girl’s night with Buzz, Jess, Becca, Jen, Laurie, and Pooja. We had dinner out, then went back to Buzz’s house where we watched movies (Sliding Doors and When Harry Met Sally, the latter for Laurie, who had (gasp!) never seen it) and did a lot of baking. I finally made double-iced brownies, and have a ton of them, so if anyone’s within walking distance of my office, feel free to come and get some. Mmmm.
Yesterday I did a whole lot of nothing. In fact, the most productive thing I did was probably giving Carter directions on how to get to the Roxy so he could see John Kerry. I haven’t lived in Atlanta for almost three years, he’s lived there for 21 years, and yet he calls me for directions. It makes me laugh every time. It started to rain yesterday afternoon, so soccer was cancelled, which was probably a good thing considering I don’t know how I would have fared trying to play defense with a head that felt like it might burst.
I did watch the final episode of “Sex and the City.” I’ve never watched the show regularly, but I do enjoy it, and knew the story lines enough to think that last night’s episode did a great job of tying up loose ends and ending the series on a high note. My only complaint is a personal one about the Charlotte-and-Harry-adopting-a-kid storyline. The couple they were supposed to adopt from was from Charlotte, North Carolina, my lovely hometown. Only the show depicted the Charlotte couple as total hicks! The guy had these huge mutton-chop sideburns, and the woman spoke with a huge southern accent. Talk about stereotyping!
Ok, that is really quite enough writing for today.
