As of this morning, I am pretty much completely symtom-free. Huzzah! Unfortunately, as of this morning, according to the test I took when I got up, I am not yet COVID-free. Boo! I assume this just means that my immune system still has some work to do in escorting the hangers-on and the squatters off-premises. It’s a work-in-progress, and all that.
So the timeline was basically this:
Last Friday: Attended the Erie County Fair. Toward the end of the day, noticed a throat tickle and a bit of stuffiness. Attributed this to occasional seasonal allergies and being outside and not having drunk nearly as much water as I usually do.
Saturday: Started thinking, “Huh, this is starting to feel suspiciously like some kind of crud. Might wanna keep an eye on this.”
Sunday: Got up after a night of sneezing, coughing, and a mild sore throat. Thought, “Huh. This is definitely some crud. Better test. Oh look, COVID. Well, shit.”
Monday: This was when I felt the worst. Slept downstairs, and then when The Wife (who has tested negative this whole time, Huzzah!) headed into her home office for work, I went to our bed and crashed for several hours. The worst of the sneezing and coughing was this day. Even so, it never got worse than any other normal cold I’ve ever had. By dinner time on Monday, I felt noticeably better. (Oddly, the way my colds usually progress, when I’m starting to feel better is when I sound the worst to other people!)
Tuesday: Definitely on the mend, feeling significantly better. Much less sneezing and coughing. Also, by this point the usual cold-related brain fog is starting to dissipate, so I’m starting to really think about writing again. In fact, on Tuesday afternoon I opened Scrivener and actually did get some writing done:
Not the easiest 500 words I’ve ever done, but I got them down.
Wednesday: Back to, I dunno, we’ll call it 80 percent. And I got more writing done!
By the way, another milestone fell on Wednesday:
Yup. When I started writing Forgotten Stars V, I hoped to be somewhere near the book’s end around the 180K mark. That is not going to happen. As I’m writing now, I’m finishing up the Second Interlude before I write all of Act III. Ouch. More on that below….
Thursday: Feeling 90 percent normal! And the floodgates opened up:
Yup, yesterday was a really good day for writing. The goal now is to have more and more days like yesterday.
Also, I had planned our dinner on Sunday to be grilled chicken wings, but obviously the COVID arrival screwed that up. Last night, though, our desire for wings would not be denied. Because, in the immortal words of John C. Reilly in the comedy classic Stepbrothers, “But what if I want wings?”
Shot…
…and chaser.
The sauce, by the way, is The Store’s brand of Korean barbecue sauce. I love this stuff. Just love it. It’s got that sweet-and-salty Asian soy thing going on, and it’s gluten-free, so The Wife gets to enjoy it. And yes, All You Grillers, I do apply the sauce at the end of the cook and let it caramelize and char a bit. There’s a whole school of thought out there in which this is heresy and you never put sauce on (“if you use sauce at all, and why would you, that’s what rubs and pre-seasonings are for, you heathen!” as another sub-school of grillers would say) until the meat is at the table, but I disagree, and it’s my grill and my kitchen.
(Oh, I would never put sauce on a steak on the grill. Steak gets S&P and that’s it. After all, “S&P, the choice for me!”)
So now it’s Friday, which means my forced vacation is coming to an end. Now, I’m thinking a bit about how I use my vacation time. Because I only get a few weeks of it (though I’m a couple years out from earning more), I tend to stretch it out through the year on vacations that are mainly long weekends. The exceptions to this are if we happen to have an unusually lengthy trip planned, such as our Hawaii trek last December, but as a rule, I rarely take an entire week off. But having done so now, I’m kind of thinking…I might start doing so. Especially once I hit the four-week plateau.
And now, I’ve got Friday’s writing to do, and since I’ve got some momentum going, I’m also going to get some plans in place for next week once I’m back to work. Also, look for an announcement on Monday! Hmmmmm!!!
I close with this funny thing I stole from Facebook this morning. Peace out, y’all!
