despite still having a cough and a runny rose, i went to work anyway. even though i worked 6 hours on monday and tuesday (each) and only took yesterday off, i felt kind of guilty. was it a good idea? who knows. was i at 100%? not really. i went to cvs beforehand, got some more cough drops and some new medicine, these alka seltzer cold tablets (i ran out of my robitussin). i also went to dunkin donuts to get a muffin and an orange juice. the weather was nasty, near horizontal rain, umbrellas were almost useless, they'd invert as soon as you pulled them out. despite my assurance to my fellow coworkers that i was fine, i think i scared them. first, the eyes. i had red monster eyes, forgot to visine them this morning. second, my voice. i haven't been doing a lot of talking so i forgot that my voice is several octaves lower than usual. i worked for 6 hours then came home. i tried the alka-seltzer tablets, THAT STUFF IS NASTY. it has a faint lemon flavor, with a tinge of mint and a salty aftertaste (must be all that dextromethorphan hydrobromide). okay, that might not sound too bad, but you should try it for yourself, very unpleasant, like drinking cleaning product (or could it be the chlorpheniramine maleate?). the fact that the tablets fizz in the water and do a little dance on the surface as they dissolve doesn't even seem to bring any cheer to my heart as i know i'll have to drink that malignant brew. i wandered chinatown for a little bit during my lunch break, the cold rain combined with my hacking cough made for a miserable yet complementary combination. a new restaurant opened up, the storefront crowded with traditional bouquet of flowers. julie and i mutually decided to cancel dinner for tonight (postponed from tuesday), until i got better. parts of south station were roped off, bins and buckets catching the rainwater from the leaking roof. when i got home, i changed out of my wet clothes, took a hot shower, drank another cup of alka-seltzer (robitussin tastes like honey compared to the taste of this evil elixir), before going to bed. i slept for 2 hours, waking up to some ramen. the combination of all this medication has altered my taste buds, so that when i drank a can of orange soda, it tasted bitter and artificial. i watched a 2 hour frontline documentary on the rwandan genocide in 1994.

how many people out there think i'll go into work tomorrow?